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John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Article by Angie Kibiloski
I was privileged enough to attend the unveiling of the new John Lennon Educational Tour Bus on January 7th, 2008, at CES in Las Vegas. The unveiling was to launch the amazing new luxury bus with state-of-the-art equipment, but this non-profit group had been touring the country for a decade, helping kids to realize their early musical dreams. A handful of kids are chosen from each city the bus stops in, by various means of selection, and are given the opportunity to create their very own original song, record it, and make a music video, all for free. They can participate in any part of the process where they feel their talent resides: writing, singing, instruments, or audio/video editing.
There is a full time staff, who live on the bus, to assist and guide the kids in their projects. The bus also houses some amazing equipment, spread between two complete studio environments, including the latest from Maxell, Apple, Sony, Mackie, Godin Guitars, Roland, and other sponsors. This combination of high-end, professional audio and HD video equipment is an impressive set up, even to the professional musicians who donate some of their time to tour with the bus.
Several of the artists who have given their support to the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus are Natasha Bedingfield, who sang one of her hits at the unveiling, Pat Monahan from the band Train, and The Black Eyed Peas, who have even recorded some of their hits on board. The biggest supporter of the project is none other than Yoko One, who was on hand at the unveiling. She has contributed an amazing amount of funding to keep the project going, and to outfit this new bus, and of course, allowed the usage of the name John Lennon. She gave a lovely little speech about bringing light to all the world, and obviously continues to be a great inspiration.
In the future, there are plans to have 7 similar buses all over the world, so kids in each continent can have opportunities that they might never have otherwise. It was such a thrill to be able to tour this bus, and see the great facilities that kids will be using to make their first masterpieces. If you would like more information, including tour schedules, music that has been created on the bus, and video and photographs, visit the official website at http://www.lennonbus.org
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