Initial details on the 2005 edition of the Plea For Peace tour have been announced and this year is quite different from previous incarnations. Here's the scoop from Mike Park:

Starting September 8th, 2005 a group of musicians/friends will ride bikes down the west coast to raise funds for a new youth center in my hometown of San Jose, California. This year San Jose will surpass the city of Detroit as the 10th largest city in the United States, yet there are ZERO all age venues that provide a place for our youth to see or perform live music. With guitars in tow, we will perform live concerts along the way to celebrate our love of music and to work as different starts/stops on the tour for various riders.

Our goal is to raise over $250,000 to make this dream a reality. This is an open invitation to all musicians, artists, bicycle lovers, and basically anyone who want to participate on this journey. Below you will see the routing for the tour. If you feel the desire to take part in any leg or for the entire ride, please get in touch for important information regarding the journey.

Peace always,
Mike Park

Thus far musicians confirmed to participate in all or parts of the journer are Neil Hennessey and Chris McCaughn of the Lawrence Arms, Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio, Mike Park of Asian Man Records and Dan Potthast of MU330. Many more are expected to be added soon. The tour is in desperate need of all kinds of sponsorship, especially for bicycle equipment. If you can help or know anyone who can help with different levels of sponsorship, water, camping gear or non-perishable foods, please contact the tour (see their website for contact info).

The tentative schedule for the west coast bike tour has been announced.