I have NO DOUBT that there are several surrealist big-band groove machines in Portland, Oregon.
I heart Cambridge, although I'm not sure they understand the concept of Oktoberfest, or, as they spell it in Harvard Square, Octoberfest - and given the fact that it was sponsored by Sam Adams and the beer was only present in a couple of small, roped-off corners, I'm not going to argue for the German spelling.
There were, however, leftist hipster marching bands, Xtra-Long Italian Sausages, cool things for sale, and Zach Braff, on a trampoline. More on that later.
So, I rolled out of bed this morning and made my way to the Neighborhood Restaurant for brunch with in_parentheses, martini_corona, and J. We had tasty, tasty, filling food (seriously, two breakfasts at that place is more than enough for four people. And their cream of wheat is still the best thing ever.) and made our way towards Harvard Square. After parking fun, we met up with more friends and staked out a spot on Cambridge Common to watch the Honk Festival parade. Leftist, hipster marching bands. For livable communities and social justice. It was everything you could imagine it would be.
J: "I don't understand why there isn't more of a crowd here! Who wouldn't want to see this?"
These bands had traveled from all around - there was one from Italy, and another that billed themselves as "Portland, Oregon's premier surrealist big-band groove machine." (They were handing out postcards with their fall tour schedule, also including appearances at the Hollywood Bowl, World Cafe, Knitting Factory, and Alice Cooperstown [where jocks and rock meet].)
I took a bunch of pictures.
I had no idea there was a whole leftist street band subculture!
There were a lot of masks and puppets. Some of them were kind of creepy.
There was also a gorilla.
"What Cheer?", the Rhode Island band. J and A know their cymbalist from college - we met up with her later, and she told us about their recent tour of Eastern Europe.
Their banners were really pretty (they said "We're all in the same boat", and then the banners collapsed and everyone lay down in the street - I think it was allegorical?)
Okay, there were a lot of animal costumes, actually.
The buses that got stuck behind the parade.
I am not the only one with anti-emo hobo gloves. (Quote from a few minutes later, discussing hipsters: "I lost one arm-warmer at a Decemberists concert.")
Apparently the Car Talk brothers had been announcing the bands as they arrived in Harvard Square, which was odd, given the parade's goal of "reclaim[ing] the street for horns, bikes, and feet", but awesome.
After the parade, we wandered around the vendors, getting free samples of food (beer: nowhere to be seen); I bought a really cute notebook with antique Somerville postcards on a cloth cover. There were several music stages (including Momapalooza: all mom bands, all the time, with nearby booths for granola, Method cleaning products, Avon, Chipotle, and the Middlesex County Family Court. You know, all the Mom things!)
C had reported earlier that Zach Braff was scheduled to do a q & a and possibly jump on a trampoline; her update later was that there was a trampoline in front of the Harvard Lampoon building, with a guy guarding it and being obnoxiously shifty.
By 2:30, there was a line to get into the Brattle, where the q&a was supposed to be happening at 3. We didn't really care that much about Zach Braff (many <3s for Scrubs, not quite as many for Zach Braff himself), so we kept wandering, but at 3:30 we decided to go lurk near the Lampoon building, just in case he was there. On a trampoline. And, in fact, he totally was, with a bunch of Lampoon kids drinking beer and jumping on the trampoline, behind a velvet rope, while simulcasting to the Brattle and kind of being assholes, as far as we could tell in the five minutes we were there.
Sadly, Zach Braff was more "hanging around" and less "jumping on the trampoline", at least during the five minutes we were there, but he did say "I'm not a doctor, but I enjoy playing one on tv!" They finally headed over to the Brattle a couple of minutes after we got there.
And we took pictures, because, dude, Zach Braff was standing on the sidewalk right in front of us.
ETA: Zach and gf Shiri Appleby, formerly of the WB's Roswell! I, um, totally didn't notice here until in_parentheses pointed her out. Is that a win or a fail at celebrity stalking?
And, in conclusion, the abandoned trampoline.
