Mucca Pazza and weekend mayhem

This past Saturday I had the privilege of watching Mucca Pazza perform at Martyr's.
For those of you who don't know who they are, Mucca Pazza is a 30 piece circus punk marching band based out of Chicago, Illinois. They are always a blast to watch! Saturday was my second time. There isn't much actual marching going on except for when they are coming out on to the stage. They disperse through the crowd, playing their instruments and interacting with the audience. I turned around to find myself face to face with Mark Messing, blowing the sousaphone and smiling at me!

Mark Messing, the creator and head conductor of Mucca Pazza.

I probably shouldn't have flashed in this dude's face.

Half of the members playing away!

Mostly they do semi- synchronized movements and interact with each other. They even have a group of cheerleaders that do routines with frightening amounts of energy. After a powerhouse set of songs, the band somehow managed to do an encore of four additional songs!! My favorite moment was when the "junior conductor" came to the front of the stage and directed the audience and the band in an original piece.

The junior conductor doing his thing which was in my opinion, the highlight of the show.

The Mucca Pazza cheerleaders in the midst of their "Hand Signals" routine. I recognize some of them from various Redmoon events.

The reaaallly intense fiddle player. Doesn't he look like he's about to battle Darth Vader?

I danced the entire time! My cotton dress was clingy and sweaty when all was said and done. I was right in the front and even though my ears were ringing by the end of it, I didn't care. My knees hurt a little from all the jumping up and down but surprisingly my voice was not hoarse, despite all the screaming and yelling.

Go see them when they come to your home town and tell me how much you love them!

Aside from them, my weekend has been peachy! I went to an art opening Friday night and danced awkwardly to some reggae music and today I had my first couple Etsy sales (yay!) followed by a nice Easter potluck at a friend's place. Now back to school tomorrow to try to diminish the huge workload that I keep putting off. Yay me.

A small portion of Easter dinner. And yes, that is a chocolate cake with strawberries on it. In case you're wondering, it was dense and amazing.

Happy Easter!