Scantlings

Well, for those Scantlingers in Washington State who may be interested, I'll be in Bremerton for this years iteration of the annual International Military Band Concert. After a few days of rehearsals, the concert takes place on Saturday, April 29 at the Bremerton High School auditorium. The concert starts at 7:00, and it's FREE!

http://www.ci.bremerton.wa.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=1366

Participating musicians this year are drawn from the following 8 (yes, EIGHT!) bands: The Band of the 15th Field Artillery Regiment, Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery (me); The Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy; Regimental Pipes and Drums of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada; Navy Band Northwest; I Corps Band, Joint Base Lewis-McChord; 133rd Washington Army National Guard Band; United States Airforce Band of the Golden West; and the US Marine Corps Forces Pacific Band. As Oscar Wilde wrote, "Nothing succeeds like excess!"

Of course, each director of music wants to wave the stick, so it's going to be whack-a-mole up there on the podium, but that's showbiz!

IMBC began back in the early 1990s. There was a British Band in WA accompanying the Royal Marines on an exercise, and somebody had the grand idea that it would be fun to assemble musicians from the various military bands in the area and put on a show. It was. The concert has since alternated between Victoria, Vancouver, Bremerton, and Olympia.

This is a bit of an oversimplification, but ... the US military musicians are insanely busy just with military events, whereas the bands from north of the border tend to get to do a little more in the way of community outreach concerts. My stand partner from Navy Band Northwest last time told me that his band had been broken up into sub-groups for a month playing events, and that his entire band would not get back together as a group for another month after IMBC. The result is that while IMBC is exciting for us Canucks, for the Americans ... well, for some of them, this is the only event all year in which they get to play in a big group and blow their brains out. Needless to say, they can't wait, and their shit-eating grins are for real!

Please drop me a note if you are coming--always great to know that there is a friendly face in the crowd!

Hey! Captain Bligh! (I have been looking for an opportunity to address you as such!)

We are free on April 29th!

See you there!

(I think local Scantlingers should make it an official event!)

Will Ms. Bligh be in attendance? We could sit with her!

kimbottles wrote:Will Ms. Bligh be in attendance? We could sit with her!

That's great to hear--thanks for coming! As for Elizabeth, alas, no. She's a concert herself that night here.

Sounds fun. Suzanne and I will be there!

JoeP wrote:Sounds fun. Suzanne and I will be there!

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Most excellent! Many thanks!

PARTY!

I know who we are sitting with!

Sorry you had to bow out on this Kim. I hope Susan is feeling better.

This was a most enjoyable concert with a nice variety of pieces. Ross did a fine job on the trumpet and everyone put on an excellent performance! I have to say the venue was the nicest high school auditorium I have ever been in. We really had a good time.

Thanks Ross!

JoeP wrote:Sorry you had to bow out on this Kim. I hope Susan is feeling better.

This was a most enjoyable concert with a nice variety of pieces. Ross did a fine job on the trumpet and everyone put on an excellent performance! I have to say the venue was the nicest high school auditorium I have ever been in. We really had a good time.

Thanks Ross!

She sees our dentist tomorrow morning, she is hanging on with drugs and Clove Oil, I did not know Clove Oil was so effective on a bad toothache.

I am bummed that we missed the concert. I was really looking forward to it.

Thanks for coming--it was great to see you two again. That was probably the best one yet. The evil master plan is that it will be in Olympia next year, but that still needs to be confirmed.

Here's a pre-concert photo of this year's ensemble!