On the first Sunday morning of November, like every first Sunday in November for the past 20 years, THE TASH BROTHERS BAND gets up at the wrong side of dawn to play The New York City Marathon at 89th St. & 4th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. We set up our gear in front of Bay Ridge Honda and start playing at the ungodly rock & roll hour of 9:30 AM.
Why do we do this? Because it is the wildest, most exciting gig of the year, an adrenaline rush like nothing else, for the band, the spectators, the volunteers and the 40,000 screaming maniacs in speedos on the first few blocks of their long run. That's why this our 20th year performing for the runners and their many fans and well-wishersthat line the 26 mile route through all 5 New York City boroughs.
We start cranking out high energy rock & roll as soon as the runners come barreling down 4th Avenue from the starting gate on the Verrazano Bridge, a moving, undulating swarm of humanity psyched for the big day they trained so hard for, and we give them some octane music to keep them strong.
A lot of runners stop and sing with the band, shake a tambourine, or snap some photos before continuing on they way. Meanwhile, the rest of them are filling 4th Avenue curb to curb, whistling, dancing, waving and cheering as they run. The big crowds all around the band on both sides of the street get onto the act too, cheering the runners, handing out bottled water and high-fiving people from Argentina, Nigeria and Sweden.
On the sidewalk on both sides of the band are big bins to collect food donations for City Harvest, New York City's most effective food bank. People that come to our little portion of the race bring along a small donation of non-perishable food items, a few cans here, some bags of rice there, and by the end of a couple of hours we've all had one whale of a good time and have collected hundreds of pounds of food for our less fortunate New York brothers and sisters and their children.
It's a win-win situation, a huge, amazing and unique New York City spectacle on a glorious Fall morning. This Sunday the forecast is for sunny and 60 degrees, not an ideal temperature for Marathoners but a pretty good one for Rock & Rollers. So come in down to Bay Ridge this Sunday, bring a small food donation and a set of high expectations. I guarantee you they will be exceeded.
And please don't forget about City Harvest for the rest of the year. Hunger knows no season. Their only mission is to eradicate hunger in their home town, New York City. Google them and find out what they are all about and see what you can do to help.
Meanwhile, in the words of the late, great Bob "The Bear" Hite of Canned Heat: "AND... DON'T .... FORGET.... TO BOOGIE!"
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