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HONK! festival 2013 announces schedule, featuring nearly 30 activist marching bands taking over Somerville + Cambridge

Second Line Social Aid & Pleasure Society Brass Band, photo by Geoff Adams

Now in its 8th year, the HONK! music festival attempts to be more than just a gathering of brass bands and street musicians. It’s a rallying cry for change and celebration that takes over neighborhoods in Somerville and Cambridge, and the main event this year goes down all day in Davis Square on Saturday, October 12.

What is HONK!, exactly? It’s many various street concerts, a very large parade, a few mini parades, and a bunch of other community stuff.

Among the locals taking part this year are host band Second Line Social Aid & Pleasure Society Brass Band, as well as Boston’s AfroBrazil, Somerville/Cambridge’s Dirty Water Brass Band, and Somerville’s Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band. Several new bands take part this year, including Os Siderais from Rio De Janeiro and Perhaps Contraption from London, but perhaps the specialist of guests are the Original Big Seven Social Aid and Pleasure Club (OB7) from New Orleans, who will lead the Sunday’s parade to “Reclaim the Streets for Horns, Bikes and Feet.”

On May 12, the Seventh Ward’s OB7, experienced violence at their Mother’s Day parade when three gunman opened fire on the crowd and injured 19, including two children aged 10. They unified with the neighborhood, organized a national fund raising campaign, and successfully staged a “ReDo” of the event on June 1, with no incidents.

Boston and its surrounding cities and towns will no doubt salute them and their efforts.

Today, HONK! released its official schedule of events, which take over the weekend surrounding the main parade on October 12. There’s a lot of info here, so we’ll try to present it as clean as possible…


HONK _ What Cheer _ Credit Leonardo March

What Cheer? Brigade, photo by Leonardo March


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

Friday, October 11, 3pm – 5pm: 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, 7pm – 9pm: Lantern Parades
Sidewalk HONK! processions around Davis Square, accompanied by bike lights, paper lanterns, flashlights, and other forms of DIY lighting. Open community lantern-making workshops from 4pm – 6pm, 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, 8pm – 12:45am: HONK! Kick-Off Concert
A free party for HONK!ers and their fans:
– 8pm – 10pm: A HONK! Jam with reps from each HONK! band, conducted by Ken Field of the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble
– 10pm – 10pm: Perhaps Contraption (London, UK)
– 11pm – 11:45pm: Young Fellaz Brass Band (New Orleans, LA)
– Noon – 12:45am: Os Siderais, (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil).
Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville, MA 02144. Free and open to all.
For information: 617-776-2004, www.johnnyds.com.

Saturday, October 12, 12pm – 12:30pm: HONK! Opening Ceremonies
Held at 7 Hills Park, Davis Square, Somerville. Free and open to all; rain or shine.
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Saturday, October 12, 12:30pm – 9pm: HONK! In Davis Square: The Main Event
Free Outdoor Concerts: 26 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. 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 – 2pm (11am 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.
Free and open to all; rain or shine.
For information: 617-383-HONK (4665), contact@honkfest.org.

Sunday, October 13, 2:15pm – 6pm: 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 Society Brass Band, What Cheer? Brigade, Worcester Ice Cream Social Band, and Young Fellaz Brass Band.
Free and open to all; rain or shine.
For information, visit www.harvardsquare.com, 617-491-3434, hsba@harvardsquare.com.

Leading up to this year’s HONK! week, there are several preliminary events worth noting:

Running now through Sept. 19: HONK! Kickstarter campaign
This year’s goal is to reach $12,000 by Sept. 19th. Individuals can donate through the HONK! website. www.honkfest.org/kickstarter

Running now through HONK! Festival weekend, 24 hours a day:
A Harmonious Hoopla: the Art of HONK! featuring the work of local artists inspired by the HONK! Festival. Area artists respond to Somerville’s home-grown music festival with their own HONK!-inspired creations including works in painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.
The Inside-Outside Gallery (aka the CVS windows)
CVS Pharmacy, 1 Davis Square, Somerville. Free and open to all.
For more information, email contact@honkfest.org.

Sunday, September 15, 4pm – 6pm: HONK! Volunteer Appreciation Pep Rally
Individuals and groups interested in participating in all things HONK!, helping out in some if not all the ways that make HONK! happen, are encouraged to attend. HONK! is an experience like no other!
Sprout, 339R Summer St., Somerville

For more information, contact volunteers@honkfest.org; sign up at www.facebook.com/events/265320680259595.