Category: teachers

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Cassette Life Kennedy Drumline

Cassette Life Kennedy Drumline

Cassette Life Kennedy Drumline. This cassette tape holds a special piece of history: a recording of the Kennedy High School drumline from La Palma, California, performing at a drum competition in Bellflower. It captures the energy, precision, and camaraderie of young musicians who poured their hearts into their craft.

Cassette Life Kennedy Drumline

  • Snare Drums: Mike Hickey, Dave Peters, and myself, Ken Hada
  • Tri Toms: John Stamos
  • Berry Toms: Lee Klug
  • Congo Bongo: Mike Kemp
  • Bells: Grace
  • Cymbals: Clurie
  • Bass Drums: Agah Kahn and another drummer whose name I regretfully cannot recall.

The drumline featured a talented roster of percussionists:

This recording brings back vivid memories of the dedication and teamwork that defined our drumline. Each member played a crucial role in creating the rhythms and sounds that resonated with our audience and fueled our passion for music.

Cassette Life Kennedy Drumline

This project is a labor of love, preserving not just the sounds of the drumline but the spirit of those times. I hope this archive serves as a way to honor the talent and effort of everyone involved and to inspire others to cherish their own musical memories.

Lastly, parts of this recording inspired my song Drumline Tryouts

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Cypress High School choir program problem

My daughter attends Cypress High School (public school) . She loves to sing so she is in the choir program. Tonight there is a public performance at our local community center the only problem is not all of the parents or siblings are allowed to attend.

I gave my daughter $60 cash (enough money to by our family tickets for the choir performance). My daughter came back the next day and told me the show was sold out. She told me there would be a chance to buy tickets on the night of the show. On the night of the show I walked into the Cypress community center and asked a few of the parents if there were any extra tickets. They told me it was sold out. I asked if my daughters family could see the performance portion of the show (the show is a dinner show) I was told that the fire regulations would not allow more people than who had purchased tickets.

As I was walking to my car I began to wonder why a choir at a public high school would setup a show in a venue that would not at the very least allow each childs parents and siblings to attend? I also wondered about how fair this was to parents who could not afford to spend $20 per family member.  In the summer I attended a meeting long before this class began and we were told we would have to come up with around $700 per student plus costumes for our child to attend choir. They did not tell us that we might not be able to attend our children’s public performances.

When I was young I attended Kennedy High School (located a few streets away from Cypress High School) and was in the marching band all of my years there. I don’t remeber a single performance wherein parents were not allowed to attend? Maybe this is the new way music programs run? Maybe I am missing from a email mailing list? At any rate this is the first time I have missed my daughters performance (in her lifetime).