THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300590
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Heralding in brass the Fourth of July, the Tidewater Winds will blow up a storm Sunday in the Wells Theatre. The two-hour band concert, open free to the public, will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Should company drop by your place early in the day, you'd be wise to say, ``Oh, my gracious, we've just got time to catch the Tidewater Winds at the Wells!''
That will get them all up on their feet and moving in one direction, milling cattle that have been started on the trail.
Otherwise, they might settle in and take root right in the living room, a ring of slow-growing century plants.
In colonial times, they would, once there, linger two or three weeks or more, and in some cases become fixtures of the family circle until young kin in the clan would come to assume they were distant cousins.
That love of extended visits, ingrained through generations, is still rampant among Virginians.
A host is concerned that the visitors' stay of whatever hours is such that later there will be something at which they can look back and marvel and feel appreciated and honored.
When they enter the Wells, an elegant jewel box of a theater, lovingly restored, they will be enchanted. Then comes that resounding big slam bang brass band, the 75 members and their instruments meshing to evoke inspiriting music.
There are silver-snarling trumpets, melancholy oboes keening, mellow saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone), cornets - how long has it been in the name of Bix Beiderbecke since you heard a cornet? - mincing piccolo, mellifluous flutes, portentous bassoons, big, swaggering trombones.
And don't forget the drums - bass, snare and field - backing up and driving the others, nor the tinkling cymbals amid the sounding brass, the assertive little triangle daring to confront the bass drum, the wood block and its dry commentary, bells pealing, all under the sway of Sidney Berg and his assistant, Alberto Asercion.
The program includes two of John Philip Sousa's marches, ``Who's Who in Navy Blue'' and ``Glory of the Yankee Navy,'' that are rarely played. A medley features 14 numbers from ``That's Entertainment.''
There are Ferde Grofe's Mardi Gras from ``Mississippi Suite,'' Scott Joplin's ``Maple Leaf Rag,'' Bill Pruyn's ``Anchovy Strut,'' a medley of Irving Berlin's World War songs, and more than a dozen other selections.
Through the week, the ``Winds'' will present the same concert on Monday in Chesapeake at Great Bridge High School; Wednesday in Virginia Beach at 24th Street Park; Thursday in Virginia Beach at Princess Anne High School; Friday in Chesapeake at Western Branch Middle School.
And your company will bless you. by CNB