November is Give to the Max season in Minnesota. It’s the time of year when Minnesotans share their charitable giving spirit with thousands of area non-profits all on just one website. Thursday, November 21 is Give to the Max Day and Vintage Band Festival will be participating once again.
“Research shows that individual giving from donors like you and me is the largest source of revenue for nonprofits each year,” said Jake Blumberg, executive director of GiveMN, the sponsoring organization of Give to the Max Day. “Give to the Max shines a spotlight on the power of our collective giving each year, showing that tens of millions of dollars for good can be raised $10, $25, and $100 at a time.”
Besides the convenience of using the secure GiveMn portal (www.givemn.org), there are other benefits to giving on Give to the Max Day. Donors can help Vintage Band Festival win part of the $100,000+ Prize Pool! Let’s explain.
Every time a donor makes a gift they are entered into random chance drawings that are held every 15 minutes during the 24 hours of Give to the Max Day. The winner of each drawing gets a $500 Golden Ticket that they can donate to the organization of their choice. There are hourly drawings for $1,000 Golden Tickets as well. In fact, there are nearly 150 chances to win a Golden Ticket during the month of November.
We’re grateful to GiveMN and all of the sponsoring organizations for the opportunity to use this site to help Vintage Band Festival fundraise throughout the year. We’re also grateful to our wonderful supporters and donors who make it possible for us to bring incredible sounds and spectacle to Vintage Band Festival each summer and Tuba Christmas each December.
If you’ve never been to the GiveMn website or shared in the excitement of Give to the Max Day, give it a try this year. We’ll be glad you did! (Pro tip: you don’t have to live in Minnesota to participate.)
Tuba Christmas in Northfield returns on Saturday, December 7, 2024. This fun event has been presented in many communities of the United States for over 50 years. Low brass instruments playing Christmas carols in harmony provides a listening experience that has no parallel.
The location for Tuba Christmas in Northfield is Skinner Memorial Chapel on the campus of Carleton College. The chapel is on 1st Street between Winona and College Streets on the east side of town. The rear doors (northside) of the building are accessible via ramped sidewalks. Parking is on city streets in the neighborhood.
Registration for musicians opens at 12:00 pm. There will be a rehearsal at 1:00 pm and a break from 2:00-3:00 pm. The performance begins at 3:00 pm. Registration is $10 for musicians and with that every musician will receive a commemorative pin.
“Carols for a Merry Tuba Christmas” books will be available for purchase for those who don’t own a copy already. There are books for both treble and bass clef readers. Large format books are $25 and small format books are $20. Tuba Christmas apparel will also be available in a variety of colors. Hats are $15, headbands are $10 and scarves are $20.
Cash, check or credit cards will be accepted. Checks should be made payable to Vintage Band Festival.
Tuba Christmas in Northfield is a free and family-friendly event. Be sure to tell your family to join the fun and spread the word to any friends who might wish to join us on stage. Musicians of any age are welcome!
One of the serendipitous highlights that some folks had during Vintage Band Festival 2024 was watching a pop-up concert given by the Alphorns. Maybe you found them at the Northfield Public Library plaza or later in front of Robin’s Egg Bakery or the Hideaway Coffeehouse and Wine Bar. Their lovely sound filled the air downtown in between the performances in Bridge Square. I can’t imagine what those horns would sound like in the mountain valleys of Switzerland!
Another unexpected moment was the appearance of Maurice “The Music Man” before the festival began on Friday. Maurice drove all the way from Indiana with a truck loaded with musical instruments for sale. He parked his vehicle behind the VBF stage and opened it up to reveal dozens of brass and wind instruments from various eras of the 19th and 20th centuries. Throughout the day on Saturday, musicians from the VBF roster stopped to chat and sample Maurice’s fare, and some made purchases that they hadn’t expected to make before arriving in Northfield.
Photo credit: Off Beat Magazine
Maurice told me that he acquires his inventory in many ways and that some of the instruments need TLC before they’re ready for sale. He has two colleagues that help him with repairs, but even in his 80s, he’s the only one who takes the show on the road.
A few days after VBF 2024, I did a Google search on Maurice. I figured that someone somewhere must have written a story about him and I wasn’t wrong. I found a piece in Off Beat Magazine from 2018 titled “Maurice the Horn Wizard”, by Noé Cugny. Turns out that Maurice was a regular for years at the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but he got his start in Paris at the age of 17.
I have two regrets about my time with Maurice. I didn’t get a picture of him and I never caught his last name!
There’s more summer music yet to come in 2024 in Northfield, Minnesota. In June we enjoyed the Northfield Community Band concerts in Bridge Square. In July there was the debut of the Northfield Jazz Festival in Way Park and the first-ever two-day Vintage Band Festival in Bridge Square.
