This afternoon, I’ll be at Oak Creek High School, enjoying the annual visit there by the
University of Wisconsin Marching Band.Director Michael Leckrone’s electrifying band will bring most, if not all of their 13 clarinets, 22 saxophones, 111 trumpets, 8 flugelhorns, 15 mellophones, 58 trombones, 9 euphoniums, 21 tubas, and 29 percussion instruments to raise the roof at OCHS.
The concert is a great family outing. Your heart feels like it’s going to pound right out of your chest when those percussionists lead the high-stepping band into the gym.
After the traditional opening, “On Wisconsin,” Leckrone will almost certainly turn to a middle-aged woman seated near the front row, as he always does and ask her, "Can you hear us OK lady?” I’ve heard it many times, but I don’t care. I still laugh at every corny remark the showman Leckrone makes.
I wonder if the crowd today can beat the record of doing the Chicken Dance in something like 24 seconds or less. I also wonder if some young band member will pick my wife to dance the Beer Barrel Polka with him. (She likes to sit on the aisle, and now I think I know why).
The band is special. For decades, the highly-talented students have been proud ambassadors for the marvelous UW. The visit to Oak Creek is usually a rehearsal for the band’s sold out spring concerts at the Kohl Center.
These young Badgers can really play. But one of the reasons I like to attend this concert every year, and this will sound as corny as one of Leckrone’s jokes, is that seeing these terrific students restores my faith and confidence in our youth. The vast majority of our young people today are good, decent, hard-working individuals we can be proud of. The Wisconsin Badger Marching Band proves it.
The concert starts at 3:00 sharp. There might be tickets at the door if you’re interested in going. If you miss them today, they have future concerts scheduled in New Berlin and Cedarburg.
Suggestion to Franklin: In an earlier blog, I wrote about plans for the Franklin Cultural Arts Center. Book the Badger Band as one of your first big events.
