Last summer we had the pleasure of heading up to Dunster, BC to perform at the Robson Valley Music Festival and what a treat. Seth and Shara of Mamaguroove have a beautiful piece of property on the banks of the mighty Fraser River and host an incredible music festival every year. I highly recommend it. We’ll back again this year, but more on that later.

The point is that Shara offered to hook Gogo Bonkers up with some more northern festivals and we graciously accepted. Enter The North Country Fair.

Fish Griwkowsky of the Edmonton Sun says of The North Country Fair, “I’ve said it before; I’ll say it again – North Country Fair is the best music festival, period.”

So we were pretty excited to find out that they wanted Gogo Bonkers to make the trip this year. But here is where things get interesting in the world of Gogo Bonkers.

Iain is not able to make it that weekend due to previous commitments, which left us with with only two options. Either cancel the show, or find a way to do it anyways. Well, I must admit, that I have entered a phase of my life where I am trying to avoid creating reasons as to why I can’t do something. It’s an easy thing, creating reasons to not do something. Often, it’s just so much easier because the alternative can involve a lot of work. But, it’s the hard work in life that always seems to open up new and wonderful opportunities, so I decided that I would find a way to not cancel the show.

About 6 months ago, my good friend Cody, paid me a visit here in Vancouver and told me about her friend, Maggie. Now, Maggie is a puppeteer and performs under her own production company called ‘The Lost And Found Puppet Company’.

I had been pondering the idea of somehow incorporating puppets into The Gogo Bonkers Show for quite some time. I have always loved puppets, my first love of them having begun with many hours devoted to watching Muppets on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and later Fraggle Rock.

And so I set to work constructing a show that would incorporate a few of Maggie’s already existing puppets and before I knew it, we were rehearsing and preparing for The North Country Fair. We leave this Thursday, will stop over for the night in Kamloops, and then head north for a full day of driving on Friday. An extra added bonus is that we get to stop over in Grand Prairie for a visit with my good Shiny friends, Mandy, Kevin, and August. Yay! Life is good, indeed.

So, if you’re reading this and you happen to be in the Lesser Slave Lake region or perhaps even Edmonton or Grand Prairie and you feel like making the journey to a great music festival to see Gogo Bonkers, throw the kids and the camping gear into the car and come out and say hello. Maggie, Granny, Angry Arnold and I all look forward to seeing you there.

And don’t forget, if you haven’t already, to leave your name and email address. When it comes to free kids songs online, Gogo Bonkers is where it’s at. Whether you’re searching for groovy songs for your kid or kids on Youtube or you just happen to be hanging out on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to share the link to our free kids songs with your family and friends. Did I mention the free kid songs? Oh ya, I just did. Go get ‘em by filling in the form on the right! Kids songs! Kids songs! Long live free kids songs!

JOIN THE GOGO BONKERS FAN CLUB AND GET YOUR FREE KID SONGS NOW!

Well, Spring has finally arrived and, boy, are we ever excited that the sun has returned to the sky here in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. People all over the city are busy in their gardens digging, planting and weeding. Growing your own food is such a fun and rewarding experience. There’s nothing quite like walking into your own back yard and picking a cucumber or a tomato or some peas or whatever your favourite backyard vegetables happen to be. The thing we love most about backyard gardening is that it doesn’t get any more local than that.

When you eat a cucumber that is grown in your backyard, think about how you’re doing your part to help protect the environment. If that cucumber is grown way down in Mexico, it has to be shipped all the way up here in trucks and possibly even planes. Think about all those fossil fuels that need to be burned up in the gas tanks of those trucks and planes just to get that cucumber into a grocery store here in Vancouver. Not to mention all of the cars that drive to and from the grocery store every single day.

Here’s a shout out to all of our peeps who have their own gardens. And speaking of peeps, I was on Twitter a few weeks ago and just happened to follow somebody in Southern California. You know it’s funny all this talk about Twitter and Facebook and whether or not they have any value at all. All I can tell you is that they have provided me with some incredible networking opportunities and, occasionally, some great collaborating opportunities.

Meet Home Grown Fun, a really great gardening resource for the backyard gardening enthusiast. The website is run by army veteran, art school graduate, business owner and creative mom, Cindy Rajhel. There is an incredible amount of useful information on her site in regards to gardening and the overall vibe is very pro-community. So when Cindy noticed that I followed her on Twitter, she did the same and decided to check out what Gogo Bonkers had to offer. Of course, when she got to our website she discovered that we are currently offering our album full of environmentally inspired kids songs for free online.

