By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 14, 2019 – I did not get to see the performance of The Bahamas All-Stars Marching Band in the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade on Saturday, April 13, 2019 in downtown Washington, D.C., but I was told that they put on a “remarkable performance.”
Unfortunately, I had a very difficult decision to make Saturday morning. If I had gone downtown to watch the parade, I would have missed the first couple innings of my beloved Washington Nationals game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at National Stadium. Anyone who is remotely familiar with my fanaticism when it comes to baseball would know that my eventual decision was not all that difficult to reach.
As a Bahamian who has throughout my journalistic career strongly supported the exposition of the diverse talents of Bahamian performers in local and international arenas, as much as I would have liked to see the Bahamas All-Stars Band delight the crowds in downtown D.C. with their Bahamianized version of a marching band’s performance, it would have been “cutting it too close” to go to the parade and be on time for the start of the game.
I communicated by email with Band Director Yonell Justilien when I found out that the band would be participating in the parade, which was the topic of a previous story in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, and fully intended to cover their performance in the parade. However, when it became clear that attending the parade would prevent me from being on time for the Nationals game, I sent Mr. Justilien an email suggesting that my wife Elisabeth Ann Brown, who is a professional photographer as well as an excellent writer, may be able to cover the band’s performance, but those arrangements did not materialize.
Nonetheless, based on a collection of photos posted on the Bahamas Embassy Consular Annex Facebook page, it was evident that the band did indeed put on a spectacular performance.
This was confirmed by Ron Burke, Advertising and Marketing Manager at the Washington Informer, who attended the parade. I sat next to Ron at the Nationals game, and one of the first things he mentioned when I arrived at my seat was that he had earlier been to the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade and had seen “a remarkable performance” by a band from The Bahamas.
Of course, the question may arise regarding Ron being able to attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade and still be on time for the game, why couldn’t I also do so. Well, because of his relationship with the Washington Nationals as Advertising and Marketing Manager for the Washington Informer, Ron has VIP parking privileges at Nationals Stadium and this facilitates his attendance at games without some of the problems encountered by “ordinary fans.”
I was News Editor of the Washington Informer for more than 12 years when I previously lived in Washington, D.C., for 21 years, and although Ron was not with the Informer when I worked there, I met him years later during one of my visits to D.C. and we have developed a very close friendship.
In a previous article, I expressed my thanks to Ron and my “sister” Denise Rolark-Barnes, Publisher of the Informer, for providing me with two tickets to attend my first game of the 2019 baseball season.
As one of the corporate sponsors of the District of Columbia Spelling Bee, which is sponsored by the Washington Informer, each year the Washington Nationals invites the D.C. Spelling Bee Champion and his parents as special guests at one of its games and also provides tickets gratis to The Informer for other guests it would like to invite to the game.
I certainly wish I could have seen the Bahamas All-Stars Marching Band perform, and it was great to hear that they lived up to the promise made my Mr. Justilien in one of our emails prior to the band’s arrival in D.C.
“We are delighted to carry the Bahamian flag to this major event in Washington D.C.,” Mr. Justilien wrote. “Our members are looking forward to putting on an exciting show with a Bahamian flare for the American audience.”
Mission accomplished. Their performance was indeed “remarkable.”
