I discovered a great store this past holiday season, the body shop, oh my god.
That is the perfect last minute thoughtless gift warehouse.
You can shop there with your eyes closed, great fruit bath gel.
Let's see, my mom eats great fruit, she bathes, boom.
Nice bottle, no need to buy wrapping paper.
Total shopping time, nine seconds.
But if you're going to send someone a present, send it federal express, oh my god, they're unbelievable.
You call up FedEx, you're like, kind of something on delivered.
It's there already?
I haven't even put it in the box yet.
Now I'm actually looking at it right now.
It's on my kitchen table, oh my god, it's gone.
That was good work.
Well, my dad likes the sweater.
He's trying it on.
It's too big on him.
You're going to fly him to Macy's to exchange it.
But the receipt is it, oh thank you.
It's the happiest season of all.
With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings, when friends come to call.
It's the happiest season of all.
There'll be parties for hosting marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow.
There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.
It's the Moe hit 708 at WRJN Radio cloudy today with a hundred forty chance of rain and
snow tonight.
Lose around thirty two tomorrow.
A chance of rain and snow with a hundred forty right now cloudy and thirty four degrees.
It's 709 at WRJN 1400 AM 99.9 FM in Racine 98.1 FM in Kenosha.
Civic Media, hometown radio refreshed and I'm I usually see this guy only in the summertime.
I'm so freaked out to see him in the winter.
I want to move that microphone a little closer down when you're everywhere you have to say.
Mark Eichner, conductor of the Racine Concert Band.
For how many years now?
Twenty one years.
Twenty one years and you took over from Del Eich was the conductor for a hundred years.
Twenty seven.
Twenty seven.
And the band which is owned by the city of Racine, correct?
Well, we were part of the city of Racine until 2007 and we were privatized and so for.
Oh, since then we're independent non-profit arts.
Look at that.
I didn't know that.
But we do receive us.
We get a subsidy from the city of Racine.
And the mayor always comes to the concerts.
More than what?
Yeah.
And just the Racine Concert Band turned one hundred years old at last summer.
And was it last summer?
Yeah.
It was one last summer.
Right.
I'm always confused because we have our 98th anniversary coming up on Wednesday of next week,
WRJ Interns 98.
But it's really the end of 97 years.
It's not the end.
It's the beginning of the 98th year.
So I never knew how to say that.
So you're going to be starting the 102nd year, 102 years.
That's an honor.
How many conductors have been with the band since 102 years?
Have you ever looked that up?
There's only five.
So I have the answer in this book right here.
I brought it with me.
Delish put together the history of the band.
It's called in the band played on.
It is the history of one of America's elite community bands, the Racine Concert Band.
And Delish unfortunately passed away about a year or so ago.
But I think a year ago last September, it was.
And what a nice guy.
Always showed up at the concerts.
Always was at that big bass drum handing out the questions and answers for the trivia question collecting donations.
And we did a great job.
I love Del.
I always smile on his face.
And we had him in this radio station many, many times over the years.
And he put together this book.
And I guess you can still get it for sale.
But the band gives away copies during the summer.
That's right.
But they don't have what I have.
An autographed copy from Delish when I bought it from him.
And I did buy it.
I didn't get it free.
So the Racine Concert Band has concerts all summer long through July and August at the zoo.
The Racine Zoo in the band show.
But you weren't always at the band show.
That's not where it started 101 years ago.
Well, the band played all over the city.
And the city facilitated that by buying a stage on wheels.
So for decades, the band would travel to a different city park every week.
And mobile.
But it was difficult for the audience to keep up.
I remember, once before I was even associated with the band, we were broadcasting your concert.
You did it at the gazebo on the lakefront.
And when I walked the dog there every day for years, I looked at that gazebo.
How did he ever put the band in that gazebo?
I mean, everybody must've been on everybody's feet and that thing.
But were you the conductor in that?
I did conduct several concerts there at the gazebo.
That was very cramped and getting all the percussion equipment from the street into the gazebo.
And there's only an adventure.
There's only one staircase leading up.
That's it.
And you got it before you put the chairs up and everything you had to get all that stuff in the back.
Because once it's there, everybody stays there throughout the whole concert.
And we actually broadcast that live on the radio, that concert in the gazebo.
And that was kind of fun.
