the part for the spaz coach was located in indiana and is to arrive as late as wednesday night.... no go. bye, spaz coach, thank you for housing us!
we cleaned the coach and the 5lowershop bus and got everything loaded up as neatly as possible. changing the filters, filling the tanks, checking in constantly... we all want/need to get home.
last night was double dutch again, standard d dragged one of the twenties in and balanced on it while spinning the ropes. that girl is amazing. we all are.
i believe the unanimous feeling is that this tour has helped us grow and evolve both as a team and as individuals. we've made friends, explored, tried new things, learned skills, gotten through crises and shared different asppects of our collective personalities with one another.
enough of the hippy love fest for now, we're not done!
we're not done until it's over
it's not over until forever has ended
long live forever!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
this is whatttt happens near the end.
sf to reno and back.
two days.
two performances.
tired and dirty and ready for a mattress and a room to myself.
the troupe had a consensus and reality has ordained that portland no longer exists. there is only 5lowershop.
wheeeeeeeee!
two days.
two performances.
tired and dirty and ready for a mattress and a room to myself.
the troupe had a consensus and reality has ordained that portland no longer exists. there is only 5lowershop.
wheeeeeeeee!
the heat makes everyone crazy
so many stories, so little time!
thursday night we danced in a parking lot a block away from a cute little houseshow and got asked to leave by the popo.
friday we rode in the huge critical mass, up and down lombard street (the curviest street in the world, steep too, and completely covered in bicycles... yes!) then pedaled south south south to dance in a renegade party with djs, cyclecide, hobogobbelins and a medicine show (complete with tonic vendor). everything was loaded up on the bus (spaz coach); we'd said our goodbyes and were ready to drive throught the night to truckee for our next show, but when we began to move......
everything shook.
the shocks (airbag style) were shot. people worked all night trying to get everything to work, but it just didn't happen.
we called our tour de fat contact in a panic. he offered us a postponement in our performance time and a discount on a rental car (icky, rentals). plan b: spaz bus, also no shocks. plan c: 5lowershop bus, still full of shit from mutantfest.
sprockettes and crew bucket brigaded that shit and accomplished in 15 minutes what 30 boys didn't in three weeks. it was amazing. grabbed the essential bikes and weeded through our stuff to distill it to a more loadable form. on the road again, excellent. we drove east, pedal to the metal the whole way and rolled in to be the last performers on while the beer was still being poured.... after the gospel choir and everything (sprockettes formed a full half the choir, but the show must go on).
then a dip in the truckee river and off to reno!
we danced in the cleanest, most well lit alley ever, behind a little bar in reno for an audience of maybe 40 people. met up with black label reno, who showed a few of us around. travis even welcomed us into his home with squirrel and 5-month-old mckenna... even made us breakfast and coffee in the morning. wonderful hosts.
we're trying to get on the road again, back to san francisco and figuring out how eleven agents (danger, while not a 'kette, is definately an agent), their bikes and their bags will manage to get back home to portland.
thursday night we danced in a parking lot a block away from a cute little houseshow and got asked to leave by the popo.
friday we rode in the huge critical mass, up and down lombard street (the curviest street in the world, steep too, and completely covered in bicycles... yes!) then pedaled south south south to dance in a renegade party with djs, cyclecide, hobogobbelins and a medicine show (complete with tonic vendor). everything was loaded up on the bus (spaz coach); we'd said our goodbyes and were ready to drive throught the night to truckee for our next show, but when we began to move......
everything shook.
the shocks (airbag style) were shot. people worked all night trying to get everything to work, but it just didn't happen.
we called our tour de fat contact in a panic. he offered us a postponement in our performance time and a discount on a rental car (icky, rentals). plan b: spaz bus, also no shocks. plan c: 5lowershop bus, still full of shit from mutantfest.
