Tuscaloosa Horns Summer 2003 Tour

UNIVERSAL AMPHITHEATRE
Los Angeles, CA

CHRONICLE PAVILION
Concord, CA

SANDIA CASINO RESORT
Albuquerque, NM

ALLTEL PAVILLION
Raleigh, NC

BLACK EXPO
Indianapolis, IN

CHASTAIN PARK AMPH.
Atlanta, GA

ARIE CROWN THEATRE
Chicago, IL

SCENE PAVILION
Cleveland, OH

VERIZON WIRELESS AMPH.
Virginia Beach, VA

MANN MUSIC CENTER
Philadelphia, PA

COMERICA STADIUM
Detroit, MI

FOX THEATRE
St. Louis, MO

FLEET BOSTON PAVILION
Boston, MA

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL
New York, NY

PIER SIX PAVILION
Baltimore, PA

NISSAN PAVILION
Washington, DC

The T-Horns traveled
22,523 miles
on this tour.

FRAZZLED
Over 16 dates of shows, the T-Horns played approximately 2,685 minutes of tunes,
or 44.75 hours. Do we
still have to practice
today?

Demondrae started the
tour with the intent of playing every excercise in the Arban Method Book. It is believed
that he made it almost
2/3 the way through.
Talk about torture!

STOCKPILE
During the second weekend of the tour,
the T-Horns used 16 different players. In fact, no consecutive
weekend used the
same section.
Now that's deep.

CHANGE UP
The OJAYS book was
originally written for a section of 4 horns.
Doc Williams
rearranged the book
for 9 players...
in less than two weeks!
In fact, each weekend
saw at least one
change in one
section or another.
We love variety.

After many months of planning and putting together the right pieces of quite an elaborate puzzle, the Tuscaloosa Horns found themselves venturing into the greatest performance schedule of its history. With 16 dates, three back-to-back-to-back shows per date, spanning all over the country staring us in the face, everyone of us knew the challenge that lay before us.

Click thumbnails for larger view.
The crowd begins to brew in Raleigh.	Comerica Stadium at the Detroit Music Festival.	Yes, occasionally we get to travel in a limo instead of a sardine can.
Joe Cook gets the stage ready in LA while Tom Halpain adjusts the lighting.	Shane casts his shadow and some cool licks over LA at sunset.	Radio City Music Hall

We started by heading west to Los Angeles, and because of the beautiful weather and "scenery," nobody wanted to leave. The weekend ended in a gale force desert wind that left music and our collective wit all over the stage. After the night was over, some of the guys looked like they had been in an 80's "big hair" rock band.	The lead trumpet parts to "Ain't No Women" and "Money"

		Kem (Tempts Wardrobe Mgr.) Eric (OJAYS Singer)
	The rest of the tour took us back to the east coast and middle parts of the USA where we encountered some great crowds, a lot of heat and humidity and best of all, some familiar faces along the way.



	Music Directors for Each Group Al McKenzie - The Temptations Doc Williams - The OJAYS George Roundtree - Four Tops
Levi Stubbs made one more appearance at the Detroit Music Festival. It was amazing how everybody showed the love and respect that he so well deserves. Everyone from the crowd to the musicians and backstage crews were thrilled to see Levi.		To tell you everything that took place would take 60 gig of memory and three days to download on to your computer. But, the highlight of the whole tour had to be when we played Radio City Music Hall. To think so many musicians have been to New York , but never to have appeared on that stage, it is truly remarkable.

JUST A FEW OF THE GREAT MUSICIANS: (Clockwise from top right) Kerry - Bass (Temptations) Richie Aguon - Drums (The Whispers) John Valentino - Sax (The Whispers) Grady Wilkens - Music Dir. (The Whispers) Butch - Drums (Four Tops) Roderick - Drums (OJAYS) Buster - Drums (Temptations)


We all perfected the art of sleeping any where, any time....	Wheat will sleep with anything.	This hotel is so bad, it seems like it's an airport. Wait a minute...it IS an airport.
Another airport, another 12 minutes total of sleep...	Trombone players always get stuck on the floor.	Joe Cook (Stage Line Mgr.) sleeps during the show. Get it while you can!



Nine guys on the road with little to no sleep, the craziness begins...
Chad and Wheat show they have a career somewhere else if the gigs dry up. Wheat gives some payback for the "foul wind" production coming from the brass section the night before.	Chris gives David Thomas a little bit of help, while Chad finally feels normal in the Indiana Pacer's Locker Room
	The event staff thought they could keep Shane from being heard. NOT!!



























	THE FOLLOWING PLAYERS MADE THIS POSSIBLE:
TRUMPETS	SAXES	BONES
*Mart Avant*	*Kelly O'Neal*	*Jim Moeller*
*Shane Porter*	*Jimmy Bowland*	*Demondrae Thurman*
*Chris Gordon*	*Jerry Ball*	*Chad Fisher*
*David Thomas*	*Richard Daviston*	*Steve Pryor*
	*Sam Williams*
	*Daniel Western*
	*Steve Black*
	*Steve Collins*
	*Gary Wheat*
	*Scott Parrish*
	*Greg Imboden*

The Tuscaloosa Horns wish to thank Alan Haymon Productions, Skip, the Temptations, OJAYS, Four Tops and all the back stage crew for their assistance and the opportunity to be a part of such a great show. We hope to do it again, soon!
JM

We made it!