Full Metal Racket continues Lacey in Tune concert tradition by creating music video

Since 2008, Full Metal Racket has been rocking South Sound every summer as part of Lacey in Tune — and this year will be no exception.

The 133rd Washington Army National Guard Band and the City of Lacey found a way to go on with the show, which will mix Full Metal Racket’s diverse rock and pop offerings with traditional and New Orleans-style brass tunes and Dixieland classics.

The band performed Wednesday, July 8, in an undisclosed location, and video of the top-secret show will soon be available through Thurston Community Media.

“Lacey is still in tune,” said Jeannette Sieler of Lacey’s Parks and Recreation Department, “but the concert is not in the park.”

“This is something we’ve done every year, and it’s important to us,” said 1st Sgt. Richard Little, who plays trumpet in the 133rd band.

Originally, the city and band had planned to have TCMedia film an unadvertised concert in Huntamer Park, the home of Lacey’s summer entertainment. But then organizers realized that once the music started, people would gather to listen.

“There’s a high likelihood that we would draw a crowd,” Little told The Olympian. “We don’t want to be part of taking a step backwards when we’ve worked so hard to keep this community going forward.”

Though the 133rd is usually juggling concerts all over the state in the summer, the hush-hush show for Lacey Parks is one of the few the soldiers/musicians have played since early March. They performed at a low-key July 4 event in Leavenworth and recently played to welcome fellow National Guard troops home from a yearlong deployment to Jordan.

But for the past four months, the soldiers of the 133rd have been focused not on making music but on helping the state cope with the coronavirus.

They and other members of the guard have been working in food banks, setting up community testing centers and assisting the Department of Employment Security in dealing with overwhelming numbers of applications, including fraudulent ones. The guard members also have been called to serve at demonstrations, where Little said they aim to ensure freedom of speech for peaceful protesters.

On Wednesday, 25 musicians from the 133rd were to express themselves in music, playing everything from “Twist and Shout” and John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Little Pink Houses” to traditional patriotic favorites, plus rousing New Orleans-style brass arrangements of songs by the likes of Toto and Queen.

“It will be kind of an eclectic mix,” Little said.

That diversity is part of what’s made Full Metal Racket a staple of Lacey in Tune, Sieler told The Olympian.

“They do a huge range of popular music,” she said. “The band always puts on a stellar show and draws one of our biggest crowds.” She estimated that 600-800 people typically show up to listen, depending on the weather.

Lacey also is offering a variation on its summertime children’s entertainment series, with small socially distant shows happening from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 13 in neighborhood parks.

“We have designed a more low-key entertainment series and are taking it on the road,” Sieler said.

The shows — including appearances by Seattle’s Bubbleman and the performing dogs of Border Collies International — are limited to 50 people each. Although they are free, reservations are required the parks department website. The city will ensure physical distancing by drawing chalk circles 6 feet apart to give each household group its own space.

The first four shows are already full, Sieler said, but waitlists are being formed, and the city will aim to add second shows if the waitlists are large enough.