Big brass fix

Those cases lined up over at the Square could only mean one thing -- tubas! A chance for a great big brass fix. At 4 o'clock, the schedule said.

Yesterday's event? A benefit for the Prescott High School marching band, which needs the money for a trip to a London competition come January. Below, the requisite Tshirt, which was also the costume of the day for loads of kids from the high school.

Promptly at 4 p.m., there they were, tubas galore, climbing up to the stand in front of Bucky O'Neill. Couldn't help myself; I just kept taking pictures of those big, beautiful oom-pah instruments.

Two tubas...

three tubas...

five... and (below) I do believe that the little fellow at the end also is tooting a tuba, making for a total of six. I wonder: is there a minimum age or size requirement before a kid dare take up this huge horn?

Big bass drums, too.

Of course, there were also other brass instruments. Maybe even a fife or glockenspiel. That's what a marching band is all about. Not a single guitar -- for a change. Nor keyboard. I recall when pop music was all about brass and reeds. Remember, Bennie Goodman & Artie Shaw (clarinet) ... Louis Armstrong (trumpet) .. Tommy Dorsey (trombone). Admittedly, I can't recall any tuba players on yesterday's pop scene.

OK, I don't have a word for the banner players. But they were out in force. First cousins to drum majorettes, I guess, but without the gymnastics.

There were even Union Jacks fluttering on the Sunday afternoon breezes. A reminder of the reason for all that music on the Square.

Linkage: Let's start off with a new Prescott blogger that Tombo brought to my attention -- Sam-in-AZ, who recently moved here as a Vista volunteer. He's published several posts with a newbie's eye view of our fair town; kinda fun seeing what catches the attention of a newcomer. Plus: his background color is R.E.D. Oddball Observations sent me over to a lovely video of cats getting high on catnip. Lastly, Pop Mechanics introduces the dark side of sunflowers.

I'm Dreaming of a Brass Christmas

I'm not given to tears. Not very often. But boy, they came this evening. There's nothing that says "Merry Christmas!!!" to me more than a Salvation Army brass band. Takes me back to my younger years in Chicago where the Sal played in the snow on street corners and more than one office party giver begged the horns to play for his crowd.

Reminds me, too, of the years I did highbrow-ish movies with different partners. In particular, the classic version of Shaw's Major Barbara, with Wendy Hiller playing the title role. Such enthusiasm and joy! I really hadn't expected a Salvation Army brass band here in Prescott.

This was just a very small portion of the annual Acker Musical Showcase held tonight in Prescott, featuring all manner of performers playing in different downtown business locations. I've got a cameraload of pictures & will do my own showcasing of the amazingly varied performers tomorrow or the day after.

Tonight, I'm just letting the nostalgia wash over me!

Aided by folks walking the streets in costume...

Some streets were closed off for the crowds and for such characters as the well lit gent below...

There was yet one more brass group to finish the night with a flourish -- a quartet playing Christmas carols. Three tubas, yet. Sigh! How time passes.

Sunday in the Park

The weather gods smiled at the Sharlot Hall Museum this afternoon. A temperate, sunny day for an ice cream social and music by the Territorial Brass Band. Enjoyed by a sizeable crowd.


When I arrived, the musicians were still tuning up, but the line for ice cream cones being dished out by ladies from the Victorian Society already snaked around the bandstand area.


Don't know what it is about this brass band's music -- it gets me in the nostalgia-for-a-past-I-never- knew gene. I wouldn't be surprised to see the musicians evaporate in a mist even while playing one of those melancholy love songs of the late 1800s.


The audience was well sprinkled with Victorian ladies and their gents.



An important, long-forgotten feature from the past: parasols to protect one's delicate complexion from the sun (as well as provide a means for possible flirtation.) Only one modern member of the audience remembered that an umbrella creates instant shade in the hot Arizona sun.


I say bring 'em back next year and the year after that and ... you get the picture!