Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra

Support Evicted Market Drummers AGAIN

2008-09-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

Last time we won! In January, Santa Cruz Police tried to evict the ever-present market drum circle from their spot under the tree, and with the help of Trash Orchestra, the drums drove the cops away. And they stayed away... until now.

Last week the drummers were evicted AGAIN by police using the ridiculous 15-minute law (persons cannot be in any city parking lot longer than 15 minutes). Join us to protest that eviction and reclaim that public space!

Support for Market Drummers
Wed Sep 10th 3:30pm
Santa Cruz Farmer's Market
(Bring percussion - resonant trash or a drum)

The City of Santa Cruz's parking lot panic law is in effect and being enforced. For those unfamiliar the law restricts the use of downtown parking lots and garages to parking and retrieving of vehicles (the person must be in and out in 15 minutes), and for pedestrians passing directly through from one sidewalk to another or a bordering store. Anything else (waiting in your car for a friend, eating lunch, talking to friends, playing music...) is trespassing, illegal, will get you hassled by Santa Cruz's finest, and, ultimately, fined.

Ostensibly to create a safer downtown, this absurd law is a further attempt to create a sterile downtown for smooth undistracted shopping. It criminalizes creative uses of public space for art and recreation.

From this article on Indybay:

On two successive Wednesdays, police have ordered the peaceful drum circle to leave their traditional spot in the public parking lot [alongside the Farmer's Market] using Mayor Coonerty's Ban on Public Assemblies in parking lots. The new merchant-backed law prohibits lingering in a parking lot or garage unless you have a vehicle there (and then only for fifteen minutes). It removed ten blocks of public space from public use.

A twisted and unjust law, but only words on paper until enforced. Uniformed fascists (some very friendly and decent, of course, as they oppress you) will try to enforce it with what they believe to be legitimate power. But we are really the ones that make the choice whether to legitimate that power or not. We choose not to go along with the program.

This is merely the newest battle of a war in Santa Cruz. A war against dissent, against the poor, against the homeless, and now against people making music. We challenge these laws and the police crackdown on undesirables -- an effort to "clean up" the streets of Santa Cruz of the young, the very old, immigrants, the unemployed, homeless, the insane, and anyone who resists.

Join us in solidarity with other musicians and friends playing music together.

References:

Trash on the Black Rock Playa

2008-08-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Like Burning Man back in the day, back when we started going in '93. The infinite desert, explosives, and bone-shaking trash percussion. Including a performance at the burning of the desert town of Dismal.

Our camp out on the open playa

Sometimes, accidentally propane cylinders fell into our fire

Playing around in the junk at the shooting range

Fire Practice

Performance at Dismal before the town tragically burnt to the ground

As Hank said:

it was great to see all of you, and to meet even more wonderful people.
so sweet, so short.

I'd like to meet again. What are you doing in around 360 days?
same place, same time?

More photos on Flickr

Long-Haul Infoshop 15th Birthday Party in Berkeley

2008-08-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

Long-Haul Infoshop 15th Birthday 3124 Shattuck Ave	Friday Aug 8th 8pm Berkeley, CA
The Long Haul has served as a resource center and community space for radical grassroots activists for 15 years. Trash Orchestra will be there to help celebrate. Vegan birthday cake, music, dancing, refreshments, and a general good time. Starts immediately after the Berkeley Critical Mass ride. Website.

Come join us as we help celebrate this long-running awesome radical project.

Wes

Trash Orchestra at Fire Arts Festival

2008-07-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

Photography by Insurgent Photo insurgentphoto[at]yahoo.com

Flag

Gazing

Lounging

Canstrament

Cuddly Kitten Time

On Stage

Full Stage

The Nicest Guy You'll Ever Meet

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Introduction

"Found With a Match in Her Hand"

Monkey Boy

100% Mustache

Sharing Instruments

Circus Waltz

Flaming Drumsticks

Disarming Smile

Fire Staff

"Things! Break! Down!"

Trash Pile

Extinguishing the Orchestra

So Long Folks

The Crucible's Fire Arts Festival Friday July 11th

2008-07-08T09:49:00.001-07:00

Join us as we light ourselves and maybe others on fire at the Crucible's Fire Arts Festival in West Oakland on July 11th. The festival runs Wednesday to Saturday. We're opening on Friday night. We're unsure looking at this photo if this stage is really big or grand enough for us. Catch us at this performance while we are still playing small, intimate gigs.

Fire Arts Festival Kirkham Street and 5th Street	Friday July 11th 8pm Oakland, CA
The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival celebrates creativity through fire and light with a spectacular open-air exhibition of interactive fire art, performance and the largest collection of outdoor fire sculpture on the West Coast. Website.

Fire Arts Festival website and tickets: http://www.thecrucible.org/fireartsfestival/

Return to Modesto!

2008-06-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

Report back from Modesto DIY Fest from Wingnut Willy:

The night ended with Trash Orchestra performance in Modesto's center plaza downtown.

Again (1 year later), Santa Cruz folks took the public into the trash orchestrated post apocalyptic vision quest! Smashing on car hubcaps, plastic buckets, symbols & kicking over garbage cans, followed by a Trash Orchestrated Dogpile, set the public's mood on fire!

The end of Orchestra ( too late coppers...WE'RE DONE!) resulted in a debate between Modesto police & one T.O. member, with police claiming there were complaints from local merchants (who later denied it adamantly. But police just seemed more interested in trying to prove they were arrogantly right & boasting their authority -- but whats new?!

Again, from Modesto police, "We're not impressed. "

Santa Cruz LGBT Pride Parade

2008-05-28T12:42:00.001-07:00

Trash Orchestra joins the annual pride parade, a celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersex and questioning community. Come support your queer friends, family, and neighbors.

The Santa Cruz LGBT Pride Parade 2008 will gather at Pacific Avenue and Cathcart Street at 10 am on Sunday, June 1, and will step off at 11 am.

The Festival happens directly after the parade in San Lorenzo Park. Attendance will likely be over 5,000. This year the festival starts at NOON and goes to 6PM on June 1st, 2008. The festival will have a Stage with performers of all types.

Your Support Helps Fight Tyranny

2008-05-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

In March, we returned from a trip into the Great White North, a fabulous 1500-mile voyage to Seattle, via Eugene and Portland. Check out the harrowing and titillating details of our journey right here on the Trash Orchestra Blog.

It included 12 performances in 5 days, in Eugene, Portland, and Seattle. It included an anti-war student walkout march in Portland and a street takeover in Georgetown, Seattle. We made connections up and down the coast and at Honk Fest West, across the country.

The trip cost the band about a thousand dollars. Would you be willing to kick-in $100 to help with the journey? Trash Orchestra is a grassroots shoestring endeavor. Your cash will help fight tyranny.

Free Food and Music at the River Arts Festival

2008-05-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

Trash Orchestra Performance
at the River Arts Festival
Sundays May 18th 11:30
at the Duck Pond
San Lorenzo Park
Santa Cruz, CA

According to the website, this is an exciting new annual festival celebrating the Monterey Bay's rich cultural and natural resources. The park's bench lands will be transformed into the "Piazza di San Lorenzo", an aesthetic contemporary arts and crafts marketplace.

