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Manhattan Beach's Official City Band to Play at Free Concert in the Park

Jul 11, 2015 08:28PM ● By Mb News Staff
Limousines, paddy wagons, fire engines. Such grand entrances may be a thing of the past, but you can count on the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders for some joyous Dixieland music every summer in Manhattan Beach during the city's Summer Concerts in the Park series.

Indeed, on Sunday (July 12), the boys in Manhattan Beach's official band may be minus a cool mode of transport for a grand entrance, but they'll still be in style as simply themselves.

This summer, the band of five, led by founding member and MB resident Bob White, will take the stage in Polliwog Park at 3:45 p.m. to play yet another summer concert in MB. (They'll open for Bonne Musique Zydeco who will play from 5 to 7 p.m.)

Manhattan Beach residents steeped in city history know the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders and love them; newer MBers might not be as aware of the group's fabled history, which began in 1969 when three founding members decided to name their three-member Dixieland band after a sewage plant slightly north of Manhattan Beach, Hyperion, and the place where its sewage is spilled into the ocean. 

But the joke's on anyone who doesn't take this band and its savvy musicianship seriously.

At a rehearsal at White's home this past week, DigMB was treated to great music and insight into the band. As five of its members plucked, tooted, and finessed their timing and sounds, the sweet intensity of their craft was evident.

On Sunday, Hyperion Outfall will consist of White on cornet and vocals, a trombonist, Jimmy Green on banjo, John Norton on tuba, and Dave Stanton on clarinet (Stanton, a Robinson Elementary School alumni, is the Palos Verdes Symphonic Band director).

And while band members hail from different parts of the South Bay, Hyperion Outfall is certainly an MB institution. Their credits include playing 
  • the Manhattan Beach Hometown Fair since its inception in 1972;
  • at the beginning of the Manhattan Beach 10K since its launch in 1978; 
  • at the Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks show every December;
  • every Veteran’s Day at the war memorial across from the Joslyn Community Center;
  • the Downtown Manhattan Beach Holiday Open House and Pier Lighting in November, and
  • spontaneously play the streets of downtown MB in late December before Christmas.
Early on, in 1975, Mayor Joan Dontanville ordained the group as the city's official band, a legacy Hyperion Outfall has definitely lived up to.

In March of this year, the MB City Council honored the band for its 40 years as the city's official band at a council meeting.





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