But I also heard that at one time you were actually at a different part of the zoo.
According to, I think I read it in the book.
We heard it from somebody.
You were actually up on the hill somewhere away from the band.
The more the band shell was built.
So the band's been all over the place.
Both the band shell who put that together.
That was the Kwanis Club.
They built the band shell primarily for the recene concert band to have a permanent home,
but also for other civic events to happen there.
I've been hosting the concerts now for, I know, 12 years or more, probably a little more.
I can count on a number of fingers on my hand.
How many times it's been rained out on a Sunday night?
It hasn't been that many.
We've been very lucky.
And we want to keep that street going.
The only time I remember being bad was there was a, you could see the thunder and lightning.
You had your back to it.
So you didn't see it.
And I remember coming, I think this concert's over.
I heard some lightning bolts in the sky.
And people started running.
But that's the worst I've ever seen.
That was only once.
And the rest were like, was it drizzly thing?
And it's uncomfortable to watch a concert in the drizzle.
But people have a great time.
And it's absolutely free.
There's no charge to get in.
And you can enjoy the concerts free every Sunday night.
You bring a blanket, bring chairs, bring your noisy kids.
Bring everybody drag grandma over there.
And bring some dinner with you if you want to bring a little food there.
Just don't bother the animals because there it's their place.
They're the permanent residents of the zoo.
And if you're going to bring your kids, they can't bother the animals.
Those the animals will bite.
So stay away from them.
Now the reason marks here is, the reason he is here is the fact that although they do the summer concert,
you actually do winter concerts as well.
And one is coming up tomorrow at Park High School.
That's right.
Seven o'clock.
And like all the summer concerts, it's a free concert too.
We've the bands given more than 1500 free concerts.
And we're delighted to play with the students at Park High School tomorrow.
And they keep track of that because at the beginning of every summer concert,
you mentioned how many free concerts.
So the clicker is going at every concert more than 1500 free concerts.
Now in all fairness, the band doesn't work for free.
They give up their time.
You do rehearsals.
You only do one rehearsal a week, which I find amazing.
And I was at two of those rehearsals once.
And they pick the professionals and they pick it up right away.
You can't out the sheet music and that's where they are.
My brother played with some of the biggest rock groups of the 60s,
little Anthony and the Imperials, the Cherelles, the Chiffons,
Benny King, Ruby and the Romantics, the crystals.
And these are all groups that didn't have their own band.
So when they played on these coasts, they had to have a band.
And the booking agent always went to my brother's band because my brother read music.
And these people came in.
They didn't want to rehearse.
Hand out the sheet music.
This is it.
And the manager of the band would come in and group and say,
here's the sheet music.
Here's the order.
We'll see you tonight at seven.
And my brother went with the sheet music rehearsed with the band because he was able to read it.
And they knew they can depend on him.
But you got to read music.
If you can't read it, you don't know what to do.
Because each group had their own arrangements for these songs.
Even if you knew the song, if you didn't know the arrangement.
Now you have to, when you do a concert, you've got to do this way in advance.
Get this music.
And you have to pay for the music rights are not free.
I mean, you're going to pay for that stuff.
Who puts that all together?
Well, I do the programming for the concerts.
And that's a big job because they all have to be done at the same time.
So I'm not programming one concert at a time.
I'm programming seven concerts at a time.
And lighting up the soloists for those concerts.
And making sure we have all the music.
And so it's a big project.
Now, you do have to pay music rights.
There's something called BMI ASCAP and CSAC.
Every radio station, every TV station.
Everybody does a public performance of music.
It has to pay for that.
It's not free because people wrote the songs.
Unless you get one in the public domain.
Which if you're lucky, you can do as much as you want.
You have to pay for it.
So how far in advance do you have to do this to program the summer concert?
I usually start in March.
And it has to be done by early May so that all the music can be assembled
and distributed and put it into folders.
The licensing is not a big...
Because you pay a blanket fee.
Right.
It's a blanket license.
So we pay once a year.
And then we just report everything that we play at the end of the year
so that the composers and the rangers get their fair share.
Yeah.
And we'll radio stations that we play.
One pay one blanket fee.
We'll play as much music as we want.
Because most of the music is covered by those three organizations.
And the ones that aren't play their songs.
It's rare when you find one like that.
Okay, so now, after you get the music picked out,
how do you get the sheet music for each instrument?