We will be celebrating the "diversity of our town's tremendous cultural riches and creativity" in the very same park in which Santa Cruz police daily chase out modern day hobos and troubadours. So we hope to bring an illuminating vibe to the celebration.

We invite those who are down-and-out, itinerant, penniless, on the bum, dispossessed, destitute, homeless, broke down, busted, hard-up, on the skids, or just your punks or traveling kids to come enjoy a sunny day with food, music, and friends.

Food Not Bombs will be serving at the same time that Trash Orchestra starts.

We'll make a joyful noise and play for a time when the river will be unbounded by parks and levies and we'll all run wilder and freer.

Civic Auditorium at the Roller Derby

2008-05-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Playing for the Rollergirls on May 10th

2008-04-28T23:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, this can't be missed. We're playing for the Santa Cruz Roller Girls.

Santa Cruz Rollergirls
Saturday May 10th 7pm
Civic Auditorium
307 Church St, Santa Cruz

The Santa Cruz Rollergirls, is the first all-female, full contact, flat-track derby league in Santa Cruz. The SCRG is a grassroots organization built by the hands of a small group of even-headed smart women who had the dream to bring the sport and art of roller derby back to Santa Cruz. This is a home game pitting the Beach Flat Betties against the Fistful of Dollies and we play halftime! Website

March, Rally and Direct Action Against Military Recruiters at UCSC

2008-04-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Military Recruiters have been blocked from recruiting for three years at UCSC, and have been absent for over a year now, but it looks like they're going to try and come back. The upcoming career fair has FBI, CHP, Santa Cruz Justice Department, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corp, and the Army health department, along with a lot of other heinous corporations and institutions.

On April 22nd, recruiters returned to UCSC. Trash was there to help with the UnWelcoming Committee. The police presence was light, and though security within the job fair was tight, the marchers paraded and demonstrated relatively unimpeded.

Video from corpo media Scotts Valley Sentinel:

Why We Love Honk!

2008-04-20T10:59:00.001-07:00

The Busiest Week of Trash Ever

2008-04-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Trashinistas:

Looks like next week we are playing a bunch:

Sat Apr 19th	Homeless Garden Fundraiser
Sun Apr 20th	Regular Practice
Tue Apr 22nd	Counter-Recruitment March at UCSC
Sat Apr 26th	Our Free Skool workshop: Fun With Scrap Metal
San Apr 26th	Aromas Live!
Sun Apr 27th	Regular Practice

And somewhere in there, we were hoping to observe Gamelan Anak Swarasanti playing Balinese marching gamelan, beleganjur. The busiest week ever, not counting Honk! We hope you'll join us.

Check out our full performance schedule.

Day Five: Ballard Takeover

2008-03-23T23:50:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, marching bands took to the streets for a takeover of Ballard. A march and rally down to the Farmer's Market, followed by a takeover of a public square in Ballard.

Day Four: The Night of Flaming Taiko

2008-03-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

A night of more performance insanity. Three more performances in three different venues in Georgetown, south of Seattle. Punched in the gut by a phenomenal performance by the bone-shaking Weapons of Marching Destruction. Played with Hungry March Band and a remarkable set with Eugene's Samba Ja. Picture Jake from Samba Ja rapping in Portuguese to an extended crazy breakdown version of our Ragga.

What do you mean silly?! This is beautiful!

Afterward, an after-party in the street with a dozen bands playing to a hundred dancers taking over the street. Police start showing up, at least a dozen cars, dropping flares, blocking streets, disco party police car flashers.

An overheard surreal conversation:

Officer: You have to move out of the street.

Drummer: We're having fun!

Officer: You're blocking traffic.

Drummer: What do you mean? (pointing at a dozen police cars and line of flares) You're blocking the traffic!

Officer: Come on now, this is silly.

Drummer: Silly? This (gesturing) is beautiful!

The officers walk away perplexed, shaking their heads.

And after the after-party, an after-after-party at a remote apocalyptic industrial area, a deafening drum jam, and Trash Orchestra plays flaming taiko.

Day Three: Ballard Street Band Insanity

2008-03-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

We arrive just in time for dinner and meeting an assload of people from dozens of bands from as far away as Chicago and New York. Legendary bands, obscure bands, bands we've never heard of, bands we've known forever, bands who's every song we collect and trade, and bands who've never recorded a note.

And everyone is fabulously friendly and welcoming, and everyone's heard of us, making us feel like rock stars and like maybe our ability to sell ourselves exceeds our ability to make music.

We try something different and instead of spending an hour with the whole band choosing a set list for a 45 minute set, we divvy our three sets up and work on them in pairs. A brilliant move as we'd all come to the conclusion in Portland that long, tiring meeting are uh, long and tiring.

We're playing first at the New York Fashion Academy in Ballard, a place we're convinced is actually a hip name for a bar, but turns out is exactly what it sounds like. Because we're convinced it's a bar, we don't bring any booze which we regret. Later we're playing at Mr. Spots Chai House, which turns out to be the venue of the evening.

Hungry March is pointing at our drummers who are playing quieter and quieter convinced they are fucking something up, before they realize via boots in the ass that they are being pushed into the center for a solo

We played our set early in the evening out in the street and it feels like a warm-up set for us, not quite on yet, but alright. Then inside for an awesome set in which I don't even remember what we played, but it was good.

Then an amazing set with the Hungry March Band in which they push us forward for little solos. At one point in the jam, they're pointing at our base drummers who are playing quieter and quieter convinced they are fucking something up, before they realize via boots in the ass that they are being pushed into the center for a solo. Each of us takes a crazy little moment of the spotlight and we all keep it going and we're kinda flushed and woozy from the rhythm and the attention.

Then up to Mr. Spots Chai House for a remarkable set in which we brought down the house with our impromptu improv craziness made-up-on-the-spot Song X.

Crazy motha fuckin time.

Day Two, Part 2: Rotture in Portland

2008-03-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

Last Night we rocked a club in SE Portland. In an obscure industrial part of town, through an unmarked door, up a dark stairway, an experimental music show, in which we were listed on fliers all over town as the hosts.

Two sets between performances of electronic looped, bent, sampled, modulated, and generated sound. For the entire rest of the trip a lively and ambivalent debate sprung up over the twisted nerdcore rap song, I Fucked the Giraffe.

Day Two: Student Walk-Out in Portland

2008-03-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

As part of a nationwide day of action to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, 1500 to 2000 students in the Portland metropolitan area walked out of class on March 20.

Trash Orchestra was was there supporting the walkout, resistance to business as usual, youth liberation, and students taking greater control of their lives. It was thrilling to see 500 young people taking the street, demanding an end to a war that will affect their future. Hundreds of students chanting the lyrics to our songs. "Street by street! Block by block! Taking it all back!'

More than just symbolic, the walkout is also direct action, halting for at least one day the damage that these institutions do to our planet and our minds. Schools are preparing, preening, and educating students for entry into the middle-class world. This work -- something we consider the unquestioned and unavoidable dues of our citizenship -- and the consumerism that comes with it, is very much the problem, destroying what's good and beautiful on this planet and tearing apart the fabric of our relationships with each other and the Earth. Universities are very much part of the war machine, often doing weapons research and testing, administering weapons labs, and selling students into years of perilous military service.

