Ginger Ninjas's Blog
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Guadalajara
Arriving at night in Guadalajara we packed up and met our good friend
Chava and started our first ride in Mexico for the 2009 tour. Since
then we’ve been busy! The Ginger Ninjas first had an interview with the
University of Guadalajara radio station. Next, there was a gig at a
Hurana, a traditional party, where the men play and sing while the
women dance. For many on the trip this was a new and really special
experience with great people, music, and furious dancing. The Ninjas
played at the Plaza Revolucion on Sunday, when the city of Guadalajara
closes a major road for pedestrians and bikes in what they call the Via
Recreativa. Another show later in the evening for a small cultural show
in another plaza. Later, we headed to the Zocalo in front of the
Catedral, set up the bike generators, and played till midnight. Other
highlights of our stay in Guadalajara were a bike trip with the mayor
of Guadalajara for the ceremonial opening of a new bike path in
Guadalajara. The Ginger Ninjas also played at the bar The Bebotero,
where many friends we met around town showed up. For me personally, the
highlight of our stay in Guadalajara was the Paseo Nocturno, a mass
bike ride throughout the city starting at midnight. A huge group of
cyclist of all ages and types, organized by our friend Jorge, road
through the city in the cool fresh air of a Guadalajara night. Headman
Kipchoge also lead the “Soul Cycling” with the 12″ speaker hooked to a
battery for some good jams. The good spirit, great company, smooth
ride, and sheer amount of people was something unforgettable. After the
ride we stopped in the park for another Ginger Ninjas show. The best
about Guadalajara for me, and I believe all of us, were the people we
met at every show who were super friendly, happy, and “bien chido.
-Mateo
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Stanford Magazine Article
Spinning Tunes by James Vlahos
Kipchoge Spencer was somewhere in Mexico, and so
was I. We had that going for us. But other than know-
ing that Spencer, '96, and his rock band, the Ginger
Ninjas, were riding bicycles across the state of Jalisco,
I was clueless, and attempts to learn more—text mes-
sages sent, blogs scrutinized, a publicist interrogated
by cell phone—hadn't produced any concrete leads. I
hired a taxi in Guadalajara. The driver took me four
hours west to the town of Mascota. No Ninjas. I
reached for my phone once again and then had a bet-
ter idea: rolling down the taxi window, I waved to a
passerby. "¿Visto usted los gringos en bicicletas?" I asked.
"Si," he responded, pointing straight ahead. Two min-
utes later I was shaking hands with Spencer.
The Ginger Ninjas—Spencer, singer/guitarist Eco
Lopez and drummer Brock Wollard—and an entou-
rage of a dozen riders were lounging in Mascota's
central plaza. A small group of Mexicans strolled by,
some glancing discreetly, some gaping. The Ninjas
had forgone many of the usual trappings of a rock
band on tour, most notably the tour bus. The band
was traveling 5,000 miles, from Northern California
to southern Mexico, entirely by bike. Starting last
November, the group had cycled for three months
down the Sierra and across the Central Valley; atop
the bluffs of the Central Coast and through the
sprawl of Los Angeles; along the beaches of Baja, and
now to mountainous Jalisco, 600 miles south of the
U.S. border. The final destination was the jungle of
Chiapas, near Guatemala.
With concerns about climate change escalating,
it was perhaps inevitable that musicians would get in
on the carbon-mitigation act. The Rolling Stones and
Coldplay purchase offsets; Korn and the Dave Mat-
thews Band tour in biodiesel-fueled buses. It is one
thing, however, to trim emissions and another to elim-
inate them almost entirely, as the Ninjas have done.
Theirs is possibly the world's first self-supported bicy-
cle tour by a rock band. The tour name is The Pleasant
Revolution, which Spencer calls the ultimate experiment
in "environmentally sustainable rock 'n' roll."
As I assembled my bike so that I could ride along
for a few days, the band was having a discussion.
"Who called this meeting, anyway?" Spencer asked.
"I did," said Wollard, who was wearing a bright
dashiki over Hawaiian shorts. (He had been hired,
via craigslist in San Diego, after a disagree-
ment with the group's previous percussion-
ists—"they insisting on LSD as their way to
learn the songs, us insisting on practice,"
Spencer explained in an e-mail to friends.)
"Okay, what would you like to talk about?"
"I would like to know, first of all, where
the hell are we going?"