Beginning August 18th, the Bridge Chamber Music Festival returns for a weeklong run at multiple locations throughout the city: Carleton College, St. Olaf College, St. John’s Lutheran Church, The Grand Event Center, and The Northfield Depot. 2024 is the 25th Anniversary of this beloved Northfield tradition. The complete schedule can be found here.
The festival was founded in 1999 by David Carter, a member of the music faculty at St. Olaf College and continues today under Artistic Director Francesca Anderegg. This year’s lineup features the Arianna String Quartet, Stone Arch Brass, the Northfield Jazz All-Stars, and the Balkanicus Ensemble.
Vintage Band Festival 2024 is one week away. In past newsletters this spring and summer we’ve been highlighting the bands that will be performing at VBF 2024 on July 26-27. If you missed any newsletters or want to get a refresher, the complete schedule of concerts and all of the band profiles are on our website www.vintagebandfestival.org. Just click on the pull-down tab “VBF 2024”.
Today we want to thank our sponsors and community partners for their support. Without their financial and logistical support we would not be able to do what we do. Our Festival Sponsors this year are the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC), the City of Northfield, JoAnn Polley and Mark Ulmer, Mary Rosenberg, David and Nan Shumway, and Barbara Zaveruha and Glen Castore.
Our 2024 Stage Sponsors are Community Resource Bank, Merchants Bank, David Clarke, David and Martha Brown, Lee Engquist, Tyler and Kari Holden, and Lois and Noel Stratmoen.
A huge shout out to Isaac Leonard at Festival Production Services and Roger Fette at Fette Productions for our stage, audio and lighting tech. Thanks also to By All Means Graphics/Graphic Mailbox for our marketing support, Kathy Bjerke, our accountant and Jim Haas, our donor database manager.
Phil Peterson moved to Northfield in 2008 after retiring from the Insurance industry. Phil immediately immersed himself in community activity. He completed training to be a Northfield Historical Society tour guide, a member of the “posse” with expertise talking about the James Gang Bank Robbery. Phil’s love for music and tenor voice has him singing in the Bethel Lutheran Church Choir, I Cantanti (community choir) and volunteering as a hospice musician playing guitar and singing for hospice patients. Phil also plays the euphonium in the Fifty North Band and the Northfield Community Band. Thanks Phil, for what you give to Northfield and for being a board member of the Vintage Band Festival!
Paul Beck
If you were a brass-playing middle schooler in Northfield Schools from 1989-2013 you most likely had private lessons from teacher and trombonist, Paul Beck. “Mr. Beck” had a stellar career as a public-school teacher in Northfield and continues to participate as a trombonist is local bands and ensembles, did a stint as conductor of the Northfield Community Band, and sings in the St. John’s Lutheran Church Choir. As a graduate of St Olaf College, his connection to Northfield goes back many years (his mom was an Ole too). Paul taught instrumental music in two other rural Minnesota towns before landing in Northfield. Thank you for your volunteer service to the Vintage Band Festival!
Vintage Band Festival is looking for folks to help with various tasks during our upcoming event on July 26-27, 2024. The times that help is needed are 1:00 – 11:00 pm on July 26 and 7:00 am – 11:00 pm on July 27. Please let us know of your interest and availability by sending an message to bergesod@gmail.com.
If you think that Vintage Band Festival is all that Northfield, Minnesota has to offer, think again! There are three music festivals in July and one in August. In addition, every Saturday there is an open-air market with produce vendors, food trucks, and artisans of all kinds from 9 am – 1 pm.
Why not stay in Northfield for the summer? This week we’ll explore the inaugural Northfield Jazz Festival.
The Northfield Jazz Festival is set to take off in Northfield, MN on Sunday, July 14. The core of the festival will occur in Way Park from 1 to 5pm, featuring three bands led by Northfield resident jazz musicians: pianist Laura Caviani, vibraphonist Dave Hagedorn, and trombonist JC Sanford. This will be followed by a jam session at Imminent Brewing (519 Division St S #2) in downtown Northfield hosted by Jack Schabert’s Blue Ox Trio. All events are free and open to all ages. Festival Director JC Sanford received a 2024 Southeast MN Arts Council Grant (SEMAC) to fund much of the festival and has partnered with the Friends of Way Park organization to organize the event.
Opening up the festival at 1pm, JC Sanford’s Imminent Standards Trio was named for his frequent appearances at Northfield’s own Imminent Brewing before the pandemic put a pause on live performances. He went on to record two volumes of recordings of jazz standards (Imminent Standards Trio, Vol. 1 & 2), and this performance will feature the personnel of Vol. I, bassist Anthony Cox and drummer Phil Hey. When discussing this group, Scott Yanow of LA Jazz Scene says, “In addition to his fluent technique, Sanford has an expressive tone of his own, a sound that holds one’s interest in this sparse setting.” Sanford still regularly performs in New York City and internationally as a trombonist/composer/conductor and is commonly recognized as a “Rising Star” trombonist in DownBeat Magazine’s annual critics’ polls.