How does that happen?
Because there are a lot of instruments and everybody's sheet music
has got to be a little different.
Oh, of course.
Well, that's the Librarian's job.
And it's Joven's work.
Vera Ogan is our librarian.
She does a fantastic job.
And there literally are thousands of pages of music that go in and out every single week during the summer.
So it's a huge job.
I hear after the concert, she said, all right, everything there music.
She's got it.
She's got to put them in files.
Now you do repeat songs, not a lot though.
I mean, I don't see a lot of repetition with these songs.
In the summers, we try not to repeat songs for at least two or three years.
Yeah.
And then we're going to talk just a moment about the guest artist you have,
vocalists who have to pick songs out.
Do you pick their songs out?
Oh, well, don't answer.
We'll find out.
I've got to keep people hanging in there for a few minutes.
Get 719 at WRJN Radio.
Cloudy 34 degrees now.
Cloudy with a high of 40 today.
No precipitation today.
But tonight and tomorrow, maybe a little bit,
but nothing's going to cause any problems.
It's 718 at WRJN Radio.
1,400 AM.
99.9 FM and Racine 98.98.98.1 FM in Kenosha.
Mark Eichner, conductor of the Racine Concert Band.
My guest, more coming up at just a moment.
You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen.
Comet, and Cupid, and Donner, and Blitzen.
But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it goes.
All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to save.
Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
Then how the reindeer loved him, as they shot it out with glee.
Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.
You'll go down in history.
The singing cowboy, Gene Autry, also a former owner of the California Angels baseball team.
And he was the owner of Golden West Broadcasters that owned a ton of radio and TV stations in the northwestern part of the, and also California.
In America, a very rich guy, very nice guy.
He was a singing cowboy in movies for years.
You know the song here comes Santa Claus, but Gene Autry?
Sure.
Okay, you know how that song was written?
No, I'm going to tell you.
And you'll never forget, if time you hear this song from now on, you will remember this story.
He was in the Santa Claus Lane Parade, the Hollywood Parade that they do down.
They call it Christmas Lane in front of, you know, right downtown Los Angeles in Hollywood.
And he was toward the end of the parade.
And behind him was the big Santa Claus float.
And he could hear all the kids saying, here come Santa Claus, here come Santa Claus.
And he wrote the song, here come Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane.
And it was because nobody was paying attention to him.
It was all here come Santa Claus.
That's how we wrote the song.
Now every time you hear that song, you're going to think of that story.
You'll never hear that again.
We were talking about the Summer Concert series and the Washington Park High School Concerts coming up tomorrow.
We'll talk about that again.
Who gets to select their songs to sing?
You would think they would have some singing it, right?
They have three instrumental groups from Park that will be playing.
I'm talking about the solos during the summer, the singers.
Oh, during the summer.
Oh, well, I have a couple of giant files.
And one of them is more classically and folk music oriented.
And then the others, more show tunes and pop music.
And so I meet with every singer, every spring.
And we go through them and they get to see the music and we pick them.
Now Greg Berg is one of the singers every year.
He does a morning show at another radio station in Kenosha.
And trying to think of the other.
You had the Miss Wisconsin.
Genie Hatfield.
Right.
And Darling Kelsey, Alison Hall.
Alison Singers.
And they sing show tunes.
Some of them come and sing an opera.
And then they'll sing something we all know.
Show tunes.
I don't know how they sing in a foreign language.
I'll never get that.
I can't even order food in a foreign language.
If they're singing a whole song in a foreign language.
And they will come in and perform these songs.
And they're just great the way they do it on us.
They give up their Sunday nights to do it.
And in front of a nice crowd at the zoo.
And it's just a great concert.
Now the one tomorrow is a little different.
Tell us about what to expect for tomorrow.
Tomorrow it's concert of Park High School.
The concert tomorrow is part of our education outreach program.
Which began with the single concert in 2005 at Horlick.
And over the years the program has grown.
This is the first time in 2024 we'll be giving four high school concerts
with the students at Park and the case.
And at Horlick and at Walden School.
So this is the second concert of this season.
We started with the Walden students in October.
And tomorrow night a student from Park will be playing the jazz band,
the orchestra and the band.
And then there'll be at the end.
The receiving concert band will play a full set.
A 40-minute set of music.
