Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Brass Band Festival - Silverton, Colorado

There has been a brass band festival in Silverton for the last 28 years. Musicians come from all over the country to participate in this long weekend of music that echos off the surrounding mountains (Silverton sits in a bowl at 9,000 feet elevation).

We attended the last performance of the long weekend. The band, normally in fancy uniforms, was casual. The band's dress of choice seemed to be jeans and t-shirts. That must be because playing wind instruments is hard work. The audience was in coats, as the temperature was low, the sun was sparse, and the wind was mighty (but not as mighty as the band).



The band, and leader, take a bow.


And here's a bit of nostalgia for you. This is Bill Fries (pronounced freeze), better known as C. W. McCall, country singer and songwriter. His biggest hit that I can remember was the 1976 trucker song "Convoy" (gotta copy on that rubber ducky). Today he was reading a tribute to Abraham Lincoln as the band played the background music.
Bill, after a successful career in places like Nashville, moved to Ouray, Colorado in the early 80's. He became mayor and helped put the town on the top of the hot spots in Colorado for tourists. He also put together and narrated a multimedia presentation about the San Juan Mountains in which Ouray is nestled. This show has played every day for many years now, during the tourist season in Ouray.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let them truckers roll, 10-4!

Unknown said...

Hey cuz, interesting pics from Last Dollar Road. I used to run the cattle grazing on the Mississippi River levees near the Tunica casinos on my mountain bike. Doesn't seem like cattle, levees, casinos and mountain bike should ever be together in a sentence but kind of a fun thing. You didn't get those sheep running did you?
I sent my son Patrick your latest blog. He's an ATV'er. His email is patrick.sweeney@somnerexpress.com.
Add him to your mailout will ya'
Tim

Warren on the Road said...

Tim, I don't think sheep ever run. As to Patrick, it has been done!!!