Attack alters musicians' repertoire

George Tuley/Caller-Times

The Senior Orchestra — Goodwill Ambassadors of Texas will perform a patriotic repertoire in an Oct. 3 kickoff to their big band concert series. The program was reworked after last week's terrorist attacks.

After terrorists hit the Pentagon and World Trade Center last week, members of the Senior Orchestra - Goodwill Ambassadors of Texas scrambled to rework the repertoire originally planned for Oct. 3 to kick off their big band concert series.
   Donning red, white and blue, the orchestra, many of whose members are veterans of World War II or the Vietnam, Korea and the Gulf wars, on that day exclusively will play patriotic music and big band songs that hearken back to the World War II era.
   However, when they strike up the band with "God Bless America" at the Oveal Williams Senior Center, there will be an empty chair among them.
   Instead of entertaining the crowd with his clarinet, Chief Petty Officer Michael Gonzales will be hundreds of miles away aboard the USS Warrior.
   The ship is being deployed Sept. 27 from Naval Station Ingleside to the East Coast, where it will await orders.

Concert Series The big band concert series, a year-round, free concert series cosponsored by the Buccaneer Commission, will be at the Omni Bayfront Hotel. The free kickoff at 10 a.m. Oct. 3, however, will be at Oveal Williams Senior Center, marking Texas Advocates of Nursing Homes Day. For information about the concert series, call 855-3715, 224-2741 or 882-3242.

   "He's a fellow musician and a friend and you can't help but feel all these emotions," said Arturo Cortez, a registered nurse for a local home health agency, orchestra member and Air Force veteran who served as a medic during Vietnam.
   "He's going to leave behind a family and headed for harm's way. But you also feel great pride because he is still able to serve his country when the need arises."
   Boosting morale
   Juan L. Peña, 65, an orchestra member who served in the 1st Marine Division during the Cuban missile crisis, said he wished he were 30 years younger so that he could re-enlist.
   "I think I would be more of a service to my country to be in the military and defend her," he said.
   But Cortez, 54, said that rallying the community back home and boosting morale is important work also.
   "We're musicians and we express ourselves musically," he said. "Although what happened last week took place many miles away, it's still our community and it hurts deeply."
   Patriotic tunes
   Alicia Charó, founder and chairwoman of the state and congressionally recognized orchestra, said the concert series kickoff-turned-patriotic rally will include songs such as "America the Beautiful," "When the Saints Go Marching In," and "Amazing Grace."
   Apart from such music, Cortez said, "the American people must be positive and verbally support our military men and women.
   "There was so much criticism of those in uniform during Vietnam. Nothing will hurt a guy's morale more than downplaying what they're doing out there for us. I don't think we'll have a problem this time around, but we must not forget to offer words of support and encouragement."
   No matter what he'll be doing Oct. 3, Gonzales said he'll stop and think of his wife, whose birthday is that day. And he'll fondly remember the orchestra back home and look forward to the day he can rejoin it and coax from his clarinet the sweet, familiar sounds of the tune he most likes to play - Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade."
   Remember the troops
   In the meantime, Gonzales said he hopes Americans remember the role men and women in uniform play every day of the year.
   "People need to remember that when they are safe in bed at night, we're still on watch, be it peacetime or otherwise," he said. "All I ask my fellow Americans is that they think of us and pray for us that we all come home safe."