W.P. Cyclones Magnificent High-Wheel Band
If you think the festival features skillful musicians, check out what happens when they combine musical talent with riding old-fashioned, big-wheel bicycles.
The 12 members of the W.P. (Whistle Pig) Cyclones Magnificent High-Wheel Band of Monroe, Mich., have spent two years practicing for this Danville debut on the bicycles that put them about 50 inches off the ground. ``I know my head's about nine feet in the air so we're up there,'' says Frank Stasa, who co-founded the group with Randy Oleynik. Three of the 12 belong to Dodworth Saxhorn Band and the rest of the members were in bands in college.
Two of the bikes are authentic to the 1880s-1890s and the others are reproductions. ``Me and my partner scoured the country for bikes,'' says Stasa, who rode this type of bike when the St. Johns Bicycle Band was re-created for the 1992 festival. They located the reproductions at Hudson's, a northern retail outlet.
They knew the store used an old-fashioned bike in spring promotions. ``We offered to buy that and they said, you can buy them if you buy all 10,'' says Stasa, who plays trumpet and E-flat tuba but will play a Pepper horn from the 1880s while riding the bike.
One of the trickiest instruments to play will be a bass drum. The lucky musician is Bill Smith, who can handle this because of his experience riding with The Wheelmen. As a member of this old-fashioned bicycle group, Smith is a master and can do trick riding. For carrying the drum, a special brace was built under his seat that sticks out in front of the wheel. ``It looks like at any second he could flip over. He says a lot of times his back wheel is leaving the ground.''
Other members play: two altos horn, one of which is a Pepper alto; a baritone horn; an E-flat tuba; three cornets; a snare drum; and a symbol player also has a brace.