And then we'll combine forces with the students.
And then we'll have some Carol of the Bells will be played.
And then also a tribute to John Sorenson,
a graduate of Park High School, who sadly passed away.
Last year, and he was the band director at Wilmot High School,
a former student of mine.
As a graduate of Park, there'll be a tip of the cap to him.
And the band will play.
Who's who in Navy Blue?
Because John was a career Navy bandsman.
Well, that's nice.
That's nice to remember people like that.
That's very nice.
During the concert, Christmas Eve, Sarri Abel.
That was...
Was that by the transubberian orchestra?
It is.
Okay.
Now I got my transubberian orchestra story for a year.
So my brother-in-law got my wife and I tickets to see the transubberian orchestra.
This is at the old Bradley Center.
And we get in there.
And we notice a lot of people with purple hair, blue hair, bones through their noses,
earrings through their lips and all that kind of stuff.
And I say, hmm, I thought we were going to see a orchestra, like a symphony orchestra on stage.
And I noticed that we're the oldest people in the room.
All these young people are there.
And you know, they're all excited with the transubberian orchestra.
And the concert starts.
It was the loudest chainsaw rock and roll you ever want to hear.
They had fireballs.
They even had a catwalk going over the audience.
They were playing their guitars as loud as they could.
Fireballs flying everywhere.
They saw a rock and roll.
And then halfway through the concert, the orchestra was on stage.
And they played some of the Christmas songs they have.
Then they closed the curtain.
Back to chainsaw rock and roll.
My ears were actually hurting me after that concert.
It's not what I expected.
I expected a orchestra.
And they're not at those two Christmas songs.
And what's the other Christmas song they do?
It's like a Carol of the Bells type Christmas song.
They're really surprised.
And my ears were aching.
But all these young people knew, yeah, that was great.
I loved it.
That phrase, when I was in Atlanta, somebody coined that phrase.
He said he worked at a radio station and played nothing but chainsaw rock and roll.
And I said, that's a great way to describe it.
Because that's exactly what it is.
Chainsaw rock and roll.
You wanted to work in one of your benefactors, one of the sponsors.
Right.
We started with just a single concert in the education program.
And we've been able to expand thanks to some foundation support.
And we particularly wanted to thank the Racine Community Foundation
and the Colonel Elsie Christians in religious and charitable trust
who are funding this concert.
And it goes beyond just the concert itself.
I rehearse the students in their classrooms to prepare for the concert
and we'll be rolling out a program now for in-class instruction by band members
coming into the schools to help the students with fundamental music skills.
You know, it's very good.
You know, you do the band concerts.
You help other people because, you know, we're not around forever.
Somebody's got to take over that band someday,
whether it be the conductor or the people playing in the band,
got to grow new students.
If you know, grow them now, they won't be there later.
They are our future.
They are.
So I say anything in radio, I always say.
You've got to give them his business because I'm not going to be here for 25 years more.
So somebody's got to be in here.
So that's great.
We have more to talk about.
We'll talk about some of the history of the Racine Concert Band.
And I forgot what it's going to say.
You better get in here fast.
You knew this juggies.
I'm going fast.
Today, Claude with a high-tier 40 chance of rain at snow tonight.
Tomorrow, close 32 tonight.
Highs to your 40 tomorrow.
So when you snow won't stick.
It's Claude in 34 degrees now.
It's 729 at WRJN 1400 AM, 99.9 FM in Racine.
98.1 FM in Kenosha Civic Radio, Civic Media Radio.
That's hometown radio refreshed.
729 now.
More coming up and more Kykner in just a moment.
Music
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
Jack Frost nipping at your nose.
You tied cows, being sung by choir.
And folks dressed up like esquimones.
Everybody knows.
A turkey and some mistletoe.
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes are a glow.
We'll find it hard to sleep tonight.
They know that Santa's on his way.
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies.
You know the derivation of this song.
How it got written?
The Christmas song?
All right.
Once I tell you this, you'll never, every time you hear it,
you'll think about this.
Mel Tormé wrote the song.
He was in town here.
We actually had him brought in for the...
Not brought in.
He came in for the Christmas House for Cancer,
which used to be on Main Street.
It was a fundraiser.
And he was our guest artist one year.
And he told the story.
He was a freezing day.
Excuse me, a freezing.
He was a hot day in Palm Springs, California.
They don't have freezing days out there.
And it was so hot.
He was sitting there and he wrote...
A couple of words on a piece of paper.
And he wrote a few more words.
And a few more words.
And him and his writing partner said,
this is a song.
This is a song that came up with the Christmas song.
And that's how it started.
And on a hot day in Palm Springs, California.
I think he wrote the first words he said were...
What's the first word?
Something with ice in it.
I can't think of it with the song playing.
And that's how they wrote the song.
And it's one of the biggest, most beloved Christmas songs in history.
And that's how it got started.
It's just him sweltering in the heat and wanting to stay cool.
Now every time you hear that song, you'll think of that story.
And there are a lot of stories like that.
I mentioned earlier today, there's a Beatles Christmas song.
And they never recorded Christmas music.
And it wasn't available to the public to buy,
but it was sent out to all members of the Beatles fan club
as a Christmas greeting.
And some members of the fan club saved their songs.
And that's the only versions we have today
of the Beatles singing a Christmas song,
because they never did one.
Now the Beatles sang Broadway show music.
One of their hits on their first album was a Broadway show tune.
You know what it was?
You know what it was?
And no idea.
Yeah, it was from the music man.
There were birds on a hill,
but I never heard them singing till there was you.
Well, McCarty sang it on the first beatle album from the music man.
You don't think of the Beatles as doing Broadway show tunes?
No.
But not a cover band.
Yeah, so they were good.
Let's talk about a little bit of the history of the band.
Delish, who put this book to add to a heavy book.
This is not a, this is not a, it's a coffee table book.
And he put this book together.
And he found all these photographs of the beginnings of the band.
Now the band is a little different.
Right now during the summer you wear nice sports shirts and stuff.
But back then they wore these heavy woolen outfits.
And they're marching.
You guys were in the 4th of July parade every year.
But back then they were in the 4th of July parade.
Back at the beginning.
How did that start?
Do you know the beginnings of the band?
How would that all begin?
Well, the beginnings, there was already a band.
But it became aligned with the city in 1923.
And it was the Racine Park Board that administered the band with city funds.
But it literally was part of the city.
I mean, the city took care of the payroll.
They moved the chairs around and it stands to wherever the band was playing.
And it was integral part of municipal government at that time.
And the conductors, the first three conductors were hired.
We're chosen primarily not because they're music skills.
Although they had excellent music skills.
But they own the music.
And so if you wanted to job in those days as a band conductor,
you need to have your own band library.
Because the city was willing to pay the band members.
But they weren't willing to pay for music.
This is from the Racine Daily Advocate.
I guess a newspaper back then.
Wow.
July 26, 1853.
That's before Lincoln was president.
Think about that for a second.
That's before the Civil War.
Racine College Commencement at Union Hall.
Thursday, July 28, 1853.
2 p.m. Music by the Racine Band.
Now that's before they were the Racine Concert Band.
That was they were together.
When you think about the history of this band.
It's before the Civil War before Lincoln was president.
And they were playing here.
And by the way, it's before cars, electricity, and everything else.
So it's a long time.
Then from the Daily Advocate, October 14, 1853.
Site singing taught in two lessons.
Day and Beale's new notation.
A free lecture on this wonderfully simple and rapid method
of learning vocal and instrumental music.
We'll be delivered this evening, 8 o'clock, Union Hall,
by H.C. Gallup.
I guess you're training new members of the band right then.
I guess 53.
And it goes on and on about these in the 1860.
The Racine Daily NewsHenna and an ad for a concert coming up.
And I guess people took their horse and buggy to go see the band.
I mean, how else do you get there?
Well, in those days, if you wanted to hear music,
you heard live music.
Oh, yeah, of course, no radio, nothing like that.
You've got to get this book.
I mean, we have looked through it so many times.
There's even a picture of my house in the book.
And I told Dell about it.
Not only did he say, yeah, that's right.
The pictures are in black and white in the book.
He got me the color picture.
Oh, wow.
And that's my house from 1962.
Some strangers sitting on my porch while the band marched by now.
You still are in the fourth of July parade every year.
But you know, March, you're in a nice flatbed, which is nice
because it's tough to march in a bay.
And how many miles, three miles or so?
And that in that heat in July.
And look at those uniforms they're wearing.
Those are heavy uniforms.
