Spring Tour Documentary

It's been a long time, relatively, since the spring tour, but I've finally finished editing the video footage. The spring tour documentary includes 4 segments, which can be viewed here, or on youtube.

Part 1 includes an introduction to the tours values and some reflections on the music. Part 2 takes us to Spartanburg, SC for visits with Partners for Active Living and Snidely Sidewinder and the Unrepentant Uke Boys. In part 3, some fans name their favorite tunes and we learn about the Looking Glass Artists Collective, Urban Harvest Greensboro, the Monkey Bottom Collaborative and Lynchburg Grows. Part 4 features Friends of the Rappahannock, Phoenix Bikes and the Velocipede Bike Project as well as the truth about the mustache.

Two Ukuleles are Better than One

Ukulele performer and bicycle tourist, Aaron Lee is back on the road again - and with some company this time. Lee joins forces with fellow ukuleleist Tucker Louisos-Daniels for a short tour in Maine that they have dubbed the "Two Ukuleles are Better Than One Tour." The pair will be riding bicycles to transport themselves, and their gear, between shows.

Last year, Lee launched the "Ukulele by Bicycle Tour" and has been traveling between concerts by bicycle on and off for much of the past year, logging over 4000 miles and performing more than 80 shows, many of which are partnerships with community organizations that share the tour's values of community, local action and sustainability.

"I've been trying to get somebody to ride with me for a long time," said Lee, when asked if he ever gets lonely on the road.

Lee and Louisos-Daniels promise a fun mix of cover songs, including many that you would never expect to hear on a ukulele, and originals from Lee's album, "The Ukulele Project," in which each song creatively and intentionally includes the word ukulele. Audiences are guaranteed to leave the show with a smile on their face, a ukulele song in their head, and the knowledge that two ukuleles really are better than one.

Tuesday August 9 - Portland, ME
Mama's Crow Bar, 189 Congress Street
8pm

Wednesday August 10 - Waterville, ME
Mainely Beers and Brewhouse, 1 Post Office Square
8pm

Thursday August 11 - Norway, ME
Norway Farmers Market, Main St.
3-6 pm

Friday August 12 - Brunswick, ME
Second Friday Artwalk, Bank of America Plaza
5-8pm

Saturday August 13 - Portland, ME
South Portland Public Library
Children's Music Show
11am

Ukulele by Bicycle Tour Documentary: Spring 2011 Part 1

Check out this video, put together from the Spring 2011 leg of the Ukulele by Bicycle Tour.

twitter

I've given up on trying to write actual blog posts for this tour, my twitter feed might be your best bet:

Ukulele by Bicycle Summer 2011

In some very exciting news, I will be loading up the bicycle and hitting the road again in the coming summer months.  I am currently booking shows for tour segments in May and July/August. If you are involved in a community organization and would like to host a show, please check out the About section and the For Hosts/Venues section and get in touch. The following videos are also a great way to learn about the tour:

From Spartanburg, SC: If you'd like to skip the famous person gossip and head straight to my segmant, it starts at 5:25

Bicycle Transportation in South Carolina

I made some wonderful new friends while on tour in Spartanburg, SC in the fall.  Many of them are involved in Partners for Active Living, who promote bicycling, walking and other forms of activity as a way to make a healthier, more livable community.  Here is a blog post from Ned Barrett, Bicycle Commuter, Partner for Active Living, and Partner for Fun Ukulele Music:

http://nedbarrett.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-equitable-transportation-system.html

Where do you get the extra half-hour a day that the Centers for Disease Control recommend for adults to exercise?  What if you were active in your everyday life, walking to the store to get a gallon of milk, biking to the park with your kids, or walking to work two days a week? 

More than 88% of over a thousand Spartanburg County residents surveyed last year as a part of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan process responded that they would walk to work if conditions were safer for doing so.  More than 75% said they supported improving conditions for walking and biking, and 88% supported using public funds to do so.

Thanks Ned!

Happy Valentine's Day

A valentine's day video for all of the ukulele lovers out there.

Thanks to Connor, Amanda, Amanda and Otto. Thanks Lauren Abrami for helping with the lyrics.

Lynchburg Grows

Lynchburg Grows, an urban farm who partnered with me to put on an excellent fundraiser in Lynchburg, VA, has completed a conservation easement on their 6.8 acre property.  This assures that their farm is forever protected from development and is another great step forward for Lynchburg Grows.  The articles below feature a number of great quotes from city officials which demonstrate the support that the City of Lynchburg has for the local food movement and for a great community organization.  Executive Director Michael Van Ness also tells me that they have recently been selling food to the local school districts.  A big thanks to the folks at Lynchburg Grows for all of the work they are doing.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2010/dec/28/conservation-protection-place-lynchburg-grows-look-ar-739075/

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2011/jan/04/bright-spot-heart-lynchburg-ar-750421/

On solo bicycle touring

A friend recently passed along "Catfish and Mandala" by Andrew X. Pham, the story of a solo bicycle tour in Vietnam.  It is a wonderfully well written account, and has more depth than your average travel diary, as the life story of a vietnamese american family comes out alongside brilliant, spot-on, descriptions of the art of the bicycle tour.  This paragraph is my favorite:

Touring solo on a bicycle, I discover, is an act of stupidity or an act of divine belief.  It is intense stretches of isolation punctuated with flashes of pure terror and indelible moments of friendship.  Mostly, it is dirty work particularly suitable for the stubborn masochist.  I was suckered into the adventure, the elegant simplicity of its execution, and, yes, even the glory of its agony.

With that, I am thinking of taking the Ukulele by Bicycle Tour back on the road in the summer of 2011.  While I would probably do it alone (and bask in the glory of the agony), I am also accepting applications for the position of "tour manager" whose job it would be to ride along with me and be there to share my excitement at the price of bananas at Food Lion or a record breaking time between Rutherforton and Boiling Springs, NC.