From England that is. Durham was an excellent time!
We traveled as 7 - and returned state-side without incident late last week. If you haven't checked it out yet - you should really look at the Brass Festival. We had a fabulous time performing, meeting not only the festival staff and volunteers, but also the locals and the traveling music lovers that came to Durham for the two-week long festivities. With the talent and passion the festival people had - we believe the festival can only grow in popularity and magnitude. A great combination of talented musicians, enthusiastic festival people, and the great location for some time away makes us believe this. Some pictures from our adventure are posted on myspace already - and more will follow, fyi.
We were able to take in some of the performances from other groups - including the YBS Brass Band and Mnozil Brass. During the streets of brass event, we played at the same time as many of the other artists, and during our down time we went to check on our missing instruments - and grabbed a couple pints while sitting on an outdoor patio overlooking the river Ware. The groups we heard and watched were great - and the mutual respect from the other musicians was fantastic - other groups from the streets of brass came and listened to our sets when they weren't playing - and really seemed to enjoy the sound and style of the JBB.
Now that we're home - our bodies are adjsuting to the time zone, getting everything unpacked, cleaned, and put away - and have had four gigs since returning (including a parade, an appearance at the Macy's Day of Music - televised on WCCO TV, a fundraiser event, and a fantasitc local restaurant exposition called the "Taste of the Twin Cities Originals" - lots of fantastic food and wine was had by all. We have some time off now for some R & R....
Keep your eyes and ears open for our next appearances - and thanks again to everyone for your love and support. We truly appreciate it.
Oh - and for those of you that were wondering - we do have some copies of our "Limited Edition" CD - "Traditionally Speaking" available - contact us for info on how to order your copy, before they are gone.