The band at Glen Echo on Saturday was Phil Ogilvie’s Rhythm Kings, aka PORK. (Naturally, some of the promotion for the event included a joke or two relating to economic stimulus packages.)
I wouldn’t have thought of a sousaphone as part of the instrumentation for a swing band, but I have to admit, the guy playing it did a great job of filling in for the non-existent string bass. (Though a few unexpected blasts certainly raised your awareness.)
The other surprising bit of instrumentation was a gong. The actual playing of the gong was very subtle and not overly noticeable unless you happened to be looking at the time. But the visual of a gong sitting behind the percussion set up was enough that I kept expecting a Jackie Chan movie to break out.
Given that the band had something of a Dixieland sound, the movie probably would have been Jackie Chan meets the Dukes of Hazzard.