Radical brass

Eager and a tad apprehensive, I steered my brand-new bicycle into the park on a cold, grey afternoon that didn't feel much like May. (Here it is getting its kickstand installed at Sid's Bike Shop.) The new baby is a black "Sirrus" by the "Specialized" company, and I call it the Batbike. It is much lighter than its predecessor (which Child will now inherit), but has "flat" handlebars, not racing-style ones. It rides beautifully, and most important, there's less of it to bully up the Dreaded Hill.

With my Century ride approaching fast, I find myself focusing more on cycling anxiety than the glories of the park. Today, starting the East Drive climb, I heard a dazzling drum riff. Following the beat down to the Cleft Ridge Span, I fell in behind an impromptu parade of toddlers, parents and nannies in ragtag procession behind an absolutely rocking marching band.

I had stumbled upon the Friday-afternoon musical entertainment of the nearby Maple Street School, which must be the funkiest preschool on earth if it hires the Hungry March Band, described by Time Out New York as "New York City's finest guerrilla ambulatory music ensemble." A punk pastiche of Sergeant Pepper and the Mermaid Parade, they lifted my spirits enormously.  I'd needed a boost, and along came a parade.

Off they went into the park, as I veered back onto the East Drive. Later, on their website, I learned that "the HMB specializes in surprise radical encounters that transform the mundane into the miraculous." Roger that.

The site also yielded this unnerving bit of fortune-cookie serendipity:

"Fear shall lead you to the place you most need to be. When you arrive, dive into the sea of the unknown, we will be there cheering you on, furiously playing in a state of absolute delightful madness."

I wonder if they'd care to play along the route to Montauk?

Comments

[Anne (http://sustainableflatbush.org)]

Other Hungry March Band appearances have included the Polar Bear Club's New Year's Swim at Coney Island, the NY Marathon, and a post-Critical Mass party at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. They rock! Apparently they also rehearse in Midwood during the cold seasons (during the summer they are out by the East River in W'Burg).