Band Concert

(P.S. -- I do know about paragraph usage. For some reason, Blogger keeps running everything together on some of my posts, despite my zillions of attempts to edit them). My local programmer taught me how to force them. Point is, Blogger is very buggy and should be doing this automatically all the time, not just on some posts.

Forgive the bad pictures. I was far away and had trouble getting the shot. But anyway, Robert started playing trumpet. Andrew played the same instrument in his youth.

We went to the school's band concert -- his school is in Godfrey. I worked at home that day, so I picked him up and got him there on time. Andrew met us there from work.

The parking lot was jam-packed and the event very well attended, despite the fact it was cold and rainy that night.

I remember these days well. Both Valerie and I were in band. I was also in choir. I remember playing whole songs, though, whereas the orchestra and band played the first verse of several numbers.

Robert's school has a big orchestra (appeared to be about 50 kids) a big choir (about 50 kids) and a small band (closer to 20 kids). One of the drummers was a kid who looked about 13. Robert told us later that kid is his friend with whom he's been in class since Kindergarten. We noted that it's good to have a big friend.

The orchestra director appeared to me to be a bit high strung. She stopped the whole procedure when a violin player dropped her violin, bow, and music. The band director, Mr. Banks, on the other hand, was far more laid back. He appeared to be in his 50's, so he's not a rookie and knew he was dealing with kids.

The choir was pretty good. All the kids in all three groups had been told to wear white shirts and black pants. One boy in the choir, though, wore the sharpest suit I'd ever seen. It was cream colored check, a 3/4 length single-breated coat, and a sharply knotted tie with a tie bar. You won't find too many boys willing to go all out, to make a fashion choice. I couldn't get a good shot of it.

We got dinner at the Applebee's and then I took him home.