This weekend marks the second time that Jeans 'n Classics will take it out to the 'ol ball game. J'nC is performing with our good friends in Cedar Rapids Iowa, the musicians of Orchestra Iowa. The catch is that we're performing in a ball park prior to a minor league ball game.
Gavin Hope and Jean Meilleur are bringing the "Music of Blood, Sweat and Tears, Earth, Wind and Fire, and A Little Chicago" to the ball park. The details were recently revealed in the Cedar Rapids press...
Singer Jean Meilleur
Rockin’ the stadium: Orchestra Iowa, Jeans ’n Classics, Kernels teaming up for triple play
Orchestra Iowa threw out its first pitch to baseball, rock and symphony fans with the music of The Eagles in 2009. The orchestra will round second base again Saturday (5/28/2011), teaming up with the Jeans ’n Classics rock cover band to fill the ballpark with the music of Blood, Sweat & Tears; Earth, Wind & Fire; and Chicago. After the Kernels play Peoria, a fireworks finale will bring it all home.
By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia Group
Saturday in the Park” will spring to literal, lyrical life when Orchestra Iowa pitches a real celebration at Veterans Memorial Park.
Saturday (5/28/11) marks the second time the orchestra has teamed up with Canadian cover band Jeans ’n Classics and the Kernels to bring symphonic rock, a baseball game and fireworks to the Cedar Rapids stadium.
In 2009, they presented the music of the Eagles, scoring a home run with musicians and audience alike. Last year, the concert moved inside, bringing the music of Queen and a laser light show to the U.S. Cellular Center. This time, they’re heading back outdoors with a blast from the brass, featuring the music of Blood, Sweat and Tears; Earth, Wind and Fire; and Chicago.
“It’s all about music of the ’70s, with a screaming brass section behind (Jeans ’n Classics). I lament that I don’t have big enough hair for Earth, Wind and Fire,” Tim Hankewich, Orchestra Iowa’s music director, says with a hearty laugh.
Even though at age 43 he’s more a child of the ’80s, he says he grew up listening to these bands via his “considerably older sister.” That comment may not score him any points with her, but one song in particular will score him points at his home now in Cedar Rapids.
“I was just smiling at my wife last night, listening to ‘You’re the One,’ by Blood, Sweat and Tears. That one’s a shout-out to my wife,” Hankewich says in a recent phone interview.
The music of all three bands dovetails very nicely, coming from the Tower of Power days when trumpets, trombones and blistering saxes bolstered the rock sound.
Don’t let the orchestral aspect fool you. “When people hear the idea of a symphony orchestra playing rock ’n’ roll, people get the wrong idea,” Hankewich says. “It conjures up images of an orchestra playing arrangements that sound like Muzak, but we’re playing pretty faithfully with a cover band. The audience will experience a full rock ‘n’ roll band with full instrumentals and backgrounds augmented by a symphony orchestra.”
The 90-minute playlist includes “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “Spinning Wheel,” “If You Leave Me Now” and “25 or 6 to 4.”
“Every one of these tunes is a hit after hit after hit,” Hankewich says. “It’s all happy music. It’s too bad it’s a sound that’s been lost, because the ’80s gave way to more techno-pop and we’ve gotten away from that acoustic sound. But it’s so fun to have a brass section. I know our guys are just going to be eating it up.”
It takes more than a village to make this all happen. Think more like a small army. About 55 to 60 musicians will be onstage, but many more hands will be working behind the scenes to create a concert experience that resonates from second base to the upper tiers.
One gigantic challenge stands above the rest: “Trying to figure out how to drive a 42,000-pound semi onto a field without leaving tracks,” says Scott Wilson, 41, of Cedar Rapids, assistant general manager for the Kernels baseball team.
“Our field is not dirt-based, it’s sand in nature, so it’s softer than normal,” Wilson says. “We lay down plywood and slowly ease it onto the field. It’s a fully enclosed stage. It’s like a Transformer. Once we get it out there, we just pop it open.”
That can’t happen until Friday night’s game is over, so the moving-in process becomes a middle-of-the-night operation.
“By the time we get it open, it’s 3 or 4 in the morning,” he says.
Such an apparatus is necessary to sandwich a concert between ballgames. “It comes from a trucking company based in the Kansas City area, I believe, that goes across the country and does stage sets when you need a mobile stage — fully enclosed with a roof — that you don’t have to build,” Wilson says.
“It takes time to build the scaffolding stages they use in other worlds. This probably costs more based on that, but in the end, it’s easier for us and allows us to do these concerts before a game,” he says.
“We have pictures from last time with the truck driving onto the field that still make our field manager cringe,” he says. “That’s 22 tons driving on the field. We get nervous driving our tractor out there. Plywood is the duct tape of traffic movement.”
