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Oracle Band
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Welcome to the Oracle News and
Information page! This page will tell you about all of the latest
happenings within the band...upcoming public performances, special offers, photos from
recent shows, tidbits on the individual members, and much more. We hope our
fans will bookmark this page and return often
to find out the latest news, information, and, well, yes, gossip, that
we've picked up.
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Upcoming Public PerformancesOracle returns to Whispers Restaurant in Glen Burnie
Performances at Whispers are always a blast, and you never know what might happen. The only way to know for sure is to come out and join us from 9:00 until 1:00 each evening. The dance floor is spacious, the drinks are potent, and the food is quite good. It's east to get to Whispers. Located just off Route 100, it is only 20 minutes from downtown Baltimore, and less than 30 minutes from Laurel, Odenton, Severna Park, and Columbia. Directions to Whispers Restaurant
There is a $5 cover charge. Performance at Whispers tend to fill up quickly, so advance reservations are definitely recommended. Call 410-768-3900 to make your reservation and ensure a great table. Since we're performing there two nights in a row, we'll be doing an Oracle Band "no repeat weekend", where the songs on Friday are totally different from those on Saturday, so come on out BOTH nights and get a double barreled dose of Oracle Band. Independence Day Concert at Laurel Lakes a HUGE Success
We're still getting the photo pages edited and neatly formatted, but we want to get all of the photos online as quickly as possible, so you will be able to find ALL of them on a single page at the temporary Laurel Independence Day Concert Photo Gallery. The animated photo above shows a series of photos taken from the stage, beginning around 3:00 when we were setting up, to the moments just before the fireworks when the crowd stretched as far as the eye could see.
We'll have more information on this performance as time allows...it took almost all day Sunday to peruse, crop and edit the 800 some photos we took down to a more manageable 60+ pictures. We'll make the gallery pages look prettier, and format them to accommodate folks with a dial-up connection within the next day or so. Mother Nature Makes Appearance at Wedding
However, just when you think you've seen it all, yet another situation pops up to lend yet another chapter to the book of life. As everyone in the area knows, we've been seeing some pretty heavy duty storms come though the DC area in the past few weeks, resulting in some significant power outages. At a recent wedding out near the water at Maryland Yacht Club, the forecast had been for high temperatures but with little chance of rain.
Not that anyone would allow this to put a
The evening serves as a lesson that adversity can always be overcome. At the end of the day the happy couple is still married, and they have a story to tell their kids and grandkids for years to come! Northwestern HS Class of 1973 - 35 year Reunion
Knowing that several other members of Steve's graduating class are regular visitors at Oracle performances, we wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that the Northwestern HS 35 year reunion is coming up on Saturday, August 2nd, at the Oracle Band's performance at Perry's Restaurant in Odenton Maryland. The reunion had previously been scheduled for the following day in Annapolis, but a lower than expected response from class members necessitated a change of venue and date. That Oracle is now able to host the event at Perry's has Steve thrilled, and hopefully we'll have a nice turnout now that the location has been settled and the cost has been significantly reduced.
Registration for the reunion is $25, and all others are of course admitted to the restaurant for free, but are not permitted in the party room. For more information and to register for the reunion, visit the official reunion website at Classreport.org/usa/md/hyattsville/nwhs/1973.
Directions to Perry's Restaurant Perry's is a fun place to party. The band always has a great time there, and we've been coming there for many years. Since this is an open performance for anyone, if you were a member of the class of '72, '74, or any other Northwestern class for that matter, you'll be made to feel welcome. You're also welcome to register for the buffet if you'd like to join us for dinner and spend some time with us in the back. Since we've been performing there for so many years, we've accumulated literally hundreds of photos from our past performances there. You can check them out at Perry's Restaurant Photo Gallery. Parks & Recreation Concert Pulled Off
Although we have been fortunate over the many years that we have had the privilege of opening this series, this year Mother Nature thought she would try to throw a bit of a damper on the festivities. A fairly heavy thunderstorm arrived just one hour before concert time, threatening cancellation. However, Oracle, being veterans of summer parks concerts, knew that these
storms seldom last long, and that there might be a lot of disappointed fans
out there if we DIDN'T go on, so we covered up the electronics with tarps,
secured everything that might blow away, and waited out the storm. As you can see, we were able to get the show off the ground after just a little bit of a delay, and despite the rain a nice crowd of fans as well as many new faces came out to enjoy the music. The sun soon reappeared and quickly dried the ground, and we once again had an enjoyable evening under clear skies, and were treated to a beautiful sunset as well! Check out the photos of the Laurel Lakes 2008 Concert Series Photo Gallery. Recently at Afterdeck Some time back Oracle returned to The Afterdeck in Pasadena Maryland for a rare Friday night performance.
