Vol. III, No.2                                                                                                                                  Mar. 2000

CHANGE OF COMMAND SET WITH U.S. ARMY BAND

       FOR FORMER USAREUR COMMANDERS

   Former C.O.'s of the USAREUR Headquarters Band, Colonel L. Bryan Shelburne, Jr. and Colonel Gary F. Lamb, are readying for the Change of Command ceremonies and the retirement concert of Colonel Shelburne to be held in Washington, D.C. on Monday, April 3.  The retirement parade for Colonel Shelburne  will be held on the parade field at Ft. Myer at 10 a.m. on that day.  The exchange of command will occur at the 78th Anniversary Concert of the U.S. Army Band, a program which, according to a release by TUSAB, is "to honor Colonel Shelburne's 30 years of devoted service to the nation".

   The concert will be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  Members of the 33rd ABAA who live in the D.C. area and who are interested in attending the concert should write immediately for one or two free tickets. Enclose with your request your day-time telephone number and a self-addressed, stamped envelope (business size).  Write to:

  78th Anniversary Tickets

The U.S. Army Band

204 Lee Avenue

  Ft. Myer, VA 22211-1199

   Briefly, since the band's formation in 1922, Colonel Shelburne became the sixth appointee to serve as the leader and commander of the U.S. Army Band in 1990.  His musical background includes a Bachelor of Music Degree from Hardin-Simmons University and a Master of Music Degree from Arizona State University, professional playing for six seasons as trombonist with the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra and work with the Phoenix Symphony.

   Numbered in his previous assignments: serving as executive officer and associate director of the Armed  Forces Bicentennial Band, commander of the USAREUR Headquarters Band from 1980 to 1982, twice the commandant of the Army Element, Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia, and, prior to the U.S. Army Band, command of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point.

   Colonel Lamb is the past commander of the USAREUR Headquarters Band from July of 1995 to June of 1998,  but was also associated with the band in 1986 when he was the band's Executive Officer and in charge of the chorus. His other military assignments include direction of the Student Company of the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, command of the Army Ground Forces Band at Fort McPherson, Georgia, direction of the Soldiers' Chorus of the Army Field Band at Fort Meade, Maryland, and deputy commander of the U.S. Army Band and director of the Army Chorus in Washington, D.C.

   Thus, Colonel Lamb is already familiar with TUSAB operations, having led the Army Band at the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, the Washington Monument, and other sites around the city and nation.  The data provided about him on the European band's website while he served with the USAREUR Band noted: "He took the Army Chorus to Turkey on its first overseas tour, and, with that group, conducted the Les Brown Band of Renown at a Bob Hope gala in California.  He also directed the Army Chorus and members of the National Symphony Orchestra for the annual Victory Awards Celebration at the Kennedy Center."

   The 33rd ABAA salutes with pride the two former C.O.'s of the 33rd Army Band and wishes them both every success in their new ventures!  Naturally, if we don't get a chance to see them before June of 2001, we hope to visit with them both at the reunion in Minneapolis!

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USAREUR Soldiers' Chorus Garners More Headlines

   Recently the USAREUR Soldiers' Chorus deployed to camps in Hungary and Bosnia to entertain troops in those countries, a regular deployment to the Balkans for the chorus during peacekeeping duty.  The headline for their recent experience in Bosnia read: "U.S. Army Europe Chorus Rocks Eagle Base, Bosnia."  The chorus presented a two-hour Broadway-style musical revue while there subsequent to performances in Hungary.  A number of camps in Bosnia were on the busy schedule for the chorus.  Those with internet access can read the story of the choral presentation in Bosnia at this address:

 http://bands.army.mil/headlines/2000/jan/default.asp

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      33rd ABAA Reunion Plans for Minneapolis Going Forward

   Lorelei Giddings (77-79), President of the 33rd Army Band Alumni Association, has announced that the reunion in Minneapolis is now scheduled for June 21-June 24, 2001.  The site for the occasion will be the Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis Airport at the Mall, 7901 24th Avenue S., Bloomington, MN 55425. According to the arrangements being made with the Doubletree, the room prices will be $95 for single or double, but meal prices are projected to be considerably less than what we experienced at the last reunion.

   It is anticipated that a steering committee meeting for the 2001 Reunion will be held in Minneapolis early this summer, at which time the committee will map out additional details for the reunion. 

