| MHS Band 1986-87 Total Members: 36 Flute Clarinet Oboe Alto Saxophone Tenor Saxophone French Horn Trumpet Trombone Baritone Tuba Percussion DEPARTING: Aaron Francis (12)*****, Denny French (12), William Hill (12), Jonathan Leung (12)***** NEW ADDITIONS: Chris Campbell (9), Brent Chastain (8), Brian Fardo (8), Regina Gagliano (8), Tanya Harris (8), Stacey Hubbs (11), T.J. Mansfield (8), Krista Kelley (8), Robert Robinson (8), Stephen Rupard (8), Jami Shoop (8), Paul Sirek (9), Ben Tomlin (10), Jim Washabaugh (9), Joe Williams (9) Sousa Award * Participated in the band only in the fall semester ** Enrolled in Driver's Education in the fall semester but continued to participate in the band *** Switched to Tenor Saxophone in the spring semester **** Switched to French Horn in the spring semester ***** Occasionally participated in the fall semester |
Joe Ballew held onto his position of Drum Major, and Shay Quillen was voted Band President (narrowly beating out Brent Murray). In an MHS Band first, Joe Ballew and Jimmy Kwak were both awarded the J.P. Sousa Award this year. Only one article appeared in The Observer this year, documenting the band's antics. However, the greatest resource for preserving the happenings of the band came in the Backup Pages of The Band Adventures, where virtually all band activities were recounted in more or less (oftentimes less) accurate detail. Regretably, without an outlet, Jimmy Kwak's band photography was fairly minimal this year, having begun concentrating more on the video aspect of capturing the band in action.
The Hungry "5" started off the school year with a performance at the Madison County 200th Anniversary Parade (in which they performed out of the back of a pickup truck) and at the Time Capsule Dedication. The Jefferson High School Band of Monroe, Michigan returned the favor of hosting the MHS Band members in April of 1986 and make the trek down south to Richmond for a visit on the weekend of September 19 and 20, 1986. Things get off to an almost-disasterous start, as Shay Quillen and Kurt Adams call the Thrifty Dutchman hotel on September 15th and cancel all 35 of the JHS band's reservations (they successfully managed to get the reservations reinstated the following day). Both JHS and MHS Bands converged on Brock Auditorium on the evening of September 19th for some rehearsal. The JHS Band showed off by performing their parade and halftime routines on the Brock Auditorium stage. The two bands then merged together to sight-read some pieces together, including "Prayer and March," "Seacliffe Overture," "In the Hall of the Mountain King," "The Phantom Regiment" and "Impresario Overture." On the morning of Saturday, September 20th, both bands journeyed to Lancaster, KY for the Garrad County Tobacco Festival Parade, where the 90 degree heat took its toll on the northerners as 12 JHS band members passed out from heat exhaustion and had to be hospitalized (in fact, the JHS band pretty much stopped marching near the end of the parade route due to the oppressive heat, irking the ire of Mr. Mark Felder). That evening, the MHS Band hosted a lavish dinner at the EKU Stratton Building's banquet hall.
Following dinner, both groups converged on the convention room at Boonesborough Beach (or "Boon-es-borg" for the Michigan people) for a dance which featured an assortment of DJ hijinks, several incidents of the fabled "Michigan Tongue," Jimmy Kwak played "Mars" over the sound system, and the MHS band members attempted to prank the JHS band members by pretending to pass out on the dance floor (which didn't end up being quite as funny as expected). After the dance, both groups reunited at the Thrify Dutchman in order to get some ... pizza. Mr. Felder diligently patrolled the parking lot and threw out, on multiple occasions, MHS band members still lingering after curfew. The JHS band departed from the Bluegrass State on the morning of Sunday, September 21st, with a stop at the Kentucky Horse Park on their way back home.
