Not too many weeks ago, a friend of mine was talking about starting a marching band -- and had even gone so far as to look for suitable outfits. Well, unless he was at Chimborazo Park earlier today, he can cool his jets.
Yes, Richmond has its very own marching band -- and they had their first practice today. The folks at RVAJazz blogged about it and included plenty of photos, including one of the Richmond Police Department shutting the practice session down a bit earlier than expected:
With the gradual arrival of the various brass and woodwind players, the
sections combined and we put the pieces together. Our main focuses were
our Fight Song, and Brian Jones' Pinchback (from his Wurlitzer Trio's album Drug Piano).
Although the Fight Song begins with a quirky marching band flair and
uptempo peppiness, it abruptly turns on its head into a fat groove,
slow and immediately hip. Pinchback takes Randall Pharr's bass from the
album into the low brass section and Daniel Clarke's dark Wurlitzer
melody into the assortment of trombones, saxophones, and fluegelhorns.
The bridge of the tune builds with huge chords while the percussion
section grows with vigor, transitioning back into the main theme.
Two police officers casually strutted over to our rehearsal in the middle of the park. Like any appropriately-sized marching band, we were very loud. We were apparently too loud for the residents living next to the park. To paraphrase one of the cops, "They won't call us about people doing drugs in the park, but they'll call about things like this." Permits to rehearse in Monroe Park should prevent that from happening at future rehearsals. The Monument Avenue 10K yesterday kept us from rehearsing there today, so Chimborazo was the temporary park to rehearse in. The cops were considerate enough to give us 15 minutes to wrap up our rehearsal.
Two police officers casually strutted over to our rehearsal in the middle of the park. Like any appropriately-sized marching band, we were very loud. We were apparently too loud for the residents living next to the park. To paraphrase one of the cops, "They won't call us about people doing drugs in the park, but they'll call about things like this." Permits to rehearse in Monroe Park should prevent that from happening at future rehearsals. The Monument Avenue 10K yesterday kept us from rehearsing there today, so Chimborazo was the temporary park to rehearse in. The cops were considerate enough to give us 15 minutes to wrap up our rehearsal.
There's a July 4 march planned, so if you've got a hankering to pull out your high hat and trombone, go for it. There's a Facebook group calling your name.
