It wasn't faulty electronics that nearly washed out the centerpiece of the Seattle Bicycle Music Festival on Saturday morning. It was some cheap skateboard wheels that started melting.
But the show must go on. Organizers fixed the problem, and the audience enjoyed pedal-powered music all day long and into the night in the festival that everyone's calling a huge success.
The technical gurus behind the pedal-powered sound system had stayed up until almost midnight on Friday putting the finishing touches on the “Bike Bar.” That's the name for the 16-foot-long hand-made generator that holds the five bicycles that provides wattage for the PA system.
They thought they had worked out all the kinks for the first show at Bergen Park at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. But they noticed the cheap skateboard wheels they had used to support the Bike Bar's drivetrain against the bicycle wheels weren't up to the task of constant spinning. They started to melt.
Shop opens
Jon Murray, one of the folks who worked on the Bike Bar for the festival, said they put in a call to the local board-sports shop, evo, and someone opened the store early so they could buy some decent skateboard wheels and bearings that could hold up to the job.
Everything was running smoothly by the time I visited the festival in Denny Park, the second stop on the three-venue rolling music festival around Seattle.
This a music festival where the audience goes on tour, instead of the performers. After every show, the festival packs up and travels to the next site by bicycle. The Bike Bar itself folds in half and becomes its own 8-foot-long trailer.
Pedal-powered sound
Bergen Park was the first show, followed by Denny Park. (That's The Mongrel Jews playing at right.) The last venue of the day is Cal Anderson Park; if you're reading on Saturday , you're encouraged to ride on by and check out the tunes Saturday night. See the scheduled list of performers below.
Joe Taylor, another one of the wizards who helped build the Bike Bar, said their idea for the device came from the annual Bicycle Music Festival in San Francisco. The five bicycles spin a drivetrain that's connected to an alternator from a VW. That keeps a car battery charged that's used to power the sound equipment.
Going full steam, the bicyclists can produce up to 1,000 watts of power; the sound system uses about 800 watts at its peak, Taylor said.
The Seattle-based International Bicycle Fund backed the music festival. Sylvie Janecek helped make arrangements for the parks and handled publicity.
You can read about the bands and all the work that has gone into this project at the Seattle Bicycle Music Festival website.
Here's the schedule (check the links for park locations and info about the bands):
Bergen Place, Ballard
9 – 10 a. m.: Leaf Colors
10:15 to 11:15 a.m.: Ethan J. Perry
Denny Park, Downtown
1:15 – 2:15 p.m.: Three Ninjas
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.: The Mongrel Jews
3:45 – 5:00 p.m.: No Rey
Cal Anderson Park, 11th Ave.
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.: Orkestar Zirkonium (at right)
7:30 – 8:30 p.m.: Manigua Band
8:45 – 10:00 p.m.: Goose Vargis
Orkestar Zirkonium
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