Longtime conductor Jim Latimer, left, taught percussion at UW-Madison for 31 years.
One of Madison’s best-kept musical secrets occurs under a park shelter-turned-bandshell every summer Thursday evening, and the only price of admission is a lawn chair and willingness to listen and appreciate.
The Capitol City Band turns 50 this year, celebrating with 12 concerts at the Rennebohm Park shelter, the band’s permanent home on the city’s west side since 1972. A special family concert on Sunday, July 22, at 2 p.m. will honor the band’s golden jubilee.
“Our founder, Elmer Ziegler, felt there should be a concert band in every community,” says the band’s director, Jim Latimer, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, who taught percussion for 31 years at UW-Madison and performed as timpanist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. “We feel we have a mission to bring constructive ideas to people through music. This is what we do, and we feel it makes a difference.”
Ziegler, a military veteran and former secretary to composer John Philip Sousa, established the Capitol City Band in 1969 as an extension of the VFW Post 1318 Volunteer Community Band, which he founded in 1950. Ziegler led the 28-member volunteer band until his death in 1981, when Latimer took over the role.
The Thursday evening concerts have the feel of a family reunion, but with some 300-plus people in attendance. The audience’s age group skews significantly north of 40, but that doesn’t dampen their enthusiasm for the weekly event.
“We used to come when our kids were young, and it’s only been recently that I started coming again,” says Margaret Ferry, 81, who drove in from Fitchburg with her friend Lois Steindorf, 74, for the July 12 performance. “I love the fact that it’s an intimate crowd, and that they really listen to the music.”
Steindorf agrees. “I love Concerts on the Square, but it has gotten so big. I like smaller concerts in smaller parks. The music is great, and I only wish more people knew about it.”
Latimer’s weekly setlist includes a mix of patriotic music and show tunes, light classics and compositions from the Great American Songbook. The selections are chosen using the conductor’s simple formula.
“There are only two kinds of music — good music and bad music,” says Latimer. “We try to include good music from all cultures that enlightens, informs, helps and heals people through song.”
The band itself is made up of male and female musicians, young and old, who play for the joy of performing. On July 12, concert highlights included retired family physician Marilyn Chohaney taking the solo lead on Stephen Bulla’s “Rhapsody for Piccolo and Band,” and newly minted UW grad and mezzo-soprano Megan Mitchell performing vocals on the Gershwins’ “’S Wonderful” and Victor Young’s “When I Fall in Love.”
Madison Police Chief Mike Koval also showed up to guest conduct “Hot Time in the Old Town” using a lighted traffic baton. And it was Chohaney’s birthday, so Latimer invited the audience to stay after the 75-minute concert for a piece of cake.
Ferry says the band’s director is one of Madison’s hidden treasures: “Jim Latimer is a gift to our community, and we really appreciate all that he does.”
Capitol City Band Golden Jubilee
Sunday, July 22, at 2 p.m.
Rennebohm Park (115 N. Eau Claire Ave., right behind the Hill Farms Swim Club)
Concerts are free and lot and street parking are available. The one-story shelter offers shade for the audience.
