A couple of weeks ago I went to Providence, R.I. to see a band we signed called Javelin, they were sharing a bill with Dan Deacon. Neither of those folks makes another appearance in this blog post.

Opening up the show and appearing with Dan Deacon was a really great local brass band called What Cheer Brass band. One of the Javelin guys used to be in this band and he told me an album I produced and recorded, Disco Bhanga Wedding Bands from Rajastan, served in some ways as this groups guide post.

It used to be that every where you looked there was a reggae band. Then amazingly enough Fela-like Afro Beat became a music that was played as a style that became a genre. Now it's the plethora of really really good brass bands - influenced often from India and mixing it up with everything else around. In a way a perfect example of the syncreticness of the world.

Of course there was David and his shows with the Extra Action Marching Band who often played with little or no clothing Something in common to both Extra Action and What Cheer bands is there pushed 'alternative-ness.' My cousin Rebecca who goes to school at RISD in Providence said that the What Cheer Bands encircles the freshmen every year and sends a message that - you are now away from home. Ironic that the most straight forward of musical ensembles, the marching band, the Indian Wedding Band, the military brass band, the high school cheerleading band are now used to send a message of societal transgression.

Of course, that doesn't apply to everybody: