Pre order Heather Normandale's new cd The Trembling Music of Water

Amazing new developments in the musical world of bike touring musicians! Cds! new music!

Heather Normandale kickstarter

 This is a link to where you can pre order Heather's cd that is in the works.  The cd will be called The Trembling Music of Water and I have heard some of the songs, they are beautiful and haunting. I am, in fact, sure you will love it. For generous donations to the project there are prizes which are listed on the site. The coolest prize will be  a bakers dozen of vegan gluten free cookies made by yours truly.

& nbsp;Don't resist the urge to support independent rocking music and get yourself some music to cruise to.

There is a shortcut on my page to the right. This handy box also shows our fund-raising progress.

San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival

The night before the event I was a little at a loss with the scope explosion of preparing all the smoothie ingredients and ice cream base by myself. Luckily I was able to enlist my Uncle Jeff and my house mate Jeff.  They volunteered their Friday night to help me cook and prep.

Thanks to Organic Valley we had coupons to get all the heavy cream, milk and half and half we needed!

Coffee? check, helmet? check.

 Gabe Dominguez rolled by my house at 8 am to help me transport all of the smoothie and ice cream ingredients. We assembled at Paul (aka Fossil Fool)'s  house which was a rush with the loading of gear on bikes. I knew as I was strapping stuff to bikes and tucking the nectarines in the rickshaw that this would be one of the best rides. I believe this birdie was also excited. On the way to Golden Gate park we picked up a whole bunch of burritos at Pancho Villas strapped those to our bikes. The burritos turned out to be very helpful keeping everyone happily fueled.









This is El Arbol, the funky quadricycle

And below, a big circle dance with the caller hollering.

We arrived at the fiddlers green and quickly set up. As soon as I had my smoothie station up people started lining up to get them. I was so busy making smoothies I wasn't able to figure out why I couldn't get any ice for the ice cream bike. The ice did arrive at 3 pm and we were able to work on the long awaited and exciting ice cream. We had no problem getting volunteers to ride the newest pedal powered invention and it worked splendidly. If you need an ice cream bike or a fender blender Rock the Bike can help you out.

promise I was having a good time, lots of customers like to participate by pedaling their own smoothies.

Kipchoge and the Ginger Ninjas played on the mobile stage for the first half of the ride over to Showplace Triangle. The SF Conservatory Opera was probably the most unusual sight to see and hear rolling with 300 bikers through the streets. It was amazing and though there were some confused drivers the ride went swimmingly.

Tara Quinn's aerial hoop contortion performance was very beautiful. You can see her swinging from El Arbol.

El Arbol also provided the light show.

Claire as a golden goose! the geese collect tips for the bands.

The music was awesome! If you missed the SF BMF this year put it on your calender next year. The only way to experience the magical bike powered festival is to show up on your bike!

Daily Kos, another blog post about the festival, very well written. 

Thanks to Spencer who rode the bike kitchen rickshaw and carried a bunch of the gear needed for the smoothies. Shout out to Jeffery Blumenthal, Gabe Dominguez, Paul Freedman and all the roadies and volunteers who helped plan and execute such a cool event.

Big huge THANKS to the Trader Joe's on masonic for their generous contribution to our Smoothie and ice cream making. Also thanks to rainbow for their patience with me and my coupons.

ALLIDA

Lunar Update June 15th, top 3 things to do in SF for free

 My list of three things to do in SF on a shoestring budget.

 #3
Despite being broke and never quite knowing what the future holds there are always free fun things to look forward to. Astronomical events are exciting even if you wont be able to witness them. Tonight is a full lunar eclipse that can't be seen from North America but, if I was in Siberia for this like I had planned back in 2007 I would be in for a 100 minute show of lunacy. This is the almost full moon on the rise yesterday.


#2
Another fun thing to do when you are broke is experimental cookery. Here we have what I dubbed Magical Mushroom onion shepherds pie. We had a lot of shallots and onions, a couple potatoes from the garden some spinach, and six little mushrooms. I have a cold so I couldn't taste it but when I served it to my hungry roommates who were watching the judging portion of Chopped (timed chef battles with strange ingredients) they said it was good and didn't chop me.


 #1 San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival!!!

