European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Anything to do with the band he says. Last year the Bondsmen spent Between 150 and 200 Days on the Road depending on whom you ask. They Don t All travel to each Job there is a real potential for serious family problems Grogan says. Grogan encourages spouses to come along on some of the gigs. There s plenty of room and i helps smooth out the Road from Midnight to tomorrow. Alcohol la another potential problem. Grogan permits what he Calls the one Beer musicians can have one Beer each Day while on the Road except for the Driver. This is difficult to enforce let alone Monitor when they play fests where Burly armed waitresses Slop Beers All Over the stage pull at musicians pants legs and Point out which appreciative German listener bought the brew. There is a potential for alcohol abuse in this Grogan says. As for those drinks on stage i encourage sociable just enough not to appear rude but not enough to do damage to the music. In Gle Belstadt South of Wurzburg the band plays a lest German american Type. Grogan notices that the crowd is almost entirely american. Looks like they did t do enough advertising Here he says. A crowd is always better mixed. Germans know How to behave at a the loading Crew piles the instruments Back in the bus in the dark. Saturday night and they pull away from the i lest grounds at 11. Back in Heidelberg after Midnight. It s tomorrow. Musician Quality varies widely in the Usa eur army Are those fresh out of High school who manage i to pass the rigorous Entrance auditions and others like spec. 4 Jim Thaxter who recently graduated from the Eastman school of music in Rochester n. Y., or staff sgt. Gary Ridgeway who played in a professional symphony. Regardless of background each aspiring musician must pass an audition usually conducted at a military installation where a band is located pass the military s music school in Norfolk va., and pass the Usa eur band audition. Opinion on the Quality of army musicians Are As varied As the musicians backgrounds. Army musician Thaxter chafes a bit at the conflict Between his dual role of musician and Soldier. Like Many others he prefers being called musician Soldier rather Ember 20, 1985 than but he says he s willing to do anything asked of him As Long As i can play my Thaxter said he joined the army to pay Back the $ 18,000 his Eastman music education Cost him. Musician Ridgeway played French Horn in the Florida Gull coast symphony before joining the army. He laments what he sees As a Lack of Quality in army musicians. The army requires you to i ill the right notes and play your part but that s about still he does t want to go Back to being a civilian. The pros treat you like garbage he said. I feel much closer to the major or Jojn than i Ever could to a civilian director there s just too much distance out there and the Competition is Hamilton gave his own assessment of Why musicians stay in the service. In the army. I m on the Road a lot. I Don t get to see enough of my family. But if i were a civilian. I d be starving out there and i d still be on the said another musician you Don t have to be a concert artist in the army you just have to put in a lot of work. Sunday morning. Nine . Formation. The band is on the Road to the Kelsch fish lest. This one is a Good mixed crowd and the band comes alive with a full bag of tricks performing on a typewriter. Dueling with horns. Swinging in the aisles with trumpets and trombones. Joking and Len profit time after time. Grogan dances a smooth two step with an unsuspecting member of the audience while spec. 5 Barry Fletcher plays a warm rendition of Glenn Miller s Moonlight serenade. And Brig. Gen. William Gourley commander of Usa eur s 1st personnel come directs the band. Ketch i fun. The Bondsmen Call if the High Point of the year. And they get invited Back every year. Big on bands the defense department spends $140 million a year on military bands. The army has so bands the Navy 17, the marines 14 and the air Force 21. About 5.000 service members Are assigned As band musicians. They give 55,000 performances each year. On the Road again to the Village of Bam mental from the High note at Kitsch to another a Flat. On the bus. And Oil and the diesel Wake drags Home to Heidelberg spec. 5 Craig Hiesser a band history but. Points out that . Bands began Wilh the Fife and drum up Al the front a Chi to the Flag to help Cut through the Roar of that explains part of Grogan s belief in the band As an instrument of morale. He quotes Ironi one of the Many letters of thanks from a satisfied sponsor it. Col Richard Monahan. Deputy Community commander of Neu Ulm Long hours on the Road and living out of suitcases and other hardships of your work result in a Mission that is As important and necessary As any other unit s Mission in accomplishing the United states Overall Mission in Grogan lakes Monahan s Les Lionial one Slep further ill match Tho deterrent capability of my band against one Pershing missile and they la come out even every Strong statement. But it s rooted in a vow Grogan made years ago while serving As an adjutant Wilh a combat unit in Vietnam. It was my Job to pin the purple hearts on the wounded when the commander was t available. They brought in this one Soldier on a dust off Mission. He had his legs blown off by one of our own mines. When i tried to give him his medal he threw it on the floor and said. I Don l want it i Don t want ii because nobody cares i made a Promise then to do my Best to explain the american Soldier to the Public and show thai Soldier that somebody does the medium he is using of course is big band music. America is ready for another John Phillip Sousa to March Down main Street of America and play in the gazebos in the Parks. It s because of an upswing in american patriotism. That s what we do Over Here in Europe after four Days on the Road. Grogan and his band face an eight Day tour of Turkey followed immediately by several Days in Bremerhaven. They do their Best to peddle the Good will of Sousa s american dream from the diesel Wake of two Silver Mercedes buses travelling on the Road from Midnight to tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes. The stars and stripes Page 15
