New favorite music video by rad woman artist - Courtney Barnett

Happy Friday, everyone!



Enjoy the new music! Love this artist and love her even more on a bike wearing a sparkly outfit!

KT was in Copenhagen!

And I rode the SNAKE!

The Snake - KT was in Copenhagen! from Kristin Tieche on Vimeo.

Complete with musicians cycling, waterways, cobblestones and a serenade from yours truly!

Ma Bicyclette

Catchy tune from Toronto band Side Pony Nation. This rings like a new national anthem! Hope it carries you through this Tuesday after a long weekend. Ding ding!

music on the move

SF musicians got the moves.



A symphony of cyclists in the streets!

Music for our future... powered by YOU!

PRI's The World followed Rupa & the April Fishes during a leg of Bay Rising - their bicycle powered music tour of the Bay Area with Shake Your Peace! and Fossil Fool. Catch the story on The World today on KQED from 2-3pm PST, and the music story is usually in the last 10 minutes. You can also listen and see the video on the web at http://www.theworld.org.

Your last two chances to participate and help power the concerts are tonight 4/27 at the Sausalito Seahorse and tomorrow 4/28 at The Independent in SF.

Bay Rising Tour with Shake Your Peace and Rupa & the April Fishes

I recently ran into Gabe, the bandleader of Shake Your Peace - SF's original bicycle-powered music group - at the Ferry Building Farmers Market on his Xtra-cycle.

He reminded me that his band is teaming up with Rupa & the April Fishes at the end of April for a Bay Area bicycle music tour, called the Bay Rising Tour.

Here's a description from the Bay Rising Facebook page:  

In celebration of Earth Week 2012, San Francisco's global mashup band Rupa & the April Fishes and local bicycle music touring veterans SHAKE YOUR PEACE! will present the Bay Rising Tour - pedaling their bicycles 200 miles around the entire perimeter of the San Francisco Bay, presenting concerts with a bicycle-powered sound system that converts the leg-power of volunteer pedalers from the audience into electricity to run the sound system. The purpose of the tour is to give both of the bands, and those who join them on their rides between show stops, an opportunity to learn about the dynamics of the San Francisco Bay Bioregion in an adventurous, sociable, and direct way. The tour is inviting cyclists of all skill levels to join the bike rides between the tour stops; and because each of the band members will be hauling up to 100 lbs of musical equipment behind them on bike trailers, no one is likely to be left behind. The 10-stop tour will include performances in traditional music venues and guerilla art spaces.

So basically, PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR.

For more info about the bands, check out their websites:

Shake Your Peace

&

 Rupa & the April Fishes

Karla Mi Lugo sweetens the streets of SF with song

Le Rouge et Noir and I were in the Lower Haight this past weekend, when we heard the sounds of an accordion, the official instrument of San Francisco, brightening the air.

And then I saw her -



Meet Karla Mi Lugo, a quintessential San Francisco street performer - a creative, free-spirited soul - who can play music and sing and juggle, sometimes all at the same time.



She bought her gorgeous vintage accordion from the same shop where I bought mine, the Accordion Apocalypse.



Ms. Mi Lugo totes her accordion from the Haight, to the Sunset, to the Embarcadero, to Union Square, to the Mission and beyond, all on her trusty steed, her bicycle, of course!



Karla's music and artistry keeps the soul of San Francisco alive. So when you see her, please show her how much you appreciate her by dropping a dollar in her hat, and thanking her for enriching our lives.

Occupy Our World

Thanks to Fossil Fool, I came upon this video of the recent Occupy SF Music Festival in San Francisco, with the stage and sound system powered by bicycles provided by Fossil Fool and Shake Your Peace - two bicycle powered local musicians.

Way to rock our world.

Also just read this incredible analysis of the Occupy Movement in the Rolling Stone, written by Matt Taibbi. There are many well-put thoughts in his article, including: "If there is such a thing as going on strike from one's own culture, this is it."

But my favorite quote from the article is here: "The relentless sameness of the two-party political system is beginning to feel like a Jacob's Ladder nightmare with no end; we're entering another turn on the four-year merry-go-round, and the thought of having to try to get excited about yet another minor quadrennial shift in the direction of one or the other pole of alienating corporate full-of-shitness is enough to make anyone want to smash his own hand flat with a hammer."

Read the whole article here: How I learned to stop worrying and love the OWS protests.

Despite the most recent police raids at the crack of dawn in New York, Portland and Oakland, I hope the occupiers know that they still have the support of the majority of Americans. Michael Moore spoke at Occupy SF a couple weeks ago. He's been traveling around Occupy encampments all over this country and he argues that 59% of Americans support the global Occupy movements. Not exactly what the media wants you to believe.

