A longtime keyboard player and singer will tell you straight up that one of the city’s most popular and longest-running concert series is hardly about the music, as much as he loves classic pop-rock tunes.
No, the greatest part of the mostly sold-out annual shows called American Pie: The Magical History Tour is that sometimes nervous, uncertain students eventually find their figurative and literal voice to belt tunes with a roaring, emotional vengeance. That’s where concert founder and retired history teacher Ed Niespodziani finds his greatest groove.
“The best part of American Pie?” he asked recently, stopping to think. “It’s probably when the kids go out on the stage and do their thing, and then come back with a smile from ear to ear.”
The 70-year-old retired Columbus North High School history teacher and social studies chairman will lead his 34th and final American Pie concert May 10 at the school’s Judson Erne Auditorium. Fittingly, the theme is “Those Were the Days.”
Tickets, priced at $15, are still available at Columbus North, Columbus East, and some are expected to be available at the door.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
