| | |
Donate Now!
SMU has a top notch band because of the generosity of people like you. Ensure we continue the tradition by supporting the band today.
The 2013-14 fiscal year ends May 31. For donations and pledges to count for this fiscal year, we need the money by May 31.
Learn more about the Diamond M Club and pledge your donation here.
| |
| | | In this Issue | 1. Club Meeting and Picnic
2. May 3 Meeting Agenda
3. How to Pack up a Band Hall
4. Down the Ramp One Last Time
5. Building a New Band Hall
6. The Band's Basketball Doary
7. Bracketology Winners and Losers
8. SMUsings and Observations
9. Alumni Band Meeting May 8
10. Peruna Pete Factoid
11. Monthly Lexicon
12. Nostalgic Photos
| |
| Read the Board! | Upcoming events!
Saturday, May 3
Diamond M Club meeting and picnic
9:30am, band hall tour
10:00am, meeting
11:00am, band hall tour
11:30pm, picnic
| |
|
White Helmets
| A big "hubba" to those who have gone above and beyond...
* Steve Blum, for letting the Diamond M Club board use his plush North Dallas offices for its 2014-15 budget meeting
* Mark Thompson and David Franzina, for donating a computer and printer to the Alumni Band
| |
|
Keep in touch
| Comments? Questions? Article suggestions? Nostalgic photos?
Email us
diamondMclub@gmail.com
And follow us on Twitter:
@DiamondMClub
| |
|
Forward to a friend
| Know someone who's a Mustang Band supporter but who may not be getting this e-mail?
Send this newsletter to them and let them know what they're missing! Click the button below.
| |
|
|
|
Club Meeting and Family Picnic
You and your family and friends are invited to our Diamond M Club meeting and picnic on Saturday, May 3, 2014.
You don't have to be a Diamond M Club member to attend, you don't have to be a Band alum to attend. You need only have a passion for supporting and celebrating the Mustang Band and all it represents.
Children are welcome and, in fact, encouraged.
If you haven't already RSVP'd using this SurveyMonkey link, what are you waiting for? We need a headcount for the food.
www.SurveyMonkey.com/s/May3RSVPs
Here's the plan.
* 9:15am, meet in the lobby of Dedman Center to be escorted down to the new band hall
* 9:30am, tour of the new band hall
* 10:00am, Diamond M Club informational meeting (a recap of 2013-14 and a look ahead to 2014-15)
* 11:00am, tour of the new band hall (reprise)
* 11:30am, picnic and party at "Arden Forest"* between Perkins and Highland Park United Methodist Church
See the article below for a summary of the meeting agenda.
At the picnic, we'll be serving hot dogs and burgers. We'll also be providing a bounce house and face painting for the kids, corn hole boards and rocks for the adults, and for all Ponies fans an appearance by Human Peruna from 12:30pm-1:30pm. And what SMU event would be complete without a roving Flash photographer?
Please bring cash or checks - we must charge a small donation for lunch, but we'll also be selling decals and posters!
And... if you've pledged for 2013-14 but haven't yet had a chance to send in your money, this May 3 meeting is a great time to get up to date and pay your dues. Remember please that SMU's fiscal year ends May 31. We need all 2013-14 money before then.
Here's a map to help with directions and parking.
Take note that you'll need a special escort to get to the new band hall. The front doors are not yet open to the public, so we're entering through the back door inside the Dedman Center amid rock climbing walls and treadmills. Meet inside the Dedman lobby - there's a number of plush chairs across from the reception desk overlooking the indoor pool. The main entrance to Dedman is off Doak Walker Plaza, south of Moody Coliseum.
*Arden Forest is the small grove of trees across Bishop Blvd. from the Meadows Museum, between Perkins and Highland Park United Methodist Church.
If you have questions, email us at diamondMclub@gmail.com.
|
|
May 3 Meeting Agenda
Here's a rundown of how we hope the May 3 meeting will go.
First, Mustang Band director Don Hopkins will give a brief rundown on the Mustang Band's activities for this past year, his plans for the upcoming year, and of course, introduce us all to the new Mustang Band Hall.
Hopefully you also will hear from a member of the Mustang Band who is able to be at SMU and play in the Band because of the donations and gifts Diamond M Club members like you so graciously provided this year.
