Laguna Community Concert Band reaches 20 years on a high note

By Lilly NguyenStaff Writer

Jan. 24, 2020 5:57 PM PT

Over a cup of coffee at Zinc Cafe in 1999, flutist Theresa Marino, conductor Bill Nicholls and then-city Arts Commissioner Carol Reynolds were playing it by ear when they decided to start a community concert band.

Now, with two decades of fine-tuning under its belt, the Laguna Community Concert Band is sounding the trumpet for its 20th anniversary, albeit a bit late, with a free two-hour concert Sunday at the Laguna Beach High School Artists’ Theatre.

The show, titled “Thanks for the Memories,” will celebrate the band’s anniversary with songs from Broadway, international marches and American classics and will close with the band’s signature, “Stars and Stripes Forever,” said Roger Dennis, a 20-year “band groupie” and community liaison for the group.

There were only nine members at the band’s first meeting in the city recreation room. Now there are almost 60, Dennis said.

Marino said she became involved with the band because she played flute in college and wanted to play in a group again. She recalled playing with her father and brother in a community band and “banded” together with Nicholls and Reynolds to start the group.

“I wanted to bring that experience to Laguna,” Marino said. “I figured with all the visual arts and performing arts that there had to be a lot of musicians here in this town.”

When they first started, she said, they had to borrow music from Nicholls’ private collection. They had to bring their own stands. They were originally sponsored by the city’s recreation department.

Now the group practices every Tuesday night in the high school’s band room and is a nonprofit organization, in addition to being part of the Irvine Valley College Emeritus program. The musicians range from 20 to 90 years old and have a variety of musical skill levels.

Sue White, a board member and trombonist, said she picked up her instrument with the band about 10 years ago.

“I rented a saxophone for [her husband, Dennis] one Christmas,” White said.

“It sat there for three months,” she added, laughing.

But White said her husband took to the saxophone “like a duck takes to water” and learned to read music and joined the group. She joined herself after being encouraged by other members to try.

Mark Lowery, the band's musical director, conducts the Laguna Community Concert Band at the city's Hospitality Night last year.

Marino said the caliber of musicians who have joined the band has grown over the years, as has the band’s exposure because of performances at local events such as Hospitality Night, the Festival of Arts and Sawdust Festival and the Patriot’s Day Parade.

The concert Sunday is the group’s way of thanking the community, White said. It’s also a bit of a memorial for late band members, Marino added.

Dennis White and Ray Lowery, father of the band’s current musical director, Mark Lowery, will be honored through song at the concert.

“The first half [of the concert] is more classical and the second half is lighter,” Sue White said. “We’re doing ‘Shenandoah,’ ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’”

Marino said the band wasn’t able to get together last year to celebrate the actual 20th anniversary, so it pushed it to this year. “A little late, but at least in the beginning of 2020,” she said.