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mutEi-ttt-tutettmrttmtai-aiaeat,tv,amE 12. "" Coral Andrews Chronicle Special Hold on to your dancing shoes, ‘cuz the Chattanooga Choo Choo is a headin' this way. Yes, you can jitterbug in your seats, as Canada's own Spitfire Band comes personally to proclaim senior music fans "re-cycled teen- agers," with the best of the big band sound June 15 at Centre in the Square. Younger enthusiasts love the 'swing sound' Just as much. _ _ Spitfire Band producer Jackie Rae maintains that the band's funmled brand of music is reaching more of the high school generation than ever before. "Our musical director Micky Erbe has modernized the material so that the original form still stands, but it has newer style and punch to appeal to all age brackets. That's an important part in the approach of the band," said Rae in a recent im terview. Rae and Erbe are an integral part of The Spitfire Band's increasing popularity. Erbe has numerous writing credits including an award- winning movie score for Ticket To Heaven. Erbe is responsible for all the Spitfire Band's arrangements and also plays the trumpet. He has worked in television for years. as a distinguished performer on English channel BBC and the star of the London Palladium. Rae has also written for a slew of major record labels, and stars Petula Clark. Tony Bennett, Eddy Arnold and Andy Williams. Rae is the unpredictable emcee, who is a master of the spotlight. - So, Rae a former wwn Spitfire pilot, is no stranger to the stage diving into the footlights of vaude- ville at the age of three. Rae progrissed in his chosen craft to produce the Wayne and Schuster comedy hour from ‘show one.' The magic lives \ with swinging' Spitfire Band WMMMWMWVWwaaMMM-fiwamm M. ttitggat,tgtg,,gg,tt'tgg'td,'gt,,'.""""'"'""'r 'to-inl,ettteteoottra.tty,Bormt 'aaettd.reehtmttmtttteCaetCaet- Hm. ”mu-u- The Spitfire Band is his present passion. 7 A - A7 - _ "The philosophy behind the Spit- fire band makes it more than a recording band (they are now Work ing on their fourth album). It's a band built on four years of very happy times." said Rae. ‘l emcee for the fun of it, and 1 base my banter on whatever is generated from the audience. Sometimes I‘ll go into the audience. There is a theme song for the band, so I will teach " to them. Others just sing along from memory." Rae will talk about a specific performer from the era The Spitfire band features. or do a quaint history stint. "But I do what I do Just for the fun of it," he repeated. He, Erbe and 17 musicians com- prised of four trumpets, tour trom- bones, five sax and four rhythm are the Spitfire Band. Sink, Sing. Sing and Birth of the Blues are some of the ageless standards fans snap their fingers to. Last year the 'brass menagerie' flew all over Canada and the States, playing Roy Thomson Hall and New York's Metropolitan Centre, but Rae specifically recalls The War Heritage Aircraft Association at Hamilton's Convention Centre, with an all ex air-force crew. "The guest of honor was wing commander Johnny Johnson, high- est scoring fighter in the RAF' since 1943," said Rae. "We all reminisced like crazy. Who listens to swing music in the high-tech computerized 'tws'.' "Our audience ranges from pew pie in their '20's to the 'much more mature,' 99 said Rae with a gruff chuckle. With good times music and atti- tude Jackie Rae, Micky Erbe and Spitfire vocalist Lauri Bower, prove that the big band boom is here to stay, and The Spitfire Band flies again as that old 'to's magic lives on. THAT'S DANCM' Many of the creations entered into the Seagram Museum's barrel carving contest were tops in imagination. Stephen Wieemen's aquarium did not win any prizes, but it caught the eye of many at the viewers. At right, Elmwood Sweet of New Liekeard captured top prize at the contest with his portable bar entry. and arr-on photos Mark Bryson Chronicle Staff Entries in The Seagram Museum's inaugural barrel carving competition may have differed in the end product, but were similar in one aspect - their creativity. Museum curator Dr. Peter Swann said the idea for the competition came from seeing so many empty barrels sitting around collecting dust. "The barrels are made from the finest oak money can buy. It seemed to be a shame that they were not used a second time before they eventually became firewood," said Swann. Entranis had just over a month to transform a keg into something with practipal use: -. Creativity stems, from empty barrels ihe $250 top priie weal to Elmwood Sweet, a retired silver miner from New Liskeard, (100 miles north of North Bay), who turned his cask into a portable bar. Sweet, who made the seven-hour Journey to accept his prize, said he toyed around (with a number of ideas before deciding on the bin. He estimated that the bar took him 14 hours tp com- plete. "You can build whatever your im gination will allow you. My wife tells me 1 hfve more patience building furniture than I do with her. 1 like it myself because it keeps me away from drinking," said Sweet. swaniGnnounced that the competition would take place annually and hoped entries would grow in number after word of the contest got out. o