Students took to the streets yesterday to say No to all that.

Day One: Nor'west Tour

2008-03-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night we bombed through the night up to Eugene and pulled in very sleepy to this very sleepy Willamette Valley town. We'd managed to cram all of out instruments and stuff into the van and pull away from the Big Yellow House in Santa Cruz very close to when we were scheduled to leave.

I've not traveled with this many people before on a road trip, so I was surprised that we are getting along relatively well. The number of screaming knockdown fights and knife battles has remained relatively low. Only a certain general malaise and spaciness has reigned due to lack of sleep. Collectively, we might have gotten 8 hours of sleep. Blackbird Raum, Street Drum Corps, Gillian Welsh, blasting from the van on a marathon drive. Late in the night, a diatribe by Jimmy Swaggart on the hellish demon of drug use. Amen, brother Swaggart!

We played tonight at the World Cafe in the Whittaker Neighborhood of Eugene. Proprietor Bill, a friend of hobos, was kind enough to set us up on short notice. Delicious vegan pizza and fabulous beer, a light but enthusiastic turnout, and good practice for the next few days of marathon performance.

During breaks in the performance we overheard cute kids talking about Anarchism, and knew we had some kindred souls in the audience. Talking to them, we found they were from the Lorax Manor, a long-standing student co-op in town - a virtual mansion. Afterward, we were invited over to the Lorax for a rousing game of Monster Cards, a brilliant & creative DIY card game taught to us by sweet Portland kids years ago.

Trash Nor'west Tour Starts Tomorrow

2008-03-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow evening we're taking off in a van we haven't yet rented, with stuff that we're still pulling together, on a journey with lots of loose ends. Exciting for us, because we've not ever had an adventure quite like this as a band.

We're looking forward to road food and swimming nekid in rivers and performances in strange new places and meeting tons of great people -- maybe you?

See you in Eugene, Portland and Seattle. Catch us at the following gigs. If we know you're reading this blog, we'll also try to update it on the road. So send us a note.

World Cafe	8pm Wed March 19th 449 Blair Blvd, Eugene, OR
Catch us in the central Whittaker neighborhood of Eugene at the funky bakery/restaurant/beergarden World Cafe. If you don't come we'll just go and get drunk, so our livers are in your hands.

Student Walkout Against the War
North Park Blocks

1pm Fri March 20th
Burnside, Portland, OR

As part of a nationwide day of action to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, students in the Portland metropolitan area will walk out of class on March 20. More than just symbolic, the walkout is also direct action, halting for at least one day the damage that these institutions do to our planet and our minds. The universities that students attend are very much part of the war machine, often doing weapons research and testing, administering weapons labs, and selling students into years of perilous military service. Most universities are preparing, preening, and educating students for entry into the middle-class world. This work -- something we consider the unquestioned and unavoidable dues of our citizenship -- and the consumerism that comes with it, is very much the problem, destroying what's good and beautiful on this planet and tearing apart the fabric of our relationships with each other and the Earth. We'll be there supporting the walkout, resistance to business as usual, youth liberation, and people taking greater control of their lives. Website.

Sonic Lozenge Showcase Rotture Lounge	9pm Fri March 20th 315 SE Third, Portland, OR
We join Sonic Lozenge for the night, a diverse selection of experimental music through collaborations with the surplus of excellent experimentalists of the Pacific northwest. Website.

Honk Fest West

March 21st-23rd
Seattle, Washington

Across the country and around the world, a new type of street band is emerging. Acoustic and mobile, borrowing repertoire and inspiration from a diverse set of folk music traditions, these “honkers” all share a commitment to several core principles. Metaphorically speaking, they honk their horns for the same reasons motorists honk theirs: to arouse fellow travelers, to warn of danger, to celebrate milestones, and to just plain have fun. Though we don't "honk" in the traditional marching band sense, we'll be there. Website.

Everything is ready to go, mostly packed, instruments tuned, etc. And, uh, oh, do you have a credit card we could use to rent the van?

Love,
Trash Orchestra

Bringing the War to the Suburbs

2008-03-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

by Joseph

Out in the glorious suburb of Walnut Creek, the wealthy are able to ignore the injustice of the world. There they are distracted by promises of endless consumption; new toys, new gadgets and the latest fashion. This consumption allows them to ignore the rest of the world and ignore the fact that much of the suffering in the world is due to the existence of capitalism. Consumption of natural resources, such as oil, used to create all these unnecessary items is behind much of the world’s problems. Yet those in power are only concerned about a constant flow of oil pumped out of the Middle East and into the ever expanding consumption habits of the United States; all the while, corporations make a huge profit.

In Walnut Creek, consumption allows them to ignore the rest of the world and ignore the fact that much of the suffering in the world is due to the existence of capitalism.

March 15th, 2008, was the third permitted anti-war protest in Walnut Creek. While the majority of the participants were obediently walking on the sidewalks, a small group of radicals took to the streets. We passed through a few parts of town that the permitted march did not, to the shock and cheers of shoppers. Afterwards we ended in the same park that the permitted march ended their rally, where we were greeted with much positive feedback from those who marched on the sidewalk. It was a small step in bringing more actions into Contra Costa County.

Trash Orchestra was there.

Brass Liberation Orchestra and Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In

2008-03-06T15:03:00.000-08:00

This Friday, we'll be joined by Oakland's amazing Brass Liberation Orchestra and Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In for a fundraiser in support of Trash Orchestra's west coast tour -- including an anti-war march in Portland, performances in Eugene, and a gathering of radical street bands in Seattle. I hope you'll join us for an exciting evening.

Please join us for a Trash Orchestra Benefit in preparation for our tour to Seattle's Honk Fest West. Performances by Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra and the East Bay's amazing Brass Liberation Orchestra. With the help of Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In, we'll be showing the film Honk You Very Much -- a documentary about radical street bands -- and Auto Re-Vision -- a short doc about a handful of kids sealed in a room, who convert an automobile into an array of musical instruments. Also joining us: the Hoopalites and Lighthouse Fire Dancers.

Trash Orchestra Benefit
Friday March 7th at 7:00pm
at the Pacific Cultural Center
Seabright & Broadway
$10-20 sliding scale

Getting together two ear-shattering marching bands in one place for one night is just our way of promoting hearing loss within our community. See you on March 7th.

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra

Brass Liberation Orchestra

Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In

Our Name in Lights

2008-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

On Friday we played a free show at the Catalyst Atrium with our friends in the D.C. hardcore industrial band Bajskorv.

It was exciting for us because we'd not had the opportunity yet to see our name in lights. Okay, check.

Otherwise, we were rather happy with ourselves. We all showed up; had relatively smooth transitions; our soft was pleasantly soft; our loud was FUCKING LOUD. We rocked the space, if we may say so ourselves.

Both of the people in the audience seemed to totally enjoy themselves.

And most notably we got free drinks and pizza, launching us off on thoughts of touring the country, being music bums, meeting people, eating free greasy food, sleeping in stranger's beds, and rapidly suffering hearing damage.

Trash Orchestra Benefit

2008-02-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

We've been working to put together a Trash Orchestra fundraiser in preparation for our tour to Seattle's Honk Fest West. I hope you'll join us for an exciting evening.

