EPISODE 134 - QCFB

Chris sits down with Jeffrey Martin and chats about the current season and what’s planned for the group. Jeffrey talks about life in Cincinnati and discusses his day job too.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to another episode of Olt Cincinnati, a radio program for the LGBTQ plus
community here in the Queen City.It is produced entirely in Cincinnati and is
about Cincinnati. You can find usany time at Altcincinnati dot com. And
thank you so much in advance foryour rating on your favorite podcast platform.

(00:22):
The ratings are will really drive ushome and I appreciate that. My name
is Chris and this week I gotinto talking with the Queen City Freedom Band.
Jeffrey Martin is the big wig overthere and he tells us what's going
on with their band and when youcan see the next this episode of Out
Cincinnati. OLT Cincinnati would like tothank our sponsors Scott E. Knox Attorneys

(00:49):
at Law with over thirty five yearsof experience and working with the LGBTQ plus
community. Scottnos dot com for moreinformation. We ad Lama Coffee located in
Madisonville at five thousand and one KenwoodRoad. It is the best Cincinnati coffee
shop and bakery. Nate after anangry mammal. We've got out Cincinnati right

(01:21):
here on the radio. Artifact that'swuvx UHD two ninety one point seven at
anytime. The most important thing atout Cincinnati dot com. That's where you
can listen. And I am joinedby Jeffrey Martin. This is a zoom
call from the bedroom, which Ialways liked. It's just funny to say.
Is a intro. Jeffrey, thanksfor coming on the show from the

(01:45):
Queen City Freedom Band. You arethe president of that band. And yeah,
so what is what is the queenThank you for coming on by the
way, won't take you. Thankyou for having me Chris. I appreciate
that, thanks so much having mehere. But what is the what is
the Queen City Freedom Band and whatdoes it do? Excellent question. So

(02:06):
the Queen City Freedom Band is CincinnatisLGBTQ plus concert band, meaning we're a
wind band. You know, we'vegot all those instruments like the flutes and
the saxophones and the clarinets, trumpets, basoons, and of course the king
of the band is the percussion section. And so we've got a traditional concert
band style of program. And yeah, it's Cincinnati's local freedom band. There's

(02:32):
actually freedomands all across the country,or just one chapter of a larger the
larger organization. That's what I wasgoing to ask you about it, and
if you want to find out moreinformation, it's QCFB dot org and then
they are on Facebook, mainly QueenCity Freedom Band. So are you guys

(02:53):
like the community band that you canjoin at the community center where it's folks
who used to play an instrument kindof thing. Yes, correct, We're
open to the public. Anyone anyof our hashtag has come out and play.
We love for anyone and anyone withany experience to come join us.
It's a wealth, safe, welcomingspace for musicians of all sorts. And

(03:21):
yeah, it's a community band.Uh So we do public concerts for yeah,
for whenever we can. And yousaid you play the you said your
your your instrument is percussion. BecauseI know, folks who you're all about.
You're all about You're like, I'mall about the clarinet. Every time
I talk to you, I talkedabout clarinet because I love it right right,

(03:43):
Yes, you still have to getyou into on the clarinet. But
yeah, I'm a percussionist. Sowhat do you do you focus on one
drama or what what's your focus?Nope? In the in the concert band
percussion section, we'll have sneer drone, bass drum, all the extra sometimes
we call them like exiliary percussion ortoys like the timbourine and the triangle.

(04:06):
This is all the stuff I loveis playing all the small stuff, but
as well as like the mallet instrumentslike the bells and the xylophone and and
and rimba and vibraphone. So we'vegot it all. We've got autraditional concert
bands, wind band set up withthe band, so you're gonna feel like
high school again. I was justthinking about how all the how all the

(04:26):
percussion section always got to finish theirhomework. Yeah, yes, that's what
I love about it. I'll beingable to stand up in the back and
that's my joys percussionist is. Asmy high school percussion teacher explained, when
you're playing the Crashniables, you're theonly one playing the crash simbles, and
that's what I get a lot ofjoy out of that. So but what
is your what is your high school? I'm just curious. I grew up

(04:50):
in the West Side. I wentto Elder High School. Okay, Elder,
Okay, go whatever Elder is,Panthers or whatever there. Okay,
So the Queen City, the FreedomBand, has a spring concert coming up
really really soon this month. It'scoming up March tenth. Can you expand
on that. Yeah, So wedo three concerts a year. Our second

(05:12):
concert of the season is coming upSunday, March tenth at three pm.
We're performing at the Kennedy Heights ArtCenter, the the Liner Annex. It's
the old Kroger building across the streetthat they've converted into a very lovely event
space. Yeah, it's actually it'sa very lovely venue. It fits us
really well. The theme is heroes, and so it's going to go through

(05:35):
a lot of things like you couldexpect when we say heroes, the themes
of the all the heroes, youknow, like Captain Marvel and Spider Man,
Batman and the Star Trek themes,but also pace tribute to other heroes
monitor heroes in other ways. Wehave a piece on there called K two

(05:56):
to honor the heroes in Ukraine fightingfor their freedom. We have another piece
called kind of in a lighter sense, it's called Our Castaways but written by
a queer composer, Julie Dreux,and it's for those who fight to end
puppy mills and animal abuse. It'sinscribed to those who rescue, to those

(06:16):
who get rescued, and especially forthose who's rescued never comes, but paying
tribute to all the work in thatarea because their animals are such a big
part of our life. But we'rehero to our animals, but also animals
can be heroes to us. Andthen is Sunday, March tenth, three
pm, Kennedy Heights Arts Center.If you want the address, sixty six

(06:38):
twenty Montgomery Road. We'll post moreinformation at out Cincinnati dot com and our
social media, but you can grabit also at QCFB dot org. If
you miss one of their concerts,it's bad news. Note time. I'm
just saying you got to be there, saying the concerts are The concerts are
free and open to the public.We do ask for donations, but there's

(07:00):
no set costs to get in.So this is heroes and so have you
ever been to one of those thingswhere they play the score along with the
movie? I have not yet.Those look really fun. I keep on
meaning to. I saw I sawone for Batman, and it looked it
looked really they're doing They were doingnineteen the Michael Keaton Batman and they were

(07:24):
playing the whole score. Yes,it's just something that's that's like wow,
that they can do that. That'sthe music, that's the themes of that
movie are the ones that we are. That's our arrangement is covering. It's
not the full movie version, obviously, it's the reduced version, but that's

(07:44):
like some of the hero themes you'llhear in our version of Batman. Yeah,
you'll definitely recognize all of those.So that's that's amazing. So March
tenth, Kennedy Art Center, makesure you're there. Who designed that amazing
logo? I really like I foundthis picture and I saw the logo,
so like, where is that from? The logo of the band? Fred
Martins designed that for us? Okay, famous local, local, famous artist.

(08:11):
It does a lot on the graphicdesign space. Every time I talk
to him, I learned something newabout something he's done. Uh, he's
done so many projects, have beeninvolved in so many ways in the local
community and in the local queer communitytoo. And what is how do you
spell his last name? Fred MartinsM A R T E N s Oh.

(08:31):
Another German guy for you. Okay, we're talking about that. So
you have a you have a.Jeffrey is the art excuse me, the
president of the Queen City Freedom Band, and you were talking about your conquest
to get German under your belt.How's that going. We're getting there,
juel, and goes my friend.Right now, I got to keep that
streak alive. Oh yeah, andthen of course they keep you updated on

(08:54):
your streak, don't they. Ohyes, eleven o'clock. I'll stick the
notifications to get back on. Geton my phone. You have your you
have your accountability. Buddy, Whydo you know something about German? As
long as you start banging the tablewhen you're when you're talking. If you
bang the table when you're talking,this is awful. But a German teacher
said, if you bang the tablewhen you're talking, you'll pronounce it better

(09:16):
because this is your harsh language.You know. I like this video.
I like those videos that talking aboutGerman and it's like all these words of
different languages, but then it doesthe German word and it sounds much harsher
than all the other languages. Ohyeah, and German for me, it
has been easy to pronounce, youknow, you get all the letters in
so anyway, it's it's it's greatso we've we definitely talked to your artistic

(09:41):
director John before on the show.I won't I didn't spell out the last
name Narrow I I I was grapplingwith that and it's not so hard.
How much has the band the QueenCity for You have been grown since we
talked, Like, you know,what if you what have you been through?
I know the other side of thepandemic has been weird for arts organizations,

(10:05):
right, So that's it could havebeen kind of my joy is I
joined the band all on the first, very first concert. Do you want
to go back that far? Yeah, that's great, Yeah, because I
know, like I spoke to thespeak to some organizations that have been around
for thirty five years. So yeah, like, yeah, tell me about
it, right. Yeah. SoI had the pleasure of joining, Well,

(10:26):
I met John and doctor John Dewardais our conductor. I'm just the
president, so I just work withthe board. But doctor John Nororda is
really the start of the show.He so, he and Russ Psychitis were
CCN doctoral students. They were workingon their degrees and finishing up and Reuss

(10:48):
always likes to take on new projects, so he started the Freedom Band and
he and John got like a kindof steering community together. And then I
that was in spring twenty eighteen whenwe started. In fall twenty seventeen,
I met John played for a differentgroup and I made that my last concert

(11:11):
on that group. Then when II was just ready to move on to
a group at the time commitment.And so then in February I John called
me up and said, Hey,we're putting together this biband. We could
use some percussionist. What do youthink? And I said, okay,
I'll come try it out. Andso I remember my first rehearsals there were

(11:31):
only seven people coming regularly. Sorry, I was on my cat. Did
you hear that? Was? Thatwas the start. Now, that was
the start of the Queen City FreedomBand, the beginning, right, Yes,
So that was the start of theFreedom Band. That was the very
first rehearsals for getting ready for ourfree first concert. We had our first
concert in April twenty eighteen, andso we had seven core members plus of

(11:56):
most of the band was made upof other CCM students, friends of John
and Russ, and so the groupis very small and we just kept we
kept pushing and pushing and adding moreplayers and so now we've grown from seven
players up to this concert cycle,we're gonna have forty five performers on stage.
Wow. Is that large for aconcert band or is that small or

(12:20):
is that medium? It's definitely we'redefinitely getting to the so a good size.
I wouldn't say we're definitely not alarge concert band, but we're definitely
not in the small stages anymore.We went from having I remember when we
had one one row and every timewe every time we added another the row
we had. We've always had abig celebration. So we've we're up to
four rows now plus percussion in theback. So yeah, we're gonna be

(12:43):
a big band here now we're makingWe've got a mighty sound like the Glenn
Miller Big Glenn Miller. I heara big n band and it all goes
together. Jeffrey Martin is the QueenCity Freedom Band President, and thank you
so much for joining us on outCincinnati. It's q c FB dot org.
How do folks go about, youknow, joining and do you what's

(13:05):
the need right now? And isor is it just everything right? So
the best way to join is tovisit our website and check out how our
concert cycles work out. So wereheard Sundays one to three pm. We
have about eight rehearsals for each concertand we do about three concerts a year,

(13:26):
so if you want to join in, you can usually join in kind
of and sign up by cycle.We do ask for thirty dollars in kind
of dues from our players just tohelp were nonprofit organization, so those dues
help to help to pay all ofour expenses. But we're free or we're
open to everyone. Well, wewant everyone to feel welcome here, all

(13:48):
ability levels, all band instruments,all you know, all the woodwinds,
all the brass instruments. We needall of you, I would say right
now, we particularly need French onesand percussionists. Those people should call me
up directly. And what if youplay the ukulelea or something weird? Oh,
we don't have any band parts ofukulele unfortunately. I'm sorry. Oh

(14:11):
okay, I just okay, Soyes, sorry, you're going to have
to get to go find a guitaror something. What is I know that
you and it's it's really nice tothink about the month of June right now,
what's going on for Pride month?I know there's the locations not set,
but the dayton time sure are.It's a busy month. Yes,

(14:31):
Sunday, June ninth, again atthree pm at the Kennedy Hateside Center,
they we'll have a Pride Month homeconcert for us. That'll be our lighter
fare concert. The fun sort ofsort of pop tunes and queer anthems.
We kind of try to try topack that concert full of those that music

(14:52):
and it doesn't sound I've never beento a concert and I need to,
but let me tell you, itsounds like there's no like snooty, nothing
snooty about these shows. Like youcome and be chill and hang out and
the band's going to play and peopleprobably even sometimes sing along and you can

(15:13):
say, yes they do and Ihate it, or yes they do and
I love it. Yes, yes, Yes. It's a very casual affair.
We usually go out to a localestablishment afterwards for even drinks after anyone
is invited to that. Oh whatI what I like to highlight about it
is the programming. John does agreat job of weaving weaving a program together,

(15:33):
starting with a theme, you know, like we've talked about with heroes,
and all the pieces really, it'sreally fectech theme and just great messaging.
I always leave the concerts feeling moreinspired with a smile on my face,
not only because I'm a per former, but because I just enjoyed the
music. And as you as yousaid as as a president, and you

(15:54):
are you are, you are alsoa percussion like, uh oh, I
don't know peer else, I'll callyou a percussion purist because you love it.
And do you how do you makesure that kids growing up? Because
I know you teach percussion and youcan get into that as much as you
want where whatever, But how doyou make sure that kids pick percussion?
Because nobody was trying to influence meto pick the clarinet. I wanted to

(16:17):
play the saxophone, but so dideverybody else. Right, Okay, that's
actually a great line of questions.You just said it a lot there,
So I'm going to go to onepart of that. So my day job
is I'm a full time music teacherat Clerk Montessori High School. I teach
the steel drum bands. So alot of people are there are like,

(16:38):
wait, what do you mean bythat? So it's that instrument from the
Caribbean, the Islands of Trinidad andTobago and we have a steel band of
about twenty seven instruments. And sowhat I think this highlights, the reason
they bring it up is that studentsjust want to feel success. They want
to feel success in whatever way theycan. Uh. And so music is

(17:03):
one of those avenues towards that.We've seen many successful programs in many schools,
whether they be banded programs, orchestraprograms, choir programs, you know,
ukulele clubs. Like you said,there's a lot of students can get
feel success out of those music programs. Uh. And so what I've always

(17:26):
been taught and what I've always triedto live by is that music is for
a lifetime, whether you be aperformer of music or whether you be a
consumer of music that you like,maintain and have a healthy relationship with music
and engaging with that creative side ofyourself. You know, some people find
it through the visual arts, butfor the for musical arts. Uh.

(17:49):
The Queen City of Freedom advantage isone way that you can continue your journey.
Uh. We have a couple ofplayers who they're you know, there
are a couple years out of highschool. And so it was really easy
for them coming back. It alwaysmakes me sad when people say they haven't
played their instrument in ten years andthey don't even want to try again.
I'm like, no, come back, try it. You'll you'll it comes
right back. Find that joy again. You're like, you're gonna find that

(18:11):
joy again when you come back toit. That's me and I have the
go to pieces that I want tolearn. It's that song from mister Holland's
Opus when she plays a Stranger onthe Shore. Yes, yes, yeah,
we all have. I think weall. I think it's just musicians.
We all have pieces that we likeconnect to that like kind of have

(18:32):
drawn us in your favorite who's yourfavorite? You know steel drum person?
Who should be? Who should webe looking up? Oh? From the
steel from the steel band world specifically, Yeah, who is who is the
pat metheeny or like the jazz who'sthe who is the he? Who is
the person to listen to and stealdrumming? The person to listen to the

(18:53):
person to listen to. Liam tigueIs is an amazing artist. He teaches
He's from Tinnernet to Big of ItNow teaches pan full time at n i
uh IF you're looking for pan jazz, that's Andy Narel. He's great for
that. Many of the steel bandthere's other steel bands around if you're looking
for steel Oh my gosh, theseguys are going to be a man of

(19:17):
me. If I don't say everyoneVictor, yeah, who is it Victor
provost A as a as an upbecoming steel pan jazz artist. But the
steel bands themselves, I mean,if you search for Panorama the competition,
it actually just was held this pastSaturday in Trinidad. They it's steel bands

(19:38):
of one hundred and twenty players playingfor eight minutes. They put their hearts
out to music from Trinidad Socas.They take Soca tunes and they transfer them
into these awesome eight minute arrangements andlike I said, like the music is
for a lifetime. So you'll seethere's junior divisions of this competition up into
order adult iterations of this competition.Wow, that's it's like it's like a

(20:06):
whole. I mean it's a whole. It's a whole world. I know
that all all the instruments have theirown have their own little world and their
their stars in that. So that'ssteal band was the only acoustic family of
instruments invented in the twentieth century.Many other instruments were invented, but it
was an acoustic family of instruments.I announced bread all over the world sort

(20:26):
around the time of World War two, and now it's grown all around the
world. And those are the greatThere's a great band in Britain. They
have some good albums on distreating servicescalled Ebony Steel Band. I've been digging
them lately. Okay, Yeah,you gave some good ones to write down,
and thank you for that. That'sfrom somebody who definitely knows what they're

(20:48):
listening to. So, Jeffrey,you are the president of the Queen City
Freedom Band. It's a local bandin Cincinnati QCFB. But there are so
how many other bands are there inthe organization that you're a part of.
Right, So we're a member band, uh, now a full member band.
We went through our probationaryear period uhand now we are a full member
band of the Pride Bands Alliance.And there's got through that got through that

(21:11):
probationary period. Okay, good rightthere, right okay? Uh, you
know they just would to they wouldit was like a more time to help
foster US an organ our organization,because like I said, uh, when
when we started, it was justa couple of roads of people and we
and we didn't have much to goon. And so now we've now that
we're a full member band. There'sthirty five member bands in major cities across

(21:33):
the United States. And I've beento conferences in in Chicago, the last
one was in Denver, and theupcoming one is in Columbus. But all
the organizations, all the member organizations, and the goal of the large organization
is just to promote a safe spacefor music making, for career musicians,

(21:55):
for allies. It's really amazing togo to the conference and see what all
these people are doing back in theircommunities and and so that's just like a
big like big like band conference kindof thing that yes, okay, yes,
and that's part of the clip thatyou sent. Okay, I'm just
connecting the dots. So I wantto ask you how you and I ask

(22:19):
I love to ask arts folks this. How you picked the music that you're
going to play? Do you listento band members, how do you gauge
what is hot? And how doyou not sound like an aging gay man
like I am, hey, thisis the latest thing from Bruno Mars right

(22:41):
right, Well, that's what that'swhere we have a gem and our conductor
John does a great job at selectingmusic that is like at just the right
ability level for our group. Itstretches us in just the right ways and
gives us room for musicality and piecesthat always just fit a really good theme.

(23:03):
So he does all the all theall the picking of the themes and
in the selection of the pieces.We'll kind of give him feedback every once
in a while, like, oh, yeah, we loved this one,
I love that one. But he'sI mean, John is a is just
a he's a he's a great,great, great wind band conductor, and
so he does all of his researchon, uh, what's gonna be the
best pieces for us. Like oneof these pieces that we're gonna play,

(23:26):
it's a Grade five piece. It'scalled Watchmen tell Us of the Night,
and it's a tribute to survivors ofsurvivors of child abuse in all of its
forms. So that's that's music.It's filled with a lot of tension,
but it's more more importantly it's filledwith redemption and it kind of makes you

(23:47):
sit in some of those sit inthat space a little bit, both as
a performer and as an audience member. And so John does a really great
job picking up pieces that are youknow, really have a great strong message,
but are accessible to the group,and he does a great job coaching
us through how to play those pieces. Yes, and you can find out
more about the Queen City Freedom Bandat John and uh and the whole group

(24:11):
right there at the website QCFB dotorg, Queen City Freedomman on Facebook.
Jeffrey is very easy to track downif you'd like to join the band.
Uh. So you you you playedthe drums, Yes, you're you're So.
What's it like to be a gaywhite guy in Cincinnati? Because that's

(24:32):
what I am? And what hasit been like growing up and coming out?
You know, Like I like toget into that just a little bit
as much as folks want to,right, I don't like to assume anything.
You can correct me on everything I'vejust said. If you happen to
be black and lesbian, tell meright, no, no, no,
you're correct, Okay. I grewup on the West side of Cincinnati,

(24:53):
the youngest of five kids, andone of those big ethic families as we
so often see in Cincinnati, andso I mean I did have I did
have a little bit of a privilegedlife growing up. My parents put a
lot in our education. My mom'sin nervous and my dad was a stay
at home dad. So like hardwork and and put my all into everything

(25:14):
has kind of been a theme ofmy life. But yeah, I didn't
come out to us. I didn'tcome out to twenty five. I do
have a gay brother him and hishusband live in North Side. So I've
always had a luckily. I hada very welcoming and opening up accepting family
and friends and okay cool, uhBut yeah, venues like the Freedom Band

(25:40):
and venue, and you know,I think having these safe spaces like this
as I before I came out,I came out. I didn't join the
band till laughter I came out,But before I came out, I was
seeing these safe spaces and seeing thesenew iterations of you know, what is
what is it? What could belike for a for a young gay man

(26:03):
in Cincinnati, in the country.You know, I didn't come out,
So after marriage quality, I wishwe got to hit on that again.
We should come back come back tothat of course too. You know,
seeing all those things and seeing thosesafe spaces is what allowed me to feel
safe, safe enough to come upfor myself, even though you know,
I had a gay older brother.But it was until I kind of saw
a spot for myself and that Ifelt comfortable coming out. Well I always

(26:30):
And I'm not trying to make ajoke. What was your brother's reaction?
Of course you are all right?Yes, no one was surprised. No
one was surprised. I just wantedwere like about time, okay, yeah,
because he wasn't like you're taking myflame or anything. He was no,
gosh, no, right right,No, it was like it was

(26:52):
meant very much. They like,well, why didn't you just come out
sooner? And I was like Ijust wasn't ready, which we all have
our own journeys and that's and that'sfine, absolutely. And so what are
your what are your goals with thewith growing the Queen City freedom man?
What are your goals professionally? Doyou want to keep keep awareness of steel
drums alive and you know, yeah, keeping the education business. Yeah,

(27:18):
it's I've had a great time beinga teacher. I've been teaching eleven.
It's hard to believe eleven years nowalready, So that's my teaching and spreading
music is definitely my passion. That'snot going anywhere. I'm looking forward to
seeing the band grow. You know. It was fun being around for the
beginning of it twenty eighteen. We'resix years in now, and yeah,

(27:41):
I'm just excited to see where thisband is going to go. I would
love to I can't wait to talkto you again in five, ten,
fifteen years and tell you even moreabout where the Queen City Freedom Ban has
been in, where's in, whereit's going Right now we're going through.
I have to mention the team.You may you must, you must include
this. There is a big teambehind all this work. And that's one

(28:02):
of my questions earlier is what doesit take to what? What do you
what do you don't see that's behindthe musicians right, Yes, we have
a core teams. So it startedwith Russ and John there were doctoral students.
Then Russ looked at me one dayand said, hey, Jeff,
I think we need a treasurer.We want to start collecting some dues.

(28:25):
Can you can you handle the money? I said, I was the only
one making eye contact with in theroom and So that's how I got picked
b treasure because I was the onemaking eye contact nice when you brought it
up. Then when Russ got ajob moved away, he's he kind of
pointed to me and said, rightnow, just the band manager, I
guess totally unelected, just kind oflike passing the torch. And then from
there, as the band has grown, we've ended other board members. And

(28:48):
this is where we can really edit. We can really credit the team as
being responsible for the growth. Soas we brought on my friends like Samantha
and any as our secretary and treasureruh they've been helping out of time,
and so the leadership team got biggerand bigger. Samantha and Denny really helped

(29:08):
us write our code of regulations andget us through the nonprofit process, getting
us on our Texas m status andall the stuff that we need to be
to be a fully fledged nonprofit organization. We have other elected board members,
we've got a we've got a fundraisingcommittee. Now, we've got committee members,
we've got people of volunteering. Sothere's a lot of behind the scenes

(29:30):
work and so I cannot claim allsuccess uh by in my name by any
means it's it's been very much ateamwork, and so many other players in
the band just step up and theygive donations. When we needed, they
step up to help them out withthe concerts. It's been a really awesome
team effort. Their partnership with Johnis great. Yeah, I just can't

(29:52):
I can't speak more. I can'tspeak more highly of the the team a
QCFP. It's been great. Ifevery ye every wanted an accepting band to
go dust off that instrument in andI'm sure there's folks there who would help
you through that that learning hurdle.You know, there's plenty plenty of folks
swittle around the clarinet or have atrumpet in the closets or Yeah. We

(30:17):
want everyone to feel welcome, whetherit's whether you've stepped away for multiple years,
or whether it's we have people whoare professionals, we have other music
educators. We have people who haven'tplayed in ten years and they're just another
saxophone for the first time from highschool. We want everyone to feel comfortable
here. There's a there's a placefor everyone, and if you don't play
an instrument, you can tear tickets. Would be one of those folks that

(30:38):
that Jeffrey just thank I want tothank you so much and for giving us
a little for into your your personal, your story. You're welcome back anytime,
and thank you. Chris. Keepus updated on one year performed.
I know you've got the concerts comingup March tenth, and then of course

(31:00):
in June. On June ninth,q c f B, I have time
time to highlight one more thing,yes ahead. So this is one of
the major projects of the band hasbeen to get to work on a commission.
UH. So when you commission apiece, you you pay, you
pay a composer directly to write apiece of music for you. So we,

(31:22):
along with the Columbus Pride Band UHworked on a commissioning project. We
we did it jointly and so betweenthe two bands, we commissioned a piece
of music that's going to be premieredat one one of those Pride bands Alliance
conferences is going to be held inColumbus in July. UH. And so
the piece that we commissioned is tohonor marriage equality. Yes, marriage equality

(31:45):
has a great connection to Ohio andCincinnati, specifically with Jim Obergerfell and his
late husband John Arthur, being thatyou know, the the title plaintiffs in
the the Supreme Court case that landedmarriage equality. So this piece of music
that we're getting, we have commissionedand will be premiered in Columbus honors that

(32:07):
there are contributions to miritor quality.The composer his name, his name is
Via Kong. He's a queer composer. And then so the will be premiered
in Columbus will also have a localpremiere at one of our concerts that I'm
sure will be out promoting as well. And do you record the concerts that
folks can listen to you later tolater on or is that not nothing yet?
No, you got to catch uslive in person. M