so a good friend of mine from Albany facebook'ed me while i was in Syracuse talking about how we should bike to buffalo before the summer was over and we both went off to college for the year. sort of an end of the summer, "hello responsibility" trip. now what i hadn't really realized about my good friend Katt XVX is that she is also a folk/punkish acoustic singer & song writer. now we both definitely share many of the same views in Veganism, Straight Edge as well as political, social, and ethical ideals; and we also agree on the perspective of bikes being an environmentally, ethical and self liberating/fulfilling form of traveling. I'm not saying automobiles are the devil, because that would be hypocritical of me to say. but if i can travel long distances efficiently by bicycle, the I'm gonna do it. no questions asked.
Now. the idea came about very spontaneously while puttering around the house bored out of my skull. I just instantly thought how rad it would be if Katt and I packed some cloths, sleeping bags, guitars stuffed in milk crates with bungee cords on the back of our bikes and rode around the northeast for two weeks playing house shows, dumpster diving, sleeping in parks and busking on city streets. I also had the idea of us putting together a 6 to 8 song split Cd's, with all hand made, spray painted sleeves to sell on the tour.
In theory, this is 100% possible to execute. two people. both vegan, riding bikes that would require no gas to power. inevitably insuring that all money that was made from shows, demo sales & busking would go straight into feeding us and paying for minor bike repairs that we may have to make while on the road.
this has always been a dream of mine to be able to do. and it's rad that i have a friend that is just as equally excited about making this trip a reality.
right now I'll be spending the fall and winter months cataloging venues & collectives and hopefully soon we'll be plotting out a set travel route for the tour. as soon as we've determined the route that we wanna take, we'll be able to start booking shows in specific locations based on the dates that we'll be biking through those areas. I'd love to be able to book the entire two weeks solid so that we have shows every night. But we all know how touring goes. shows fall through, venues can't help you, etc. so even still, a few days off will be nice. especially since we'll be biking the whole time and playing when we're not traveling. a few days off from playing to rest and gather strength will be excellent.
right now off the top of my head, these are a few places I'm thinking to travel through that i know have a few good collectives. Buffalo, Syracuse, Earlville, Ithaca, Watertown, Ogdensburg, Plattsburgh, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Brooklyn NYC, Waterbury & New Haven Connecticut, Providence Rhode Island, Boston Massachusetts, Portland and Bangor Maine, Brattleboro & Burlington Vermont and possibly anywhere else we can find that will fit in our route.
i know i speak for myself and hopefully for Katt, that the summer of 2010, is going to be the greatest summer ever.
to be continued...
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