Bicycle, Ukulele and Booze

Jim ‘Django’ Gritt fellow Night Owl and Tweed Cyclist (Raleigh Superbe) has just posted his latest film creation. I appear in the film on my Pashley and of course Jim demonstrates his ukulele skills.  Hope you enjoy it!

 

Best

Nipper

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A Trio Of Pashleys

I ride my bike to work everyday and so often wax lyrical about the benefits of riding a Pashley. They are reliable, sturdy, comfortable and stylish.  So far two of my colleagues have bought Pashleys and ride them to work.  Here we are with Pashley Princess Sovereign, Pashley Britannia and Pashley Roadster Sovereign. You will note that when riding these bicycles we wear everyday clothes and feel no need to wear helmets or hi-viz.

And so dear readers to accompany the trio of Pashleys here is an acoustic transfer from my HMV163 of  ‘Spin A Little Web Of Dreams” by Ray Noble and his Orchestra and featuring vocals by the Three Ginx. Recorded March 7th 1934.

Best

Nipper

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Bicycle Busking

Last weekend The Night Owls decided to busk as a band. The idea was to hand out lots of cards, make some beer money and have some fun.  I have been busking many times but almost always alone and always without amplification; the ukulele is not a very loud instrument and in our noisy modern world we decided we would need small battery amps to increase our sound.  Being keen roadster riders Jim and I decided to travel to the busk by bicycle.  Jim strapped his amp, stand and ukes to his rack; I on the other hand, having a bigger ukulele and microphone stand decided to travel in style and use my trailer.

The day before the busk I tried to fit  everything in the trailer and found the microphone stand to be just a little too long to neatly fit in.  Twenty minutes with a hacksaw and I had adapted it it fit.  Packed neatly in were an sm58 microphone and stand, Night Owls Mic Façade, Vox DA5 battery powered amp, various leads, spare batteries and of course my trusty LB baritone ukulele in hard case.

So dressed in full Night Owls black 3 piece suit and correspondent shoes I trundled  into town to meet up with the boys.  The bicycles made a good backdrop to the band and as usual drew a few comments.

The busking went well and we have resolved to busk some more.  Rob has bought himself a battery powered bass amp and I (with some help form Yorkshire Pete) have pole mounted my  Vox amp. I may even try some solo bicycle busking, I could easily carry the equipment in my panniers and perhaps using a train/bicycle combination visit some interesting busking towns.

And so dear readers in a break from the usual 78s I leave you with The Night Owls and a rather cracking rendition of  The Sheik of Araby / Caravan.

Best

Nipper

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Family Cycling

One thing that really upsets me about cycling in the UK is how difficult it is to cycle with young children.  The ideal situation would be for children to cycle to school and the shops alongside their parents, however unlike in Holland where this is common place, in this country the roads are far too dangerous for the very young cyclist. The cycle paths are  not properly separated and don’t join up with each other making them useless for everyday transport.  The only family cycling we see in the UK is leisure cycling and here is the rub, to do it,  you need a car to get to the safe cycle paths!  To get to safe infrastructure  a family will usually have to negotiate  main roads and this is not safe when cycling with small children.

Yesterday we decided to attempt a family cycle ride at the local park and ride.  The large car park is closed on a Sunday so makes an ideal spot for a little cycle practice.  It also has some dirt tracks behind it which are just about passable in good weather.  The tricky bit was how to get there with no car.  Fortunately the road that leads to the Park and Ride has pavement or separated cycle path so my boy can ride there, however the road is too fast and the pavement too narrow for my little girl, who is only just learning to cycle.  So to make the journey the little nipper sat on a cushion on the back of my bicycle and her bicycle was pulled along behind in a trailer.

Once at the park and ride we had a great time riding around, imagining we were in a world without cars.

It was wonderful to cycle as a family again, something we haven’t done since our holiday last year in Assen.  We only had to ride a couple of pavements to get to the park and ride and will be making this a regular trip.  The really annoying thing is we still can’t cycle together on our everyday trips to the shops. Until the children are older or we get proper Dutch style infrastructure our family cycling will have to be occasional and not everyday.

Best

Nipper

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TTCC Autumn Run

Last Sunday saw yet another Taunton Tweed Cycle Chic ride.  This time we ventured from Vivary Park to North Curry, and numbered 19 riders.  The weather was positively continental and a marvellous time was had by all.  After meeting up we made our way through town, with Neil causing quite a stir on his 1882 Ordinary Bicycle (Penny Farthing).  The route took us along the canal and then down the beautiful back roads to North Curry.  We had a fine lunch and a few pints at The Bird In Hand and entertained ourselves with a selection of songs from the Saddlebag Songbook.  Thanks to all who came and made it such a great day.

I made a little film of the ride…

The soundtrack is ‘The Continental’ performed by the Lew Stone Band featuring Nat Gonella on vocals.  It was transferred from 78rpm record via my HMV163 Gramophone and a studio condenser mic.

Here are a few more photos of the day…

 

Thanks to Tom for some of the photos

Best

Nipper

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Tweed Summer Ride

I haven’t blogged for some time but it’s time to get things moving again.  So before I launch into rants about crap cycling in Taunton… a little fun. Last week the members of Taunton Tweed Cycle Chic took to the cycle paths and rode from Vivary Park to Maunsell Lock.  The weather was hot, hot, hot so we only managed Tweed through town, but with bells ringing and loud ‘Good Mornings’ we certainly got noticed. Thanks go to Brian from Bicycle Chain for leading us off. We stopped for lunch at the canal side cafe and strummed ukuleles using the new ‘Bicycle and Ukulele Saddlebag Song Book’ (Post a comment for a free copy!).  So here for you delectation are a few photographs of the day set to a toe tapping soundtrack from Django Reinhardt.

The ride was great fun, because of the superb weather and the great company but also because the majority of the ride was car free and on separate infrastucture.

Best

Nipper

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Bicycle and Ukulele Photos

Top Ten Ukuleles and Pashley Roadster.

Ukuleles are;
On saddle – Crossett Hollywood Concert
L to R – Mele Koa Concert, John Grey Banjo ukulele, Nipper Soprano made by John Colter, Favilla Baritone, Jetel Soprano, Martin Style 0 soprano, Regal Baritone, Joel Eckhaus 1K soprano, National Soprano.
The ukuleles range in age from the 1930’s to present day.

Over the new year I decided to start a Flickr for Bicycle and Ukulele.  I have uploaded all my photos from the last year and some new ones of my favourite ukuleles and bicycles. You can view my sets HERE.

I would like to feature readers photos of bicycles and ukuleles on this blog, so if you are a ukulele player and a cyclist please send me a photo of your bicycle and ukulele.

Best

Nipper

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Taunton Tweed Cycle Chic

A couple of weeks ago friends Steve and Alison invited Jim and I for a little tweed run down at Vivary Park.  They have recently acquired vintage bikes and have began developing a website for Taunton Tweed Cycle Chic.  Here are a few quick snaps of a lovely afternoon.

The Bicycles in the bandstand  Raleigh, Triumph and Pashley.

Steve taking photos

Alison with cup of Tea

Nipper and Jim playing some ukuleles!

More about TTCC to follow…

BSY

Nipper

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Riding to a Gig

Most of  ‘The Night Owls’ gigs are too far from home to cycle to and/or require the carrying of large amounts of kit.  So it is a rare occasion when I am able to cycle to a gig.  A few weeks back we played the Wilton House Summer Garden party.  The gig was within easy cycling distance so after packing the double bass, PA and several ukuleles into Pat’s car, I bid him farewell and rode my Pashley to Wilton house.  We played this event last year and were glad to be asked back.  The audience appreciate our music and the Pimms flows like water!

The Pashley Roadster perfectly suited the venue and the style of The Night Owls. I simply parked it behind the band.

Here is a little film of ‘The Night Owls’ live at Wilton House, you may even spot the Pashley.

BSY

Nipper

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A Pair of Pashleys (and a free ukulele lesson)

I was cycling home from work on Monday when out of the corner of my eye I spotted an ice cream work cycle. Even at 200 yards I could see it was a Pashley and so rushed over for a quick look.  The tricycle was beautifully kitted out with umbrella, bell and of course a ton of delicious ice cream.   As you would expect from a Pashley the attention to detail was second to none, the bike having a high quality frame (great lugs) and even a Brooks B33 saddle.  The proud owners, Cafe BonBon, rent this 1920’s style work cycle for weddings, fêtes, etc… You can find all the details HERE or by telephoning 07515 893294.

I could not resist taking some photos of my Pashley roadster with the Pashley ice cream tricycle.

While chatting with Mr BonBon we realised that my ukulele band ‘The Night Owls’ and the 1920’s work cycle are both looking to lend a little nostalgia to weddings and garden parties.  Well that seems like an opportunity to post a ukulele video; so here are ‘The Night Owls’ performing the 1925 classic ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’.  If you want to lend an air of vintage sophistication to your event or function, get on and book the Cafe BonBon ice cream cycle and The Night Owls band.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ – The Night Owls (live) from Nipper on Vimeo.

The ice cream Pashley came fully stocked with some great flavours and the generous owner let me sample some of the raspberry.  This act of generosity cyclist to cyclist got me thinking…

If there is any cyclist out there in internet land who wants a FREE UKULELE LESSON just post a comment here and I will arrange one with you.  If you live too far away to cycle for the lesson, I can arrange a video lesson live on Skype.

Best

Nipper

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