Don't forget to visit band festival's home page

By Sheila J. Clark
Staff Writer

Time once again for the parade, the balloons, the brass and the annual journey back in time with the Great American Brass Band Festival.

Last year, a pilot festival Web site was launched in cooperation with the Advocate Messenger and MISNet during the festival weekend. The site received an impressive amount of traffic during its brief residence on the Web.

This year, the festival has arrived at a new, permanent site at http://www.gabbf.com. The new site, launched by the Advocate, aims to be the most comprehensive Web site for the Great American Brass Band Festival.

The site offers in-depth information on all aspects of the annual festival, to be held this year June 14-16.

Site features include:
* The Chautauqua Tea section giving information on the prelude to the festival held the Thursday before the festival begins.
* Band History Conference section offers the conference schedule as well as a registration form that you can print out. The conference topic for this year is "American Circus Bands: History, Music & Performers."
* The Bands section features the bands playing this year with background information about each band along with photos and some link to their own home pages.
* A tentative schedule of events is available on the site.
* The Directions to Danville section can help get you here no matter which direction you're coming from.
* In the Areas Sights to See section, you can find out information about area historic sites.
* In the Dining, Shopping & Such section, read about the things to see and do during festival downtime.
* There will be reviews of past festivals from various magazines.
* Don't forget to sign the guest book when you visit the site.

The site will be updated often and throughout the festival. Among the things to look for are: new stories from the Advocate staff; a showcase of unpublished festival photos; and a lot of other goodies, so be sure to drop in regularly.

Here are a few comments from some of the site's recent visitors: Kay Berggren, director of the Danville-Boyle County Tourist Commission thought it was "excellent, very good."

Vince DiMartino, Distinguished Artist in Residence at Centre College and member of the Advocate Brass Band stated that "it is really great ... gives a lot of recognition to the band festival and a lot of people are interested in it." DiMartino feels the site may add to the following the band already has through this virtual community.

Debbie Hoskins, director of programs and public relations at Norton Center for the Arts, Centre College, states "perfect because so many people that may not be on the mailing list for brass band festival will now receive the information about it and it might spark their interest to attend the festival in June. Not only is it perfect for the festival it send out a message about Danville and shows how historical our area is. It might not spark only the interests of musicians and music lovers, but historians as well."

Another site, provided by the Advocate Messenger, has been designed for the Advocate Brass Band, host band of the Great American Brass Band Festival and Danville's own hometown band. The web site is at http://www.gabbf.com/advocate.html. The site offers background information on the band and a listing of band personnel divided by the instruments they play. You can hear the band play the "Advocate-Messenger March" just by clicking on the logo.

Other site features:
* Information about the band's recordings that includes details about the upcoming CD release titled "The Chicago Tribune: More American Newspaper Marches."
* The band's Spring and Fall Concert Series dates along with the programs played.
* Gift of Song tells of a few songs that were given to the Advocate Brass Band.
* Articles and reviews of the Advocate Brass Band's accomplishments.
* Guide to Instruments, a short guide giving information about various instruments most often found in a brass band.
* Composer Bios will include information on famous composers such as Sousa, King, and others.

Both sites were designed by Sheila J. Clark, Internet columnist and information services coordinator of the Advocate -Messenger.