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Bandsman of the Year!

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Meet W. Richard “Bear” Sobek

Well now that I am really an Officer in ASOB, I guess it is time to say hello to all out there in the land of deserts and music.

I am W. Richard “Bear” Sobek, new 3rd Vice President for ASOB. I live in the country in Miami County, Kansas. I am semi-retired but manage a Bail Bond Business in 7 counties. My Beautiful Lady Fran keeps me from doing the middle of the night bonds, but if the money is good, I refuse to listen to her. I am still in one piece anyway.

I am proud to be a part of ASOB and look forward to working with our President and the rest of the officers to build more into this grand organization. Many out there have ideas and we need to hear more about them. I am also proud that Ed Harvey, a great member of the Abdallah Oriental Band, is our new Central States Ambassador and have always looked to him for help.

 

From the flatlands of the central state, I remain,

Richard “Bear” Sobek

Busy Times!

Greetings fellow OBers!!!!

Well …Middle Earth is burning up but the parade season is ON FIRE!!!!!! Despite temps hovering at 100 degrees, the Abdallah OB has been to two parades this week. Both parades were well attended and the band sounded GREAT! Remember to HYDRATE WITH WATER!!! I know that’s tough for Shrine guys, but lay off the Camel’s Milk until AFTERWARDS! We need you guys!

Next month is the Central States Shrine Association’s big event in Branson, MO. Hopefully several bands will show up to compete. Abdallah will be trying to defend their title while Midian will try to bring it back home. Could there be a band that slips past both??? Stay tuned for those results!!

Keep blowing the horns, pounding the drums and put the Oriental Bands out in front of everyone!!! GO OB!!!!!!!!!

Ed Harvey

Instrument Request

 

 

Musette Mouthpiece

Hella Shriners Oriental Band is in search of complete mouthpieces for at least five horns including the ligature, mouthpiece, and neck for single reed ‘E’ musettes. If they can get 4 or 5 of these, it will help grow their band. This provides the ASOB and its members an opportunity to come together to help build a stronger Oriental Band community. If you have or know of instruments or parts that are just sitting, let’s get those back in use. They do no one any good sitting in our closets to never see the light of day again. Get them into the hands of a bandsman to use and appreciate, especially when we have bands in need.

If you have the parts needed or know where they can get them, please directly contact:

Warren Allen, Email: warrenallen@sbcglobal.net Cell Phone 214-801-1419 Hm Phone 972-291-8328

If you know of other instruments or parts that could be re-homed and utilized by another Oriental Band, please contact our A.S.O.B. Quartermaster:

James “Moose” Fitzgerald (El Riad), Email: moose@bmtc.net Cell: 605-496-3209 

 

 

A quick note from Harry Pressman – ASOB President-Elect

Harry Pressman
President-Elect
A.S.O.B.

It has been a very busy time for me since the Jamboree in Kansas City. The Arabia band has been practicing getting ready for the Texas Shrine Association convention in Tyler Texas. In addition, I’ve been trying to put the 2018-2019 staff together. A.S.O.B. will have two new ambassadors. Ed Harvey will be the Ambassador for the Central States and David Cravy will be the Ambassador for the South East Shrine Oriental Band Association. Dr. A.J. DiCaro has been appointed Special Ambassador for Panama. I’ve attempted to get in touch with all of the current ambassadors, but that seems to be a challenge.

I’ve managed to put together the A.S.O.B. Mid-Winter that will be held October 12, 13 & 14 in Houston. The details will be posted at a later date, but I’m giving everyone a heads-up so you can make arrangements to attend. All Officers, Past Presidents, and Ambassadors are encouraged to attend.

I have set my Ladder of Smiles goal for this coming year. I’m asking that we amass $75,000 with ALL the Bands participating. With approximately 91 bands in our association, each band should be able to donate at least $825 to the Ladder of Smiles. Whether you solicit from fellow Shriners or go to the public, this goal is attainable.

As new appointments are made, I will make them public through the WEB.

Congratulations to the Texas Association and it’s Ambassador David Dodgen for 100% participation in the Ladder of Smiles program for 2017-2018.

 

ASOB and Ladder of Smiles Presentation for TASOB

This presentation I happened onto while doing some web surfing, I felt it was important to share with everyone. I am sure that some have seen it or may have been in the audience at the time. It is a presentation that was presented at the TASOB mid-winter meeting about six years ago in Tyler Texas. It was delivered by ASOB Past President Joe Brewton and the material presented was based on ASOB Past President Jim Whitehouse’s talking points. To give credit where it is due, the video was recorded/produced by a JB Squared Texas Productions and uploaded to a Vimeo channel for a Johnnie Wallace.

The following is directly from the page where found with no corrections made.

-Darren

Monday, June 25, 2012, at 11:53 AM EST

This presentation of the American Society of Oriental Bands (A.S.O.B.) and the Ladder of Smiles program benefitting the Shriners Hospitals, was made at the 2012 Texas Association of Shrine Oriental Bands (TASOB) annual mid-winter meeting which was held in Tyler, Texas. The work is a result of the collaborate of J. R. Batesole, Moslah Bedouins, (Moslah Shrine, Fort Worth, Texas) and Past President of the American Society of Oriental Bands (ASOB) Joe Brewton, Khiva Oriental Band (Khiva Shrine, Amarillo, Texas).

The presentation outlines the function of the ASOB Ladder of Smiles program.

ASOB Jamboree 2018 – Fantasy Competition

As I had said before, Jamboree 2018 was great and everyone that attended had a great time. At some point though the fun had to turn toward the serious business of the ASOB. First thing Saturday morning, the bands had to put their game faces on.  Each bandsman donned the costumes of their respective troops and got into character for what proved to be a great championship race.

This video is the entire 2018 Fantasy Competition. Four bands competed on stage in the following order:

  1. Al Azhar – Calgary|Alberta Canada
  2. Midian – Wichita|Kansas USA
  3. Abdullah – Overland Park|Kansas USA
  4. Khiva – Amarillo|Texas USA

Each band put forth a wonderful effort and really showed how much talent our Oriental Bands have. You all sounded great gentlemen. I will reserve telling you the outcome for another post. You can decide which band was your favorite!  I am sure you will get your feet a tapping and your body swaying. If you are moved to get up and actually start dancing, don’t worry, I won’t tell!

Signing off, until next time!

-Darren

ASOB Jamboree 2018 – Flash Mob

What a great weekend we had in Kansas City at the ASOB Jamboree 2018! Over the next few post I am going to share some videos taken of the event. This was a flash mob planned by our president Chris Tsaros. This started with a quick meeting at the hotel on Friday at 4PM to determine what we would play. We then found ourselves jumping into hotel vans and being dropped of just up the hill from our performance area on a side street. The performance was right at the Kansas City, Country Club Plaza where we surrounded the fountain with the statue of Neptune.

One lone musette player, Art Laing (from Al Azhar Temple, Alberta Canada), walked down the hill and started playing. He was then followed shortly by Chris Tsaros with his djembe drum, who also began to play. More and more bandsmen came down the hill each joining in on the music as they arrived until we had a total of 37 bandsmen from five different bands and one feather dancer that joined in. Stayed tuned as we get the rest of these posted.

-Darren

ASOB Weekend= FEZTASTIC!!!!

If you weren’t in KC last weekend, you missed a fun time! Lots of old friends to see & new ones to meet. Our ASOB line did a heckuva job with entertainment, info, food and fun! Congrats to all the Bands who participated and especially to the Overall winners, Khiva!!!!!!! Tremendous job everyone!! 

Now it’s time to learn the new song for next year and be ready to go to………..NASHVILLE!!!!! And the competition song will be Luanlu!!!

Finally, to President Chris, it has been a honor to work with you, and you have friends in KC forever!

President-Elect Harry….count on us to help wherever we can! Love ya!!!!

Congrats to Bill Bailey on his election to the ASOB line!

And many thanks to Darren for help & guidance on this webpage.

Let’s put the FUN back in Shrinedom and let it begin with all of us…The Oriental Bands!!!!

Bored and a keyboard handy……

I was thinking….MOST of you OB guys have been around a long time. I’m a relative newbie! So maybe I should give you some Shrine background on ME so you’ll get to know me better.

I grew up in the Shrine. My dad was in Director’s Staff, Scooter Patrol & Wheel Patrol. The last job he had before passing was Potentate’s Aide.  I joined Abou Ben Adhem in Springfield and immediately joined Pomme De Terre Shrine club and got in a Roadster!! After 8 parades I finally finished one and started having fun. I then bought a Tin Lizzie too. But I moved back to my dad’s Temple (Abdallah) and found my home….OB! No repairs, no things to break down….just come & play music! This is how my Oriental Band “interview” went…

Band: You got any musical talent?  Me: Well, 1st chair trumpet, 1st chair french horn, piano by ear, drums, rhythm guitar, had a few bands…

Band: Good..you’re on the Gong!  Me: Cool….wait….what just happened?

The best decision I ever made was this Band of Brothers, these Desert Dawgs, the guys and gals of the OB. It’s OUR job to keep the history, sound, flair, spirit and fun alive! WE ARE OB BABY!!! All os us in every Temple must do what we can to help.