Let's talk Racine Concert Band, the executive director of the band.
Sean Del Grosso is here today, and thanks, Sean, for waking up and joining us this morning.
Hey, no problem.
I know you musicians always, you know, at clubs late, listening to jazz bands till three or four in the morning.
I know how it works with you guys.
Oh yeah, all
the time.
Okay, so the Racine Concert Band, for those that don't know, just started their hundred and fourth continuous year of providing free concerts
to the folks, not only the city of Racine, but if you want to come from anywhere, you can.
You don't have to just be a city residence, but they've been doing for the city of Racine for a hundred and four years.
And to be a conductor or to be even an executive director or a member of that band, that's historic.
And you got you.
Absolutely.
Go ahead.
So give us a little bit now.
That's the 104th season actually started on the 5th of July with the big downtown Racine celebration of our 250th birthday.
And you had a stage right there on Main Street, the blocking Main Street, a huge stage with the biggest flag I've ever seen in my life behind the band.
So that was the first concert of the year.
And something I didn't know, besides playing instruments, you sing.
Who knew?
Yeah,
it was a surprise to me too.
No, I've been singing for a long time.
That's what I got my college degree for.
Okay.
And you play several instruments, you know, just play a brass instrument.
What else do you play?
You play what
now?
String bass, tuba, bass trombone.
Those are my, those are my main ones, some guitar.
If you learn one instrument, is it easy to learn all of them?
It all depends on where your mind's at.
You know, some are easier to, depending on what type of person you are.
You know, my wife tried to teach me piano when you started a year ago.
My problem was it in practice enough.
That was it.
And I just I don't have that musicality in me like she does.
She can play.
She plays the ukulele, the guitar.
She plays the piano.
She's got musicality.
I just don't have it.
And it doesn't mean you can't learn it.
It just means it doesn't come naturally to me like it does her.
She can sit down and play the piano.
And when she's got those piano fingers that are long and thin where you can do that, I got the big fat sausage fingers.
where it's hard to do it.
And I just started to learn how to use my left hand in the piano without staring at it, but it's difficult.
I mean, you got to, I'm concentrating on my right hand and you got to use your left hand.
You got to look at the music and it just, I didn't do very well at it.
Let's talk about the concert band.
You got a full season ahead and what are the next four are going to be where the next four concerts?
The next four, we're going to be at the racing zoo and all of those,
our downbeat as we like to say is that seven thirty uh... and the doors uh... the doors quote-unquote
gates
yet uh... the gates open up at seven so uh... people can arrive at seven uh... to enjoy those concerts
what's on the bill affair for this sunday do you know
uh... well we have uh... a singer i i think this is their first time uh...
singing with us Lucia Munaguria.
And she's from Argentina.
But she's also been very well known in the area to sing in the Chicagoland area.
And then we have the group of musicians from Racine Unified, the Lighthouse Brigade.
They're like a little kind of
marching band program that they have with through the racing unified.
And so, uh, uh, yeah, that's going to be a fun feature.
Yeah.
And they're legendary of the lighthouse brigade.
Uh, they're in the parades.
They're everywhere, lighthouse brigade.
And absolutely.
Now this young lady, uh, Lucia coming up, uh, from Argentina, is she flying in just for the concert or she lives here now?
I believe she's a, I think she's a resident of the, you know, the Greater Chicago land area.
I hate to think she's just flying right in for the concert and going home after it's over.
And usually at every concert, not usually, at every concert, you have the music, you have patriotic tunes, at every, you have march band, marching songs.
You also have a vocalist at every one.
And I don't have the program in front of me here.
Actually, I do have it on my phone, but you have vocalists at every one.
It's a full concert.
It runs about an hour and 15 minutes.
But when you come to the zoo, bring your lawn chairs because you're going to have to sit on the grass if you feel like, bring a blanket, lawn chair, plenty of room.
It's at the Kiwanis Amphitheater, which is now on
You can enter at the main gate.
You have to enter at Walton.
Is that the name of the street there?
Yeah, I believe so.
Yeah.
You enter on the north side of the zoo and seven o'clock they'll let you in.
I love Downbeat.
I used that the other day.
That's a musicians term.
And I wanted to feel like I was in with the in crowd there.
Yeah.
It's Downbeat at 730.
And it's for the next four Sundays, it's going to be at the Racine Zoo, which was the home for many, many years.
Racine Zoo, and then the last two are going to be at the DeCoven Center, right?
Right, yeah.
We're excited to check out a new venue and see what it has to offer.
It's just a really beautiful site, and so we're excited to check it out.
As great as these musicians are, which most of these people play with numerous different bands.
They don't just play with the Racine Concert Band.
They'll play with the Kenosha Pops.
They play at their church bands.
They
Everybody, they're always or the Milwaukee, I can fix the name of the Milwaukee band they play with all the time too, but they're all over the place.
What I don't understand is how it's one rehearsal and that's it.
I would think you'd rehearse every day, but you don't, it's one rehearsal and you guys got it nailed.
I don't know
how you do it.
Yeah, well, I mean, a lot of the time, I mean, these people are, we're professional musicians, so we're usually playing every day.
So that,
that in some ways makes the music a little bit easier to read, uh, just because we have so much, uh, so much skill in that reading.
Now, I will tell you that when my brother back in the sixties, he used to play with the acapella groups like, uh, the Shangri-La's Rubin, the Romantics, uh, Benny King, the Lathin, the Imperials, all the big groups.
And what they used to do was they didn't rehearse with them.
They used to go there and get there about four or five o'clock.
Here's our sheet music, C in two hours.
But my brother was able to read music.
A lot of these rock and roll bands in the 60s, they couldn't read music.
My brother could.
So he used to rehearse the music with a band because he can read it.
And on stage, no rehearsals.
Here we go.
You better know how to play the music and keep up with us.
I don't know how he did it, but he was the band leader and he was able to figure it out.
OK, quick review.
The Racine Concert Band starting the 104th season actually started at this Sunday, downtown on Main Street, literally on Main Street in Racine.
The next four concerts will be at the Racine Zoo, Downbeat or Start Time, 730.
You can bring your lawn chairs, blankets, you can get into the zoo on the north side entrance.
I think it's Walton Street.
North side entrance, you come in there at starting at seven o'clock and park yourself down there somewhere right on the hill.
And there's even a couple of benches there too, if you can get there early enough to grab the benches.
and enjoy the concert.
It runs about an hour and 15 minutes, got marches, soloists and some great music, show tunes and so forth.
And are you playing in the band this weekend or are you going to, are you going to play this week?
Do you know?
I'm actually taking more of a reinforcement role this year.
So I'm going to be out in the audience, you know, engaging with them and then also working on the sound technician stuff,
selling hot dogs and
stuff.
We're not selling hot
dogs.
I pictured you with one of those big things they have at the ball games.
Oh yeah.
Get the red dots, get the hot dogs here, get the cold beer, get the peanuts, get the popcorn.
Yeah, that's not you though.
You're the executive director, you don't do that.
All right, so executive director, Sean Del Grosso is with us and we're all looking forward to it and I will be there as your MC again this year.
So I'm looking forward to a good talk.
