Jenny Gafron performs 1970’s “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin during “American Pie 2022” in the Judson Erne auditorium at Columbus North High School. The 2023 version of the show is takes place tonight.
Republic file photo
Call it a rock recollection like none other anywhere around south-central Indiana — a 26-song, two-and-a-half hour musical marathon of history from the 1950s to the 1990s.
There you have “American Pie 2023: The Magical History Tour,” the annual rockumentary, if you will, of culture done in concert format. The spectacle, which often has attracted a sold-out crowd of 1,000 people, unfolds at 6:30 p.m. today at Columbus North High School’s Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St.
Organizer and North government teacher Jerry Mihay originally was aiming for a 22-song set. But he was wowed by the video-clip student auditions that comprise some of the performances that originally began as a way for North instructor Ed Niespodziani to liven up his history classes.
Niespodziani found classic pop-rock music to highlight everything from the Vietnam War to NASA space shots. And Mihay wants to retain that aim.
“I didn’t want to short-circuit the talent,” Mihay said of the now-longer show.
Tickets are available for $15 at the North bookstore, at Mill Race Center and the door.
Some of this year’s performers recently presented of few of the tunes on the night’s set list. North teacher Rebecca Burbrink and daughter Ava sang ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” North teacher Jennifer Gafron belted out Alannah Myles’ hit “Black Velvet.”
Interestingly, the troupe performed at Columbus’ Keepsake Village, where a number of the residents are nonverbal. Staff members saw some of those residents somehow suddenly begin to sing along with the tunes.
“That,” said Mihay, a longtime singer and guitarist, “was very powerful.”
So, too, has been the scene of “American Pie,” where students and senior citizens alike have been seen bopping their heads to the beat, or fist pumping their way through a rock anthem such as “I Love Rock and Roll.”
The performance is significant enough that a student video crew has for years presented a taped, professional-looking version of the night on the local cable TV access channel.
