Desert Island

Our guests this week, Faith & Ian Anderson, and Joan & Campbell Robinson, represent the excellent  brass band tradition for which The Salvation Army is justly famous.

Plus, Joan Robinson reveals a remarkable connection to the very beginnings of William Booth's Army.

Also, the Grammys? The Emmys? The Oscars? Forget 'em. This is the coveted Barry Tone Award. The envelope, please...

Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Transcript

MAKING OUR WAY - A McMahon/Cheyne Podcast

Desert Island (Season 1; Episode 11) - 1/24/24 

Today’s guides:

Faith Anderson

Ian Anderson

Joan Robinson

Campbell Robinson (ROBBIE)

Jan McMahon

Rob McMahon

Deanna Cheyne (DEE)

Jim Cheyne

JIM (voice-over): If you were raised with The Salvation Army as your home church, you heard stories of The Army’s pioneer days and the resistance early Salvationists encountered, tales of those who were socially outcast, rejected by established religions, assaulted by street mobs, and, yes, even martyred.

If you’ve ever doubted the veracity of those tales, or suspected that time had embellished or romanticized a distant past, you’ll want to give a close listening to our guests today. We gathered these friends to discuss their experiences as members of Salvation Army bands. In the middle of that discussion, however, came a surprise I will never forget.

Grab a cup of coffee, signal your way over to the slow lane, and join us as we are Making Our Way.

JIM: Over the years, the Salvation Army has earned the reputation for some of the best and some of the worst British-style brass bands in the world - a reputation well earned on both accounts. In 1930, John Philip Sousa might have had that last category in mind when he wrote his Salvation Army March - a rather careful construction from a March King uncertain of Salvation Army bands' abilities. When, however, some Salvation Army bands gathered for an epic "Battle of the Bands" under the more sanctified title of "Music Festival," Sousa served as adjudicator. Upon hearing the excellence of the participating ensembles, he offered this paraphrased apology, "Had I known the quality of the bands you have, I would have written a much more demanding march.”

I'm hearing you ask, which band won the competition? But does that really matter? These are bands whose humble mission is spiritual ministry, and competitions are not really kosher. However, it was the Detroit Citadel Band that won, and, not to brag, but three of your hosts today were members of that band at one time, though not in 1930.

Today's guests, unfortunately, were never members of that band. They do, however, represent the caliber of musician that inspired Sousa's apology - musicianship that reaches to the top of the Salvation Army's banding. And I will invite today's hosts, Jan and Rob, to introduce our guests for today.

JAN: This is so exciting. I can't believe that we're actually now all sitting around this table, and I know Faith is approaching this with fear and trepidation. But on my right, if you could see us, are Faith and Ian Anderson, who have been just the best friends over many years, all because of Salvation Army banding. So I'm excited to have them here with us. Ian is an amazing cornetist, and he is like a model bandsman to me. He has that spirit of dedication that I would aspire to in my younger self. So, always there, always presenting a model of what it means to be a Salvation Army bandsman. And now I'm going to cry. I'm not sure why exactly, but we got to play together in the Southern Territorial Band.

IAN: We did.

JAN: So that was a wonderful time. Joan and Robbie [Campbell]. So here we have the quintessential bandsman. Two people - what?

ROB: The man.

JAN: The man…

IAN & JIM: The man.

JAN: …and his wife, also the woman.

ROB: That’s right.

DEE: Yeah, thank you.

JAN: Currently they're playing in our Corps band, which is exactly how life should progress. After years of experience in playing in the greatest bands - not that Clearwater Corps band isn't the greatest, but now they play their part playing cornet in the Clearwater Corps band. Also they're here, I think, because they're our friends. And I'm looking very forward to this conversation between friends who know much more than me.

ROB: Campbell Robinson and Joan Robinson.

JAN: Thank you. I'm so sorry. [laughter] Did I never say?

DEE: No, I was waiting for the name.

ROB: I think she - She might have at the beginning, but it was really Joan and Campbell…

DEE: Oh, okay.

ROB: …Joan and Robbie.

JAN: There you go. I'm so sorry.

IAB: I thought my name was Quintessential. [laughter]

JAN: Well, in the dictionary is your picture of right behind it.

