Loud and proud

For Leith Wadleigh, the last straw came at one of Maine’s bigger summertime festivals. He stood with his grandchildren in the crowd that lined Main Street. He watched the fire trucks roll by, followed police cars, ambulances and a smattering of antique cars. He wondered how that soul-stirring, ear-splitting event known as the parade had come to resemble a slow motion emergency evacuation. The filler that once served to prevent one marching band’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” from clashing too awfully much with another’s “Theme From Star Wars” had become all there was. It wasn’t good.

But rather than suffer in silence, Wadleigh, the Gov behind the Governor’s Restaurant chain, decided to make some noise. He’d start his own blasted marching band, the bigger and louder the better.

The idea, and a great idea it is, is to bring together musicians from throughout the state, whether they be today’s young students or old-timers who may have known Sousa personally. With the summer patriotic holidays and a growing supply of food-oriented festivals, there are plenty of gigs out there for The — working title — Governor’s All-Maine Marching Band. Bus and meals are provided. The rehearsal schedule will be light, probably just once a month. The uniform, for starters at least, will be simple black pants, white shirt and comfy shoes. There’s even an experienced director lined up; Ken Tyler of Lincoln, whose musical credits include organizing a drum and bugle corps at the United States Air Force Academy. Wadleigh’s done the legwork, now he just needs a band.

There are a lot of reasons why school bands don’t march much anymore, but in a nutshell, it’s the old vicious cycle routine — rising liability exposure and transportation costs led to budget cutbacks which led to diminished expectations about school bands participating in parades which led to no chance that budgets would ever include money to reverse the trend. Maybe Wadleigh’s project will compel some schools to revive their marching bands. If not, at least future parades will be one band less serene.

Wadleigh’s been kicking this plan around for a while, but had only about 10 members signed up. Now, thanks to some very welcome media attention, the calls are pouring in. “It’s been a struggle, but I think it’s starting to mushroom. Imagine a band with members from all over the state. That would be a heck of a band.”

And, since traditions are what hold communities together, it’d be a heck of a way to keep from losing something that really shouldn’t be lost. So dig the old horn out of the attic, find those comfy shoes and call 827-7630 (ask for Wadleigh or Cheryl McNerny) to sign up. And have a blast.