A 50-year-old Burien man will fulfill his dream of reuniting Highline High School's finest musicians over four decades.
Since August over 50 musical alumni have committed to playing one more gig--the Highline High School Homecoming game at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29. The game is being played at Highline Memorial Stadium, behind Highline High.
This will be the first engagement in 30 years for the majority of the band's membership. The band's conductor, Ken Copeland, taught the bulk of these musicians at Sylvester Junior High in the 1970s. Having completed three rehearsals in October, the band is ready to entertain once more.
This Friday evening's performance is anticipated to be an endearing "Welcome Back, Kotter!" meets "Mr. Holland's Opus" experience.
Former trumpet player Jeff Anderson organized the event.
Scott Babcock, current Highline High School band director, helped secure rehearsal facilities and loaner instruments.
The Alumni Band is the result of Anderson's 20-year hope that former HHS band students could reunite to remember their past while performing music in the present.
An unexpected summertime work layoff provided the necessary time for Anderson to step up and lead the charge to reunite Highline band performers to realize his goal. A combination of web-based networking sites such as Facebook and old-school word of mouth was used to spread the word. Anderson hopes that the Alumni Band will become a legacy that will continue to grow for years to come.
"The enthusiasm for this event is amazing," Anderson, from the Class of 1978, declared. "Despite years of dust on some of our instruments, we are practicing again."
The alums will take over game duties while the current student band is moving to the field at the end of the second quarter to prepare for the on field program.
"We then will have the whole third quarter," Anderson reported. It's hard to know just how much playing time we will have."