Navy Band Tour 2009

[Karl H.]

This is my last post for this year's Navy Band tour (cue thunderous applause).

The first night in San Antonio we got in very late, so as I cruised the riverwalk, the choice of open eateries was grim. I was practically forced by company and proximity to eat at a place owned/made famous by Hollyweird types who think it’s OK to pay $12 for a hamburger. The pleasure of decent nachos was spoiled when my virgin margarita slid off the table: seriously, without malice or forethought, or even a gentle nudge. Apparently, if said beverage is not secured with a napkin beneath, the outdoor table slowly but inexorably forces the glass to the edge and over, much like a mother bird teaching a fledgling to fly.

My glass didn’t fly.

Management replaced the fatally wounded refreshment, but then an over-zealous lackey knocked the picante bowl onto the increasingly sticky floor.

I escaped with a flesh wound to live/dine another day.

Night #2 I remembered my roots and, with a group unaccustomed to fine Tex-Mex dining, headed west on Commerce to the Market and the Holy Grail of all south of the border dining, Mi Tierra.

Oh bliss, Oh rapture!

I enjoyed a typical combination dinner of taco, cheese enchilada, and pork tamale, with the usual accompaniment of rice and beans. But these general descriptions cannot adequately describe individual components that were each “Best in Class” yet all included on one large plate. The taco was stuffed with 3 fingers-worth of exquisitely seasoned beef, just a sprinkling of cheese, a little tomato, and chilled, crisp lettuce that somehow did not reduce the piping hot temperature of this delightful creation. Even the taco shell itself (mostly a neglected element of fine dining) was thin and crispy around the perimeter, but porous enough to absorb the juices and become tender in its middle, without breaking and spilling the precious contents.

I’m starting to drool on the keyboard…

I can’t go on too much about the other elements (I risk shorting out the keys), but suffice to say they were all served piping hot, wonderfully seasoned, and bountifully supplied. My companions fared equally well, and special mention must be made of the pollo mole (chicken enchiladas with a chocolate-based sauce): delightful! To those not in the know, chocolate/chicken/enchilada in the same dish may seem strange, but done well can be a whole new kind of palatal ecstasy. My dinner guest graciously allowed me a taste, and if my own dinner had not been so delicious, I would have coveted his.

As an added bonus, we were supplied with an endless amount of tortillas. Not this machine-made c**p you see in faux Tex-Mex joints, but the kind that have been caressed by aged, caring hands, aren’t quite perfectly round, and have some burn indications where they sat on the hot grill. The best part was this never-ending flatbread bounty was free! And our meal was accompanied by the best live mariachi band this side of Interstate 10. Finally, Mi Tierra has an in-house bakery that fills a futbol-sized display with enough glazed fruit, pralines and pan dulce to sink a battleship and the band that rode in on it.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Mi Tierra is open 24/7!

So the next morning I took another group of the Great Unwashed to break our fast. I had the ubiquitous chorizo (eggs mixed with tangy sausage, only one step up the imagination ladder from huevos rancheros), which was tasty and imminently satisfying nonetheless. One of my breakfast mates (late of the south american country of Chile) had the temerity and taste refinement to order menudo. No, that’s not the name of the all-boy band on the non-existent jukebox, but rather the name of the national hangover cure of Mexico. I’ll let y’all look it up, but menudo is a soup made from some internal parts of a hoofed animal (I’m trying to spare our more sensitive readers). I was once engaged to a lovely Hispanic lass who taught me that only a good Mexican restaurant had menudo on its menu, usually as a chalkboard Sunday morning special. A great Mexican restaurant, on the other hand, will have it featured and printed on its everyday menu. My friend consumed it con mucho gusto.

And the stack of tortillas were still warm and soft.

And the mariachis were still there and still in tune.

Our tour has come to a close. We had a great time, played for wildly enthusiastic audiences (one of our encores is a bizarre but fun arrangement of “Deep in the Heart of Texas”), spread the Navy’s message of pride and professionalism, and ate some gutbustingly-good food. We often gather around and propose our “best of” lists at the end of each tour, so I’ll pass along mine: these are just my opinions and do not reflect the views of the Navy Band or the Navy.

Best Concert Hall
UNT’s Murchison Center. I don’t know if we were perhaps a little too big (read: loud) for the audience, but on stage things sounded perfect: everything was audible at all dynamics and across the entire band, and the resulting sound was warm, clear, rich and vibrant.

Best crowd
They were all great, but often the crowds in the smaller venues were the most appreciative. The outstanding reception we received in Granada is chronicled above, but we also had a hugely responsive crowd at our only gym job, Kingwood.

Food style most often consumed
Tex-Mex, not even close. Bar-B-Q (and that’s the only approved way to spell it) a distant second. Fishy and veggie stuff is for woodwinds, Catholics during Lent, and Marines (or in our band's case, those married to Marines!).

Most common fast food meal
Subway, again not even close. I know I had it 3 times in Hot Springs alone, and a good foot-long can be extended for two meals, enough (with some free hotel fruit) to get me through a whole day.

