King College Prep Marching Band and ‘The SpellBinder’ Bring Magic to KKC

December 11, 2023

Members of the King College Prep Band perform at the Kennedy-King College Building U Theater (Photo, Tacuma R. Roeback).

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Tacuma R. Roeback is the Managing Editor for the Chicago Defender. His journalism, non-fiction, and fiction have appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tennessean, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Phoenix New Times, HipHopDX.com, Okayplayer.com, The Shadow League, SAGE: The Encyclopedia of Identity, Downstate Story, Tidal Basin Review, and Reverie: Midwest African American Literature. He is an alumnus of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Chicago State University, and Florida A&M University.

Friday night was a night of music and magic at the Kennedy-King College Building U Theater.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep Marching Band, better known as the Soul Train of Chicago, performed alongside master illusionist Walter King Jr., better known as The SpellBinder. The two acts played for the dozens in attendance for the 90-minute show, including donors, parents and people who were simply interested in a gleeful night of music and entertainment.

Band director Benjamin Watson’s Soul Train of Chicago Marching Band led off the proceedings with routines featuring its drum line, majorettes, horn and percussion sections. At the show’s heart, they accompanied King Jr., who enthralled audiences with his innovative illusions and tricks.

The Chicago Defender was in the house for all of it. Below are some of the more memorable snapshots of the evening: