Single most memorable July 4 performance ?

[Dustytuba]

Most memorable many years ago....playing with the First Brigade Band in Milwaukee WI for the 4th of July Circus parade.

Most memorable this year....playing at a local nursing home for 20 people. Just the tuba alone with the folks singing along, "be kind to your web footed friends, for a duck maybe somebody's mother..." Stars and Stripes Forever, the picalo part on the tuba!

[Bob Kolada]

Yesterday! My rock band played it's biggest show ever (opening for Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult) at the Naperville Ribfest. I didn't have any ribs myself (2 pulled pork sandwiches instead), but I did rock out on stage and drink a large amount of free Leinenkugel's! I wussed out on the bass trombone and instead brought my tenor. I also didn't find a way to play tuba on our album... Booo.

The band at a local streetfest a few weeks earlier (I did not wear a hippie shirt on the 4th)-

[TubaRay]

Yesterday! My rock band played it's biggest show ever (opening for Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult) at the Naperville Ribfest. I didn't have any ribs myself (2 pulled pork sandwiches instead), but I did rock out on stage and drink a large amount of free Leinenkugel's! I wussed out on the bass trombone and instead brought my tenor. I also didn't find a way to play tuba on our album... Booo.

The band at a local streetfest a few weeks earlier (I did not wear a hippie shirt on the 4th)-

Pretty cool! Remember: Blood, Sweat, & Tears used to find a way to include tuba. And they were a rock band(as I recall, LOL). So, you need to do the same.

[Bob Kolada]

Yes. Yes, I do! Maybe on the next album when trumpet plays flugelhorn and such (and if I think I can haul a trombone and tuba on the bus all the way out there! ).

[tofu]

(opening for Foghat

Heard Foghat at the old County Stadium in Milwaukee in 1976.

Geezer Rock - those guys must be like 80 years old these days. Do they send a bus or an ambulance to pick them up at the Nursing Home?

When we opened for Al Hirt at RibFest years ago he was nine sheets to the wind so we had to keep playing while they tried to sober him up. Then a huge storm blew in and all hell broke loose so his concert was cancelled after one tune.

[David Richoux]

This incident is a real tragedy---------I hope every injured person will recover fully. The parade included bands. I never thought being a musician on parade could be risky.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/h ... 2F19541648" target="_blank" target="_blank

I have played in hundreds of parades with horses - a lot of them are "parade broken" or at least well enough controlled by their owners to not be dangerous, but there have been quite a few times I have seen horses react violently to bands, costumes, firecrackers, large crowds, moving flags - just the sort of things one would expect in a parade!

We have thought of offering the services our band to horse owner groups for "familiarization events" but that has never worked out. There are some "Bandas" in California who do play for horses a lot - the owners get their animals to actually dance to the music!

[PhilSloan]

Playing the annual symphony pops show on the beach here in VA Beach is quite a scene but ...

MOST memorable was actually the Bicentennial 4th of July in 1976. I had just completed my 8th grade year and it was my first concert as a member of my high school band in Richmond, MO. Perfect small town setting on the courthouse lawn of the town square. Excellent band, Norman Rockwell setting and of course ... the HUGE evacuation of pigeons from the courthouse roof when the shotgun was shot into the barrel. Far as I know there were no casualties on either side.

[Toad Away]

200th Birthday:

On stage with President Ford and emcee Charlton Heston

Independence Hall, Philadelphia
July 4, 1976

Armed Forces Bicentennial Band and Chorus
(A very sweet gig, but on the road all the time)

[J.c. Sherman]

For the last 12 (?) years, I've had the great privilege of playing with the Blossom Festival Band for every 4th of July. Conducted by Loras John Schissel, and run by the same organization that runs the Cleveland Orchestra, it is an exceptional band... perhaps the BEST band. Every time I play with them, or hear a recording, I pinch myself to make sure it's real. It is the highlight of every musical year for me (a total band geek!).

Many wonderful musicians have played in this tuba section; Ron Bishop, Yasuhito Sugiyama, Craig Knox, James Jenkins, Gary Adams, Ken Heinlein, Bill Ciabattari, Andy Welborn... it's always been fabulous! And every year it seems to get better.

The BEST piece, the BEST performance, was 2 years ago; we played Grainger’s "Colonial Song," which is a desperately difficult piece to play really well; very detailed directions in the parts, wild rhythms, amazing chords with horrific tuning requirements. When we played it on the 4th, we finished, and when the applause started, the bass trombonist looked at me (Ed Zadrozney) and said in the understatement of the century, "I think that's how that goes..."

It was one of the most wonderful and gratifying performances of my life, let alone a fourth of July!

J.c.S.

[bearphonium]

Either marching in a parade with my HS band on 7/4/76 or Sunday, playing with the marching band and the tuba ensemble in a small town 4th of July fest. Just a flat out good time. In one group, I am the only tuba. In the other, I am one of many. Cool.

[sloan]

Either marching in a parade with my HS band on 7/4/76 or Sunday, playing with the marching band and the tuba ensemble in a small town 4th of July fest. Just a flat out good time. In one group, I am the only tuba. In the other, I am one of many. Cool.

Ooooh...marching...how could I forget.

4 July 1965 - arrive at the high school I just graduated from to pick up a school sousaphone, a handfull of music, and a nice yellow pirate shirt (all courtesy of Lester Hrbek, my HS band director). Join the small group (perhaps 10?) of yellow-shirted musicians (including a good friend who had also just graduated) and march one lap around the town (the town is all of 1 mile square and has one and only one standard parade route - once around the outer boundary of the park - maybe 1.5 miles, tops). Turn in the shirt, the music, and the sousaphone back at the HS and receive an envelope with a nice crisp $20 bill inside.

Still the only time anyone has ever paid me to play.

"Play it for the money, boys" - Antoine Batiste

[Ace]

Played City of Tacoma Fourth of July fireworks concert 50 years ago with combined bands of Fort Lewis (Fourth Infantry Division and 21st Army Band). We were on a barge on Commencement Bay near the city shoreline. Big, appreciative crowd onshore. We could see the fireworks up close and the reflections in the water. Beautiful sights.

[Arkietuba]

This year's was the most memorable...I got to wear shorts (you can kinda see me on the left) and it down-poured a few minutes after this picture was taken. We did make sure to play the National Anthem (with no brass for some reason ) and the Stars and Stripes. Got paid to play 1 song and got drenched...not a bad 4th I guess