A Benefit for
Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra
7pm Fri March 7th
Pacific Cultural Center
Seabright & Broadway

Our fundraiser in preparation for our tour to Seattle's Honk Fest West, which we estimate will cost us a thousand dollars. We'll be joined by other amazing bands. With the help of Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In, we'll be showing a film Honk You Very Much -- a documentary about radical street bands -- and the film Auto Re-Vision -- a short doc about a handful of kids sealed in a room, who convert an automobile into an array of musical instruments. $10-20 sliding scale

We estimate the trip to Seattle will cost the band about a thousand dollars. Would you be willing to kick-in $100 to help with the journey? Trash Orchestra is a grassroots shoestring endeavor. Your cash will help fight tyranny.

If you value spirited community rebellion, please shower us with modest sums.

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra is a community project, a radical marching band who's instruments are composed solely of trash. A bunch of rank musical amateurs who get together to create a veritable recycled symphony.

More information, music, upcoming performances, video, and photos can be found at our website at http://trashorchestra.org

Thanks for considering helping us.

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra

The Battle Over Parking Lot 4

2008-01-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

photos and text by ~Bradley

As you literally may of heard, on January 23rd, the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra and fellow drummers provided rhythm for the weekly community gathering in the Cathcart parking lot during the Santa Cruz Farmers Market. A vegetarian soup was provided to all interested by a renown local chef and supporter of peaceful community gatherings. The mushroom soup was able to soothe hunger and warm up the cold, although not rainy, afternoon and break the ice while people were beginning to gather around and wonder what was going to happen. Without needing any cues, the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra got the party started and slowly but surely more and more people began playing music, dancing, sharing food, poi spinning, hacky sacking, talking, documenting and spectating.

One woman was arrested, for reasons that were unknown to her and witnesses to her arrest, by SCPD officer Cline. At least four police cars and a police SUV were stopped in Cathcart Street immediately after the arrest, but they decided to keep on rolling down Cathcart and left the community gathering and drum circle alone. In response to police harassment at the drum circle in previous weeks, a poster taped on a tree urged people to support the market drummers and asked Mayor Ryan Coonerty if having the SCPD issue citations for drumming was his way to Keep Santa Cruz Weird.

Soup

You can read more about the weekly gathering in the Cathcart parking lot (Lot No. 4) on Wednesday, January 23rd and watch video at:

Taking Back the Tarmac--Santa Cruz Reclaims People's Parking Lot #4
http://www.indybay.orgnewsitems/2008/01/23/18474460.php

For further background information, see:

Santa Cruz Police Hassle Drummers During Farmers Market
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/16/18472983.php

Keep Santa Cruz Weird?

Mayor Coonerty... is THIS how you
Keep Santa Cruz Weird?

Santa Cruz Police Hassle Drummers During Farmers Market
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/16/18472983.php

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra

Trash-struments

What?

Is was unclear why this woman was apparently singled out, quickly arrested, and taken away in a police car by SCPD officer Cline.

Cuffed

Cathcart

Flowers

Community Cart

The Community Cart, a project of the Wellness Community Transformation Center of Santa Cruz, kindly provided hot tea and exchanged visionary ideas with people.

by ~Bradley Friday Jan 25th, 2008 4:02 PM

Drum Circle

Hacky Sacking

Parking Lot

Poi

Poi is a form of juggling, or object manipulation with balls on ropes, held in the hands and swung in various circular patterns, comparable to club-twirling. It originated with the Māori people of New Zealand (the word poi means "ball" in Māori). Women and men used it to increase flexibility, strength, and coordination. It developed into a traditional performance art practiced mostly by women. This art, in conjunction with others including waiata a ringa, haka and titi torea, make up the performance of kapa haka (Māori culture groups).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poi_(juggling)

Food Not Bombs

Kids

Trash Orchestra Defends the Market Drum Circle

2008-01-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

by Tim Rumford

Your browser is not able to display this multimedia content.

download video:

trash_orch.wmv (33.2 MB)

This is a video from Wed the 9th 2007. Traditionally this has been a place where Food Not Bombs has fed and musicians gathered. Before the new parking lot trespass law, as far as I am aware, there have been little to no complaints or problems. Its reminiscent of the days when the people were allowed to dance in streets in front of the Copper House and street music was and accepted part of our culture which is being ripped from underneath us.

More important is the taking of our right to use public property and not allow the City to use unnecessary laws aimed at the poor, and unconstitutional in nature.

I am disabled and find myself in my car resting and paranoid I will be cited. There is already a law for anything that can happen in a parking garage or lot. This ordinance can and will only be selectively enforced. Its a waste of time, money, resources and is just another way to slowly take away all our free speech and rights the commons have traditionally throughout history been used for.

Thank you all who attended and fought for all our rights to use our own public space without a 15 min time limit.

Thank you Trash Orchestra and all the other musicians and community members that attended. I believe it was your numbers that kept surveying officers at bay. There was one incident with a woman who attacked some of the drummers, but I left it out because although she screamed " I just want to shop!" over and over, and did attack and spit on people, I believe she was mentally ill, and its not appropriate to post. If others feel differently or need the video for legal reasons, just let me know. I appreciated the drummer who got the brunt of the attacks comments afterward. It showed someone who is truly dignified and peaceful.

Tim Rumford
Sleepisarigh [at] live.com

And the Beat Goes On at the Cathcart Parking Lot

2008-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Report and photos by ~Bradley

Most people consider saxophonists, drummers, sitarists, tambourinists, guitarists and other musicians in a drum circle alongside the weekly Farmers Market to be an enjoyable aspect of the downtown Santa Cruz cultural mix, however some people interpret this musical gathering as a noisy disruption to their marketing experience.

Shortly after the November 2007 passage of a Santa Cruz law that makes it illegal to be in a parking lot or garage, unless you have a vehicle there (and then only for fifteen minutes), police officers began harassing people for playing music, sharing food and hanging out in the Cathcart Parking Lot during Farmers Market. The Cathcart Parking Lot, also called Lot No. 4, is located at the corner of Cedar Street and Cathcart Street in downtown Santa Cruz. People both inside and outside of cars have also reported surveillance and harassment by the police while they were in other parking lots.

With support from the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra and others, musicians were able to bring the beat up a notch and maintain a drum circle during the Farmers Market on January 9th without any threats or citations from the police, despite their occasional presence.

For more information on the parking lot law and drum circles during the Santa Cruz Farmers Market, see:

'Parking Lot Panic Law' Used to Disperse Drummers in Santa Cruz
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/08/18471154.php

Shake It

Cowbell

Drum Circle

Observation

Saxophone

Tyke: People of all ages played music and had a good time.

Drumsticks

Pasta: Customers at the Farmers Market purchase fresh pasta as drums resonate in the distance.

Cars: There was plenty of room for drivers to enter, exit and park their cars in the Cathcart Parking Lot.

Incense

Customer: A customer of the Farmers Market takes time to enjoy the eclectic sounds.

Support for Evicted Market Drummers

2008-01-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

Last week the ever-present market drum circle was evicted from their spot under the tree in the parking lot by police using the new 15-minute law (persons cannot be in any city parking lot longer than 15 minutes). Join us to protest that eviction and reclaim that public space!

