Alexandria Ensemble and the Eclectic Gypsy Tribe:
What a crazy bunch
It was a very hot day but we managed to keep our cool. I’m the one with the red silk shirt and pimp style hat.
The Gypsy Tribe
This was a party at the Laughing buck Farm.
…and a university approved field of hemp
It started with Dave, the guy holding the mallets
Green vinyl coat
Then Yellow and Red on a black background
Cut on the vinyl cutter at the Fort Collins Creator Hub
What do you do with a 22 inch kick drum?
Make a Bass Banjo!
Here we have some method of lifting the playing surface up over the standard drum hardware. Since the head does not have regular banjo brackets, these two triangular pieces of wood were glued into place to hold up a finger board at the right angle needed (at least in theory).
Head detail
A sturdy broom handle was used to bring up the rear after attaching it to the heel of the neck… at least that’s one way of doing it and it still falls within the normal design specs for a cigar box guitar or banjo.
Sliced drum
This dimension was based on a simple ‘2X’ proportion in that here we have a 22 inch diameter head and a banjo head is ‘around 11 inch diameter’ so, everything else is twice that of a ‘normal’ banjo. At least that’s how it was planned to work.
Frets added
I used a hand router to make grooves in the fingerboard and then glued the fret wire onto the grooves. The wire is from the wire that used to hold up political yard signs.
Testing it out
With the traditional weed whacker strings and a nice bridge we now have a bass instrument suitable for the orchestra pit or some other type of pit in hell where banjos belong.
Taking it out on the road with the dog and the Black Sheep
Could this be carried on the great feast of the RAGBRAI ? Would I want to drag this thing 500 miles across the state of Iowa?
Jamming with the folk
Finally some people who appreciate bass banjo! This was at the CROMA festival, also known as the Central Rockies Old-time Music Association. The fest was somewhat west of Berthoud, Colorado so it may have been more like in the Northern Rockies, but I guess CROMA sounds better than NROMA. OK?
It’s the second annual Colorado Medieval Festival, proudly presented by the Savage Woods in Loveland, CO :
Just the Belly Dancers and the “Alexandria Ensemble”
Actually at the last count there were 36 dancers at this event; it had to be a record. Also, lots of people came to this two day event because:COSTUMES! The website for Savage Woods is HERE, but it looks like it needs to be updated. Probably it was Facebook that helped get the word out?
They came
We played
They danced
And everyone had a great time (Oh, maybe there was one person who complained about the noise…) Bloco em Foco was there again this year and it was much fun.
It’s the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival
A 2000 year tradition
But only in it’s 15th year in Colorado, the dragon boat race is a tribute to Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet born around 339 BCE. The dragon boat crew is comprised of 16 paddlers, a drummer, a steersperson and a team captain.
Dancing to the Kendhang
Can you tell the guy on the left is faking it? The weather was great and the crowd was wonderful. The lines to the food booths were long and the line to the shuttle bus way too long.
Closing ceremonies?
The dragon dance is traditional at the opening of the boat race. Here, near the end of the last day, the dragon costumes are placed on the ground as performers dance around them.
Yep, at any given time day or night– DRUM CIRCLE!
This time at Jack’s Gulch
Drums mostly, but some brought flutes, guitars, and some guy brought his banjo. There was dancing too, but the high elevation kept the dance moves to a minimum. Nice weather however, and no bears.
New Belgium’s Tour de Fat was on!
…And at the corner near the trolley depot
It was Fort Collins’ premier Samba Band, Bloco em Foco out in the morning for the annual bicycle parade with maybe 20,ooo on hand to see & hear the FoCo BloCo!
Lots of dancing going on
We set-up on the corner where we figured all of the parade would be making its way into City Park so we had a great location and even maybe a little space for dancing near the corner. The New Belgium ‘organizers’ were not sure where the parade was going to go and the police in charge had their own idea for the parade route, so I am sure next year won’t be any different. If we think of it, we will choose this spot again for next year’s TDF. The band and the riders all had a blast!
For the FoCo Cafe:
Concert to benefit a Pay-What-You-Can Cafe in Fort Collins
The Bloco buds were out in force on Oak Street Plaza to help drum up some money for the FoCo Cafe whose mission is “To build community by providing nutritious and delicious meals to the people of Fort Collins regardless of their ability to pay while using local, organic, and sustainably grown ingredients.” Scheduled to open in August, the samba band’s workout provided enough for 40 meals to be served at the cafe.
Yet another Bloco em Foco morning event
Wake up! Let’s go! Come on you guys!
Proof that a samba band can actually get up and play for runners in the Colorado Marathon event. Note the weirdo on the left playing agogo and drum!
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