Each Diamond M Club board member will also give a short overview of his/her responsibilities and the progress we've all made this past year. This will include a presentation of the 2014-15 budget and goals.
We will also revisit the Diamond M Club's by-laws regarding what to do, if anything, when - like this year - there are same number of candidates running for the board as there are open seats. At the present time, the by-laws demand that ballots must be mailed out regardless of the number of candidates running for the open seats. Diamond M Club members received ballots last month for the elections for next year's Board. Just four candidates for four open seats. Thank you to all of you that did mail in a ballot!
Some of you might have wondered "Why bother?" or "Why did the Diamond M Club need to even send out a ballot and use the money for the postage?" As mentioned above, the board, under the present by-laws, must send out the ballots. And so the board will ask the current membership on May 3 for permission to amend this section of the by-laws to address this situation for the future. In addition, as technology changes how we do things and how we communicate, the board will also seek approval for a provision in the by-laws to consider better ways of soliciting and counting votes. At the present time, only ballots that have either been mailed or hand-delivered to the spring general membership Diamond M Club meeting can be counted towards the board election for Diamond M Club for the upcoming membership year. We'd like to consider other methods.
After those two items, we'll adjourn. You can tour the Band Hall or, please, come on over Arden Forest and join us for food, fun, a game or two of 42, and other activities!
|
|
How to Pack Up a Band Hall
How do you move fifty years of history? That was the job the Mustang Band undertook last month when word came down that they'd be leaving the cozy asymmetrical confines of the Perkins Natatorium basement much sooner than they'd expected. While the relocation date from Perkins to the gleaming halls of the new Dedman Center had never been carved in stone, the Band had expected to make the move during the summer. But with the demolition of Perkins Natatorium looming, the Band suddenly had to be out by April 1. And they had less than 20 days to get out.
We talked to Mustang Band administrative assistant Rae Jones, who helped organize the relocation. Because the Band had money in its budget to hire movers, the only job was getting everything into boxes. A lot of boxes. Charts had to come out of dented library file cabinets, old photos and engraved plaques had to come off of walls, old uniform parts and equipment had to come out of cardboard boxes and forgotten closets. The students walked their own instruments and cases to the new band hall. More fragile items like Big Naomi and Peruna Pete were also carried by hand.
Keep in mind that all of this activity was going on during the Mustang basketball team tournaments, both AAC conference play and then later the NIT. Rae wonders if maybe it was a good thing that they ended up with so little time. Rather than reflect and carefully consider what to keep and what to toss in a lengthy period of nostalgic discussions, the Band had to pack and pack fast. It's interesting to note that the relocation revealed a small door in Rae's office that led to a crawlspace under the front ramp. Inside was some junk, sure, but also a number of old pictures and memorabilia that hadn't seen the light of day in who knows how long.
With everything boxed up and neatly labeled by Rae and her crew, on Thursday, March 27, the moving truck pulled up to the curb on Binkley Avenue, a bittersweet moment so many of us have anticipated for so long. The team of movers arrived around 9:30am and by 12:30pm that afternoon, everything that had been under the swimming pool bleachers was now in Dedman. Most of what was left behind in the old band hall would stay there. Old tables and couches, scattered music, a few sad announcements still thumb-tacked to the bulletin board.
With Don and Tommy gone for so long to New York and the phones quiet, Rae was able to do a lot of work that first week of April unpacking those many boxes. Rae reports that they're just about halfway through the process. The biggest job now will be to hang decor on the walls. And to find a new secret wall somewhere for band members to scribble accidental double entendres.
|
|
Down the Ramp One Last Time
With the Mustang Band now officially moved out of the basement of Perkins Natatorium, it's worth a look back at the old space.
Below are some photos Jerry Randall posted on Facebook, taken when everything was still down there.
And here's a link to a Flickr page that features photos by Amy Wagliardo and Mark Dempsey, taken of a deserted, empty band hall the day after the movers left.
|
|
Building a New Band Hall
It's not an exaggeration to suggest that just about every member of the Mustang Band from the last 50 years has at one point or another heard rumors of a new band hall. One plan reportedly had the band moving into a special place inside Ownby Stadium, a venue that was torn down in 1998. Years pass. Band members (and directors) come and go. And the one constant was the dark, cramped Perkins Natatorium basement home.
