Map
The Broad Ripple Gazette
Vol. 14 No. 7
Including the Cultural Districts and Midtown: Meridian-Kessler, Butler-Tarkington, and Meridian St.
page 16
Random Ripplings
Crossword page 13
Mar 31 - Apr 13, 2017
Reverend Peyton and Breezy recently played a free, all-ages, in-store performance at Indy Cd and Vinyl, 806 Broad Ripple Avenue [H4 on map]. Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band’s new album is Front Porch Sessions.
photo courtesy of Scout Band of America archives
The Scout Band at Military Park in downtown Indianapolis Circa 1919.
Crossroads of America Scout Band - 100 By Mario Morone
mario@broadripplegazette.com John Valdez is the Chair for the Crossroads of America Scout Band’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. He recently discussed how his scouting and musical backgrounds crossed paths. “I was active in scouting and knew about the band since the Director (Harvey U. Gill) lived near me and I cut his grass. I got into the Scout Band in 1982 after graduating from Ball State University in 1981, majoring in Commercial Art and minoring in Music. I’ve been with them since 1982 and am basically, the only adult that helps out with the percussion section. I play all percussion, but more times than not, the drum set. I grew up in Indianapolis and started playing drums in grade school, then at Arlington High School and college, where I played in the concert, marching, pep and jazz bands,” he explained. The Scout Band is preparing for several forthcoming events this season. “We will play for the Mini-Marathon downtown at the starting line, which we have done for the past 15 to 20 years. I think that we are the only group that has played for this event every year since they started having entertainment. From probably 1957 to 1993, we played in every Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade in downtown Indianapolis the day before the race and we’re hoping to do that again this year. We have continued to go out to the track every year, playing at the race and marching around the track. To my knowledge, other than Purdue University, we are the only band that has continued that tradition every year at the invitation of Purdue University. I think that Speedway High School has done it many times. We have marched many more miles around the track than any other band in the world, especially for a nonhigh school band. We practice once a week,” Valdez mentioned. “During the month of August, for about the past twenty years, we have played for the wreath laying ceremony of Indiana’s only President, Benjamin Harrison, at Crown Hill cemetery. It’s very much appreciated because his descendants actually lay the wreath there. We have played a Christmas concert annually for about the past dozen years at the Indiana State Museum. In many cases, we might get a couple of weeks’ notice when we are asked to play. Most of the people involved in the Scout Band come from another scout unit around the area. We are Venture Crew 559, not a Boy Scout troop. We are called the Crossroads of America Scout Band because we have females in the band (previously called the Central Indiana Boy Scout Band), which started in the late 1970s. The band is composed of about three-fourths youth and about one-fourth adults. There was a time through the years, where we had as few as six or seven scouts in the band and in other years, there were as many as 150 in the band. It really varies with the times. We decided in the 1970s that it would be a good time to for parents to sit in with their kids to play and give guidance. Many times, I am just backing the percussion section, playing the snare, bass drum, cymbals or any number of percussion instruments. We have many youth and adults sit in with the band, but the percussion section is a different breed of musicians where we don’t always play the same instrument on each song. As an adult, I’ve had to act like a traffic cop, directing the scouts so that every part is covered for each song. I want to feature the scouts in the band – that’s what it is all about. I have played in the band for more than 30 years and am currently the equipment manager,” he noted. “The most rewarding thing about being in the Scout Band is working with the youth. The kids get excited before a performance. I used to feel that way before playing a concert as a boy. The fact that we have melded it with scouting makes it very unique. We are the oldest continuously operating scout band in the country (and possibly the world). The band has evolved since it started as a drum and bugle corps in 1917 by our founder F. O. Belzer. We probably did not have a full band until the late 1920s,” Valdez surmised. The Band celebrates a historic event later this year. “Our 100th anniversary concert will be at Camp Belzer on July 7th, playing in an outdoor arena that will include patriotic anthems as well as pop tunes, like the 1812 Overture with 2-75 mm Howitzer cannons from Fort Harrison. The Army National Guard will re-enact this, it will include all the bells as well. There are concert portions of the song where the bells go off that will be rung by parents and siblings of scouts in the band. It will probably be topped off with fireworks. That’s just one of the things we are planning during our week-long celebration from July 2nd to 8th,” he said. Bill Schofield, President of the Scout Band’s Belzer Scout Band Booster Club, said,
INDEX
See Scout Band pg. 3
Random Ripplings
Broad Ripple Magnet High School hosted representatives from more than 15 local Arts and Community organizations at an appreciation dinner showcasing current collaborations and imagining future ones. The Bassoon Trio is an excellent example of a partnership with Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts. Butler Professor of Bassoon Dr. Doug Spaniol coached the ensemble in their performance at the dinner.
photo by Thomas Ewigleben
Many more color photos from each issue are available at
www.BroadRippleGazette.com
1 Scout Band
4 Random Rippling pinewood
7 Mistakes winner
11 Random Rippling Upland
14 Wine Scene Jill A. Ditmire
1 Random Rippling Peyton
5 BR Brewpub Quiz
8 Buzzing Around Town
11 Random Rippling Shampoo 14 Cultural Districts Random
1 Random Rippling BRHS
6 Classified Ads/Public Notices
8 Random Rippling Neat-O
12 Random Rippling trees
15 Directory / Maps
3 Random Rippling recording
6 Win Jazz Kitchen tickets
9 Random Rippling 49th
12 Where in the Village?
19 Right in my Own Backyard
3 Calendar
7 Random Rippling church
9 Poetic Thoughts
12 Hidden History / Sudoku
19 Random Rippling IFD
4 Winter Farmers Market
7 Local Contacts
10 Round the Ripple
13 Crossword / Historic Ad
20 Random Rippling Legion