Band Geek Closure

Harold Combs
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This is going to be one of those “So, that happened” blogs.

In mid-February, I saw on my Facebook Feed that my old band director, Jim Yount, was throwing “one final Halloween party for his band kids”, hosed at his original Sears Modern Home house in Jackson, Ky. On impulse, I decided to go, not knowing if anyone else would show-up. Of course, this meant airplane tickets, but the pitiful stock verst that dropped in February would 100% cover it + incidentals. So, I got some tickets on American (more on that later), and looked forward to March 20-22.

My dad agreed to pick me up around 6pm at LEX (Bluegrass Airport) and said I could stay with him–plans were set.

Things haven’t been going particularly well for me. The general malaise of middle age, not looking forward to my daughter leaving for college, various unsolvable personal issues all conspire to give me plenty to talk about every couple of weeks with someone who makes a good living saying “hmm”.

Friday: Trip out

Anyway, so Friday the 20th arrives and I’m off work. I don’t take my laptop with me on the trip, just a spare-packed carry-on. The first trip from AUS -> DFW on a 737-800 was fine. It felt like the taxi to takeoff was longer than the flight to Dallas. From there it was a quick ride on the air train from terminal A to terminal B to board a Embraer E175 for the trip to LEX. Smooth trip overall; in both cases the planes lacked any seatback screens but had excellent wifi and I was able to watch some College Basketball games along the way.

The airport pickup had an interesting wrinkle: My father has not only not flown before, he’d never been on airport property and had no idea how arrivals/departures worked. LEX is a tiny airport so there’s one terminal and one level for arrivals/departurses. I’d told him to arrive and wait in the “Cell Phone Lot”. Then I texted when I got there “Okay I’m here come to the door and pick me up.”

“Okay,” he replied.

Then I waited.

Then I waited some more. The cell phone lot was maybe 100 yards from the terminal so I didn’t understand what was happening

Call: “Umm what do you see?”

“I see…uhh….A and B and a parking structure”

“Wait, are you walking?!”

“Yeah…you said come pick you up.

“Go back to your car; I’ll come to you”

So, I go get to Dad’s Chevy TrailBlazer and we’re off, propelled by 3 cylinders of turbocharged fury.

We hit up Golden Corall for two all-you-can-eat plates for total $40 and went to his house for the night.

Saturday: Reunion Day

Saturday would be basically conversation from dawn until well after

It began with a visit to my best friend, Susan, at the Breathitt County Library where she was serving Library duty for Saturday (by herself…). That was roughly 10->12.

Then I visited with my Aunt Lenora (“Norie”) who I like to call my second Mom from 12->2.

Then the main event: The Band Reunion

This requires a bit of explanation. Jim Yount has been (variously) Band Director for Jackson City School (1988-1992), then Band Director for Breathitt County schools (1992-2001), then once again director/principal/superintendant at Jackson City School from (2002 to 2016). Thats 18 years of Band Kids. Band kids are famously quirky, and well, it was exciting to see members of the old gang again. Anonymizing things a bit, the reunion featured:

  1. A rocker with no visible means of support that’s somehow the coolest person I’ve ever met.
  2. A trumpeter who went on to be a restauranteur
  3. A teacher who’s been all over the world with her airforce husband
  4. The fellow who would succeed Mr. Yount as the band director at Breathitt County High school
  5. The heart and soul of the Breathitt County Library
  6. Younger folks who haven’t sorted everything out yet.
  7. An utter loser that works for Amazon

One of the youngest members, Cat Marshall, summed it up perfectly

You’ve certainly made a big impression on so many people through your years. I’m so grateful God brought you to our little town. You and Martha both have left some massive footprints on our community. I appreciate everything you ever did for me personally. You certainly helped shape me into the person I am today.

So, that was 2pm -> 5pm basically.

At that point, I headed up to my cousin Bryan Charles (“Boof”) Combs’s house and hung out with him and his awesome wife, Dixie. She took this picture

Sunday: Church and the Trip Back

I awoke Sunday and headed to church with Dad. He goes to a church basically composed of 1-2 other extended families. My uncle Arch is the pastor, and service is a solid two hours–1 of prayer & singing and another of preaching. Kentucky basketball’s chances in the 2:15 game that afternoon featured prominently.

From there, Dad and I drove over to have lunch at the Mexican restaurant in Jackson where we ran into several other people we knew. “Snake” McIntosh’s children Bobbi Jo, Lisa, and Michael. Snake was my Middle School Principal. That’s always a neat “fun fact” when I introduce myself at Amazon–“My middle School Principal’s name was Snake. Yes I do actually know grammar.”

From there it was about time for the game and my flight was supposed to leave around 6:30. We went up to see my dad’s girlfriend/situationshiop Peggy. It was the first time I recall meeting her (“We met at your mom’s funeral” ah, okay. I had other things on my mind). So, there was this odd time where we watched the first half of Kentucky’s eventual loss to Iowa State then we decamped to drive to Lexington. Peggy came with.

It was here I made a series of mistakes.

  1. I drank a Diet Coke
  2. On the outbound leg from LEX -> DFW I traded off with the woman next to me so she could have the aisle. I didn’t get to pee for 3 hours.
  3. Strategically, I’d scheduled the flight to get into Austin around 11. Then, thanks to American Airlines, the inbound plane didn’t show until after 11.
  4. We didn’t get to Austin until 1am

I got to bed at 2:30 am and had to get up for work the next morning. Yaaaaay.p