So how did the new band hall become a reality? We talked to three leaders of the fundraising efforts, esteemed Mustang Band alums Will Green, Ralph Hamm, and Randy Hopkins.
As with so many big projects, it took the right mix of people to get the ball rolling. Discussions about relocating the Mustang Band to the empty lower level of the new Dedman Center had been happening since at least 2007. With the ongoing expansion of the campus and proliferation of beautiful new facilities, it has long seemed likely that Perkins Natatorium's days were numbered. But it wasn't until SMU president Gerald Turner and distinguished alums (and development luminaries) Bill Lively and Gerald J. Ford got involved that the project started to gain real momentum. Talk turned to action.
SMU Development led the charge. Ralph, Randy, and Will, who helped raise the first bit of money that convinced SMU this was a viable project ultimately agreed to provide the kind of single-minded focus and organization the project needed. And thus followed phone calls, meetings, dinners, lunches, and still more phone calls. SMU had a list of possible donors and the three of them split up the list and started working their way down the names, asking for help one by one. Some of the prospective donors they knew, others they didn't. A vast majority of the band hall funding came from Mustang Band alumni, of course, but not all of it. And even today, these three are still working their lists, sending more letters, continuing to raise money. The ideal situation, of course, would be to find a way to get every Mustang Band member, past and present, to contribute some small amount to the band hall, no matter how big or small.
And so the years have passed. The Mustang Band no longer calls Perkins home. The new band hall is a reality.
And while Ralph, Randy, and Will deserve a mighty "Hubba!" for all of the time and energy and money they so generously provided, they did not do it alone.
In addition to the many donors and the determination of SMU Development (especially the tireless Arlene Manthey), we learned that a number of Mustang Band alums laid invaluable groundwork for the new band hall, which included a formal committee that started in 2012. We should all thank volunteers like David Alley, Art Buhl, Louis Carpenter, Guy Echols, Margaret Finley, Dianne Green, Don Hopkins, Carolann Jacobs, Kellie Johnson, Roger Pace, Tommy Tucker, Al West, Randy West, and Greg Yates.
For those who can't attend our May 3 meeting and visit the new band hall in person, plans are underway to host a formal dedication in September. And, of course, more festivities will be planned for Homecoming weekend.
|
|
The Band's Basketball Diary
A portion of the Mustang Band recently spent several days in New York City supporting the men's basketball team at the NIT. On Sunday, March 30, director Don Hopkins took 28 band members (plus assistant director Tommy Tucker) to Manhattan on the basketball team's Southwest Airlines charter plane. As expected, the band filled the back of the plane, perhaps taking turns creating insulting songs about NIT opponents. They didn't return to Dallas until that Friday.
The band had only its NIT game performances scheduled, which left the students with two whole free days in Manhattan. Our sources tell us this stands in contrast to recent football bowl trips, which often packed the Band's schedule with multiple gigs and performances and appearances. Band members took in Broadway shows, watched a New York Philharmonic rehearsal, and gathered outside NBC's "Today Show" studio.
Below are some photos of the Mustang Band's exploits in the Big Apple and playing two games at storied Madison Square Garden.
The top photo appears on the Band's home page, the second one appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the third one was grabbed from Band alum Dan Stampfel's Facebook page, and the last one is another Dallas Morning News image.
|
|
Bracketology Winners and Losers
There is a campus in a town that cannot be beat.
The undisputed winner of our Mustang Band Bracketology game is the staple "Shantytown," which beat the old band hall by a sizable 74% to 24% margin.
A big thank you to everyone who took the time to indulge our little diversion. We had about 70 people each week voting on brackets and Mustang Band iconography. And that led to about 20 new names being added to our newsletter distribution list, which was a big reason for doing this in the first place.
We promised a raffle prize. The four winners are Jeff Hines, Kellie Johnson, Cindy Meachum, and David Wilson. Their custom-made Mustang Band drink coasters (it's a better gift than it sounds) are on their way now.
* In perhaps a hint of things to come, in the first round, "Shantytown" was the biggest overall vote-getter with 92%, while the hallowed Peruna Counter position earned the least amount of votes, mustering only 15%.
