William Donald Schaefer Funeral

I had a pep band gig today that was not the kind of thing that we usually do. Former governor of Maryland and mayor of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer died this past week, and we were asked to perform at Baltimore's City Hall while his body was transferred from Annapolis to Baltimore to lay in state prior to the burial.

He had requested in his will that we play upbeat music for the occasion, and we did, and when his body arrived, we played the Baltimore Fight Song, slowly, starting with one trumpet, then adding the rest of the trumpets, and finally the rest of the pep band. It was really quite moving.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Today, the band participated in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Baltimore. Compared to previous years, the weather was quite nice. We played "Whiskey in the Jar" and the "Fight Song." The most challenging part for me this year, was that we were expected to memorize our music. I don't know about you, but I feel like my brain power isn't what it used to be.

This was my favorite of the four floats that I saw while waiting for the parade to start.

Fort McHenry Gig

At tonight's Pep Band gig, we went to Fort McHenry for the rededication of their new Visitor's Center. What made it extra special, was that today marked the 80th anniversary of the "Star Spangled Banner" being made our national anthem. I had never been to Fort McHenry before, so it was kind of cool. Before the ceremony, the flag that was flying when we got there was changed to the original Fort McHenry flag - with thirteen stars. It was huge!

There were re-enactors.

I especially enjoyed Fort McHenry's Drum and Fife Corps.

At the ceremony, they played the second runner-up for our national anthem, "O, Carolina."

And another cool part of the ceremony was this cake, made by the Ace of Cakes for the ocassion. Instead of cutting a ribbon to open the new visitor's center, the cannon on the cake shot it.

Then, one of the cannons at Fort McHenry fired twice. It was super loud, and the echo off of the buildings in Baltimore was really cool. The only unfortunate part to this whole thing, was that the band was unable to take a look inside the visitor's center, where the original "Star Spangled Banner" was on display.

Played With Fire

I finally finished reading "The Girl Who Played with Fire," by Stieg Larsson, tonight.

I thought it was very good. It was a much easier read than "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," but only because all of the Swedish stuff is becoming a little bit more familiar. I can't wait to get started on the next book in the series.

Look What I Won

So, in yesterday's post, I mentioned that there was a raffle. We bought tickets and dropped them in little baskets in front of the items that we were interested in winning. I didn't expect to, looking at how many people were there for the benefit, but I won something - the movie basket!

What is just too cool, is that not a week ago, Tom said we really need to pick up the movie, "Fools Gold." Well, guess what one of the two movies in the basket were? You guessed it. The other movie is "P.S. I Love You."

Holly's Benefit

Thanks to everyone who's been praying for Holly. She's doing a little better, and can now eat mashed potatoes and applesauce. Tonight, we had a fundraiser for her at the restaurant. In addition to donations made by people at the bar and some proceeds from every drink purchased being donated, we had a raffle and silent auction (Mel and I set up the room).

We had donations from people and businesses from all around town - it was great to see the community pull together to help out a friend in need. It was a crush, and hugely successful.