2003 had its place in Newburgh history as the bicentennial celebration of the town’s founding, and the Old Dam Community Band was in the thick of things. The year started early with our first concert on January 5th at the opening ceremony of the bicentennial held in the Newburgh Presbyterian Church on the river in downtown Newburgh. Our concert featured the “Ode to Newburgh” written by our conductor, Jon Patton, with lyrics by Wayne Fiester. Wanda Kavanaugh, a soprano with the Evansville Philharmonic Chorus and a lifetime Newburgh resident, sang the words as the band played in the sacristy of the church.
We played for everything Newburgh hosted that special year. The highlight that year, however, started when Dan received an e-mail from the Stavanger, Norway Brass Band in March. This fabulous band was going to play at the North American Brass Band Association’s (NABBA) contest in Little Rock, Arkansas, in April, and would be going from there to Columbus, Ohio, for another concert on a tour of North America. They were fishing on The Internet for a place to stay between the two locations, and picked out several possibilities to contact. Dan was the only one who immediately answered.
He contacted the Bend in the River Brass Band, which was at that time practicing in Newburgh, about helping us come up with home stays, and the whole thing came together in a hurry. The 33 piece band of young adult, amateur musicians unloaded their bus at Castle High School on April 13th and entertained the community with the most wonderful, unusual, enthusiastic concert we could have imagined. This was high class stuff, as this band was internationally famous for their innovative work. The ODCB and the Bend in the River Brass Band both also played on stage at Castle, and felt so lucky to play on that stage preceding that wonderful band. It even turned out that the Stavanger Band had just won the international brass band competition and were, right then, the best in the world! Newburgh is listed in their program as the second concert of their USA tour, which included the contest in Little Rock, concerts in Columbus, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, LaPorte City, Iowa, North Judson, Indiana, and Chicago.
Those of us who hosted band members got to know some very intelligent, talented young people from Norway, who were grateful to have a place to stay. Dan and I stayed up late that night visiting with the young married couple, Margrethe and Morten Tonnesen, who stayed in our guest room, and we were so very impressed with them. I remember that she was a kindergarten teacher and the best flugelhorn player I’ve ever heard before or since. They all spoke good English and were obviously very educated, personable ambassadors for Norway. Only Dan, and the ODCB, could have pulled this international event off so quickly and so well.
That year the Little Old Dam Band welcomed the Delta Queen when it docked at downtown Newburgh on one of its last cruises before it was retired. What a thrill that was for all of us who played or watched as the passengers and crew brought that beautiful old steamboat alongshore for an afternoon in an old river town.
Later that summer, the little dixieland group sent the LST out of Evansville on its summer cruise downriver. The big band welcomed the American Veteran’s Vietnam traveling tribute to the new lock and dam location on the river at Newburgh on July 27th. We were everywhere again that year.
Members present for a picture taken in 2003 were:
Pat King, Bob Buchanan, Elissa Bakke, Mike Filipi, Bryant Taylor, David Motz, Jona Witherspoon, Ed Ellis, Mike Dix, Charlie Dewig, Nick Dewig, Mark Taylor, Ted Gore, Virgil Miller, Ray Arensman, Bryan Hartig, Jim Sermersheim, Jim Bolte, Gene VanStone, Carl Becker, Wayne Fiester, Jeff Middleton, Mike Reising, Terri Schultz, Tom Rusche, Dave Emery, Jon Patton, Mary Demotte, Tina Wedding, Frank Book, Hugh Whittaker, Jo Frohbieter-Mueller, Matt Shepherd, Anna Hartig, Dan Schultz, John Powell, Bill Haas, Jack Hampton, and Dave King.
We proudly stand on the old steps in downtown Newburgh in our striped vests and white fisherman’s caps, with the band logo visible. We stand in the same place as a picture of that old Newburgh band in 1910. Music is alive and visible in our little town, and is still going strong 100 years later!
Elizabeth Emmert
Through the years, the ODCB has had members come from all walks of life. Very few of us are professional musicians, but, of course, all of us love music. Band members have included many teachers, band directors included. Betty “Liz” Emmert, my aunt, has been a valued band member for several years, after retiring as band director at Haubstadt High School and later Haubstadt Community School. This lady is responsible for the musical education of many of our present day band members, including me. She taught me to play the sax in 1962! Liz also drove a truck cross country in her varied life and raised six children to be teachers, five of them band directors! She currently has many private students on varied instruments and directs the children’s choir at Saints Peter and Paul church in Haubstadt.
Recently widowed, and despite a couple of heart attacks, she never misses a rehearsal or a performance, and plays first clarinet in the ODCB. Aunt Betty came to play with us the evening of the day that her husband died because we, and music, are her comfort. I think that says a lot for the band, and for her love of music.
ODCB members come from all walks of life. We are doctors and nurses, social workers and pharmacists, teachers and postal workers, engineers and electricians, architects and businessmen, lay ministers and even a priest. We are ordinary people, but always interesting people, because, despite all our differences, we love music. Our tastes certainly vary: Some of us like pop music, some of us are stuck in the 60’s or 70’s , or even the 40’s and 50’s. Some love classical music or rock and roll. Some of us are good musicians, some are true professionals, some of us are still learning, and some never will. Some of us are college students, or perpetual students, or still middle and high school students. A community band is so many things, but, more than anything else, it is an opportunity for anyone who has the desire to play music to rehearse every week with others who feel the same way. It is the chance to shine for an audience, maybe a chance to solo, or the choice to blend in and just be a member of a great organization. It is the chance to play again in a band, maybe years after storing your horn in your mom’s attic. For many of us, it is an opportunity we never thought we’d have.