From Sue to Debbie More of a Reaction Than a Review

The Ramsey Junior High Band gave a solid performance May 20, 1993 in the Ramsey Junior High School Auditorium on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. It was a "pops" concert, with a theme of "Music From Around the World."

The evening opened with solo performances from several of the students. Then there was an inspired performance from the orchestra followed by an all-female Dixieland band. This particular ensemble showed a great deal of promise, and may be the ideal group to fill one of the few voids in the music industry today.

The theme of the evening tied together music from many different countries and cultures. The only weakness was in a few of the selections such as "Highlights from Miss Saigon" which represented (?) Vietnam, and "Selections from Aladdin" which seemed to be the best choice(?) for the Arab regions. But this was junior high and those lapses were more than made up for by inspired romping performances of "United Nations’ March" and "Russian Sailor’s Dance."

Youthful idealism carried thought the evening. The scripts, decorations and tributes to the director, Maestro Bruce Maeda, were all created by the students. Just when does cynicism set in? When does one become jaded to the spirit of such a festival?

Junior high band, ah, I remember those days as if they were yesterday… I played trumpet, but as that loveable mop top said, "I quit the trumpet because I learned you couldn’t sing too…" I don’t remember much about junior high but band was the highlight. Counting 21 measures of rest, the raves, "You buys sounded great except that little oriental trumpet player was all we could hear;" playing second rate second trumpet parts, reinforcing off beats with the french horn section, improvising with Robbie Hanson (if only I had listened to more Miles than Louis), and watching my muse catalyst, Sue, play her licorice stick. Man, the music she made kept me going. Suburban music, not all of us were lucky enough to grow up within Minneapolis or Seattle scenes or on the streets of New York or Los Angeles. Not all of us were poor struggling artists. Body Mind Soul.

But if it comes from within-ain’t it worth something? Debbie Gibson’s latest effort is an example of this youthful enthusiasm. "Body Mind Soul" is an attempt to show a glimpse of something, probably maturation (maybe something more, something other than that), and on that level it succeeds. The progression from a teen with smiles on her knees, to the torch ballad performance of "Lost in Your Eyes" on Arsenio Hall, to the current product which is Debbie turning to Deborah via a decent Madonna imitation, shows a growth to something special. It’s meant to make you dance and I found I couldn’t stop my foot from a-tappin, let alone my calfs from a-shakin. She takes you onto the dance floor to wherever you go afterwards. Debbie does her own songs, "Though I’m all good news in my Sunday shoes, I’m gonna wear you out on Saturday night, so know your fact from your fable, look before you label, cause I cook a different meal on someone else’s table, " ain’t Rimbaud but it isn’t meant to be.

You only fall in love for the first time once if ever and thank God young Debbie and junior high bands are around to remind us of that.