Bowl bands perform sidewalk concerts

12/31/02

By Joan Treadway
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune

Seventy-six trombones were the least of it. All told, some 2,000 musicians in 20 high school bands worked the French Quarter on Monday -- enough to please even the most demanding Music Man and a whole lot of passers-by.

The spectators stood in groups, swaying to the blaring horns and thudding drums, the musicians' plumed helmets bobbing rhythmically in the Mississippi River breeze. It was a free sneak preview of the halftime show that paying fans will see Wednesday as the Nokia Sugar Bowl takes to the Superdome.

"We were just out enjoying the day and we stumbled upon this," said a delighted Danielle Matthews, a 23-year-old Dillard University student. With her daughter, Jaizah, 7, Matthews savored the T.C. Roberson High School Band, from Asheville, N.C., as it commanded the steps of Washington Artillery Park across from Jackson Square.

"Then this is your lucky day," chimed in band director Mike Wilson, 39, who had overheard Matthews' remark.

The gazebo in Woldenberg Park was the other venue for Monday's music.

The free band concerts are a Sugar Bowl tradition of a decade's duration, said Jay Corenswet, the event's pageant chairman. "Since this year's game is sold out and some people couldn't get tickets, at least they can see some of the show," he said.

Even if seats were available, she couldn't have afforded them, Matthews said, as the Roberson band lit into another number.

Junfeng Wang, 40, a hospital researcher from Memphis, happened upon a band playing at the gazebo, as he emerged from the nearby Aquarium of the Americas, with his wife, Shuping Lu, and their 2-year-old son, Jefferson. Wang was amazed at his luck.

But parents and chaperones of the young performers knew just who would be playing where and sought out their hometown bands like Jazzfest fans working the infield tents at the Fair Grounds.

Harry Buche, a food broker from Wichita, Kan., and his wife, Glenda, a teacher, sat on the artillery park steps, waiting for their son, Nicholas, 17, to appear with the Wichita North High School band.

The students raised about $90,000 to make the trip, said the Buches, who are in their 50s. Much of it came from car washes and rummage sales, they said.

For hundreds of musicians -- the Roberson band members among them -- the Nokia Sugar Bowl is their first big game, their first big-time show.

Kelly Laessig, a ninth-grader from Bensalem, Pa., and, at 14, among the youngest of the performers, said the pleasure apparent on the faces of onlookers was especially nice to see.

"I like seeing everyone standing up and clapping," said Kerri-Anne Morrison, 15, a 10th-grader at the same school.

"They appreciated all our hard work," said Bensalem bandmate Melissa Orber, 14.

The three girls, part of the Bensalem color guard, hoisted rust- and orange-colored flags and waved them vividly against a gray sky. For Wang and other tourists with no plans to attend the game, it was, as New Orleanians are wont to say, lagniappe, and cameras were produced to record the moment.

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Joan Treadway can be reached at jtreadway@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3305.