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| Husky Marching Band members aboard the Carnival Elation (click to enlarge). |
Dear Friends of the Husky Band,
This summer, alumni and current Husky Band members joined together to embark on yet another successful international performance tour. This was the fifth international tour for the V-A Band since the inaugural 1998 trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Since then, tours have taken the band to China, Scandinavia, and Europe. This, however, was the first trip that started off with the band performing in the US.
The group flew to New Orleans and performed for several hundred people outside our Bourbon Street hotel before kicking off a parade through the French Quarter. The Chamber of Commerce even provided a float (from which my wife, Janie, and son, Skylar, threw beads) along with a contingent of Mardi Gras-style dancers, stilt walkers and “big head” people. Even with the hot weather, the parade was well received by all the locals and tourists, winding up on YouTube before the parade was even finished! Before leaving New Orleans, we also toured the new World War II Museum and especially enjoyed the new D-Day 3D documentary. On June 17, the band boarded the Carnival Elation, and headed off to the western Caribbean. Once we docked in Cozumel, the group went its separate ways with members choosing from a variety of excursions. However the most popular excursion seemed to be the island tour in which participants got to taste locally produced tequila! Needless to say, many of us now have a whole new appreciation for it whenever the band plays “Tequila!”
Perhaps the highlight of the trip was when we were given the opportunity to give not one, but two concerts on board the ship. The first show had a modest but appreciative crowd, but by the time we came on stage for the second show two days later, the word had spread and the theater was packed. (It probably also didn’t hurt that “Family Feud” was on stage right before the concert!)
The trip once again reaffirmed why I LOVE V-A trips and the opportunity to bring current and former members together to not only continue our love of music but also to build new friendships and renew others! My thanks to all 85 students and alumni who participated—I hope that even more of you will consider coming along on the next trip in 2017. Wherever we end up, we’ll surely be spreading some more “Husky Fever!”
Go Dawgs!
Brad McDavid
Director of Athletic Bands
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