The greatest band in all the land?

Last night Laura and I drove to Frankfort to see a performance by the Capitol City Community Band, in which our fellow choir members Chip and Allison play. The band has been selected to play at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Convention in Chicago next month and the concert was a fundraiser to help them (duh) raise funds for the trip.

Anyways.....we had no idea what to expect, but the evening started with dinner from Johnny Carino's (we knew dinner was provided, but we didn't know it would be a REAL dinner). After working my way through several Caesar salads (thank you friendly, bassoon-playing waitress) and a serving of lasagna....and a serving of canoli, we settled in for the concert......WHICH WAS AWESOME.

The selections for the evening included: the overture from "William Tell", three marches including "Entry of the Gladiators" which I believe to be the standard circus show march, and several solo performances. There was a Tuba soloist, who played what seemed to be a very challenging piece called Fantasia: "Down in the Deep Cellar." The featured soloist for the evening was Vince DiMartino, who plays the trumpet. Vince Martino is awesome. He played a piece called ""The Carnival of Venice" for which I won't post a YouTube video, but I will say you might check it out if you've got about 8 minutes.

Here is one (obviously older) link to a Vince Dimartino performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmJMi4gcGhE

Here is another more recent video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc8PK0SqdeU

The point, however, is that community bands (although Vince DiMartino is not normally a member) can be really good, and well worth the time....and if you ever get the chance to go see Vince DiMartino, you really should.