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Cruisin' at Camp Snoopy By Betsey Norgard "Besides the [Snoopy] characters, we're the only regular live entertainment at one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country." Augsburg senior Trevor Johnson is talking about the part-time job that he and four classmates have shared for nearly a year. They're the "house band" at the Mall of America's Camp Snoopy, the largest indoor theme park in the largest shopping center in the country, in Bloomington, Minn. The Snoopy Cruisers--trumpet, trombone, sousaphone, snare drum, and bass drum--wander through the park on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, playing a musical repertoire to please the oldest and youngest mall visitors. During the summer months, they played six days a week in Camp Snoopy. "We play whatever we think would be a cool amusement park song--it's like a pep band for a basketball game," says junior Brendan Anderson, who plays snare drum. Their selections range from '50s tunes to action movie themes to kids' songs. Music department chair
and band director Robert Stacke recruited the Cruisers from his band members
when he received a call from the mall, inquiring after The band members each have a name--Clumsy Cruiser, Cool Cruiser, Classy, Quirky, and Curly Cruiser. The names are natural, says Anderson. "It's not a matter of us playing to the names, it's the names playing to us." Their costumes are seasonal; during October when Camp Snoopy became Camp Spooky, the Cruisers donned orange "Ghostbusters" jumpsuits. While it's not a typical part-time student job, the Cruisers all feel that playing has been a valuable extension of their Augsburg studies. Junior Sara Seekins is a music therapy major. In addition to improving her range and technique on the trombone, playing often and for this many people has given her more confidence on her horn. Anderson, a music composition major, has collaborated with fellow Cruiser, sophomore sousaphonist Ben Duane, to arrange all the music for the group. "I now know how to write for trombone, trumpet, and tuba inside and out," says Anderson. "We have a good 25 songs in our repertoire, and you really learn how to do it." Johnson, the trumpet player, is a business and economics major who joined the jazz and concert bands for enjoyment. After performing with the Cruisers, however, his career aspirations are leaning toward a job in the music industry, combining music and business experience. Junior music major and bass drummer Lindsay Bonner sings in the Augsburg Choir and is a vocalist with Gospel Praise. "Playing percussion is definitely stretching me musically, and that is exciting. Next, I get a cowbell, too," she quipped. In their wandering around Camp Snoopy, the Cruisers attract lots of attention, especially when the live Snoopy characters join them to dance. "That's really the best time we have--when we can get together, both the band and the characters. They dance and we play, and everybody really gets into it," says Anderson. "One of the greatest things is seeing kids get excited about the music," says Bonner, who occasionally turns over her mallet for kids to beat the drum. The Snoopy Cruisers take all of this public exposure in stride. Seekins ponders, "I wonder how many home videos we're in." |
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group that could be built around these particular five instruments.