Lima Area Concert Band to kick off season

 LIMA - The American West and Spain not on your vacation list this summer?

 The Lima Area Concert Band will take you there. On a musical journey, that is.

The concert band presents "Are We There Yet?" its first concert of the summer season, Saturday at Veterans Memorial Civic Center.

The concert will feature nearly a dozen musical selections with "destinations," said John Hill, concert band conductor. The music will be the equivalent of hopping on a plane and globe-jumping, he said, taking concert guests from Wyoming to Florida to across the Atlantic.

Planning a such musical potpourri remains important to the concert band, Hill said, as much now as when the band began 37 years ago.

"We try to stick to what (John Philip) Sousa used to do," he said. "He would do a variety of music of all different styles, from marches to overtures. (This concert) was a way to get musical that was familiar to people and still stick within the concert genre."

Several pieces in the program will be familiar to audiences, Hill said. The band will evoke memories with a "Mickey Mouse March" and other Disney-themed music, while guest vocalist Shawn Stevens will perform music from the Don Quixote-based musical "Man of La Mancha."

"Are We There Yet?" is a good start to the band's concert season, Hill said. This season's shows will also include a Sousa concert, the annual Cabaret Concert and a "Top 10" Concert, where musicians and audience members will decide the top 10 favorites from the band's last 10 years.

"We hope people come out and have a good time," Hill said of this year's season. "We think they'll enjoy the music. It's a light type of performance, and we think they'll have fun."

Lima Area Concert Band presents "Are We There Yet?"

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Veterans Memorial Civic Center, 7 Town Square, Lima

COST: $15 at the door; Season tickets $40.

FOR MORE INFO: Call 419-228-7618 for details.