Goldston: When did you first realize that Hurricane Andrew might hit Miami?

Brandon: The day of the hurricane. Um... you know catching the reports. I got up early in the morning and the reports noticed mention that the hurricane was definitely headed toward us. At that time I was real, real concerned and I went out and bought plywood and started, you know, boarding up the house.

Goldston: What preparations did you make?

Brandon: I um... came home and drilled holes in the wall and put anchors in the building and uh bolted the plywood to the window. I mean each window took about an hour to do. I mean that whole Sunday was like a lot of hard rock. Finally about 4 o'clock I just stopped, stopped trying to prepare and I said well you know if this thing is coming this way and it is going to be that bad, just let it go. My thing is, I said you know because I have, my neighbors down the street is who works at Miami Dade, and he is an Oceanographer and I went down to talk to him and I said, "What do you think about this hurricane coming around?" And he said, "Listen if this thing becomes a category 4 hurricane," which it did by about 3 o'clock, 'then, I am not going to stay." And then right down the street from me also, to the west of my house, is a guy by the name of Bass who works for the hurricane service. He flies right into the center of the eye and he says "No way, don't stay, leave!" At that time, I said that I'm out of here! So I was going to go out to my mothers' house. Around 6 o'clock or so we got there and she had on her shutters on her windows and everything so we said okay we are going to stay here in her house. I looked at the television and they said that it was 140 mile an hour winds and by the time it got over the Gulf Stream it was going to be 160 miles an hour. And I said no way! I was watching that report as soon as I got there I said this is no place to be, not there down here. So uh, I mean I figured you know a 160 mile an hour wind, I kind of related it to the fact that, you know, the way I could drive my car. I won't go 80 miles an hour in my car okay so, the hurricane was twice as fast as you know before then it was predicted to be twice as fast. I said no this is no place to be. So at about 8:30 we decided to get into the car and go to uh...Lakeland. We didn't even have any rain up there. You know and my mother was all worried and crying "Oh I don't know what to do". I said you better get in the car and come and go with me because you know, this thing like I said, this is no place to be. We rent on up there and there was no traffic, none at all, none what so ever. I guess re were trying to leave around noon or so, we wouldn't get hung up.

Goldston: What were your concerns or thoughts during the hurricane?

Brandon: My concerns or thoughts during the hurricane was hey, I'm bleeping. I got in my pajamas, in my cousins house and just relaxed. I was concerned, but I knew that it was coming through and it was hitting. And you know I told my wife, I said, "Listen, I'm not married to materials and I'm no hero. So what ever happens down there, let it happen and you know when we go back, we'll deal with it." And that's exactly what we did. At about 11 o'clock I was watching, I got up around 5 o'clock catching for reports and the first pictures came out with Dan Rather on CBS. And then after that I kept watching the reports from down there and they said that the place, things were messed real bad. They had people from Naranja on television up in Tampa and I said uh you know in all the reports it was pretty bad. I said okay so I figured you know stuff was pushed down and whatever, whatever you know. Hut no the buildings were pushed down and  everything. So we were listening for reports of Tornado's, the aftermath of tornado's and such. When I was assured the hurricane was through and they were getting live pictures from the hurricane, then I said well okay fine it's time to go back. At 11 o'clock we took off and we got home at around 4 o'clock.

Goldston: What was the first thing you thought about and the first thing you did after the hurricane?

Brandon: We went back home and started fixing the house. I mean the house was a mess, the whole house. We had one room which was a mess, but it was not as bad as the rest of the house, and we stayed in that room.

Goldston: What kind of effect did Hurricane Andrew put on your daily life?

Brandon: Well right after the hurricane it was really, you know, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to go, I didn't know how or which way to turn. I was real concerned about having shelter, safe shelter, in light of the fact that people were looting. We were lucky that we didn't get, that people didn't come over our way. I was trying to secure my place, but you know it's real hard to secure the place when there are no windows. All the plywood that we had up was blown away and so I tried to clean up. I realized that this cleaning up was going to take me forever out here. So I said lets stop cleaning up because night is going to come soon and we don't have any electricity plus we needed to eat something and there was nothing open around here. We tried to get some of those canned goods out of there. The problems were compounded one after the other so you didn't know which one to take care of first. We just kind of went along as we could and when it became night, we went to sleep, at about 6 or 7 o'clock.