JIM: Ian… 

IAN: Yes, sir.

JIM: …where were you born?

IAN: Derby, England.

JIM: England.

IAN: Which is right in the middle of…

JIM: Derby, England.

IAN: Yes.

JIM: So have you ever heard of this show called Desert Island Discs?

IAN: Oh yes.

JIM: What's the format there?

IAN: So, some celebrity or person is - the theory is they are cast away on a desert island. So and it's really just an excuse to discuss who they are and what they do. But in it they select eight favorite pieces of music, their favorite book to take with them, and a luxury item. And then they get sent off to the island with the Bible and the full works of Shakespeare as well.

JIM: Oh, those are already available.

IAN: They’re available.

JIM: Okay. Well, since there are eight of us, I thought if we each did eight, that's a long day. But if we each had, like, one album, one book, one luxury item, and I had stipulated that already there - Shakespeare, the Bible, Salvation Army Songbook and a restroom, those are already there. Yeah. So what would be your choice?

IAN: I think the luxury item would probably be a couple of nice pillows so that I can sleep well. That's not unusual as a lot of people ask for that on there because I listen to several of the Desert Island Discs. But yeah, probably a nice pillow. Books? I don't know, because I read novels generally rather than big, deep…

JIM: And once you've read them.

IAN: I know them, but I think a Bernard Cornwell book, which is always historical novels, I would select one of his, I think, which would be - but they're not very big. So because I'd really spend a lot of time reading the Bible, because I should, and Shakespeare? I don't think I’ve ever read any of Shakespeare. So that would be a whole new world to me. As an Englishman, I shouldn’t admit that, but…

JIM: No, he's really catching on, I think.

IAN: He is. Yeah. He could go far. [laughter]

JIM: Did we get all three?

IAN: On music.

JIM: Oh, music.

JAN: Music.

JIM: The album.

IAN: The album. I don't know. I have to think of this [unintelligible]. So things like Sound of Music album would be good because you could sing along. A Carpenters album would be good. Beatles, any Beatles album. But I think I'd have to do a brass band album. So and there's several that come to mind, and not because I - the first one I really, we did an album in Derby, which was fine. But when the New York staff went on tour, we did Ambassadors. And that was pretty good. And I think I'd have to take that because that would remind me of that time. So it'd be a brass band album.

JIM: Brass band. Faith, would you take a brass band album?

FAITH: I’m not sure. I do enjoy brass bands. But I seriously cannot pick out one album I would take. I like the 5th Dimension.

JIM: 5th Dimension.

JAN: Now that is an awesome choice.

FAITH: Yes. I love some of those. On the one album that I had, I enjoyed that. 

JIM: And what would you read?

FAITH: Oh, I read very simple books by Alexander McCall Smith, about life in Scotland. He has a nice series about an apartment house. It's called 44 Scotland Street. And he talks about all the different people in the different flats and how their lives intertwine. And it's just nice, simple things about life.

JIM: Do you have a luxury item?

FAITH: Well…

IAN: Other than me?

FAITH: Well, you know what I'd really like to have a masseuse. [laughter]

JIM: Excellent!

ROB: Nice!

IAN: That would NOT be me.

JIM: And if the masseuse knows how to build a boat, that much better. Great. Rob, do you have an album, a book?

ROB: The book would be the Tolkien trilogy. That's what I would take. And if I could sneak in The Hobbit before it, that would be fine, too. But in terms of an album, it would be something Motown. Because that's what I grew up with. And that's what, you know, I can hear a Motown tune and it'll take me to a place and a time, a date. And I just know where I was and what was going on that day. So you know, The Four Tops, or The Temptations, or the Supremes, something like that.

JIM: Excellent.

ROB: And then my luxury item would be the International Staff Band playing Resurgam, because I have to do that every Easter.

JIM: Very good.

ROB: I have to hear it. And I would want the actual band. Okay?

[laughter]

JIM: They just stop by?

DEE: That’s a luxury.

ROB: In person.

JIM: In person.

ROB: That’s right.

DEE: A certain year? A certain year of ISB [International Staff Band]?

ROB: I don't know. It would - when Robbie was in the band.

JAN: Good call. That was good.

