When people wonder what is the value of a local daily newspaper, I must point to the story of Shaw High School Band, which was invited to China to perform but could not afford to do that. The Plain Dealer article "Bang a Drum, Proudly", by Connie Schulz, raised enough attention and funding to get them there, from where they just returned in triumph (nicely covered in the PD here, today)... a $500,000 whirlwind phenomenon all occurring in less than 6 months!

No big non-profit boards, foundation pleas, tax abatements nor sin taxes required for this, NEO's world-best art, to leave town, and come right back champions. Just youthful genius and fair play in a place with enough peaple who live life right, by the right rules.

No doubt the story of the Shaw High School Band is one of a great man, band re-inventor and director Donshon Wilson, and great musicians - PROPS TO THE BAND!!! - and many great, unmentioned, regular-old people involved in the band's phenomenal success.

But this is also a story of a successful REGIONAL community, with effective vehicles to communicate important needs across all boundaries, at the grass roots level, and a sufficient self-selective inclination of the populace to participate in a remote but cherished collective success through giving to area strangers, all for good.

Now, we of NEO have "The Best Band In The World", in our region, headquartered in the proud community of East Cleveland, and we may take a collective pride that they are a regional success.

And the PD and Connie may take pride in having had a major role in that success.

I was very pleased to see that the Shaw High School Band has taken, initiative beyond being the world's best band, to use leading edge internet technologies to chronicle and share their success and future developments with the world they now lead, nicely leveraging the World Wide Web at ShawBandToChina.com.

Congratulations to Donshon Wilson, everyone associated with the Shaw High School Band, and the 1,000s of people in NEO who may share pride in making this a success, and best wishes for their futures... I'll be checking with ShawBandToChina.com for updates!