Semi-successful. I decided to try for four events. Only two worked out.
I revisited Sousapalooza and had a blast again. The all-volunteer band was great, and the conductor was also very good. The marches we heard, in order, were: El Capitan (which, per the conductor, is from a Sousa operetta titled El Capitan!); Fairest of the Fair (backstory is a Boston food court, but I didn't get the whole backstory); Hands across the Sea; High School Cadets; In Memoriam: President Garfield's Funeral March (though it was also played at Sousa's funeral); Liberty Bell; Manhattan Beach; Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (written in 1923, this was the first Sousapalooza hearing, and it had a tambourine in the percussion section); Semper Fideles; The Thunderer; The Washington Post; and—wait for it—The Stars and Stripes Forever. One of the clarinetists played a shortened clarinet. I asked him about it and he said it was an E-flat clarinet. I'd heard of them (and probably have heard one before), but this was the first time I can recall ever seeing one.
My next stop was at the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space. I had been there once before for an Open House New York tour. Alas, the Make Music performances were canceled by the police. I never really found out why.
Having time to kill, I took the M8 bus (my first time on this particular route) over to 511 LaGuardia Place to hear the Nevermind Orchestra. I found 505 LaGuardia but not 511. Well, it turns out that 511 is an outdoor garden. Sheesh! They could have put that in the description of the event. Oh, and my schedule had it as 3:30pm. It was really 4p–6p, and they started late. So I ended up deciding to skip my 5p–6p event. The Nevermind Orchestra is trumpet, trombone, tuba, saxophone (tenor, I think) and drums. They play Nirvana tunes. I lasted through four and was out of there.
As I said at the beginning, semi-successful. Oh well. There's always December 21, 2025 and next year on June 21.
ConcertMeister
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