On Tuesday, Feb. 17, The Workshop Brass Band will be hosting a Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday Celebration featuring dinner and live New Orleans Jazz music at the restaurant, Bonfire at The Continental Fire Co. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with dinner being served at 6 p.m.
This is a ticket event and is not covered under MTU Experience Tech Fee, although tickets to this event include a meal. Michigan Tech Student Rush Tickets are $25. This discounted Student Rush pricing applies to Michigan Tech Students and their plus-one guest ticket. Additionally, Pay As You’re Able Tickets are available for this event, with $50 being the full fee.
The menu for the evening will feature New Orleans delicacies such as sausage gumbo, Cajun mac and cheese, shrimp creole, jambalaya, cheesy grits, Mardi Gras salad, cornbread, muffaletta sandwiches, and beignets for dessert, available traditional and gluten-free.
Adam Meckler, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan Tech, gave a rundown on what the workshop brass band will be doing at the event. “We’ll play two sets. The first set will be… the earlier style [of] brass band music, so we’ll do traditional ‘Trad’ Jazz. That means there is some kind of gospel element to the songs. …Then there are traditional songs that aren’t sacred but are still in that earlier style. [In] that second set we do R&B style tunes– some of them, famous temptation songs, Marvin Gaye songs, Stevie Wonder songs; the band recorded Superstition last semester. Those will be the party style tunes in the second set.”
The Workshop Brass Band is a student band at Michigan Tech led by directors Adam Meckler and Drew Kilpela, specializing in New Orleans-style jazz. When asked about the band, Meckler said, “I started this band when I came here in 2019… It’s an accredited ensemble at Michigan Tech, but we learn all the music by ear. We don’t use sheet music– that’s pretty uncommon. It’s one of the only bands of its kind in the United States, which I’m really proud of.”
Tickets for this event are available for purchase at mtu.universitytickets.com or at the Rosza Box Office. For more information on the Workshop Brass Band, you can visit mtu.edu/vpa/music/ensembles/jazz/ or email Meckler at abmeckle@mtu.edu.
