THE CHRONICLES OF REXACH!
THE CHRONICLES OF REXACH
Welcome to the Chronicles! They consist of the article and commentaries by Carmen Rexach (see below), and scans of the various photographs, articles, letters, and awards from Carmen's album about the early days of UCLA Alumni Band.
For years now, we've been inviting band members to send in their pictures, slides and negatives for inclusion in the "nostalgia" album, and Carmen came through big time! There are at least 100 items in all, so I decided to give them their own albums at least three or maybe even four in all.
Many of these pictures will no doubt spark off memories. You might spot familiar faces, or be reminded of a tale worth retelling, so PLEASE join the fun by contributing commentary! Short comments can be entered right at each picture by clicking on the COMMENT button at the left side of the toolbar over the picture. Longer commentary can be entered in the Guest Book. So jump right in, Band Members! :-)
Since I did not take these pictures, I am asking you to contact me before you attempt to download anything from this album, and I will contact Carmen to try to obtain permission for you. Everything here was done by scanning photographs, so the quality will not be nearly as high as it would be on a digital image.
If you would like images from any other album, whether deleted or still up, or have any image questions at all or, if you yourself have any photos of a favorite moment from your band experience and would like to share it with the Band, let me know. I have a special Golden Oldies standing album on this website, just for you! In any case, contact me at bruin63@uclalumni.net, and well work it out!
With each new album that goes up on this site, an old one usually comes down. Not to worry: all the images from the old albums are archived.
If you have a dialup modem, please allow time for the images to load.
And please leave a comment in our Guest Book and/or a Comment about any or all of the pix (click the left-hand button in the toolbar above the pic), and share this site with your friends and family!
Go Bruins!
Leonard Auslender
Band Photographer
Alumni Band History by Carmen Rexach
My association with the alumni band began when my now ex-husband, who played saxophone, and I bought season tickets to the UCLA football games in 1976, a year after our graduation. At some point during the end of the season, a small group of people got together in front of the section where we were sitting and the UCLA Alumni Band was formed. We joined shortly thereafter. In 1977, when I was expecting our first child, I attended the games, but did not play. In 1978, after Jon-Michael was born, a cowbell player was needed and Alan Sugarman, one of the drummers, just happened to have one with him. I started playing the cowbell, and eventually became a member of the percussion section, playing snare drum and bass drum.
In the early years, we played at the Coliseum. More and more young families joined, and several people brought their parents. We were a vibrant group that brought all ages together. Our band included Joan Lewin (now Wiener), who used to bring her Dad, and Ron Wiener, Henry Grissett, Bill Rhan, Ron Silver, Alan Sugarman, Charlie Decker, Stu Guttenplan, Vic Guder, Paul and Diane Hill, and Bob Trammel, just to name a few. Max Raskoff and his beloved Alice were with us, as well.
It was always a challenge to bring in food for the games and so I decided to organize the first potluck. Lots of our members were single men, and I neglected to assign categories of food the first time. You can imagine our surprise when we had tons of napkins, paper plates, Styrofoam cups, soda, and chips, but no other food except for the casserole I brought! The next game, I knew better and had people sign up in advance. This was a great success, and actually brought out some real creativity from the group. For example, Charlie Deckers world famous trash can salad .Charlie would bring a clean 30 gallon trash can, put in a clean liner, fill it about half way full with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, slices of cold cuts and cheese, add his favorite dressing, pull the bag out and shake it vigorously, reinsert the bag, and serve all of the band members from the trash can. It was delicious! Our pregame potlucks brought everyone together and helped cement our group.
While at the Coliseum, we were informed that we would not be able to bring our instruments into the u$¢ game. I went to a local music store and purchased 60+ blue kazoos, which we all carried in with us. Ron, Alan, and I played the trash can lids adjacent to our area with drum sticks we brought in, and joined everyone else in a rendition of our favorite fight songs, and the 1812 Overture with cannon (supplied by the trash cans). We were informed that our musicianship was noted by the TV coverage, as you could hear us playing in the background sounding somewhat like a group of angry bees (remember this was before there were videos!).
Eventually, we moved to the Rose Bowl and the tradition of the potlucks continued. (I think we need to resurrect the tradition of the kazoos!)
Under the capable musical leadership of Vic Guder, it was not long before we were very much in demand. We met once a year for the mandatory rehearsal. This was usually either at Pats or Vics house, and even once at our house in Orange County. Our performances included the football games, softball games, the Marina del Rey Boat parade, the Doodah parade, and a few road trips. On one occasion, we actually played with the u$¢ Alumni Band at a softball game because neither of us had enough musicians. They were very cordial and we all had a great time. The Marina del Rey Boat parade was fun but freezing. Not that many of us fit on the boat, and fortunately, it was dark so no one could really see us. The Doodah parade was a huge favorite. In one of the pictures, you will see Karen Patterson playing a cello while seated on a rolling cart that Ron Wiener was pulling Clever, but not as memorable as the band in front of us that featured someone sitting in an outhouse.
The road trips were lots of fun. Two of the trips we took during those years were the trip to Oakland (we stayed at a hotel on Hegenberger Road) and a trip to Arizona. These were reminiscent of the Blues Brothers. Pat drove a van and a bunch of us rode up with him. When we got to our destination, the band had arrived! The Hills werent able to come to Oakland, so I played the bass drum. When we got to our first gig at an alumni booster event, we realized that we had the drum, but no drum stand. The drum stand we are still using today was accidentally donated by the hotel. I dont remember too much about the trip to Arizona, except that Vic was driving and got completely lost. He drove around for quite some time, doing his best to look cool so that we wouldnt catch on. Eventually, he broke down and asked for directions and we were able to get to the game. Another amazing gig was the Share Benefit. We played with Lionel Richie and Sammie Davis, Jr., who was an absolutely charming man.
Three of our four children, Jon-Michael, Stephanie, and Jessica, grew up in the band with the children of other band parents. We have some wonderful pictures of the band children playing with Jeremy and Jessica Guttenplan at the games. When Courtney was born in 1983, we made a few attempts to continue, but it just became too much with 4 children ages 6,4,2, and newborn. I continued to participate as band secretary for awhile, but eventually had to step aside.
We are all very happy to be back with our band family and look forward to lots of new memories! It is great to see so many familiar faces among the new families that have joined since we were left.
Go Bruins,
Carmen Rexach
