August 21, 2011 - St. Rosalia Procession and Concert Utica, NY

Besides the Society itself, there are two strong crutches still “holding up” the Feast of St. Rosalia – Pizza Fritta and The Red Band. People still show up for good Italian food and music.

We assembled Sunday morning in front of the St. Rosalia Chapel to escort the Statue to Mt. Carmel Church for Mass. A small handful of Society members walked along with us.

After Mass the Procession began with the Prayer on the steps of the Church. Four young girls said the Prayer in Italian and tossed rose petals in the air as they shouted “Viva Santa Rosalia”.
Everyone was ready for the Procession to begin – the Banner carriers were at the front, three men were waiting to wheel the Statue, the Band following the Saint ready to play. We had a minor delay with the police car escort not showing up on time to safely lead us through the streets of East Utica. The Police finally arrived and we began our walk.

We stopped for a Prayer at businesses that gave support to the Feast, Grimaldi’s Restaurant, O’scugnizzo’s Pizzeria, Caffe Caruso, Giuseppe’s Bakery, and Sons of Italy - then to a private home on Elizabeth St. before returning to the Chapel.

The girls recited one last Prayer before the Statue was placed back in the Chapel.

We then got ready to play our concert from 4-6pm. The audience turnout was fairly nice – granted an older group – lost in their memories of what the St. Rosalia Feast once was. The music helped them relive those times.

We had a good size band for the concert – 36 musicians, along with our announcer Pat Santacroce, and conductor Professoressa Arlene Iagnocco.

St. Rosalia can still boast of having the largest, fluffiest, most delicious Pizza Fritta. We had to do without the help of Pierre Iagnocco for this job. He was in the kitchen along with Phil and Gloria Enea and other Society members preparing all the food. Having a smaller feast than past years also brings along a more limited but delicious menu of homemade food.

Mention must be given to the Piazza family, our own trumpet player Johnny along with his daughter Diane and other family members who spent countless hours to keep this tradition going year after year.

It’s heartbreaking to see but the old neighborhood is changing rapidly and so many are gone – including Society members Peter Adamo, Vinny Dacquino, and most recently Past President Angie Piazza.

However, St. Rosalia did manage a miracle – the weather forecast called for severe storms and strong winds. The area all around us was miserable but except for a few sprinkles St. Rosalia kept the storms at bay and even cleared the skies for sunshine at the close of the concert.

VIVA SANTA ROSALIA!!
VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

For more photos please click on the following link
St. Rosalia Procession and Concert

July 30, 2011 - Rome Honor America Parade

Every year the historic city of Rome, NY, hosts a celebration to Honor America. It begins with an all day event that includes a road race, a 2 ½ hour parade, and an evening symphony concert at Fort Stanwix. The concert concludes with the playing of the 1812 Overture that includes Church Bells and cannon fire from the Fort.

The Red Band made its appearance leading Division 9. The parade is large (13 divisions) and although it began promptly at 10am - our division didn’t step off until close to 11:30.

It was a perfect summer day - sunny and mild with a balmy breeze to keep it “just right” - great parade weather.

An ice cream truck was just ahead of us in the line of march and was passing out a special treat to all the spectators – free popsicles to just about everyone watching the parade including the reviewing stand.

The complete parade route is a 2 mile walk but from where we started on Locust St. down N. James to Embargo, N. George, and ending on W. Dominick St. was a mere 1½ mile walk.

In some places people were sitting and standing 3-4 deep on the sidewalks. We received hearty cheers and applause all along the way and a special acknowledgement from Carl Eilenberg who was doing the announcing on the reviewing stand.

VIVA AMERICA!!
VIVA ROME!!
VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

Please click on the following link for photos
Rome Honor America

July 22, 2011 - Ilion Doo Dah Parade

If you drive down the parade route in Ilion 1 hour or so before the annual Doo-Dah parade begins, you will see row after row of lawn chairs stationed on the curbside like sentinels – no people mind you, just empty chairs some roped off, saving spots.