sprockettes and crew bucket brigaded that shit and accomplished in 15 minutes what 30 boys didn't in three weeks. it was amazing. grabbed the essential bikes and weeded through our stuff to distill it to a more loadable form. on the road again, excellent. we drove east, pedal to the metal the whole way and rolled in to be the last performers on while the beer was still being poured.... after the gospel choir and everything (sprockettes formed a full half the choir, but the show must go on).
then a dip in the truckee river and off to reno!
we danced in the cleanest, most well lit alley ever, behind a little bar in reno for an audience of maybe 40 people. met up with black label reno, who showed a few of us around. travis even welcomed us into his home with squirrel and 5-month-old mckenna... even made us breakfast and coffee in the morning. wonderful hosts.
we're trying to get on the road again, back to san francisco and figuring out how eleven agents (danger, while not a 'kette, is definately an agent), their bikes and their bags will manage to get back home to portland.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
tour photos
from the first few days... more on our myspace. www.myspace.com/sprockettes
Dance party on the bus to Hey Ya!
Practice in the Mt. Shasta national forest parking lot. Some young hippie kids and their mom musta watched us at least 3 times.
Agent Chaos enjoys the wind.
Note to self: try not make coffee while driving down windy highways, or you will be trying to keep everything from falling off the shelves!
wiggle wiggle!
Dance party on the bus to Hey Ya!
Practice in the Mt. Shasta national forest parking lot. Some young hippie kids and their mom musta watched us at least 3 times.
Agent Chaos enjoys the wind.
Note to self: try not make coffee while driving down windy highways, or you will be trying to keep everything from falling off the shelves!
wiggle wiggle!
Racing around San Fran
Thing's've been a little hectic (not to mention new environment, new friends and a wee bit of sickness.... bleah) but back to the blog!
On Sunday we took a day off. A few of us rode around with Shawn from 5lowershop and Duchy and Max (Duchy's dog). There was a song: girls on bikes, girls on bikes, girls on bikes, and Duchy and a dog (and Shawn). We rode to the Ace Junkyard where Cyclecide keeps their shit and Laird (the bugle guy from the Tour de Fat Post) showed us around. Then we kidnapped him and made him get coffee and food with us. After that, Laird said goodbye and Duchy took us to a jetty on the bay where we played ball with Max, then we went to the Box Shop (the place where a lot of Burning Man art gets made) and finally to Deige's place (a rad female artist making a mural overlooking a community garden in the projects) before returning to 5lowershop.
We tried to find a party, but it turned out to be at our home base: two bands and some DJs and a pair of double dutch ropes. A bunch of 'kettes learned to jump and Lulu tried to strip while jumping but it didn't quite work that way. Standard D, Crush and Sweetpea climbed up to the lottery sign but Sweetpea got all scraped up.
On Monday we took it easy as well, just a short meeting about the upcoming performances. Afterwards I took off with Xian (Bike Farm) to the Cyclecide junkyard to see the Nutstrippers rehearse, then to bike polo (played one game, my first, I', not very good but managed to learn to grab the fence and run over my own mallet without falling... even hit the ball a couple of times!). After that we got pizza and went to ArtSF (this rad collective gallery space that's also having a party on Friday... it's a benefit. Landlord issues) where we played with a slack line, and juggled. Then back to the 5lowershop.
Yesterday I was sick with the head flu (eugh) so I'm not completely caught up with everything. M.I.A.'s supposed to be doing a show in Berkeley on Saturday so we're trying to tell her about our Critical Mass thing.... wish us luck!
On Sunday we took a day off. A few of us rode around with Shawn from 5lowershop and Duchy and Max (Duchy's dog). There was a song: girls on bikes, girls on bikes, girls on bikes, and Duchy and a dog (and Shawn). We rode to the Ace Junkyard where Cyclecide keeps their shit and Laird (the bugle guy from the Tour de Fat Post) showed us around. Then we kidnapped him and made him get coffee and food with us. After that, Laird said goodbye and Duchy took us to a jetty on the bay where we played ball with Max, then we went to the Box Shop (the place where a lot of Burning Man art gets made) and finally to Deige's place (a rad female artist making a mural overlooking a community garden in the projects) before returning to 5lowershop.
