[Dixielandjazz] The Army Band gig -- Air Force Musicians

[Dan Augustine]

Folks--
     Amen, Larry.
     Just thought i'd (re)mention the fact that there's an Air Force 
musicians' society, which anyone who ever played in an Air Force 
band, or who is currently playing in one, is eligible to join.
     Danny Hamilton is the contact (at dannyhamilton1 at cox.net). 
There's also a website at http://www.afmusic.org/.  There's a 
newsletter, dues (not oppressive), and periodic emails about stuff, 
including who joined, who died, list of email-addresses, etc.  Just 
learned that one of my favorite people that i served with, Norm 
Charpentier (excellent trombonist), just died.  That kind of stuff.
     I've never seen any of the guys i played with at March AFB in 
Riverside, California, back in 1967-68, except for my buddy Jim 
Jensen in Wisconsin and my former commander Jim Whittenton (now in 
Texas), but i appreciate the efforts being made to enable us to stay 
connected.  We played a lot of dumb gigs (favorite line: "Who booked 
this gig?"), such as the opening of the Little League season in San 
Bernardino, a parade in the rain with us and probably 500 kids.  On 
the other hand, we had good musicians (because there were few bands) 
and a good conductor, played interesting music (at times), flew 
around the West (Great Falls, Spokane, etc.), and were not generally 
very gung ho.  Played a lot of military parades at various places, 
but that was OK. For a year i was the only tuba player in the band, 
which was (i believe) right after Jim Kashishian was in it.  Hey, it 
could have been far worse: "What did you do in the war, daddy?" 
"Played in a band in LA."

     Dan
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>From: "Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
>To: <tcashwigg at aol.com>, <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
>Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Fwd: The Army  Band gig
>Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 22:54:03 -0500
>
>Those guys should have joined the AF.  The Army has a different 
>philosophy about their musicians than the AF but if anyone joins any 
>of the service bands looking for a soft job then they should look 
>elsewhere.  A band tours with lots of stuff and someone has to load 
>the trucks and set up and do a lot of things and play multiple 
>concerts in a day although that isn't the rule but does happen.  I 
>played a concert on a battleship deck once and we all thought we 
>were going to fry.  While I was lucky and didn't end up in a combat 
>zone the guys in my old outfit are posted to Iraq sometime this 
>summer.  Then there is also a possibility that you might run into a 
>nut case with a bomb.  I understand that happened to a British band.
>
>The service bands are a job like any other but there are perks too 
>such as educational grants and other things.  So far as marching 
>goes - I got pretty tired of that but that's one thing that bands do 
>is military ceremonies and parades.  While I thought at the time 
>that these things were drags, now when I see a military band it 
>makes me feel pretty good that I was a part of that.
>
>The service bands aren't the same as anything else and young people 
>shouldn't fool themselves that it's a cushy safe job but the rewards 
>are great too.  I played a gig Friday night and the band was so 
>incredibly good. The lead alto and tenor both are Active AF and many 
>of the band members are retired AF bandsmen like me.  These guys are 
>killer players.  The friends from the AF that I have made are 
>lifelong and I will never regret it.  I play about a half dozen gigs 
>each year with these guys and I'm looking forward to Memorial day to 
>the next one.
>Larry
>St. Louis

-- 
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**  Dan Augustine  --  Austin, Texas  --  ds.augustine at mail.utexas.edu
**     "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid
**      than to open it and remove all doubt."  --  Mark Twain
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