Best dining experience
Mi Tierra in San Antonio, head and shoulders above the rest.

Best individual meal
The schnitzel I had at the Brau Haus in Hot Springs is the single most scrumptious meal I’ve had within memory.

Best Tour City
This one is really tough. I’m very glad I got to see Hot Springs: it would be hard to believe a place like that exists today, and it was fun imagining what it must have been like 50-100 years ago. That being said the top two were easily San Antonio and Austin. The Riverwalk and Market Center vs. 6th Street, the Capital, the University, and Mellow Johnny. It’s definitely a horse race, but for me, this tour, this time, it’s Austin by a nose.

Best Piece on the Programs
The cool band arrangement of “West Side Story”. Just published in 2008, if y’all get the chance to play/hear it, you’ll love it. Honorable Mention to “Millennium Cannons” by a guy named Puts. Originally written for the Boston Pops, it’s a great showpiece for brass (although the tuba part is only difficult in that sustained-long-low-loud tone kind of way).

Best Musical Moment

I should link this to the “emotionally moved” thread on the board. Our last concert was played in Wharton, just outside of Houston. After 30 years, it was the final time Roger Behrend would solo on tour as a member of the Navy Band. He played beautifully, and as we had after most of his solos this tour, we played a tuba quartet encore of Londonderry Air; O Danny Boy, to the great St. Patrick’s Day masses. We had played it well over a dozen times, but not like this time. It all came together: phrasing, dynamics, the minutiae of attack and release. The final chord was a perfectly beautiful culmination: in short, an intensely moving musical experience. After we made our way back to our seats, knowing what the moment meant to all of us, but especially to Roger, and also knowing who had written and performed the premiere of the piece, I turned to Roger with tears in my eyes and said “Somewhere Keith Mehlan is smiling.”

Took awhile to collect ourselves before the next piece.

But overall the best thing for me was getting to see lots of family and friends. I’m sure our narrator got tired of introducing them, but I had family members I hadn’t seen in over 30 years come to our concerts in Texas, and it seemed most nights there was someone or other who was confused enough to claim a common heritage with me. I was born and raised in Texas, and deep in my heart I’ll always be a Texan.

Thanks to all the folks from my high school days who came out to visit: Lee South, Sandy Keathley (sorry about the previous spelling!), Terry Chadwell, and Don Dugart.

All the UNT folks: Don Little and his great studio, Alex Cauthen (a great teacher/player who filled in for Don and struggled for a year to get things through my thick head), Dennis Fisher, and Vurl Bland and his students in Duncanville. Phil Clemens at Texas A&M Commerce and Raul Rodriguez at UT San Marcos have not aged a day: they look better now than in 1989, and I’m quite certain they’ve made an unholy deal with The Adversary (gotta be careful during Lent).

The Elephant, Mrs. Elephant, and Bloke from the Tubenet, and all the Tubenetters that came out that I didn’t get to meet/visit with. It’s a wonderful thing to get to meet someone you only can imagine through their posts, and find out they’re terrific people. I apologize to those unnamed (see my previous rants on name recognition): often I had to run off to meet friends and/or family immediately after our show, when I would have loved to hang around and chat.

Thanks to all of you I’ve forgotten to mention, and those of you that have slogged through this narcissistic thread for the past month. I’ll probably just fade into the background, lurking, but always ready to emerge if I can make a worthy contribution to the great informational exchange that is Tubenet.

Until next year then, I remain

Karl “life is short, and sometimes comes full circle” H.

[Ace]

I have read all your posts as your tour progressed. This final one is especially well-written. I have a retired Marine buddy who was going to attend the Kerrville TX concert, but he hasn't yet reported on the event.

I am impressed with your description of favorite foods and restaurants during the tour. Lots of Tex-Mex, eh. The band bus must have been very, uh, aromatic after dining.

I think your group got only as far north as Bakersfield CA last year. I'm looking forward to when the US Navy Band comes to the San Francisco Bay area. Huge numbers of retired military in this area who would like to hear the band. Thanks for all your interesting posts.

[Karl H.]

Lots of Tex-Mex, eh. The band bus must have been very, uh, aromatic after dining.

There was usually a run on matches in each new city/restaurant. Gotta be considerate of our shipmates!

Karl "cueing up Blazing Saddles as we speak" H.

[Raul I. Rodriguez]

Hey Karl,

It's TEXAS STATE

[Karl H.]

Hey Karl,

It's TEXAS STATE

Oops. I sincerely apologize. Since the UT and A&M systems have been devouring all the smaller universities of the Great State of Texas, I've forgotten the correct names. I still remember ETSU, NTSU, Denton State Teachers College, Texas A&I, SWTSU, and all the rest. I am an old dog, but I've got to learn the new tricks...

Hell, I still miss the old SWC (Southwest Conference) days, those great intrastate and interstate rivalries between football teams AND marching bands.

Karl "whose father graduated from Texas Western College in the days when the Miners won the NCAA Championship, but is better known today as UTEP" H.

[Alex C]

..!

[NC_amateur_euph]

Menudo - Breakfast of Champions!