The Ditty Bops- Eugene, OR by Diane

August 8, 2007

Eugene, Oregon, was originally a stopover for us on our tour – a day to relax and digest all the amazing places we’d been to and people we’ve met. But as fate would have it, we found out that the musical group The Ditty Bops were playing the same night we were in town, and we were invited down to their show to table and to have an elegant pie eating contest on stage.

We met The Ditty Bops through Farm Aid (they’ll actually be playing there this September). Farm Aid knew both of us were going on cross country tours, and it turned out we were missing each other by only days in many cities. The band is deeply committed to sustainable and environmental issues and encourages their audiences to follow suit. They have a plastic bag ban on the bus, wear clothes made from plastic bags (that really look good too!), host farmers markets or let local groups table in lobbies, and are about as eco-friendly as you can get. They even biked across the country on their last tour, to bring awareness to sustainable issues.

At each of their shows on this tour, they’re raffling off an Earthbox. It’s a garden box that’s designed to grow more vegetables than would normally happen in a backyard garden, and is an excellent way to grow food when there isn’t good soil or land nearby to plant. At the Eugene show, our Oregon host Kendra actually won the box!

What’s great about a band like The Ditty Bops is that they have a strong, clear message about sustainability and being environmentally aware, and they talk about it on stage quite a bit, but because it’s tied in with the music, it doesn’t feel like a lecture. They’re educating their audiences through entertainment, which can be an excellent way to reach people who otherwise might not hear what you have to say.

The show itself was excellent – they played at WOW Hall in Eugene, an old venue with a lot of character. There were at least 200 people there either bopping their heads to the unique music of the band or dancing in the aisles (literally). The band’s music is a mixture of alternative jazzy blues semi-swing pop and is quite catchy so before you know it, you find your foot is tapping or your head is bobbing.

Not only is the band on tour across the country, playing venues like WOW Hall, they’re also playing on farms to help raise money for local groups. The day before Eugene they played on a goat farm, and before that, they played to a herd of cows. Amanda and Abby, the two leads of the band, truly live what they speak about.

The highlight of the show was the pie eating contest – organic blueberry pie (with local berries) from Sweet Life, a local bakery. Our Kendra did a lovely job on the door as people came in, getting interested folks to sign up for the contest. Of the 30 willing participants, five were chosen at random to come on stage and eat a slice of blueberry pie. Now, this wasn’t your average pie eating contest where people are gluttonous and shove as much pie in their face as they can – this was an elegant pie eating contest where the goal was to eat the pie as creatively, elegantly and neatly as you can. The Ditty Bops played a song as the five contests ate their pie – one contestant went into the audience and fed others, another had his girlfriend behind him, using her hands to feed him, and the eventual winner ate elegantly and also sang along with the band.

It ended up being a big laugh and went over extremely well with the audience, and it was a fun way to raise awareness about Sustainable Table and who we are. After the contest, a lot more people came over to speak with us about our programs and the work we’re doing. And, who knows, maybe we’ll do this again when we see the band in New York City at the end of our tour.

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