The next thing I knew, she was asking if she could use some of our music in a video she was putting together on composting, featuring children from her local school. I thought to myself, ‘Children? Gardening? Composting? Hmmm? What would The Canadian Potato do? He’d say ‘Yes’, absolutely!

And so Gogo Bonkers is proud to share this great video put together by Cindy herself and featuring music from our award nominated album, ‘Love The Land’. We look forward to collaborating with Cindy again in the future. Thanks, Cindy!

Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, to leave your name and email address. When it comes to free kids songs online, Gogo Bonkers is where it’s at. Whether you’re searching for groovy songs for your kid or kids on Youtube or you just happen to be hanging out on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to share the link to our free kids songs with your family and friends. Did I mention the free kid songs? Oh ya, I just did. Go get ‘em by filling in the form on the right! Kids songs! Kids songs! Long live free kids songs!

I love it when I accidentally stumble upon really cool Canadian stuff. This is, hands down, the coolest kid’s show I have seen in a very long time. Wapos Bay is a super creative stop motion animation television series that is produced in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It is purely Canadian and super aboriginal. The animation is fantastic and the scripts are funny and engaging. Plenty of Star Wars references and guest appearances by real Canadian celebrities like David Suzuki, Adam Beech, and Jordin Tootoo. It’s so awesome to see puppet versions of these Canadian icons.

Did I mention the website? It’s super interactive with plenty of hidden gems to keep both kids, parents, and animation enthusiasts entertained for more than just a few minutes.

Now if I could just convince them to do a Gogo Bonkers stop motion animation video. Hmmmm. Perhaps a phone call to Anand Ramayya & Dennis Jackson is in order? Sounds like a plan to me. In the meantime, check out Wapos Bay and enjoy!

Visit their production Blog by clicking on the link below:

WAPOS BAY PRODUCTION BLOG

Free Free Free……Free kids songs!!!!! Free kids album!!!!

What can you get for FREE? Well, I know a few things…air, hugs, sleep, smiles, farts, rain.
Lots of things are free…and so is our Mother Nature inspired album LOVE THE LAND.
Yes, our album, all 11 songs, are free to download. All you need to do is leave your name
and email address in the box to the right of this post. If you are a kid, you have kids,
and you love all the wonders that Mother Nature gives us everyday…..then this album
of free kids songs is for you, and your family and your friends.

Why is our whole album free? That is easy to answer. The world is going through more
change now than ever before in history and our children are the face of our future. They
are the face of change. Mother Nature, Gaia, the environment, your backyard, wilderness,
whatever you want to call it, needs our attention and care more than ever before. That is
what all the songs on our album LOVE THE LAND. Planting gardens,
riding bikes, hiking in the forest, reducing your energy consumption…….our kids need to
hear this stuff in a positive and fun and musical way to balance the doom and gloom that
is in the media all day everyday. So, our album is free because we want, and need, more
and more people to hear and share our positive musical message. Enjoy!!

Just leave your name, email, and city in the box to the left of this post and we will send you a link for a free download of our award nominated album, LOVE THE LAND! Enjoy!

Iain & Trev

Plastic Plastic everywhere
in the garden and in the air
its in our food its in the sea
in the stomachs of fish
and its in you and me!!

The plastic bag conundrum will just not go away. I have been keeping
tabs on the bans and alternatives but here we still are. Like changing
lightbulbs, changing to re-usable shopping bags, while still noble and
beneficial, is a drop in the very big bucket we call Earth.

There are biodegradable bags but they keep changing as scientists keep
discovering that even the new and improved bags that “biodegrade”, never
really bio-degrade. Then there are the bags that are made from food and/or
plant based sources such as: hemp, corn, wood and soy. These are surely the
best alternatives….but are they? Chopping down more trees, and using potential
food crops to apease our world of convenience instead of feeding hungry mouths. (?).

Here is a website called World Centric that is really trying to make a difference by
offering many positive alternatives that may help you live a more environmentally
friendly lifestyle. Their “Lifecycle” breakdown of their plant based products
verses conventional plastic products should be posted in every classroom across
the country.

Checkout Renewables at Home for lots of great info and articles about how you can be as green as possible at home.

