HONK! Festival 2013: schedule now set -- October 10-13

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From October 10-13, HONK!, the unique revolutionary street music spectacle, will occupy every corner, every cut, every alley within a 1 mile radius. The HONK! progressive musical movement can drive social change on a daily basis, but once a year HONK! kicks into overdrive, just for fun.
HONK!, the originator of HONK!s worldwide, is embarking on its 8th annual. Words fail to describe the overwhelming impact this festival has on participants and audience alike. HONK! is a huge celebratory rally where boisterous bands from all over congregate to play their street music loudly and proudly and to exult in their roles as cultural ambassadors for just causes. HONK! is not only infectious, it is also reinforcement for these bands, empowering them to then head back to their home towns and carry on.

This year, HONK! has invited the Original Big Seven Social Aid and Pleasure Club (OB7) from New Orleans to lead the huge HONK! Parade to Reclaim the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet that will take place on HONK! Sunday. Among the mainstays of New Orleans culture are the second line parades organized by the social aid and pleasure clubs that populate the neighborhoods.

On May 12th of this year, the OB7, which operates in the Seventh Ward, held its annual Mother's Day Parade. Usually a fun-filled, family-friendly brass band romp through the neighborhood, the event this year was different. At the intersection of Frenchmen Street and North Villere, three gunmen senselessly opened fire on the crowd, wounding 19 people including two 10 year-olds. Fortunately there were no fatalities. Immediately following, there were condemnations of violence in New Orleans and calls to halt these time-honored neighborhood parades, but there was very little discourse on the importance of the parades as a source of neighborhood pride and a bulwark of New Orleans culture.

Courageously, and in solidarity with the neighborhood, the OB7 vowed to stage a "ReDo" of the event, along the same parade route as the original. Following a national fundraising campaign and with the support of the neighborhood, the second Mother's Day Parade happened on June 1, and went off without a hitch.

HONK! salutes the courage and commitment of the OB7 in staging a successful ReDo Mother's Day Parade, and in inviting the club to lead this year's HONK! parade, HONK! confirms the importance of New Orleans culture to the HONK! movement and reaffirms the principle that the streets belong to the people.

Passersby can't help but be caught up in the HONK! vortex ... whether they be dancing, singing, clapping, swaying, shouting, shaking. The second line tradition works hand-in-hand with the brass band tradition of taking it to the streets. Recently, The Guardian had this to say in their article "Why brass bands are back in vogue, " quoting snare drummer David Henzie-Skogen of the Youngbloods Brass Band : "It's a more simple, universal thrill of hearing 'music made via the human power of breath and hands, that one feels in the gut, ' this is music with physical heft in an era of laptop twiddling. It would take a hard heart indeed to watch one of these troupes playing live and not want to join the parade." (www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/06/riot-jazz-brass-band).

Movement is the inevitable result of experiencing HONK!, which establishes no boundaries between performer and spectator. As of last count, there are 26 bands coming to HONK! 2013, including several new bands, Os Siderais from Rio De Janeiro and Perhaps Contraption from London. Most HONK! events ... many concerts, one very large parade, some mini parades, and much more ... will take place in the vicinity of Davis Sq. Somerville and Harvard Sq. Cambridge and are free and open to all. Opportunities to join in at the last minute will be abundant, including participating in the community band that evolves on HONK! Sunday not long before the parade takes off!

Festival updates can be found at www.honkfest.org, http://twitter.com/honkfest, and www.facebook.com/honkfestival, or by calling 617-383-HONK (4665). Listed below is the festival schedule as it now stands:

"The sound originated by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
some 35 years ago lives on,
especially here in the northeast as is evidenced by the
annual Honk Fest in Somerville."
(Troy Tyree of WCUW-FM
introducing the Dirty Dozen at
Newport Jazz Festival, Aug. 4, 2013)

