HUSKIES, HANDEL, BOURBON STREET. Tuesday night, the DeKalb Municipal Band offered Northern Illinois University's tribute to DeKalb's sesquicentennial, including remarks by President John Peters and soloes by Cecelia Kafer. The concert opened with the Huskie Fight Song (.mp3), and the band director recognized composer Francis Stroup, who was present at the concert. The current song became the university's fight song in the early 1960s. Different bands handle the same tune differently: the Municipal Band sound is not the Huskie Band sound. Although retired Professor William Studwell places the Huskie Fight Song well down on his list of the top 25 college fight songs, I'd rate it as at least as listenable as anything around the Big Ten other than On! Wisconsin! and I credit the Huskie Band for not playing it on every occasion, unlike some bands that ought to know better. (Yes, Michigan and UCLA, I'm talking about you!)

It pays to go to these concerts and learn something, such as the Canadian Brass' The Saints' Hallelujah, a convex combination of Hallelujah Chorus with I Want to be in That Number (When the Saints Go Marchin' in!) that was composed for a command performance by Queen Elizabeth II who wanted Hallelujah Chorus and the Brass intended to offer her Saints. It's available on Celebration. The fireflies were at it tonight, despite the somewhat cooler drier night (a welcome relief after nearly a week in the tropics.)