Musical dream a reality for ENMU grad

Editor’s note: Where are they now is a weekly feature updating the lives of Eastern New Mexico University graduates.

link Paliga

Mitch Paliga left Portales 30 years ago with a degree in music and a dream of playing saxophone professionally.

The longtime Chicago-area resident will return to eastern New Mexico in August — for the first time since his Eastern New Mexico University days — as a member of actor Gary Sinise’s band, which is performing at Cannon Air Force Base. The band is called the Lt. Dan Band in tribute to Sinise’s role in “Forrest Gump.”

“Most of what Gary does is in support of military men and women, their families, first responders and severely wounded military personnel,” said Paliga, who is also a music instructor and lecturer at several colleges in the Chicago area.

The Lt. Dan Band performs about 40 shows around the globe a year.

Paliga has also performed with Christopher Cross, The Temptations, and Marie Osmond.

He has recorded over 30 original compositions and arrangements and is a founding member of the Chicago Jazz Composers Collective.

Flashback

Most memorable ENMU professor?

Easy, Duane J. Bowen. We still keep in touch. He was my saxophone instructor and really got me playing correctly as well as being inspiring on so many levels.

What song makes you think of your time at ENMU every time you hear it?

“Synchronicity,” The Police. The Police were at their peak and I remember standing outside of the campus post office talking to another student about this song. Lt. Dan Band plays this and a few other Police songs where I am featured on the soprano saxophone so I always remember ENMU when we play “Synchronicity.”

What was the biggest national issue while you were attending ENMU and what was your stance on it?

“The increasing tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. I had just registered with selective service the first year the newly elected President Ronald Reagan instituted it. I was a bit concerned since I was just starting college and wanted to at least give that a go before I might be drafted.

Care to share a story about your time at ENMU?

On one of my late evenings in the music building I was alone in Buchanan Hall. I was playing my soprano saxophone, working on Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints.” I had an epiphany that the soprano saxophone was my artistic voice. I hope someday to be in Buchanan Hall doing just that one more time.

Who are your three favorite musicians of all time?

• John Coltrane: Arguably the most influential jazz artist in the last 50-plus years.

• Claude Debussy: While taking sophomore music theory with Robert Kehrberg, one of the many things we learned about was impressionistic music and Debussy. His music inspired me then and later to compose my own music.

• The Beatles: Their song writing is some of the best-crafted music that stands the test of time.

— Compiled by Rick White, correspondent