In 1802, well before the American love affair with bands had flowered and American ships carried their own bands, the crew of the USS Boston tried to kidnap members of an Italian band playing a shipboard concert by sailing away before the musicians had disembarked. A century later there would have been no need. Arriving at the height of the American band movement, Italian and Portuguese immigrants brought with them their own strong village band tradition, which survives today in Italian-American and Portuguese-American communities.