We published that video on the first day of this year’s West Seattle Summer Fest, as band members from West Seattle High School played another streetcorner gig to raise money for a new tuba. Today, Maxwell Lemke – at right in the clip – e-mailed WSB to share the good news: They reached their $1,100 goal and got the tuba!

Maxwell sent that photo of himself (with the tuba) along with his fellow fundraising musicians – Ellie Monroe on trombone, Maximillian Czerwinski on alto sax, Ben Schuh on trumpet, and WSHS music director Ethan Thomas. He also mentioned they had purchased the tuba from Steve Twitchell, who Maxwell met last spring via the West Seattle Community Orchestras:

I sat next to him at rehearsals and one time he mentioned that he had a tuba that he’d been trying to get off his hands; when I asked about it he said that he’d be willing to lend it out to the school for use until we’d have enough money to properly buy it from him. In the back of my head I knew I wanted to get the tuba and I also knew that the way to get it should be through busking (playing music out on the street for money). So in total we went out 19 times; for the first couple times it was just me playing the school’s sousaphone on my own down on Alki, but one day one of my friends that played french horn, Connor Deidrich, passed me and said, “We oughta play together and make a whole band out of this”(paraphrasing).

So I recruited my trumpet and alto sax players and we ran over some of the marching band music we already know and decided that that music would be the key to our success, but a big issue for use was having a reliable trombone player. There were always a couple people here and there that were willing to pitch in for a day or two; we had a tenor sax player, Kevin Corona, that played with us for a long bit before his instrument broke, leaving him unable to play with us for a good chunk of the summer. Overall the first couple weeks were the sketchiest, and it wasn’t until after the first baseball game we busked at that I really felt comfortable and sure that we could make this happen; that was also around the end of the school year, about the same time our first permanent trombone player Ellie Monroe joined us.

Since then we’ve also bought a few marching band songs for the school, arrangements of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes and “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. I’m going to be a senior this next year and I was thinking that I’d use this as part of my senior project but I’m not entirely sure how I’d present it yet. The goal of the tuba was to accommodate for an expanding low brass section that didn’t have the proper funds to get a tuba in the first place (did you know that the school only gives $300 a year to the music department to spread across 4 different classes? I want to say that MOST of the money at the school’s music department is made through fundraising). The only real “donations” [outside the busking fundraisers] were from two of my family members, my mom and my sister, both giving $50 each even though they live out of state and might never be able to hear us play.

As you know if you are a regular WSB reader, the same dilemma is faced by other extracurricular programs including some sports, and we often bring you word of fundraising events and donation requests. None quite like this one, though.

P.S. Maxwell says you can donate to the WSHS Music program by going here (scroll down the page).

Thanks to Paula for the tip and the photos – Seattle Public Schools confirms they’re moving portables out of Schmitz Park Elementary, including the one taken away just before 4 am today. None are going to other schools in West Seattle. We asked SPS spokesperson Tom Redman for details on what’s happening, and here’s his response:

· Tuesday, Aug 16th, 4-6 a.m.: one portable will be moved from Schmitz Park to North Beach Elementary

· Aug 18th thru Aug 23rd, 4-6 a.m.: four portables will move from Schmitz Park to Hamilton Middle School. There will be a total of four separate morning moves during this time period.

Previously,

· One portable from Schmitz Park to Maple Elementary

· One portable from Schmitz Park to Mercer Middle School

· One portable from Schmitz Park to Viewlands Elementary

We also noticed a portable last week at Sanislo Elementary on Puget Ridge – Redman says Sanislo has “received two portables, one from the portable manufacturer and one from Loyal Heights Elementary.” Sanislo is expecting 275 students this fall, five more than last fall; according to this recent letter to families from new Sanislo principal Erika Ayer, the campus now has three portables, “which will house our two second grade classrooms and a third grade classroom.”