Band marching into history

Gresham performers eagerly await journey to nation's capital for inaugural events

By Rob Cullivan

The Gresham Outlook, Jan 13, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (5 Reader comments)

Jim Clark / Gresham Outlook

Jon French, left, and Thomas McCann, members of the Get A Life Marching Band, will perform in the Washington, D.C., inauguration parade on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

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Get A Life Marching Band reportedly will be the last marching band Barack Obama hears at his inauguration parade next Tuesday, Jan. 20.

As the parade begins to wind down, the new president, sitting in the review stand on the north side of the White House, will be soothed by Get A Life’s renditions of Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re An American Band” and “Louie, Louie,” made famous by Portland’s Kingsmen.

And it almost didn’t happen.

Get A Life, an adult marching band based in Portland, was one of more than 1,300 marching bands nationwide to apply to the parade, but learned in early December it hadn’t made the cut.

However, after a last minute cancellation by another band, Get A Life was invited Dec. 29 to be the only marching band from Oregon to participate in the parade, according to Jon French, trombonist, and Thomas McCann, color guard captain.

Both Gresham residents note they are excited to travel to Washington, D.C., for the event.

“I enjoy playing music, and I enjoy watching people’s reactions when we play music,” French, 65, says.

Casual, formal

Get A Life plays rockin’ party music, and is known for occasionally breaking ranks and giving high fives to onlookers. However, due to security concerns the band must be a bit more formal and stay in line for the inaugural parade, French and McCann say.

The more than 100 or so band members expected to participate will have to go through a security checkpoint at the Pentagon before marching. They are not to use cell phones or cameras during the parade, the men say.

“We actually have to step out of normal character for this parade,” McCann, 56, says.

Nonetheless, the color guardsman says, marching in any event is fun.

“It gives you a sense of discipline and rhythm.”

On that note, Gail Kiely, a Gresham native who plays flute in the band, says she noticed things feel a little different in rehearsals lately.

“We’re actually practicing,” she says. “We want to be somewhat more polished. Not to say we’re incapable of such. It’s just we’ve never had the incentive before.”

Kiely, 45, has played flute since her early days at Lynch Terrace Middle School – now Centennial – in Gresham, and is looking forward to this event like she has few others.

“I’m so excited I can’t even think straight,” she says. “We’re gonna party with the president! It’s an amazing opportunity.”

She adds the band will take on the Commodores’ funk workout, “Brick House,” Van Morrison’s “Domino” and the Strokes’ post-punk anthem “Last Night,” among others, during the parade. To add the appropriate flair, Kiely will attach shiny tassels to the end of her flute.

“As Oregon’s only representative, we want to put on a good show,” she says, noting that the historical significance of America’s first black president can’t be overstated. “If there’s a changing point in history, this is it. We’re still gonna have fun, though.”

While her husband, Richard, and two college-aged daughters are thrilled by Kiely’s opportunity, it’s her father, Jim Kennedy, who is the most awed by the event and his daughter’s participation.

Kennedy, who still lives in Gresham, taught seventh- and eighth-grade history at Lynch Terrace Middle School for nearly 40 years.

“He’s really excited,” Kiely says. “It’s everything he’s been building up for. He can’t wait for the swearing in of Obama. He can’t believe what an honor this is.”