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      TOUR OF GERMANY 1999 BY THE BLASMUSIK TEXAS

--From the Journal of Herbert Bilhartz (73-76)

                                                                                                        (Continued from the previous newsletter)

 Day 9. Tuesday, 22 June.

   After exchanging mementos with our hosts, we were underway, heading northwest through the edge of the Black Forest, stopping in Titisee and Freiburg. We then crossed the Rhine into France at Breisach. Under European Community regulations all border crossing formalities are now a thing of the past --no border guards, no passport control, no "do you have anything to declare?" Today's destination was the two adjacent villages in Alsace, Niederentzen and Oberentzen, halfway between the cities of Colmar and Muhlhouse. In the mid-19th century several families from these two villages immigrated to what became D'Hanis in Medina County, Texas, 60 miles west of San Antonio. D'Hanis and Nieder- Oberentzen are now officially sister towns.

   The two Alsatian towns have no town band, so we were hosted and sponsored by literally the entire population, which, during the past 20 years, has taken part in many exchange visits from and to Medina County, Texas. At the town hall we were greeted by Mayor Lucien Bilger of Niederentzen, and Marie-Jeanne and Edouard Finger, old friends of Billie and me. Then we got right into a much needed rehearsal. We were expected to play "Marche Lorraine" here--not an easy march--and the chance for a little woodshedding was welcome.

   After going home with our hosts, we gathered again at the Niederentzen town hall for a festive dinner for us and our hosts, probably 200 people. Wines were served in the traditional Alsatian wine glass, a clear bowl with a delicate green stem and foot. These glasses are used only for Alsatian wines; all others are served in the standard French wine glasses. The food was excellent, of course, and greatly enjoyed by all. Much effort had obviously gone into preparation.

   A minor emergency developed when it was discovered that one of our members had disappeared. Earlier in the afternoon he announced to his hosts that he was going for a walk before dinner. He became lost, as he said later, and was gone for about four hours. He finally reappeared, none the worse for the experience, but he had missed half his dinner. Is this something that could happen on TDY with the 33d Army Band?

   Trombonist Nick Ochoa, wife and flutist Terrilee, and son and trumpet player Jason, were hosted by Mayor Bilger. The mayor became quite concerned about the injury to Nick's arm and took him to the doctor, who had Nick admitted to the hospital in Colmar. He was scheduled for surgery the next day to have pins inserted to repair his BROKEN arm! Overseas travelers should be sure their health insurance covers treatment in foreign medical facilities in case of accident or illness. Fortunately, Nick's insurance covered him. Like most retired military, Nick had learned not to count on military medical facilities, even in emergency, and had taken out other medical insurance.

    Day 10. Wednesday, 23 June. The daylight hours were devoted to sightseeing with our Alsatian hosts. We visited two towns associated with the boyhood of Albert Schweitzer, famed Alsatian philanthropist, physician, organist, musicologist, theologian, and philosopher  (Yes, he was only one man, but he excelled in each of these disciplines): Kaisersberg, where he was born; and Gunsbach, where he was raised and attended school. At the museum in Gunsbach we saw the piano he took with him to his hospital deep in the African jungle. Besides a regular hand keyboard, it was fitted with a pedal keyboard which sounded piano bass notes. He practiced on this instrument to keep his organ technique from becoming too rusty.

    Our hosts had booked lunch for the entire party at the Restaurant Kebespre, a rustic country inn on a hilltop near Gunsbach in the Vosges mountain range. This inn was reached by a single-lane (but paved) steep winding road, which no one would have believed passable by a 44-passenger bus. Our driver did not hesitate and got us up and back safely.

    The lunch was excellent. As a matter of interest to you tour planners, we had also budgeted for this meal and paid the entire lunch bill with one Euro-Cheque.

    Prior to our evening concert, each of us had dinner with our host families. The 400-year-old home of the hosts of my wife and me had been the town's only public tavern, "l'Arbole Vert"/"Der grüne Baum" ("The Green Tree") up until about 10 years ago, when they went out of business rather than try to cope with the bureaucratic red tape of the European Economic Union. But this evening the place was again like a public house -- everyone was welcome, but no one got a bill. There were half a dozen or so visitors from Castroville, Texas, there. Alsatian composer Paul Boistelle and his wife were there (he, too, was on the program !).  A family who had driven to Niederentzen from the Saarland (where the Blasmusik Texas played in 1994) were invited to join us for dinner. Our only concert during the three-day stop in Alsace took place this Wednesday evening in the Niederentzen Town Hall. For the traditional opening, composer and publisher Paul Boistelle directed The Star Spangled Banner and La Marseillaise. Paul also directed several of his compositions and folk tune arrangements, including Der Hans im Schnokeloch.

