9:20am | Dengue Fever band members Zac Holtzman, Senon Williams and Chhom Nimol stopped by Long Beach’s Cambodia Town neighborhood Friday afternoon for a bike ride and lunch before heading over to Fingerprints Records to play a show.
The three band members spent the afternoon checking out Cambodia Town’s new cargo trike as part of the city’s new Bike Friendly Business District program. Meeting at the graffiti wall in back of Homeland Cultural Center at MacArthur Park, they took a ride around the neighborhood before lunching at Cambodia Town’s Grand Paradise restaurant on Anaheim.
Dengue Fever’s past albums and merchandise feature a cyclo – a Cambodian pedicab – and electric bike. Guitarist/vocalist Zac Holtzman was also a bike messenger years ago in San Francisco. Their visit brought attention to the Cambodia Town neighborhood and the “unadulterated fun of bicycling,” Hotzman said. “I wish we had no cars, just bicycles, horses, and electric emergency vehicles. That would be my perfect world. …When you’re riding a bike, sometimes getting there is even more fun than the party or whatever else it is you’re headed to.”
Nimol, who lived in the neighborhood until moving to Los Angeles four months ago and who used to sing weekly at Grand Paradise, said, “I’m so happy to be here today, because Long Beach was my hometown for 10 years.”
Cambodia Town is one of four Bike-Friendly Business Districts (BFBDs) in Long Beach, which encourage merchants and their customers to choose bikes, not cars, for short trips. The districts each have cargo and commuter bikes for merchant errands and offer bicyclists discounts every Saturday through the new Bike Saturdays program, free bike repairs, bike valets at events, and more. The BFBD program is made possible by the Department of Health and Human Services through the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and the City of Long Beach. For more information, please visit http://www.bikelongbeach.org and http://www.choosehealthla.com/move-healthy/biking . For more information about Cambodia Town, please visit http://www.cambodiatown.org.
Dengue Fever has just released their fourth album, Cannibal Courtship. Guitarist Zac Holtzman is a former bicycle messenger, and bassist Senon Williams is a bike enthusiast. Vocalist Chhom Nimol’s adopted hometown in the U.S. is Cambodia Town (Little Phnom Penh). For bios, photos, etc. please visit: http://concordmusicpress.com/releases/Cannibal-Courtship/.