We tried to find a party, but it turned out to be at our home base: two bands and some DJs and a pair of double dutch ropes. A bunch of 'kettes learned to jump and Lulu tried to strip while jumping but it didn't quite work that way. Standard D, Crush and Sweetpea climbed up to the lottery sign but Sweetpea got all scraped up.
On Monday we took it easy as well, just a short meeting about the upcoming performances. Afterwards I took off with Xian (Bike Farm) to the Cyclecide junkyard to see the Nutstrippers rehearse, then to bike polo (played one game, my first, I', not very good but managed to learn to grab the fence and run over my own mallet without falling... even hit the ball a couple of times!). After that we got pizza and went to ArtSF (this rad collective gallery space that's also having a party on Friday... it's a benefit. Landlord issues) where we played with a slack line, and juggled. Then back to the 5lowershop.
Yesterday I was sick with the head flu (eugh) so I'm not completely caught up with everything. M.I.A.'s supposed to be doing a show in Berkeley on Saturday so we're trying to tell her about our Critical Mass thing.... wish us luck!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
tour de fat redux and last night's ride report
omigosh. san francisco is amazing. 5lowershop is amazing. our coperformers on tour de fat are amazing. luv luv luv.
friday evening we rolled in to enthusiastic 5lowershop dwellers. i haven't been here before, but everyone's been warm and welcoming. vortex, chaos, pulse and trouble were running around shrieking and hugging every friendly face we met.
after runthroughs in the farmers market parking lot and attempts to destroy a parked car there, we rolled back to the 5lowershop in the company of lulu (one of the drivers), bonsai (a girl from oakland with a queue and an ambulance) and several others. there's so many names to remember! we changed clothes and rode 20s up into the mission to a bar called the knockout where one of trouble's friends was working, crush and chaos taking turns riding on the pegs of the pacemaker after chaos' bike broke down a mile away from 5lowershop.
the bar was a little lame, but we left flyers for our critical mass show and ate burritos while we waited a few minutes. then we rode around the corner and worked our way into circus contraption's show (no circus, just the band, but sweet sweet sweet!). they played pink elephants on parade (one of my favorite songs of all time) among other things and we danced danced danced. vortex got us on their guestlist for their shows at cellspace the next two nights and we rode back to the warehouse to showers and sleep.
saturday morning we woke up bright and early and blinged up before hauling gear to a vacant parking lot across the street from the market and had a single runthrough (pack 'em in when you can, but don't wear yourself out!) for the marketgoers. then we loaded up in the bus and ate danger's amazing cheezy eggy goodness on the way to golden gate park. we found out the water tank for the sink doesn't have a cap, so sploosh all over the place! water everywhere! chaos and pulse fit the makeshift cap on and we wiped up the water on the floor.
golden gate park is beautiful. there's a greenhouse that looks like the taj mahal, wonderfully lndscaped gardens and people everywhere using the park (as they should) on a wonderfully clear summer day.
we rolled into the festival, scoped out the stage (the multilayered show plan didn't work out due to mike stands and monitors.... oh well) and were then set free!
handsome little devils were on first and their show was wonderful. tight, theatrical and with some amazing tricks. they didn't have (much) live music, but their track list was great and their act was seamless.
then some sort of jam band played (?) and then circus contraption went on.
circus contraption had a completely different show than what we'd seen the night before. didn't have a chance to catch much of it, but one highlight was their poodle act... three grown women dressed as pink poodles, doing acrobalancing, playing violin and acting like, well, poodles. it was wonderful! we couldn't catch any more than that because we had some setting up to do.
we helped danger set up the merch booth and prepped ourselves to go on. dare i say it was our largest performance to date? i believe it was. the sound guy was playing it by ear and spot on with the levels. we weren't perfect, but danced as true professionals would. hooray! the crowd raved!
