With all precincts reporting and the voting certified, it’s now official - I have bragging rights where Bob Karlovits and the November mystery tune are concerned. The final tally was 52 correct identifications of “Comedian’s Galop” by Dmitri Kabalevsky, a bit under the 80 Bob needed to win. Sorry, Bob.

Wait ‘til you get a load of the opening selection on the Holiday program, “Festival Fanfare for Christmas” by John Wasson - it’s absolutely stunning. I approached John a few months ago with the idea of adapting his “Fanfare” for brass band (he wrote it under commission for the Dallas Symphony a few years ago), and he has done a masterful job. I can’t wait to play it for our audiences, and I’m guessing brass bands around the world will quickly add this tune to their libraries.

John Wasson lives in Dallas where he writes, performs (bass trombone) and teaches. Marching band fans might be interested to know that for 14 years John was the staff arranger for the Purdue University All-American Marching Band.

With Ryan Spacht now immersed in Army basic training, we are faced with the task of filling the co-principal solo cornet chair. We have three marvelous players already in the RCBB who certainly have the ability to perform in this chair - Jordan Winkler, Andrew Roe and Bill Hughes. Over this month and the spring series, we’ll give each of them a chance to be Bernie’s stand-partner. Good luck to each, they are good guys all.