SEPTEMBER 22ND – NASHVILLE TO SCOTT AFB, IL FOR ANNUAL “FALL FESTIVAL”:
Left Nashville at 9:30 headed to Scott Air Force Base for their fall festival. I will be meeting up with The Music City Sound. It’s about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Nashville and I arrived at SAFB around 2:30. I met up with April Marling, Chief Community Services Flight, 375th Force Support Squadron. She escorted me through security and got me to lodging.
The band is not due to arrive until around 10pm so I had planned on playing some golf with Jude Sorg. Jude is the Deputy Director, 375th Force Support Squadron. We met up at the Cardinal Creek golf course located on base at around 4:00 and were able to get about 14 holes in before dark. The course was nice, a little wet, but the greens were in good shape and rolled really good. The red bridges add a nice touch.
After golf me and Jude grabbed a quick bite to eat at the bowling center. This was the only place on base that was still open to get food. Food was pretty good and I went back to lodging to wait on the bands arrival. Will Elliott the band leader and sound man contacted me around 9:15 when they were about a half hour out. April arranged for Staff Sergeant Chase Knighton to pick me up at lodging and we met the band to get them through security and on to lodging. With everyone secure I headed to lodging for some sleep.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD – THE MUSIC CITY SOUND PERFORMS AT SCOTT AFB FALL FESTIVAL:
Show day. I got up in time to get a bite to eat and meet the band at their lodging at 9:15. Everyone was up and ready to go so we drove over to the venue to meet up with April. We arrived in time for load in and sound check at 9:30, however….. there is a pretty good chance of rain. This is an outdoor show and the stage is not covered. This means the band can’t set up their equipment to do sound check. The decision is made to hold off and wait until noon to make a decision. In the meantime we scramble to find a way to cover the stage. To make a long story short, we ended up using a 20×20 tent that they had set up for a covered eating area. The company that had originally set up the tent was on sight and we got the tent moved and safely secured. It wasn’t perfect but the band and their equipment would be protected. They agreed with the set up and proceeded to load in and do sound check.
The stage was 24×16, which means they lost 2 feet off stage on both sides due to lack of tent coverage. There are 9 band members which means it’s close quarters. When the rain started , which wasn’t heavy , but was enough where the members near the sides were having the o deal with some water issues during the end of sound check. After sound check we attached the side walls of the tent to both sides and the back. This will help with the rain coming in on the sides, but now they are in a cave.
Sound check ended at about 3:00 and the band had about 40 minutes to relax and get ready. During that time they were introduced to Major Angelina Urbina, Chief Daniel McNamee and Jude. They thanked the band for being there and the band was very appreciative for being there. After the cordials were done it was almost 3:40 show time. After everything that had to be done to get it to work we still made the original time. April and her staff did a great job at working through the problems to make it happen. The band was also great during this process and were willing to be flexible with the setup to be able to perform. Everyone worked very well together.
The show started on time at 3:40 and the doors to the festival opened at 2:00. Surprisingly there was a really good turnout considering the weather. The rain was intermittent, but not really heavy, which helped. The band is great. They play songs that everyone knows and I love the brass section. The festival crowd seemed to be enjoying it as well. As the band is approaching their intermission I noticed the band having to deal with water issues again. We had rolled one of the side walls up so the crowd could see them better, but by intermission the water was becoming a problem.
With the band on break, April, SSgt Knighton, and myself went into scramble mode to fix the water problem. We mopped and cleaned up what water was on the stage and had to fix the walls to prevent it from happening again. Back to the cave.
The second half of the show was much better weather wise. It barley rained again for the duration. The crowd at the festival was still pretty large and it seemed like more people were focused on watching the show. At least what they could see, due to the cave situation and all, but the music was all good. The kids were having a blast with the hay bales in front of the stage. They brought a lot of fun energy to the scene.
The band wrapped up at 6:40 and it was a great show. Their willingness to work through the situations of the day and still put on a great show were really top notch. It was a pleasure working with them. Everyone thought the show was great.
It took them about an hour to load out and we said our thank you’s and goodbyes. They were off to Cincinnati for another show. After the band had left I hung around and helped April and her volunteers tear down the stage and get everything sorted out. Jude showed up and informed me we would not be able to play golf again in the morning due to a tournament.
I said goodbye to April and Jude and thanked them for all their hard work for making the best of the circumstances. I’m really glad everything worked out for all parties. Now it’s back to lodging for some sleep before I head back to Nashville in the morning.