Goldston: Did the hurricane significantly change your plans for the future? If yes, how?

Brandon: I don't know whether it did or not. Um... I think the hurricane, by taking people away from Homestead, military people, and a lot of students left here. My band program here at Homestead High School was 120 people before the hurricane. That was August the 20th and then the 24th came around and just took all of those guys away. Now I am noticing that folks are dealing with basic levels of awareness, you know, of existence. And now, my subject, music is really not of great interest to people down here. It really never has been at a level where I was really happy with it. You know, I've always felt like a missionary down here, trying to make people have an awareness of what we do in music and the effect that is has on peoples' lives. But now, it is even less than that. As a matter of fact, it is a lot less than that. So although I hate to sound like I'm jumping ship, I wonder whether or not I can be effective in my work here.

Goldston: When did you first come back to school to work?

Brandon: When they called everybody in. I didn't rant to come back.

Goldston: What was coming back like?

Brandon: The last place I wanted to be was here. The last thing I wanted to be doing was trying to be working on something other than my house. I went right away to work. I was living inside that place with the windows dorm and everything messed up. But what happened is between those first few days after the hurricane, I worked speedy and I got that house finished, I got it fixed up. As a matter of fact, by November, by the end of October, my house was complete. I mean complete. As a matter of fact, November, Thanksgiving weekend, I went to North Carolina and bought furniture. But uh coming here, I really didn't want to do a band program. Then I heard about the football team they were out here practicing. I was thinking, how the heck were they going to practice when they got there houses messed up. But you know, that time of the year is real big for them. It depends a whole lot upon the rest of the guys who are getting ready for scholarships and stuff like that. So they really couldn't let the football program go and a lot of that was do to the coach I think. He was just really pushing it, you know moving things along. But, I had no desire to come back. When I got back, I figured that well, we'll just kind of hang out. Of course, we didn't do that, as you can see, because of all the publicity that we got. It turned out that the kids were really enthusiastic. It really fired me up. After that, we just started doing our thing, you know, just like the hurricane had never come. The only problem was that emotionally, kids were kind of torn, they weren't able to give. And um... I just had problems with trying to pull out the good in folks because they were kind of sheltering themselves.

Goldston: Please describe the impact of Hurricane Andrew on the band members.

Brandon: It was rough on them, because see music requires you to give of yourself from your inner sanctum and when people are having to deal with the stress of the hurricane a lot of people were talking about the fact that they were in closets, 10 people in a closet, bathrooms, and hallways, and here their houses are messed up and now we are here at the school. And we see the military riding around, people are still standing in lines, still living in tents and we are supposed to come in here and give from the depths of your soul. It was rough, it was a paradox. You couldn't, it was hard to do. But I remember you know, the first day of rehearsal and the band was just kind of marching around and everything. It wasn't my band, my group is a lot more musical, a lot more involved and they have a lot more spirit out there. So I called everybody around the matter and we talked. I told them that no one was going to be looking, you know, Homestead (high school) was the hardest hit for this thing, Homestead and a couple of other schools. Then we go and find that the rest of the county has not been hit, so I am thinking that musicianship has nothing to do with a hurricane, or going through a hurricane. Either you are a good musician or you're not. So I said you guys don't sound that good nor and what I need for you to dojust before the hurricane, you sounded great, you guys are the same guys that were here before the, hurricane, there are just fewer of you. During that time here, that little few minutes that we talked, I got up on my soap box and sounded like the coach. Those guys, it was straight emotional, you could sense the people crying and people were really opening up from their inner self. When they got back on that field man, it was like really nice. It was like aw there it is again, yea.

Goldston: How has this school year been different or the same than previous school years?

