Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

The Novak Zone -- Interview With Timothy Foley

Aired July 05, 2003 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This Fourth of July weekend, you've likely been hearing a whole lot of patriotic music. The president's own United States Marine Corps Band performs those songs year-round. The band's director, Colonel Timothy Foley, joins CNN's Robert Novak in this week's edition of "The Novak Zone."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: I'm Robert Novak at the historic U.S. Marine barracks in southeast Washington, D.C., in the John Philip Sousa Band Hall, home of the U.S. Marine Band.

My guest is the director of the band, Colonel Timothy Foley.

Colonel Foley, what is the mission of the U.S. Marine Band?

COL. TIMOTHY FOLEY, DIRECTOR, U.S. MARINE CORPS BAND: The mission is to provide music for the president of the United States and the commandant of the Marine Corps. And this goes all the way back to the first time the band played for a president on New Year's Day of 1801, when John Adams invited the band to play for his New Year's day reception.

NOVAK: What can the tourists in Washington, who are going to see you this summer at the Capitol and other venues, what can they expect to hear?

FOLEY: Well, of course, if they come down here to the barracks on Friday nights for our -- the parade performances we give here, they will see the band throughout the parade. It's a key ingredient in the Friday night parades that we do throughout the summer here at the barracks.

On Wednesday nights, we play at the Capitol at 8:00, and we play a traditional summer band concert program, the type of programs that we've been playing since 1800 when we played our first concert on the banks of the Potomac River. And we also play at the Sylvan Theater at Sunday nights at 8:00, same kind of program.

NOVAK: Are these really Marines that play in this, these wonderful musicians, are they really U.S. Marines?

FOLEY: Yes. They are all enlisted Marines, active duty Marines. Most of our members are career. They stay with the organization for anywhere between 20 and 40 years.

NOVAK: But they are not combat Marines?

FOLEY: They are not combat Marines, no. They do not have a combat or a tactical mission. They are strictly here to play with the Marine band.

NOVAK: Behind you is a portrait of John Philip Sousa. This is John Philip Sousa Band Hall. We know him as the March King. What is the connection with the Marines?

FOLEY: Well, it's very, very close. Of course, he was the director of the Marine Band from 1880 to 1892. But he was also -- grew up just a few blocks away from here. His father was a trombonist with the band, a career trombonist, I should say.

And so young John Philip was brought over as just a young boy and participated in an apprentice program, where he learned to play musical instruments, and literally grew up with the Marine Band, and came back as a young man to become the band's director.

NOVAK: What if John Philip Sousa were to come and see the Marine Band as it is today? What would be different from the way it was in his time?

FOLEY: Well, of course, it's a larger organization now. Because of our mission, we have about roughly 140 musicians here. And we do a great variety of musical performances, both in concert at the White House, ceremonial performances. So the operational tempo of the band is a lot greater than it was when John Philip Sousa was here.

But I'd like to think that the musical caliber of the band he would recognize, and he would be very, very proud of.

NOVAK: How do you keep up the morale, the efficiency of the band, giving so many concerts all around the country and so on?

FOLEY: The people that are members of the band are here because this is what they want to do. They want to be Marines. They want to be musicians. And, of course, this provides them for the opportunity to do both, and do an extraordinary variety of work as musicians. The range of what we do here is really tremendous, whether it be classical music, concert music, ceremonial performances, jazz, country music.

And you really feel like you're a part of history, to say that this organization has participated in every presidential inauguration since Thomas Jefferson's in 1801, we -- the amount of work that we do where we are really witness to history.

NOVAK: And now, the big question for Colonel Tim Foley, director of the U.S. Marine Band.

Colonel Foley, this is your 205th anniversary. How are you going to celebrate it specially?

FOLEY: Well, our anniversary is on July 11, and we're very proud of the fact that on July 12, we are going to celebrate with a concert at the Kennedy Center, concert hall of the Kennedy Center, hosted by the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Michael Haguey (ph).

And our guest for that evening is going to be a guest conductor, none other than John Williams, who I'm sure everyone knows. He's a composer of so many wonderful film scores. So he's going to be doing a concert featuring his own film music. SO we're really looking forward to that.

NOVAK: Colonel Tim Foley, thank you very much. Semper fi.

FOLEY: Semper fi. Thank you, Bob.

