Mucca Pazza to record on a wax cylinder phonograph

Thursday, June 14, 2012 The Montclair Times

MUCCA PAZZA

On June 15, visitors to Thomas Edison National Historical Park will have the opportunity to watch a unique band as they step back in time. Mucca Pazza, a brass band from Chicago, will be the featured artist at a wax cylinder phonograph recording taking place on Friday, June 15, from 1 to 1:45 p.m. The entrance fee is $7. Children under age 16 are free. There is no additional fee for the program.

Described as a marching band that thinks it's a rock 'n' roll band, Mucca Pazza will be recording onto a wax cylinder in the same way it was done in Edison's time over a century ago. The method of capturing sound is non-electric. Like the artists who recorded for Edison at the turn of the 20th century, Mucca Pazza will play in front of a large horn that will serve as their microphone.

"Even now with all the technology and various mediums in which recorded music is delivered, if you step back from the dazzle of modern gadgetry, it's hard not to be amazed at a recording process developed over a hundred years ago," stated Jim Thomson, owner of the group's recording label, Electric Cowbell Records. "I like to think that a little bit of magic is going to happen on June 15 with Mucca Pazza."

Mucca Pazza play everything from the accordion and the violin to trumpets, sousaphones and Middle Eastern hand drums. "We look like a marching band and occasionally behave like a marching band, but we don't sound like one," stated mandolin player Gary Kalar. Twenty-nine members of the band will be at the park on June 15 to march in formation, rip through drum cadences and maybe even incite mass dance outbreaks.

The entrance fee is $7. Children under age 16 are free. The Visitor Center is located at 211 Main St. in West Orange.

For more information or directions, call 973-736-0550, ext. 11, or visit: www.nps.gov/edis.