October 25, 2006 - With a nasty election drawing to a climax it's time to pause and come together around a great cultural symbol Americans know and love.

Independence Hall, the Statue of Liberty, the USS Constitution, Arlington, the Liberty Bell, Monticello, the Grand Canyon, all are some of the many national treasures Americans left, right and center revere.

Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy are hard to shake as our national heroes. Add John Philip Sousa. His is perfect background music to Mount Rushmore.

This week, Oct. 27 through 29, we in the greater Tucson area can come close to meeting Sousa when Keith Brion again guest conducts the Tucson Symphony in a Salute to Sousa at the TCC Music Hall, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

In 1978 Keith Brion was the Director of the Yale Band. He and his colleagues were trying to cook up ways to increase attendance at local concerts by making things more visual.

Keith came up with the idea of doing an original Sousa Band program complete with period uniforms and the actual music played.

At first he wasn't going to dress for the role himself, but his players balked so he relented. It was a wild success. Twenty-eight years later after well over 1,000 concerts, Keith Brion has become one of the staples of the American Pops Concert.

Sousa was an innovator and composed far more than the marches for which he is best known. He was one of the first successful American composers of light opera -i.e., musicals - by the end of the 19th Century.

His concerts included short, familiar classical pieces, solo works for singers or various instruments, and popular songs of the day. Encores were his marches spread throughout the concert.

Sousa lived until 1932, dying in his sleep at 78 in a hotel room on a guest conducting trip. His family has preserved much of his legacy and currently that heritage is controlled by John Philip Sousa IV.

Brion has studied Sousa probably more than anyone. ( He tells us the movie from the 1950s wanders greatly from reality). He has Sousa's mannerisms and techniques down pat, aided to some extent by eye witness accounts having interviewed both former bandsmen and concert goers. Much of what you will see and hear comes from contemporary newspaper stories and records, but much was also gleaned via living history.

A superb example of that occurred during the "Inside Track" interview of Keith by Tom Danehy and me last week. Bill Preble, a USAF vet, long-time Tucsonan and husband of former state Rep. LouAnn Preble, called to tell us his father trained as a naval bandsmen in WWI and was a member of the Sousa Band in the 20s. Keith replied by asking if his dad played the euphonium, a member of the baritone family. Bill answered yes. We wondered how he knew. Seems someone researched every member of the Sousa Band during its 40 year existence from 1892 to 1932 and Keith had a copy by the phone. Neat moment in talk radio.

There are many facts about Sousa Keith talks about, but not at concerts because Sousa never talked at concerts. He walked on, gave a quick bow, and hit it. His own instrument was the violin. He was paid almost nothing for the famous Marine Corps March "Semper Fidelis" when he was director of the Marine Band in the 1880s, although he was paid handsomely for later efforts. He is highly regarded in Europe and particularly in Japan, where a Sousa Society exists. (Tokyo also has seven symphony orchestras). He was an avid clay pigeon shooter and the Ithaca Gun Company named its top shotgun the Sousa. He hated recording and the thousands of them made by his band for RCA except for a handful were directed by an associate.

Don't miss a glorious piece of Americana this weekend. Did I mention that I'm the Sunday narrator?

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EMIL FRANZI

EMAIL FRANZI

BUT WATCH WHAT YOU SAY!

About Emil Franzi

Emil Franzi is the owner and host of "Inside Track" on KVOI - 690AM and KAPR - 930AM in Douglas. The program airs on Saturdays from 12 pm till 5 pm.

Franzi currently writes a weekly column for the EXPLORER (formerly the NORTHWEST EXPLORER). He filled the TUCSON WEEKLY with close to a million relevant words from 1993 to 2004 and was an OpEd regular with the Az Daily Star from 1994 to 1998. His writing has also appeared in PHOENIX Magazine, ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, and the late CITY MAGAZINE in Tucson.

But then, Franzi is an iconoclast.

This website is Franzi's baby, put together with work, faith, and a little help from his friends, like Tom Danehy, Joyce Downey and Mike Tully. The concept -- politics, books, humor, the Old West, movies, "Pet Talk" and letters -- is Emil's. This unique brew seems to work. This website averages more than a thousand "hits" a day and keeps growing.

You can read Emil Franzi's views on all things political and cultural, as well as opposing views, on our "Politics and More" page.