NOVAK: And thank you for being in "The Novak Zone."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 5, 2003 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This Fourth of July weekend, you've likely been hearing a whole lot of patriotic music. The president's own United States Marine Corps Band performs those songs year-round. The band's director, Colonel Timothy Foley, joins CNN's Robert Novak in this week's edition of "The Novak Zone."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT NOVAK, HOST: I'm Robert Novak at the historic U.S. Marine barracks in southeast Washington, D.C., in the John Philip Sousa Band Hall, home of the U.S. Marine Band.

My guest is the director of the band, Colonel Timothy Foley.

Colonel Foley, what is the mission of the U.S. Marine Band?

COL. TIMOTHY FOLEY, DIRECTOR, U.S. MARINE CORPS BAND: The mission is to provide music for the president of the United States and the commandant of the Marine Corps. And this goes all the way back to the first time the band played for a president on New Year's Day of 1801, when John Adams invited the band to play for his New Year's day reception.

NOVAK: What can the tourists in Washington, who are going to see you this summer at the Capitol and other venues, what can they expect to hear?

FOLEY: Well, of course, if they come down here to the barracks on Friday nights for our -- the parade performances we give here, they will see the band throughout the parade. It's a key ingredient in the Friday night parades that we do throughout the summer here at the barracks.

On Wednesday nights, we play at the Capitol at 8:00, and we play a traditional summer band concert program, the type of programs that we've been playing since 1800 when we played our first concert on the banks of the Potomac River. And we also play at the Sylvan Theater at Sunday nights at 8:00, same kind of program.

NOVAK: Are these really Marines that play in this, these wonderful musicians, are they really U.S. Marines?

FOLEY: Yes. They are all enlisted Marines, active duty Marines. Most of our members are career. They stay with the organization for anywhere between 20 and 40 years.

NOVAK: But they are not combat Marines?

FOLEY: They are not combat Marines, no. They do not have a combat or a tactical mission. They are strictly here to play with the Marine band.

NOVAK: Behind you is a portrait of John Philip Sousa. This is John Philip Sousa Band Hall. We know him as the March King. What is the connection with the Marines?

FOLEY: Well, it's very, very close. Of course, he was the director of the Marine Band from 1880 to 1892. But he was also -- grew up just a few blocks away from here. His father was a trombonist with the band, a career trombonist, I should say.

And so young John Philip was brought over as just a young boy and participated in an apprentice program, where he learned to play musical instruments, and literally grew up with the Marine Band, and came back as a young man to become the band's director.

NOVAK: What if John Philip Sousa were to come and see the Marine Band as it is today? What would be different from the way it was in his time?

FOLEY: Well, of course, it's a larger organization now. Because of our mission, we have about roughly 140 musicians here. And we do a great variety of musical performances, both in concert at the White House, ceremonial performances. So the operational tempo of the band is a lot greater than it was when John Philip Sousa was here.

But I'd like to think that the musical caliber of the band he would recognize, and he would be very, very proud of.

NOVAK: How do you keep up the morale, the efficiency of the band, giving so many concerts all around the country and so on?

FOLEY: The people that are members of the band are here because this is what they want to do. They want to be Marines. They want to be musicians. And, of course, this provides them for the opportunity to do both, and do an extraordinary variety of work as musicians. The range of what we do here is really tremendous, whether it be classical music, concert music, ceremonial performances, jazz, country music.

And you really feel like you're a part of history, to say that this organization has participated in every presidential inauguration since Thomas Jefferson's in 1801, we -- the amount of work that we do where we are really witness to history.

NOVAK: And now, the big question for Colonel Tim Foley, director of the U.S. Marine Band.

Colonel Foley, this is your 205th anniversary. How are you going to celebrate it specially?

FOLEY: Well, our anniversary is on July 11, and we're very proud of the fact that on July 12, we are going to celebrate with a concert at the Kennedy Center, concert hall of the Kennedy Center, hosted by the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Michael Haguey (ph).

And our guest for that evening is going to be a guest conductor, none other than John Williams, who I'm sure everyone knows. He's a composer of so many wonderful film scores. So he's going to be doing a concert featuring his own film music. SO we're really looking forward to that.

NOVAK: Colonel Tim Foley, thank you very much. Semper fi.

FOLEY: Semper fi. Thank you, Bob.

NOVAK: And thank you for being in "The Novak Zone."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com