2013 WEEKEND SCHEDULE
(keep checking in for updates at www.honkfest.org/schedule)

Thursday, October 10, 7 pm:
Pre-HONK! Musical Showcase For Visiting HONK! Bands
Throughout Union Square, Somerville
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Friday, October 11, 3 pm-5 pm:
HONK! In The Neighborhoods
HONK! bands play for and with community and after-school groups throughout the greater Boston area.
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Friday, October 11, 7 pm-9 pm:
Lantern Parades
Sidewalk HONK! processions around Davis Square, Somerville, accompanied by bike lights, paper lanterns, flashlights, and other forms of DIY lighting.
Open community lantern-making workshops from 4 pm-6 pm, held prior to the lantern parades which start and end in Hodgkins-Curtin Park near Davis Square.
Free and open to all; rain or shine.
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Friday, October 11, 8:00 pm-12:45 am:
HONK! Kick-Off Concert
A free party for HONK!ers and their fans:
8:00 pm-10:00 pm: A HONK! Jam with reps from each HONK! band, conducted by Ken Field of the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble;
10:00 pm-10:45 pm: Perhaps Contraption (London, UK);
11:00 pm-11:45 pm: Young Fellaz Brass Band (New Orleans, LA);
12:00 am-12:45 am:: Os Siderais, (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil).
Johnny D's Uptown Restaurant and Music Club, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville, MA 02144
[Conveniently located near the Davis Square stop on the Red Line and several MBTA bus connections.]
Free and open to all.
For information: 617-776-2004, www.johnnyds.com.

Saturday, October 12, 12:00 pm-12:30 pm:
HONK! Opening Ceremonies
Held at 7 Hills Park
Davis Square, Somerville
[Conveniently located near the Davis Square stop on the Red Line and several MBTA bus connections.]
Free and open to all; rain or shine.
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Saturday, October 12, 12:30 pm – 9 pm:
HONK! In Davis Square: The Main Event
Free Outdoor Concerts:
Twenty-six activist street bands, current roster:
AfroBrazil, Brass Balagan, Brass Messengers, The Bread & Puppet Theater Circus Band, Caka!ak Thunder, Colonel Pope and the Hartford Hot Several, Detroit Party Marching Band, Dirty Water Brass Band, DJA-Rara, EE-Environmental Encroachment, Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, Expandable Brass Band, Extraordinary Rendition Band, Forward! Marching Band, Gora Gora Orkestar, Hungry March Band, Leftist Marching Band, Minor Mishap Marching Band, Os Siderais, Perhaps Contraption, The Riverhawk Party Band, Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Second Line Social Aid & Pleasure Society Brass Band, What Cheer? Brigade, Worcester Ice Cream Social Band, and Young Fellaz Brass Band.
Davis Square, Somerville
[Conveniently located near the Davis Square stop on the Red Line and several MBTA bus connections.]
Free and open to all; rain or shine (nearby back-up venues in case of downpour).
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Sunday, October 13, noon – 2 pm (11 am assembly):
HONK! Parade From Davis Square To Harvard Square
HONK! Parade to “Reclaim the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet”:
A perambulating street spectacle featuring all the HONK! bands plus 24 community organizations, visual artists, and performers, including the Bread & Puppet Theater, the Boston Hoop Troop, Veterans for Peace, the Tibetan Association of Boston, the Open Air Circus, the Boston Sprockettes, and special guests the Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club of New Orleans, whom the parade will honor for their efforts to reduce gun violence and support community street performance for younger generations in their city's Seventh Ward.
Parading from Davis Square to Harvard Square’s Oktoberfest celebration; the parade assembles in Davis Square, Somerville, at 11 am, leaving Davis at 12 noon, travelling down Elm Street, then Beech Street onto Massachusetts Ave. to Harvard Square, Cambridge, to participate in Oktoberfest. Led by the Mayors of Somerville and Cambridge. Those wishing to participate in the parade or to volunteer as a parade facilitator, contact parade@honkfest.org.
[Conveniently located near the Davis, Porter, and Harvard Square stops on the Red Line and several MBTA bus connections.]
Free and open to all; rain or shine.
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Sunday, October 13, 2:15 pm-6 pm:
HONK! Oktoberfest, including a HONK! All-Band Blowout Concert:
All HONK! bands will be featured in Harvard Square’s Oktoberfest, after the arrival of the HONK! Parade, with separate side show sets and an all-afternoon all-band blowout held on the Main Stage. The participating bands are:
AfroBrazil, Brass Balagan, Brass Messengers, The Bread & Puppet Theater Circus Band, Caka!ak Thunder, Colonel Pope and the Hartford Hot Several, Detroit Party Marching Band, Dirty Water Brass Band, DJA-Rara, EE-Environmental Encroachment, Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, Expandable Brass Band, Extraordinary Rendition Band, Forward! Marching Band, Gora Gora Orkestar, Hungry March Band, Leftist Marching Band, Minor Mishap Marching Band, Os Siderais, Perhaps Contraption, The Riverhawk Party Band, Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Second Line Social Aid & Pleasure

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