Wyandotte Band Director Thanks Kid Rock

Thank you to Wyandotte Patch for covering our recent story of the Wyandotte Marching Chiefs performance with Kid Rock in the United Way/ Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day Halftime Show. Because of your recent article, Kid Rock took notice and has paid off all of our band's expenses related to this performance. 

Overall,  and on national TV is not something I will ever be able to provide for my students in the classroom or in a regular marching band season. It is a pretty awesome feeling to be a part of something that big and it is pretty indescribable for me to see the students rise to the occasion and perform at their very best.

In a recent article we reported that we were going to invite other band members from Downriver schools to help us keep our numbers at 120 performing members. Because of the sudden nature of our invitation to perform, there were about 15 members of the Wyandotte band who were not able to perform because of holiday plans.

I extended an invitation to Mike Kurilko, the band director at Trenton High School, to help me in selecting some of his students to perform as a part of our band on Thanksgiving. Eighteen Trenton students were selected to participate and they were real "All-Stars!"

They made about four extra trips to RHS to be fitted into our uniforms, participate in extra rehearsals, and travel with us to all the rehearsals in Detroit. It was fun to see how quickly these students became part of our band and how this performance experience could be shared with them, and they could bring their pride back to their band community in Trenton, as well.

Some of my "most proud" moments were during the rehearsals with the E2K Entertainment producers. I had shared my goal with the band that I wanted our band to do our part right the first time and not have to rehearse over and over again because of some element of the performance that we could have done better.

We spent a few extra hours of rehearsal time in the days before the official Ford Field rehearsals getting our routine put on the field, but sure enough, when we performed it for the first time at Ford Field, the producers requested that a few changes be made to enhance the timing of the show.  

After giving the band a few directions, we were able to make our necessary adjustments in a matter of minutes, and the producer turned to me and said, "Wow, you are really efficient!" That made me feel soo proud of our Wyandotte Marching Chiefs.

There were several brief encounters that some members of our band and band staff had with Kid Rock throughout the rehearsals as well as on Thanksgiving Day, but there was never an opportunity to properly acknowledge our appreciation for being in the halftime show.

In the weeks prior to our performance, I was sharing with the band students some of the amazing things that I had learned about how Kid Rock (aka Robert Ritchie) gives back to his community and to Detroit. The students and I never thought that we would be included in that list until we received his letter today along with a donation helping pay off our bus expenses for the extra trips to Ford Field.

As I read the letter to each of my classes, there was a lot of excitement and amazement that once again, Kid Rock was thinking about us. I hope we get an opportunity someday to have a longer conversation and we can show him just how much all of this has meant to every member of our band community.

Kid Rock, you've got a lot of new fans in Wyandotte, MI!  

Mark A. D'Angelo, director of instrumental music
Roosevelt High School