 This will be the best free event to attend all year in SF. I will be helping to make smoothies and ice cream via pedal power! Of course it is recommended to bring a little money dough boy. So you can tip the bands and buy some ice cream. Please read the How To participate guide so you don't show up in a mini skirt and no undies.   
What to bring? What to wear? Read up: How to participate in a pedal-powered event.  
Full Schedule:

12pm GOLDEN GATE PARK (old log cabin meadow)
12:00-12:35 StitchCraft ~ (freak folk)
12:45-1:20 Cradle Duende feat. MC RAI ~ (klezmer flamenco rock meets virtuosic Arab singing)
1:20-2:00 Evan Francis Jazz ~ (funky intelligent jazz from SF's acclaimed Jazz Mafia)
2:15-3:00 rollicking barn dance with dance caller and live old time band (old time)
3:15-4:00 Locura ~ (female-fronted latin rebel rock)
4:00-5:00 Loyd Family Players ~ (huge sound, booty rocking drum line)

5:00pm LIVE-ON-BIKE performances (bike parade)
- Opera Duets feat. Brooke Munoz & William O’Neill from SF Conservatory (opera)
- Kipchoge and the Ginger Ninjas ~ (folk rock)

6:00pm SHOWPLACE TRIANGLE (16th St. & Wisconsin)
6:00-7:00 boom boom boom boom boom! feat. Izzy*Wise (rising Bay Area world DJ)
7:00-7:45 Fito Reinoso ~ (Cuban salsa)
8:00-8:45 Sukhawat Ali Khan ~ (ecstatic booty shaking N. Indian bhangra rock)
8:45-9:00 aerial performance by Tara Quinn ~ (acrobatics/ circus)
9:00-9:45 California Honeydrops ~ (blues, gospel, New Orleans jazz, early r&b)
10:00-10:45 Ashel Eldridge/ Seasunz ~ (Oakland progressive hip hop)
10:55-11:25 Fossil Fool the Bike Rapper ~ (SF bike activist hip hop)

Come Pedal Power the original, the best, and the biggest 100% bicycle-powered music festival in world!

Stay in the Loop!
BMF website -- http://bicyclemusicfestival.com/
Live-On-Bike route 5 - 6pm (Google Maps) -- http://bit.ly/kVCbgi
TWITTER (will be LIVE tweeted) -- https://twitter.com/#!/bikemusicfest


ALLIDA

Chico Bicycle Music Festival 2011

I showed up late Friday night to a very quiet Grub farm hunkered down for a night of dreams about the upcoming bicycle music festival. So quietly I parked my bike under the protection of a tree and made a lean to with a tarp and my xtracycle, curled up in my bivy to get some rest for the upcoming day. I had planned to meet some friends but all communication was star crossed for some reason. So fresh from San Francisco, I thought this farm has to be the best place to guerrilla camp.

In the morning after the rooster hesitantly crowed I packed my bike like I just rode in, and went to look for the Grub coffee crowd. At first they were a little surprised to see me and a bit bewildered as to why I would show up five hours early. Got some coffee and met Sammy who was a rush at rain revisions to the plan. I told her to take heart and that the rain that had started falling at dawn wouldn't dampen nor stop our parade.

A bike parade started forming, with the most striking rigs being the huge carts that were being towed. One was originally how Grub delivered their organic produce locally. The guy who was going to ride the smoothie bike didn't show up. Luckily I had all the gear we needed and realized this must be the reason I had to be here early. An xtracycle radish, a fender blender by rock the bike and accouterments. Grub Chico had all the fruit cut and frozen ready to go. The smoothie bike was mobilized and ready to ride.

The video shows us riding to the first venue.

We set up downtown Chico right across the street from the farmer's market. Shelter from the rain popped up and everything was set up in a flash and the music began. I had two wonderful volunteers helping run the smoothie stand, so well in fact I was able to wander and take pictures.

Smoothie shop is also audience participatory.

It was decided due to inclement weather to head straight back to Grub farm to hunker down underneath the Walnut tree. The videos following are of the ride back. I filmed while riding so its shaky, see if you can spot yourself or your friends though! You all are troopers for coming out in the rain, glad you weren't scared!

group riding to Grub

Sammey on the mic

 Thanks to New Belgium for sending their beer faeries!

The Fat Tire raffle bike parked in front of the Chico Bike Music fest merch table

Pedaling to power the Ginger Ninjas, the green light indicates how much power is being generated.

To see all the pictures I took of the event in better quality visit my Chico BMF photo album




 Thanks to the Grub farm and collective for hosting this event and me for the weekend. I thought the whole festival went very well. It was the best Bicycle Music Fest I have been to so far! The music was awesome and had everyone dancing. I couldn't tell you about all the cool people and their cool bikes and the good vibes in the scene. Here on this blog pictures and videos aren't really diddly in exchange for actually having gone and particiapted in a bicycle music festival. Luckily for you there is one coming your way. Keep your eyes peeled!  for the Bicycle Music Festival

ALLIDA

Location:Chico CA