The Dog was new to the Board of the La Crosse Symphony; but it didn’t take long to realize that the LSO was in trouble — financially and musically. It was floundering and needed something. Over time, the Board had finally replaced the part-time conductor/music director and the business manager but were struggling to get the orchestra to stretch their sights beyond just being a “small town” orchestra, composed mainly of La Crosse musicians. One of our most controversial decisions came to be the expansion of the orchestra to include musicians from anywhere who were good enough to play at a symphony level. Several members of the existing LSO tendered their resignations and morale was slipping.
At one of the Board meetings, the Dog was fresh from listening to a CD of the Moody Blues playing with the Colorado Symphony at Red Rocks (1992), and the agenda topic was “ways to improve attendance”. We were lucky to fill half of the 900 (?) seat theater at the local college Fine Arts Building for any given performance. During the Board discussion this Bored member volunteered that the LSO needed to do something to get itself recognized in the community… something like playing with the Moody Blues. Most Board members laughed at the idea and it was met with severe skepticism that it could or would ever happen.
Dog left the meeting somewhat pissed and disheartened; but knew we needed to do something "crazy” and shake the place up musically. So, the next day Dog called the Director of the La Crosse Center Arena and asked how we might go about booking the Moody Blues. He too was skeptical but called me back later with the name of the booking agent for the band.
The Dog called this person (based in L.A.) and explained that he represented the La Crosse Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and heard the Moody Blues play with the CSO at Red Rocks. Dog asked him how we might go about bringing the band to La Crosse to play with the La Crosse Symphony. The agent's first question was a good one.…”Where’s La Crosse?” Dog explained that if the band was in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, or Chicago, we were right in the middle.
His second best question was, “And you have a real symphony orchestra there?”. He was assured that we did, and I even detailed the components of an orchestra and our representative numbers.
He was very pleasant and closed our conversation with, “let me do some checking and I’ll get back to you.”. Gave him the contact information for the LSO and hung up thinking that it was a “don’t call us, we’ll call you,” kind of call.
Several weeks later, while sitting in a Lutheran Hospital Board meeting the phone rang. This was most unusual since no one interrupted the Board meetings unless it was an emergency Imagine the surprise when the person who answered it said, "it's for you". The operator told me that there was a hysterical woman on the phone and needed to talk to me right away. Okay….?
The LSO Administrator (Marci), was on the phone and started screaming, “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS…. THEY WANT TO PLAY WITH US… THE MOODY BLUES WANT TO PLAY WITH US !!!! AND THEY WANT TO PAY US, CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?? THEY WANT TO PLAY WITH US AND THEY WANT TO PAY US!!! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID IT!!!
She was so loud that the Board members sitting near the phone could hear the conversation. They started smiling, and applauded when the call ended.
We notified the rest of the LSO Board (Dog didn’t gloat) and then the Administrator & Conductor called a meeting of the orchestra and let them know. Several snuffed and huffed about “rock n roll”, but most were stunned. After some discussion, it was decided that a signup sheet would be posted back stage and anyone who wanted to play could sign up. If there were positions open, LSO would recruit musicians from other orchestras to fill in.
The sheet was posted at the next rehearsal — and every line was filled.
The Moody Blues came to town on June 7, 1994, and the concert filled the La Crosse Center. It exposed the La Crosse Symphony orchestra to more people than they had ever played to before. Dog rented a limo and we took our kids for their first limo ride. I wish we had cellphones then because the kids faces were lit up and they were dancing in the aisles.
When the concert was over, we asked the conductor (the Moody Blues travels with it’s own conductor) how it was and he said the LSO was good — he could tell that some were playing “over their heads” but they pulled it off “spectacularly’.
That was the moment that changed the LSO. The Fine Arts Center started getting fuller with every performance, and soon every concert was a sell out. Season ticket holders more than doubled.
Sometimes you just have to ask and the impossible happens.
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