We rehearse on Sundays 12:30-2:30pm. All rehearsals are open to prospective members.

The winter location is usually at the Pathways Common House (1 Mountain Laurel Path, Florence).  Please park on the right hand side of the street (as you enter) and not take up parking spaces.

March 1, March 8, March 15, and March 22 are confirmed for the Common House.

For March 29, we’ll select another location.

We rehearse on Sundays 12:30-2:30pm. In February the location is the Pathways Common House (1 Mountain Laurel Path, Florence). All rehearsals are open to prospective members. Please park on the right hand side of the street (as you enter) and not take up parking spaces.

Click on image for larger view

On Saturday afternoon October 25, 2014,  the Expandable Brass Band will participate in the annual Holyoke Canal Creature Crawl. We’ll play along the canal and in Holyoke Heritage State Park, starting at 4:30 pm. Come in costume and join the fun.

Parking available in the city’s large Parking Garage at Dwight & Front streets  (enter from Front St, Holyoke, MA).

Hey Everybody, it’s PARTY TIME!   The annual HONK! Fest in Somerville, MA, is one of the highlights of our year. This will be our 5th year at HONK!   Come to this brass band extravaganza, and hear us and over 25 other bands.

• Friday afternoon Oct 10.  HONK in the Neighborhoods.  Our band will be jamming and rehearsing with youth in East Boston, and then joining them in a short parade from Zumix, 260 Summer St, East Boston.
• LANTERN PARADE 7:30pm Friday Oct 10, starting from Hodgkins-Curtin Park on Holland Street , Somerville. We’ll be jamming with the Leftist Marching Band and Red Flame Hunters as we march along.
• Saturday Oct 11. HONK! opening ceremony at 12:30. Then a series of band performances 1pm-9pm in numerous parks and street corners near Davis Square, Somerville.  We are scheduled to play at 3pm and 7pm. See full Sat schedule for locations.
• Sunday Oct 12, 12-2. The big PARADE from Davis Square along Mass Avenue to Harvard Square.  See route map and photos.
• Sunday Oct 12. Harvard Square Oktoberfest. Each band will have a brief set on the main stage of the Harvard Square Oktoberfest (we’re 18th on the list, estimating that we’ll play at about 4:15pm) AND the bands will also be playing all around Harvard Square that afternoon. We expect to play at 3:15pm by Charlie’s Kitchen. See Sunday Oktoberfest schedule.

It’s hard to capture this Expandable and E-X-P-A-N-D-I-N-G Brass Band all in one photo. Here’s one of the best group photos taken in a while. We were playing at the Tri-County Fair in Northampton on Sunday August 31, 2014.

Our thanks to Marie Paige, our faithful “band mother,” for this photo.

Come join the fun at the annual “Wonder Not!” Bread Festival at the Hungry Ghost Bakery, 62 State Street, Northampton, MA.  Sunday September 21, 2014. We parade through downtown Northampton with a fantastic variety of puppets and other celebrants.

  See http://hungryghostbread.com/ 

We’ll be playing on Saturday September 6 at the Northampton Jazz Festival.  We are part of the “Downtown Party” and will be playing at various locations.

At 10:30 am in Pulaski Park we’ll start a short parade (down Main St. to Pleasant St., right onto Armory St. and into the parking lot) to open the festival by 11:00 am.  Then we’ll play two sets in front of sponsors stores between 11 and noon or 12:30.

At 6:00pm we’ll return for two more sets in sponsors. We’ll also play a 10-minute set in front of the main stage at 7 pm before the final act.

On Saturday May 3, 2014, we enjoyed playing before, during, and after the Pride Parade.  A wonderful event!

We had a WONDERFUL time at the HONK! Fest in Somerville Oct 11-13.   See Sandy’s photo album and the Honk! Fest website and Honk’s Flickr pool, as well as YouTube  and our tweets (at right).

Upcoming gigs:

Amherst, MA: Saturday October 19, 3:30-4:30pm at Co-op Carnival with Food for Thought Books, 106 N Pleasant St , Amherst.

Easthampton, MA: Sunday October 20, afternoon (2-4ish), Park Hill Orchard, 82 Park Hill Rd, Easthampton.  This is a celebration of the Art in the Orchard show, which has been up since September.  Don’t miss it!

Holyoke, MA: Saturday October 26 at sunset (5:45pm) for Canal Creature Crawl, Heritage State Park, Dwight Street and first canal. Come earlier for the Monsters Ball  (4pm- ) in the City Hall ballroom.  Stay afterwards for the After Life Party (8pm- ), also in City Hall Ballroom. Our band will lead a parade of creatures, kids and families around Heritage Park after a brief ceremony at the canal at 5:45pm. (Kids drop colored leaves into the canal.)

Northampton, MA: Sunday October 27, 10:45- 11:10am, Gives A Hoot Halloween Fun Run, as racers return to Fitzwilly’s parking lot.

We’ll be playing Saturday August 17, 11am -1pm at the Open Square Farmers’ Market, 1 Open Square Way  (near Lyman St), Holyoke, MA.  Come to the market.  Come enjoy the music!

We’ll be playing for the Rockridge Retirement Community’s picnic on August 23.

Transperformance: Beyond Bob at Look Park, Tuesday August 27.  Our part will be 6-7pm.  The Expandable Brass Band will perform as Miscellaneous Bobs.

On Saturday September 7th we’ll participate in the Northampton Jazz Fest.  We expect to be in a parade at 11am and play in smaller groups in the afternoon.

We’ll be at the HONK! Fest in Somerville Oct 11-13, 2013.

Many other gigs are in the planning stages.  You can also catch us most Sundays outdoors at Maines Field, Florence, MA, where we rehearse midday (12:30pm til about 2 or 3pm).  If you play an instrument, bring it along. We are expandable!