1966 Band Workshop Click for a larger view

The band was founded by Ben Porter in 1953.  By the time Brian and I joined, it was led by Dave Roberts*, a local professional musician.  We rehearsed every Monday night in the building complex of McCambridge Park, on Glenoaks Blvd in Burbank.  Once a month we met at a large parking lot to practice our marching.  Morgan White was our marching director, and Bill Kuzma the drum major.  Later, Bill became principal at Muir, where he served until 1997.  A fellow clarinetist of Brian's was Rob Stirling, and they still keep in touch.  Rob later became the music teacher at Muir.

The band drew its membership from the Burbank-area Junior and Senior high schools.  Though more than typical, our neighborhood alone had six band members.  Besides Brian and me, they were brothers Bill and Ben Landing (tenor sax and flute), and James Hemphill (trumpet) and his brother Tom (drums).
 
A number of parents and friends supported the band, by keeping track of sheet music, scheduling concerts and parades, maintaining the uniforms, and such.

We affectionately called ourselves the Fuzz Band, even though the term fuzz was an uncomplimentary 1960s counter-culture slang term for police officer.  Our all-black uniforms were patterened after the standard police issue, which made for uncomfortable times during summer parades.  But, we endured.

The uniforms saw minor changes in the time I was involved.  We went from black to yellow ties, and matching yellow piping was added to the pockets and epaulettes of officers' uniforms.  Of course, when girls joined the group as majorettes and color guard, their uniforms were a bit more feminine.

One of our rivals was the Glendale Youth Band.  They actually let girls into the band itself--unheard of in our 1960s culture!  The GYB was led by David Pratt, who was also the music teacher at John Muir Junior High School, where Brian and I were members of his Senior Orchestra, as were other fuzz banders and GYB kids.

Perhaps the most well-known band alumnus is Hollywood film producer Tim Burton. He joined the band after Brian and I had left, so he is not pictured in these pages.

We chartered our bus service for parades, with Embree Bus Inc.  Though we had various drivers, our favorite and most-requested driver was a guy named Bob Morgan.  He was also a radio station DJ.  (Maybe he was a DJ who was also a bus driver?)  He was hip and smart, and had a great voice.

Each year in the spring, we'd stage an Anniversary Concert.  In addition to the regular band members, we'd invite alumnus members, and Mr Roberts would invite some of his pro musician friends to sit in.  The concerts were recorded by Location Recording Service, and an LP produced.  I have three, from 1967, '68 and '69.  I'm working on finding the original tapes, and if they exist, I plan to remaster some for CD.
 

1968 Band Workshop Click for a larger view

Every other summer, we went to Bellows Lodge, up at Big Bear Lake in the Angeles National Forest in southern California.  There, we'd work on musical technique, learn new pieces, grow up a little, and have a heck of a good time.  At a time before portable stereos and hand-held video games, our other activities included a bowling competition, and a drive-in movie night.  One year we saw a double feature -- Born Free, and Quick Gun.  Of course we jokingly mixed up the titles to Born Quick and Free Gun.  Marching practice was done at that drive-in theater.

We had as many as five tunes in our parade repertoire.  Being the Talented Musician that I am, I had no trouble memorizing them.  (Eventually, I managed to memorize most of our marches and concert pieces, as well as the eight drum cadences we'd march to between songs.  I still remember them all, pretty much note-for-note, including the cadences.)  During a parade, when it was time to play a tune, the drum major would twirl his baton and blow his whistle, holding up a hand with some fingers extended, to mark which song we'd play next.  They were 1) South Rampart Street Parade (our signature piece, arranged by Art Depew), 2) Strike Up The Band/I Love A Parade, 3) Horns A-Plenty, 4) High Society (also arranged by Art Depew), and 5) The Soaring Eagle.
 

Curt, age 13 January 1, 1968

Our band had participated in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade since before my time.  The band would appear by itself, or would combine with the two Burbank school district high school bands Burbank High and Burroughs High Schools, and march the world famous parade.  We learned new tunes, had special uniforms, and had to get up really early on New Year's Day - January 1, 1968, to get to the staging grounds.

What a blast to come around the corner onto Colorado Boulevard and see the thousands of people, and all the TV cameras!  I'd seen it on TV many times, but this time, I was actually in it.  A mere seven miles later, with worn shoes, split drumheads and sticks, spit-rusty instruments, and happy hearts, we were done.

A testament to the leadership and its development of our talent, the band was quite good for our age group of junior and senior high kids.  At the many parades we marched, we often took First Place or even the coveted Sweepstakes* awards for our class. 

We moved away from Burbank and its band in 1969.  But, the band was invited back for the 1970 Rose Parade, and as timing would have it, we took a family Christmas vacation to the Southland, and I marched again with my old friends.

I understand sometime after we moved away from Burbank, it was reorganized to allow girls in the band itself, and renamed The Burbank Lancers Band.

*News Clippings:
1969 Dave Roberts article
Lynwood Sweepstakes 1966
Rose Parade 1968

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