Photo Credit: ©Simon Luethi
Pedal Power NYC, an organization "dedicated to capturing and repurposing human power with bicycles", held a first ever musical concert powered by humans on stationary bikes near the stage. On their website they say, "We provide the bicycles and the crew – you provide the Natural Ass! Let’s be honest, we’d rather power our stage with natural ass than natural gas."
The festival, NYC Celebrates Water Festival 2011, was held at Union Square and titled the "Natural Ass Sessions"; and featured 16 stationary bikes for people to pedal and provide the electricity for the amps for the musicians on stage. John Fox, maker of the great anti-fracking movie, "Gasland", showed up and helped out.
The Festival wants to assure that the safe tap water enjoyed by 8 million New Yorkers remains safe. Some of the musical performers were Vanessa Bley, Masa, and Gordon Voldwell. Also, environmental groups promoted sustainability, and an anti-fracking petition was passed around and got over 1,000 signatures. Watch a video of the practice sessions below, and to find out more information about Pedal Power NYC, please visit: http://www.pedalpowernyc.org and check out a great article with pictures about the event from a great local source over at Inhabitat.com.
Off the Grid Rehersals – Powered by Natural Ass from Pedal Power NYC on Vimeo.
