The Band Members remember (sort of) a few out of town trips
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From Morris Friedman
Any of you guys still have vivid memories of our embarrassment in Savannah the night that Mr Barr got blitzed? I still don't know who it was that messed it up the first time. Help me out guys. Charlie, you should remember this.
Morris
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An interesting question from Morris to the band members. I have a vivid recall of that night in Savannah. We blew the half time show and Mr Barr had us back on the field doing the show after the game. Since we lost the football game, the Savannah crowd thought we were doing a celebration on their behalf.
Bob
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From: Mark Warren
I remember it more being the Gator Bowl that we messed up. Nobody was in the stands so we got an echo that was a measure or two off what we were playing so it threw us off. The yard line markers were also hard to see on the sideline so everything was going bad at the same time. I do remember Mr. Barr being not happy!
BTW, do we all remember that Mr. Barr was a national soloist champion on the tuba? If you never heard him play the tuba, you missed something special.
-- Mark Warren
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From: Charlie Hind
Mr. Barr blitzed? I guess I was too busy working on my own to notice. That's a sad fact, and one that I am no longer proud of.
I do remember having to do the show again after the game, but I don't know who's fault it was. Most likely the drummers...or 'dummers' as Mr. Barr preferred to call them. We sure had some good times on those bus trips after the games. Do you remember the night Charles Wright set off a canister of tear gas on the bus? That was so exciting. We all got to stand out by the side of US 17 while they investigated the scene and aired out the bus. I think Charles spent a few days on the Russian Front for that one. I know he was never in the band again.
Man, I'm getting homesick.
Charlie
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From: Jeannie J. Vaughan
I think ALL the band members will have a very vivid memory of that night. Fortunately I didn't have to ride the bus back to Brunswick that night since my family was headed on to Charleston for the weekend. I'm sure that bus ride was really pleasant too.
Actually I thought we recovered pretty well once we realized we had erred. Mr. Barr definitely had a different opinion. Imagine that!!
Ya know, this is much better than passing notes in class!! LOL
Jeannie
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From: Kaleen Dixon
Band Members.....
I definitely remember the Savannah incident......was a very long, quiet ride home.
On a lighter note.......how about when the stadium lights were turned off and we marched down the field with flashlights taped on our legs and hats?!? Did we really do that?? Of course, I was twirling fire....did anybody know how dangerous I was....never really knew what I was doing!!
Merry Christmas! Kaleen
Kaleen Keithcart Dixon
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From: Morris
Jeannie,
That bus ride lasted forever.
Mark,
I thought the Gator Bowl show went well. What I referred to was definitely in Savannah. We messed up the half time show and had to redo it after the game was over. Like Bob said, the crowd thought we were saluting them but the embarrassment we felt was beyond belief.
Morris
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From: Mark Warren
I had forgotten about the tear gas, but boy, do I remember it now. I was on that bus.
-- Mark
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From: Lynn Johnson Anderson
Good Morning to All & Merry Christmas
That game was in Augusta... Lucy Laney High...Remember we had a GA banner on the side of the buses and the kids from Augusta pulled them off .I also believe that we had started the half time when some one was out of sink with the rest of us right from the beginning and that was when Mr. Barr blew his whistle and made us run back to the goal post and start the half time over.I remember being soooo embarrassed. Correct me I'm wrong , but I am almost 100% positive on this.
Lynn
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From: Rhonda Holcomb Eunice
Lord, how could anyone forget that fiasco?! The one or two on the front line (no, I was not one of them….) marched an extra five yards. Some stopped on the correct yard line, and some (in their confusion…and no, I wasn’t one of them) decided to catch up to them. We all sort of stood there looking dumbfounded at each other, and I think part of the woodwind section just sort of kept on playing, and the front line just stopped.
Hey, in defense of Mr. Barr, he was always blitzed……………
For some reason I thought this happened in Jacksonville. Boy, was Mr. Barr pissed. Yep. Remember it all too well. Thanks for the memories, Morris! Ya’ll remember the Teaberry Shuffle?
Mark-
I don’t recall ever hearing Mr. Barr play the tuba, but I remember him talk about playing tuba in a circus at one time. He t old us about a tune that was played which was particularly difficult for the tuba called “Walking/Waltzing the Frog” or something like that. I was a nursing student when he had his stroke, and remember how surprised that he remembered and recognized me. All in all, there was no greater band director than Robert M. Barr. Even on his most blitz days he was the best.
Rhonda
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From: Mark Warren
Thanks Rhonda -- I still think we had a Gator Bowl fiasco, but I may be having a senior moment :-)
-- Mark
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From: Bob Hall
I read through parts of the '67 website email trails from the band. Most of them recall it being Savannah (where we had to return to the field after the game), which is how I remember it. That said, I'm not sure what I had for lunch yesterday, and since the folks from the class of '67 are SO very much older than we are, can we trust their memories?
I do know this, my time in the band was always memorable. The teaberry shuffle, the lights out shows, the lighted batons that would not always stay lit (how did you ladies keep from burning your various body parts?). Mr Barr told us that when he asked if we could perform our lights out show at the Gator Bowl, the Gator Bowl management said sure, so long as we did the Teaberry Shuffle!
Bob
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From: Morris Friedman
The Teaberry Shuffle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! That is a great memory. The crowds went wild over it no matter where we went. We were truly the "BEST" HS band in the state.
Morris
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From: Mark Warren
Can you imagine turning off the lights at a stadium now?
I do remember redoing a show. I think we had to do it twice after the game.
-- Mark
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From: Linda West Forbes
Hi All...and Merry Christmas,
Lynn, I forgot about the Augusta fiasco, but I do remember the Savannah half time show that we had to do over after the game. On the class of '67 website Jan and Mel have it exactly as I remember it! I also remember the bus fiasco when Charles Wright had the smoke bomb. I was sitting across the isle from him. I remember that Mrs. Barr and a friend were the chaperones on the bus and Mrs Barr went balistic and and our convoy of busses all pulled over and Mr. Barr came running to see what the problem was...........after all of the hull-a-baloo was over, Mr. Barr got on our bus and we rode back to Brunswick with the lights on and not making a sound.
I do remember Mr. Barr playing the tuba! He was awesome. I also remember him telling stories about his time in college at the Cincinnatti Concervatory of Music. He and Al Hirt went to college together. He told a story about he and Al going somewhere in an old A model and ran into a terrible rainstorm. The rain was so bad that they flipped the windshield out (you could do that in those old cars) because they couldn't see .
Linda
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From: Rhonda Holcomb Eunice
No Senior Moment happening, Mark, I remember it as Gator Bowl, too. When we did the “whistle incident” that was in Savannah, and one of the Blue Jacket trumpet players rang out “Nah, Nah. Nahhh, Nah Naaaaahhhhhh, Naaaaahhhhhhh!” Hated Savannah team ever since…..
Wow! What a memory, Linda!
Rhonda
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