I took this photo during the final minutes of the Kenosha Pops Band’s Fourth of July concert, just ahead of the fireworks.   I love how conductor Craig Gall’s baton looks for all the world like a magic wand – and indeed there were some moments of sheer magic last night when I gave silent thanks that I was even a small part of the proceedings.

The band always plays this particular concert not in its normal summertime home-  Pennoyer Park – but rather in a lakeside park just south of downtown Kenosha named after Kenosha’s sister city in Germany- Wolfenbuttel.   I really like how Kenosha’s Fourth of July celebration is centered in this particular park named for a city in a nation that not all that long ago we regarded as a bitter, hated enemy.  That our nation now counts Germany among its closest allies and friends is remarkable and wonderful.

The concert itself is a deft balancing act between light-hearted fun and emotional poignancy, which I think is just right for such an occasion.   The former was served up in things like Leroy Anderson’s “Blue Tango,” a Neil Diamond medley, a George M. Cohan medley (complete with “Yankee Doodle Boy” and “Give my regards to Broadway”) and Gershwn’s “They can’t take that away from me,” which I got to sing with the band.   The poignancy came with things like the theme from “J.F.K.” (I hate the movie but sure love the music), Carmen Dragon’s “America the Beautiful” (and I managed to deliver one of my best high G’s last night in the climactic final refrain – whew) and a really neat final tribute to the various branches of the military in which the official marches of each are played as veterans of each branch stand to be recognized-  culminating in the playing of “Taps” by two trumpeters in the band as we all stand at silent attention-  and then the singing of our national anthem.  I cannot imagine observing the Fourth of July without this particular tradition.  And of course,  “Stars and Stripes Forever” finishes out the night and leaves everyone smiling and excited for the fireworks to come.

Speaking of fireworks and spectacular special effects,  during the last measures of the George M. Cohan medley an old-style airplane flew right over the crowd and out over the lake in a breathtaking maneuver that felt like it blew our hair around,  so close did it seem to fly over our heads.  I cracked a joke with the crowd right after that about how we had planned it that way and were pleased that it worked out so well – and indeed, it almost seemed like it had to have been planned.  But then the same plane did a similar sweep over the crowd just as I was singing the Gershwin – and I had half a mind to yell “Curse you, Red Baron” with clenched fist raised to the sky.  But I restrained myself – and even as it drowned out my singing for a measure or two, I had to marvel with everyone else at that bit of unexpected extra excitement.

During the concert’s brief intermission, a presentation was made by a group of motorcyclists who I believe call themselves the Patriot Guard Riders.  If I remember correctly,  this group took it upon themselves to show up at various military funerals to make sure that those services would not be interrupted or disrupted by unseemly protests or demonstrations.   And indeed, they’re a pretty formidable- looking bunch with whom I would not want to tangle-  and that includes the women in the group!   They are dressed in your basic biker attire – black leather, bandanas, the whole ensemble – and as I stood off just to the side of them in my navy blue dockers,  white dress shirt, and American Flag necktie,  you would have thought that we were from opposite ends of the solar system.  But for as little as I probably have in common with any of the Patriot Guard Riders,  we do share the same homeland-  and if someone had snapped a photo of us standing together, the caption could have read “e pluribus unum” – “from many,  one.”  Every nation on earth is more diverse than we usually realize – but of course the United States of America can count that as an essential,  central component of who we are.  It is bane and blessing both – that we are such a messy melting pot – but I think most people would argue that it is mostly a blessing.

I try to remember that on the Fourth of July, which is one of those holidays that seems to bring everyone out – from sweet grandmothers to teenagers covered head to toe with tattoos.   I used to look out over the Fourth of July crowd with bewilderment and dismay more than anything – wishing that more of the people would look like sweet souls who had just stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting rather than the latest episode of “L.A. Ink” or “Girls Gone Wild.”  To be perfectly honest, I fight down those feelings every day of my life.   But I hope I’m coming to realize that the worst thing you can do is miss the good in people – especially the good in people who might like they just crawled out from under a rock, but who stare at fireworks in the sky with the same wonderment that I do and who probably even have some of the same hopes and dreams that I do.  And all of us comprise this amazing United States of America.

pictured above:  Music Director Craig Gall – who by the way is no relation whatsoever to Kathy and her family.  He is fantastic, even if his baton isn’t a magic wand.