An hour later these seats fill up with the good people of Ilion. Behind them all standing space on the sidewalk is filled as well.

The temperature hovered near 90 but mercifully the humidity and heat index of the day before was broken making the march tolerable. Thank goodness because the length of the route was slightly longer than last year, ending at the far end of the Remington Arms parking lot.

All the usual crazy marchers and floats such as clowns and Santa Claus didn’t seem to mind the heat. The cheers from the spectators kept them going.

We’ve had a few new younger members this year and what good timing – our new trumpet/baritone player, David Peterson’s father, offered to walk with the band supplying water and spray bottles for the band.

He was decked out in the official Red Band uniform - white shirt, black pants and shoes, and a parade ball cap. He had equipped his antique red radio flyer wagon with a big yellow McDonald’s water cooler filled with ice-cold water. He was assisted by the mother of our newest trombone player – Steve Gothom. Every band member really appreciated the cooling drinks and mist sprays on such a hot day. Thanks and welcome to La Banda Rossa!

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!
For more photos of the parade please click on the following link
Ilion Doo Dah Parade

July 17, 2011 - Mt. Carmel Church Festival - Utica, NY

The sun was shining and the temperature soared to 90 for the Festival of St. Mary of Mt. Carmel/Blessed Sacrament Church.
The Red Band played on the blistering streets in the Procession which honors both the Blessed Virgin and the immigrants of East Utica by reciting the decades of the Rosary in 5 different languages – Italian, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, and English. The procession was followed by Benediction at the Shrine Outside of the Church.

Many of the Parishioners were wearing the brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel which they received after completing the Novena. It is a small brown piece of felt with 2 tabs at the ends of the ribbons with pictures of St. Simon Stock on one side and Our Lady on the other. Mary’s promise to St. Simon was that those who died wearing this Scapular shall “Never Suffer Eternal Fire”.
It’s tidbits of Roman Catholic history and tradition such as this that makes each Parish Festival or Feast so special and unique.

After the procession, we refreshed ourselves back at the Feast. Mt. Carmel puts on the best and biggest variety of Italian treats in the city – Mushroom Stew, Sicilian Rice Balls, Sausage and Hot Peppers, Rigatoni, fried meatballs, pizza, pastries, and pizza frite.

Then it was time for our concert. We had a 39 piece band that filled 2 hours with Polkas, Marches, Opera, and Big Band songs. We also played a new Religious song “Inno E Viva Maria” – a solemn Hymn in Honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.


By the end of the concert, the heat seemed to have taken a toll on one or two Band members but the crowd was receptive and enthusiastically cheered us on.

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!
For more photos please click on the following links
Mt. Carmel Procession and Concert

July 10, 2011 - Boilermaker Road Race Utica, NY

It takes dedication to run the Boilermaker and also for the volunteers that work the water stations and the music venues along the course. You have to be in place and ready to go very early in the morning because of all the road closures.

The Red Band was in place on the Parkway at Tilden Ave. at the end of the International Mile by 7:15am – well before the 1st wheelchair participants whizzed by to the tune of our “Marche Reale”. Because they pass us mostly one at a time at such a fast pace – playing The Royal Italian March for each racer gives them a great fanfare to encourage them in their quest.

Once the runners approach we play almost non-stop. They all respond with cheers and arms waving with some runners coming up to Arlene, our Director, for a high-five or a quick spin of the Tarantella. We play a selection of fast moving numbers to get them going – Polkas, Marches, and Italian songs such as Funiculi Funicula and the Tarantella.

We saved our best song for those runners at the end – the ones who need it the most to spur them on – a wonderful rendition of John Philip Sousa’s Washington Post March.

There was another display of dedication within our own Band – trumpeter John Piazza has had a minor medical problem that has prevented him from playing the trumpet. Loyal Mitchell has been helping to coach him with a Baritone Horn - the larger mouthpiece works as a musician’s physical therapy.

