Honors choir, again

For the second straight year, Kathy's been selected for the Michigan School Vocal Music Association's State Honors Choir.



Kathy sings alto, a very powerful, moving alto. With the right song, she can make you cry.
Earlier this year, as an eighth-grader, she performed with the honors choir at Devos Hall in Grand Rapids. That was Jan. 21, 2006, and it was a marvelous experience.
Next year's performance is set for Jan. 27, 3 p.m., same venue.
Kathy's smiling a little bit; the honors choir is to perform the gospel "Walk in Jerusalem." It's the same arrangement the Blue Lake choir used last summer on its European tour.
"I know this!" Kathy said when she saw the music.
It's a great song -- and it will be a great performance.

Finals night

The Oiler marching band turned in its best performance of the season, and finished sixth in the Michigan Competing Bands Association Flight III finals at Ford Field in Detroit.




Under the shadowless television lights in the world-class football stadium, the 80 kids from mid-Michigan performed tightly, smoothly, confidently. It was the final performance of "Elemental Led: The Music of Led Zeppelin."
The judges' take: 72.35, the highest score the Oilers have received in years.
That beat the earlier score at the West Bloomfield Invitational - where they won - of 72.05. Second-highest during the season was at Durand, 71.525
Just to be there was a major accomplishment. The highly nontraditional show Mount Pleasant presented was just plain fun to watch, and the kids just loved to put it on.
The top shows were traditional, modern marching band shows, heavy on visual effects and challenging modern-composer music. All of the top bands are huge operations with big budgets and large numbers of students. Lakeshore, for example, has 190 kids involved.
Personally, I liked the Lakeshore show better than Ferndale's, but my take doesn't count.
Before heading to Detroit, the Mount Pleasant band put on a final rehearsal/community show at Community Memorial Stadium. The wind was fierce, gusting about 26 mph. The temperature was about 40.



Still, about 500 people came out to see the band and see the show. One older woman made the comment, "I wanted to see the band play music they liked, instead of the funeral dirges they made us play when I was in school."
These guys loved it.
There was a sense of disappointment at where Mount Pleasant finished - after all, they'd gone into the finals ranked No. 4. But this was territory they'd never been in before.
All told, it was a remarkable story. I don't know the back story, but it's clear there is one. Mount Pleasant won the state finals in 2000. The current band director started in 2002, and I remember getting telephone calls at the Herald from parents who seemed relieved the old director was gone.
This band is purely Matt Taton's. There is a handful of seniors who came up as eighth-graders in 2002. These guys are young, and they've seen what it takes.
On the way home, driving through the night on I-96 and U.S. 127, a Lansing classic rock station played a set of "Kashmir," "Good Times, Bad Times," "Communication Breakdown" and "Tangerine."
When the band buses pulled into Mount Pleasant High School at 1:45 a.m. - and the time change had kicked in, so it felt like 2:45 - the kids were wiped out, but pleased.
They'll be back.

Here are the final scores from the Michigan Competing Bands Assocation Flight III Finals at Ford Field, Oct. 28, 2006:

1. Ferndale ..................................81.80
2. Stevensville Lakeshore ........80.80
3. Farmington Hills Harrison..75.80
4. Redford Thurston................. 75.55
5. Allegan.....................................72.8
6. Mount Pleasant......................72.35
7. Trenton....................................71.4
8. Comstock Park.......................68.4
9. Marysville...............................67.0
10. Fruitport................................66.1

One bragging point: The Fruitport football team beat Mount Pleasant Friday night in the first round of the state playoffs. Band members now can say, "Nyah! The band beat Fruitport!"