afterwards we ran all the equipment back to the bus and trouble, standard d, feral and i raced back to sing with the tires of fire choir. we sang signed, sealed, delivered and this little bike of mine to the crowd that was still high on the possibility of minibike dance.
after the festival was pretty much over, we hung out at the bus, playing oldies and enjoying a pedal powered barbeque towed by an oakland rider. a group of marching drums came around and a guy from cyclecide played bugle, i played flute, a homebum played harmonica and noah of handsome little devils spinned poi. we all danced. then it was loadup and back to the 5lowershop, narrowly missing crazed minivan drivers (lightning sr. has nerves of steel).
got back and unloaded bikes as fast as humanly possible and went back out to cellspace where circus contraption was playing a show. we were late and only got to see the second half, but amazing! yea! on the guestlist so no money wasted. thank you circus contraption!
after that, we rode on down to a space called xenophobe (i think) and summer of cyclecide got us in. it was okay, but there were too many "sexy clowns" and it was all very burning man. there was a group of four dancers that did acrobalancing and pretzeled themselves in amazing ways but the space was hot and overcrowded and the spectators were rich, drugged and boorish. yuck. in a different setting the show could've been great. one of teh dancers came into the corner where i sat and was trying to get some water (after a ten-minute intensive dance) and the fat man wearing a blinky burning man pendant kept on telling her how great she was as if she were a goddess. i felt really bad for her.
after that, we powwowed in the parking lot and rode back to 5lowershop for sleep. this morning i got up and got a copy of the merry adventures of robin hood, pristine condition and 55 years old for a dollar. now, for the rest of my day off!
friday evening we rolled in to enthusiastic 5lowershop dwellers. i haven't been here before, but everyone's been warm and welcoming. vortex, chaos, pulse and trouble were running around shrieking and hugging every friendly face we met.
after runthroughs in the farmers market parking lot and attempts to destroy a parked car there, we rolled back to the 5lowershop in the company of lulu (one of the drivers), bonsai (a girl from oakland with a queue and an ambulance) and several others. there's so many names to remember! we changed clothes and rode 20s up into the mission to a bar called the knockout where one of trouble's friends was working, crush and chaos taking turns riding on the pegs of the pacemaker after chaos' bike broke down a mile away from 5lowershop.
the bar was a little lame, but we left flyers for our critical mass show and ate burritos while we waited a few minutes. then we rode around the corner and worked our way into circus contraption's show (no circus, just the band, but sweet sweet sweet!). they played pink elephants on parade (one of my favorite songs of all time) among other things and we danced danced danced. vortex got us on their guestlist for their shows at cellspace the next two nights and we rode back to the warehouse to showers and sleep.
saturday morning we woke up bright and early and blinged up before hauling gear to a vacant parking lot across the street from the market and had a single runthrough (pack 'em in when you can, but don't wear yourself out!) for the marketgoers. then we loaded up in the bus and ate danger's amazing cheezy eggy goodness on the way to golden gate park. we found out the water tank for the sink doesn't have a cap, so sploosh all over the place! water everywhere! chaos and pulse fit the makeshift cap on and we wiped up the water on the floor.
golden gate park is beautiful. there's a greenhouse that looks like the taj mahal, wonderfully lndscaped gardens and people everywhere using the park (as they should) on a wonderfully clear summer day.
we rolled into the festival, scoped out the stage (the multilayered show plan didn't work out due to mike stands and monitors.... oh well) and were then set free!
handsome little devils were on first and their show was wonderful. tight, theatrical and with some amazing tricks. they didn't have (much) live music, but their track list was great and their act was seamless.
then some sort of jam band played (?) and then circus contraption went on.
circus contraption had a completely different show than what we'd seen the night before. didn't have a chance to catch much of it, but one highlight was their poodle act... three grown women dressed as pink poodles, doing acrobalancing, playing violin and acting like, well, poodles. it was wonderful! we couldn't catch any more than that because we had some setting up to do.