Support for Market Drummers
Wed Jan 9th 4pm
Santa Cruz Farmer's Market
(Bring percussion - resonant trash or a drum)

From this article on Indybay:

On two successive Wednesdays, police have ordered the peaceful drum circle to leave their traditional spot in the public parking lot [alongside the Farmer's Market] using Mayor Coonerty's Ban on Public Assemblies in parking lots. The new merchant-backed law prohibits lingering in a parking lot or garage unless you have a vehicle there (and then only for fifteen minutes). It removed ten blocks of public space from public use.

Join us in solidarity with other musicians and friends playing music together.

References:

A Do-It-Yourself New Year's Celebration

2008-01-01T15:53:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of people marched down Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz on December 31st, 2007, as part of the Last Night DIY Celebration while hundreds of spectators lined the sidewalks and cheered. Leading the parade was the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra.

The Last Night DIY Parade and Street Party is a do-it-yourself, unpermited, decentralized, grassroots and open New Year's Eve celebration with a focus on self-reliance. It is not only a celebration, but a celebration of the power we all have when we gather together to make something happen.

A parade, a street party, Balinese gamelan, fire dancing, burn barrels in the streets, bone-shaking drums, dogs and skaters on the mall, brazen square dancing in the streets, pillow fights, bagpipes, encounters with "authority" in which the people prevailed, fireworks, sparkly lights, music, DIY street barricades, DIY everything, man oh man. What's not to like?

http://lastnightdiy.org

More photos: Here and here.

Trash to take over Santa Cruz on New Year's

2007-12-15T23:31:00.000-08:00

Join us? If you are thinking about doing something New Year's, why not do it with us.

Last Night DIY Parade and Street Party	Sunset, Dec 31st Lot behind Saturn Cafe
"The parade is not merely a celebration, but a celebration of the power that we all have when we gather together to make something happen. Not just a street party, but a party to reclaim our streets." Trash Orchestra returns to the event that gave it life in 2005! Last Night DIY Website.

Last Night DIY Website: http://lastnightdiy.org

About Last Night
Last Night is a decentralized, collective, spontaneous, open, public New Year's Eve celebration. DIY stands for do-it-yourself. Let's do our own parade. A Last Night celebration. A last night of waiting for governments, institutions, or anyone else to entertain us, satisfy us, bring us security, freedom, or joy. We reject the commodification of revelry and asking permission to live our lives. Let's usher in the new year with dancing in the streets. Bring your willingness to lead, your desire for real community, and your rebellious joy. Leave your undercover cop (and for that matter, your internalized policeman) at home.

Trash Against University Expansion

2007-11-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

Trash Orchestra played at a march against UC Santa Cruz expansion plans. Here's an excerpt from a great article about it:

Tree Sitters Thrwart Police, Reclaim Space

With great excitement, around 400 people filled the streets, turning cars around and stopping buses in their place. The sitters, who had been in the redwoods for about eight hours at that point, could hear the clanging and banging of Trash Orchestra as the crowd grew closer. The cops, surrounded by plastic orange fencing, formed a perimeter around the trees. They were armed with pepper spray, tasers and tear-gas guns.

“We need to get food, water and blankets up to our friends” went out the call. And within minutes, tons of supplies appeared. Students went to their houses or took snacks out of dining halls, bringing back as much food as they could carry. People found water wherever they could, and in some cases donated their personal water bottles. Blankets and sleeping bags appeared and people took the sweaters off their own backs to send up into the trees. Now they just had to get the supplies past the police line.

Supporters encircled the area, looking for the best way to get to the trees. People started pushing in closer and cops responded with pepper spray and batons. Our friends were cold and hungry, and we were not about to back down and allow the cops to starve them out.

The police continued to pepper spray the crowd, and began to strike out with batons and violently tackle and arrest people who ran forward in attempts to send up supplies. At least one person was de-arrested by people in the crowd. A total of five people were arrested in this confrontation, and many more were hurt as pepper spray filled their lungs and their eyes. But this time protesters weren’t the only ones taking a beating. One cop was accidentally pepper-sprayed in the face by another cop, and another cop was punched in the face. The protesters didn’t fall back as the police pushed in, they fought back.

The protesters managed to push the police line back, surrounding the central cluster of redwood trees. As the first bit of food – a small plastic bag of trail mix – was sent up the line, everyone cheered victoriously. Supporters rushed to tie food, water and sleeping bags to the lines as fast as they could. People donated bags and backpacks to carry the supplies up in.

With excitement and momentum, the crowd continued to push the police line back. Finally, overwhelmed with the number of people who were steadfastly determined to hold their ground, the police retreated to a nearby corner. A third platform soon appeared out of nowhere and was hoisted into the trees to the tune of a cheering crowd. Eventually the police had entirely vacated the area, and we began filling it with food, laughter and music.

full story...

Gault Halloween / Día De Los Muertos Parade

2007-10-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Trash Orchestra marched at the head of the 59th annual Gault Elementary Halloween Parade. It starts at 9am on a Saturday morning and, thanks to Trash Orchestra, woke up several whole neighborhoods.

We didn't get a ribbon in the parade, though as the only marching band, we figured we should get an award for noisiest or Best Marching Band, but alas, we had to ground score our ribbon. We're not sure what ESBA stands for maybe East Side Business Association? (On second thought maybe we didn't need a ribbon.)

We hope to return next year. We loved marching with the kids and loved the covetous looks on their faces that said, "Whoa, loud."

A Distraction While You Rob a Bank

2007-10-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We're still willing to help out with all the shit you're doing. We think you're awesome. We think your uncompromising stand against authority, against tyranny is inspiring. We want to help.

Invite us to wade through teargas with you, or break through police lines, to create a disraction while you rob a bank to redistribute the wealth in the name of the Cause. Invite us to help tear down the walls of oppression -- understand that it is totally okay if you mean this literally.

Trash Orchestra is a marching percussion band – a bone-shaking recycled orchestra. We make percussion on tuned cans, hubcaps and barrels, drums, pieces of sheet metal, and homemade oddities.

If you are far from the West Coast, more advance notice is better and maybe some help getting and staying there. But we are game to consider anything.

We'd love to do what we can to support your efforts.

Photos, audio, rants, etc at www.trashorchestra.org

Cheers!

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra

UCSC Reclaim the Streets

2007-10-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

Our next performance is this Friday. This is a march and street party to raise awareness of and resistance to the UCSC Long-Range Development Plan, including campus plans to log up to 150 acres of upper campus forest, a new entrance and road through the upper campus, and meadows and woods plowed under to make room for parking lots and athletic fields.

We'll meet 4pm at the field behind Merill College at UCSC. It will be a long march through several of the colleges. Wear good shoes and comfy clothes. If you can't make this Bataan Death March, you can meet us at Porter Quad with your instrument where we will end up in an ear-shattering performance.

Meet THIS FRIDAY 4PM AT THE UCSC FIREHOUSE NEAR CROWN COLLEGE. Here's a map: http://maps.ucsc.edu/cmcrown.html

What if it rains? We get wet! What if no one shows up but us? We go and get beers!

