Soldier's Chorus at Morgan State

This weekend the Soldier's Chorus gave a fantastic concert of music by African-American composers at Baltimore's Morgan State University. The Concert was guest-conducted by renowned musician Dr. Robert Morris. It is always so great to be able to experience a performance as an audience member. Usually I am sitting in my chair right in front of the chorus when they are singing with us on tour. It was such a pleasure to hear my talented colleagues, and I feel very lucky to be able to work alongside them. 

I thought I would include a few more pictures of my house! This blog entry will just have pictures of the first floor. Here is a view of the foyer and living area. 

I love the big stairwell!

This is an aerial view from the top of the stairwell. The right hand side is a dining area and the living room has the bay window. 

Here is the kitchen. I'm planning on getting new countertops put in and painting the cabinets before I move in. It's lots of work and planning, but I can't wait to see it all put together. 

More updates with the other floors later! 

House and Happenings

Wanted to do a quick blog and mention some recent happenings. I'm very excited to be closing on my first home later in May. It is a three story townhouse near Ft. Meade. Now I have to get busy picking out paint colors and getting my stuff in Baltimore all packed up and ready for one final move. Here is a picture of the front of the place. 

Here is a snapshot of me with my friend Tracy  when we are out and about. It has been nice being home from tour and catching up on doing fun things with friends. We saw a movie about opera auditions on this night. Interesting! 

On a more somber note, today we laid to rest former commander and conductor of the US Army Field Band, Colonel Finley Hamilton. I only had the opportunity to meet the Colonel a few times, but he seemed to be a very gracious man, and somebody very enthusiastic and dedicated to music and country. 

The Field Band had the honor of playing music at the Colonel's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. It was a very moving experience. 

Here I am in front of the "Pershing's Own" band building, where we rendezvoused before the ceremony. 

Easter Weekend

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit my family in Texas and Louisiana over Easter weekend. It was great to see everybody and just relax after a long tour. Here I am doing some decorating for the festivities. 

One of the best parts about going home to Texas is enjoying my Dad's cooking. Here we have some friend catfish, (caught from Lake Conroe of course), shrimp, homemade hush puppies, coubion and, my favorite, lemon meringue pie! 

On Good Friday we drove down to Lake Charles, Louisiana to visit with some of the family who reside in that neck of the woods. 

Of course, the Veronies know how to take celebrating to the next level with a good, old-fashioned crawfish boil! 

Dave pulls some fresh steaming ones off the boiler. Doesn't that look amazing?

Here I am with Dad digging in. It was a great trip and I was so happy to see all the family. 

Chambersburg, PA

It's hard to believe that Spring Tour 2009 is over! When I look back to my posts from the beginning of our journey, it seems ages ago, but really the time has flown by. 

We had a very patriotic background for our final concert in Chambersburg. It was a good show and the last performance with the Field Band for several members. I'm really going to miss MSG Pat Lipphardt, who will be retiring after we return to base. 

The next morning we were up and off at 0700. A short two hour ride back to Ft. Meade, quick off-load of the equipment, and we were done! The first thing I did was head to the commissary to stock up on groceries. It is so nice to be cooking at home again. This week I'll be looking at houses and traveling to Texas for Easter. Hope everybody is doing well out there. Thanks for following along on this tour adventure! 

North Huntingdon, PA

This was our next to last stop of tour. Getting very close to the end now! Our concert went very well and the hosts were fantastic. 

Look at the amazing spread the local band boosters put out for us! 

One very special audience member was a veteran who had returned from WWII in 1945 to play euphonium with the First Combat Infantry Band. This group eventually became known as the US Army Field Band! It was pretty special to think that I was standing next to the man who originally had my job, and that so many years later I was able to carry on in his footsteps. 

Here I am posing with the VFW Color Guard. 

These guys were lots of fun! 

Warren, PA

The Field Band celebrated the arrival of April by playing a concert in Warren, Pennsylvania. This was my first visit to the Keystone State! 

Of course we had to pull at least one April Fools prank. The set up crew managed to distract Scott just long enough to wrap his tuba in 200 yards of saran wrap. It was quite a sight. His mouthpiece got the same treatment. Here is he is discovering the gossamered instrument. 

It was pretty funny. I can't imagine how long it took to unwrap. 

The euphonium student sitting in with us this night had a great old-school bell-front euphonium. I used to play on one of these beauties back in the day! 

Elba, NY

Tuesday night was our last performance in New York on this tour. I enjoyed the auditorium we played in.  Our CSM joined us on the road and even conducted a piece on the concert. Tour is starting to wind down and everyone is getting excited about being home soon! 
This is one of the high school students that sat in with the band for Washington Post.  His tie cracked me up. I am quite the Star Trek fan, and just had to get a picture with him sporting this spectacular piece of USS Enterprise fashion. 

New Berlin, NY

We gave two performances at the Unadilla Valley Central School. The first was a very well attended Sunday matinee concert for the community. Luckily for the setup crew, we were able to leave our equipment overnight so that when we came back early the next morning, we didn't have much work to do. Monday's concert was for the students of the school, which serves several rural towns in the area. Here is a picture from the Sunday show. 


After the concert we checked into our hotel. This glorious vehicular specimen was parked outside in the lot. Being a true Texan, I have been known to attend a monster truck show. It reminded me of home and I had to get a picture next to "American Thunder!"

The 0930 concert for the kids was lots of fun. The elementary aged children were seated on the floor right in front of the band and some of their dancing and singing along was really hilarious. They seemed to enjoy the music and it was a nice change of pace from our usual crowd. 

At the very end of the show the Colonel invited one particularly enthusiastic boy to come conduct us on Stars and Stripes. This was totally unexpected and the kid clearly enjoyed himself!