Thursday, December 21, 2006

Christmas, Navy Band Newport, 1984

For a number of Christmases in the early 80s, I was the St. Nick of Navy Band Newport. (Anyone who has trouble picturing me as a saint should try imagining John Farquhar as an elf. Now there's a stretch).

After delivering candy canes to the children of band members and caroling along the streets of Newport, Santa and his elves traditionally retired to Jeremiah's Pub. For the purpose of this discussion, the term "retiring to Jeremiah's Pub" may be defined as "crawling into the nearest bar and slamming down whiskey sours until 'last call' is announced."

Pictured here are Santa and a contingent of elves that may include Steve Rawson, Dave Czohara, Steve Parent, Steve Dimond, his wife Melissa and his mother, John Farquhar and his wife, as well as Paula Czohara the Red-nosed Reindeer. Granted, that's more people than appear in this picture. Keep in mind that one elf had to take the photograph while a few more were strewn about the deck in varying states of unconsciousness.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Frank,
Just wanted to say hi because
I was a Navy musician ('68-'72)
and I think your blog-site is great.
I'll have to admit, though, the
main thing that triggered my response
is the crazy lady in the foreground
of your last posting (12/21/06).
Nah, just kidding, I have no
clue whom she might be. But, I _do_
recognize the "name" of a person I
went to highschool with - John
Farquhar. Horn player, right?
He was a sophomore when I was a
senior at Willowbrook HS, in the
sixties. Remember the sixties? If
you do, you weren't there. !?!?
John was, also, in my last duty
station (Great Lakes Naval Training
Center) just before I departed the
military.
I'm not too sure about how good
his horn playing was, but I'm
certain that he would make a damn
fine Elf!
Just where the heck is he in
that Xmas photograph. I know he
wore glasses in HS, so I'm assuming
that he is the farthest back, eh?
Is that his wife, on his left,
with the BIG ears? Very cute!!
But, he should probably discourage
her from further implants. ;-)
Just tell him that Richard Kamm
was our conductor, Willowbrook. It
will "jar" some memories.

Take care,
Richard R. Hardgrave
infandibulum@sbcglobal.net

Anonymous said...

FYI regading John Farquhar:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jhfarq.htm