First stage of “Tow Bar Needed” a great success

This winter, Utrecht musician Tjerk Ridder traveled through Europe, hitchhiking with a caravan, but without a car. Destinations: The European Capitals of Culture 2010: Essen/Ruhr (Germany) and Pécs (Hungary). But the actual project goal was the journey itself. And this journey was – to put it mildly – overwhelming. And so was the media attention. Ridder made it to the national TV news in five different European countries and even became close to being a national TV star in Hungary. Being temporarily back in his hometown Utrecht, Ridder is turning his special encounters and experiences into songs for his new album. He will present this new album at the World Expo in the Chinese city of Shanghai, after which he will continue his journey to the third European Capital of Culture 2010: Istanbul.

Symbolic journey

‘Tow Bar Needed’ is a symbolic journey, in which Ridder takes the central motto ‘You need others to get further’ literally.

Ridder and his hitchhiking companion Peter Bijl (who ‘caught on’ in Essen) looked for cars equipped with a tow bar to pull them – and their caravan – further along their way. During the trip drivers were interviewed about their dreams. They were then given an incentive to actively pursue these dreams, in the shape of a tin can holding a piece of paper with their aspiration and an expiration date by which this aspiration has to be realized.

These are the basics of a special journey. The first stage took Ridder and his dachshund Dachs from Utrecht, through the German Ruhr Area to Pécs in Hungary, two of the 2010 European Capitals of Culture. During the two months period proceeding the first lift on January 3rd – provided by Utrecht Mayor Aleid Wolfsen – over 30 rides and a multitude of special stories and impressions followed.

Media circus

At the same time an international media circus evolved around the Tow Bar Needed project. Apart from dozens of newspaper and radio interviews, there were national TV reports in five different countries: Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Hungary. RTL Hungary, the largest national TV station, even made a special item about Tjerk Ridder and his project, which was broadcasted as the prime-time opening item of the evening shownews. Hungarian newspaper front pages abbreviated his name to a friendly yet powerful ‘Tjerk’.

Cultural Capital

Ridder described his adventures on the road in daily blogs, which can be found on this website. Being temporarily back home in Utrecht he is turning his experiences into songs for his new album. At the same time he is doing more interviews, most recently in the well-known Dutch radio show ‘Spijkers met Koppen’ and the SBS6 national TV Evening News Show ‘Hart van Nederland’.

He will present his new album during the Utrecht program at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 at the end of May. This program will present Utrecht as a city of knowledge and culture. During the presentation, which includes artists like C-mon & Kypski, Utrecht will reinforce its candidacy for becoming European Capital of Culture in 2018. The Netherlands has been selected to provide a new candidate for this special European title, for the first time after Rotterdam 2001. Utrecht 2018 is one of the candidates.