The question was not uncommon. The
itinerary called for heading to Guadalajara,
but, as was often the case, an intriguing detour
had presented itself. In Talpa de Allende, an
isolated mountain pueblo, Catholic pilgrims
from hundreds of miles around were gather-
ing for a festival. It commemorated a 17th-
century, papally recognized miracle involving
a decaying statuette of the Virgin Mary that
had been struck by a bolt of lightning and
made new. Thousands of people would be in
Talpa to eat, drink, pray and celebrate. After
a short discussion, the band members decided that
they should go, too.
Pedestrians gawked as the two-wheeler caravan
left Mascota on a cobbled road. The bikes were bur-
dened with camping gear, clothing and musical equip-
ment. Wollard toted a full drum kit. Joey Chang, a
guest musician with the band, biked with a cello,
which, I found out later, he could play while simulta-
neously rapping and beat-boxing. (His weren't the
only curious talents—entourage member Toby Rob-
inson was a veteran of international footbag and rock-
paper-scissors competitions.) Bear Dyken, another
rider, pedaled up beside me and pointed down at his
ride. "We have the kitchen, the bedroom, the music
studio and the exercise gym all in one," he said.
We turned onto a rutted dirt track. As it snaked
upward into piney mountains, the convoy spread
apart, and I rode with Spencer. Since graduating
from Stanford with a degree from the interdisciplin-
ary earth systems program, he has been a man of
many vocations—musician, white-water rafting
guide, television star (he was on MTV's The Reality
Show, in which he demonstrated environmentally
sustainable living) and entrepreneur. In 1998, he and
another Stanford graduate, Ross Evans, '97, founded
Xtracycle, which makes kits that extend the rear
wheel of a bike to add cargo bags and a small wooden
platform. The carrying capacity is up to 150 pounds,
and most of the riders on the tour were equipped
with Xtracycles.
Spencer's home is an off-the-grid retreat in the
mountains north of Nevada City, Calif.; he humor-
ously refers to himself as a "self-absorbed headstrong
buylocalorganofascist." A cult-of-personality figure in
the bike-activist movement (for example, the Criti-
cal Mass events held each month when thousands of
cyclists take to the streets together in cities around
the world), he believes riding is the solution to many
social and environmental problems. But Spencer is a
lead-by-example rather than a lecturing type, and he
says that people should ride bikes not just because
it's more sustainable but also because it's more fun.
"The Pleasant Revolution is about realizing that by
giving up cars we gain a life that's way more rich,
humane and happy," Spencer said. "Anybody who
stops driving and starts biking feels that."
The tour was also about luck. When the band and
crew were hungry, strangers would materialize to
provide a hot meal. When they couldn't find a place
to camp, newfound friends would put them up. "In
60 days of Mexican travel, we've paid for lodging
three times," Spencer wrote in an e-mail dispatch.
"Most of the time we've found ourselves in secret vil-
las and mystic ranches and even a couple of seaside
mansions." A musical performance won the group ferry
passage from the Baja Peninsula to the Mexican main-
land. A few days later, after a man saw them struggling
up a steep mountain pass, he let them stay by a hot
springs in a private ecological reserve. "Our joke is
that The Pleasant Revolution may not be a revolution,
but it definitely has been pleasant," Spencer said.
After camping that night on the rim of a gorge
under Ponderosa pines, we woke the
next morning to shouts, laughter and
exploding firecrackers. Correction: It
was still night, starlit and cold, but
hundreds of jubilant pilgrims were
streaming through camp, which, in
our exhaustion, we'd pitched more or
less right on the trail. Some people
carried clear plastic boxes on their backs that held
statues of the Virgin; others had rocks in their shoes
to increase the ardor of the pilgrimage. Many had
been trekking for days.
We reached Talpa at midday after an exhilarating
descent from a mountain pass. The historic pueblo,
cradled in the valley below, was flooded with cele-
brants. Gilded steeples rose above the stone church
that held the miraculous statuette. In the plaza out-
side, men blasted trumpets, trombones and tubas at
triple forte; couples danced; and strangers would
hand you a beer if you stood still for a minute. The
location was ideal for a show.
That night Dante Espinosa, band engineer and
roadie-in-chief, put two bikes on stands so that the
rear wheels no longer touched the ground. When
pedaled, they would generate electricity to power the
sound system. As a crowd of curious Mexicans gath-
ered around, Dante and another
entourage member mounted
the bikes and pedaled. Spen-
cer and Lopez began to sing
and strum, and sound explod-
ed from the speakers, no elec-
tric outlets in sight.
The music combined rock,
bluegrass and reggae, with
lyrics in both English and
Spanish—Lopez is Uruguay-
an, and Spencer speaks profi-
ciently as well. The songs had
the chilled-out confessional
quality of Jack Johnson and
the internationalism and
political bite of Manu Chau.
