Category Archives: VBF2019

Thanks to everyone who made VBF 2019 possible!

Several weeks have passed since the last notes of Vintage Band Festival 2019 have faded to silence, but it’s still timely to once again thank all the folks who contributed in any way towards the success of the weekend. Click on the images below to read the names of the individuals in the many categories of our organization and its operation.

Most especially, thanks to those who contributed financially to the festival. Without adequate funding, it would not be possible to stage Vintage Band Festival. Our donors rock!

       

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: Mariachi Mi Tierra

Mariachi Mi Tierra is the oldest Mariachi ensemble in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. Rosalio Castro (trumpet), who formed the group in 2003, has played various Mexican styles of music since he was in his teens. Eduardo Castro (also trumpet) is the group’s director. Together, the Castros have brought together a group that produces the full sound of authentic mariachi in Minnesota. The group’s repertoire includes a number of regional and current favorites. In addition to events in the local Mexican community, Mariachi Mi Tierra plays at schools, colleges, businesses, casinos, and festivals. Mariachi Mi Tierra performed previously at the Vintage Band Festival in 2014, 2015 and 2018. Catch them Thursday, August 1 at 7 pm on the Bridge Square Main Stage, immediately following Jack Brass Band. You won’t be disappointed!

Mariachi Mi Tierra

VBF 2019 USA Bands: Territorial Brass: Arizona’s Official Historical Brass Band

Territorial Brass was formed in February 1987 and was quickly recognized by museums across Arizona as an entertaining living history resource. Dressed in turn-of-the-century costumes, Territorial Brass captures the golden age of the American town band. This twelve-member ensemble specializes in 19th century American brass band music, playing authentic arrangements from 1835, through the Civil War, to Arizona’s year of statehood. It is the goal of Territorial Brass to replicate the brass bands that were active in Arizona and New Mexico during the territorial period. This is the first time that Territorial Brass has performed at Vintage Band Festival.

Territorial Brass

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: Jack Brass Band

The Jack Brass Band formed in 1999 in the Twin Cities metro. Based on the traditions of New Orleans brass bands, they are ambassadors of the Crescent City’s rich musical history. The 8-piece band plays “Feel-Good Music” for audiences of any age, for any occasion. JBB has the ability and repertoire to play everything from old New Orleans jazz from Louis Armstrong’s era, to the modern street Mardi-Gras anthems with the instrumentation, feel, and energy they have mastered through countless gigs, parades, festival appearances, and trips to New Orleans to listen, learn, and play alongside the masters. The band is led by percussionist Mike Olander.

Jack Brass Band

VBF 2019 USA Bands: Imperial Cornet Band

Photo credit: Rob Mesite Photography

The Imperial Cornet Band performs music of the World War I era. Music by Sousa, George M. Cohan, W.C. Handy, Irving Berlin is featured along with selections written and performed by James Reese Europe of the famous 369th Infantry Division, the “Harlem Hellfighters” Regiment. Their programs give audiences a chance to hear what this music sounded like performed by a small band and gain insight on how music was used to further the war effort at home and on the battlefield.

The Imperial Cornet Band performs under the auspices of the Maryland Military Band and is conducted by Jari Villanueva. Mr. Villanueva and several other musicians in the band have played at Vintage Band Festival in the past as members of the Federal City Brass Band or the 26th North Carolina Regimental Band.

Mark your calendars so you can stop by and say hello and hear their concerts of WWI era music!

Thursday August 1 at 8 PM Reunion Restaurant, 501 Division St S, Northfield, MN 55057

-Friday August 2 at 10 AM “The Yanks Are Coming!” Jari Villanueva’s lecture on WWI Bands, Weitz Center for Creativity on the campus of Carleton College in Northfield.

-Friday August 2 at 4 PM Way Park, 720 1st Street West Northfield, MN 55057

-Saturday August 3 at Noon Battle of the Bands Bridge Square, Northfield, MN
-Saturday August 3 at 2 PM Bridge Square, Northfield, MN
-Saturday August 3 at 6pm Northfield Cemetery, Veteran’s Memorial Concert

-Sunday August 4 at 1030 AM Church Service at First United Church of Christ, 300 Union St, Northfield, MN

Vaudeville 1919! at Vintage Band Festival

The North Star Cinema Orchestra will present Vaudeville, 1919 at the Kracum Concert Hall in the Weitz Center for Creativity on the Carleton College campus on Sunday, August 4 at 7:00 p.m. The presentation is a re-creation of a Vaudeville show featuring authentic songs, jokes, skits, and magic lantern slides from 100 years ago. The show will also feature the orchestra accompanying Back Stage, a 1919 film starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton.

Featured in the program are singers Victoria Vargas and Rick Penning. Also featured will be Chester, the Wonder Dog, who will perform in a dog act.

Other members of the orchestra are: Martha Jamsa, flute, Nina Olsen, clarinet,  Lynn Deichert, trumpet, Liz Ericksen, violin, Matt McCright, piano, Connie Martin, bass, and David Miller, percussion. Matthew Zimmerman is the projectionist. The ensemble is directed by Ron Rodman, Dye Family Professor of Music at Carleton College, and Director of the Carleton Symphony Band.

Admission to the concert is $10, but is free to youth under 18 and seniors over 65. Admission is also free for anyone with a VBF pin. Proceeds go to the Vintage Band Festival.

The concert is sponsored by the Carleton Dean of the College Office and the Carleton Music Department.

VBf 2019 Minnesota Band: Brio Brass

Brio Brass

Brio Brass has delighted and entertained audiences throughout Minnesota’s Twin Cities Metro area since 1999. Composed of more than 50 adult musicians, the group performs its own unique arrangements written specifically for its members. The ensemble’s large repertoire features a broad spectrum of musical styles. Audiences are entertained with fluid ballads, pop of all eras, show tunes, funky rock and lots of jazz. All of the music that Brio Brass plays has been composed or arranged by the director, Rick Rueckert. He has written more than 200 arrangements and compositions. Expect lots of humming, toe tapping and even dancing in the aisles! Brio Brass will play at the Bridge Square Main Stage for VBF 2019 on Sunday, August 4 at 2 p.m.

Brio Brass

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: St. Cloud Municipal Band

The St. Cloud Municipal Band is believed to have started after the Civil War (1865), when union soldiers brought their instruments back home. At that time they were called the St Cloud Union Band, which later changed to the St. Cloud Municipal Band. We do not know for sure when the band came into existence, but in an obituary dated from 1875, it was stated that a member played with the band “for a number of years” by that time. The band was supported by community groups until the 1940s, when it became a program of the city of St. Cloud, Minnesota. However, by the early 2000s, the city no longer wanted the liability of the band anymore, so it asked the group to form its own nonprofit organization. This the first time that St. Cloud Municipal Band has appeared at Vintage Band Festival.

St. Cloud Municipal Band

VBF 2019 USA Bands: Independent Silver Band

Independent Silver Band (IL)

In 1884 to 1889 the prosperous and energetic Illinois community of Mt. Vernon enjoyed the music of its own Independent Silver Band. In July, 2004, the music of the Independent Silver Band came to life once more. It was composed of 10 local men, all of whom attended the same church and Sunday school. By bringing together interested brass players and percussionists from Mt. Vernon and surrounding cities and towns in southern Illinois, the Independent Silver Band assembled the proper team of dedicated persons. They all shared the vision of giving audiences the chance to hear the music of a bygone time. The band leader of Independent Silver Band is William Reynolds.

Independent Silver Band at VBF 2016

VBF 2019: Music to Accompany Golf/Baseball

Vintage Base Ball

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Old Main Green, St. Olaf College

Game #1 10am–Northfield Silver Stars vs. Minneapolis Quicksteps

Game #2 11:30am–Minneapolis Quicksteps vs. Rochester Roosters

Game #3 1pm–Northfield Silver Stars vs. Rochester Roosters

Music soundtrack by New Prague Area Community Band, Rush Wagner conducting

 

 

John Falck Memorial Golf Tournament

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Northfield Golf Course

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band 12:15pm

Alexander’s Ragtime Brass  5pm

The John Falck Memorial Golf Tournament is a private event sponsored by Three Links Care Center. For information on how to register for this event, please click here.