* The narrowest victories belonged to Bishop Blvd. beating McFarlin Auditorium 53% to 47% and, in a particularly cruel match-up, the football post-game concert barely beating the football half-time show 54% to 46%.
* Six-seed Bishop Blvd. had a rather improbable run, barreling past both #3 Cotton Bowl and #2 McFarlin before ultimately falling to the old band hall. But the biggest upset was surely the ultimate champion "Shantytown." The two-seed upended two one-seeds on its way to the title: the "Peruna" sequence and the post-game concert. The roof's not worn or badly torn indeed.
* Before we started this process, you helped seed the brackets. That process also led to a number of write-in votes, some more obvious than others: the band banquet, "West Side Story," "Sing Sing Sing," "MacArthur Park," "Peruna 2001," "Your Mama Don't Dance," "Hot Reds and Blues," "Sunrise Sunset," the Freshman Clock, the hubba, playing rival school fight songs, and Reunion Arena. There was also an interesting Facebook discussion about a "band apartment" than helped contribute to an item in this month's lexicon.
* And, yeah yeah yeah, we owe everyone a birddog for calling Ford Stadium "Ford Field." Who knew there were so many Detroit Lion fans out there? (Flush.)
|
|
SMUsings and Observations
As soon as you can arrange it, you need to visit the new home of the Mustang Band!
The annual Diamond M Club Spring General Meeting would be as good of time as any! The meeting will be on Saturday, May 3rd in the new home of the "Hub of SMU Spirit!"
We'll have a short tour of the place for you at 9:30am.
The "meeting" will begin around 10am in the rehearsal hall.
Don't care for the name "Rehearsal Hall?" Well, you can change that! SMU would like to work with you on how you can make that happen. Arlene Manthey, Associate Director of Development for Student Affairs, has all the information about this opportunity readily available for you! You may contact her at amanthey@mail.smu.edu or 214.768.4711
The 2013-2014 DMC Board (Kellie Prinz Johnson, Tricia Clark, Paul Vattakavanich, Mark Dempsey, and Ethan Patrick...who all deserve a big HUBBA! for the outstanding service to the Diamond M Club and the Mustang Band for the work they have done on your behalf throughout this membership year!) will be presenting a brief summary of this very successful year for you.
Don will give you all the latest on what's been happening with the Mustang Band, the Band Hall, and what will be coming up for the 2014-2015 season!
Since there are plans and activities scheduled afterward, the meeting can't last very long at all! (We are all glad for that!)
After the meeting, there will be another tour for those that missed the earlier one or for those of you that want to see it all again just to make sure that it wasn't all a dream!
More information on all the activities can be found in this newsletter.
I hope to see you (bring your family, too!) on Saturday, May 3rd in the new home of the Mustang Band!
Hubba!
--Roger
|
|
Alumni Band Meeting May 8
Calling all Alumni Band members and interested parties. The "A-Band" will be meeting on Thursday, May 8 at 7:15pm in the new band hall in Dedman.
This is an organizational meeting only. No playing until the next Thursday, May 15.
If you haven't joined the Alumni Band, but long considered it, the May 8 meeting is a great way to learn more and meet the folks involved.
|
|
Nostalgic Photos
In the last few weeks, we've been honored by the gracious loan of Mustang Band photo and memorabilia collections from two Band alums from two different eras.
C.A. McDougal wasn't technically in the Band in the 1960s, but she was one of only two women allowed down the ramp in the 1960s (the other one being the Doll).
Kent Kolman played percussion in the 1980s and remains active in the Alumni Band. He's also responsible for helping build the iconic blue and red Diamond M drum cabinet doors in the old band hall, which he has since reclaimed to hang at his house.
A big "hubba!" to C.A. and Kent for taking the time to gather photos and artifacts for us to scan and distribute for your viewing enjoyment. More from their collections in the coming months.
If any of you have photos, we're happy to scan them, color correct them, then send them back to you.
 | |
Jack Rohr leading a small "stage band" from the Mustang Band at the Air Force ROTC ball, 1967.
|
 | |
The south end of the old Ownby Stadium, 1967.
|
 | |
The famous 1968 post-game concert at Ohio State.
|
 | |
The late, great band practice field.
|
 | |
Mirage Bowl, 1983.
|
|
|