    Day 11. Thursday, 24 June. This was another day of sightseeing, and the morning was spent exploring the spectacular 13th century castle Haut-Konigsbourg, situated on a hilltop above Sélestat. For lunch and some afternoon shopping we went to a very contemporary mall on the north side of Colmar. Afterwards each of us returned to our host families for a quiet last evening in Alsace.

   Day 12. Friday, 25 June. We departed Nieder- /Oberentzen at 10:00 for the shortest journey between destinations of the tour. Nick remained in the hospital in Colmar, and Terrilee stayed on in Niederentzen with her hosts.

   Only 15 km away, we made a sightseeing stop in Ste.-Croix-en-Plaine (Heiligkreuz), another town which had contributed mid-19th-century settlers to South Texas. Moving 10 km farther, we stopped for a lunch at the Hotel/Restaurant "a la Vigne" in Logelheim. My family and I had stopped there some 16 years earlier, were impressed with the food, service, and remote rustic location, and so I had booked the lunch stop weeks in advance by telephone from Texas. I was able to find their phone number in the Internet Yellow Pages. No doubt many 33ders remember from our days in Europe restaurants or hotels which we would like to visit again, and with the Internet, it may be possible to locate them and arrange for the upcoming tour to make a stop there. Booking in advance saves time, money, and hassle and enhances camaraderie as the entire party stays together.. For lunch on this day, we had invited two of the principle organizers from Niederentzen to follow the bus to Logelheim, and two organizers from our next destination in Gottenheim, Germany, to meet us, and all four of them had lunch with us. This was one of the few times we were able to reciprocate the hospitality which our hosts so lavishly bestowed upon us.

   Our new escorts from Gottenheim, Urike Isele and Kurt Hartenbach, guided us 15 km back across the Rhine into the town of Breisach, where we made another sightseeing stop. Continuing on, we passed a geographic anomaly, Kaiserstuhl, an ancient extinct volcano in whose fertile soil flourish vineyards producing some of the upper Rhineland's best wines.

   Arriving in Gottenheim, situated on the Rhine plane between Breisach and Freiburg, by mid-afternoon, we were again introduced to our host families and went home with them to freshen up. In the early evening we returned to the Rathaushalle for a lavish and festive wine tasting, with the wine princess serving as mistress of ceremonies. She gave a detailed description of each wine as very generous samples of the six varieties were served. Following the tasting, dinner was served and a concert was presented by the Gottenheim Band.

   Day 13. Saturday, 26 June. Today Urike and Kurt went on our bus with us into Freiburg, where we visited the beautiful gothic cathedral. Saturday is market day and the cathedral is surrounded by scores of stalls, large and small, selling all sorts of farm produce, meats, fresh and cured, baked goods, clothing, hand-made artifacts, and most anything you could imagine. This market proved to be an excellent place for lunch. One could buy a Brötchen from the baker, a good slice of Schwarzwälder Schinken from the butcher, and sit down on the Cathedral steps to eat it.  Or you could opt for a more formal lunch at any of many open-air restaurants.

   This evening was our first performance in the Gottenheimer Beer Tent, or maybe here it is a Wine Tent. The event was called "Internationaler Musikhock."  "Hock" is simply another word for "Fest." Finally, as we neared the end of our tour, our band began to congeal, and played with more confidence and fewer musical crises. After our program we found places in the crowded tent to sit, usually with our hosts, and enjoyed another plate of Schweineschnitzel and Pommes frites and a glass or two of Gottenheimer wine, as we listened again to the Gottenheim Band.

    Day 14. Sunday, 27 June. This morning our hosts, Albert and Paula Remensperger, drove Billie and me in their car to a resort town about 30 km south: Bad Krozingen. We strolled about in the beautiful Kurpark and stopped to listen to a couple of numbers played by a gypsy ensemble in the Kurkonzert in progress. This afternoon we returned to the Beer Tent for our second and final performance in Gottenheim. We also heard three other bands, including the 60-piece Echo des Rheins from Kunheim in Alsace. With bands from three nations the Gottenheimers were entitled to use the term "International" with their Musikhock.

