Honk! Music Festival
Laura Hill
Bands from locations as diverse as San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, North Carolina and Oregon traveled cross-country to meet and perform in Davis. The Pink Puffers Drum & Brass Phunk Band flew all the way from Rome to participate in the festival, which celebrated a diverse blend of music heavily influenced by the tunes and spirit of New Orleans brass bands, European Klesmer, traditional gypsy melodies, Brazilian Afro Bloc, Mardi Gras and Carnivale.
As I rounded the corner of the new Granoff Music Center on Friday afternoon, I inadvertently walked directly into a spontaneous celebration of music, dance and street culture.
Drummers, horn-players, hula-hoopers and passers-by clustered in a circle around one man fiercely conducting an improvised jam
session. The painted bus from the Bread & Puppet Circus Band looked strangely out of place parked in front of Aidekman, as students gravitated towards the sounds of laughter and applause.
The evening air throbbed with a New Orleans beat as the bands played on.

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