Brandon: Having to deal with the smaller group, half the people gone. We've always had a big group, always had people living off of the tradition. But, in the past, we've always had houses to live in and nor people are not interested in dealing at such a self-actualized level of awareness, of existence. They basically are trying to do the basics. It has been rough because folks are really kind of selfish about their feelings at this point and really, that directly reflects the work that I do.

Goldston: Who invited you to perform in the Inaugural Parade?

Brandon: We sent up a...every time they have an Inaugural Parade I apply, you know, and I have never gotten selected. But, this year we had a couple of things going for us, we applied, that's all. But, wouldn't it be nice if they felt sorry for us and they said, 'Okay, you all come on up!" We were talking about this in the band room. Then we have one of my students who worked over in Washington, Donald Kamitz, who is my band captain. He works in Connie Macks' office. Connie Mack was not very interested because you know because the President was a Democrat so it was a partisan issue rather than an issue for him helping folks. Donnie went up there and tried to talk to Connie Mack. Of course, he wasn't interested but he talked to someone else I'm sure and one thing lead to another, and we got selected. They called me here (school) one day and I just couldn't believe it, that they were actually talking to me. A person from the Inaugural Parade Committee.

Goldston: Please describe your experience of going to Washington D. C. for the Inaugural Parade.

Brandon: It was nice, for the first time sinceyou know, we are very proud and going up there really kind of did a lot for the emotions of the students because they were torn and this I think that this was the only thing that made it possible for us to not lose this group emotionally. I noticed that for the first time, people were really smiling from their hearts and their souls, rather than just these outward smiles and laughs you know or having anything attached to it. I also noticed that we got a lot of attention. A lot of people sent money and letters, and a lot of newspaper coverage and such.

Goldston: Describe any other events the Marching Band performed in due to Hurricane Andrew.

Brandon: Well we took the Orange Bowl, well for the Orange Bowl Parade we got selected for that. We earned it on our own merit. The Joe Robbie Stadium, they invited us to do half time for the Baltimore Colts and their game, we did the Inaugural ParadeI think we got selected for that, we played for the Greater Miami Chamber of Commercethey wanted the Clinton inaugural band to perform at their luncheon, we have done the Youth Fair grand opening they wanted the Clinton Inaugural Band to play for that, we've gotten a lot of attention because we went to Washington. It is good and bad. It is good because we are honored, but by god, it's running us to death.

Goldston: How did your students feel about the extra publicity they received due to the hurricane?

Brandon: Well, I think they felt good. It is kind of hard to tell because I don't know whether it's this generation or not, but uh folks are very private with their feelings lots of times and the natural thing to do is to feel proud of the things that are going on, but it is real easy to let things go by and just say well, you know, whatever. I have been getting a lot of that, which is why I mentioned it. Hut, everybody was basically happy.

Goldston: Are there any positive outcomes you have seen as a result of the hurricane? If yes, please describe.

Brandon: Oh yea. People helping each other. We have got quite a bit of positive things. As a matter of fact, I, and I don't want to sound too proud, but let me tell you something. For me, Andrew, was a blessing, it really was. In every regard except, not in every regard Andrew was a blessing. Personally, I have a brand new house. The same house, but boy that house is better than any kind of a house I could imagine living in. Because of my settlement, I was able to pay off all of my debts. With my neighbors, I know a lot of them now. They helped me out after the hurricane. We eat together, we share together, we're talking to each other we hadn't done that before. Over here at the school, there was a lot of needs for sharing and helping kids becoming involved with each other. We did a lot of that. My work, music, I found it to be really important for sharing with folks, and we here have just kind of shared with everybody and kind of typified the idea of causing nice things to happen. I always use this little line hereHurricane Andrew was an act of god. Generally, when we talk about acts of god, we are talking about tragedy and terrible things have happened through rains and hurricanes and such. But, I think if Hurricane Andrew was an act of god, this is god trying, making his effort to emphasize to us how important it is to share, and to help out, to help each other and rock together. We had the military people coming down, and we had people talking to each other, neighbors helping each other out. Uh...and I'm just glad that we were the ones that were a part of this whole thing, the whole issue of sharing and giving and caring and all that kind of thing . You know, if we had to do it all over again, I wouldn't mind.