So, that was our day at Octoberfest, complete with Zach Braff. I had no beer, but I did have sausage and collect several leftist-marching-band postcards and stickers. And then there was tapas for dinner, heavy on the fried cheese, and I never need to eat again. Like I said, I heart Cambridge.
There were, however, leftist hipster marching bands, Xtra-Long Italian Sausages, cool things for sale, and Zach Braff, on a trampoline. More on that later.
So, I rolled out of bed this morning and made my way to the Neighborhood Restaurant for brunch with in_parentheses, martini_corona, and J. We had tasty, tasty, filling food (seriously, two breakfasts at that place is more than enough for four people. And their cream of wheat is still the best thing ever.) and made our way towards Harvard Square. After parking fun, we met up with more friends and staked out a spot on Cambridge Common to watch the Honk Festival parade. Leftist, hipster marching bands. For livable communities and social justice. It was everything you could imagine it would be.
J: "I don't understand why there isn't more of a crowd here! Who wouldn't want to see this?"
These bands had traveled from all around - there was one from Italy, and another that billed themselves as "Portland, Oregon's premier surrealist big-band groove machine." (They were handing out postcards with their fall tour schedule, also including appearances at the Hollywood Bowl, World Cafe, Knitting Factory, and Alice Cooperstown [where jocks and rock meet].)
I took a bunch of pictures.
I had no idea there was a whole leftist street band subculture!
There were a lot of masks and puppets. Some of them were kind of creepy.
There was also a gorilla.
"What Cheer?", the Rhode Island band. J and A know their cymbalist from college - we met up with her later, and she told us about their recent tour of Eastern Europe.
Their banners were really pretty (they said "We're all in the same boat", and then the banners collapsed and everyone lay down in the street - I think it was allegorical?)
Okay, there were a lot of animal costumes, actually.
The buses that got stuck behind the parade.
I am not the only one with anti-emo hobo gloves. (Quote from a few minutes later, discussing hipsters: "I lost one arm-warmer at a Decemberists concert.")
Apparently the Car Talk brothers had been announcing the bands as they arrived in Harvard Square, which was odd, given the parade's goal of "reclaim[ing] the street for horns, bikes, and feet", but awesome.
After the parade, we wandered around the vendors, getting free samples of food (beer: nowhere to be seen); I bought a really cute notebook with antique Somerville postcards on a cloth cover. There were several music stages (including Momapalooza: all mom bands, all the time, with nearby booths for granola, Method cleaning products, Avon, Chipotle, and the Middlesex County Family Court. You know, all the Mom things!)
C had reported earlier that Zach Braff was scheduled to do a q & a and possibly jump on a trampoline; her update later was that there was a trampoline in front of the Harvard Lampoon building, with a guy guarding it and being obnoxiously shifty.
By 2:30, there was a line to get into the Brattle, where the q&a was supposed to be happening at 3. We didn't really care that much about Zach Braff (many <3s for Scrubs, not quite as many for Zach Braff himself), so we kept wandering, but at 3:30 we decided to go lurk near the Lampoon building, just in case he was there. On a trampoline. And, in fact, he totally was, with a bunch of Lampoon kids drinking beer and jumping on the trampoline, behind a velvet rope, while simulcasting to the Brattle and kind of being assholes, as far as we could tell in the five minutes we were there.
Sadly, Zach Braff was more "hanging around" and less "jumping on the trampoline", at least during the five minutes we were there, but he did say "I'm not a doctor, but I enjoy playing one on tv!" They finally headed over to the Brattle a couple of minutes after we got there.
And we took pictures, because, dude, Zach Braff was standing on the sidewalk right in front of us.
ETA: Zach and gf Shiri Appleby, formerly of the WB's Roswell! I, um, totally didn't notice here until in_parentheses pointed her out. Is that a win or a fail at celebrity stalking?
And, in conclusion, the abandoned trampoline.
So, that was our day at Octoberfest, complete with Zach Braff. I had no beer, but I did have sausage and collect several leftist-marching-band postcards and stickers. And then there was tapas for dinner, heavy on the fried cheese, and I never need to eat again. Like I said, I heart Cambridge.