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.

Rock on the Horizon

In a few hours, I'll drive up to Schwiebert Park in Rock Island for the Independence Day festivities, where Horizon, the pop contingent from Navy Band Great Lakes, will perform.

Although I am the undisputed king of geezer-quality rock 'n' roll piano, rock was never my favorite genre of Navy music. I played in rock and show bands as required, but never had that certain something it takes to stand under a basketball hoop and shout, "Good morning, Smithville High; are you ready to get down?" at 0815 in the god-forsaken morning. I was rarely ready to "get down" before noon; I was ready to get back in bed.

But I'm looking forward to seeing this group, in particular because the drummer is the son of NMA member John Pastin. Last week at the reunion, John and I reminisced about a Marine drummer we worked with long ago in Little Creek, Mark Adams, who drove bands not only with sticks and brushes, but with the most important thing in the drummer's gig bag, musicianship. John told me his son has that trait, and I look forward to hearing and meeting him.

And the entire band, of course. The show doesn't start until 7PM, so I may be ready to get down.

Tailed by Doyle

As I wrote about earlier, I spent a lot of time in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport Monday, waiting for a flight back home that was repeatedly delayed and finally cancelled.

And everywhere I went, I heard Doyle Church.

Buying a cup of coffee at a Starbucks, I heard Doyle right behind me. I turned, but Doyle hid quickly; all I saw was some guy talking on a cell phone. Browsing at a news stand, I heard Doyle at the counter, but when I looked, again, he'd gone, leaving in his place a tall guy wearing a cowboy hat. Outside the men's room, at the boarding gate, everywhere I went, I heard Doyle's voice.

Except for one time. I was looking at newspapers in a gift shop when I could have sworn I heard Tex Waldron behind me.

The NMA Concert Band

When we played as Navy professionals, we heard with our ears. Now, when we gather but once a year, we hear with our hearts, too.

And our hearts hear well the marches, suites and medleys the Navy Musicians Association Concert Band plays during days and nights of rehearsals and performances.

The ear is, of course, the more technically accurate measure. In fact, you can study ear training--we all did. A few months of practice can measurably improve the ear's ability to discern different pitches.

But there's no short course in "heart" training. It takes years of experience--joys, sorrows, losses, hopes fulfilled and dreams dashed--to prepare the heart to fully comprehend the effect of a concert band full of MUs. 

Conductor Wilbur Smith and the NMA Concert Band provide us a great service every year. The ensemble is excellent, of course, but it's not an excellence that can be measured by tuning forks, oscilloscopes or audition boards with clipboards and grading sheets. It can only be measured by the heart. And by that more-important standard, the band measures up well.

Final grade: 4.0.

A difficult shot

The band photographer's greatest challenge is to get a shot of the entire trumpet section playing at the same time. This difficulty is caused by:

- Rests. Some players take unfair advantage of empty measures, using them as an opportunity to put down their horns and breathe.

- Spit valves. The trumpeter spends a lot of time blowing loogies onto his neighbors' shoes.

- Visual instrument examination. The trumpet player, when hearing an unsatisfactory sound emerge from the bell, is likely to stop playing, hold the instrument sideways before his face and look closely for mechanical defects or maladjustments, as though the cause of clams, squawks and fraps lies in the instrument itself.

NMA Concert Band: Sax appeal