THE HUNGRY MARCH BAND HUNGRYMARCHBAND.COM WHAT'S A 20-plus-member brass band doing in ...

Y MARCH BAND HUNGRYMARCHBAND.COM

WHAT'S A 20-plus-member brass band doing in a column about activism? The Hungry March Band is such a longtime part of the Lower East Side activist scene, it's strange to think it might seem odd. You won't find any manifestos on their website, and each member (I spoke to eight) has a different take on the band's political role. Some members are part- or full-time activists, while others have little political involvement outside the band. In their outside lives, members include a building inspector, designers, teachers, a neurologist and a handful of professional musicians.

More and more, HMB shies away from arrest scenarios, as getting arrested with a tuba or trombone is especially unpleasant. Though this group might fall into the category of "activism lite," they're firmly rooted in the family of arts-oriented public-space groups like TIME'S UP!, Reclaim the Streets and More Gardens. Says Michele Hardesty (bass drum), "Hungry March Band reclaims public space for the love of public space. There's no rider attached, no demands for City Hall."

HMB is the only full-time second-line band in New York. In New Orleans, second-line bands are deeply ingrained into African American culture. Social-aid and community organizations put on parades every weekend, sometimes more than once. Instead of lining up along the sidewalks to watch, people fall in behind the musicians to create spontaneous roving street parties. Money raised from the sale of food (pork-chop sandwiches on white bread are apparently a big seller) funds community groups.

The Hungry March Band was formed in 1997 in a Flushing Avenue loft for the purpose of playing that year's Mermaid Parade, where it won the first of several awards. For about a year, the band really didn't leave the house. But word got out, and demand for the music snowballed. Members come and go; no original members remain in the band's current incarnation. While this is no consensus-based organization, the band has become increasingly decentralized in terms of decision-making, and most members spoke to me about an ever-evolving level of cooperation that allows them to continue functioning seven years into the group's existence. Until recently, HMB practiced on the Williamsburg waterfront, where passersby would gather to listen. That space is now under the city's lock and key.

HMB's repertoire includes tunes from all over the world, from New Orleans to Jamaica to Eastern Europe. Their original compositions incorporate elements of jazz, ska and punk into the big-brass sound. Parades, protests, art events, parks and parties are common venues for the rag-tag crew. "We often play events that are for the activist community," says Rich Hutchins (snare drum), "and even our non-activist events are in themselves a form of activism, in that we celebrate freedom and creativity." According to Ben Meyers (trombone), managing editor at Brooklyn small press Autonomedia, "Most of the band has pretty lefty tendencies, but discussions of politics rarely explicitly determine the shows we play. It's more the case that shows arise through the various circles individual members drift in, which often overlap with activist culture." Hungry March Band have injected their brand of joy and inspiration into struggles for community centers like CHARAS/El Bohio, community gardens, Williamsburg's Neighbors Against Garbage, firehouses under threat of shutdown, and have played benefits for the Direct Action Network, homeless shelters and political pranksters Etoy.

On May 15 at 11 a.m., the band will play at the Asparagus Festival in Williamsburg's McCarren Park: The community-supported agriculture project that supplies part of the greenmarket there is celebrating its first shipment of the spring vegetable. At the end of the month, much of the band will fly to Italy for a convergence of 10 brass bands. The Sbandata Romana festival, a celebration of public space and public gardens, is sponsored in part by the Rome Social Forum III, a local version of the now annual conference of global social justice organizations that has taken place in Mumbai and Porto Allegre. HMB are the only Americans making the trek.