pack up

It's been a while since I posted a music video. This one has some serious cruisers, ape hangers and all.



Plus, it's catchy! And has public transportation. And rowboats. I like to put it on and dance around my apartment.

sousa-cycle

This next music video comes via my friend Jen.

The song is called Keep Drivin' and the artist is Hayley Sayles, who happens to hail from my home island (Vancouver Island) but is nationally-known.

What's this? you ask. Why are you posting a video called Keep Drivin' that prominently features a van?

Stay with me.
First, the bicycles enter at about 1:30.
Second, see what happens at 2:00!

There's no denying the enjoyment of a road trip. Whether it happens in a clunky old volkswagon, a comfy touring motorcycle, or on a fleet of two-wheelers, that's a cherished experience for many (me included). Hanging out with your peeps! "Driving, keep driving..." Take it figuratively, not literally. Road trips aren't really about how far you get: they're about what happens along the way. So maybe there's an alternative to "cycle touring" (which I've never tried, but really-- it just seems so hard). Cycle road-tripping. Short and sweet.

Other things to love:
- horses!
- campfire!
- sousaphone!

slow blink

We haven't had a music video in a while.



Hawksley Workman via The City Cyclist.

I especially love how slow they're going -- languid, smooth -- and the variety of bicycles they're riding. And there's nothing quite like cruising around with a group of good friends.

parlour bikes

Considering my frequency of certain postings on this blog, it wouldn't be a secret that I'm a fan of bicycles in music videos. Somehow, singing and riding just go hand in hand. (Or would that be ... foot in mouth?) In my world, breaking out into random song and dance is an entirely expected part of life.

Really.

(No, really-- it is. I spent my high school years hanging with a musical theatre crowd and university years with a dancing one. It's what we did.)

So here's a music video that hits more than one note (ha!) with me: from the local Vancouver band Parlour Steps (a favourite of mine) comes a home-made cycle-ful music video that satisfies a challenge for their participation in the Peak Performance Project.



And to make this chord complete, The Peak radio station itself (uh, themselves?) is onboard with cycling and the 'slow bike' way of travel: see their Peak Summer Cycle Crew.

Go Parlour Steps!
Go Peak!
So go peek at this video!

save this for me

Yellow dress, green bicycle, fields and trails and a piano on the dock.

this video turned my head around

Riding a bicycle makes me want to sing, too. Crooning in place is so over.

charlie winston and audrey tautou ride old bicycles

I think "adorable" aptly sums up Charlie Winston and Audrey Tautou in this sweet song and story. One of my friends said: "I want to live in this music video."

close your eyes and imagine...

A winding country lane, a canopy of trees making dappled sunlight, and you and all your best friends out for a bicycle ride on a sunny summer day.

Sounds dreamy enough for a song. Corinne Bailey Rae, can you make my wish come true?

the bixi anthem

An (amusing) song and music video about Montreal's Bixi public bike system:

here comes Meaghan Smith

This had to come to my attention across a continent and an ocean (via Copenhagen Cycle Chic), despite the fact that I'm an admirer of Canadian songstress Meaghan Smith. Heartbroken, A Little Love, If You Asked Me... considering how many of her songs I love, it's surprising that I don't have her CD yet. But here's one I hadn't heard (a cover, I'm told, and on the 500 Days of Summer soundtrack), with a sweet and summery cycle chic video to go along with it.



Right-o, I'm off to the record shop.