The Choprical Fish

Had a great time performing with Ken the mad scientist, Joel, Zori, Mafi, and Daniel last night at the KFOG Kaboom. We had completely sustainable sound -- solar charged keyboard amp, and human powered vocals. We performed about 2 hours in an area filled with tailgaters, for tips, food, and fun.

We're entering the Innovate or Die competition. We'd really appreciate it if you would view, forward, rate, and comment on our YouTube entry.

Also, please take a look at the other submissions in the contest. There are some cool ones, particularly the Pedal Powered Zoetrope, and the Dual Purpose Bicycle (for powering tools in the developing world).

Two of Rock The Bike customer Jay Broemmel's rad creations, as well as Fossil Fool's new Soul Cycle, were among the art bikes and bike hacks selected for a cool article in WIRED entitled "Bike Hackers Get Whimsical With Two-Wheelers".

I've been thinking about the comparisons between Bike Culture and Hip Hop culture. One of the cool things about Hip Hop is that it has four clearly defined elements: Rap, Breakdance, Graffiti, and DJ'ing. It seems like Bike Culture could have similar pillars: tall bikes, critical mass, night rides with music, riding in the rain, fixing a friend's flat tire, etc. Perhaps human power might be one of these pillars also? Here's a video shot in Austin at their annual Moonlight Cruise. We were at one of the rest stops, and I popped the Choprical Fish onto it's beefy center stand and pedal powered some dance music. You can get a sense of how well attended this ride is, especially considering it began at 2AM!

photo: Paul McKenzie

I've had some serious wanderlust recently and decided to head to Southern California. I've been wanting to stuff a few things in my bag and travel as a street performer with the Choprical Fish.

The night before my train, I had a photoshoot for the upcoming Clif Bar 2 Mile challenge, along with Gabe from SHAKE YOUR PEACE! and his friends from Utah. The 2 Mile Challenge is an upcoming college campus tour to promote bicycling. After the shoot, I packed my messenger bag with clothes and we all rode to Embarcadero BART so I could sleep in the workshop. What an amazing send off. We cruised by the ball park, where a game was letting out. We sang a call-and-response song as we were threading our way through the crowd. Epic!

It was my first time really traveling with the Choprical fish, so I put in a long night getting the bike road worthy. I never got around to sleeping.

The next morning at 6 I rode to the Amtrak in Emeryville from the workshop. I don't have many occasions to ride the Choprical Fish without music, so that morning was very sweet. I swear the birds were responding to the squeak of my disc brakes.

The Amtrak people were friendly and did non make me put my bike in a box. I dismantled the audio components and stowed them as luggage. In Bakersfield I transferred to an Amtrak bus, and the bus driver gave me my own storage bay.

Sanjay got on the Choprical Fish and started singing soulfully along with the JB's.
Originally uploaded by Rock The Bike Late in the evening, after Gabe and I had officially closed the Bicycle Music Festival, Sanjay got on the Choprical Fish and began singing very soulfully along with the music. I passed him the mic and he shredded the place!