‘Just the sax, man’ - 100th CPTS Airman joins Tops in Blue for 2009 tour

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Eleven years of playing saxophone has finally paid off for Simon Lahn - he's just been chosen to perform as the lone saxophone player for Tops in Blue on their 2009 world tour.

An Airman First Class in the 100th Comptroller Squadron Finance Office, the 22-year-old Silver Spring, Md., native has been stationed at RAF Mildenhall for a year. He's been in the Air Force for 18 months.

Though currently playing the tenor saxophone, practicing an hour a day, three to four times a week, Simon started out playing alto saxophone in fifth grade, when he was 11.

"The tenor saxophone was too big for me at the time," he said. "I played alto throughout high school and college. In high school I picked up soprano saxophone, and after that I picked up a tenor saxophone."

His Tops in Blue audition was performed on the alto sax, though he says he doesn't know what kind he'll be playing on the tour.

His first musical influences and studies were classical music. The young musician then moved on to playing jazz, then later he was into reggae bands. As a music major in college, he was in several bands.

"Anything that's thrown at me, I can play, but my favorite is jazz," he said, adding that if he were to choose one song to play, it would be "Autumn Leaves," by Miles Davis.

The start of his Tops in Blue journey began when he applied for the worldwide talent competition.

After submitting an audition DVD and an application in late November, Airman Lahn received an e-mail from Air Force Entertainment inviting him to audition for Tops in Blue at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in January.

Out of everyone who applied, 80 made it to Lackland Air Force Base for the auditions. Out of those 80, only about 35 people successfully made it through to become part of Tops in Blue.

"My commander held a surprise commander's call the day after I got back," he said. "He'd held it so he could tell me in front of everybody.

"It was such a relief to know I'd made it," he added. "On the trip back from Lackland, I was wondering what mistakes I'd made. We had to go through a personal interview at the competition, and I really didn't feel very confident about that."

The finance Airman said during the auditions, everyone worked long hours.

"Often we'd be up from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Some people might refer to it as a musical boot camp ... it was very challenging. But we were always doing something; it was very engaging, and a lot of fun."

Each competitor - whether they were singers, lighting experts or musicians - had to go through multiple auditions, including instrumental, vocal, specialty (comedy, and how well you can improvise) and dance, as well as a personal interview.

As soon as Simon heard the good news, he went back to his dorm room at lunchtime and called his parents to let them know. He said they were very excited for him.

Major Davis Maulding, 100th CPTS commander, said he considered it an honor to have one of his Airmen selected for Tops in Blue.

"It's definitely a testament to the way he plays the sax," he said. "He's been playing the national anthems at award ceremonies here; he got recognized locally, and it's great to have him selected by Tops in Blue.

"I'm happy to have someone from my squadron to represent Team Mildenhall and the Air Force," the major said.

The 100th CPTS commander said he received a call from the entertainment director in San Antonio, the evening after Airman Lahn arrived back at RAF Mildenhall.

"She told me he'd made the cut, and asked if I would release him to Tops in Blue. My reaction to that was, how could I say, 'No'?"

The saxophonist will join the rest of the troupe at Lackland to start staging and rehearsals in March. After six weeks, the tour starts and they will get to show off their talents around the globe to military troops and their families.

"It's going to be very challenging, not only as a musician, but you have to put together the stage - more than 30,000 pounds of equipment - as well," Airman Lahn said. "But at the same time, I've already met the people I'm touring with, and I'm excited to be working with them.

"Tops in Blue has multiple missions," he added, "One is to raise morale for our deployed troops in the Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan; also, we go to Korea and a lot of different areas that could be considered hostile. But we're there to entertain the people who are on the front line.

"Another is as a recruiting tool. When people see Tops in Blue, they see the performers; we're representing the Air Force as model Airmen. What we were told at the competition was, 'We're Airmen first and performers second.'"

Editor's note: Tops in Blue will perform for crowds from RAFs Mildenhall, Lakenheath and the surrounding bases July 4, when they are currently scheduled to perform at RAF Lakenheath.