Dan, Enormous thanks for envisioning , developing, maintaining, and frankly, underwriting with both financial resources and technical ability the continuation of Bandsir.com. My word, very few major educational institutions at the university level curate the legacies of their musical programs as you have for Duke’s bands. You need not apologize for changing the look, etc. The very fact that these recordings are consolidated and accessible at such a high fidelity quality is astonishing. And the enormity of recordings makes it a pleasant challenge to even begin to go beyond just picking a few tunes from “our own years” or performances to fully appreciate the consistently high performance level of Duke’s bands over the years. At some point in the near-term, there should be a conversation among a support group to get your ideas as the originator on how this remarkable thing you’ve created can have a shelf-life beyond the rapidly approaching end of the parade we all face. Too many familiar names have gone already. I’m sure you can monitor number of visits to the site, and though I’m hardly regular, I do occasionally walk down memory lane, and those visits are wonderful, because I’m reminded of how fortunate we all were to have grown in so many ways under Duke’s guidance. Immeasurable thanks to you.

Dan, curious how many years Duke used British Eighth as a March on? Heck of a march. Too, interesting to see how Duke returned to the same literature over the years. Beyond the show tune sugar sticks that changed depending on what Broadwy hits landed, each band seemed to have a serious chops chart. Some impossible overture, usually an old chestnut performed at Saturday afternoon “Firemans’ Picnics at the Park bandshell. But for the spring band of 1970, it was overture to Colas Bruegnon. We heard the Philly Orchestra “rehearsing, (yeah, right—those boys barely held it together) the orchestral (obviously) version of Colas when we arrived at the Philadelphia Academy of Music to rehearse 1812 with Maestro Ormandy. I guess Duke got excited and found the band transcription of the piece and away we went. I think the band genuinely welcomed the challenge. Great piece, higher performance level than normal. We took it much slower than dictated tempo, because it was brutal even at reduced speed, but still was a killer chart and showcased the band and Duke’s direction. I recommend a listen.