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Perfectionist leader
taking all-Kauai
band to Pasadena
LIHUE » At the Kauai All-Island Ku Kilakila Band's first practice on June 18, Kauai High School band director Larry McIntosh had a scowl on his face and a growl in his voice.
The music was awful and the marching worse.
Yesterday, at the band's final practice before it heads to the 116th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year's Day, McIntosh was still scowling and still growling.
But this time, the music was terrific and the marching impressive.
Yet it wasn't good enough for McIntosh, who will be retiring in June with a 40-year reputation as the perfectionist music teacher at Kauai High.
He was in fine form during yesterday's practice.
"You're hesitating," he hollered through a loudspeaker at the drummers in the back row. "The percussion section starts off every number, and it sounds like you're all standing around thinking about it rather than playing.
"You shouldn't have to think about it by now, it should just come naturally. Don't think. Just do it," he told them.
The Ku Kilakila Band is unique in Kauai's history, and very much McIntosh's creation. It includes students from all three public high schools, all three public middle schools and all three private high schools on Kauai. There are a few home-schooled members as well.
McIntosh convinced the Tournament of Roses Committee -- which limits the number of bands every year to 26 -- to consider a Kauai band before it was even organized, before it had played a note or marched a single step.
On Monday the first of 532 people -- including 281 students and an almost equal number of chaperones -- will begin boarding airliners for Southern California. The Roses parade will be preceded by a series of band tournaments and concerts.
It won't be cheap to participate in the event. Organizers expect the final tab to be about $600,000. Liz Hahn, the band's spokeswoman, said a large contribution just this week provided enough money to feed three meals a day to all band members.
The six-month effort has had its share of drama and dedication.
Kukailimoku Chandler of Wainiha was diagnosed with a brain tumor after he had been accepted as a member in the band. He underwent surgery and, pending the outcome of tests on Oahu yesterday, plans to march all seven miles of Colorado Avenue with the band on New Year's Day.
Another band member showed up at yesterday's practice directly from a hospital emergency room where he was treated -- and heavily bandaged -- for two torn-up knees injured in a basketball game.
The magnitude of the Tournament of Roses Parade still has not really sunk in with many of the students. Between 300 million and 350 million people will watch them worldwide.
"They may be adults before they really get it," a band mother said yesterday.
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