“If you’ve ever imagined what a post peak-oil San Francisco Ecotopia sun festival might look like and feel like, the Bicycle Music Festival is pretty much that.” ~Gabe Dominguez

Here’s a great article/interview with BMF founders Gabe Dominguez and Paul Freedman about the upcoming Bicycle Music Festival SF 2010!
Thanks to Sona Avakian of SF Events Examiner!

Pedal-Powered Music Coming Your Way
July 31

By Sona Avakian, SF Events Examiner
Read full online article

If you’ve ever wanted to ride your bike through the city listening to live music (and who hasn’t?) July 31 is your next chance. This is the fourth year of the Bicycle Musical Festival, an outgrowth of Rock the Bike and it’s doubled in size each year. The festival is a roving, roaming troupe of merry musicians and all their music is powered by bicycle. Nothing is plugged in, no money goes to PG&E and no pollution is created. This year’s festival begins at noon at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park with (among others) Diana Gameros, a puppet show and Sean Hayes. Then a LiveOnBike bicycle parade across the city will bring the festivities to Showplace Triangle at Sixteenth and Wisconsin Streets where The Derailleurs, Manicato and many more bands will play. Check here for the full schedule.

I met Paul Freedman aka Fossil Fool, Rock the Bike’s founder and the Bike Festival’s co-founder/director at a mutual friend’s barbecue this past Fourth of July. I quickly hit him and co-founder/director Gabe Dominguez up for interviews.

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Hello everyone!

The Bicycle Music Festival is only days away and it’s time to get you on a volunteer team! Please be sure to invite all your friends to the event, and hey! why not encourage them to be volunteers as well?!

Thanks to those of you who have already had an opportunity to step up and get BMF rolling. If you are for sure coming to BMF and you’re hoping to lend a hand, please join our BMF Volunteers Google Group to receive all further notifications.

Here’s the direct link to the BMF Volunteers Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/bmfsf.

Below, you will find a list of crews which need volunteers. Please let us know which team you are going to hop on, and we’ll make sure your team captain has your contact info.

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Bicycle Music Festival has been awarded a Community Arts Grant from the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

“The Mission of the Zellerbach Family Foundation is to be a catalyst for constructive social change by initiating and investing in efforts that strengthen families and communities.”

Many thanks to the Zellerbach Family and the Foundation for supporting bicycle music, from the community, by the community, and for the community.

Dear BMF Family,

The 2010 San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival has been RESCHEDULED for Saturday, JULY 31.

Going legit has been harder than we thought! With 3 weeks to go, we still hadn’t gotten all the police approvals we needed for our LiveOnBike rides and street closure. We want our Festival to be fun for our crew, bands, and fans. The unknowns were adding a lot of stress to an event that we do for pleasure. We’ve decided to postpone it, giving us long enough to ice the permits, focus on the creative aspects, and bring the fun back. We hope you understand!

Saturday, June 19 we are going to have a crew picnic at 3PM in Dolores Park — come join us pot luck style if you want to get involved as a volunteer!

Lots of good progress:

- We have raised $2500 so far this year, thanks to generous support from Rainbow Grocery, Rock The Bike, and the greater Bicycle Music community, enough to cover our permits and several other key costs.

- We’ve processed a check request for the Golden Gate Park venue.

- Great bands are on board: Manicato, Spaceheater, The Get Back, La Collectiva, and more.

Please enjoy the additional time we have to make this year’s BMF great and groundbreaking, and pass along any ideas you have for building our community and strengthening our foundation.

Yours,

Paul, Gabe, and Jeff

San Francisco’s City Commissioner Ross Mirkarimi and the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco have honored the Bicycle Music Festival with the City’s highest commendation: The Certificate of Honor.

BMF thanks Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and the Board of Supervisors for this great honor!

Did you know that BMF acquired its Nonprofit Status this year?

The Bicycle Music Festival is now a 501(c)3 project of the San Francisco Parks Trust http://www.sfpt.org.

San Francisco Parks Trust is dedicated to providing leadership and support for San Francisco parks, recreation centers, and open spaces.
We at BMF are so grateful to be a part of such a great project and we look forward to our future work together!

This means that your donations are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE! Yes!!
Please support the festival by making your donation Here.

Thank you to all of our current and future sponsors.

Bicycle Music Festival BENEFIT:  THE ROAD TO BMF
Friday, FEBRUARY 5th, 2010,  8pm – 11:50pm
At CELL SPACE in San Francisco.  19th & BRYANT

The event starts with a LiveOnBike performance by The Genie at 6:30, then awesome street food from Sol Cocina and Bike Basket Pies.

Then we’ll feature live performances by awesome local bands on Rock The Bike’s Pedal Powered Stage.

Shotgun Wedding Quintet

Tomato Riper

SHAKE YOUR PEACE!

