Gault Halloween / Día De Los Muertos Parade

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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