Throwing babies

Yeah, it had to be the wind that made my eyes tear up. And the cold, yeah, that was it, that was why I got the sniffles as the band put on its community show at Community Memorial Stadium.
It was about 40 degrees with the winds gusting to 26, rain coming down sideways.
And those guys were tight, together, comfortable with the show even in the awful weather. The wind tried to snatch away the high notes, but it couldn't do it.
About 400 people showed up for the show, despite the terrible weather.
One woman said, "I just wanted to see the kids play music they liked, instead of the funeral dirges they made us play in high school."
The sense was magic. It had the atmosphere of an opening night.
The transition from the opening "Stairway to Heaven" into "Kashmir" still takes my breath away, no matter how many times I see it. The breaks on "Moby Dick" are so tight, they'll get cheers. And there's no way to sit still during "The Immigrant Song."
One of band director Matt Taton's sayings is that you can get so good people will throw babies.
At the end of the community show, somebody threw a doll on the field.
Yeah.
It's all up there tonight, Ford Field, 9:30 p.m.

St. Louis in five

The Cardinals beat the Tigers three straight games in St. Louis, and St. Louis is the World Series champion.
I can't really say I'm disappointed; no one -- absolutely NO ONE -- expected the Tigers to be anywhere near the World Series this year. It was a great ride.
Today's finals day, the day at Ford Field that's been on the schedule for the Oiler band all year. It's been a long time since the band's played at the finals -- 2000 was the last appearance, and they won that year.
It's 7:40 a.m. in the Ranzenhaus. I'm the only one up. It will be a cold, windy, nasty, blustery day. Winds up around 40 mph, snow mixed with rain, general yuck. But I'm doing my part -- there's 20 pounds of fruit on the kitchen table for the band, and I'm ready to go pack lunches.
But first, the day must begin .....

The price of overacheiving

This has been one of the craziest, longest, most sleepless weeks of my life.
Sunday afternoon, Kissy Missy dragged me to the walk-in clinic. I'd been coughing and hacking, and generally just feeling lousy. Then I got a fever of 101.3. I had a respiratory infection.
A good course of antibiotics got that cleaned up. I took half a day off Monday, then got right back into the saddle. Monday night, city commission. Tuesday, teaching. Wednesday, Union Township. Thursday, a city candidates forum. Friday, I was supposed to go to the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" with Kissy Missy, but that had to be canceled because I spent most of the afternoon in an interview, and didn't get my Sunday and Monday stories done.
They're done. Finally.
Through the middle of this, Kathy's come down with an eye infection. She feels lousy, and naked without her eye makeup.
Saturday: the zoo continues. Kissy Missy will be part of Prof Ed's events as part of Make a Difference Day. Andrew works. Robert has band practice, and heads for Detroit and the state finals.
We won't be far behind.
I'm excited, but right now, I hear a bed calling. As soon as I file my hours, buy a bunch of apples and bananas for the band, and recharge Robert's phone.
Don't ask me to do anything else.

Headed to Ford Field

Here are the final standings in the Michigan Competing Band Association Flight III regular season:
1.Stevensville: Lakeshore........75.950
2. Ferndale..............................73.300
3. Redford: Thurston...............72.900
4. Mount Pleasant..................71.525
5. Farmington Hills: Harrison..70.800
6. Trenton................................70.350
7. Allegan.................................70.275
8. Marysville............................69.400
9. Comstock Park ...................66.825
10. Fruitport............................65.950

11. St. Clair Shores: Lakeview 65.300
12. Gibraltar: Carlson..............62.925
13. Linden...............................60.725
14. Hazel Park ........................60.550
15. Dearborn Heights Crestwood 59.700
16. St. Clair Shores: Lake Shore 59.475
17. St. Clair Shores: South Lake 57.575
18. Auburn Hills: Avondale....... 57.150

The top 10 bands compete at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ford Field, Detroit. This year is the first time since 2000 thta Mount Pleasant has made it to the finals. The Oilers are scheduled to play Saturday at 9:45 p.m.
Right across the street: the potential Game Six of the World Series.

Live from Kansas

When people ask when their story will be in the paper, I give them a tentative day, but I caution them that the news business deals with the unexpected. No kidding! Here's a video that proves that point better than anything I could say.