JIM: The [Southern] Territorial Band heard that. Royal Albert Hall. Stephen Cobb. Derek Kane in tears while he's played that one line that deserves it. And then it's over, and everyone's holding their breath. “Is anyone in this huge throng going to break it with applause?” And no one did. It was an amazing moment. It's one of those things, you know, when sometimes a corps officer will get up after a band has played  and said, “Well, I think, maybe we've already had our sermon for the day,” you know? No one ever stops. [laughter] They think…

IAN: Good.

ROB: “However…”

JIM: But that - that mo…, that piece, that moment, that place - was one of those “change your life” times.

ROB: That’s one of our musical traditions

JAN: It is. I wasn't expecting you to say that. So you… Resurgam. Oh, you're looking to me now for my answers.

JIM: Yeah. Yeah.

JAN: Okay. My album would be Billy Joel. And it would be whichever album has Shades of Gray on it.

JIM: Oh, yeah.

DEE: I think…

FAITH: Not 50, I hope. [laughter]

JAN: No, no. Not 50 Shades of Gray, sorry. [laughs]

JIM: I’m sorry. Your book was what again?

JAN: That went a whole different direction. You know, it’s funny… So I was googling it to find out which album it was, and I couldn't get past the 50 Shades of Gray to get to the album I was trying to get.

DEE: I think it is River of Dreams.

JAN: I think it is River of Dreams. There's a picture of Billy Joel with this thing coming out of his head.

DEE: Yeah, that, yeah, that Christie Brink…

JIM: Which Christie drew.

DEE: Yeah, Christie Brinkley did the artwork.

JIM: She did the cover artwork on that.

JAN: My luxury item is a cup of coffee. Well, no, a continuous supply of coffee. Let me rephrase.

JIM: An IV of coffee.

JAN: Well, if you can have the ISB, I can have a continuous supply of coffee. 

ROB: That’s right.

JAN: And my book is A Sand County Almanac.

JIM: Oh, yeah. Aldo…

JAN: Because it's nature writing and I'm thinking if I'm on an island, that's what I would gravitate toward, so…

ROB: And if you haven't read, Aldo Leopold is a wonderful writer. He's a beautiful writer.

JAN: Was he from Minnesota, or Wisconsin?

ROB: Wisconsin.

JAN: Wisconsin. So he just writes all these observations of nature. It's a classic and I love it.

ROB: Speaking of Billy Joel, because this is an aside, Jim.

JAN: A banding story.

ROB: The reason that I ended up on tuba is because of the Billy Joel concert. I was demoted, quote-unquote, from the euphonium to E-flat bass by John South because I missed a band practice for a Billy Joel concert.

JIM: You were banished to the tuba section.

ROB: And it’s the best move I ever made.

JIM: It's like you get into prison, all the tuba players, you know, “What did you do to get here?” “Well, I missed the concert.” [laughter] Robbie.

ROBBIE: Hi. [laughter]

JIM: Hi [laughing] how ya doin…? If you’re…

ROBBIE:  It’s very interesting to listen to our friends here describe lots of things. My luxury item would be a four poster bed. And the reason for that is, at my young age, I don't get up too early in the morning and I think that I would be able to relax and enjoy. Okay?

JIM: Very nice.

ROBBIE: If I'm talking about something to read, I would like to have a novel written by a gentleman named Neville Shute.

IAN: Oh yeah.

ROBBIE: And the novel is A Town Like Alice…

IAN: Alice.

ROBBIE: …which is Alice Springs in the middle of Australia.

ROB: Oh, okay, yeah.

ROBBIE: And the reason for that is, in the book, there was this British group of people in World War II that were captured by the Japanese, and they didn't know what to do with them. So all these women and children were just marched around the country, and on their way, a group of prisoners of war came along and there was this Aussie guy, and so he asked one girl, “Say, what would you like to eat?" And she said, "I'd like to have chicken." He said, "Okay. When I come back, I'll bring some chicken." So he stole the chicken from the Japanese commander's chicken coop and killed it and gave it to them. And when they arrived at the camp, he was spread out, spread eagled out, and Alice Springs was where he actually came from. So it was a wonderful novel and I always think about that.