we helped danger set up the merch booth and prepped ourselves to go on. dare i say it was our largest performance to date? i believe it was. the sound guy was playing it by ear and spot on with the levels. we weren't perfect, but danced as true professionals would. hooray! the crowd raved!
afterwards we ran all the equipment back to the bus and trouble, standard d, feral and i raced back to sing with the tires of fire choir. we sang signed, sealed, delivered and this little bike of mine to the crowd that was still high on the possibility of minibike dance.
after the festival was pretty much over, we hung out at the bus, playing oldies and enjoying a pedal powered barbeque towed by an oakland rider. a group of marching drums came around and a guy from cyclecide played bugle, i played flute, a homebum played harmonica and noah of handsome little devils spinned poi. we all danced. then it was loadup and back to the 5lowershop, narrowly missing crazed minivan drivers (lightning sr. has nerves of steel).
got back and unloaded bikes as fast as humanly possible and went back out to cellspace where circus contraption was playing a show. we were late and only got to see the second half, but amazing! yea! on the guestlist so no money wasted. thank you circus contraption!
after that, we rode on down to a space called xenophobe (i think) and summer of cyclecide got us in. it was okay, but there were too many "sexy clowns" and it was all very burning man. there was a group of four dancers that did acrobalancing and pretzeled themselves in amazing ways but the space was hot and overcrowded and the spectators were rich, drugged and boorish. yuck. in a different setting the show could've been great. one of teh dancers came into the corner where i sat and was trying to get some water (after a ten-minute intensive dance) and the fat man wearing a blinky burning man pendant kept on telling her how great she was as if she were a goddess. i felt really bad for her.
after that, we powwowed in the parking lot and rode back to 5lowershop for sleep. this morning i got up and got a copy of the merry adventures of robin hood, pristine condition and 55 years old for a dollar. now, for the rest of my day off!
front page article from ashland daily tidings
July 20, 2007
Bike troupe entertainment cut short
By Robert Plain
Ashland Daily Tidings
Members of the Sprockettes make the best of a sunny day in Lithia Park after Ashland police shut down their impromptu performance at Lithia Park on Thursday.
The Sprockettes slipped a gear on Thursday when police put the breaks on a noisy impromptu performance in Lithia Park.
"We wanted to share the love, and the pink," said Sprockette Carol Penner, who goes by Agent Feral.
"But police are police, and they do what they do," said fellow Sprockette Lauren Peterson, who goes by Agent Lapass, as the group packed up to leave town as quickly as they arrived just one hour earlier.
The Sprockettes are an all-woman dance troupe from Portland who perform on mini-bicycles. On their way to gigs in San Francisco and Truckee, Calif., they decided to stop in Ashland for a surprise show.
But Ashland police said a number of people called and complained about the amplified music emanating from their 1976 GMC bus that runs on "veggie oil," a form of biodiesel made from recycled cooking oil.
"We didn't even get through our first song," Penner said. "The officer said if we allow you [to perform] it will happen all the time. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be awesome if this happened all the time?'"
Not according to police.
"It's a violation of the park rules, you have to go through a permit process," said Downtown Patrol Officer Teri DeSilva. "I feel bad but those are the rules of the park. There was one disgruntled individual on the bus, but other than that they were compliant."
Compliant, maybe, but happy about the situation, the Sprockettes were not.
"It seems like if you are not here to shop, then you are the kind of person Ashland doesn't want here," Emilina Dissette — aka Agent Pulse ""said. "I don't see any reason why we can't dance in the park with our bikes. Ashland has a huge bike community. I wish we could have performed here."
Dissette said Officer DeSilva was friendly to them, once she realized they didn't know they were breaking the rules.
The Sprockettes left Portland earlier Thursday. They regularly perform in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and have been featured on National Public Radio. This is their first swing into the southern reaches of the Pacific Northwest.
