Celebration Hat Guy

This past Memorial Day my friend Owen approached me and excitedly pulled out a folded piece of paper. It was from the Celebrations section of the Reno Gazette-Journal and included a series of three pictures of a man wearing what looks like a pink kimono and three different hats. The greeting on the ad was for "Andrea USMC. Herbert USA," wishing a happy Memorial and Independence days. There was also a list of patriotic-themed classical marches by John Philip Sousa:

• The Stars and Stripes Forever
• The Washington Post
• Semper Fidelis

Owen thought it was the best thing he'd seen in a while, so now he keeps it with him, neatly folded and tucked into his wallet.

I did a little digging and discovered another series of photos of the same man posted for Easter (top, left). He has on a worn blue baseball cap and blue sweater (it also looks like he is wearing shoulder pads). The greeting attached to the pictures goes out to Wendy and Herbert and wishes a happy "Christian Easter Holiday" and "Jewish Passover Holiday." The second ad also has a list of a few different classical symphonies:

• Gustav Mahler Symphony #1 TITAN
• Gustav Mahler Symphony #2 Resurrection
• Gustav Holst The Planets

Well, guess what? He's back. Just the other day, the Celebration Hat Guy, as I'll call him, put in a new listing for Wendy and Herbert wishing a happy Fourth of July, again accompanied by a series of three photos, this time wearing a seasonally appropriate white hat and shirt. As usual, the listing included classical symphonies:

Based solely on the music selection UNR Music Department Chair Andrea Lenz, with help from other faculty, put together these descriptions of the Celebration Hat Guy:

"Very Romantic and/or emotional."

"Big orchestral."

"His taste is toward sort of over-ripe Romanticism butting up against the 20th century, but not quite diving into modernism (Rite of Spring would be the one possible exception to that statement)."

Who are you Celebration Hat Guy, and what are you trying to tell us with your classical music, hats and photos?