GSU band caps memorable weekend with inaugural performance

In the end, Georgia State University’s marching band did itself and its university proud, smartly strutting and playing in the inaugural parade Monday as President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden watched and waved.

The band’s performance capped a memorable weekend that gave its 100-year old university a spot on the national stage. It created lasting memories for the band members, who endured a 14-hour bus ride from Atlanta to the Washington, D.C.-area, two-hour practices in chilly weather and a confusing, crazy but exhilirating inauguration day.

“It was absolutely awesome,” said Shaun Evans, a 22-year senior who serves as a drum major. “All the preparation, all the hard work paid off.”

The payoff began late Sunday night, when the band performed during the Georgia State Society Inauguration Gala.

GSU President Mark Becker was introduced, and he offered praise for the university’s band, which proceeded to perform “Living In America” and “Georgia On My Mind” from a balcony at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in D.C.

Band members mingled in the crowd after their performance, shaking hands with society members and posing to take pictures with them.

The evening would end late, well after 11 p.m. Band members stayed at the gala just long enough to hear the first couple songs sung by Gladys Knight, who, along with Hank Aaron, were the headliners of the evening.

Performing on Inauguration Day was all that was left. The day promised to be cold — just how cold no one could say. And it promised to be long. No one could offer an accurate prediction about that, either.

The band was supposed to start performing about 3:30 p.m., which was supposed to be an hour into the parade. Band director Chester Phillips had fretted that a long delay could have the band performing in the dark and the cold, which would negatively impact the sound quality of the band’s instruments.

At 8:25 a.m., the band left its Fairfax, Va. hotel en route to the Pentagon, where it would exit the bus, go through security and re-board the bus.

The security check went smoothly. That is, it went as smoothly as security checks with four buses, 180 band members and case upon case of musical equipment go.

Then came the waiting.

Band members sat in a long line of buses and watched the inauguration proceedings on CNN.

They cheered when the network showed former President Jimmy Carter, and, later, they laughed when Biden flubbed one of his inauguration lines.

There was applause when Obama closed his inaugural oath.

Soon afterward, the band’s buses crossed the Potomac River, motored past the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on its way to a holding area — and more waiting.

There, band members mingled with bands from other parts of the country and tried to keep their nervous energy in check.

Sandy Kiamco, a 20-year old junior in the color guard, had performed during Obama’s first inaugural parade when she was a student at South Cobb High School.

Kiamco said that experience was a whirlwind. This time, she said she was determined to soak it all in.

“I’m taking pictures,” she said.

So was Myeia Bautista, a 20-year old color guard member who was Kiamco’s band mate at South Cobb High.

“We’re taking pictures of everything — eating, sleeping, everything,” Bautista said.