Fossil Fool

Justin Ancheta

Circus Arts performances by:

Tara Quinn (aerial hoop)
Jodi and Jess -  roller-skate acrobatics duo
Shawn and Renegade Crew – B-boy breaking
Mark – unicycle and juggling

Beer from 21st Amendment Brewery.

Bike Blended Smoothies

Photo gallery, Art bikes by Jay Broemmel, Fossil Fool

This event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=268770596666&ref=ts

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Why are we calling it The Road To BMF?

By the time Bicycle Music Festival hits this year, we want the community with us: bands, fans, roadies, pedal power coaches, cops, neighbors, squirrels, and more. Our goal is to produce the best music festival we possibly can, with no use of fossil fuel-burning generators and vehicles. A lot of things have to go right between now and then. Permits, publicity, amazing bands signing on. So this is our chance to kick the season off right.

We’re hosting a series of events that help us get there.

They include:

Feb 5th at Cell Space

Pedal Powered Stage at Maker Faire in San Mateo

BMF and the Pleasant Revolution roll into Vancouver, BC this weekend for the last leg of the NorthWest tour this Saturday, August 29.

The info is below and can also be found HERE

Also, you can follow the happenings and see pics of the Bicycle Music Festival NorthWest tour through Little J’s blog: http://nowherelove.com

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This one day event is guaranteed to the be best party for bicycles in Vancouver this summer!

SCHEDULE

New Brighton Park: 10:30am – 12:30pm (early morning yoga class starts at 9:30am)

Crab Park: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Vancouver Museum: 5:30pm – 10:00pm

There’ll be a beer garden and food at the Vancouver Museum and for anyone who has not yet visited the Velo-City exhibit, the Museum is staying open until 10pm for the party and all festival goers can see the beautiful bike exhibit for 50% off the regular ticket price!

This festival is being organized on a volunteer basis, and we really need your help to make it happen. Please please please email smartymaddypants(AT)gmail.com if you want to volunteer.

IMPORTANT VOLUNTEER JOBS STILL EMPTY:

1. Donation Fairies

2. Crowd Control at the Vancouver Museum

3. Set up and clean up crew

4. Homes/ place to camp for 14 visiting musicians for Friday/ Saturday and Sunday nights

And finally, ALL of the performers are volunteering for the festival too – this is a busking-style festival – so please bring a pocket full of change so you can show all of the awesome performers your support.

BANDS & PERFORMERS:
Ginger Ninjas
Orkestarslivovica
Bear Dyken
Little J
StitchCraft
Creaking Planks
Aunts and Uncles
B:C:Clettes
Cello Joe

Don’t forget money for the beer garden and for food.

Good times ahead!

Join the Ginger Ninjas on Sunday, August 30 from 2-4pm at the Vancouver Museum for a slide show presentation of the Pleasant Revolutionary Tour! Donations gratefully accepted (and help make the whole tour possible)

This Saturday, August 22, the BMF crew rolls into Seattle! Led by the Ginger Ninjas and the Pleasant Revolution Tour, BMFers will show Seattle how to pedal their way to musical bliss!

Tour Route & Lineup for Seattle:

9am Early Ride: Live On Bike Music ride to Waterfront Park starting at Delridge Playfield

10am Waterfront Park : Holly Phillips – Julia Massey – James Kennedy – Stitchcraft – Susan Harper – Bahia

2pm Afternoon cruise with Live On Bike music

3pm Denny Park : Blue 55 – Bend – Nettle Honey – Aeolian

6pm Ride to Space Needle

7-8:30pm Seattle Center Movies at the Mural : The Ginger Ninja – Cello Joe – Bear Dyken

9pm Evening ride to evening concert

9:30pm Evening concert Secret Location: Goose Vargis – The Pressure

BMF Seattle needs volunteers. Email seattlebicyclemusicfestival@gmail.com to get involved!
Visit www.seattlebicyclemusicfestival.com for more info on all stops on the tour.

Here’s the schedule for this Sunday, August 16:

City Bikes at 1914 Ankeny st.

On The Stairs         12pm-12:25pm
Mere Mention         12:30pm-12:55pm
Grace Tea              1:00pm-1:25pm
Catherine Feeny    1:30pm-2pm
Cello Joe                2:05-2:35pm

Hawthorne Street Fair cruise 2:45pm-3:30pm

Laurelhurst park
The Helping Hands          4pm-4:30pm
James Kennedy  if time– 4:35-5:00pm

Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Stitchcraft                          6pm-6:30pm
Spider & fly/Fast Rattler    6:35pm-7:05pm

Vanilla Bicycles 717 SE 35th ave.
Bear Dyken 8:00pm-8:30pm
Slideshow 8:35pm-9:05pm
Ginger Ninjas 9:15pm-10:45pm
Acoustic jam, chill, chat, love session 11:00-12:00pm