Illuminated Rhythms ball brings Portland's MarchFourth, Carnival theatrics to Music Box Village
by Jake Clapp 2/22/2025 nola.com - read full article
Back in 2003, musician John Averill was working with a group that threw large parties around Portland, Oregon, and pulled together musicians to play the events. When they decided to put on an event for Mardi Gras, which that year landed on March 4, Averill and his friends formed a large, funky brass-fueled party band that merged New Orleans influences with big top theatrics.
With a nod to the date, the group became the MarchFourth Marching Band. Now, more than 20 years later, the band continues to stage spectacles across the country with 13 or so musicians on stage, dancers, stilt walkers and lighting design.
MarchFourth, often shortened to M4, over the years has stopped in New Orleans, and New Orleans musicians have been a part of the ever-changing band roster. The group also recorded its album “Magic Number” in New Orleans with producer Ben Ellman of Galactic and guest performers Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Stanton Moore and Matt Perrine.
But it’s been more than 10 years since MarchFourth last played New Orleans, so there’s some kismet that the band happens to return the year that Fat Tuesday again falls on March 4.
MarchFourth will play Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Music Box Village as part of The Illuminated Rhythms Masquerade Ball, a show packing the Bywater space with music, dance, acrobatics, light projections and Carnival theatrics. Costumes are required.
“MarchFourth’s roots are very influenced by the city of New Orleans and the music,” says Monica Rose Kelly, a New Orleans visual artist who tours with MarchFourth as its lighting designer and is producing The Illuminated Rhythms Masquerade Ball. Along with Kelly, MarchFourth saxophonist Michelle Shorter and drummer Ethan Shorter also live in New Orleans.
“The vision was to reconvene and bring it all home in a way that’s really special for me and Ethan and Michelle,” Kelly adds. “We’ve been dedicating ourselves to this project across the country that means a lot to our hearts because of how it resonates.”
At the Feb. 25 show, Mike Dillon and his Punk Rock Percussion Consortium — featuring 10 musicians, including Nikki Glaspie, Tif Lamson and Helen Gillet — will collaborate with MarchFourth and incorporate Music Box Village’s musical architecture into the show.
Kelly will run illumination and video projections around the space as well as do live digital painting in rhythm with the music. Working with Kelly is the Light Bearers, a collection of young lighting artists who graduated from the Arts New Orleans’ Young Artist Movement, and Night Light NOLA.
There also will be guest performances by circus artist Sweet Tooth Simone, Afro-Brazilian percussion group Tamojunto, the Young Heroes Brass Band — a group of student brass musicians — Big Chief David Montana of the Washitaw Nation, Sacred Sounds, artist and priest Marcus Akinlana, poet Chuck Perkins and textile artist Antonia Zennaro.
The theme for the ball is “Many Hands Make Light Work,” which can be read several ways. It’s a nod to the number of musicians and artists taking part in the event, and a reference to Kelly’s light projections and illumination. It’s also a reference to an unreleased song by MarchFourth.
Kelly and Michelle Shorter also hope attendees will pick up on the community aspects of the event. Many hands working together can help make the heaviness of the world feel a little lighter.
“I think that notion goes along with the theme of the ball and the hopeful effect it has on the audience members, which is community and coming together in a time where we’re driven apart,” Shorter says.
MarchFourth’s music builds on its love for New Orleans marching bands with eight horn players and four drummers. The band's baritone saxophonist doubles on electric guitar and bandleader Averill plays the electric bass. There's also shared vocals among the band.
While there are some covers, MarchFourth largely plays originals that blend a range of genres, from jazz, funk and rock to Tropicalia and other world genres.
Between the band, dancers — who can juggle, stilt walk and perform acrobatics — and crew, around 20 people make up MarchFourth at any given time, and they tour in a converted, 45-foot bus. The roster of band veterans is now in the hundreds after 23 years, Kelly says.
Michelle Shorter has been with MarchFourth for 14 years and recently has started to take on more marketing work for the band. A few years after joining, Michelle began dating Ethan Shorter and he joined around 2015 when the band needed a new bass drummer. Michelle and Ethan married in 2020.
“This band plays the Oregon Country Fair almost without fail. [We play] Burning Man, JamCruise,” says Ethan Shorter. “There are things as a musician I aspire to, and this band allowed me to do a lot of those things with my friends.”
The Shorters had known Kelly for years. A visual artist and muralist, Kelly’s work has often involved New Orleans musicians, like designing album covers and merch, live painting at concerts and serving as the first visual artist-in-residence at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.
In recent years, she expanded her work into light projections and live digital painting. So when MarchFourth had a new opening before its 20th anniversary, the Shorters recommended Kelly.
“It’s been an interesting challenge to work with my bandmates on like, how do we survive together in this industry and how do we tell a story and how do we have an identity together that lands with people,” Kelly says. “So it’s changed my whole life to have this experience.”
Tickets for The Illuminated Rhythms Masquerade Ball are $25 early bird. Find more information at musicboxvillage.com.
