Horizon

Backstage with Chris Pastin

I've just returned from Rock Island, Illinois, where Navy Band Great Lakes's pop contingent played to an enthusiastic crowd at Schwiebert park. As I mentioned earlier, I particularly wanted to meet the drummer, Chris Pastin; he's the son of my old shipmate, NMA member John Pastin. 

I met the guys backstage right before the show, and, recalling what a hassle it always was to have old men kibitzing at you when you've got your mind on a million other things ("My son is in the Navy, too. You probably know him--Bill? Bill Johnson?") , I tried to keep it short.

Horizon, pianist MU1 Steve Pendel, leader.

Somehow, however, these guys seem to find time to read my newspaper columns. The group's leader, Steve Pendel, thanked me for a recent piece I wrote about Navy musicians. And--gulp--later, during the show, Chris acknowledged me from the stage.

Let me tell you: these guys do the work. I just write about it. But to have one of our own, an MU still on active duty, call you a patriot in front of half the City of Rock Island--well, I was sitting far back enough in the park that I doubt that Chris and the rest of the guys could see me wiping my eyes. Believe me, it was just some sort of mist blowing off the Mississippi River.

Something like that.