As a matter of interest, my nephew recently was in Australia to take part in the Sydney Marathon, and while he was there, he went out to Alice Springs to go to Uluru Rock…

IAN: [unintelligible] rock as it was.

ROBBIE: …and he had a ride on a camel. Now you didn't know this…

ROB: In Australia!

ROBBIE: …in Australia, camels are there, in the middle of the country, wild. Now how do camels get to Australia?

JIM: Practice, practice, practice.

ROBBIE: In the early 1900s, in the gold fields in the western part of Australia, camels were used to cart provisions and everything from depots into the gold field areas. And taking that a step further, my mother, when she was appointed from Training College in Melbourne in 1913, her appointment was to a town called Leonora in western Australia. It took her three weeks to get there, first by boat, then by train, then by bus, and the final section was by camel.

JAN: Wow.

ROBBIE: Now you want to know about banding and what I would like to have? I would like to have the CD of Black Dyke Mills Band and the ISB together playing Heaton's music.

JIM: Oh my goodness.

ROBBIE: To me that is one of the greatest brass band albums ever…

JIM: Yeah.

ROBBIE: …not only because of the technique and all that kind of thing, but because of the way he composed his music and written. So that's what I would say.

ROB: Excellent.

JIM: Good.

JAN: That was wonderful.

JIM: Hey, Joanie.

JOAN: Everybody’s taking all of them. [laughter] I’m going to switch my album to a Christmas album that was on a long play record by Philadelphia.

ROBBIE: Symphony.

JOAN: Symphony, and it has a wide range of Christmas music - carols and non-carols, and I still have the long play record and also the CD, and the album cover is still intact and it brings a lot of memories.

JIM: That's good.

JOAN: When I thought about this happening, I was thinking about music and my - music to me, the idol I have is Eric Ball. And so we have two books and they're both written by the same person. One is Eric Ball, His Words and Wisdom. And the other one is - I forget the name of it now, but, the title of it - but it is about him and his music and how he wrote and how he used music in his - well he's known for his spiritual entity. That means a lot to me, particularly because I had the pleasure of meeting him, and he stayed in our house when he was in Washington. And I've never been in the presence of anyone like that. He was down to earth, very friendly, but there's that aura about him. All you needed to do was to look at him and know that he had some connection with the Lord that is unique. In fact, I understand he could tell you over the phone what you were wearing.

DEE: Oh my goodness.

JOAN: And so anyway, what else am I supposed to…

DEE: Your luxury.

JIM: Do you have a luxury item?

JOAN: Oh, the luxury item. Oh, probably sunscreen. [laughter]

IAN: Good idea.

JAN: Wow, I never saw that coming.

JIM: Very practical person there.

JAN: I know.

JIM: Excellent. Deanna.

DEE: Okay. So when it came to what album I would take or what music, I was stuck. Because I know a lot of people are thinking it's going to be a Barbra Streisand album.

IAN: Yes.

JIM: It’s, “which Barbra Streisand album?” [laughter]

DEE: No, no, no, no. So as I'm thinking, I’m thinking of my favorites, and I was like, okay, is there a compilation recording of my favorite singers? Because that would be it. But when it came down to it, I had to go with Ella Fitzgerald. Because it's a bottomless - I could say pit - of what I learned when I listened to her. Vocally, technically, especially musically. And I said the Live in Berlin…

JIM: Oh, yeah.

DEE: …album, because her scat is amazing on that.

JIM: When she does - when she does…

DEE: Mack the Knife.

JIM: …Mack the Knife.

DEE: I think that was…

JIM: …and she can’t remember the words…

DEE: …the first time she did it. Anyways, it's a great recording. So I said that would be my album. But Barbra is still there in my heart.

ROB: And I was thinking Roger Whitaker, too.

DEE: Oh my gosh. See now, Rob, you've made it harder for me.[laughter] Yes, Roger Whitaker. Can I have two albums?

JIM: No.

DEE: ‘Cuz, Roger Whitaker…

JIM: You’ve got to choose between Roger Whitaker and Ella Fitzgerald.”

DEE: …A Time for Christmas is my family album with Darcy the Dragon.

ROB: Darcy the Dragon.

DEE: I need Darcy the Dragon.

JIM: Okay, that could be a luxury item.

DEE: Well, no, no, I got a really good luxury item.