 Day 15. Monday.  This is the last full day in Germany for the Blasmusik Texas on this trip. We met again at the Festival Meadow beside the tent, took pictures, exchanged mementos, and departed, heading south. We stopped for lunch -- this time nothing was pre-arranged -- in Lörrach, only a short distance from our last destination of the tour, Degerfelden, a suburb of Rheinfelden.

    Peter Hässler, the local band chairman, met us and took us to a school, near our performance site. The festival in Degerfelden was called the "Bach-Fest," not because it featured music of the great Baroque master, but because it takes place alongside Degerfelden Creek, in German "Bach." In fact, the temporary stage where the bands perform is erected over this small but fast flowing stream of water.

   Here in Degerfelden we were not matched up with host families because at about midnight we were scheduled to board the bus for the overnight ride back to Frankfurt Airport. Our performance here was set for 18:00, and even at this hour on a Monday evening the tables on the walkway next to the creek were filled. After we finished this last program we found places ourselves and were served another festive dinner.

   At this point Billie and I took leave of the band and stayed this night in a hotel in nearby Rheinfelden. The next day we took the train to Munich, using one day of our five-day Flex-Rail-Pass. The next day we took a Lufthansa flight from Munich to Thesaloniki, Greece, where we were met by our son.

    Day 15. Tuesday, 29 June. The band bus left on schedule, but we had overestimated the time for the trip to Frankfurt, arriving there about 0300 instead of 0900 as expected. There was plenty of time to explore everything about the gigantic Frankfurt Airport complex. A few others stayed on to visit other parts of Germany or Europe. A round-trip air ticket allows you up to a 30-day stay. Terrilee and Nick, released from the Colmar Hospital, took a flight direct from Strasbourg to Frankfurt, which was easier on his healing arm than the long bus ride.

    As all 33ders know, a west‑bound transatlantic flight makes a very long day and it was an exhausted group that arrived back in Texas about 2300 CDT, after a 31-hour day.

    I hope this journal will be of interest to members of the 33rd ABAA. In our TDY trips with the 33rd we did not usually have the time to enjoy sightseeing and hospitality with our hosts. I look forward to hearing more about the plans for the forthcoming tour.

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           NEW DIRECTORIES NOW BEING PRINTED

   Members of the 33rd ABAA whose dues are paid for 2000-2001 will shortly be receiving the most recent edition of the directory.  The previous edition reproduced in March of 1999 is woefully out-of-date, and members will, we trust, be glad to get a more accurate accounting of former members of the USAREUR Headquarters Band.  If you haven't paid your dues yet, you are encouraged to do so in the early future.  (Otherwise, when you eventually get your copy of the directory it is likely to be out-of-date again!)

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UPDATE ON 33RDERS

     (The newly "found" and address changes)

BECKER, Charles,  (He is NOT deceased!)

BELLE, Rev. James A.,   Piano Player/ Arranger,/Composer/ Vocalist (Nov 86-Dec 89)

BRASHARES, Denise (now Denise Shutt)  Clarinet (Sep 80-Oct 81)

BURTON, Joseph,  Tuba (Oct 92-Apr 95)

CATHCART, Johnny,  SGM & drum major (85-88)

CHEZICK, Edward,

CLARK, William --new E-mail: bandjclark@earthlink.net

COOK, Mark,   XO of Band & Chorus (86-89)

DEWEESE, Ray  G.,  Trumpet  (77-78)

GOODRICH, Karen Lee Bashford,   Horn (76-78)

GOODRICH, Richard (Same information as Karen's)  Horn   (75-78)

LAMB, Gary F.--new E-Mail: Lambg@Fmmc.army.mil

LEHMER, John R.,  Euphonium, Tenor & Bass Trombone (82-85)

MEYERSON, Donald--new E-Mail: meyersond@earthlink.net

ROBERTS, Alexander,  Adm. NCO (80-83)

SMITH, Joseph,   Flute & Piccolo--Served earlier in Chorus-- (82-83)

WALTON,  Hilary (Smyth),    French Horn (Sep 92-Sep 96)

WALTON, Steve, (Same information as Hilary's)  Tuba (Jan 94-Jun 97)

WILLUMSEN, Ed  (53-55)

WOODWORTH, William--new E-Mail: Whwoodworth@aol.com

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   About the 33rd Army Band Alumni Association