The audience response was
tepid initially. Lopez called
for volunteers to pedal but
nobody came forward. Speaking in Spanish, Spencer
announced, "We're here to educate people about
how to live without gasoline. It's a slower but more
fulfilling way of life." He kept his composure even as
an exuberant man lurched forward and attempted to
pour rum down Spencer's throat.
The band kicked into a second number, then a
third. With each one the crowd got louder, larger and
more appreciative. Between songs, a man wearing
riding chaps and a Stetson came up and told Lopez
that he never liked American rock music—until now.
"No electricity?" asked another man, looking amazed.
Lopez just smiled and nodded. I learned later that
these reactions were typical. At first the Ginger Nin-
jas were the crazy norteamericanos, but soon everyone
wanted to be their friends. The first show in a new
place would be free, but the next night and the night
after, locals would hire the Ninjas to play, providing
much-needed funds to keep the tour afloat.
The next time Lopez called for volunteers, two
men came forward immediately; for the rest of the
set people were practically fighting each other for
the opportunity to pedal-power the band. The gre-
garious drunk found his way back to Wollard, who
accepted an offering of rum, while playing, but only
after he realized that the man was going to pour it on
him whether he opened his mouth or not. Hundreds
of people cheered as the band kicked into an up-
tempo ska number. Spencer and Lopez sang together,
"Call it a renaissance, call it anything you like; the
revolution is coming on a bike."
JAMES VLAHOS is a writer for National Geographic
Adventure and other magazines. He lives in Berkeley.
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Fall Tour!
Current mood:
Thanks for your interest in the future of sustainable touring. A lot of organizations talk about earth conservation. These groups usually travel in hybrids or vehicles that run on Bio-fuels or even jets or regular gas hogs, but the Ginger Ninjas are trying to practice the preach and raise the bar in earth friendly touring. We travel and perform using only human power and the occasional public transport. We just returned from touring 5000 miles from Northern California to Southern Mexico on bicycles, unsupported by automobile and using no wall outlets for power. We carried all instruments (even a full drum kit) and sound reinforcement equipment on our bikes; all electricity was generated by our crew and audience members—pedaling our bikes and harnessing the energy of the spinning back wheel using a simple system we designed.
thankful
No gas! No grid power! Super-minimal carbon footprint!
For the months of September and October, we will be touring through the Northeast. As you can tell we tour in a very grassroots manner, and therefore rely heavily on the support of our friends and families. If you have any skills that could benefit the spreading of this positive vibration, please contribute what you can. In exchange for your time and energy, we'll give you free entry to our shows in your city, our CD, and a tour T-shirt.
Here's a taste of what needs to be done in each city for a successful tour:
Local Event Sponsors
Local Press Outreach
Networking with Local Environmental and Bicycle Organizations.
Online and Design Teams (Myspace, emails, web/pod casts, design flyers, etc.)
Street Team (pass out flyers, put up posters, etc.)
A local bicyclist to escort us into and out of town
Lodgings
Meals
Check out the Updated Tour Schedule for info on where we'll be.
If you can help, send us a message on Myspace or email us at Gingerninjas@gmail.com.
Thanks Guys and Gals! GN -
Band Review & Interview By Arturo Garcia
Riding to Mexico City
MERETRICES LITTERARY MAGAZINE
By Arturo Garcia
CHAPALA, JALISCO. The rock group Ginger Ninjas is passing through Lake Chapala on a 5,000 mile journey from the Sierras of Northern California to the jungles of Chiapas, visiting our entire country and giving hundreds of shows along the way with their bike powered energy source. Yesterday, Saturday February 16th, this activist/pacifist band gave a free concert at the Fuente de los Pescadores del Malecon (Fishermen's Fountain at the Pier). The Director of the Cultural Office of the Municipality of Chapala, Sergio Unzueta, in coordination with the Office of Culture of the State of Jalisco, introduced the band within the framework of the "Chapala Vivo" festival.
The Gig
The afternoon air is clean. The pier proudly boasts its new glittering stone pavement. In spite of its polluted green color, the lake seems closer to us. Its waters now bathe the sandy beach which, for those of us who grew up along its shores, used to symbolize the vast enclave of conformity. In the distance, a sailing boat is having a love affair with the waves dancing to the rhythm of the music coming from Fishermen's Fountain. The sun is setting, and when it finally hides a magnificent palette of colors and golden shades opens before our eyes. This afternoon, lake Chapala is more alive than ever. There is a spark of life that bursts from the palm trees and the willows that flank the Fountain . The three North American Flags are waving with the breeze flowing through the material souls of the cello, the drums, the microphones, the speakers and the bicycles that surround us. Peace reigns. The relaxed spectators take their places close to the band members which are now starting to warm up their bicycles and their instruments. And there I am with my two sons, right in front of the stage, waiting to hear what would be one of the best concerts of my life.
The Ginger Ninjas & Cello-Joe from
This Rock/Funk/Experimental group calls itself the Ginger Ninjas. No matter that my knowledge of music is rather limited, what truly matters is that nothing can possibly distract me when I listen to Cello Joe play and sing by himself; his music brings joy and inspiration. Cello Joe is a very cool and extremely talented young man, who graduated from the Berkeley University School of Music. His attire is casual, he wears huaraches as sandals and as a headpiece he is using a piñata in the shape of Disney's famous donkey, Eeyore. His message is captivating. In a somewhat funny Spanish, accompanied by the sounds of his instrument, Cello Joe involves us in a totally creational and recreational atmosphere in which the message is "get rid of cars/ride a bicycle/take care of the environment". The crowd is moved when, in favorable terms, he compares Mexico to the United States and launches an appeal to open peoples' awareness so that they do not make the same mistakes as their neighbor from the North, where oil is the centerpiece of the engines of mobility.
Eco: a seductive voice honoring her name.
Eco Lopez is the very soul of the band. Her voice seduces us evoking the softness and the sensuality of the soul; a mixture of Gustafson, O'Riordan and Torroja. Highs and lows, whisperings to the microphone. I quiver in astonishment when listening to the lyrics of "Total Believer", sung in a perfect and harmonious duet with Kipchoge. Kiss me if you like/Kiss me if you like. The words we hear are transformed into a spiral of invocations to the angels and deities of The Song of Solomon. Eco, who is from Uruguay, has been with the band for two years and, riding atop her "Squash" as she calls her Xtracycle Sport Utility Bicycle which is equipped with a sort of rack in the back capable of carrying up to 100 lbs of weight, she travels with the group accompanied by her copilot, "Thing 1", the doll from the Dr. Seuss' series. "He is my inspiration" she says, "Thing 1 goes with me everywhere, he gives me courage when I am riding". "Look at him! Poor guy, he looks so dirty, but he is so happy!"
Kipchoge: An Ideal pushed by a bicycle in support of a "Pleasant Revolution".
Kipchoge is the leader of this Cycling/Rocking/Activist band; his hit "Dick Cheney" distinguishes him as a rocker hungry for change, promoting love and an environmentally conscious eco-friendly lifestyle as his banners. But Kipchoge is more than that. He is an idealist, a peaceful revolutionary who uses music both as his attack weapon and as his defense armor. It is no easy task selling the idea of leaving everything behind in order to travel an entire country by bicycle opening up peoples' minds while trying to survive from concerts. Nonetheless, his idea became an ideal which sprung to life this bicycle tour that is leaving its footprint everywhere it goes. Kipchoge talks very seriously about his endeavor and in a very clear Spanish he tells me: "You should use your bike more often, you can start by biking to work". I thought it could be feasible and that's what I am doing now. I must admit his proposal inspired me.
A Band with a Cause
The Ginger Ninjas musical group is made up of Eco Lopez, female vocalist, bass, guitar and various other instruments; Kipchoge, leader of the band, male vocalist, bass, guitar, harmonica; Joe Chang, cello; Brock Wollard, drums and Jared May, bass. "But the band is all of us", says Kipchoge "from the ones who generate the electricity by pedaling the bikes, to those who join the "Pleasant Revolution" cause by helping in any way they can".
The group members started the trip in the San Juan Sierras of California, outside of Sacrament, pedaling their way towards this adventure, having as a goal to raise the level of awareness of their followers so that they would move to an eco-friendly lifestyle, so that they would ride their bicycles as a means of transportation instead of driving cars which, because of their excessive use of gasoline, are depleting the earth's natural resources and giving rise to problems such as the wars caused by the world's everlasting struggle to find the black gold.
Their songs, all with original lyrics, invite us to reflect on living a life more in tune with nature, on reducing our dependence on plastics, fuel, toxic materials and anything else which contributes to pollution and threatens our planet.
