As you may know, I have been cycling for over a month now, playing music with The Pleasant Revolution Bicycle Music Festival Tour in Western Europe. I am finally settling into life on a bicycle and feel like the true adventure has just begun…
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| Some of the highlights of the trip so far:World Naked Rides in London and Brighton, England, where we rode with thousands of nude cyclists through the city with our mobile bike speakers pounding! Later in the day we had a dance party in the streets of London that Hollywood could not have touched! People coming out of their apartments, business men putting down their cases and jackets, people parking their car and running over, all to join in on the frenzy and bliss of our spontaneous dance party in the street.
A bicycle music festival in a small town in Germany where the whole town came to the show with their oldtime music, homemade goats cheese, bread, homemade beer, and jam to share with us. We spent all night in an old dance hall out in the countryside and then cried when we had to leave the next day. Randomly running into a dear old friend from my home town in Texas in a central square of Amsterdam. Taking a three day solo cycling trip through the Germany countryside on a lovely bike path that followed a river. I was so happy to experience the vulnerability and quite of being alone after a month spending every minute with 15 vivacious new friends. I got overtaken by a swarm of bees and was not stung once…one of the most magical experiences ever. The three days ended with a swim in a cold lake and a sunset dinner of crackers, smoked fish, red wine, and cheese in a field of red poppy flowers as far as I could see. Right now, I am at Fusion Fest, a gathering of 60,000 people in an old bunker yard that was used to store missiles during the Cold War. The scale of the landscape and artistic expression are beyond description. It is boiling with anti-fascist ideas and looks and feels post-apocalyptic – like the party at the end of the world. I am learning to love everyone in the crew. Each person is so unique and brings something really valuable to the group. We share a lot of laughs and good food and really create a support system that is much needed when we are challenging ourselves so much. I am the sound woman, which is quite a job. At festivals I will build and break down the PA four different times and run sound for 9 bands on any given day. It is a lot of work, but I feel like I am good at it and it is becoming easier. We are moving really fast all the time. It is hard to imagine how much work goes into trying to keep my gear together to live on a bike, navigate a new city just about every day, maintain a job as sound woman, be a performing artist trying to put together a new band and perform major shows, keep my clothes washed and my face feed, set up camp each night and tear down and pack up each morning….then ride hundreds of miles a week. Much less do publicity and planning for the tour. And add into the mix all the different personal relationships between the 15 members of the crew. It has been exhausting, but worth while. I am getting much better at using my time efficiently and my body is stepping up to the challenge…sleep derivation and all. Needless to say, it has been difficult for me to get online or make phone calls. I want to do better, but in the meantime, our website is kept very current and you can follow our blog to know what is happening: www.pleasantrevolution.net On a deeper level, my love for the mission of this Pleasant Revolution and sense of doing the right thing at the right time envelopes me and I feel re-energized and so incredibly glad to be on this tour. We tend to work with other activists and people who are exploring ways to live more sustainably, so I am learning a lot and being deeply inspired to clean up my life back in the “real world” – off tour. So, on that note, I have to run! No time to edit my email very carefully, so please excuse my typos. I play a showcase tonight at midnight here at the Fusion Fest. I send my love to you! P.S. I love my bike. Did I say that already? I love my bike. |