Their Web site (Sprockettes.org) says, "In a basic sense it is our mission to entertain audiences by choreographing dances to songs while using bikes in our performances. In a broader sense, our mission is to support and interact with our community to advocate and promote bicycle riding" and "empower and inspire people to live out their crazy and wildest dreams."
Upon arriving in Ashland, they made a few swings up and down Winburn Way, announcing over a bus-based PA system, "Sprockettes show on the Plaza."
The show ended up in Lithia Park, and Peterson said it was well-received before it abruptly ended.
"About 30 or 40 people gathered around," she said. "We dance on, near and with our bikes and do different tricks."
Despite their run-in with the law, most Sprockettes had mostly nice things to say about Ashland.
"It's a beautiful city, and the people are really nice," Peterson added, as the last of the Sprockettes loaded into their bus and headed south out of town for their next impromptu stop before arriving in San Francisco for their scheduled performance on Saturday.
Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or bplain@dailytidings.com.
Bike troupe entertainment cut short
By Robert Plain
Ashland Daily Tidings
Members of the Sprockettes make the best of a sunny day in Lithia Park after Ashland police shut down their impromptu performance at Lithia Park on Thursday.
The Sprockettes slipped a gear on Thursday when police put the breaks on a noisy impromptu performance in Lithia Park.
"We wanted to share the love, and the pink," said Sprockette Carol Penner, who goes by Agent Feral.
"But police are police, and they do what they do," said fellow Sprockette Lauren Peterson, who goes by Agent Lapass, as the group packed up to leave town as quickly as they arrived just one hour earlier.
The Sprockettes are an all-woman dance troupe from Portland who perform on mini-bicycles. On their way to gigs in San Francisco and Truckee, Calif., they decided to stop in Ashland for a surprise show.
But Ashland police said a number of people called and complained about the amplified music emanating from their 1976 GMC bus that runs on "veggie oil," a form of biodiesel made from recycled cooking oil.
"We didn't even get through our first song," Penner said. "The officer said if we allow you [to perform] it will happen all the time. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be awesome if this happened all the time?'"
Not according to police.
"It's a violation of the park rules, you have to go through a permit process," said Downtown Patrol Officer Teri DeSilva. "I feel bad but those are the rules of the park. There was one disgruntled individual on the bus, but other than that they were compliant."
Compliant, maybe, but happy about the situation, the Sprockettes were not.
"It seems like if you are not here to shop, then you are the kind of person Ashland doesn't want here," Emilina Dissette — aka Agent Pulse ""said. "I don't see any reason why we can't dance in the park with our bikes. Ashland has a huge bike community. I wish we could have performed here."
Dissette said Officer DeSilva was friendly to them, once she realized they didn't know they were breaking the rules.
The Sprockettes left Portland earlier Thursday. They regularly perform in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, and have been featured on National Public Radio. This is their first swing into the southern reaches of the Pacific Northwest.
Their Web site (Sprockettes.org) says, "In a basic sense it is our mission to entertain audiences by choreographing dances to songs while using bikes in our performances. In a broader sense, our mission is to support and interact with our community to advocate and promote bicycle riding" and "empower and inspire people to live out their crazy and wildest dreams."
Upon arriving in Ashland, they made a few swings up and down Winburn Way, announcing over a bus-based PA system, "Sprockettes show on the Plaza."
The show ended up in Lithia Park, and Peterson said it was well-received before it abruptly ended.
"About 30 or 40 people gathered around," she said. "We dance on, near and with our bikes and do different tricks."
Despite their run-in with the law, most Sprockettes had mostly nice things to say about Ashland.
"It's a beautiful city, and the people are really nice," Peterson added, as the last of the Sprockettes loaded into their bus and headed south out of town for their next impromptu stop before arriving in San Francisco for their scheduled performance on Saturday.
Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or bplain@dailytidings.com.
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