Sidewinder's female lead singer, Staff Sgt. Angie Johnson, is urging fans to sign a petition to save her band. Earlier this week Johnson announced on her Facebook page that budget cuts would force Sidewinder to disband by 2013. Six of the Air Force National Guard's military bands have lost their funding.
Johnson's soaring rendition of the Adele song "Rolling in the Deep" helped propel a video of Sidewinder into a YouTube sensation, with more than two million hits at last count. Sidewinder has since appeared on Entertainment Tonight and The Ellen Degeneres Show.
A Sidewinder fan named "Kristopher S" of Waynesville, Missouri has started an online petition to save the group. He writes:
Forcing cuts on these bands, which have traditionally served as the military's goodwill ambassadors, is not an appropriate solution to the military's budget problems. These issues do need to be addressed, but not at the expense of our troops' morale.
The petition needs 25,000 signatures but at this writing has less than 300.
Missouri television station KSDK put together a story about what the end of the band means to its members, who consider themselves family:
