Steve Highsmith's Blog

The Spartans are here!

stevehighsmith — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:42:16 +0000

The Spartans Fancy Brigade is here and already cleaning up. Literally. The newest Fancy Brigade went out this weekend and cleaned up the ball field complex at EOM. Nice job, Spartans. Adults and younger ones were on hand.

The Spartans NYB is the newest Mummers Fancy Brigade. They are and want to be very community minded, so they took it to the streets, painting and sweeping and bagging.

The Spartans are a family-oriented club and hope to attract members who think that way, too. Congratulations to Jerry and all the members and good luck as you prepare for New Year’s.

Members of the Spartans NYB already doing their part in South Philadelphia!

Great Job, Wyndmoor

stevehighsmith — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:34:39 +0000

As someone who has witnessed the volunteer greatness of Wyndmoor Hose Company #1 as the members serve in many ways throughout the Montgomery County and Philadelphia community, there is yet another reason to honor their success. The fire company has now presented a check for $5,000 to Fox Chase Cancer Center for breast cancer research. Wyndmoor Hose #1 raised the money through its Pink Siren campaign in 2012.

2013 Show of Shows

stevehighsmith — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 23:30:29 +0000

The wows kept coming this afternoon at the annual Philadelphia Mummers String Band Association Show of Shows. Thousands of fans clapped, cheered and strutted with the Captains and the 16 bands of the String Band Association. The show began with Polish American and Captain Nick Magenta heralding what was to come with their theme, “A Rio Good Time.” Trilby and Uptown followed. Then Greater Overbrook and Duffy. Greater Kensington, Broomall and Durning finished out the first half. Captains and members of the bands paused at intermission to talk with the crowd and be photographed with the fans. Lots of interaction in the people business that is the Mummers.
The 2nd half started with a rousing performance by Aqua and Captain Ron Iannacone. The imaginative Hegeman followed. Then Avalon, Ferko, South Philadelphia, Woodland, Quaker City, and 1st Prize Fralinger. Then came the Captains in a finale capping the 3 hour show. This may have been the last Show of Shows in Boardwalk Hall. Next year the show could be in North Wildwood or Philadelphia.
Congratulations to Hall of Fame inductees Dan Marakowski, of Fralinger, Dan Spencer, of Ferko, Mark Danielewicz, of Polish American, and Joe Volkert, of Quaker City String Band.

Happy 4711!

stevehighsmith — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:49:06 +0000

I had a great time Friday night as the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation celebrated the Chinese New Year at the Ocean City Restaurant on 9th Street in Chinatown. As someone born in the year of the Monkey, I have little in common with the Snake, but being a Monkey, celebrated optimistically with my friends and neighbors. Comcast employees and NBC10′s Glenn Schwartz were on hand. PCDC has been a significant, positive force in the preservation of the culture and in the development of Chinatown. The annual banquet is always one of the happiest of the year. May you soon fine lucky bamboo stalks near you.

2014 “Order of Enjoyment”

stevehighsmith — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:29:02 +0000

The Philadelphia Mummers String Bands tonight have selected the order in which they will march in the 2014 SugarHouse Casino Mummers Parade!

The new rules for selecting the order mean that the bands that marched in the 1 through 5 positions in 2013, would automatically not be in that first group of 5 in 2014. Those bands, Greater Overbrook, Durning, Trilby, Broomall and South Philadelphia, selected first and drew from balls that were numbered 6 through 17.

After they picked, the other bands then selected from the remaining unchosen positions 1 through 17. They selected in the order of the 2013 prize finish, so Fralinger, for example, was the first pick in this group, or the 6th overall to pick. There was no trading or purchasing of positions. Here is how it ended, the 2014 Order of March, or as I say:

The “Order of Enjoyment”

1. Woodland

2. Fralinger

3. Polish American

4. Avalon

5. Ferko

6. Uptown

7. Trilby

8. South Philadelphia

9. Greater Overbrook

10. Aqua

11. Hegeman

12. Quaker City

13. Pennsport

14. Broomall

15. Durning

16. Greater Kensington

17. Duffy

Now, let the theme selection, planning, budgeting and fundraising begin!

Drawing beginning for order of march.

stevehighsmith — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:18:08 +0000

Order of March

stevehighsmith — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:10:35 +0000

In just a couple of hours, the Philadelphia Mummers String Band Division will be selecting its order of march for the 2014 SugarHouse Casino Mummers Parade. I will be at the drawing and let you know what happens.

Big Changes

stevehighsmith — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:03:19 +0000

Big changes have come on the power block of 2 Street in South Philadelphia. Fralinger and Quaker City, two of the most successful string bands of all time, have voted to replace key members in leadership positions. Fralinger has a new Captain and Quaker City has a new Music Director.

Fralinger Captain Thomas D’Amore lost a close election to Scott Wray. Admirers of this band and folks who know Scott wish him all the best. However, this is also a head turner to many since Thomas has won First Prize Captain 3 of the last 4 years and the band has won First Prize in 2 of the last 4 years. Thomas has not only excelled as a Captain on Broad Street, but has been professional in his public role as Captain and giving of his time to charitable causes.

Fran Rothwein is no longer Music Director of Quaker City String Band. QC has selected Michael Spanky Brown for the role. Spanky is another talented and hard working member of Quaker. Fran has served as MD for nearly 20 years in one of the most successful periods of the band’s history. He is a flat-out good guy, and talented, too. Quaker also recently gave him an award for coming back from illness.

Well-meaning Mummers everywhere should recognize the quality and contributions of Thomas D’Amore and Fran Rothwein, and we should all hope that in whatever capacity they choose and Mummery allows, that we will see and hear more of them.

2013 Viewers’ Choice Awards Finalists

stevehighsmith — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:15:03 +0000

VIEWERS’ CHOICE AWARDS!

All Mummers are invited to SugarHouse Casino Wednesday night, Jan. 23rd for the PHL17 2013 SugarHouse Casino Viewers’ Choice Awards presentations. The festivities begin at 7pm. However, we can now reveal the FINALISTS in the Fancy Brigade and String Band categories as chosen by the viewers. Thousands of votes were cast by viewers of the parade and here are the finalists.

The top 3 finalists in ALPHABETICAL order, not necessarily final order are:

In the Fancy Brigades,

Bill McIntyre’s Shooting Stars, Saturnalian NYA,

and South Philly Vikings.

And in the String Bands, again in alphabetical order, the top 3 finalists are:

Fralinger, Quaker City, and South Philadelphia String Band.

Congratulations to those six and congratulations to other clubs who finished a close 4th and 5th with the viewers. More will be said about that next week as well.

The Bells of Joe Trinacria

stevehighsmith — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:17:01 +0000

It is always special when someone has done something well for a long time. Mummery by nature respects tenure and accomplishment. Joe Trinacria hits every note in the above description.

On New Year’s Day, 2013, Mr. Trinacria marked 50 years since he first marched with a String Band. He is a legendary glockenspiel, or bells, player. “The bells mean everything to the string band sound. It’s the signature sound,” says Joe. He adds, “When people heard the bells, they knew a string band was coming.”

A half a century of Mummers history flows through this Hall of Famer and former Captain of Uptown String Band. One of Joe’s fondest memories is taking 3rd prize Captain in 1980 with Uptown. It was a Hawaiian theme.

His Mummers life is a travelogue of performances and parades. Often, his view was from deeper within the bands, where the percussion is often positioned. He could see much of the show, but it was from the opposite view of fans. He strutted briefly with Liberty Clowns in the early 1960′s, but would go on to explore string band sounds with Durning, Aqua, Joseph A. Ferko and Harrowgate. His spent 17 years with Uptown String Band, 9 years with Woodland and most recently has been with Greater Kensington String Band.

Funny thing about the bells for Joe is that playing them was more or less accidental. He had gone out to buy a Christmas present for his nephew and wound up liking the “toy”.

From there a love affair with the bells began. Joe does not read music. He has a great ear and can bring out the life that is in the instrument. His is not a “slap-hammer” style. He tells me, “I know dynamics.”

Joe Trinacria is now 80 years of age and looks back at New Year’s Day from his home in Bensalem and sees great memories. He is one of the living historians of Mummery. He has untold stories of half a century of parading and living the Mummer tradition. Now, however, Joe looks forward with some uncertainty. Health issues make him concerned that more parades for him could be difficult. But, doctors tell him playing the bells and strutting up Broad have done wonders for him. So, Joe, please keep playing and chart a course up Broad to see us “on the street” in 2014. We’ll know you’re coming, when we hear the bells.