A complete recap of EVERYTHING that happened during the visit by the JHS Band:
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Band Tunes Performed This Year: DECEMBER 11, 1986 FEBRUARY 24, 1987 (Student Concert) MAY 7, 1987 | |
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HIGHLIGHTS August 22, 1986: Hungry "5" performs at Madison County Time Capsule Dedication
September 19-20, 1986: Band Exchange with Jefferson High School Band of Monroe, Michigan, including a rehearsal session and marching in the Garrad County Tobacco Festival Parade
September 27, 1986: University of Louisville Band Day
October 3, 1986: Hungry "5" performs in Berea High School's Homecoming Parade
October 9, 1986: Marched in Madison High School's Homecoming Parade
November 22, 1986: Marched in the Richmond Holiday Parade
December 11, 1986: Winter Concert
January 18, 1987: All-Regional Band Concert (selected members)
February 24, 1987: Student Concert
March 21, 1987: Second Annual Madison County Honors Band Concert (selected members)
May 7, 1987: Spring Concert
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 The long march from the bus to Cardinal Stadium |  Watching the University of Louisville Marching Band from the stands at Cardinal Stadium |
In the stands at Cardinal Stadium
In the stands at Cardinal Stadium, mostly in uniform, waiting for halftime
The halftime performance. FYI, the score at halftime was Louisville 30, Memphis State 0.
 Tired, sweaty and hungry band members converge on the McDonalds on the way back from Louisville |  Ryan, Jeff, Ronald and Brent |
Joe Ballew attempted to organize the band into marching in Berea High School's Homecoming Parade on the afteroon of October 3, 1986. All of the band members were in on this plan, especially because it would involve missing the last three periods of school. But when Model called off classes that day for whatever reason, interest in marching in this parade declined to zero. As an alternative, Joe recruited the Hungry "5", who had already performed in the back of a pickup truck at the Richmond 200th Anniversary Parade a few weeks earlier, into performing at the Berea parade. The usual troupe of Shay Quillen and Jimmy Kwak on clarinet, Josh Meckler on trombone, and Ballew on bass were ready and willing to play, but a trumpet player was hard to come by, and finally, Meena Mohanty was brought in to fill that spot (having never seen the Hungry "5" music). After several false starts and mishaps (namely in who was going to drive the truck and whose truck was going to be used), the quartet made it through the parade and Shay and Jimmy managed to stay in the bed of the truck as Joe floored it back down US 25 north to Richmond.
The events of the fall of 1986 are summarized very nicely in this Peggy Lin article from The Observer, dated October 27, 1986.
| The band's final marching appearance for the year was at the Richmond Chamber of Commerce Holiday Parade on November 22, 1986. The parade was broadcast live on Centel cable's local access channel. The Model band's footage can be seen here or in our Videos section. |  1986 Winter Concert Program |
Scenes from the photo shoot for the 1986-87 MHS Band T-shirt.
 Jimmy Kwak, Joe Williams, Jami Shoop |  Brent Chastain, Regina Gagliano, Sarah Warner |
 Mr. Stephens attempts to restore order after the photo shoot |  Kurt Adams |
Robert Robinson, Stephen Rupard, Jonathan Leung (making a rare appearance), Ben Tomlin (obscured, holding stand), Josh Meckler, Tanya Harris.
| The December 19, 1986 issue of The Observer brought this Christmas letter to Santa Claus featuring the Model High School Band. The letter, oddly enough, was written by Larry O. Grand, which is interesting because he was not a student at Model Lab at the time. Like all Observer Christmas letters, it was taken all in good fun, although T.J. Mansfield wasn't very amused (and he was convinced that Jimmy Kwak had actually written the letter). |
| On December 19, 1986, the Hungry "7" (not their actual name, but it fits) -- a septet of MHS band members -- gathered in front of the Madison County Courthouse to perform some songs of the season. Robert Robinson on trumpet, Josh Meckler on trombone, Joe Ballew on baritone, Kurt Adams on tuba, Carla Gover on F horn, and Shay Quillen and Joe Williams on clarinet performed for almost 30 minutes. An instrument case was left open for donations but nobody felt that sorry for them.
Here is a video of their performance of "Sleigh Ride", which can also be found in our Videos section. |
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| The 1986 Band Christmas Party, December 19, 1986 | ||||
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The 1986 Band Christmas Pary is especially notable in the fact that Mr. Stephens was not there to chaperone/supervise the party (and, astonishly, the band members were relatively well-behaved). Where was Al? In fact, Mr. Stephens and a small group of band members were in Chicago to attend TUBACHRISTMAS, among other things. We have no firsthand accounts or photographs of this trip; the only evidence that we have that the trip even occurred is this hotel bill.
In December 1986, Joe Ballew got married. Pictured here are Joe and Christy Ballew, taken in May of 1987.
 1987 All-Regional Band Concert Program |  Shay Quillen, Jimmy Kwak and Mr. Stephens at the 1987 All-Regional Band Concert |
| All-Regional Band was held in Danville, KY on January 18, 1987. MHS Band members who survived auditions included Shay Quillen and Jimmy Kwak (in what is believed to be an All-Regional first, they were chosen one right after the other, in the same order as their chairs in the MHS Band), Josh Meckler, Joe Ballew and Chris Staples. | |
 1987 Student Concert Program | The Model High School Band Student Concert was held on February 24, 1987, and was significant in a number of ways. First of all, Mr. Stephens directed a piece of his selection, making this not necessarily an entirely-Student Concert. Secondly, Shay Quillen selected "Emperata Overture" and chose not to conduct it, but instead chose to play the tom drums on the piece. And finally, Josh Meckler debuted his compositon "North and South." |
| The Second Annual Madison County Honors Band Concert was held on March 21, 1987. Band members participating included Pam Turner (returning to the stage after being absent all semester) and Will Gump on flute, Peggy Lin on oboe, Shay Quillen and Jimmy Kwak on clarinet (although not next to each other), Robert Robinson and Tanya Harris on cornet, Brent Murray on first chair trumpet, Josh Meckler on first chair trombone, Paul Sirek on trombone, Joe Ballew on first chair baritone, Sebastian Odong-Wodolam on baritone, and Chris Staples and Keith Hartman on percussion. |  1987 Madison County Honors Band Concert Program |
| A group of band members performed "Impresario Overture" at the April 1987 Talent Show.
Here is a editedvideo of the performance, which can also be found in our Videos section. The complete audio of the performance can be found in our Audio section. |
 1987 Spring Concert Program | The Spring Concert was held on May 7, 1987. For the first time in the history of Mr. Stephens' High School Band, there were two winners for the Sousa Award: Joe Ballew and Jimmy Kwak. | |
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 Sarah Warner and Jimmy Kwak (in probably his most expressive state ever) at the reception following the Spring 1987 concert | During the last week of The Band Adventures in the Spring of 1987, a special feature ran called "Band Remember Whens," in which Jimmy Kwak, Shay Quillen, Josh Meckler, Meena Mohanty and Larry O. Grand (that guy again?) sat around and reminisced about the past days of the band. Here is the last part of that series, released May 13, 1987, discussing some of the events of the 1986-87 school year as well as Jimmy Kwak's long list of archived memories. |
Kurt Adams, Joe Ballew and Jamie Bryant at rehearsals for the performance at graduation.
| On June 2, 1987, Amanda Paige Ballew, daughter of Joe and Christy Ballew, was born at Pattie A. Clay Hospital in Richmond, KY. Most significantly, June 2 is also Mr. Stephens' birthday. |
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Year five brought about an enrollment of 36 total members, what would be one of the largest numbers in Allan D. Stephens' career, in spite of losing four seniors, two of which almost made it through all four years. A bunch of new faces filled out the band, including two new students to MHS and a big handful of freshmen and eighth graders. It would also be the largest sections of winds and cornets in a long time, something that Mr. Stephens took full advantage of, bringing out the "big" pieces that could utilize the full instrumentation.
