Since Mark is bragging on his son....

jcaut

I want to brag on mine a little too. A little background info first: I live in Paris, Arkansas which is a small ~ 4000 person town roughly halfway between Ft. Smith Arkansas and Russellville, Arkansas. My son is a senior at Subiaco Academy, which is a Catholic, college-prep, boarding and day school for boys, grade7-12, run by the Benedictine monks of Subiaco Abbey, which is about 8 miles from my house. My son is a day student, meaning of course, that he drives to school and comes home after school. I grew up in the town of Subiaco, and I also attended and graduated from Subiaco Academy, way back in 1988. You can read more about the school and the monastery if you'd like at www.subi.org

Now to the bragging part. For the last 12-13 years or so, the school's had a little Jazz Ensemble that gets to travel around a bit. The kids have to try-out, and my son was accepted into the band in 9th grade. He's been playing guitar since he was about 10 years old, but he didn't really take it seriously until he got into this band. In addition to the "local" shows that they do throughout the year, they also go on a "Spring Performance Tour" each year. My family and extended family (parents and in-laws) generally follow along on these trips, and there have been some really great ones: They've been to San Antonio and played outside the Alamo and at Sea World. They were invited to come to St. Louis and play at Busch Stadium on opening weekend for the Cardinals. They've gotten to play at multiple Hard Rock Cafe locations. Just a couple of weeks ago we went to Memphis, where they played at Handy Park on Beale St. and the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale St., both of which don't normally let amateur groups perform.

As I mentioned, my son is about to graduate. There are two band performances left: One tomorrow night in Ft. Smith, and one the night before graduation in a couple of weeks. I'm really going to miss this. So to brag a little, here's a video from the Hard Rock Cafe show a couple of weeks ago. Although they call themselves a Jazz Ensemble, they don't play much actual jazz- They tend more towards blues this year, but it varies year-to-year based on the talents they have on various instruments. My son is the lead guitarist, the guy playing the sunburst Strat. The band director is (Deacon) Roy Goetz, with the ponytail and the guy playing the harp is the Biology teacher, Mr. Kinney, who was also my biology teacher way back when. They also have a lot of fun with this. Pardon my poor video skills..

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QfBMQd_ojDI

vmaxer

Brag away, that is great!!

Legender

I was just through Paris last week returning from Eureka Springs. Congrats on your son's accomplishments and thank you for sharing. Who knows, college and/or life after high school may have even more promising opportunities.

voltz

Congrats! Love to hear him play somedayI

my Dad grew up straight line south as the crows fly from Paris about 50 miles in around Oden Arkansas in Ouachita Forest area

mhardy6647

very cool indeed!

gudnoyez

I could tell right off the Bat, Rocky Mountain way, they did good.

vmaxer

gudnoyez wrote: »

I could tell right off the Bat, Rocky Mountain way, they did good.

Yes they did, I would be so proud if I were his dad. Any more videos to post??

BlueMDPicker

Love it! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Mike Reeter

jcaut, you have a lot to be proud of! It does my soul good to see such a fine group of young men on stage, kind of gives you a little hope for humanity in this crazy world we live in.

jcaut

One of the things that being in that band has done for those guys is to give them an appreciation for "good" music. And I'm not saying that to bash the newer music, necessarily. It's just that, how many teenagers these days know who Robert Johnson or T-Bone Walker, etc. are? Maybe Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix.. These guys are "normal" kids and they listen to all the stuff that you would expect, too, but to have that appreciation for the old jazz and blues stuff, the funk tunes and even the swing band music.. It's allows them to see where some of the modern artists they like - John Mayer, for instance- are coming from. I mean, if we didn't have the blues, what music would we have today? It's good for them in so many ways.

For my son, personally, it's been such a great experience for him because, he (much like me) tends to be a quiet person. I missed out on a lot of things I could have done, because I was afraid of drawing attention to myself. Being up there on stage in front of people, doing something that he's good at, has been super for him. There are several videos of them on youtube. If you click on my username on there, jasonc317139, you can find the ones I've posted. Here's a link to another one from Handy Park in Memphis: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KTcNFQh5BoQ

jcaut

Last night, as I mentioned in my original post, they played at La Huerta Mexican Grill on Garrison Ave., Ft Smith and were joined on stage for a few songs by Gary Hutchison of Oreo Blue. It was a great show and they got to "stretch out a little" and not be so formal. End-of-the-year and all. I took some video, but I haven't had time to even look to see what I've got. As a side note, their prom was last weekend and a picture of some of the junior guys and their dates has kind of gone viral on the web. My son's not in the picture, but here's a segment from "Inside Edition" last night, talking about it.
insideedition.com/headlines/16219-super-students-dress-as-batman-captain-america-and-other-heroes-for-prom?viewfull=true

thsmith

Awesome! You should brag.