You see high schoolers too.
Even the kiltees band.
I mean, they wear these heavy wool uniforms.
I don't know how they get around in that stuff.
I want to mention now again for people just tuning in.
Tonight, tomorrow night, there's a concert.
The Racine Concert band featuring Mark as conductor
will be at the Washington Park High School.
It's at 7 p.m.
It's free.
You first come first served, I guess.
You know, you get in, you get in.
And how long is the concert going for?
It should be about an hour and 20 minutes.
Oh, that's perfect.
Yeah, perfect.
Bring the kids.
Not if they're going to cry.
You know, if you're going to cry,
maybe get a baby sitter.
Maybe if you have a young person in grammar school
or elementary school.
Sure.
Because my wife teaches piano,
really early piano to a 10-year-old girl.
She plays the viola in her band
and whatever the elementary school band she's in.
And now she's learning the piano.
And I'm telling you, this kid's going to go places
because I mean, you learn one instrument,
you learn another instrument.
And then, and she reads music very well.
And she's 10 years old.
And my wife will teach her what she can.
And then she's got to move on to,
you know, if somebody who's more learned,
learned it in the, in the field.
There's a movie coming out.
Do you hear about it, Maestro?
I have heard about it.
A Bradley Cooper plays Leonard Bernstein in the movie.
Took him six years to study.
And he said he had to learn how to conduct an orchestra.
Because you can't fake it on screen.
People will know if you're faking it.
So he had to watch Leonard Bernstein
over and over and over again.
Then he had to rehearse with a band.
And they had to tell him, nope, you're doing it wrong.
And he had to practice over and over till he did it right.
I just thought you guys stand there
and wave your hands around to the beat of the music.
But there's a lot more to it than that.
You have to cue certain parts of the band.
How do you get, what's involved in conducting a band?
And this is not as big as a symphony orchestra.
You've got, it's a band.
They have different instruments and so forth.
But it's still difficult to conduct.
And you have, I saw your sheet music up there.
You have everybody's music in front of you.
Not just, you know, each person has their own instrument in front of them.
But you've got everything.
How do you, what the, how do you conduct a band or an orchestra?
Well, I know it's easy for you now
because you're doing it for so many years.
Well, right, in the beginning,
it's very daunting to look at a musical score
because we all learn music looking at one line.
We were worried about what we were going to play
and we followed that one line from beginning to end.
And then as you begin your studies as a conductor,
all of a sudden you're looking at 26 lines at the same time.
And so it's really hard to see the whole page at one time.
But it's a skill that you have to develop.
And then the manual technique,
the things that I'm actually doing with my arms
while the band is playing.
Some of that's just beat keeping,
but more, I'm more concerned mentally,
but not so much just keeping the band together
as making sure that we're in sync with what this piece is all about.
Yeah, so that's really my job.
It's making sure that we're heading towards this artistic bullseye
and whatever I have to do to get the band on track to head us there
is really what I'm concerned about most.
And then it gets tricky when it's windy outside.
Keep in mind, most orchestras play indoors.
And then it gets windy and then a few drops of rain.
And you're probably the only person who's out in the elements.
The band is under the band show,
but you're actually out in the elements
and you have to have paper weights to hold this music down
because it gets breezy sometimes on a summer night.
And I see you moving the paper weights around.
I could see that.
And on top of all this,
a occasion that will get somebody like me
who is only twice I had to do it,
narrate a song.
Now you got to cue them.
Then you got to cue me and make sure I'm in tune
with what everybody's doing along the way.
And you do all that.
And it looks so easy.
But then again, that's what you do.
You make it look easy.
Sometimes I'm just the traffic cop.
No, you don't.
You say that, but no.
So here's what I hear my Lena Bernstein story.
All right.
I got a story for everything.
So my dad worked for a federal pump company in Brooklyn.
And they did all the big pumps
and all the big plumbing for these big skyscrapers
in Manhattan.
So they repaired them.
And so one day there was a major problem
in this in the Upper East Side of Manhattan,
where all the hoodie toys live.
And he went in there and he said,
I know it's centered in this one apartment.
So I've got to get into the ceiling on that apartment.
So he gets in there and it's Lena Bernstein's apartment.
And Leonard Bernstein was home.
My father walked in there.
He saw this beautiful white grand piano.
This beautiful apartment.