    The 33rd Army Band Alumni Association is a not-for-profit organization that has been developed to provide a means for former members of the USAREUR Band to be in contact with one another via the quarterly newsletter Passing In Review and through periodic reunions.  The organization has established a website on the internet at the following URL:  http://www.rt66.com/~obfusa/33rd.  Webmaster for our site is Dee Tonning, 2265 Tawny Woods Pl., Boise, ID 83706.  E-mail:dtonning@aol.com

   Persons who are not former members of the 33rd Army Band but who are interested in participating in the activities of the alumni association are welcome as associate members.  Annual dues for both regular members (former band members) and associate members is $15, payable to the 33rd ABAA and forwarded to the secretary-treasurer of the association at the following address: 3111 Futura, Roswell, NM 88201.  

   The current officers of the association--through the 2001 Reunion to be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota--are as follows:

President: Lorelei Giddings

Vice-President:Gene Karjala

Secretary-Treasurer, Membership, and Newsletter Editor: Frank Schlatter,

 

[Ed.Note: Passing in Review is always interested in hearing from those who once served with the 33rd Army Band.  Please write!]

James A. Belle (86-89), now is the pastor at St. James Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC.  He indicated that he got the information about the 33rd ABAA in a recent visit with his brother Milton in Colorado Springs, CO.  Following his time with the 33rd, he "returned to the States to the former 7th Infantry Division Band at Ft. Ord, where I ETS'd a week before the conflict began in the Middle East."  After his return to civilian life, he indicates that he attended Seminary in Atlanta, receiving a Double Master's Degree in Divinity and a Master in Church Mustic.

Mark Cook (86-88/89) wrote that his time with the 33rd "was a wonderful three years and I had a blast, especially working with the Soldiers of the Chorus.  What a great bunch of people."  He also said: "Anyway, I retired from the Army in 1996 while serving with the DCSPER of the Army at the Pentagon.  Previous to that I was an Automation officer at TRADOC HQ at Fort Monroe.  In fact, I lived inside the Moat at Fort Monroe directly next door to the Band's temporary rehearsal hall and barracks."

Gordon Lougee (62-64) in an early February E-mail wrote: "It's been 11 months since we met in D.C. last March.   That was a great reunion and a lot of fun.

   "We've had, by definition, two mini reunions here in Vermont in the last year. Jim and Barbara Westerhouse were here from July 25th to 28th and Gene Hawk and his new bride Shirley were here from October 14th to 22nd.  They were married on May 22nd in Orlando, Florida and I was their best man.  I promised Gene that I'd sign him up in the association so you shall receive his dues along with mine in a few days.

    "The latest newsletter was very interesting.  Paul Stevens has quite a collection of 33rd memorabilia. We've been to his place 3 times over the years.  That was 1978, 82, and 89.  I think we saw Byron Smith all 3 times."

B.G. Purvis, wife of Alfred  (54-55), in a telephone conversation with the secretary-treasurer talked briefly about the information she had sent at an earlier time (some of which appears later in this newsletter), said she looked forward to a visit from Frank and his wife.  B.G. indicated that she could tell numbers of stories with regard to the band during Alfred's time; most of them, though, she said couldn't be published.  (As you might guess, those are some of Frank's favorite stories.)

Alexander (Robbie) Roberts *80-83) now works with the Dekalb County School Board in Atlanta, Georgia as a School Nutrition Supervisor and then part time with H&R Block as a manager.  He wrote:: "I would just like to say hello to all of those great people I met during my tenure with the band and chorus."

Joseph Smith (82-83) wrote to say that "After attending college in Minnesota and Kentucky, I returned to my native New England to attend theatre school in Providence at Trinity Rep.  From there I settled in San Francisco, first working for ABC Radio and then getting involved in the performance art scene in the mid 1980s.  I stayed in San Francisco until 1998, working in various performance and multimedia ensembles in the warehouse district as well as playing the clubs and more convention gigs such as the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and various Lutheran churches in the bay area.  During that time, I had my own ensemble for five seasons with which I composed and performed more than a dozen original musical theater works as well as performing in the electronic music scene as a studio musician.  I moved back East two years ago and am living and working in Manhattan as a network manager for an Internet startup in Silicon Alley.  I don't have a regular music gig right now but am keeping my chops up for the next opportunity.  My main hobby is tattooing; I have a lot of work in the Japanese style and went to a convention in Tokyo last fall with my tattoo artist from New York."