Musical director stays in tune

By MARGOT JACKSON - For the North County Times | Saturday, June 28, 2008 12:51 AM PDT ∞

There was once a musical director who spent 1974 to 1982 teaching students at La Jolla High School the joy of playing instruments. He, not coincidentally, enjoyed it, too.

"Playing music," says Mike Smith, "is equal in excitement to football. It's a brain train."

Now a resident of Rancho Bernardo, Smith reminisced recently about the start of his current band and how he bumped into some of his former students 20 years after they graduated. They said, "We're playing in a band," and they wanted their much respected teacher to lead them again.

Smith played trumpet in college but found life on the road or just moving from venue to venue too difficult. He found that he really preferred teaching, first at Mission Bay and then at La Jolla.

He likes to discuss Tom Devan, a brilliant student whose father was concerned that he'd never make enough money as a musician. But, says Smith, Devan had "burning desire and an incredible talent," and today is playing with Maynard Ferguson's band.

He's also fond of talking about Marty Connolly, the lead trumpet player in the Mike Smith big band who was an arranger with the Navy Band for many years and is "our musical genius." And he's equally proud of Mark Hammond, who was a director of Navy Bands nationally.

Yes, I do think you should make the effort to hear this big band. It's happening every Monday night at Padre Gold, 7245 Linda Vista Road in San Diego. No charge. Plan to be there at 7:30. A word of caution: Low ceilings and nothing to muffle the sound mean that if you wear hearing aids, you'd better take them out. No hearing aids? Bring ear plugs.

 

Busy as usual: The Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club never stops moving forward. Because they want to give something back to their community, Sonali Soni, creative director of San Diego Woman Magazine; Christina Shedenhelm, home care consultant for Silverado at Home; and Joe Giamanco, independent agent for Farmers Insurance, have joined this active group.

My word: If talking about a lighthouse seems too prosaic, try obeliscolychny. It means lighthouse, too.

Margot Jackson is a columnist for the North County Times.

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