Jumping off the Tower of Power

For years, Tower of Power trumpeter Mike Bogart has had only good things to say about Navy music; after all, he was an MU for a decade.

During the 11 years since Mike has been out of the Navy, his career has been a trumpeter's dream; he played with the Maynard Ferguson band before taking his current position with Tower of Power.

Mike's career will take another turn next week in San Diego. He'll walk on stage for his last performance as Mike Bogart, Tower of Power trumpeter, and walk off as MU1 Mike Bogart, USN.

During the show, Lt. Mark Corbliss, Officer in Charge of Navy Band Southwest, will administer the oath of enlistment. Petty Officer Bogart will soon report to Annapolis for duty with The Electric Brigade. 

Clearly, for a musician of Mike Bogart's caliber, there's nowhere to go but up.

Full story with photos at San Diego's official Navy newspaper, Navy Compass.

Manny Cepeda in International Musician

The August issue of the International Musician features a profile of former Navy musician, MUCM Manny Cepeda.

The IM is no fan mag; it's the official journal of the American Federation of Musicians. When you get featured here, you're doing things right.

Manny, the article points out, is busy as a San Diego composer, performer and educator and band leader. This, of course, is nothing new. During his 31 years of service, Manny led the Steel Band and the U.S. Navy Show Band.

Here's a short clip of Manny Cepeda (in the white hat) performing at Harrah's.

We got pix

The collection of photos of the Navy Musicians Association reunion grows. Thanks to Max Murray for the lastest batch.

Links to photos and videos are over on the right. Check 'em out, send me the URL for your collection and I'll include them.

Coming soon: NMA big band videos.

Searching for long-lost Navy musicians

Searching for an old shipmate, friend or relative who played in a Navy band?

Congratulations: you've come to the wrong place.

Just kidding. I love hearing from people who are looking for information about long-lost Navy musicians. Unfortunately, I usually don't know the whereabouts of your long-lost pal Clem, the CRUDESPACRONAIRLANT piccolo player during the War of 1812. It's a big world out there.

But that doesn't mean I can't help. Here are a few Internet sources to get you started

The Navy Musicians Association website

The membership roster lists hundreds of names and email addresses of former and present Navy musicians who belong to the NMA.

The message board allows visitors to post information about their search for Navy bandsman. The page gives instructions on contacting the webmaster.

Facebook

This social networking site grows more valuable each day. Individual MUs have their own pages. Specialty groups abound: Former U.S. Navy Musicians, Military Musicians, and individual band pages (for example,  U.S. Navy Band San Francisco and Sixth Fleet Navy Band Alumni).

Can't find a helpful group? Start your own group.

Others

Other social networking sites and specialty sites may be of help (MySpace and TogetherWeServed.com come to mind). Many sites are of limited value. Online ship rosters, for instance, are notoriously incomplete, generally incluing only those names submitted by former crewmembers themselves.
Still, you never know.
Happy hunting for your bunkmate on Old Ironsides. If you find a valuable source, let me know, and I'll include it here.

Things my bandmaster never knew -- Exhibit A

2009 NMA Reunion Sights and Sounds

Thanks to all who took photos and shot video clips of the NMA reunion last month. They are a valuable reminder of the fraternity, camaraderie and music we MUs share.

Send me links to your online work--videos at YouTube, photos at FlickR, wherever your stuff is hosted--and I'll post the links here at NavyLyres.

For easy access, I'm putting all links in the sidebar to the right. Enjoy!