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The Daily Dose/April 18, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
CAPSULE TATTOO REVIEW: The Las Vegas International Tattoo, The Thomas and Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nevada: We don't make too big a deal of it, but we've always enjoyed military music here at the Writer's Shack. Though the family's muscial talent completely bypassed yours truly, an uncle did play with John Phillip Sousa.
So when The Woman - who enjoys listening to bagpipes, not that I don't - started making her now-infamous noises about going to the first edition of this show, we were immediately onboarded.
USA! USA! The lineup had merit, featuring bands from the United States Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force, although the Marine Band was not the Marine Band, known as The President's Own. These Marines were from the Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.
You're Not Going To Go Off On A Tangent Now, Are You? Unlike members of the President's Own Marine Band - who are hired as musicians and don't attend boot camp - these are regular Marines who serve as machine gunners in war. Except for the chicks. We're not sure what they when they're deployed. We also suspect the band is supplement by former Marines musicians, though this detracts from the experience not at all.
Strong Canadian Content: The Canucks were represented, too, as the Canadian Forces Band played and the Vancouver and Winnipeg police departments sent their pipe bands.
Speaking of Pipes: The pipes and drums of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards were there, too.
Ten Hut! The US Army Drill Team performed, too, including their signature maneuver where they all throw their Springfield rifles with razor sharp bayonets around like drunk fraternity pledges without anybody getting an ear sliced off.
Bunch Of Kidders: Actually, what happens is the four soldiers in the front toss their rifles to the four soldiers in the rear without anybody getting hurt.
Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen: The announcer for the evening was Major Alasdair Hutton. A native of Scotland, Hutton not only had the requisite British accent, but was a paratrooper in the British army and even spent ten years representing a Scottish constituency in the EU parliament.
Stuffy, Technical Matter: Hutton also pronounced tattoo TUH-too, which we thought lent even more dignity to the event, even more than that Las Vegas staple, the Elvis impersonator, did.
Fly In The Ointment: Unfortunately, the crowd was really small. The Thomas and Mack holds 18,000 or so for basketball, and capacity for the tattoo was probably 17,000 or so, but if there were 1,500 people there we'd be surprised. The upper deck was even curtained off, even though they sold tickets for it, so if you bought upper deck tickets you got to sit in the lower deck.
Truth To Tell: Every part of this two-hour show was a treasure, but if forced, we will admit to two things: one it is always moving to hear United State Marines play The Star Spangled Banner. Sue us. We're veterans and can be forgiven for finding Marines playing our national anthem moving.
Our fave part, though, came when the Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards were joined by the Winnipeg and Vancouver police pipe bands to play The Army Goes Rolling Along, as the US Army Drill Team filed in at the end of the show.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Gaylon is not a TUH-too expert. This was his first one, though he does have an eye for quality.
We Interrupt This Column For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following is the Official Writer's Shack rating scale:
EX - Excellent; the very best the Human Experience can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. Worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: VG. Honestly, this probably deserves our highest ranking, but we simply aren't qualified to pass judgment on professional musicians, even if they appeared to be among the best this planet can offer. If you have an opportunity to see a tattoo, especially one with a lineup like this one, do yourself a favor and do so.
ALL DOUG, ALL THE TIME: We got an email from a reader lamenting the lack of actual, specific Doug Greenwald information in Saturday's Doug Greenwald column.
Now You Know: Doug is in his ninth season as the Voice of the Fresno Grizzlies. He said he missed announcing college basketball this winter, but he gave up his gig with Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana when they decided to downsize to Division III. Also, he made his big league debut last year, filling in for the Giants for a game in Milwaukee. Doug doesn't talk too much about that and you get the feeling it was a double edged sword. After all, a game in the big leagues is one more game than most baseball announcers get, but, you know, it was one game, for Pete's sake.
One More Thing:And no, he didn't get a World Series ring when the Giants won the World Series. He said if he had a nickel for every time someone asked him that (he was asked more than once while we were sitting in the press dining room) he would be rich and could announce games for free.
GIDDY UP: Paul Revere rides from Boston to Lexington, Massachusetts to warn fellow patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the advancement of the British army on this date in 1775. The American Revolution would begin the following morning with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
Fly In The Ointment II: It's unlikely Revere, or anybody, actually said "The British are coming". Eyewitness accounts from that night say the riders said "The regulars are coming out".
FunFact: Few made a big deal of Revere's feat while he was alive. His legend, of course, is mainly due to the 1861 poem Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Play Ball…And Play, And Play And Play: The longest game in the history of professional baseball begins on this date in 1981 as the Pawtucket Red Sox host the Rochester Red Wings. The game would be suspended at 4:07 the following morning after 32 innings tied 2-2. It would be completed in June, ending with a 3-2 Red Sox victory after 33 innings.
Oh Hell: The game was tied at one after nine innings. Both teams scored single runs in the 21st inning.
Thought For The Day: In short, I am convinced, by both faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime. - Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Of the six original Pacific Coast League cities in 1903, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland currently have major league teams. Sacramento is still in the PCL, while Portland's PCL team moved to Tucson for the 2011 season.
Today's Stumper: The trivia question will return.
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
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