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Sunday, April 28, 2002

By David Templeton, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Seldom Seem, David Templeton's whimsical perspective on life and times in and around Washington County, appears weekly in Washington Sunday.

The world's most famous pan player will perform May 10 with the Washington High School Steel Drum Band because he's a fan of the band.

You read correctly. Robert Greenidge, the pan player who tours with Jimmy Buffett and played with several Beatles, said he's so impressed with the Wash High band he told band Director J. Marc Svaline he wanted to perform with it.

That occurred after Greenidge watched the band perform before a Jimmy Buffett concert at the Post-Gazette Pavilion.

"I told them they sound good," Greenidge said, noting that the band was playing his song, "Musical Volcano." "I was very surprised. I introduced myself and listened for a long time. Then I heard them the next time [Buffett played at PG Pavilion]. It's a good group of kids. I told them when he had something going, let me know."

Svaline now has something big happening May 10.

That's when "Mr. S," as he's known, and the steel drum band he started in 1985 will perform with Greenidge in "Rhapsody in Steel." Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors.

The concert already has drawn worldwide interest from Buffett's fans, known as Parrot Heads, who fill concert halls and arenas whenever Buffett performs. Svaline has received calls from as far away as Germany.

To understand the attraction of this calypso-style music or Soca, I needed a quick lesson on the steel drum. What I discovered was an instrument that's addictive.

Now, I play ukulele better than Don Ho, so when I hit the drum with a rubber-tipped mallet, its resonance prompted me to search for an electrical cord and amplifier. This acoustic instrument fashioned from the end of a 55-gallon drum is so mellifluous it sounds electric.

After a few taps with the mallet and I was thinking calypso. A few more taps and I wanted to put on a Hawaiian shirt. Still more and I wanted a margarita. I had to quit before I got happy feet.

For those reasons, steel drums are a cult craze at Washington High School.

"We're the premiere ensemble of this type in the country," Svaline said. The band practices from 2:30 to 4 p.m. daily and performs 18 times a year, including a July concert at the Chautauqua Institute in southern New York that attracts a near sellout crowd of 3,500 each year.

The band has performed on the same stage as Ray Charles along with famous pan players including Ken "Professor" Filmore, Ray Holman, Jeff Narell and Tom Miller.

Ellie Mannette, the Georgia man regarded as the best steel-drum maker and tuner and known as the father of the steel drum, has made many steel drums for the Wash High Band. Mannette also holds an annual workshop at West Virginia University, where the band often performs.

In years past, the Wash High Steel Drum Band has played at Jimmy Buffett concerts at the PG Pavilion. During one rehearsal, two guys came by to listen to the band and gave it thumbs up. When Svaline asked if they were steel-drum players, one responded, "Hey, that's Robert Greenidge."

Greenidge has performed with Earth Wind and Fire, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon and Ringo Starr to name a few. "We developed a rapport," Svaline said.

When Greenidge was a guest artist during Mannette's workshop at WVU, he also performed with the Wash High band. "The place went crazy," Svaline said.

When Svaline recently checked the Buffett tour schedule, he saw an opportunity to bring Greenidge to Washington. May 10 jibed with Greenidge because he had time between concerts and had to travel to WVU anyway to pick up steel drums Mannette made for him.

"I am pleased to come to the high school to do a great concert with the kids, and I hope to teach them a new approach to the instrument," Greenidge said.

Getting Greenidge is equivalent to having Wynton Marsalis perform with the jazz band, Britney Spears dance with the cheerleading squad or Tiger Woods play with the golf team. Things like this don't usually happen in high school.

Greenidge plans to hold a steel-drum clinic from 10 a.m. to noon in the high school, then practice with the band from 1:30 to 4 p.m. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. Svaline and the band plan to play tunes from Greenidge's "Club Trini Back In Town" compact disc.

Adding to the allure, Mannette also is scheduled to attend the concert.

"It's a small fraternity, but it's close knit," Svaline said. "If you have this passion, you can get hooked up with others with the same passion. Schmoozing is an important part of this."

Svaline, a trumpeter, never would have predicted he'd become a player on the steel drum scene. But in 1972, the Wash High Marching Band played in the Orange Bowl Parade, then at Disney World in Orlando, Fla., where he saw a five-piece steel band perform.

His interest in the music grew during a return trip to the Orange Bowl Parade in 1976. But the idea blossomed when one of his students brought a steel drum to play with the marching band during a half-time show in 1983. He watched with amazement as the crowd went nuts.

At the time, the only steel drum band in Pennsylvania was at Chambersburg High School, Franklin County. With high school band parents footing the bill, Svaline ordered steel drums from Mannette, "the Stradivarius of the steel drums," and the rest is history.

Nearing retirement, Svaline has formed Hillbridge Music with a friend to publish music for steel drums that he writes and arranges. "We supply pan music all over the world," he said.

So there I sat last week during a steel drum band rehearsal, marveling at the musicianship. Mr. S seemed in his glory, despite his need for a root canal. I felt real an urge when they played "Pan Earthquake." The students were having fun and the music rang out with infectious beat from drums, cowbells and congas.

And there I sat squirming, trying to control happy feet.

David Templeton can be reached by e-mail at: dtempleton@post-gazette.com