Wednesday, May 16, 2012

"Groucho kazoo band members hanging up their noses"

From JSOnline

"Jim Stingl | In My Opinion"


"Don McLean might call it the day the buzzing died.

"The One, the Only, the Original All Kazoo Band is breaking up after 34 years of organized chaos and many miles of marching in parades while disguised as Groucho Marx.

"'I think we've aged ourselves out of existence,' said Trish Andrae, 68, a member from the beginning with her husband, Dan.

"'We don't have enough people to keep going,' said Chuck Wilkie, 70, who led the ragtag bunch since 1995.

"The group's final parade was in Wauwatosa last year for the Fourth of July. For years, they made that trip down North Ave., sometimes rushing over to West Allis with a police escort to march in another parade there. They also appeared once or more in Cedarburg, Glendale, Greendale, Milwaukee's City of Festivals Parade, the Illinois State Fair, the Jerry Lewis telethon and on stage for the finale of 'The Nutcracker.'

"The kazoo band was created in 1978 by Tom Jakubowski at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in West Allis. He led it until he died in 1994 at age 53.

"No musical talent was required, of course, and the band swelled to more than 100 members at its peak."



That is a great human interest story.  Had I known about the existence of the band, I would have sought out a performance.

6 comments:

  1. I believe they may have performed in our parade? My failing memory tells me that I've seen them... hmmm.

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  2. Yeah KK... I think I saw them right before Herb Kohl. lol

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  3. I just read that they started to repackage candy boxes in theaters so people can't make kazoos out of them. Too funny. I can remember doing that.

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