Pat Hegler Oxford Nights Trumpet  (Here's a picture of Pat, Jim and me at Nortunes 50 years later)

Here's a little rememberance from Pat Hegler who was one of two trumpets that played on "I'm Such A Lonely One".

My trip toward the Oxford Nights began as a child when I wanted to follow in my older brother’s footsteps as a cornet player. That brother was Tommy. I had more brothers and Arnie was a trombone player. When we tried out for band in 5th grade they let your parents purchase a flute-0-phone to see if you were going to be able to read music. We used those from September through December. In January, the band director would look at your embouchure and recommend an instrument. Mr. Dwinga recommended the trombone for me. I felt like that horn was too big for me to carry around so I showed up with Tommy’s cornet.

In those days the junior high band director would go to nearby grammar schools and hold band class for one hour a week. Students in those schools would later attend his band class daily in junior high school or 8th and 9th grades for us.

This is where I would meet Norton Wade who also played trumpet. Norton was playing guitar at the same time but I was not aware of that. We competed with each other for 1st chair those years. You got to play the melody part of a song in 1st chair.

Later in high school, Norton and I would meet again in band with our trumpets except we were down playing 2nd and 3rd trumpet parts below the seniors. When we got to be junior and seniors we were up playing 1st trumpet parts. About then, Norton asked me and another player, Nathan Youngblood if we wanted to come play with his dance band. We did and life changed as I knew it.