The price tag for such an event ramps up toward $75,000 for orchestra personnel, guest artists, production equipment and labor.
“It’s certainly not cheap,” Hankewich says. “At best, it’s a break-even proposition.”
But everyone reaps the rewards. The stadium can seat 5,300 people, and typically draws the biggest crowds for fireworks nights, Wilson says. In 2009, it was nearly packed for the orchestra concert and game.
“Our best guess is that we had 1,500 people at the game that night who had never been to the park before, so there’s some crossover, and our (patrons) can see what a symphony can be. That’s why it such a terrific partnership,” Wilson says. “I love that the maestro wants it not to be a tux event. It’s just about bringing music to people.”
The family friendly outing becomes an all-day event during the festive Memorial Day weekend, which Wilson hopes becomes an annual tradition.
“We’ve already scheduled for 2012,” he says.
An hourlong break between the concert and the ballgame will give people time to grab some food and let the kids play on the inflatable games while the grounds crew preps the field.
As with any outdoor event, the biggest player on the field is Mother Nature.
Drizzle threatened the 2009 concert and game, but the sun broke out 30 minutes before the concert and all went as planned.
“Next to Brucemore, it was the most talked-about concert of the last three years,” Hankewich says. “Word spread like wildfire.”
That’s what makes it all worth the weather risks.
“We’re reaching people who in other circumstances would not follow the symphony,” Hankewich says. “We’re presenting to the community at large that the symphony has a relevance to the community and can contribute to the well-being of our area and the quality of life.
“It’s one thing to burnish the masterworks of Brahms and Beethoven, but it’s another thing when you bring families together, and why not at a ballpark?”
Elsewhere recently, Jeans 'n Classics has been very busy. Two weekends ago there were 23 of us playing in three different cities. Our creator and boss, Peter Brennan, sent along this note to us after that busy series of shows. It includes correspondence received from singers Rique Franks, Leah Salomaa and Stephanie Martin, each of whom had been busy performing for J'nC that weekend...
To all the JnC family,
We've been very busy as of late with concerts all over the continent. While always musically wonderful and ever so gratifying, they can be arduous given the tight scheduling, rehearsals, and of course the vagaries attached to airline travel.
As such I always have concern for the well being and happy factor of the members of the J&C family in my head and heart as we set out on our adventures.
It is of paramount importance to me.
As twenty three of us returned home this past Sunday after three very successful concerts in California, Oklahoma and Saskatchewan, the following notes came my way from three of our lovely ladies. These notes, in their very different ways, say it all about the internal 'vibe' of J&C and the people involved. The notes were unsolicited and came completely coincidentally.
It just doesn't get any better .....
PB
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Peter.
I feel great about how the show went. Everyone there was wonderful, especially Lisa and Don. I made friends with the head of I.T. at Sun-Maid (the biggest company in the Fresno area) on the second leg of the flight there and invited him to bring his family, and the CFO of the company also came to our show. My hope, of course, was that they should become sponsors of the Fresno Phil. He emailed me back and said that they would be back again as they enjoyed the show although he couldn't stay for the second set as his kids were tired. Too bad. First set was a bit talk-heavy, but still good, while the second "Hotel California" set was sublime. Mike was great. It is a real delight to work and travel with Andrea and David Dunlop. Being around their positive personalities and naturally joyous and generous natures is worth more to me than any money I'm paid. We laughed a lot!! Anytime you want to put me on a show with either of them I would be thrilled. To that end, working with Gavin and David Blamires, is also something I'm very grateful for as there is such ease, laughter and a genuine sense of cooperation in making the show great. I don't think I even have to tell you how much I enjoy the company of all the original members, but I'm full of love again for our wonderful group and I'm enjoying the slight sting of a sunburn I got in the glorious California sunshine. Other than the fact that I missed you and we had a 4:20am lobby call (ugh), it was a sweet trip. Life is good.
xoxoR
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Hi guys,
Thanks for such a chill weekend and a great show!
I just want to say an extra 'thanks' to my traveling companions Stephanie and Nic. I'm so sorry I had to dash off at the Toronto air port. Family life was calling.
Nic, you were so great in the show and such a lovely gentleman to travel with! And Stephanie thank you for shining so bright!
Looking forward to working with you both again.
And great to meet you Bryan! Your fills gave me chills! hee hee...
Love to you too Darryl xo
Leah
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Hi Peter:
I did not bring a camera on this gig but next time I will, sooo many photo ops! What a great, fun group.
Three criterion for taking any given gig:
Will it be fun
Will it pay
Will you learn something
If any combination of two out of three are on offer, take the gig. On JnC, all three are there! BONUS.
Looking forward to singing with Katalin and seeing you again on the Cedar Rapids gig.
Best,
Stephanie
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