I mean, talking to the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
This is nice stuff.
But it was centered over the bathroom.
So Leonard Bernstein and the Maestro came in and said,
well, my father said, can I stand on the toilet
because I got to get into the ceilings.
Go ahead.
Leonard Bernstein sat on the rim of the bathtub,
talking to my father about my brother's band
for the whole hour that he was in there.
And he said, I never met it.
This guy said nothing better to do than sit on the rim of a bathtub
and talk to my father about my brother's band.
He said, well, when did he learn to play instruments?
How did he learn that?
Where does he play now?
I mean, what's his goal?
What does he plan to do?
Leonard Bernstein, the Maestro, was talking to my father
while my father's fixing the pipes in the ceiling.
And I said, this guy said, we're real down there.
And my father said, he's never met a person like this before.
But Leonard Bernstein, he figured he's stuck up.
And he's got every right to be stuck up.
He's Leonard Bernstein.
But he said he was one of the nicest people to talk to.
Well, you know, in his joint music writings
and his young people's concerts,
I mean, he really did all that he could
to break that line between popular culture and classical music
and make it relevant for 20th century audiences.
And not to mention, before beside classical music,
he also composed the scores to West Side Story.
And a lot of other musicals, I mean,
the Broadway musicals, Leonard Bernstein.
I think it was Messiah his...
No, on the town.
And of course, Kennedy.
Oh, yeah, on the town.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, great conductor.
Anyway, the movie's coming out.
And don't forget trouble and Tahiti.
No, I never heard of that one.
That was his first one.
Okay, that's where I never heard of it.
His movie's coming out.
It's going to be called Maestro.
It stars Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein.
He's got the hair for it.
I think he can pull off the hair part of it.
And he said it was...
It's not easy.
It's even fake conducting.
You got to look like...
It's like when you play a guitar
and a rock and roll musical.
The guitar players can tell if you're faking it.
They can say you see your hands on the frets.
Now, this is a version of Slate Ride,
which I'll bet you never heard.
It's by Mozart, wrote a song called Slate Ride.
Let's give it a shot here.
Another wise Christmas.
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where the tree tops glisten.
And children listen to him.
Slay bells in the snow.
I'm dreaming of a wise Christmas.
That is the biggest selling song in the history of music.
Not just Christmas music.
The history of music.
White Christmas.
Biggest selling song ever.
It's every Beatles song, every Elvis song.
Of course, it's been around for how many years.
I always said, if you're going to write one song in your lifetime,
make it a Christmas song.
Because songs come and go.
But Christmas songs are played every year,
over and over by every radio station
and every band in America plays Christmas music.
Mark Ickner is here.
He's our guest today.
And we're talking about the concert coming up tomorrow night
at Park High School.
And that will be in the John Burns Theater.
It's a free concert.
It starts at seven o'clock.
But you also have some other concerts coming up next year
before the summer concert series.
Right.
In February, we'll be at Horlick High School
with their symphonic band, Jacob Myers,
is the band conductor there.
And that date is Tuesday, February 27th,
also a 7 p.m. concert.
And then we'll continue the program at Case High School
with Max Filer, the conductor of the band and orchestra there.
That's Thursday, May 23rd, 7 p.m. in their theater.
And for those two concerts,
the standard recene unified admission fees apply,
which are not too steep.
They're the same activity fees that they've charged
for all basketball game, all athletic events.
So we're not talking ticket master prizes.
No, it's $6 for adults.
$5 for students and seniors are $4.
I grew up going to Broadway shows
when I was a kid.
My mother went to the original funny girl
with a barber strison on Broadway.
$6 to get into a Broadway show back in the 60s.
I remember going seeing 1776 and 1969.
It was like eight bucks top ticket.
I took my sister-in-law a couple of years back
to see Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang.
It opened up on Broadway, actually 42nd Street.
The musical, $125.
You want to see Hamilton today?
It's nearly $200 a seat.
I mean, what happened to those ticket prizes?
I went from $6 as a funny girl to $200 to see Hamilton.
They are expensive to see a Broadway musical today.
So you better pick a good one.
I would pick Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang
only because it was available
and tickets were available for that day
because a lot of these shows are sold out.
And we went and it was good.
We had the car flying above the audience.
The music was good. Everything was good.
