On Saturday, January 31, the Community Center of St Bernard will hold its Second Anniversary Celebration at 1107 LeBeau Street in Arabi. This year’s event will begin with a free dinner served from 5 - 7 PM, followed by a dance featuring live music by Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove from 7:30 – 10 PM.

Kirk Joseph, a founding member of New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band, is an acclaimed musician who is noted for his innovative style on the sousaphone. For most people, a mention of the sousaphone conjures images of marching bands and drum cadences. But in the hands of Joseph, the instrument comes to life in ways that its namesake, John Phillip Sousa, could have hardly imagined. During his long tenure with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Joseph developed a unique creative and stylistic approach to the sousaphone that stretched the instrument’s limits and inspired many of his fellow players.

Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove is an assemblage of well-known local and national musicians including Kevin O'day, Eric Bolivar, Eddie Christmas, Jamelle Williams, Andrew Baham, Raymond Williams, Rasheed, Eric Traub, Paulie Cerra, Mark Mcgrain, Charles Joseph, Hiro Mano, Jake Eckert, Takishi, Chris Mule, and Jermaine Quiz. Their signature sound is a tight, rhythmic and high-spirited concoction of jazz, funk, and afro-caribbean flavors, as featured on Kirk Joseph’s latest release “Sousafunk Ave”.

The Community Center’s Anniversary Dinner Dance is free to the public and everyone is invited to join in the celebration. Funding for this event is provided in part by the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps and the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic. For more information, please phone the Community Center office at 504-281-2512 or visit www.ccstb.org.