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The young ladies towards the edges of the picture were "stretched" and appear overweight (were not).
It was the wide-angle lens. (Digital photography was a thing of the future.)

@Bassboner:
Back there - on the left - was an original (Elkhart style, probably Abilene) 62H, with the only alteration being a Minick D slide.

Dave Duro (trumpet, later: Burning River Brass) was sitting to my immediate left (to my RIGHT, in the picture).
Gigs - at that time - were cornucopian. I was (along with endless other music-reading, non-music-reading, and recording work) in two busy brass quintets, and Dave ran one of them.

Director of Bands - Dr. Sidney J. McKay
https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/ ... /90581760/
He programmed at least one Mark Hindsley transcription in every concert, along with other "epic" band compositions.
A few decades later (returning some repaired instruments to the University), I asked him why he no longer programmed works which were equally challenging.
He set his cigarette down in the ashtray, looked at me over the top of his reading glasses, and said,

I ain't got no "clar'nets", Low Joe.

Talking Heads
Elvis Costello
The Clash

Great year!

In 1977, my senior year of HS, we had King souzys and O-99s and one 20J, but the rest was similar. Here, I'm all the way on the left- I was Drum Major that year.

That picture is too zoomed out and out of focus to be able to check out the girls...

You had to be there!

Joe, were you all 35 years old in high school? I swear, nobody in my high school looked even half that grown up. Probably not college either.

bort2.0 wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:17 pm Joe, were you all 35 years old in high school? I swear, nobody in my high school looked even half that grown up. Probably not college either.

college band...I was 20.
Our high school didn't have the money/resources to have a flock of a dozen 22K sousaphones (much less all those poorly-designed fiberglass molded chairs).
We had (3?) 36K's, a couple of out-of-tune fiberglass Holton sousaphones, a 30-lbs. King brass sousaphone, a wildly-loose-valves King 1240 (detachable upright bell), and that was it...oh yeah...some mouthpiece that said "made in Austria", and and "Astro nylon" cup mouthpiece with 6-lbs. of various types of tape on it (leaky/non-existent threads).

@bort2.0

I've posted this one before.
This was the first car my Mom ever had...a '71 Catalina.
I was loading the sousaphone (YES, IN IT'S HARD CASE) into the trunk, when my 10-1/2-years-older sister wanted to take a picture.
It was printed on a gimmick "fingerprint-proof" paper, thus the dots appearing in the scan.
I would guess that I was 16 when this picture was taken (probably driving over to school to ride a bus to some foobaw stadium).
uniform was heavy wool, but (with a white shirt, tie, cummerbund) could double as a tux.




This was my first summer band camp (we actually CAMPED...ie. TENTS - concrete bath rooms at the top of the hill with one-each shower stalls - concrete walls - no roof on the shower stall portion - cold shower, therefore "so what if it's raining?") in a state park in NE Arkansas.
I was probably 14 (summer before 10th grade). I was second from the right (the sousaphone with the eagle decal; I put the decal on there, so I could tell mine apart from the others.) We practiced marching on an open field that we mowed and marked, and practiced parade marching down the road in the park. We swam in the lake, We practiced concert band and jazz band music in a clearing within the campsite. ...no electricity in the tents, strung light bulbs (in the central practice area and eating area) until lights out.

bloke wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:40 pm

This was my first summer band camp (we actually CAMPED...ie. TENTS - concrete bath rooms at the top of the hill with one-each shower stalls - concrete walls - no roof on the shower stall portion - cold shower, therefore "so what if it's raining?") in a state park in NE Arkansas.
I was probably 14 (summer before 10th grade). I was second from the right (the sousaphone with the eagle decal; I put the decal on there, so I could tell mine apart from the others.) We practiced marching on an open field that we mowed and marked, and practiced parade marching down the road in the park. We swam in the lake, We practiced concert band and jazz band music in a clearing within the campsite. ...no electricity in the tents, strung light bulbs (in the central practice area and eating area) until lights out.

My current high-school aged kids have "band camp" two hours a day at the high school over the course of 8 days. Every year they talk about how oppressive it is. When I was in high school (late 90s) we had camp at the school but it was all day for two weeks (approximately 8a to 6p). Marching practice in morning and late afternoon, indoor music rehearsal during the middle when it was too hot to be outside. Yours sounds even more fun.

So how about some "This one time, at band camp" stories?

gnimoyw wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 2:03 pm

bloke wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:40 pm

This was my first summer band camp (we actually CAMPED...ie. TENTS - concrete bath rooms at the top of the hill with one-each shower stalls - concrete walls - no roof on the shower stall portion - cold shower, therefore "so what if it's raining?") in a state park in NE Arkansas.
I was probably 14 (summer before 10th grade). I was second from the right (the sousaphone with the eagle decal; I put the decal on there, so I could tell mine apart from the others.) We practiced marching on an open field that we mowed and marked, and practiced parade marching down the road in the park. We swam in the lake, We practiced concert band and jazz band music in a clearing within the campsite. ...no electricity in the tents, strung light bulbs (in the central practice area and eating area) until lights out.

My current high-school aged kids have "band camp" two hours a day at the high school over the course of 8 days. Every year they talk about how oppressive it is. When I was in high school (late 90s) we had camp at the school but it was all day for two weeks (approximately 8a to 6p). Marching practice in morning and late afternoon, indoor music rehearsal during the middle when it was too hot to be outside. Yours sounds even more fun.

In the cool of the mornings, we would work on marching down the road...straight lines/straight diagonals/keeping those straight during curves in the road, playing while marching, etc. We could come back in at around 8:30 A.M., and the handful of parents would have our breakfast ready to serve (picnic tables...the state park brought in some extras before we showed up each summer). After that, we practiced the halftime show on that field (dew had burned off by then). ' back once again...lunch. After lunch, we did concert band. By 3:00 or so, it began to be hot, so it was time to go to the lake and swim (and then mess around back at the camp) after supper was jazz band rehearsal...followed up by campfire (stories/jokes/etc.), and then c. ten minutes until lights out.

After a torrential rain one day (my first year: the year of the outdoor B&W picture, above), up on the hill near the bathrooms/showers, I instigated a mud fight between some seniors (me: trolling as early as age 14). I was hidden, and they all thought the others were throwing mud. It eventually involved most of the band. Somehow, all the prettier girls showed up in their bikinis within one or two minutes and got involved as well. (No I'm NOT making this up.) Someone caught it on Super-8 film, and the movie was shown at the fall band parents' meeting (no parental outrage, just a bunch of laughter).