The way I see it now, reducing and ultimately eliminating our weird dependence
on all things plastic, comes down to two things:

1. Composting – many people do it. Most don’t. That isn’t a judgment. Just the
reality, especially for the millions of people that live in townhomes and apartments.
But there are changes coming and they are positive. Composting programs are
being set up all over north america (in many places composting programs have been
going on for years). And more and more people are gardening or needing to garden.
So, their need and understanding of the composting process is blooming and booming.

The reason composting will help eliminate our dependence on plastic is simple – we
compost all the stinky food scraps so all that is left in our garbage can is “dry” stuff.
And most of that dry stuff, if it cannot be recycle, it can be disposed of without the
need of a plastic bag.

2. Reducing the amount of items you buy that are packaged. This is a real tough one.
Almost everything we by at the grocery store comes in some sort of packaging. And
it isn’t just the grocery bags that we need eliminate….its the taco chip bags, the frozen
vegetable bags, the bread bags, the apple bags, the potato bags…….its endless. I try to
buy as much unpackaged vegetables as I can and I bring in my own bags when buying
bulk items like rice, nuts, cornmeal, dried fruits, quinoa etc….and its usually cheaper
this way too.

I hope I’m not preaching here, and I know I am telling many of you what you already
know, and are doing already. But I hope I also am reaching those of you who need
an extra nudge to make the changes we all need to make so that we can stop
polluting Mother Nature with our billion tons of plastic every year.

The world is ours to wonder, not plunder.

Peace and grooves,

iain

Here is an amazing and inspiring program I just heard about. It is called the
Take a Hike Program. Here is the description in their words:

“The Take a Hike program is a unique program made possible by a partnership
between the Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation and the Vancouver Board of
Education. The program is based at John Oliver Secondary School and focuses on at-risk youth aged 15-19, grades 10-12″.

As we all know, there have always been children and teens that have just not
been able to cope with the education system for a myriad of reasons. This program
is designed to …”address the learning difficulties and social/emotional needs of youth
who are not able to cope in regular high school classes.”

Students will learn new coping skills by participating in outdoor activities such as:
canoeing, hiking, backpacking, orienteering, camping, snow shoeing and ropes courses.

The Take a Hike Program is available for students ages 15-19 and grades 10, 11 and 12.
Address: John Oliver Secondary School 530 East 41st Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5W 1P3
Telephone: 604-713-8243
Fax: 604-713-8937

Learn more about the TAKE A HIKE PROGRAM HERE.

Gogo Bonkers loves hearing about such programs. We know and have experienced the
healing wonders of Mother Nature. And we continue to seek her wisdom, solace and
love. Our album Love the Land was written by the inspiration Mother Nature offered
to our collective muse through trees whispers, creek burbles and soundless snowflakes.
And we continue to hope that our musical message of respecting Mother Nature will
reach this generation of youth and help to guide them through this complex jungle of
distracting technologies and disappearing wilderness.

Please download our LOVE the LAND album – all 11 songs for FREE……HERE!

For many people biking here in Vancouver is a year round thing. Rain, snow,
meteor showers….you name it, we’ll bike in it. Then there are the rest of the
population who tend to be more fair weather bikers. And since it is now Spring
and the weather is sunning-up, most of us are dusting off our bikes and many
of those bikes either need replacing or a good tune up. So, here is a list of where
to get your bike(s) fixed and or repaired and also a list of where you may need to
go to buy a new or used bike.

Bicycle Sales and repair shops in Vancouver

Our community bikes – 11:00 – 6:00 7 days/week. 3283 Main St.
They offer very reasonable rates, tool rentals and also have ongoing bike
repair workshops on the first Thursday of every month. Its 40$
and goes 6:30-9:30. For info call – 604.879.2453

Denman Bike Shop – 710 Denman – 604-685-9755. The Denman bike
shop has a good variety of funky bikes like cruisers and comfort bikes
for sake and rental. The have a great repair shop.
The Denman bike shop will be hosting a bicycle scavenger hunt in may.
All proceeds will go to charity (prizes to be won too!!).

Jett Girl bike studio – 247 Union Street 604-255-5097 jett_grrl@hotmail.com
This awesome bike studio offers bike sales, repairs, custom jobs, old bike
restoration etc. They are a small proud bike shop dedicated to providing the best
service possible.

