Best damn showband in the fleet

It doesn't get any better than the Northeastern Navy Showband. That's my firm, objective opinion, uncolored by the fact that during the early 1980s I served as the showband's pianist, arranger and, eventually, leader.

Watching this clip makes be proud that, through the Navy Musicians Association, I still am connected to Navy music, its members and mission.



Other NMA members who led this band before my stint include Mike Beegle, Ed Rodgers, Terry Chesson, Mike Mitchell and Tex Waldron. I looked up to, learned from and tried to emulate each of these leaders. When I was done, I hoped I left the next man a better band.

Clearly, that's still how it works.

Order in the Court

Frank Mullen III,
Senior Justice of

The Appellate Court of

Lame Excuses

now hears the case of

FORMER MUs WHO HAVE NOT YET

ATTENDED REUNIONS OF THE

NAVY MUSICIANS ASSOCIATION

------------------------------------------

Defendants base their avoidance of NMA reunions on the following pleas:

"I was only in the Navy for a few years; I wouldn't know anybody."

This is not likely. The Navy music community has always been small. Our shipmates were not only the MUs we were stationed with, but those we knew by reputation. At my first reunion, I played with Kenny Malone, Rabbit Simmons and John Fluck. When I was on active duty, these guys were distant legends; now they're my shipmates.

In fact, many of the friends I look forward to seeing at reunions are former MUs I never met before I joined the NMA.

"I haven't touched my horn in years."

I hadn't played a gig in 10 years when I sat in with the combo at my first reunion in 2006. True, they didn't award me a Grammy. On the other hand, they didn't throw me off the bandstand.

Playing with the concert band, big band or combo at NMA reunions is entirely optional. If you join in, you're guaranteed a rewarding experience, and if you decide to sit it out, you'll have all the more time to shoot the breeze with your buddies. But don't be surprised if, the day after you get back home, you take your old axe out of the closet and oil the valves.

"The years have not been good to me: I look like hell."

This is not a body-builders' convention. Visit the NMA website and take a peek at the photos of recent reunions. You'll fit right in.

"I'm too embarrassed to face my old shipmates because" (pick your lament from the suggestions below) :

1] I never made chief.
2] I was passed over for LCDR.
3] I flunked out of the advanced course.
4] I suffered some other unspeakable indignity.

Let me tell you from the experience of attending three reunions: nobody gives a damn.

I qualify to tell many of the above sob stories. NMA President Terry Chesson tried for years to get me to a reunion. During that time I missed out on a lot of good fellowship because of my concerns about . . . well, who cares?

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Verdict: The court finds all pleas to be without merit.

Defendants are hereby remanded to the website of the Navy Musicians Association, where they will find information on joining the NMA and registering for the June, 2009 reunion in Virginia Beach.

The court now adjourns so he may dust off his fake book and try to relearn the changes to "Laura"; the reunion is only four weeks away.