• Band Names New Director
• Spaghetti Dinner a Success
• Jazz Band Performs at Independence Day Festivities
• Jazz Band Returns to Evergreen Park
• Band Plays to Big Crowd in Joliet
• Band Goes Inside to Escape June Storm
• Possible New Venue at McCarthy Park
• Jazz Band joins Concert Band for Spring Concert

Barb leads the band at 2008 Winter Concert

BAND NAMES NEW DIRECTOR

TINLEY PARK, IL - Long-time band member, bass-clarinetist and baritone saxophone player Barbara Abarro, has been named as the fourth director in the Tinley Park Arts Alive! Community Band's history. Her conducting debut with the Band was at Bicentennial Park in Joliet on Thursday, June 19. Her first appearance in Tinley Park was with the Band at their annual summer outdoor appearance at the Tinley Park-Park District's Tony Bettenhausen Center on Sunday, June 22.

Mrs. Abarro replaced previous director Brendan Koch, who resigned just short of his fourth anniversary with the organization, citing personal reasons.

Mrs. Abarro is one of the few women in the nation, and the only one on Chicago's south and southwest suburbs, to be the musical leader of a community band.

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Food, music, prizes and watching the Bears lose -- all highlights
of the Band's successful 2008 Spaghetti Dinner

ANNUAL SPAGHETTI DINNER A SUCCESS

TINLEY PARK, IL - The Tinley Park Arts Alive! Community Band thanks everyone for their support at their Eleventh Annual Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser, held Sunday, November 9 at VFW Bremen Post 2791 in Tinley Park, Illinois.

A big thank you goes to VFW Bremen Post 2791 for their facility and staff and also to all of the musical performers and the band members who solicited raffle prizes, cooked, served and cleaned.

The band also thanks all of the businesses that donated food and raffle prizes, especially the official carryout pizza restaurant of the Band. Other sponsors include:

Big thanks also go out to our performers, pianist Jenny Ketchmark, the saxophone quartet Sax in the Suburbs, the flute quartet The Grace Notes, the clarinet choir Liquoriche Shticks and the Arts Alive! Jazz Band.

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One-time Tinley Park resident Bill Hojnacki (and husband of saxaphonist Lynn Hojnacki)
takes in the sounds of the Arts Alive! Jazz Band at Tinley's Fourth of July Celebration

JAZZ BAND CELEBRATES INDEPENDENCE DAY

TINLEY PARK, IL - Under the direction of Barbara Abarro, the Arts Alive! Jazz Band started the musical entertainment at the Tinley Park-Park District's annual Fourth of July event and fireworks.

Opening for local cover band “The Hat Guys,” the Arts Alive! Jazz Band performed a pop-heavy program to the delight of their supporters and attracting attention from a crowd not used to a big jazz band.

After 21 years, the Park District's band plays at the Park District's signature event.

The Arts Alive! Jazz Band wants to the thank the Tinley Park-Park District, fine arts coordinator Laurie Fanelli and the citizens of Tinley Park for finally inviting the band to the party.

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Why are these people smiling? No tornadoes!

JAZZ BAND RETURNS TO EVERGREEN PARK, STAYS DRY

EVERGREEN PARK, IL - Dispite overcast skies, the Jazz Band kept their promise with a General MacArthur-style return to Evergreen Park on August 3. The 2007 appearance by the Concert Band was cut short by a late-summer downpour and the sounding of the town's tornado siren.

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BAND ENTERTAINS HUGE CROWD IN JOLIET

JOLIET, IL - The Tinley Park “Arts Alive!” Community Band Board impressed the large crowd at Joliet's Bicentennial Park at their concert on a pleasant Thursday evening, June 19. The Band was the middle act between local vocalist Cheryl Foster and the family folk act, The Hatfields. One audience member told a band member that they thought the Tinley Park band sounded as good as Joliet's legendary American Legion Band.

Always one of the band's favorite venues, Bicentennial Park hosts Joliet's “Concert on the Hill” series, every Thursday evening in June.

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DESPITE HIGH WINDS, BAND PLAYS ON

TINLEY PARK, IL - The Tinley Park “Arts Alive!” Community Band and Arts Alive! Jazz Band held a combined concert at the Tinley Park-Park District's Bettenhausen Recreation Center outdoor pavilion on Sunday, June 22.

During the last piece of the first half of the program, a strong wind threatened to blow the band off of the stage. With the help of the audience, the Concert Band and Jazz Bands were quickly moved indoors and the concert was finished, much to the delight of the audience.

The band thanks all the family, friends and supporters in Sunday's audience who helped show go on.

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POSSIBLE NEW FACILITY FOR THE BAND

TINLEY PARK, IL - The Tinley Park “Arts Alive!” Community Band Board was informed by Tinley Park-Park District Fine Arts Coordinator Laurie Fanelli that plans are being drawn up to turn the old administration building at McCarthy Park, next to the band's current rehearsal location into a 100-150 seat performing and rehearsal venue. It would include a back stage storage area. This venue will replace our performances at the former Kirby School. The Band has also requested that their file cabinets of music be moved from the Bettenhausen Recreation Center to McCarthy Park.

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BAND HOLDS SPRING CONCERT WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

TINLEY PARK, IL - The Concert Band is coming off another well-received performance given on Sunday afternoon May 4 at the Tinley Park-Park District Centre for the Performing Arts at Kirby School. The first half of the annual Spring concert featured music of W. Francis McBeth, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Claude Smith and Karl King. The second half was a tribute to Broadway, including the music of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and music from the musicals “Show Boat” and “Camelot” ending with traditional encore of Sousa's “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

A special appearance was made by the Arts Alive! Jazz Band, making a rare appearance on the same bill as the Concert Band. The band wishes to thank everyone for coming out and supporting both groups.

For future Concert Band and Jazz Band concerts, see the Schedule on the band's website: artsalive.org

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