Bike Kitchen (the Bike Co-op) – They are located in the basement of the University
of British Columbia’s Student Union Building (SUB). ubc.bikecoop@gmail.com
604.822.2453. Office hours are from 10am–5pm Mon-Wed. The staff at the Bike
Kitchen are dedicated to providing the tools to their community members so that
they can learn to fix their own bikes. They also refurbish abandoned and/or
donated bikes so students with limited budgets can still buy a good bike for a
good price.

Bikes on the Drive – 1350 Commercial Drive – (604) 215-7433
This wonderful bike shop has a wide variety of bicycles to buy. The also have a
great repair shop that has competitive prices. Bikes on the Drive is dedicated
to supporting their community through various initiatives such as recycling
all their bike parts, offering free services for community events and speaking
at universities and schools about biking and sustainability. Check out their
Advocacy page.

Pinetop Perkins, one of the last of the “old-school” bluesmen, died on March 22, 2011.
he was 97 years old. Yes, 97 years old. He was still playing gigs in his 97th year.
Pinetop Perkins played with many of the blues greats such as Muddy Waters, Robert
Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Ike Turner.

Pinetop Perkins had also just won a Grammy for best traditional Blues for his album
called, “Joined at the Hip”. He recorded it with his longtime friend, Willie “Big Eyes
Smith”.

Pinetop Perkins was born in Belzoni Mississippi in 1913. He began to play the guitar in
the late 1920’s. Most of his gigs were house parties and honky-tonks. He suffered
and injury to his left arm and so he gave up the guitar and took up the piano in about
1940. He then became a prominent sideman in several bands but he really became
noticed when he joined the Muddy Waters band. He played with Muddy for 12 years.
1969 to 1981.

Pinetop then left the Muddy Waters band and continued on a solo career that did not
really take off until 1992. What is so amazing about this is that in 1992, Pinetop was
80 years old! He Then went on to record 15 records in 15 years (1992 to 2007).
He has been nominated for Grammy’s several times, he has won fellowship awards,
and his life was compiled in a biographical documentary called “Born in the Honey”.

I just had to write about this guy. I had heard of him over the years but never
checked him out. Hey, I’m not even much of a blues fan but the fact that he
was still going strong at 97 and playing his life out on the piano…..wow!
I wonder what Justin Bieber will be doing when he is 97?

Here is another local (for Vancouverites) great local group dedicated to
preserving, sustaining and educating about our highly esteemed, yet,
highly vulnerable local environments.

They are called the PACIFIC SPIRIT PARK SOCIETY and they are a community-
based volunteer organization. They act as public stewards of the park and
they…”hold a vision of an urban forest and foreshore park protected and
cared for in perpetuity for the benefit of all”.

You can become a volunteer and help rid the park of INVASIVE SPECIES
(plants that don’t belong in the forest and/or plants that make it difficult
for the natural foliage to grow to its full potential), do natural plant
restoration, help restore CAMOSUN BOG and help educate the public
to the many natural wonders in Pacific Spirit Park.

You can contact for any information or to become a volunteer here:
Board@pacificspiritparksociety.org
604-224-5739

AND to make your love for the outdoors more enjoyable or to help
educate your children to the many delights found in NATURE, hey,
download our album LOVE THE LAND for free…………HERE.

Yep, a free 11 song environmental musical manifesto of fun and inspiring
kids songs just waiting for YOU.

To a full moon and a spiritually rejuvenating WINTER SOLSTICE,

The GOGO BONKERS GANG

We all love trees. And we need to continue to love trees. Trees are our lungs.
I have had and have many great relationships with trees. Planting trees, climbing
trees, building forts in trees, resting in the shade of a tree, watching squirrels
chase each other, and falling asleep next to a warm fire of fresh cut logs that
crackle and pop into an endless starry night………………………..

These are just a few images and memories I have of tree. I’m sure you have
many too. Please share them with us.

There is an amazing tree society called FRIENDS OF THE TREES based in
Washington state. MICHAEL PILARSKI is the director and founder, and he has
dedicated his life to studying and teaching how people can live sustainably
on this Earth. The Friends of the Trees society facilitates workshops on
wild-crafting, permaculture, medicinal plants, ecosystem restoration,
biodiversity and MANY MORE.

Trees are great for hugging, they have so many arms!

Download our album of environmentally focused kids songs for free HERE!!!

The Gogo Bonkers Gang