See you there!

Santa Cruz
Trash Orchestra

Trash Orchestra Parades to Mime Troupe's Making a Killing

2007-10-02T10:04:00.000-07:00

Article and photographs by ~Bradley
Indybay Santa Cruz

On September 23rd, the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra led a noisy parade to the San Francisco Mime Troupe performance of Making a Killing, Building a New Iraq. In the style of a cacerolazo, parade-goers beat on makeshift drums and tambourines while marching as a metallic cacophony from Laurel Street up Pacific Avenue and across the river to San Lorenzo Park. The parade lacked a clear message and was appreciated by many people walking and photographing on Pacific Avenue. A focus of the Trash Orchestra parade was to attract people the SFMT's performance, while other folks joined the parade to outreach about Sleep Crimes in Santa Cruz.

For a review of the San Francisco Mime Troupe's Making a Killing, Building a New Iraq and a look at how questionable government contracting reaches all the way from Afghanistan to Santa Cruz, in the form of city contractor Camp Dresser Mckee, read:

"Making a Killing in Iraq" comes to Santa Cruz - in more ways than one
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/25/18449683.php

Resisting

Shake a Leg

Cacerolazo

Conducting

Fresh

Recycle

Garage

A Killing

Trash on Water

San Francisco Mime Troupe

San Lorenzo Park

Translator and Photographer

San Francisco Mime Troupe
http://www.sfmt.org

West Oakland Night of the Band Fags

2007-09-14T11:18:00.001-07:00

Motha fucka! What a rockin fun time we had at the big radical marching band hoohaw in Oakland. Thanks a ton to the Loyd Family Players, Brass Liberation Orchestra, and March Fourth. We danced our asses off, blew our eardrums out, and schmoozed the night away.

We went up there on a Trash Orchestra field trip. We were talking for hours and hours about shit we saw, shit we heard, shit we learned, people we met.

We loved the all-drum bone rattling sound of the Loyd Family. Loved the dynamic and many-flavored rotating band leader action of BLO. Dug the fancy pants showmanship of March Forth and were envious of their drum carriers crafted from recycled bicycle parts.

We won't be content until we've slept with each and every one of the members of all those bands.

The Loyd Family Players

Brass Liberation Orchestra

March Fourth

Modesto: Downtown is Ours!

2007-09-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Reportback from Modesto Anarcho! who said:

Anarchist Cafe' last night was a large success. There was lots of free food, all of which was free - either gotten from places that throw away lots of food, or businesses that were going to throw good food out. Lots of literature and zines were taken by a variety of people. Various distros (Modesto Anarcho Distro and Wingnut's Liberation Project) had some good conversations with people. Someone from KQRP-LP (106.1 - local indymedia station) was on hand to video the event, and recordings from the Cafe (largely the band playing) will be shown on the local cable access program (channel 14) and on 106.1. Stay tuned.

The Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra was off the hook. They played a pretty long "set" and they even got some good feedback and response from the crowd, several of which joined in to play on the "instruments". Probably the highlight of the set was when the band started marching around the downtown playing music.

Problems with police were nil. While we hate to fall back on "our rights" and the language of the state to justify our actions - we were totally within our "legal rights" to be in the downtown (as long as things were 'peaceful', we didn't sell anything, and we didn't block traffic). The police did come out, including the police chief, but since this was a "free speech" event, we didn't need a permit even though they said we should get one.

The event last night got alot of people together, talking about anarchist projects, having fun, and also just creating a space where people could connect and act with each other where we felt like we had some power. The event was also good because so many "normal" people were stopping by, eating free food, picking up zines, watching the band, etc. While the size of the "audience" for the cafe was hard to pinpoint, we'd say probably about 30-50 throughout the night, at any given time.

Thanks! Until next time, Modesto Anarcho Crew

An Open Invitation and an Offer

2007-08-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

We love the work you do to fight oppression and this bullshit system of exploitation. We want to support you and what you're doing. Are you interested in having Trash Orchestra perform at your event, protest, or festival?

If you are working to shut down the war machine, environmental destruction, the world free trade efforts, racist and classist mofos, corporate swine and their media lapdogs, repressive laws, the fascist police state, and capitalism itself -- if you are working to support indigenous rights, the freedom of women and children (and men, for that matter), civil liberties and free speech, poor people and homeless folk -- if you are engaged in anarchist and anti-authoritarian struggles -- we want to help!

Trash Orchestra is a marching percussion band – a bone-shaking recycled orchestra. We make percussion on tuned cans, hubcaps and barrels, drums, pieces of sheet metal, and homemade oddities.

We appear invited and uninvited at protests and celebrations, furors and fracases, anywhere there's a need to make a ruckus, to shout out and help right injustice, suffering, and oppression, to make a big noise to celebrate our victories and our losses. Trash Orchestra is intrinsically a radical project.

Please consider inviting us to your event. If you are far from the West Coast, more advance notice is better and maybe some help getting and staying there. But we are game to consider anything.

We'd love to do what we can to support your efforts.

Photos, audio, rants, etc at www.trashorchestra.org

Cheers!

Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra

Kick-ass Idiosyncratic Drummer Wanted

2007-08-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Trash Orchestra is looking for a beginning to intermediate drummer willing to learn and grow with us. Plus points for tenacity, self-motivation, passion, courage, righteous anger about the state of the world, and experience with non-hierarchical projects.

We are an improvisational marching percussion band – a bone-shaking recycled orchestra. We make percussion on tuned cans, hubcaps and barrels, drums, pieces of sheet metal, and homemade oddities. We are amateurs in the best sense -- from the root of the word, amo -- people who make music for the love of it and as a form of resistance.

Influences: Stomp, Tom Waits, Infernal Noise Brigade, ¡TchKunG!, Rhythms of Resistance, samba, Loyd Family Players, Brass Liberation Orchestra, James Brown, drumlines, Gotan Project, Rage Against the Machine, Gamelan Pacifica, Street Drum Corps, taiko, the military drum bands of our youth, and a dozen other radical marching bands engaged in active resistance.

Vision: We want to see Trash Orchestra grow to dozens of regular players. We'd like to see invites from far and wide pouring in to make noise and celebration in places across the globe. We see everyone in the band becoming virtuosos of their own handmade musical creations. We are ambitious in our plans to conquer the world and make it a better place full of music and dancing and resistance.

We have weekly 2 to 3 hour practices and great gigs coming in. Since this is a labor of love, the orchestra is unpaid, and gig money goes into a communal pot for travel and education.

If you are a drummer with a variety of rhythmic influences and interests and are full of rebellious insolence, we'd like you to play with us. Please send us your interest, your influences, the instruments you play, and your experience level.

Come play with us. Email trash@riseup.net

Arm the Homeless

2007-08-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we did an impromptu performance to support Homeless Resistance in Santa Cruz.

Indymedia reported it thusly:

TRASH ORCHESTRA CHIMES IN
Trash Orchestra to steel the hearts of the homeless
Thursday Aug 16th, 2007 9:46 AM

Portentous possibility perhaps of playful performance/practice at protest of the predicament of provincial pariahs.