It was an old 42nd Street movie theater
which probably started out as a live theater at one time.
And they showed movies for years and years.
No porno films, just regular movies.
And then they converted it back into a live theater.
It still has live Broadway musicals there today.
So that's kind of good.
So when does the Christmas concert season start?
You know the date?
It's usually right after the 4th of July
or beginning right before the 4th of July, right?
Right around there.
The summer season.
Yeah, the summer season.
Did I say Christmas?
I meant summer.
I had to pay no attention.
Well, it's always tied to Independence Day.
So the first concert is always a flag waving concert
usually in the week before the 4th of July.
And then there's six more concerts after that.
Now you always start off with a march
and you always end the show with a march.
Usually a John Philip Sousa or something like that.
Is that the, when did that tradition start?
When I started with the band,
the band would play the stars and stripes forever
to close every single concert.
And as much as I love the stars and stripes,
there's so many great Sousa concerts marches.
So we close every concert with a Sousa march,
not the same one.
And then we also, and there's so many great American march composers
Carl King and Phil Moore and many others.
And so we always begin with an end with the march.
And so there's a certain flow to the concerts.
We usually have a classical overture and maybe a dance suite.
Then we bring on our singers.
And then maybe some folk music and phonic settings
or folk music and some pop-oriented music.
Bring the singer back for some Broadway showtons.
And so it has a nice flow to it.
And there's always some mumblemouth up there
giving the little history of the concerts.
And people say to me, when I get done, I'm the mumblemouth.
When I get done, people say, oh, that's so great.
Where do you get that information from?
And I'm very honest about it.
I tell them it took me all week to write that.
Actually, you put that together all week, the history.
And you got to look it up, the history of each song.
And that's very time consuming.
And then you get it to me and I look like a million bucks.
And I know you don't like me talking about that part.
Because you always say, don't mention that. I wrote it.
But you do write it and you should get credit for it.
And I do appreciate it because you make me look good.
Well, you make the band look good.
Yeah, you make me look good.
I thought the audience, some of them come to hear the band.
And some of them come to hear Don Rose.
Wait a minute, you're unpacking RJN, huh?
And we wanted to really mention,
we just play that Mozart version of Slate Ride.
But you have a different version you play.
Right.
We are playing a Slate Ride on Slate Ride on the program tomorrow.
It's by Sergei Prokofiev.
And it comes from an opera, Lieutenant Cagey.
And it's a very vigorous Slate Ride.
It's cold out. There's lots of snow.
We're bundled up in the Slate.
And the horses are frisky.
So I guarantee everybody will enjoy the Troika by Prokofiev,
which is a Slate Ride.
But it's not the Leroy Anderson Slate.
Not the Leroy.
Which everybody knows is a Slate Ride.
I was watching the Christmas at Rockefeller Center counter.
I taped it.
And they have songs out there that really we never heard before,
but they're nice.
Some really, it was, we're not hip-hop,
but they have modern performers that I never heard of before
doing the classics.
And they never get tired of doing the classics.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
and winter wonderland.
Those songs, that's why I say if you're right,
one good song, make it a Christmas song.
So you see these artists that I never heard of before
that are big, you know, with young people today,
doing the Christmas classics.
And it sounds, you know, they do it in their own arrangement,
their own style.
But it always sounds great when they do it.
And I guess the classics will never go out of style.
I don't know about that.
That's version of Slate Ride.
You're playing or the version of Slate Ride.
I played by Mozart.
I think they're a little bit out of fashion.
I can't wait.
That's, I might be going that tomorrow night.
Great.
Let's see what's happening.
Let's see.
Dancing with the stars is over.
Amazing race is Wednesday.
Yeah, I think I've, it's clear.
The concert is you have it there.
It's at Washington Park High School.
It's tomorrow night at seven o'clock.
It's free.
Bring the family.
Don't bring the screaming kids.
And you'll have a great time.
What a great way to spend the time for the concert.
And some Christmas songs.
Not all Christmas songs.
But it's going to be a great night.
And it's absolutely free.
Mark Eichner.
I will see you if not tomorrow night.
I'll see you during the summer.
How's that?
Thanks so much.
And you always come back when you have something to promote there.
I like that.
All right.
It's 758 at WRJN.
I'm Don Rosen.
I'll catch you tomorrow morning.
Brighten early.
6am.
You be here.