[JonW]

You're walking along, just doing whatever and not really thinking about it - and you see or hear something that could only be Drum Corps. A Random Encounter with a fan, when Drum Corps is the last thing you'd expect to see/hear is a pretty thrilling moment - an instant friend, even if for only a moment.

I've had two encounters recently, both a complete and wonderful surprise:

Heading in for jury duty, wearing a Madison Scouts hat; guard at the security check-point noticed the hat and mentioned his brother had marched with Chordaliers back in the '70s. Twenty minute conversation followed, instant friend. Next day, same courthouse, I wore my Troopers 2011 DCI shirt and met a state prosecuter that marched Racine Scouts. Another wonderful conversation, another instant friend.

Yesterday, I was helping my Aunt with work around her property for the day. Headed out for lunch at a little restaurant called Helen's Kitchen in Waupun, WI. While checking out, I put my Scouts hat back on... and was immediately asked if I had a son in the Scouts. Three ladies at a table next to us were also Drum Corps fans! One had a son in the Scouts (and was beaming with pride at seeing my hat) and another marched Star of Indiana in '91. I was listening to the '91 season on my way to Waupun that morning!
I wanted to stay and talk, but we still had a ton of work to do - I did grab my CDs and run back in, only to find they had left also (I didn't see which way they went).

So, to the ladies I met in Helen's Kitchen: You made my day a whole lot better, and hopefully our encounter made your's a brighter one too.

There's bound to be hundreds of tales like these out there - what Random, Unexpected Encounters have you had recently?

[JimF-LowBari]

LOL good timing, yesterday walking into a local RiteAid and older gentleman is walking out wearing a sweatshirt with "Property of Drum Corps International" on it. Then I see the hat with "Jersey Surf" on it. Told him I liked the sweatshirt and hat, he says something and we keep walking. Figure he's at a drug store so he must be in a hurry to get home so no sense stopping him to gab.

Not recent but my fav: Work for US Navy as a civilian and went to Iceland to set up a computer. Go to a meeting and guy from my group is there doing rudiments on the back of a chair. Someone asks if he was a drummer and he says he was with a drum corps. I ask which one and he replies with my old corps name. Turns out my group was inactive for a year and his last year was year before they went inactive..... and my first year was the year when then started back up.

This post has been edited by JimF-LowBari: 09 October 2011 - 08:43 AM

[Michael Boo]

I've already mentioned this, but my 5-year-old laptop terminated its functionality (died) during Quarterfinals this year, so I had to run to the Apple Store in Indianapolis on Friday and get an appointment with at the Genius Bar. The Mac Genius who was assigned to me looked at my name and said, "I know who you are." Turns out Tony Simmons marched in Carolina Crown for the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

Years after running into an older gentleman at various Frank Lloyd Wright events, and knowing for some time that he was an architect, I found out he had marched in the 1950s in Chicago's Norwood Park Imperials, which used to be The Cavaliers' main competition in the Midwest. He's now designing an addition for me that I hope to build some day.

The day after the 1999 DCI World Championships in Madison, I stopped at the IKEA store in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg and ended up parking next to the Madison Scouts souvie truck.

[DrillmanSop06]

As it turns out, a colleague of mine happens to have a very famous drum corps husband. Small. World. And consistently mind-blowing to hear, "Oh, so-and-so's design team was over at the house this weekend."

I've had lots of positive connections with other individuals who had actually heard of drum corps. It's always nice to meet someone who knows about this activity! Great thread!

EDIT: Totally forgot to attach my recent story. I coach a National Championship caliber Junior ROTC drill team program at my school. The Marine Corps Instructor of our program likes stopping to talk with random students when possible and he had cornered a few of our band's color guard kids. I came over and introduced myself and found out that one of the young men had come off a season marching with the Madison Scouts. We traded rifles (mine is a demilitarized M1903A3 weighing QUITE a bit more than their rifles) and that was fun haha! Very cool to have kids in our student body marching drum corps. Then again, the program at our high school is relatively well-known and a consistently stronger band in the state of Indiana.

This post has been edited by DrillmanSop06: 09 October 2011 - 11:12 AM

[CrunchyTenor]

My lovely bride, the Rene-Baby and I went to the local Rennaisance Faire this past weekend in Las Vegas. We always stop by the Greyhound adoption group, and one of the owners recognized my Regiment ballcap logo, though it's been a bit modernized since his marching days. The Blue Devils will be happy to know that Matt Wilkens is alive and well and active in Greyhound rescues and adoptions.

Also had a guy in my restaurant last week who marched Rochester Patriots and BD. That conversation started when I asked his dining part era where they were from and chatted about New Jersey for a few minutes. They asked where I had visited in NJ, and all the corps towns came up. It was Bayonne and Garfield that caught his attention.

Garry in Vegas

[Andyroo]

Many years ago - mid-Fifties - when I was still living up in Massachusetts, a corps buddy and I were walking down 42nd Street in NYC one night, just gawking at the many "unusual sights." Suddenly I was struck (hard) from behind. I immediately assumed we had somehow come between the Jets and the Sharks and that our bodies would never be found.

It turned out to be two guys we had met earlier in the summer from Holy Name, who were also walking around gawking.

[skajerk]

Last summer, while driving out to Fresno to visit family, I took the kids to see the Cabazon Dinosaurs aka: the Pee Wee Herman Dinosaurs, (see below) in Cabazon, CA. After walking around for a bit, we walked into the Carl's Jr. that was there to grab a bite. As were were walking out, this man walks right up to me and out of the blue says, "Have you been to any shows yet this year?" After recovering from being freaked out, I notice he's wearing a Troopers hat. I then remembered I was wearing my Troopers shirt! How's that for being a small world?!

This post has been edited by skajerk: 09 October 2011 - 01:55 PM

[Grumpy]

My wife and I went on a seven night cruise to Alaska this past June. Our first day, walking around the boat, I happened to be wearing my Reading Buccaneers hoodie, which meant nothing to me but sure did to somebody else. Two days later, a lady sitting next to us at breakfast noticed me grab my Bucs hoodie as we got up to head out, and exclaimed, "YOU'RE the guy!" then proceeded to explain her and her husband spotted me that first day and instantly recognized the Bucs logo, but were too far away to say anything at the time...her and her husband are both big drum corps fans (DCI and DCA) and she volunteers with BD. We visited for a while and ran into each other again a few days later before the end of the cruise.

[dasboot]

This one happened fairly recently. A couple of weeks ago, I was working one of my normal shifts at work, and because it was incredibly early, I was humming a drum corps show to stay awake. I think it was either Phantom of the Opera or Appalachian Spring, but I digress. I was humming the music, and one of the members asked me what I was humming, so I told him. He then asked me if I had ever heard of the Garfield Cadets or Hawthorne Caballeros. I said yes, and he said that his HS band director was Don Angelica. We now have regular drum corps conversations when he comes in. I found it to be a nice little drum corps connection @ 6 in the morning.

[Geoff]

I was on Wheel of Fortune in 1997, and made a remark on-air about drum corps. Afterwards, the guy in charge of all the prize paperwork told me that he marched with the Freelancers.