Monday, June 22, 2009

Bandology

The second concert of the 2009 Season is coming this Thursday June 25th at 7pm at Atwater Park.

Bandology - Eric Osterling
Instant Concert - Harold L. Walters
Bombasto - O.R. Farrar
The Theme from Mannix - Lalo Schfrin
Feels So Good - Chuck Mangione
The Rail Splitter - F.C. Menges
Ceremonial Prelude - John Cacavas
The Cowboys - John Williams
Chicago Tribune March - W. Paris Chambers
Beer Barrel Polka - L. Brown, W.A. Timm, V. Zeman and J Vejvoda
British Masters Suite - Gustav Holst, Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Washington Post March - John Phillip Sousa

In honor of Lincoln's 200th birthday and the 100th Anniversary of the Lincoln Penny we are holding a penny drive to support the Shorewood Band Parents organization so please dig deep into the cushions of your couches, clean out your car’s coin holder and bring them to the concert.

The March of the Belgian Paratroopers from the June 13th, 2009 concert:

Monday, June 8, 2009

Hands Across The Sea

The first concert of the Shorewood Concert Band season is always the most interesting for me.
So many questions awaiting answers!
Will we have any Saxophones?
Can we play another season without Percussion?
Can we dodge another weather bullet? So far no concerts of Dr. Pat's tenure have been rained out although last year's opener was a close call!

Here is our tentative play list:


The Shorewood Concert Band Presents:
Hands Across The Sea

March of the Belgian Paratroopers
British Master's Suite
Scottish Ballads
Pirates of the Caribbean
Sousa's Hands Across the Sea
Fiddler on the Roof
Osterling's Thundercrest
Star Trek
At the Summit
Vaugh William's Rhosymedre
Holst's First Suite for Military Band


Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Shorewood Concert Band 2009

It's June so once again it's time for the Shorewood Concert Band!

This all-volunteer band plays a series of four concerts in June and July in Atwater Park in Shorewood, Wisconsin.

I've been playing in the group since the early 1980s and have been the announcer for four years.

This year's concerts:
Saturday June 13th 4:30 pm - Hands Across the Sea
Thursday June 25th 7:00 pm - 100th Year of the Lincoln Penny
Saturday July 4th 6:30 pm - Stars and Stripes
Thursday July 16th 7:00 pm - SCB Goes to the Circus

If you would like to join the band please email me - capnfrank [AT] sbcglobal.net.
We have 4 practices, June 11, June 18, June 30 and July 9 from 7pm to 9pm in one of the school district's band room.

Here are some pictures from summer 2007:

The Left Side

The Right Side

Da Tubas!

What can one say about John Philip Sousa...

And here's a video of last year's encore "Skoda Lasky" aka "The Beer Barrel Polka"

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

My Kindle DX is coming!

So I have been waiting for *years* for a decent ebook reader.
Back around 1992 I bought an Apple PowerBook 100 as my first notebook.
I purchased several electronic books in HyperCard format including Sara Paretsky's Indemity Only and Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
At a little over 5 pounds in weight it was not very comfortable reading in bed, etc.

I have tried several PDAs over the years including the Apple Newton, the HP Jornada and the Dell Axim but the screens were all too small for easy reading. The main problem has been my rate of reading is faster than I could change screens.

I almost bought a Sony 505 Reader in December 2007 after seeing a first-generation Kindle which I thought was just ugly. At that time I heard from someone who knew someone that Apple was coming out with their own version. Since then Amazon has released their Kindle 2 which looks much better physically and Sony has released their new 700BC which has a touch screen with a slight loss in letter clarity, but no official word from Apple.

Last month Amazon released the specs for their Kindle DX and I was hooked. This version is the size of a hardcover, rotates the screen automatically when you turn it and has native pdf support so I can read my RPG documents and anything else I create. I just got word today that it is being officially released on June 10th and mine should ship the 15th!
Go watch the video on Amazon's site, it's amazing!

I'm going to be able to download for free any of the thousands of public domain books from Project Gutenberg and many other places around the web.

Now the question is what to read first?
PG Wodehouse? ER Burroughs? Book: The Sequel?

Monday, June 1, 2009

I'm a published author!

My submission was accepted and will be included in Book: The Sequel!

You can get more info here at their website!

Or check out the widget on the right ----->>>