Images from an upcomming documentary film. I will soon be in Santa Barbara. I am in Oxnard now, just about to cross into Ventura and hook back up with the 101/1 freeways. I have been biking up the PCH for 23 days. I started in San Diego, and my intended target is Santa Barbara. I have with me on my mountain bike with rack and saddle bags, a complete audio, music, video and live streaming studio. Gear list: One 4K GoPro with protective housing, One Canon G12 professional grade photographic camera with two additional lenses (Tele, wide), One Vivitar Anaglyphic (red/cyan) camera that does 720p video and 5M-pixel stills, One iPhone with Vivitar fisheye and macro lenses, One MacBook Air with Superdrive burner, One Korg MicroKey-37 USB keyboard, One Korg NanoKontrol-2 USB with 8 faders, pans, mutes, record enable, etc., One Vox Mini amp modified to run on a 9 volt battery with guitar input, vocal mic input, and Aux input to receive audio from the Mac or iPhone (Propellerheads Figure), One Fender Squire 3/4 size parlour acoustic guitar, an assort ment of mics, cables and power strips (in the saddle bags), One multiport powered USB hub, Two HD USB webcams with USB extention cables for live streaming. Whew! I of course, am not mentioning the assorted travel and camping items i am also carrying. I planned this extended vacation from being locked down inside for a year and a half, for the last six months. I did internet research. I bought items and obtained a Greyhound ticket to get me from Denver to San Diego. My intention was and turned out to be so far, to play at beach side locations using my Korg and Macbook and Vox amp to create improvisational ambient synth music for passers by. I prepared a laminated color 8.5x11 sign with my artist name (Tommy Von), website address (this blog), and QR codes in the four corners of the sign for my ReverbNation, BlogSpot, Monero wallet for tips, and PayPal tips. So far I have made cash in my tip vessel while playing, but not through the QR codes. I have made enough money doing this to keep my adventure to be outside and expose people to my music going long past my $1000 dollar budget I started with in San Diego. I had done a three day camera swithing operator job in Denver at the Brown Palace Hotel for a Home Contractor's convention. I had already assembled my gear, and this last job (less than a week before I left), gave me the budget I needed to change, modify, purchase new gear, and let go of what wasn't working. At this point, I am living off my tips from playing and doing well enough to get me to SB. I now have a hardened and battle worthy road rig - I call it my Iron Horse with saddle bags. I stealth camp on the beach like a Clint Eastwood drifter, up in the moring by 5am to avoid interacting with state and local officals who sweep the beach after sunrise. So far, I have tried to stay near the coast, but that has meant leaving the PCH where it tracks inland for miles, like in LA and in Oxnard / Ventura. I have found by maping in a Starbuck's in each city a coastal road that connects me back up with the PCH. In LA it was Vista Del Mar, and in Oxnard it was Harbor Blvd. People who think (like me before this trip) you can bike straight up the PCH and stay on the coast are mistaken. For one thing, the US milatary owns and restricts access to the coast for 20 mile streatches in Oceanside-San Clemente, and in Ventura county including Oxnard. I will continue this travel log when I get to Santa Barbara, which will be tonight or tomorrow. My intent (although I have had to go with the flow and continue to do so) is to stay in SB long enough to play and make enough money to repair some things that are wearing out on my bike, and possibly make some connections in that groovy community to score a keyboard playing gig in a band. Living in Denver for 10 years turned me into a jamming jazz imporvisational keyboard madman, and I gotto play with some of the best musicians in the world. In the Deadhead/jammers clubs/bars, I very often was playing a Vintage Hammond B3 with Leslie cab, or a Yamaha Motif with full piano action. It was a plaesure to learn how to interact with other great musicians who know how to listen. Now I literally am living off that skill. More to come.....
PICs taken with my G12 of note :-)
Skate Park, Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach, nigh time tripod shot - 4 sec exposure
Boardwalk, Pacific Beach, Sunset
Night time woooden paddle boat - Mission Bay
Surfer - San Clemente
