UPDATE: Friends are planning to celebrate the life of Ethan and mark the autumn equinox by gathering on the St. Paul side of the Lake Street bridge tonight (Wednesday) at 6 p.m., culminating with a bike ride into the sunset at 6:30.
A parading brass band called on to bid farewell to the Bedlam Theater and Fat Tuesday over the past year, the Brass Messengers tragically lost one of their own members last night: Trumpeter Ethan Johnson, 37, was killed in a hit-and-run car accident two blocks from his house in south Minneapolis. Click here to read the news story, which says Johnson's wife and parents were also in the car and survived, but his dad is still hospitalized in serious condition. Deep condolences and best-wishes to them.
Johnson's funky, 11-member, Carnival-meets-French Quarter ensemble originally came together around the Heart of the Beast Mayday Parade. They had so much fun, they made it a year-round thing, evidenced by a busy 2010 schedule that included Barbette's Bastille Day this summer and a trip to Seattle's Honk! Fest West this spring. The group is scheduled to play the Cedar Cultural Center next weekend (Oct. 2) for the Poor Nobodys' CD party. Johnson, presumably, would want the show to go on.