The famous Trash Orchestra has promised to tune up and turn us on at City Hall (809 Center St.) 6-9 PM Thursday August 16. In response, HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) will follow the Orchestra's percussive performance with a showing of the 1994 video "Sitting in Santa Cruz"- by Paul Brindel --on the smallest battery-run TV ever--. Bring blankets and opera glasses.

And we shot back:

Kudos to all who chose to stay another night at the City Hall campout to protest the Sleeping Ban. I got your message and it warmed my hard little heart. I think this creates a lovely double-bind. It forces the city to do something about something they'd prefer to just ignore. But the more they ignore it, the more it can build. Yet, the more they react, the more impetus and momentum they give the lawsuit and resistance. Oh, the hard life of the petty heartless bureaucrat.

And we gained a few loyal followers from this humanitarian mission. Now there are a few homeless folk who when they see us around town raise their fist in the air and chant "Things Break Down!"

Booted from the River Street Garage

2007-05-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Booted from the River Street Garage
(see Santa Cruz' ridiculous 15-Minute Parking Lot Panic Law)

No doubt, being civic-minded and committed to fighting oppressive laws, you already know about the 15-Minute Parking Lot Panic law. (If not, see indybay.org here, and the text of this ridiculous law here.) We (and a saxophone player on the 2nd floor) were kicked out of the River Street garage (one of our favorite empty practice locations) and threated with trespassing tickets by a zealous and nervous young officer.

Naturally, the law was created not to oppress privileged middle-class folk like ourselves, but to push the poor and the homeless further to the fringes (hopefully right off the edge where they might helpfully just disappear). But the city feels occasionally obligated to enforce their silly laws more or less uniformly lest they be accused of selective enforcement and have the law struck down.

You can ask yourself, what the fuck is wrong with this town? But we all bear responsibility every time we sit quietly by when someone make the choice of security over freedom (usually for our alleged benefit).

Alternate 101 Cover Story: Hobo Core

2007-04-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hobo Core
The Trash Orchestra makes melodies - and political statements - from your junk
By Sarah Klein
April 12, 2007

Above: Trash Orchestra performs on Pacific Garden Mall in Santa Cruz.

Rico Thunder (left) with Ryan Geiss, inventor of the Wrenchstrument.

Name: The Canstrument.
Made of: Rusted, dented, surplus-sized aluminum food cans, each tuned to a different note.
Sounds like: "Something between a xylophone and a steel drum."

Name: The Wrenchstrument.
Made of: Trashed or secondhand wrenches of a variety of sizes, which are struck with a metal or wooden implement. The differing sizes and shapes created two different octaves.
Sounds like: Somewhere between a cowbell and a keyboard.

Name: Untitled (we suggest "The Brastrument"), created by Whitney Wilde.
Made of: Two aluminum bowls, cut and shaped into a wearable bra top, attached with twine.
Sounds like: Thin, tinny percussion, depending on which area of the bowl is struck.

Name: The Big Blue Barrel.
Made of: A salvaged plastic industrial container, turned upside down and fitted with a strap so it serves as a portable bass drum.
Sounds like: "Since it doesn't have a drum skin, musically this acts more like a bell than a drum."

Name: Recycle Bin.
Made of: A rectangular recycling bin from Morgan Hill.
Sounds like: All-purpose drum, used in conjunction with the Big Blue Barrel.

Rico Thunder is preparing to tune his instrument. Brows furrowed in concentration, he pushes his curly brown hair out of his eyes, shielding the blinding sun that casts down on him. As he stands on the top level of a parking garage in Santa Cruz, he lifts his musical accoutrement, inspecting its sonic nooks and crannies as they wink in the sunlight.

A fellow musician hands him the makeshift tuning device: a rusty, bludgeoned hammer - clearly on its last leg.

Thunder positions his instrument, wielding the hammer.

Thwack.

Thwack.

Thwack.

BANG.

The head of the hammer flies off, bouncing on the ground and leaving a trail of rust flakes on the concrete, narrowly missing a fellow musician's foot. Thunder shrugs and hoists up his instrument: a crumpled, battered aluminum pan.

He gives the signal, and immediately his compatriots, a handful of men and women of varying ages, break into "song" - a pulsing, amorphous wall of sound emanating from a rag-tag collection a recycling bins, hubcaps, decrepit tools, bent wire, and salvaged industrial scrap.

Just another day in the aural adventures of the Trash Orchestra.

Founded in 2005, Trash Orchestra is a cacophonic, organic, artistic and anarchistic experiment in noise, music, recycling and community.

The premise is simple: salvaging pieces of trash, and turning them into musical instruments. But the meaning behind the group is steeped in social awareness and activism - with a healthy dose of good ol' fashioned fun.

Most members have little or no musical experience, and are of diverse ages and backgrounds: students, engineers, self-employed business people, and artists. They're united by a few basic ideas: the desire to create noise and art, the notion of challenging what constitutes public space, and questioning what exactly is "trash" and why our culture creates so much of it.

Delving into philosophies ranging from anarchism to freeganism, Trash Orchestra quietly raises political, social and ecological issues - while making one hell of a noisy, catchy, delightfully chaotic din.

A junk collective

Trash Orchestra first began as a part of the Last Night Parade in Santa Cruz on New Year's Eve 2005, genially thrown together in a non-organized, non-structured manner. Though the collective has grown since its humble beginnings, the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-thrift-store-pants mentality has remained. A fluid group, there are a few basic parameters, but nothing is set in stone - and they like it that way.

The Orchestra practices (mostly) every Sunday in Santa Cruz at various locations, often walking down to Pacific Avenue to engage in a public performances where bystanders are encouraged to participate. The only requirement to join (aside from the optional tetanus shot) is a thirst for creativity and a love of music and experimentation.

One of the group's fundamental principles is that no one person is in charge. Thunder, 40, is a carpenter and artist, and one of the co-founders of the group. He stresses that Trash Orchestra is a collective in every sense of the word.

"It's an explicitly radical, non-authoritarian group," he says. "It's a bunch of people who got together and made it happen."

Thunder says it's also been difficult for many people to grasp the concept of no central leader.

"It's really challenging for folks who are in hierarchal organizations," he says. "We all lead this, but instead of just window dressing that's actually true. That's one of the most interesting things about it."

In a typical Trash Orchestra outing, the tempo, pace and volume is controlled by a rotating "conductor" of sorts, who blows a whistle to signal changes.

"The whistle blower modulates the chaos," Thunder says.

And though each member has a favorite instrument (see page 18) they're constantly switching what they play.

The group is comprised of about eight or so core members, supplemented by a rotating cast of over a dozen members who drop in on practices whenever they can.

Core member Whitney Wilde joined last year not for musical or activist reasons, but for physical benefit. After a serious car crash, Wilde severely fractured her arm and hand, and joined the group as part of her ongoing physical therapy.

"Who knew that banging on trash could be so fun, or so satisfying?" she says.

After the accident, Wilde experienced a coordination disconnection between her limbs; due to her injuries, she can no longer pat her head and rub her tummy at the same time. Her ongoing participation in Trash Orchestra helps her relearn coordination between limbs.

Wilde, a bubbling blonde 52-year-old who drives a '69 bubble-gum pink Carmen Ghia named Rosie, has a background in music, but that's not why Trash Orchestra appeals to her.

