AIR MOBILITY BAND TO GIVE FREE CONCERT TONIGHT

A few tickets are still available for tonight's performance of the Air Mobility Command Band of Mid-America, and a capacity crowd is expected.

The band will perform at 7:30 at Cape Girardeau Central High School Auditorium. Tickets are free and available at the Southeast Missourian office, 301 Broadway.

Tickets don't guarantee a seat, but ticketholders will be allowed in the auditorium early. Doors open at 6:45 for those with tickets. Ticketholders will be allowed in until 7:20. If any seats are left, ticketholders and those without tickets will be allowed in until 7:30.

Organizers don't expect any empty seats and suggest that people arrive early. The auditorium seats 1,000.

The theme of this year's concert is "This Day in 1945." Selections will come from music written by Allied and American composers, as well as selections from Broadway and patriotic songs.

As one of 10 regional Air Force bands, the Air Mobility Command Band performs concerts in the territory surrounding the base, said Capt. Lloyd Walton, band conductor. The band is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois and tours Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Wisconsin.

"Our mission is threefold," Walton said. "We support military functions on our base or other bases in the area." The band also acts as a recruiting tool. "The popular band goes to high schools for the recruiters," Walton said. Community relations is the third reason the band exists.

"We really try not to over-saturate our sponsorship. That's really important," Walton said. "We try to leave people wanting more and draw a larger crowd."