JIM: Oh, what is it?

DEE: A yacht. [laughter].

FAITH: Clever.

ROB: Great. We can all escape. [laughter]

DEE: I’m like, I got everything I need on the yacht…

FAITH: They may not allow that.

DEE: …and I can leave whenever I want. So it's a luxury item.

JIM: Did you do a book on it?

DEE: No, I haven't done my book.

JIM: What's your book?

DEE: Okay. I want my Jane Austen collected works book. It's a big thick book, but it's got the collective works…

JIM: Tolkien’s one big thick book.

DEE: of Jane Austin.

ROB: Yeah, yeah, that works.

JIM: I’ve got it.

DEE: That’s it.

JIM: It’s good. Is that everything?

JAN: James.

JIM: Oh, okay. I'm split on the album because it's either going to be The Holy War - ISB - from '65, was it? And the other one growing up, I always listen to Zubin Mehta's Los Angeles Philharmonic's version of The Planets, because it's just deep all the way through. I like those two. I don't know which one to grab, but those are - let's say The Planets, just to do it that way. Uh, luxury item. I think I'd like to have a piano there, just to go off - something I can move away from the rest of you - and just go off to the side of the island and just go and dream, dream for a while.

DEE: See, I would have a piano on my yacht.

JIM: That's very good. And that was luxury. The book. Oh, because of the way the Cosmos series by Carl Sagan was, every time it was on, I'm just enthralled at this thing. And then it's in book form. I've got a bookshelf at home. I think I would take that just because of the, uh - keeping it interesting. It's something I could read and read again. And I don't have to worry about how it ends or something. And then it spoiled the ending for me. So in that way, I don't think I would take a novel. I think I would take something that has that sort of information in it. It's going to be a nice island. I was thinking about the bed. We've got a wonderful bed. It's a split bed. Up, down, vibrates…

DEE: It would be on my yacht. [laughter]

IAN: It wouldn't be allowed on this island.

JIM: So we've got some people who are - you're from, Faith, you're from Maine. 

FAITH: I am from Maine.

JIM: Ian, you're from Derby.

IAN: England, yeah.

JIM: You're from?

ROBBIE: All over.

JIM: Yeah.

ROBBIE: I’m from - I was born in Australia. And then went to live in New Zealand when my parents were appointed. They were Salvation Army officers, and were appointed to New Zealand in 1940. And then after the war, when I had a job, the company I worked for eventually sent me to London to do export buying for them. And that's when I was fortunate enough to play in the ISB then. But it was during the time that I was in New Zealand that I met an American guy. We became very close friends. And he said, "Hey, you don't want to vegetate down in this place. Why don't you come to America?" So I filed my immigration in New Zealand. Being Australian born, they were on a quota of 500 a year based on a census in the '20s, I think. And it took 10 years. So. And I had a little help to get here. But coming to America was the result of my dream. And I've enjoyed every minute of it. I've become an American citizen. I don't know whether I'm that proud of it right now.

[laughter]

ROB: I hear ya, Robbie.

JIM: We’re proud to have you here. And to help dilute the insanity. I'm asking that because our listeners will recognize, this is not a video. If this were a video podcast, I would have subtitles at the bottom for all the different languages that are going to come out here. [laughter] But that gives us a chance to say, we do have transcripts of all our podcasts. So if you're having difficulty with anything that we're saying here, just grab the transcript and read along. You're from? 

JOAN: Canada.

JIM: Canada.

JOAN: Montreal.

JIM: Montreal. Let’s play the favorite Salvation Army game: How are we related? Let's see. Does anyone have any relatives from Newfoundland?

JOAN: I did.

JIM: Okay, then we're related.

DEE: Yes, we’re related.

JIM: It’s that island culture sort of thing. We're going to be related when we're in…

JOAN: My mother was born in Tilt Cove…

JIM: Where’s that?

JOAN: Newfoundland.

DEE: I’ve heard…

JIM: Do you know where that is?

DEE: …something about Tilt Cove recently that I'm trying to remember.

JIM: That sounds like an outport. That sounds like a fisherman's place.

JOAN: It was, I don't know, but it was a little.

JIM: Have you been there?

JOAN: No, I've not been there.

