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From the President
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Greetings friends,
We are long overdue in contacting our members and friends via eNotes
It has been a big year for us. DC Swing! has been busy throughout the year and still has two more performances in 2007.
Our Marching Band was a sensation at Capital Pride this summer with our show-stopping production numbers featuring tunes from Grease
The Capitol Pride Symphonic Band provided DCDD with our Kennedy Center debut (see article in the 2nd column.)
In September, DCDD Artistic Director Scott Barker made the difficult decision to make this season his last with our group. When Scott lays down his baton at the end of our April, 2008 concerts, he will be ending ten years as our conductor and Artistic Director.
Scott has helped us to polish our sound and improve the quality of our musicianship. He will certainly be missed.
No one is replaceable, but we have begun the task of recruiting new conductors for our three major ensembles, CPSB, DC Swing!, and the Marching Band.
We are recruiting for all three because, in addition to Scott Barker stepping down from the podium, DC Swing! Director Chris Raitzyk also stepped down. Luckily for us Assistant Artistic Director Beth Smith has stepped in and kept things going.
Earlier this year we had talked about giving a concert on World AIDS Day, December 1st as a benefit for Whitman-Walker Clinic, and other area groups that help people with HIV and AIDS.
We have had to postpone that concert again because we were not able to find a suitable concert hall that we could afford.
We have now lined up a hall for this event on December 1, 2008. I know it seems like a long time from now - but we have a lot of work to do to reach that goal.
So the year is winding down. We have our festive, fun-filled Holiday Jam Concert to round out the year musically.
If you are still looking to increase your deductions for 2007, remember that DCDD is a non-profit organization.
- Friend of DCDD - $100 - $249
- Drummer's Circle - $250 - $499
- Conductor's Circle - $500 - $999
- Founder's Circle - $1,000 and up
Happy holidays to all - hope to see you on December 15!
Cheers!
David
David E. McBee
President,
DC's Different Drummers
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Shop till you drop – or help DCDD on line
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Tired of hitting the malls? Doing most of your shopping on line this season?
You can help DCDD when you shop on line by visiting the DCDD on-line store.
There are many ways you can help. iGive.com has hundreds of stores and discounts. By signing up you can help us receive up to 26% of your purchase. By going to www.iGive.com/dcdd you also help DCDD when you sign up for the first time and get your family and friends to join for DCDD – we make $5 dollars!
Check out the other links we have to Lamda Rising Book Store in DC, Amazon.com, Overstock.com, 1-800-FLOWERS, and Expedia.com.
Shop till your fingers can’t type anymore!
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Looking ahead to 2008
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Symphonic Band members will get a short break, but rehearsals will resume on Monday, January 7th - invite your friends to come join us or those who have been inactive to rejoin us for Scott's last season with us.
Annual Meeting - Sunday, January 13 - DCDD will hold its Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet including election of officers.
Details on time and location will follow. DCDD Officers are elected for a one year term. There are three Director seats that will be filled. Two are two-year terms, one is a one-year spot. If you are interested in running for one of these positions, please contact
Concerts in 2008
Intimate Winds - Sunday, February 24, 2008 - Small Ensembles
- An afternoon concert featuring La Reeda Loca, Stonewall Brass, our Saxophone Quartet and ensembles in the DCDD musical family.
Festivals of the Earth - Friday and Saturday, April 25 & 26, 2008 - Capitol Pride Symphonic Band
- A celebration of Mother Earth and all her delights. Including some gems from the CPSB music vault.
  
LGBA Conference 2008 - October 30 - November 2
- March in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade
- Workshops: Performance, Conducting, Diversity, Fund-raising
- Boo Ball - Masquerade Party
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Holiday Jam - December 15
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DC Swing! and DCDD's Capitol Pride Symphonic Band invite you to join them for Holiday Jam - 8:00 pm, Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 212 East Capitol Street, NE.
Join Santa in a Housetop Caper and enjoy a blast of Big Band sound with Santa Claus is Comin' to Town.
CPSB will take you from the spiritual heights of O Magnum Mysterium and O Holy Night, to the magical March of the Toy Soldiers from Babes in Toyland.
Plus many other tunes to get you in a festive mood.
Holiday Gift Baskets will be available for bidding!
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DCDD's Kennedy Center Debut
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There's an old joke about a tourist in New York asking a fellow, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The response is, "Practice!"
The equivalent for Washington, DC is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - and on Sunday, June 24, DCDD's Capitol Pride Symphonic Band (CPSB) got there!
Band member Blake Velde said it was something he had dreamed about since attending his first symphony concert there as a child. He and many others have long wanted to perform there.
For many years DCDD has enjoyed a good working relationship with the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington (GMCW). They had commissioned a choral work and planned to premiere the work at the Kennedy Center. They invited CPSB to join them onstage.
DCDD Artistic Director Scott Barker wanted to include a work that was composed specifically for a concert band. He felt that since concert bands don't regularly perform at the Kennedy Center, it would be good to feature a work for that group in addition to performing transcriptions of orchestral works.
CPSB opened the concert with Assistant Artistic Director Beth Smith conducting a rousing performance of Rise of the Firebird by Steven Reineke. Scott Barker then took the podium and led the band through First Suite in E-flat by Gustav Holst. Next up we played a haunting piece that was commissioned to honor the students at Columbine High School - An American Elegy by Frank Ticheli. This was a Kennedy Center debut for this work.
The band rounded out our performance with the magical Jungle Fantasy arranged by Naohiro Iwai. The band was joined onstage by GMCW and Scott Barker conducted When You Believe by Steven Schwartz from the film Prince of Egypt. We ended the first half of the concert with GMCW Artistic Direct Jeff Buhrman conducting the CPSB and the GMCW in The God who Gave us Life from The Testament of Freedom by Randall Thompson.
The featured work by GMCW was an exciting work – This House Shall Stand – Songs of My Family by Robert Seeley and Robert Espindola. The chorus gave an excellent performance of this beautiful new work. But as you can imagine – this work was somewhat anti-climactic for members of the band.
We joined the audience basking in the glow of our Kennedy Center debut! Of course – we want to perform there again!
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DC Swing Still Cutting a Rug!
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DC Swing! CD makes a great holiday gift!
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Track list follows:
- It Don't Mean A Thing
- Don't Get Around Much Anymore
- Fly Me To The Moon
- Since I Fell For You
- Alright, Okay, You Win
- Ain't Misbehavin'
- Girl From Ipanema
- In The Mood
- Shiny Stockings
- Jump, Jive and Wail
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Purchase in the DCDD Box Office
DC Swing! will perform next at the TransGender Education Association Holiday Gala 2007 on Saturday, December 1st.
And, of course - DC Swing! will open the Holiday Jam concert on December 15.
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