Bringing the Wild and Scenic Film Festival On Tour with the Pleasant Revolution will serve to broaden the regional platform for local environmental advocacy and allow for teams of like minded people to become more involved and aware of the diversity of environmental projects taking place.  The bike route will stretch from Vancouver to Mexico, much of which is considered Salmon Country – areas of rivers in need of protection to save the remaining population of salmon endangered by the damming and pollution of important water systems.

During the months of May through November we will be hosting from 15 to 20 Bicycle Music and Film Festivals and showing a variety of different environmental films at each stop. Are you one of those people who can’t sit through a movie? Well, you will be the perfect volunteer pedal-powerer for the bike-in movies and pedal-powered film projector we will be premiering.  Maybe Rock the Bike will surprise us with a pedal-powered popcorn maker to go along with those delicious smoothies!! Expect to taste the work of a finely bike-blended smoothie on this year’s tour!

More tour info to come!! Be sure to check out the magic of last year’s Pleasant Revolution 2010 European Tour… and please be in touch if you want to bring the magic to your town.

A documentary by Jonathan Grevsan

Our photo stream..

Cool article about Europe tour posted by one of our sponsors – YUBA bikes

Click here to view the embedded video.

Make sure not to “pass” on Passau..

CelloJoe and Kelly got to Passau a couple days before the rest of the group as they traveled along the Inn river bicycle path. Kelly had dislocated her shoulder while stretching with Joey, so they took a train to Passau from Bad Aibling. Joey got right to work the morning after they arrived by going to the Rathaus (city hall) and speaking with Rita Loher-Bronold from the Kultur Department about the city sponsoring a show. What a great decision to simply ask for help…the city hooked the Pleasant Revolution UP!

They gave us permits to play right in the heart of the town at two locations, provided us with a sumptuous meal at a traditional Bavarian restaurant, and put up our entire crew (17 people!) with hotel accommodations at a cyclists hotel called the Rotel Inn.

Some of the group went to see the largest organ in the world in the main cathedral of Passau. It has almost 18,000 pipes! It was amazing and sounded like alien music sometimes.

Local Bike Activists Bernd Sluka and Boris Burket helped with the organizing and were able to get our show announced on the radio and in the Passau Neue Press paper. And all of this happened in two days!

Check out some videos and pictures of our time in Passau, Germany:

CelloJoe’s beast of burden

Boris Burket, our city liason

the ginger ninjas!

Thomas is such a rockstar! look at that hair!

justin renfrow, buck magic’s friend from boston joins the group…no rehearsal required

kipchoge spencer singin his heart out..

amanda mora jones and band at the Kloistergarten

amanda mora jones at the Kloistergarten

heather normandale at the Kloistergarten

ginger ninjas at the Kloistergarten

acroyoga at the park

This show was the biggest show CelloJoe and FluLou have ever played. It was awesome! CelloJoe got the gig by playing on the street in front of the Cafe Bar the night before for 10 minutes and meeting Til, La Brass Banda’s manager. What luck! It just shows that you never know what kind of opportunities you’ll run into on the Pleasant Revolution Bicycle Music Tour. Wow, if I had said I don’t really feel like playing on the street right now, I wouldn’t have had the chance to open for such a cool band. I think we sold about 200 € worth of CDs. Plus, we got in to the sold out show for free and a bunch of the Pleasant Revolution crew, we drank tons of beer and ate a lot of bratwursts!

Check out these video clips:

Arriving at night in Guadalajara we packed up and met our good friend Chava and started our first ride in Mexico for the 2009 tour. Since then we’ve been busy! The Ginger Ninjas first had an interview with the University of Guadalajara radio station. Next, there was a gig at a Hurana, a traditional party, where the men play and sing while the women dance. For many on the trip this was a new and really special experience with great people, music, and furious dancing. The Ninjas played at the Plaza Revolucion on Sunday, when the city of Guadalajara closes a major road for pedestrians and bikes in what they call the Via Recreativa. Another show later in the evening for a small cultural show in another plaza. Later, we headed to the Zocalo in front of the Catedral, set up the bike generators, and played till midnight. Other highlights of our stay in Guadalajara were a bike trip with the mayor of Guadalajara for the ceremonial opening of a new bike path in Guadalajara. The Ginger Ninjas also played at the bar The Bebotero, where many friends we met around town showed up. For me personally, the highlight of our stay in Guadalajara was the Paseo Nocturno, a mass bike ride throughout the city starting at midnight. A huge group of cyclist of all ages and types, organized by our friend Jorge, road through the city in the cool fresh air of a Guadalajara night. Headman Kipchoge also lead the “Soul Cycling” with the 12″ speaker hooked to a battery for some good jams. The good spirit, great company, smooth ride, and sheer amount of people was something unforgettable. After the ride we stopped in the park for another Ginger Ninjas show. The best about Guadalajara for me, and I believe all of us, were the people we met at every show who were super friendly, happy, and “bien chido.
-Matt

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.