Maintime is a group of musicians that formed in 1999 to explore the music of Keith Jarrett, Kenny Wheeler, Jan Garbarek, and other performers influenced by the ECM record label in the 1970s. The band consists of Chris Olson, guitar, Jay Epstein, drums, Kevin Clements, bass, and Dave Hagedorn, vibraphone. Andrea Canter of Jazz Police has said, “The empathy among these musicians is immediately apparent from the first chords.” Their recording In the Meantime is available on BandCamp, and they will appear at 2:30pm.
For over 10 years, the Laura Caviani Trio has featured bassist Chris Bates and drummer Dave Schmalenberger. For this special performance, they will feature selections from their recordings Confluence and Mysterious Thelonious, along with recently written vocal originals fresh from Laura’s Carleton sabbatical. They also play every Sunday for the First Service at Plymouth Congregational church in Minneapolis. Pamela Espeland of MinnPost described Mysterious Thelonious as a “a joyous romp through ten of [Thelonious Monk’s] tunes, played by someone who knows them intimately yet continues to discover new things about them.” They will close out the Way Park portion of the festival at 4pm.
Though only recently a graduate of St. Olaf College in May, Jack Schabert has already released two recordings as a leader with a third on the way. In additional their frequent performances at Twin Cities venues like MetroNOME and kj’s hideaway, the Blue Ox Trio have also performed at numerous private events and nursing homes throughout the state. The jam session at Imminent Brewing will occur from 6 to 9pm.
There will also be food trucks: Praeliza Fusion Kitchen at Way Park and Deep Roots at Imminent Brewing.
The Northfield Jazz Festival is taking tax-deductible donations for operating support and funding for this year and beyond through their fiscal sponsor Zeitgeist. Any sponsors and/or donors interested in financially supporting the festival or any volunteers looking to be involved should contact JC Sanford at northfieldjazzfestival@gmail.com. Planning for the 2025 festival is already underway.
Tune in next week when we’ll talk about the Noontime Organ Recital Series in July and the August Bridge Chamber Music Festival.
Laura Caviani, Dave Hagedorn, JC Sanford (photo credit David Milne)
McNasty Brass Band is a collection of Minneapolis/St.Paul-based horn players and percussionists that fuse the Minnesota metropolitan sound with the spirit of New Orleans. The outcome of this fusion is hard-hitting dance music and high-energy live shows.
Each player works tirelessly outside McNasty Brass Band as a side man, some with national and international touring acts. That’s what makes McNasty special – these youthful but experienced side men come together and showcase their compositions, solos, group vocals and stage presence as front men. “McNasty Brass Band is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t make fun of the kid who is super into trumpet in 5th grade” (twincitiesmedia.net). Their recordings King Size Life and MNBB, encapsulate their live energy with exciting compositions, rowdy gang vocals and rip-roaring solos. The only thing missing is their dance moves!
The next two profiles showcase two of the longest-serving Vintage Band Festival board members, Jan Stevens, our Fundraising Committee chair and Lois Stratmoen, our donor Correspondent.
Jan Stevens
VBF board member and chief fundraiser, Jan Stevens, is a person of action who leads by example. Since 1994 Jan has been involved with the Northfield Rotary Club, and specifically with the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Jan has been a champion advocate for Northfield and after retiring from the real estate world this is what she had to say about living here:
“Northfield has everything, 45 minutes to an international airport, 5 times a day bus
service to the metro area, one hour to the Mayo Clinic Hospitals, two outstanding
colleges that bookend the north side of Northfield, culture diverse activities that rival
anywhere, recreational activities for all ages, and church and bar music that rivals much
larger communities.”
That civic pride and keen sense of the arts brings us to her involvement with VBF. It was Jan’s generous gift that enabled the Vintage Band Festival Fund to be created in 2023. The fund is part of Northfield Shares and was established to allow the Vintage Band Festival to develop a more sustainable financial strategy. Jan’s passion for our community is contagious!
Lois Stratmoen
When was the last time you received a hand-written note in the mail? VBF board member and Donor Correspondent, Lois Stratmoen, is known for handwriting notes, not only to patrons of the Vintage Band Festival, but also to Northfield area youth who are featured in the Northfield News.
Lois and her husband Noel have been citizens of Northfield for more than 50 years. Her list of civic leadership roles is impressive to say the least. Here are a few: former chair of the Northfield Hospital Board, former church council president of Bethel Lutheran Church, Board of Directors/Northfield United Way, Northfield Arts Guild member and cast member in many Guild musical productions, and co-recipient of the 2003 Northfield Sertoma Service to Mankind Award. We are honored to have the wisdom and personal touch of Lois Stratmoen serving VBF!
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