JIM: Well, you're family.

JOAN: My mother was an officer and was appointed to Montreal, and that's where my father met her, and then he decided to - and she had to leave the work - when he decided he was going to be an officer, they decided to come to the United States because mother had been in Newfoundland in The Salvation Army, and it was very, very difficult place to be in The Salvation Army. They decided to come to the US where there was more opportunity, so…

JIM: How would you say it was difficult? How was it…?

JOAN: Well, I don't know all of what her appointments were and with whom, but did - her sister was also an officer, and they were managing a corps, and they had no money.

JIM: Right.

JOAN: They were not paid a salary, and so they had to do all kinds of things to try to make a go of it. That was what happened in so many of those appointments at that time.

DEE: Yeah, well, Newfoundland didn't become a part of Canada until 1949. 

JOAN: That’s right.

DEE: Before then, it was a very, very poor province.

JIM: So, how many…

ROBBIE: If you're looking for Salvation Army connections, then you should talk to Joan, because her great-great-grandmother was the first martyr in The Salvation Army.

DEE: Oh, really?

JOAN: She was the first…

FAITH: Oh, yes.

IAN: I remember.

FAITH: You have something - don’t you have something in your home?

IAN: A picture.

ROB: Really!

FAITH: A picture or something?

JOAN: Yes, I do.

IAN: Bob does.

FAITH: Oh, Bob does.

IAN: Bob does.

JOAN: She was the first woman convert of William Booth.

DEE: Oh, wow.

JOAN: Then, she - as her daughter gave the story - things were very difficult. People were beaten. People were put in jail. Salvationists. And so, Susannah Beaty was her name, and she was kicked and beaten and left for dead on the street. She wasn't dead, but the doctors didn't give her much hope. But she did survive, but she had so many internal injuries that they took her. So she was the first martyr.

JIM: So, I…

ROBBIE: And her great-grandmother, who was the daughter of Susannah, at 14 years of age, sang for William Booth, and was the first person to wear uniform. 

JOAN: Uniform, yes, and first person to wear a bonnet. The first of a lot of things.

DEE: Wow.

JIM: See, I was going to get into this. Not that it's a contest, but you just won. [laughter] Our Salvation Army - how far back do we go in The Salvation Army? Ian, where did you come into The Army?

IAN: Oh, I was born into it. So my - you’re telling me now - my grandparents on both sides were Salvationists. My parents were. My grandparents on my dad's side, they'd gone back to the Methodist Church. So in my time, they didn't come to The Army, but they knew The Army. On that side, I was going to play double-B in the band. My grandfather on the mother's side. And then, I'm not sure whether the great-grandparents were in the Army, but that's going back to the '20s and what have you. So yeah, my grandparents were both - and my parents, of course, were.

JIM: Faith? How about…?

FAITH: Third generation.

JIM: You’re third generation?

FAITH: Yeah. My grandmother on my father's side, she had ten boys, and I think she went to The Army to get some assistance. [laughter] She had ten boys, and at one point there were six or seven of them that played in the corps band.

JIM: There you go.

FAITH: Yeah.

IAN: And a couple of them became officers.

FAITH: Oh, yeah, a couple became officers and things, but yeah, there was kind of like a Fleming family band for a while.

IAN: Yeah.

JIM: Rob, how far back does it go for - it’s on your father's side, right?

ROB: Yeah, just third generation. My grandparents were officers, and he came over from Scotland. His parents weren't Salvation Army.

JIM: So he was first generation. I've got to get Jan here to figure out the rest of this, because I'm not sure - it’s both our grandparents - sets of grandparents - were officers, but I don't know what happened beyond that. Like, my dad's dad was an officer, and so was my dad's uncle, the Jim Cheyne that came down to St. Petersburg to retire. So that would kind of tell me that somehow it’s in the family, but I don't know. Maybe Jan would know.

ROB: Can you go back further on the Robb side of the family?

JIM: This I don't know. First of all, because my mom's mom was orphaned early on, and I don't know what - We’re thinking about how many generations we've been in the Army.

JAN: I know what we were told, whether it's true or not, I'm not sure. We were told we were sixth generation, which goes way back.

ROB: That’s the Robb side, right?

JAN: No, I think it's the Cheyne side.

