It all started in band

From the time Jim Sollenbarger first encountered band in elementary school he was hooked. “I just wanted to make noise,” he says. Later, he admits his love of music replaced “making noise” and the lure of the brass; French horn, Baritone and lastly the Trumpet served him well into high school. When he marched with the Mira Costa High School Band in Manhattan Beach during the ’70s, it wasn’t so “cool” to be in band, he recalls. “No one I hung out with knew about it my freshman and sophomore years, until one when day my hat fell off.” After high school he put his trumpet away. “No one wanted a trumpet player in a rock band,” he says. But friends who’d formed a garage band needed a manager, and Sollenbarger missed music wanted to be involved in recording it, so he became the “go to” guy and roadie for their group, “Silent Pictures”, and took them into Whiskey A Go Go on Sunset Strip.

About the time the band broke up, exciting changes in amplified sound and video technology were emerging. “It drew me in. People would call and ask what to do with the ‘drink holder’ in their new stereo system,” he jokes. He knew then his career would include music in some way. Ultimately he became known as “HiFiGuy” a moniker he still retains. From a sales job at Circuit City, to installing audio and video systems in Beverly Hills, then designing multimedia systems for schools, aerospace companies and international corporations and now as Manager of Engineering, Southern California, for Spinitar, a leading systems integration company that provides custom audio, visual and information technologies he looks back and says, “It all started in band.”

Missy Cosmos first picked up an instrument in 4th Grade and remembers the connection with band as a special bond to Fallbrook Union High School. “Being a part of the band in high school was really important to me because I had been playing for so long. I guess it was a natural progression.” She says her high school counselor advised her to be involved in “something”, not any “one” thing, but something important. For her it was band. Even today, she recalls that advise and its impact on her choices.

Once she decided to continue studying music in college, as she prepared to audition, she recalls, “It was obvious that the standard was much higher than what I was used to.” Eric Paterson who was the FUHS band director at the time, recommended she take private lessons. She did, and he not only coached her through the audition process but helped her understand what to expect. “I remember running in and telling him the amount of scholarship I received from my university!” she says.

At the end of her freshman year in college, Cosmos was contacted by her former band director–now Lieutenant Eric Patterson–about auditioning for the 562nd Air National Guard Band of the Southwest. Once involved in this new experience she says the progression was a great step musically. “I loved this experience! It was a flash back to high school marching band in many ways.” Leadership roles like Section Leader and Drum Major she experimented with in high school now took on new meaning. “The military was all of this times ten! I was lucky that my commander was someone I knew quite well, and whose style of leadership was one I highly admired. Again, the transfer was natural.” She just finished her six-year enlistment.

Cosmos is now a 3rd Grade teacher in the Pasadena Unified School District. She still uses a lot of her performance skills. “I feel very at ease talking in front of large groups...I guess stage fright just isn’t a part of my vocabulary.” Cosmos is now beginning to interview for administrative positions within her school district. She says prospective employers are excited to learn of her military experience, and particularly surprised when they discover it was with the band!