Originally appeared on Common Ground.
Quotation:
"A fresh undercurrent of musical culture is reinventing what’s cool — and taking gasoline out of the equation."
Excerpt:
In San Francisco, Fossil Fool, “The Bike Rapper,” has achieved an unlikely alchemy. Known more casually as Paul Freedman, the innovative vocalist and tech wizard has blended the shadowy realm of streetside rap with the gentle notion of the bicycle. He rides a massive, self-designed pedal-powered chopper from gig to gig. It’s a bike mean as hell and cool as night. It glows when pedaled and serves as a human-powered P.A. system at Fossil Fool’s mobile street parties, and it gets great gas mileage between venues — which is to say none.
“My character when I perform is a rapper born in an alternate universe where bikes are cool and cars are lame,” says Freedman. “There’s no doubt we live in a car culture, but I also have no doubt that bikes are way cooler. People are sick of the hip-hop culture where the rapper has the newest Mercedes.”
In San Francisco, Fossil Fool and shake your peace! join the Sonya Cotton Band in organizing the second annual Bicycle Music Festival, scheduled for June 21st. Last summer the fledgling event drew 300 spectators as 20 strong-legged bands jammed at venues throughout the city, packing up and shifting camp multiple times between 10 a.m. and 1 a.m. This year, organizers expect a crowd of 800 or more. Meanwhile, media around the nation have covered the accelerating trend, and though mtv still flaunts rappers and rockers in limos and jets, the pedal-powered music revolution may be nearing critical mass. What happens then is still anyone’s guess, but let’s hope it’s downhill.