JIM: The Cheynes?

JAN: Yeah. I think it's the Cheyne side.

ROBBIE: That goes back - Christian Mission.

JAN: Yeah. Now, again, this may be a little bit legend and exaggerated over time, but that's what we were told on dad's side. So that would go back to, obviously, to Scotland at one point, and England.

JIM: Yeah, because his dad was from Scotland - Leith - and then his mom - well, it had to be that - because she was the daughter of Salvation Army officer parents, and they were stationed in Canada at the time when she was born. She was over there.

JAN: Oh, Grandma Cheyne.

JIM: Yeah, she was born in Nova Scotia, but they had been appointed there from England. Yeah.

[Robbie is making a knocking sound on the table]

JIM: Oh, it's fine.

JAN: It’s okay. You know what? Jim will be able to say, "Any tapping you hear is the famous,” [laughter] “infamous…”

ROB: He’s practicing his figurines.

JAN: He’s got marches in his head.

JIM: I think that was the third variation of Tucker.

JOAN: And about that, he'll be very quiet, and I’ll know if he's singing something, but I know if he's doing this, [mimes cornet fingering] he's playing something. [laughter] All the time.

JIM: So for…

ROBBIE: Nothing wrong with anything, is there?

IAN: No. No, no.

ROB: Ian and Robbie: Being bandsmen to the hilt, you’re probably aware of this award. This goes back to 1983 when John McMahon and I were in Jamaica. We, uh - actually, Jan and I bought this statue. It's a wooden carved statue - for those of you who are listening - of a gentleman with an interesting hat, and he's smoking a pipe, and he's wearing a cape that was a napkin that John McMahon stole from a restaurant that we ate at, and it’s held together by an old Salvation Army medal. It looks like a second place medal, so it must have been Jan.

JAN: No, no, no.

[ceremonial music begins]

ROB: And so, this became known as the Barry Tone Award. In the 41 years of its existence, it's only gone to four different people. The first one to receive it was Bill Mockabee, some of you may know. Tom Tedford received it. Paul Kellner received it. And then when John McMahon retired, we gave it to John, too. This is normally a joint award presentation. John usually does it with me. I texted him earlier, and he wasn't available to be with us. But he said, wholeheartedly, even though he doesn't know either of you, he said, "Oh, yes, they deserve it. They should get it." So, just because of your service to Salvation Army banding, and your great knowledge and your love of Salvation Army banding, John and I would like to present this award to you. You will have your names, which are inscribed in pen, on a blue Post-It note, attached to this award for all time. You will be the fifth and the sixth recipients of this award. Actually, you're tied for fifth, but okay. There's Campbell right there, and here’s Ian, and congratulations, gentlemen.

ROBBIE: I’m blessed.

IAN: Well, thank you.

ROBBIE: I really am blessed.

IAN: Yes.

JAN: You should be. I’m - You’re in, obviously, a rare group here.

ROB: It’s a very, very, yes, a very elite group.

JAN: And you don't get to actually keep it.

ROB: No, no.

JAN: But your name sticks on the top.

ROB: We’ll get your picture with it, okay? But then it stays with us. [laughter]I guess we're safekeeping, you know. Congratulations!

[music]

IAN: Thank you.

ROBBIE: Here, here, buddy.

ROB: And, Jim, I think we'll probably post a picture of that on the website.

JAN: On the website.

[exit music begins]

JIM (voice-over): This discussion continued for a few hours and contains stories you won't hear anywhere else. Stories of Eric Ball, Eric Leidzen, Leslie Condon, Derek Smith, and many, many more. Our friends will offer seasoned outlooks on brass banding, their favorite bandmasters, and their favorite pieces for a Saturday night festival or a Sunday morning meeting. You know, the 8 of us sitting around the table represented over 450 years of brass band experience, and Faith Anderson was there, too. So follow us as we are Making Our Way and watch for the next gathering of the Magnificent Eight! (No, no, no.) The Artful Eight! (Nope.) The Octo-Tones! The Octa-Goners! The Eight Balls! The Ocho Amigos! The Crazy Eights! The Eight Notes! Eight is enough! The G8s. The V8s. The Figure Eights! The Octo-Pipers! …

[music ends]