March 19, 2010 - St. Joseph Day Concert Utica, NY

It only takes 2 days to switch from the "Wearin' O' the Green" to "Sportin' the Red" to honor St. Joseph - and this year, The Red Band participated in the celebration by performing on the great stage of the Stanley Theatre.

Cafe CaNole hosted their annual St. Joseph Day Feast - setting up a buffet line along one side of the stage and a pastry shop in display cases on the other side, featuring the special St. Joseph Day pastries - sfinge and zeppole. St. Joseph is the Patron Saint of Pastry Chefs. We were setup at the rear of the stage to provide music while everyone dined.

All across the stage were enough banquet tables to accommodate hundreds of people - and hundreds arrived. As we played most of our Italian repertoire, our audience, dressed primarily in red, started arriving in a steady stream.

During our 2nd half of the concert - the staff started setting up more tables and carrying more chairs across the stage as the buffet line got longer and longer, stretching from one side of the stage across the front to the other side.

The tradition of the St. Joseph Day table started in the Middle Ages when the people of Sicily prayed to their Patron Saint, St. Joseph, to bring them rain during a severe drought to prevent a famine. They promised if he answered their prayers they would prepare a large feast to honor him.

The rain came and the tradition of the feast continues.

What a wonderful turn-out to share the Italian Heritage at this St. Joseph's Table on his Feast Day.

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

Please click on the link below for photos
St. Joseph Day Concert

March 13, 2010 - St. Patrick's Day Parade Utica,NY

The Red Band opened it's 105th season at the Utica St. Patrick's Day Parade marching down Genesee St. on a cold, blustery, overcast morning. The parade began at 10:00am but we didn't step off until 11:00am. the wind was blowing at 23mph with gusts of 45mph and we marched right into the teeth of it.

From the beginning of the march at Oneida Square and Munson-Williams Art Institute there was a good-sized crowd all in various shades of green, waving flags, applauding, and cheering

Although the crowd wasn't as large as in other years, there was a steady line of spectators all the way to the end. They were dressed in winter coats and quite a few were wrapped in blankets. Lots of little ones were displaying happy smiles with shivering teeth.

In keeping with the theme of St. Patrick's Day we decided to play only two selections - MacNamara's Band" and "When The Saints Go Marching In".

The wind fought us the entire time - blowing off decorations, flipping pages of music, even blowing books right off the holders. But it was the hats that caused havoc - from the front line clarinetist Lenore Gabriel to the back row trombonist Greg Brockway - hats were flying everywhere.

Trumpeter Al Galime's hat blew off and started rolling right up Genesee Street past the Red Band Car that was following the group. When he finally retrieved it he got a friendly, warm ovation from the crowd.

After we passed the reviewing stand, the open space at each intersection created such a crosswind it was just about impossible to play and we finally concluded with the "Marche Reale" at the end of the paraded once we were standing out of the wind behind the old HSBC building.

Clarinetist Linda DeAmicis wasn't able to march and hold a clarinet because of recent shoulder surgery, but she and her husband Jan came to the parade to support the band and take a few pictures thus supplying me with more photos than I'm usually able to take. Thanks Linda.

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

Please click on the link below for more photos

St. Patrick's Day Parade