John has made great progress but his inability to resume the trumpet was a torture. It has not stopped him from performing with the Band. He carried the Banner in the Bell Parade and joined the percussion section for the Boilermaker. Not only dedication but versatile.

After the last runner came by and we were packing everything up – a photographer from the Utica OD captured us to post online at the ISpy at the International Mile photo gallery.

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!
For more photos please click on the following link
Boilermaker Road Race

July 9, 2011 - NY Mills Bell Parade

Long before all the jobs moved overseas or down South – many jobs here were in the big mills of Utica and the surrounding mill towns like Clark Mills and New York Mills.

To celebrate their history, the town of New York Mills holds an annual Bell Festival. As quoted by OD Reporter Amanda Fries, “For the mill workers of yesteryear living in New York Mills, their lives were determined by a bell that was housed in a local factory. It provided a 6am wake-up call and a 9pm curfew call, Mayor John Bialek said.”

The Red Band led the Parade down Main Street and ended at Pulaski Park where the Bell is on display.

The mystery of the sparse spectators continues. The weather was great – a sunny, warm summer day – the event was well advertised – the rides and games were all setup – the parade time was the same as in previous years. Where are all the people?

It is eerie enough to warrant a conspiracy theory. In all our parades to date – Memorial Day, Dolgeville Violet Festival, Deerfield Field Days, 4th of July, and the Bell Parade – the crowds have been noticeably smaller. Maybe they’ve moved overseas or down South to get those jobs!

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

For more photos please click on New York Mills Bell Parade

July 4th, 2011 - Utica Parade

We made only one appearance this year on the Fourth of July – a 6pm Parade in Utica.

The Parade route was the same as last year- an easy walk from the staging area at Our Lady of Lourdes Church and ending at the tennis courts at the Parkway Recreation Center. The only problem is that the temperature gets very hot at that time of the day.

Once again we felt honored to be asked to play the Star Spangled Banner as the Parade approached the reviewing stand. We stopped to face the stage and received a salute from a Veteran in a World War II type Army uniform - he looked eerily like Gen. Eisenhower!

The parade moved at a much slower pace than usual – we were marching behind many, many politicians running for office and they were avidly schmoozing the crowd.

Speaking of crowds – this year the spectators seemed to be noticeably sparse. We can only speculate why – the newspaper reported that on the 4th every parking space in Sylvan Beach was taken. There was no room for any more cars. Looks like the Beach is the in-thing this year.

We would like to give a shout-out to some fellow marchers – the Laurens High School Band. They looked sharp and sounded great. A good job for a small school of 400 students – Bravo!

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

For photos please click on the following link
Utica July 4th Parade

June 27, 2011 - Utica Monday Night Concert

We gave our annual salute to Utica’s Italian Community at Utica Monday Night’s Heritage celebration at Chancellor Park.

We were blessed with great weather this year – many times it has rained during our performance.

We had a very good turnout in both musicians and audience. The Band was 34 members strong including 6 trombones, 3 tubas (rare for us to have that many), along with a bassoon, French horn and our usual instrumentation. It made for a very powerful band.

We really shined on our new signature piece “Reminisces of Verdi”. The majority of our Monday Night audience grew up in East Utica (the Italian section of Utica) listening to Opera all their lives and every few years the Professoressa, Arlene Iagnocco, will select a new Opera arrangement for their enjoyment. Needless to say, Verdi was very well received. Bravo/Kudos to the soloists, Al Galime and Donna DeRosa, for a job well done.

The concert also included Polkas, Marches, a Tango, Italian favorites, and a Jazzy-syncopated version of Darktown Strutters Ball - highlighting our Concert Master, Richard Pashley, on Clarinet. One hour on Bleecker Street went way too fast.

VIVA LA BANDA ROSSA!!

For more photos please click on the following link
Utica Monday Night