Inaugural Parade Album 4: LGBA Band

I missed a number of contingents while I was saving screen shots in another window on my computer; and then CNN sometimes played a commerical, so after a long while I was afraid I had missed the LGBA Band, which I posted about last week here.

But no - finally here they came, loud and proud! Playing a fine rendition of Sousa's Washington Post march, I think. Marching along there in the middle of the parade, passing in front of the new President, holding their heads high like any other Americans on this joyous day. As if they had a right to be there.

And they do. Oh man, what a sight. What a day.

PS - Guys, can't some of you fashionable types get together and help our band folks out with a little styling update? Those gray windbreakers look nice and warm, and I'm sure they were glad of that on this chilly day. But they hardly look as fabulous as they should, do you think? Let's work on that for the next inauguration.

Give a Toot

Hey guys, ya might think about making a little donation to support the LGBA band that will be marching in the Inaugural Parade on Tuesday. Click on the picture below to go to their web page, see the videos, and make a donation - with pride. They will be there representing you and me in front of Obama and the whole nation, so let's get their backs.

From the website:

LGBA is the first lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender group in history to be invited to march in a President’s Inaugural Parade.

According to LGBA Artistic Director Rice Majors of San Francisco, “At the reviewing stand, for an audience that will include President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, the LGBA band will perform ‘Washington Post,’ the beloved 1889 march by John Philip Sousa and an essential piece in marching band literature. Sousa, a Washington, D.C., native and an American composer of patriotic music and marches, was nicknamed the March King. ‘Washington Post,’ written in honor of the award-winning newspaper of the same name, is a familiar tune that will delight the inauguration day parade-goers and demonstrate the LGBA band’s pride in its American heritage and in this cherished musical tradition.”

For the 25-minute, 1.6-mile parade, Majors says the LGBA band will perform a total of five pieces, each of which speaks to a different aspect of Americans’ hope and pride during this historic inauguration. “Ode to Joy,” by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a beloved hymn to fellowship among people and echoes the Obama campaign idea of one America that includes us all. The band will play a spirited marching arrangement of this 1824 composition by Beethoven that is part of the beloved Ninth Symphony.

“Hold On, I’m Comin’,” a 1960s R&B hit on the Atlantic Records label, evokes the aspirations of the American people for the future and for the Obama presidency. The marching arrangement the LGBA band will play has an infectious driving rhythm sure to electrify the crowds along the parade route.

“Brand New Day,” from the hit musical “The Wiz” (the first Broadway re-telling of “The Wizard of Oz”), heralds the dawn of a new era. As the lyrics of the song say, “Everybody look up, and feel the hope that we've been waiting for” and “show the world that we’ve got liberty.”

Finally, “Manhattan Beach,” another Sousa march, will continue the theme of our American musical heritage on parade. This well-loved piece was written in 1893 to honor the Brooklyn beachfront neighborhood of the same name where the March King and his band once gave summer concerts.

The LGBA band [will comprise] 177 members of its bands, orchestras and cheer squads from 26 states. They will join groups from across the country as well as from the Armed Forces in the historic parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, which follows President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony on the steps of the Capitol.

Deliciously Wicked in New York - LGBA in the 2008 Halloween Parade: