Item From the Past: Band Concert

It seems like I participated in a high school band concert 31 years ago. I have no memory of that particular concert, the Christmas concert of '78, probably because nothing unusual happened -- nothing funny (strange) or funny (ha-ha). But because of my essential pack-rat nature, I have documentary evidence that points to me being there. I would have remembered skipping a concert more than going to one, so I must have been there. And my mother paid $2 to sit through it.

The program actually has four pages. Besides the cover and the Symphonic Band member list, there's a Concert Band member list and a list of the music performed that evening, ordinary items such as "Old St. Nick Rock," a medley called "Noel," "Sleigh Ride," and "Christmas Music for Winds." No early versions of "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" or anything remarkable (if I remember right, that song didn't exist in 1978).

Looking at the Symphonic Band member list, I'm struck by how little I know about the people on it. I'm currently in contact, more or less, with one person in that band, and occasionally hear from or about a few others. A handful of others are Facebook friends only since this year. I know that at least three people on the list are dead -- one cancer, one suicide, one cause unknown. On the whole, I don't know what the people on the list are up to now; probably some are mathematicians and some are carpenters' wives, but mostly I don't know what they're doing with their lives.

Which is as it should be. Cleaving too closely to high school, more than 30 years later, would be pathetic.

I also took a look at what else might have happened on that particular day, besides a high school band concert no one remembers. Wiki tells us that one Patrick Casey was born on December 19, 1978. And what did the newborn baby Patrick have to look forward to (thus far)? A career in le bad cinema, as a writer and director worthy of commentary by Leonard Pinth-Garnell.

Among others, he has worked on such deathless films as I Was A Teenage Frankenstein's Roommate; Hey, Stop Stabbing Me!; National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze; Sledgehammers at Dawn; and his latest, Transylmania, "the story of a group of not-too-bright American college kids on a semester abroad at the only college that would accept them: The Razvan University," notes the free encyclopedia.

It continues: "The film has been universally panned by critics, with overwhelmingly negative reviews. The film currently holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, receiving not one positive review. It received an 8 out 100 on website metacritic, which assigns a normalized score to a film based on reviews, which makes it fall into the category of 'Overwhelming dislike.'

"[It] opened extremely poorly, at #21 with only $263,941 from 1,007 theaters, making it the 3rd worst movie opening since 1982 for films which opened in more than 600 theaters, and the worst for films opening in over 1,000 theaters."