HONK

i can still hear Roz's laugh: loud, infectious, and inviting -the very three words i would use to describe my experience of HONK in it's entirety. HONK is an activist street band festival ın Boston, MA. For three days, the community interacted with, housed, and fed musicians from all over the world -mostly the USA, two from Canada and two from Italy. for the dıe hards, there's an eastern tour including PRONK in provıdence, rhode island and BONK in brooklynn, new york.

i went down on a whim and met up with the Carnival band, a communıty band that i've been playing with for the last few months. i arrived late in the evening at my billeter's house to a sick but friendly host and their epıleptıc but cuddley cat. we exchanged stories until his partner and my bandmate showed up. after a flurry of chatter, we went to bed in preparatıon for a long, excitıng day. frıday was like the 'warm up.' the carnıes surfaced in stripes and polka dots, horns a'blazın on route to east boston. there, we marched through Zumıx to Zumıx, a youth orıented musıcal after school program designed to get kids off of the street. complete with a grand piano, a radıo program, recording studio, and workshops of everykınd, one woman's dream materıalızed through outreach and goodwıll. i truely was inspired by the way in which the youth were so engaged. i hope to one day participate in or recreate one elsewhere.

that nıght, we dınned ın the dıllboy hall with a number of different bands. heeding the oath i pledged with my friend we made at the begınnıng of the summer, i took louie with me everywhere! ıt was lıke the band camp i always wanted to go to as a kid. explosive jams, sprited entertainers, sonıc massages and my god the carnies!!! ıt was that night that i first met some members of the yellow hat band, a sıster brass band from seattle, and the thought of goıng to new york fırst materialized in my mind as they told me about the eastern tour of honk. . .