05/18/2026
Many of heard the story of the school board banning their band playing “Mother of a Revolution” which is about famous black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson. A local brewery has reached out and will be allowing the song played at their location. Tickets for in-person are already sold out, but you can follow their page to catch the live stream!
*update, to protect the Watertown Wind Symphony band director from repercussions from his bigoted school board, we want to reiterate that he had absolutely no involvement in the planning of this concert that will be performed at the Minocqua Brewing Company, and has purposefully been shielded from knowing anything about it. Additionally, any Watertown high school students, high school band alumni, and/or substitute players from surrounding colleges who have agreed to play the banned song "A Mother of A Revolution," are all performing on their own accord. This is obviously not a school-sponsored event. Lastly, the word 'repercussion' sounds a lot like percussion, which is funny given the context.*
Hi folks--Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad here.
Last week, the school board in Watertown, Wisconsin re-enacted the 1984 movie Footloose and forbade their high school band from playing a song that honored Marsha Johnson, a black transgender rights activist and Stonewall veteran.
The footage of bigoted board members raging against well-meaning parents and students quickly went viral, and after one of our Facebook followers messaged me about it last Tuesday, I publicly invited the band to play in our Madison taproom's beer garden and offered to sell tickets to raise money for them.
Later that day, I received an email from a parent of one of the students in the Watertown Wind Symphony who is also a member of the band’s booster club.
“Were you serious about your offer?” he asked.
“Absolutely, and I already have a brass quintet booked to play patriotic songs for Memorial Day Weekend in our Beer Garden on Saturday, May 23rd. Why don’t you guys come play after that and we’ll make it a whole day of band music!” I answered.
So now we’re off to the races. If you’d like to buy a coveted ticket for what will surely be a jam-packed show, here’s the link .
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/watertown-wind-symphony-plays-banned-concert-in-our-beer-garden-tickets-1989749300721?aff=oddtdtcreator
We’re guessing that the event will sell out, so we’ll also be live-streaming it on our social media platforms for well-wishers from around the country. If you can’t attend the show but still want to support the kids, go to the link to buy tickets and navigate to the button that says “Donate to the Band.”
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/watertown-wind-symphony-plays-banned-concert-in-our-beer-garden-tickets-1989749300721?aff=oddtdtcreator
When these hateful school board members learned that some of the kids would be playing “Mother of a Revolution” at our place, they forbade them from using school-owned instruments for the performance. I’ve been assured that the entire universe of band directors in America is currently offering up instruments for these kids to play, but it would be really awesome if we raised like $20K so the band’s booster club could buy all of their own instruments instead of having to rely on their school district ever again.
So please buy a ticket or donate, but also sign this petition that was created by the high school kids in Watertown to “Stop Watertown Schools from Banning Music over its LGBTQ+ ties”
https://www.change.org/p/stop-watertown-schools-from-banning-music-over-its-lgbtq-ties
I’m excited that so many people are working really hard to turn an ugly school board decision into a glorious celebration of music and love, and I’m even happier that this will all happen right before June—Pride Month!
Thanks for reading, and thanks for sticking with the Minocqua Brewing Company.
Kirk Bangstad
Owner, Minocqua Brewing Company/Minocqua Marketplace
Publisher, Minocqua Brewing Company Times
Candidate for Governor of Wisconsin
