COMPTON HEIGHTS BAND, T. GRAHAM BROWN TO MAKE LABOR DAY WEEKEND MUSIC

Music-lovers in Cape Girardeau and Jackson are familiar with the weekly programs played by their municipal bands, usually a mix of marches, excerpted musicals and popular tunes adapted for concert band instrumentation.

Those bands have finished their seasons, but the St. Louis-based Compton Heights Concert Band will travel to Cape Girardeau on Labor Day to cap the summer with a concert offering marches, nostalgic music, two top soloists and a fireworks display.

The 7 p.m. concert at the Capaha Park Band Shell is sponsored by the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri and the Missouri Council on the Arts.

Another entertainment highlight of the Labor Day weekend will be a concert at 8 p.m. Saturday by T. Graham Brown at the Marble Hill Labor Day Fest.

The performance Monday will be the Compton Heights Concert Band's third consecutive Labor Day concert in Cape Girardeau.

Conducted by Greg Fox, the 50-piece band will present a variety of marches in addition to the '40s and '50s nostalgic pieces "In the Miller Mood" and two works by Richard Rodgers: "Victory at Sea" and "The Carousel Waltz" from the musical of that name.

The free performance will feature solos by baritone Robert Ellison, who will sing "America the Beautiful" and "Wind Beneath My Wings," and by piccoloist Jan Gippo, who ordinarily plays with the Saint Louis Symphony.

Harry Swanger, who founded the band in 1976 and plays bassoon, still remembers the reception Ellison's performance of "Porgy and Bess" highlights received at a past Cape Girardeau concert.

"The hillside arose," he said.

He calls Gippo "a real ham. He's a crowd-pleaser."

The band's "Stars and Stripes Forever" finale will be accompanied by a fireworks display.

T. Graham Brown pumped out a string of hits during the '80s: "I Tell It Like It Used to Be," "I Wish That I Could Hurt that Way Again," "Hell and High Water" and his duet with Tanya Tucker, "Don't Go To Strangers."

"Darlene" from his third album went to No. 1.

Brown received a CMA Award for his part in the George Jones single "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair," and currently is featured on the NASCAR release "Runnin' Wide Open."

Other Labor Day entertainments include:

-- Labor Day Homecoming, Olive Branch, Ill., 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. Pancake breakfast, gospel singing contests, crafts and rummage sales.

-- Metropolis, Ill., Labor Day Celebration, with parade, musical entertainment and a fireworks display.

-- The Japanese Festival (Missouri Botanical Garden), the Greek Festival (St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church), the St. Louis Blues Heritage Festival (Laclede's Landing and Soulard) and the Labor Day Parade along Market Street in St. Louis.

-- Goldenrod Ragtime Festival, St. Charles, today through Monday.