Honk! Fest West 2018
This impressive three-day celebration of a “global renaissance of community street band culture” arrived in White Center, WA on Saturday June 2.
The musicians go all out in every way. The music is loud and raucous. So are the wardrobes, hairstyles and general demeanor of the musicians who give every impression of having more fun than anyone. But the audience is deeply appreciative as it roves from one “stage” to another. This is a high energy/low resources operation. The stages of a well-financed music festival are absent. Here the street is the stage, which only makes everything feel more authentic and down to earth, as befits community street band culture.
16th Street the main drag in White Center — “Not so white. Not so centered” as the local bumper stickers say — offers a great backdrop for the musicians and their music. Rather than the ubiquitous sponsors’ logos at high-powered music festivals White Center local business store fronts provide the backdrop: Beer and Wine Source, Los Potrillos Tacqueria, Angkor Market, Bok A Bok, Proletariat Pizza, Locker Room Tavern, We Buy Gold and more.
Most bands hail from the Pacific Northwest but some come from as far away as Lowell, Mass as Honk! Fest is a national operation. The band names are as creative as the music and the bands’ appearance including among others, Brass Liberation Orchestra, Chaotic Noise Marching Corps, Filthy Femcorps, Neon Brass Party and, one of my favorites, Rise Up! Action Band singing/chanting “Say Their Name!” and “You and I must fight!”
The entire day was a cacophony of music, color, dancing and a great deal of unbridled joy, much of it led by women who seemed to be everywhere and in every band. I hope the photos capture some of that. I had a blast!
http://www.honkfestwest.org
Red head from The Party Band, Lowell, Mass
Rise Up!Action Band, Seattle
Give Back Brass Band, Seattle
Filthy Femcorps, Seattle
16th Ave SW, White Center
Filthy Femcorps, Seattle
Filthy Femcorps, Seattle
Brass Band at Brass Knuckles Bistro
16th Ave, SW White Center
Chaotic Noise Marching Corps on 16th Ave SW
Chaotic Noise Marching Corps on 16th Ave, White Center
Filthy Fem Corps, Seattle
Horn Player from The Party Band, Lowell, Mass
Too much fun on 16th Ave SW, White Center
Ed and Andrew from The Party Band, Lowell, Mass.
Horn Player outside Angkor Market
Brass Band exiting Brass Knuckles Bistro
"Say their Names" from Rise Up! Action Band