My son, Emiliano, is three years old. He also dances to the rhythm of "Dick Cheney". He is too small yet to understand the lyrics or the message behind the song, but it doesn't matter. The language of music is universal. The rhythm embraces all of the spectators. In my son's small face I see the reflection of the warmth and the energy generated by every turn of the pedals, by every song, by every inch of space that the sun is leaving behind for the moon. By now all of us are possessed by the music and our bodies dance with the songs and our mouths try to sing the words which, although we are hearing for the first time, already seem familiar to us. The message of peace and harmony is well received. I am totally haunted by Eco's voice and the lifestyle she has chosen invades my whole being and makes me forget everything. Forgotten are the office and the long sleeve shirts; forgotten are the contracts and the day to day struggles. The only thing real to me are the voices coming from the speakers and the energy coming from the sweat of the people who are generating it; this recyclable energy, this energy which makes an almost illogical circuit from the soles of the pedaling feet to the drumming of the listener's heart. All of this plus what the golden afternoon sun bestows upon us on this February day in Chapala represents magic for a Pleasant Revolution.
Alone with the Band
Arturo Garcia (AG): Why the name Ginger Ninjas?
Joey Chang (JC): Because Ginger means gentle; and Ninjas for what the Japanese warriors represent. So in essence, it means Gentle Warriors.
AG: Warriors of what?
JC: Of a revolution against the excessive use of fuel which is responsible for destroying this planet. We are also against the excessive use of plastics and other substances that are harmful to mankind.
(Ariel approaches and seats next to Joey. He introduces us.)
JC: This is my girlfriend, Ariel.
AG: Nice meeting you Ariel…. Why Chiapas as your final destination? Is it because of the political situation in that State?
JC: I think it is because of the pyramids. Chiapas is like the end of Mexico…
I wait until Eco finishes talking to the group of fans who, I am convinced, are now joining the ranks of her very long list of admirers. She is very gentle and approachable. I try to guess her country of origin from her accent in Spanish, but I fail. She finally tells me that she is from Uruguay and with a smile she breaks the ice. She doesn't know it but I am extremely nervous. I soon realize, however, that being close to her dissipates all my nervousness and I try to strike up a conversation instead of conducting an interview.
AG: Why Mexico?
Eco Lopez (EL): Because Kipchoge took that decision.
AG: Are there people joining the group during the trip?
EL: Yes, but there are also people who abandon the trip. In the beginning when we started we were 15, then we went down to 8 and now we are 13.
AG: And how come you decided to come to this country to do what you are doing?
AL: I love what I do. Mexico is super beautiful. The people are wonderful. The climate is…..
AG: How long have you been doing this?
EL: You mean singing? Two years.
AG: Two years?
EL: Yes, that's it. I started singing in Kauai. I opened my voice to the wind and the earth answered yes.
AG: That is very poetic.
EL: I know. My father is a poet and a musician. He is known in Uruguay as "El Pato Lopez".
AG: Are you aware that you will become famous one day?
EL: Well, I do not know about that, but really it is not what I am looking for. I am fulfilled just by sharing what I do with other people. And the best of it all is to be able to share it with children. That for me is very powerful.
AG: Does the group have a sponsor?
EL: Yes, this company called Xtracycle which manufactures our bikes…
It's already quite late and it seems that the band members are hungry. On our way to the diner, Kipchoge agrees to answer a few additional questions. We are now walking along Madero avenue. We pass in front of the church, the coffee shops and the ice cream stores. The afternoon is pleasant.
AG: I asked Joey and Eco why Mexico and not Canada? Why Chiapas as a final destination? It seemed to me that they did not have a very definite answer. They told me you were responsible for planning the trip.
Kipchoge (KC): True.
AG: Did you know that Chiapas is one of the largest states in southern of Mexico and one of the richest in natural resources, but also the one with the highest poverty rates in the nation?
KC: Yes, I knew that.
AG: Is this the reason why you chose Chiapas as the last stop in your "Pleasant Revolution" tour?
KC: In part, yes. But in reality we tried to take our message to the entire country. In the beginning our goal was to reach Belize, but then I decided that our tour would end in the southernmost state of Mexico.
AG: Why Mexico?
KC: Because Mexico has not yet made the same mistakes as the United States. But, since globalization has placed this country in our same path, it is important to inspire change…
And this ends my conversation with Kipchoge. The following day I offer him a glass of water while we are at my house recording some music that will help his cause. Kipchoge is reserved and pleasant. He tells me that PEMEX (Mexico's oil company) offered to be a sponsor but that he refused (for obvious reasons). My three year old son, Emiliano, joins us in one of the best rides of his life, seated in the back rack of our new friend's bicycle while he pedals his energy in search of a better world, a world cleaner than this one, a world where people are more empowered and less apathetic, a world that will necessarily become more harmonious. Such is this Revolution. Change by way of music, without weapons. Peaceful. Pleasant.