While the numbers were not as large as on a typical Saturday night for us, the quality of the crowd was top notch as always, and we had a great time with the many fans that came out to catch the show. We also got to meet a number of new friends as well, and many of these folks requested that they be added to the subscription list for the Oracle Newsletter to keep better track on when and where we'll be performing. Anyway, as always we got some great photos, including some of the entire band (Steve included), taken by an anonymous fan who snapped away from out in the room. So, head on over to the newest Afterdeck Photo Gallery and check out the photos in all their glory. Keep an eye on the Oracle Calendar to see if we manage to book any additional performance at Afterdeck prior to the big pre-Thanksgiving party in November. Sold Out Performance at Gambrills Athletic Club
Once again the Mother's Day weekend bull roast to benefit the Gambrills Athletic Club was a smashing success, as tickets sold out over a month in advance, and there were dozens of names on the waiting list for tickets.
From the first note to the last the dance floor was rocking. The money
wheels were spinning and generating revenue for the club, and the 50-50
drawing netted a handsome
We've added a new page of photos from the evening for everyone to check out. Head on over to the Gambrills Athletic Club Mother's Day Bull Roast Photo Gallery to see lot's of photos from this fabulous evening of FUN! We're pleased to announce that Oracle will be returning to Gambrills next year for the 2009 Mother's Day Bull Roast, so keep your eyes on the calendar and we'll let you know just as soon as tickets go on sale. Check Out The 2007 Year In Review Retrospective!
Look back on the performances from 2007...the clubs, the weddings, the Yacht Clubs, and the other special events. We also feature dozens of photos of our Oracle Family members who have come out to party and spend some quality time with us. We'd love to hear your feedback! Hope you enjoy it as much as we do ;-) 2007 Oracle Band Year In ReviewSt. Patrick's Day 2008 at American Legion Post 175OK...so it was a few days early. The 14th instead of the 17th. The key to this strategy is that it gave everyone an entire weekend to recover from this fantastic party!
The evening started off around 5:00 in the afternoon with some traditional Irish food staples...corned beef & cabbage, Irish potatoes, and of course, your favorite Irish libations.
The party continued for 7 1/2 hours, with the band taking the
stage at 8:30 and keeping the dance floor hopping continuously. Two of the Legion regulars, our good friends Pat and Carol, honored the assembled guests with a virtuoso dual performance on the "Boom-Bah", an incredibly difficult instrument that has only been mastered by an extremely few talented individuals. To have not one but TWO performers who have mastered the instrument in one room at the same time is nothing short of phenomenal.
Speaking of phenoms, our own virtuoso Nikki opened the show
debuting a new show piece entitled "Beethoven's
Virus". Lifted liberally from Beethoven's "Pathetique"
piano sonata, this new version was arranged by the group BanYa
for the video dance game "Pump It
In addition to the photos you see here, we got lots more great fun shots. Head on over to the American Legion St. Patrick's Day Photo Gallery to see just how much fun everyone had. We're also pleased to announce that we have signed a contract to return to the Legion NEXT year for St. Patrick's Day 2009. Once again, since St. Patrick's Day falls in the middle of the week, we'll be doing it the Friday before, on March 13th.. Mark your calendars! Oracle Performs for Chocolate Ball!
In addition to a silent auction and raffles, area confectioners competed for the "People's Choice" award in designing the most elaborate chocolate confection, be it a cake or other delightful treat. With a middle east theme, we saw flying carpet cakes, elaborate structures, magic lanterns, and a host of other ideas to inspire the imagination. Just prior to the band taking the stage we were even treated to a
performance by
The event was held in the lobby of the Kossiakoff Center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics lab, a beautiful setting for such a worthwhile event. The Arc of Howard County sponsors vocational and residential support and services, respite care, and other programs and services for children and adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities. This was the third year in a row that Oracle has been invited to participate in this event, and we're pleased to announce that we have been invited back again next year, which we were of course thrilled to agree to.
We took a lot of photos to document the evening, and you can view them all by heading over to the Arc of Howard County Chocolate Ball Photo Gallery. We'd like to thank the folks at The Arc for inviting us, thank BB&T Bank for sponsoring the event, and especially thank all the people who came out to make this evening such a wonderful success!
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Oracle Band This page last updated 07/20/2008 Copyright 2007 by Oracle Band |
visitors since 7/27/2007