Why write about the Occupy movement here on Vélo Vogue? Because together we can unplug from the system and pedal power our way into a more liveable future.

Ride on and Occupy!

I'm gonna ride my bike!

I recently discovered this song while listening to KCRW online. These dudes rock: Mark Ronson & The Business Int'l! The bikes, the clothes, the story! And they are wearing orange! Now there's showing some fine taste!

Enjoy!

Where I'm From

SF.

415.

The City.










Where you from?

All photos taken at the Bayview Sunday Streets.

Rock.

Rock and Ride: NPR's Urban Cyclist Music Playlist

Check out these beats that NPR picked for urban bikers!

As of today's writing, my ever-evolving list would include the following (a classic|eclectic mix):

1. Wide Eyes/Local Natives
2. Black Dog/Led Zeppelin
2. Ring My Bell/Anita Ward
3. How Do You Like Me Now?/The Heavy
4. Handshakes/Metric
5. Many Moons/Janelle Monáe



Now I wonder what the calitexican was listening to the afternoon I caught her rockin' the Panhandle?

And you (yes, all of you)! What would be on your urban cycling playlist?

a bicycle serenade

While in Ipanema, I saw this guy fixing bikes on the sidewalk (the Bike Man Ben of Rio?). Seeing as how I serendipitously ran into more of my brethren, I asked him if he would take a picture of me with my bicycle.

Instead he gave me a song.

He mentions his band (which is supposedly on myspace) at the end of his song, but unfortunately Eu não falo português, so if someone can chime in with a translation, muito obrigada!

happy cycling|boards of canada

Music + bikes = a happy marriage!

Perhaps you've seen this animated mastery already, but if not, take a break from work now! You are now in for a treat!

bicycle samba

At the end of December, I'm going to be taking off for a month to Brazil (yes, you can hate me now). This bicycle samba that I noticed on Curitiba Cycle Chic is helping me count down the days until Reveillon in Copacabana.

I heard there was a huge Tuesday night bike ride (bikers by the thousands) in Rio, so if anyone out there has any idea how and where to join in, let me know!

Bicycle Music Festival Part 5: Let the Good Times Roll!

Sonya Cotton and Shake Your Peace keep the good times rolling!

It's kind of like following The Dead, only different.

Don't forget to wear the latest hippie threads!

So get on the bus! Or your pal's xtracycle!

Whatever your ride, be sure not to miss it next time around!

Bicycle Music Festival Part 4: Show Me Some Skin!

There were girls in bikinis.

There were girls in togas.

And then they shared notes on sexy cycling!

Bicycle Music Festival Part 3: All The Single Ladies

The festival was chock full of freewheelin' golden girls.

The spirit of the ride gave me that feeling of days gone by. This woman reminds me of a kind of hippie-chick you might have seen in the Haight-Ashbury hey day.

The staff got to wear these cute flags indicating the role they played at the festival. I'm sure many of our readers will find this woman quite yummy.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind having the word "Manager" plastered across my ass.

But more than that, I was jealous of her fantastic grey and black arm warmers and floppy hat.

Riding with the band certainly brought smiles to many faces.

Bicycle Music Festival: Solid Gold!

Once Lilia, Adrienne, Meli and I finished our beer-drinking session at the Park Chalet, we finally caught up with the Bicycle Music Festival in the Park, just as they were organizing to take off. Phew! We almost missed the train. Here's the lovely Sonya Cotton of Shake Your Peace doing her Solid Gold thang.

Her fans couldn't control themselves.

Or they simply wanted to capture the memories.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the email about wearing gold, but this fine blond lady obviously did!

Gilded handlebars with a pink basket -- better than a pot of gold?

accordionista a go-go!

Renée de la Prade, the accordionista extraordinaire (a.k.a. the sexy Squeeze Box Goddess), is seen here crossing market with her accordion on her back, and other live show props. Way to go Renée! Not just a musical impresario, but also a vélo-impresario!

nopalita

I had just left the Rupa and the April Fishes' April Fool's Day concert at The Independent when I ran into this pretty girl returning home.

Even my measly phone decently captured her pretty smile and classic style. I told her how great she looked and she commented on my fishnets, probably feeling like she had to return the compliment.

On stage with Rupa and the fishes, to my surprise, was Mona Caron, the gifted muralist who has transformed so many of San Francisco's public spaces, including the wall behind the Safeway on Market into the iconic Duboce Bikeway Mural.

Thanks to Mona, Rupa (and the Fishes too) and this pretty girl on her bike for continuing to pump SF with their fabulously creative energies!