Bizarre happenings at our annual (or soon not to be) outdoor patriotic fireworks extravaganza, floods, errant fireworks, a deadly baton strike and my singing debut with a US Congressman….
UPDATE 5:35 EST – see below!
So for the 27th straight year the Springfield Symphony accompanied the incredible fireworks display called Firefall. We have had so much rain around here that we are within 2 inches of our average rainfall….FOR THE YEAR!!! On Saturday morning there was a huge downpour over 4 inches in some places and this picture is of the field people were supposed to sit in to watch the show! Well it was postponed to the next night and even though we did not have a rain date, almost all of the musicians made themselves available. One person who was not available was one of our local TV weather guys Tom Trtan, who traditionally kicks things off by singing with us God Bless America. Since he had to be at the station before the sun came up on Monday, he couldn’t be there on Sunday night. This year like last year, our congressman who happens to be Republican Minority Whip Roy Blunt was scheduled to sing with Tom and with 10 minutes to go I was told that I would be singing it with him! Now I have scoured the Internet and event though it was filmed and photographed, it has not been posted as of yet….phew! Not that I am looking for proof, I mean most musicians wouldn’t admit let alone lie about sharing with stage with a…a…a Republican! We pulled it off, and dare I say it to the arts world readers, Roy and I have spoken a couple of times before and he is a very nice guy and has done much for this area, plus he really connects with people.
Update: Someone just sent me this, did I mention that Wendy’s was our sponsor?
This is a picture of the actual fireworks, spectacular and choreographed…check that…the next bizarro thing to happen was that the fuses blew and all the work marking up scores and pre-programming firework combinations was lost and so instead it was well I guess we will just hit a bunch of buttons and see what happens…we knew something was wrong when nothing went off during the our opener the 1984 John Williams Olympic Fanfare. We were then told to hold and so for as long as I could I ad libbed to 50,000 people, and when I ran out of things to say, they piped in some Bluegrass. When they were ready to go we played it again (I felt the Brass players pain having played that fanfare in a past life) and the concert and fireworks filled the sky.
A flood, a congressional duet, and errant fireworks then gave way to the most unusual thing my actual stick technique has ever achieved. I guess when you do a lot of anything the unusual things “stick” out, and right when we hit the 3/4 towards the end of the 1812 Overture (the moment when conductors breathe a sigh of relief that we hit it in the right spot averting a train wreck), my downbeat actually killed a mosquito in mid-air. With all the moisture there were many of them flying around, but what are the chances of that happening! I left it in the score because that is something I would have to prove!
On a serious note, this annual celebration is in jeopardy for next year, which in my opinion is a tragedy. I wont dwell on the politics but I wrote the following letter yesterday to our local paper and they published it in today’s edition! I believe these patriotic concerts are vital for a community:
In our busy lives, our different occupations, multiple interests and priorities, what Firefall represents for me is an event and opportunity that allows all of us to come together as equals, to celebrate the precious freedom that we are afforded, to give thanks to those who make freedom possible and where family, reflection, optimism, hope and joy all converge to remind us what a great land we share and what a great community we are building, together. A city unified is a city with strength, and Springfield is such a city. This is the heart of America, and for it to beat strongly, we need a Firefall to demonstrate our unity. To think that we the symphony won’t be out there next year is unimaginable, but to think that an event like this is expendable is unthinkable. If our leaders cannot come together to make it happen, then I know that Springfield is a can-do place with can-do people. We must make it happen, somehow!
One of our musicians told his daughter to make sure her wedding did not conflict with Firefall, because he has played in every one and he did not want to miss it, it is that important to him. So she had her wedding the night before and his streak is alive. Let’s not break it!