The Mighty Ram Band

I spent yesterday morning in a reverie of old memories. I knew that today the Homecoming football game for the UF Gators would take place, and so I returned to my childhood remembrances of the Friday before Homecoming. Why? Because it was a holiday - no school! And, the main reason was the University of Florida Homecoming Parade - a two to three-hour long event with marching bands from universities and high schools all over Florida, as well as a few from Georgia and Alabama, too. There were floats and dignitaries and politicians, actors and comedians, horses, clowns, the Shriners' Car Clubs from all points in Florida, gymnasts, and just about everything a child could desire in a parade, including wrapped candies and necklaces being thrown to the crowds. I have very good memories of the parade. I remember Buddy Ebsen participating one year as a surprise guest - most people remember him for his role of Jed Clampett in the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies, but I always remember him dancing on the staircase with Shirley Temple. Then I grew pensive. When I was in high school, our band, the Eastside High School Marching Ram Band, usually had 90 to 110 members - and we were frequently mistaken for the Florida A & M Marching band. The band had soul. We could swing, we could rock, and we were among the first Florida high school bands to incorporate "dance" into the marching unit. Here it is, 35 years after graduation from high school, and I can still hear our band playing at football games, parades, concerts, DisneyWorld, and at the inaugurations of Governors. I grew pensive because my high school no longer has a marching band, or any type of band at all. It has AP classes, and students who get wonderful scholarships to fantastic colleges and universities; but, in my heart and mind, since the school no longer has a band (of any kind) the school lacks a heart and soul. Mister Richard Parker was the most wonderful band director a newly created school could ever have had. He welded together a conglomerate of kids, both white and black, who had been in segregated schools all their lives, and created magic - Ram band music magic. Students who were sports fanatics loved our band. Students who were academics loved our band. Students who were marking time loved the band. And the public loved our band as well. It is a very sad experience to look at my high school now and realize that they have NO music or band program. Everyone enjoys music of some kind; everyone deserves to have a band they can be proud of at their school. Come on, state of Florida, and get music back into the schools!