News

October 1, 2003

Wanted: Digs for Gigs
By Dave Richards, Erie Times-News

Betty McKinney addresses the 30-plus concert band members with a commanding yet loving tone.

As they run through "Clarinet Polka" at their temporary rehearsal space at James S.Wilson Middle School, McKinney calls out, "At the end, guys, you can't slow down. Otherwise, we'll have to call 911!"

They take it again — and nail it — before moving on to "Broadway in the '90s," "Here's That Rainy Day" and more.

Members of this band, whose average age is in the 60s, play with the brassy bravura and confidence that come from experience. They play with energy and purpose, though the band no longer has a home — or a name.

Until September, it had been the East Erie Turners Concert Band since 1970. But following a financial dispute with the club, the band and East Erie Turners ended their ties.

Though unsure of the future, the full concert band and its new, smaller spinoff — a swing/jazz band — still practice at Wilson Middle School, 900 W. 54th St., every Tuesday.

Band President Dudley Brown knows only this: The band will play on, no matter what. Members won't break up the band. The history is too rich, the tradition too strong.

"Oh, no, that's the furthest thing from our mind," Brown said. "We're headed in a new direction, with Betty and Tim McKinney doing the directing. They really picked it up. They want to go forward with it."

Added Fred Haener, an alto saxophone player with the group: "We absolutely did not consider quitting. To tell you the truth, this swing/jazz band has created a renewed interest."

The concert band dates back more than 60 years, when it formed at 313 Machine Gun on Peach Street, the site of the current King's Rook Club. In 1940, it moved to the Siebenbuerger Club, according to Chuck Dressler, an original band member. That's where it stayed for 30 years.

"Back in the 1940s and 1950s, the slot machines were there, so all the clubs had three-, four-, and five-piece bands," Dressler said.

The concert band moved to East Erie Turners in 1970. It played annual fall and spring concerts at the Turners, as well as three summer concerts at the club's former outdoor facility, Turnwald.

"Turners has been good to us," Dressler said.

At its peak, and until the 1980s, the band drew 400 people or more for its concerts. At one point, the club even added risers to help accommodate the crowds. Band members always played for free, but they received a break on club membership fees. In return, the band practiced for free in the club's ballroom. Many times, band members would hang out after a show or practice and patronize the club.

In recent years, however, attendance at band concerts dropped dramatically. Brown said they were lucky to draw 100 or so for recent performances. Meanwhile, club membership also dropped precipitously, from 5,400 in 1997 to just 2,400 today, according to current club President Gary Meyer. In 2000, the club also sold Turnwald to help make ends meet.

Band members and Meyer believe crime in the East Erie Turners neighborhood has contributed to the club's decline. One band member had a car battery stolen; another lost a saxophone.

Changing lifestyles have also contributed to lower attendance for concerts, band members said.

"With husband and wives both working, times are changing. Those things have definitely affected all the American organizations," said Haener, the saxophone player. "I'm a member of the Shriners' band, and we were even having trouble sustaining the Shriners club and band."

In September, during a rehearsal, the East Erie Turners Band received a notice, advising that, "due to rising costs and high operating expenses," the club would start charging a fee of $150 for each use of its ballroom.

"No one ever said anything to us. No one had the professional courtesy to approach us and say, 'We have a problem,' " Betty McKinney said. "We were just presented with a note to pay up or else. It was very shabby treatment."

Meyer, the club president, said it was time to charge the band for the cost of using the facility.

"I told them to pay for the heat," Meyer said. "I was losing my shirt. They went all over town, trying to get a space for nothing. The reason I won't let them do it is, I look at my costs, from the time they're upstairs. It adds up to about $475. I got lights up there, heat — I have to pay my costs.

"We're not rich; we don't make any money here. If they wouldn't pay the money to pay my costs, then they could leave."

Meyer said the band served a purpose when it played summer shows at Turnwald. "That helped us out, when we had the different functions going on. Now, there's nothing they can do for us, absolutely nothing."

Meyer said he also offered the band a smaller place to rehearse, with a lower cost. But Brown said the band makes so little money — it typically charges $3 a ticket — that it can't afford to pay rent, anywhere.

Jack Heintzel, who plays clarinet in the band, remembered a newspaper story in 2000 about the band, in which then-club President Jim Mullen said, "The band is an important part of the club."

"Three years later, we're not important?" Hentzel asked. "I was a little incredulous when I heard this demand. So, now we're without a home."

The band moved its two file cabinets of music to Haener's garage. Members arranged to practice at Wilson and have begun searching for a new home. They've got feelers out at other area clubs, but so far, no home. They may also pursue sponsorship if they can't find a club.

"We could be a band like the Millcreek Area Band, and be sponsored and not have a building," Brown said. "But my problem with that is there's not really a membership to draw for the concerts, and you're at the mercy of public advertising."

Still, they rehearse. The swing/jazz band has an Oct. 21 show at Niagara Village, while the concert band still hopes to play its annual fall concert in November —- somewhere. The music must go on, they said.

"We're not in it to make money," Betty McKinney said. "It's for the playing experience, the love of playing, and the love of music and camaraderie. We really do have a good time."

"It gives me something to do. It keeps me young," added Don Grumblatt, a longtime trumpeter with the group.

Tim McKinney said the band has too much going for itself to stop.

"It's a very good band, and I'm not saying that because I'm the director," he said. "This is too good of an organization, with a lot of nice people, who play because they want to play. We just need to keep plugging away, until we can find a place to perform. We aren't going away."

Before their recent rehearsal ended, the concert band played another song: "Overture to a New Era."