"I play other instruments: guitar, and I'm trying to learn ukulele. I used to be able to read music, but not anymore. And that's part of the joy of this, that you can't write it down, because it's never the same twice.

"The beat is the heartbeat of the group, and everything else is what fills it in and gives it the character."

Additionally, during public perform-ances, bystanders are encouraged to join along and given trash shakers - soda cans or bottles filled with beans or pebbles. Because of the ever-rotating cast and "guest stars," and the fluid nature of the music, it's impossible to compose and write down a Trash Orchestra "song."

"But that's not the goal of the group," Wilde says. "We have some pieces, but it's never the same thing twice. The pieces are themes."
One such signature piece is called "Train."

"Pshhhoooooooooooooo," Wilde hisses, demonstrating how members use their voices to mimic the hydraulics of a train.

The freight-train hopping lifestyle is another element that influences the group, which Thunder refers to as "hobo core."

Says Thunder, "The people who make this happen are just an interesting group of folks. One time we asked everyone, 'How many people have ridden a freight train?' and nearly everyone had."

"We're not a bunch of artsy musicians: a lot of it is about actively resisting the way things are, and trying to make change in the world."

Waste not

One of Thunder's Trash Orchestra mottos:

"We go where the noise is needed, but not always wanted by those who hold power."

Thunder has described the group's philosophy as "rebellious insolence," and actively encourages questioning what constitutes a public space.

"There's a need for people to create, to resist oppression and obnoxious laws," Thunder says.

Although the group hasn't received any trouble from city officials, Thunder worries that the city is placing too many restrictions on street performers.

However, Trink Praxel, principal analyst of Santa Cruz's Park and Recreation Department, says permits are not required of performers unless they need more than 20 minutes to set up, exceed a spatial limit (4 feet by 6 feet) or use an amplifier.

"We want to encourage people to make the downtown area really lively," Praxel says, "but this is both a commercial and residential area. We want to make sure it's not too loud or going to late, and that it's possible for people to get by, making sure not to disrupt the flow of traffic."

But first and foremost, Trash Orchestra is about … trash. The group's philosophy is similar to dumpster diving and "freeganism," the practice of scavenging and recycling refuse for alternative means, to reduce impact on the environment lessen the damaged caused by ever-increasing mass consumption.

"We live in this culture of massive waste," says core member Ryan Geiss, 28, a graphics programmer. "On my cubicle I have this big picture of a landfill with 'Consume' written on it. It's to remind people that all these shiny new things they're buying will eventually turn into trash."

"Trash Orchestra is a rebellion against buying things new, against doing things the ordinary way, against just sitting there and watching television. Instead, we're out there making things and doing things with people."

Though Geiss was actively involved in the tech industry - his work has included audio analysis, so he's familiar with musical patterns and frequency spectrums - he's taking and e-break, and looks to Trash Orchestra as a sort of Luddite antidote to technology.

"I'm going to stay away from computers for awhile," Geiss says. "I'm kind of burned out, and I just want to be a human being for awhile. That's what I like about Trash: it's so earthy, and you really use your hands to make things and play them. It's very interactive."

The group has regular building sessions where they tweak existing instruments, making them more musically flexible or far-reaching, and create new ones from the ground up. All materials are salvaged or obtained secondhand. Many started out as simplistic, and grew in musical capability over time, such as Geiss' wrenchstrument which can now produce two full octaves.

Wilde, an avid thrift store hunter, is also constantly creating new instruments.

"I'm also working on something kind of like a xylophone," Wilde says. "It's on platform of styrofoam, and the tubes on top are cut-up pieces of old lawn chairs."

And after being inspired by another local group, she now wants to learn how to play the saw - she's already got a rusty old one on hand.

Garbage growth

Though Trash Orchestra has a relaxed ethic, the members are very serious about progressing to the next level.

Wilde says the group recently had a meeting where they decided certain members who were interested would enroll in taiko (Japanese drumming) and samba classes.

"We're going to get some drumming from other cultures and bring that in as well," Wilde says. "We're working on developing various rhythmic patterns that serve as the backbone. Everything else is layers on top of that, and those layers will never stay the same twice."

During one of the Trash Orchestra's Sunday outings, the Orchestra is assembling in their "pit" - the top level of the River Street parking garage.

Thunder's car is parked nearby, a modified convertible: he literally sawed off the top of the vehicle. Serving as the unofficial Trashmobile, the backseat is brimming with junk - or, rather, musical instruments waiting to be discovered.

One of the members lifts up a decrepit bucket, so banged up, so dented and rusty that it barely resembles its original incarnation.

"I love that bucket," Thunder says, with genuine affection in his voice. "That is such a great bucket."

"This sounds really good too," says Geiss, the renounced computer whiz, as he offers up a dented motherboard.

"Hey, hand me the funky metal thing," someone asks.

After a few minutes of preparation, the group is ready to head down to Pacific Avenue for a public performance. Collectively, they hoist their junk and break into a march, their footsteps echoing through the parking garage, mirroring the beat of the bass drum recycling bins.

As they form a line and stroll down the ramp and through the alleyways of downtown Santa Cruz, it's like freegans meets Reservoir Dogs.

They play while marching, working their way through the crosswalk and finally settling next to a giant metal fish sculpture at Pacific and Cooper, just across from the Cinema 9 movie theater.

Melding instantly with the lazy, strolling feel of downtown Santa Cruz, Trash Orchestra is a hit.

Several bystanders of varying age break into spontaneous dance. Little girls in pink dance along, swirling sparkling butterfly creations obtained from street vendors; couples stop to stand and watch, arm-in-arm.

A father parks his stroller directly in front of the group and reaches in to unbuckle his toddler, who is wriggling with delight. Wilde walks over and hands them one of the Trash shakers; for a good 15 minutes father and son sit, sharing the shaker and clapping along.

A few homeless men approach the group, but instead of being shooed away, they're handed drumsticks and chopsticks and are encouraged to join in. One of them rattles up a staccato beat on the fish sculpture, blending in with the families watching and children dancing.

Off to the side, a clean-cut looking gentleman in a button down shirt is using two pennies to drum up rhythms on a metal trashcan.

Undoubtedly, its contents hold musical treasures aplenty, but no one stops to salvage - they're all too caught up in the beat of the moment.

To listen to samples of the Trash Orchestra online, visit www.trashorchestra.org.

Sarah Klein
Sarah Klein is editor-in-chief of Alternate 101. Send comments to sklein@alternate101.com.

Trash Orchestra Radio

2006-12-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

From Santa Cruz Indymedia:

Using recycled food cans, hubcaps, barrels, sheet metal, and other discarded oddities, the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra is a bone-shaking, recycled ensemble – a marching percussion band - who show up invited or otherwise, to make a cacophony of noise and celebration at parties and protests. Trash Orchestra players held an instrument building workshop as a Free Skool class in early December, 2006. DJ D. Rail attended, and brings us this sound collage, which attempts to make sense of the discordant noise, and mystery of the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra. 9 minutes

audio: trashorchpsa-1.mp3
MP3 at 8.2 MB

That sound collage was produced by DJ D-Rail. The Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra practices weekly -- check the website for details.