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.”
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Tickets, priced at $15, are still available at Columbus North, Columbus East, and some are expected to be available at the door.
The event mixes classic rock, pop, and a few other genres from the 1950s onward amid Niespodziani’s between-song narration of history — all with the help of a full band (including some polished, local professionals) and the funkiest brass section this side of Blood, Sweat and Tears, thanks to band director Keith Burton. The music, historical details and performers change from year to year.
Sometimes students dress the part of icons such as Elvis or Madonna, with help of volunteers such as Carol Dingledy, who offered to assist with such details years ago. And Niespodziani obliged her.
“One thing I’ve always appreciated about Ed is his sense of inclusiveness,” Dingledy said. “He has welcomed everyone who has wanted to help.”
Niespodziani explained his openness to outside volunteers. All told, the show involves some 150 people, including a student TV crew who shoots and tapes it for a presentation on a local cable channel.
“Part of my job is to find ways to help these students transform themselves from choir singers to the (rock) artists they’re portraying,” he said.
This unfolds in front of about 1,000 people from youngsters to retirees far older than him. His mother attended several of the shows when she was well into her 80s, and some of the people spotted bobbing their head to the beat in recent years have been the those from the snowy-haired set.
The event began in 1985 as an afternoon presentation for a few history classes at North. It quickly moved to an evening slot when non-invited students began cutting classes to hear how Vietnam rocked the world or why it was important to give peace a chance.
Niespodziani, the quintessential rock reminiscer, backspaced through the memories recently, mulling over the events growth and longevity — it has now been around remarkably for one-fifth of the school’s 150 years.
“Never would I have thought that,” Niespodziani said. “It originally was going to be just a one-time thing. But it turned into something else entirely.”
Through the years, he always has emphasized that rewinding yesterday can say plenty about today and tomorrow.
“A lot of people sometimes have thought that this is a talent show,” he said. “Now, we’ve obviously never lost sight of the music. But this is still a history lesson.”
Why is that important for today’s teens?
“They don’t often understand the concept of time,” Niespodziani said. “But music is something that can help them relate.”
Retired North choral teacher and current voice teacher Janie Gordon worked for more than 20 years on American Pie with Niespodziani, whom she calls “a dear friend.” In fact, for the final decade or so of her work with the concert, she rehearsed with some students at 7 a.m.
“I believe one of the reasons the concert has been so successful is that he lets the students freely express themselves,” Gordon said of Niespodziani.
There have been obstacles, such as the mom who told Niespodziani a number of years ago that she absolutely would never allow her teen daughter to croon The Pointer Sister’s 1982 adult-topic hit “I’m So Excited.”
He understood, but believes that students can be trusted with mature material.
“My comeback to objections is that this is a history lesson,” he said. “And if you start looking at history through rose-colored glasses, then it’s no longer history.”
Granted, there have been hiccups. One jittery young student who walked onstage a number of years ago to capably sing the opening verse to her scheduled tune and then clammed up in stage fright and walked off in tears.
Niespodziani who loves extensive hiking always has been willing to detour off a main trail here and there. Besides, his surname means “the unexpected.”
When he still was teaching, his North classroom literally was plastered wall to wall with inspirational quotes and motivational nuggets. Nearly 20 years ago, one bit of wisdom stood out — and highlighted Niespodziani’s work as much as anything.
“We all live under the same sky,” it read. “But we all don’t have the same horizon.”
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Role: Founder of American Pie: The Magical History Tour concerts mixing in newsy social commentary and history from the 1950s to today
Age: 70
Born: Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Past: Former Columbus North High School history teacher and social studies department chairman.
Family: Wife Katie. Grown children Gina Niespodziani, who has designed T-shirts for the show and professional and nationally touring musician Nick Niespodziani, who has performed at the show since he was in seventh grade.
Generation gap: Niespodziani, very much a ’60s’ guy, once flashed the peace sign at two misbehaving students in class. "Two?" they asked, confused. "What does ‘two’ mean?"
Free time pursuits: Extensive hiking and also dancing at Native American pow wows.
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What: The 34th Annual American Pie: The Magical History Tour — Those Were the Days
When: 7:15 p.m. May 10
Where: Columbus North High School’s Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St.
Concert name: American is self-explanatory, and Pie refers to the various slices of life and culture.
Tickets: $15, available at Columbus North, Columbus East high schools and may be available at the door, depending on ticket sales
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