Honk Fest

This past Saturday we went to the Honk Fest in Somerville. I love street festivals and the Honk Fest ranks right up there among the better of them. Street bands from all over the country were there, playing for free all over Davis Square. We saw bands from New Orleans, Kansas City, Indiana, and elsewhere. There were more than thirty out there playing for the weekend.

Most of the bands had brass, and drums, and - other instruments, like accordians, bells, gongs, and some homemade things. The band members were all brightly attired; some of the bands were in matching uniforms and all of the bands were in some type of uniform - not all of them matching and for some, probably almost all, the outfits were designed to be outrageous. The Leftist Marching Band was one.

The LMB was comprised, in part, of brass, an accordian (the player wore a button on his hat that said - Trust Women), horns, and drums. Their uniforms were eclectic, sort of, and saying they looked scruffy was a dis-service. They looked, well it's kind of hard to describe. One member, a woman, played a hand drum with cymbals. She wore a white skirt with red fringe, blue tights, red cowboy boots, a green t-shirt, and a black cap.

The baritone sax player had a white beard that came down to his mid-chest, a blue and red tie-dyed bandana on his head, yellow tinted glasses over normal ones, a gray vest, and white pants with red, green and yellow tennis shoes. The tuba player had his instrument fringed in a white boa.

A band from Indiana was dressed in geen and black. They looked a little like a leprechaun marching band; however, one of the horn players was a woman who had to be 6'6". There were at least forty members in the band, ranging in age from teenager thru, it looked like, mid-thirties.

In some of the bands, the members, and a chunk of the audience as well, were questionnable as to their age and sex. There were more than a couple times I did a double-take and a stare as I went past and looked at the folks. I would first think to myself - that's a woman, no, it isn't, it's a guy. Hmnn. I'm not sure. But, it didn't matter. It was a Somerville fest and it was fun.

Interestingly, there were very few food vendors. Of course, all of the restaurants and bars were open and so there was no lack of food or drink. There just wasn't any festival food. We did stop at Starbucks and get a coffee.

While we were there we hit the Goodwill store, a must-stop when in Somerville. We also slid into a couple consignment stores and poked around.

After walking around, checking out the scene, the music and the people, we headed over to the T station and caught the red line back to Alewife. It was a good day to be out in the sun for some fun. A good time had by all.