A native of New Mexico, Christopher Belarde has called North Carolina home since 2019. CREDIT: Courtesy C. Belarde
Christopher Belarde is a busy man. He does a lot of things and has many interests. In fact, his partner Billy Lawson once asked him if he ever thought about just doing nothing. His response? “I would die.”
While we think Belarde also has dramatic talents he has yet to tap into, it’s clear he’s high energy, focused and always on the move. With as much as he has on his plate, those are admirable skills to possess.
In the Queen City, he’s well known as the director of the Charlotte Pride Band. But there’s so much more to know, and you’re about to learn a lot of that right now.
David Aaron Moore: Tell us about your involvement with the Charlotte Pride Band.
Christopher Belarde: So, with Charlotte Pride band I’m currently, in short term, the President. We have a board of operators, like order directors that operate the band, and I’m currently the chairperson of the board. I’ve been on the board for probably the last five years now, I joined the band shortly after I moved to Charlotte. So, yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m doing with the band right now. I also play in the Jazz Ensemble. as well as the wood ensemble.
DAM: What instruments do you play?
CB: I play trumpet and I play double horn, which a lot of people call French horn, but most horn players will say double horn, or just horn, but those are my two instruments.
DAM: Where did your interest in music begin?
CB: I grew up in New Mexico. Being Hispanic and Mexican, and also growing up Catholic, I guess the trumpet was always such a powerful instrument that I just always had my mind set on. I don’t think that I went in wanting to play percussion or Woodwinds or saxophone. It’s like I knew I wanted to play the trumpet as soon as I got to grade school, so I started in fifth grade playing trumpet. I didn’t know it was something, you know, very magical. My mom was a single mom, and it was so important for her. I don’t know if she knew this, but it was so important for me to own my own instrument. I think that’s kind of what continued my interest, like my mom making it so important that we’re not renting an instrument, but, you know, buying me an instrument and saying, This is your trumpet. This is going to be something that you’re going to carry with you [throughout] your life, essentially. And I still have my student trumpet! So I think that’s where it started for me. Listening to mariachis growing up and the folk music of Mexican culture.
DAM: In addition to the work that you do with the band, do you have another career?
CB: Yeah. I’m a human resource specialist. Currently I’m a consultant, a human resources consultant. I’ve been working in that field for 10 years, and two years ago I started breaking into diversity, equity, inclusion, and getting a certification in that, as well as my SHRM [Society for Human Resources Management] certification.
DAM: How long have you been in Charlotte and what prompted you to move here?
CB: I moved here in 2019. My partner, Billy [Lawson], actually got a job offer to move here from New Mexico. We met in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I had purchased a home there in New Mexico, so he moved first. The goal was for me to tidy up things with the house, figure out if we’re going to sell it or if we’re going to rent it out, or what was going to happen. And then once that was settled, I would move here, too. So he moved in December 2018 and I moved in April of 2019.
DAM: What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?
CB: Oh, that’s a good one. Let’s see. So I run a lot of Spotify. I can tell you some of my heavy rotation right now because I was just listening to an album. I was listening to Radiohead earlier this morning. So definitely that and Tove Lo is one of my favorite artists right now. Muse is one of my favorite groups, too, and I also like Charlotte Adige’ri and Bolis Pupul. They have some great international and electronic music that they put together.
DAM: Tell us about your partner.
CB: Billy. He definitely is my biggest supporter with the band. He keeps me sane. And he’s always volunteering. He’s always like, you know, willing to give me feedback whenever we’re trying to prepare for concerts, proofreading things that I might get ready to publish like music composer notes. He definitely is a huge supporter. He doesn’t play any musical instruments. So typically, on Thursdays, he goes out with the other other partners that [don’t] play in the band, and they have their own group night on Thursdays. He is definitely into literature, so he loves reading books. He’s gotten into, this last year, wanting to delve into playing piano [and] seeing if it’s something that he’s really into. [Professionally,] he’s a product analyst. He’s worked in analytics for Allstate and he was working with a workforce management team where he led a team. That’s what brought him here, being promoted to a team leader. And he’s loved moving out here.
DAM: Do you guys have any pets and how did they come into your lives?
CB: We do! So right now we have two dogs, Stafford and Reddington. We adopted Reddington from a pound, and he came from Alabama, and then he went to a behavioral school. I don’t know what happened to him. He’s not murderous or anything. He’s the most quiet, shy dog you’d ever meet. He is an Australian Shepherd mix with, I think probably Border Collie. Stafford is actually a street rescue from Country Club Heights. I was driving home, and he was maybe two blocks off Eastway, and I kept thinking, this dog is going to wander into Eastway. So I was like, “hey, come here.” He had no tags on him and he walked right up to me. He’s an American pit [and] Staffordshire Terrier, so that’s where we got his name.
DAM: Do you feel strongly about adopting animals in need, as opposed to purchasing a specific sort of breed to fill a certain need?
CB: Absolutely, absolutely. I think that’s so important. We have all these animals that need a home. All my dogs in my life have always been adopted.
DAM: You have a lot going on and a broad variety of interests. Tell me about the other things in your life that keep you occupied?
CB: Sewing, I got Billy hooked on crocheting because I did crocheting, miniature painting, board games, D&D trading card games like Lakana Magic. The old Harry Potter trading card game. We bought a bunch of those packs off of eBay. Let’s see. Watercolor painting, video games. But yeah, I just have so many things that I collect and are part of my hobbies, [especially] sewing. I have so much fabric. [Laughs] I go places, and if I like fabric I see, I’ll just buy the fabric.
DAM: Tell me about upcoming performances for the holidays. What’s going on that you can share with me so we can make sure our readers know?
CB: A performance we added this year is Tuba Christmas. It’s where you have low brass instruments. So basically, euphonium, baritone and tubas [playing] Christmas music. And, you know, typically we get about … 100 tubas, like just a massive amount of tubas to play holiday music. This year we’re trying to bring our music to areas that maybe haven’t had much music performance, so we’ve decided to go to North Lake Mall.
DAM: So for people who are interested in joining the band, how does that process go?
CB: We’re a community band, so we’ll never have auditions for either jazz or concert. If you’re interested, just visit the website and make an appointment or just show up at a meeting one day,
Brad will reach out … with all the details, you know, and it’s whether you’re interested in jazz, ensemble or both.
If you’d like to see and hear the Charlotte Pride Band in performance, don’t miss “Tuba Christmas,” December 14 at 2 p.m. at Northlake Mall and “Home for the Holidays” December 15 at 4 p.m. at Park Road Baptist, along with Mahari Freeman and One Voice Chorus. For more details take a look at the Qnotes Holiday Events Calendar or visit the Pride Band website.
