美国国家公共电台 NPR One Band's Key Instrument: Wheels

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Some musicians arrive at their gigs in a tricked-out tour bus, others perhaps in a limo. And there's BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. He likes to arrive by paddleboat. In downtown Los Angeles, there's a popular band that likes their transportation green. They're the Vignes Rooftop Revival¹, and reporter Lisa Napoli explains.

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LISA NAPOLI, BYLINE²: The music began five years ago on a rooftop of a loft³ building on Vignes Street in rapidly gentrifying downtown Los Angeles - neighbors, like musician Erik Miron, enjoying a meal together with the dramatic skyline shimmering⁴ in the background.

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ERIK MIRON: After a while, the instruments would come out, and we'd start goofing⁵ around. And it evolved into something where we decided⁶ to take it down from the roof and into the bars and restaurants.

NAPOLI: Bars and restaurants have been mushrooming up all over this once-dreary part of the city. One gig led to another, and now the core members of the Vignes Rooftop Revival, accompanied by a rotating cast of musical friends, plays 200 shows a year. That a homespun acoustic⁷ jazz band stays so busy is one kind of impressive; its carbon footprint is another.

MIRON: It's funny. We're almost like an Amish jazz band. We don't use cars or electricity so much.

Hitch⁸ up the trailer here.

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MIRON: All right. We're ready to go.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Enjoy your show, guys.

NAPOLI: Miron's got a full wiry beard that makes him look right out of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. He loads up his guitar, banjo and trumpet⁹ and hitches¹⁰ his trailer to his bicycle, getting ready for the commute¹¹ via side streets to the next gig a couple miles away. Bandmate Patrick Torrez says Los Angeles isn't as bad as some people might think for biking.

PATRICK TORREZ: It's a little hard with two instruments on your back, but I've gotten used to it, more or less.

NAPOLI: Bass¹² player Bergen Moore uses different wheels to get to the show - a skateboard. His instruments got wheels, too. To get a bit of speed as he rolls the bass through the streets, he grabs onto one of his bandmates' bicycles.

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NAPOLI: What's the worst thing that's happened to you while doing this?

BERGEN MOORE: There's a couple of them. Definitely, they all involve falling.

NAPOLI: Once, he even started playing a show when a friend pointed¹³ out he had blood on his sleeve from a tumble. But nary a broken fretboard nor pothole¹⁴ nor agitated¹⁵ motorist daunts¹⁶ these musicians.

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NAPOLI: Though they do enjoy playing the tavern¹⁷ around the corner. Then, they get to indulge in an even simpler commute - walking. For NPR News, I'm Lisa Napoli in Los Angeles.

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