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J.C.

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  1. Impressive!!! I am also impressed with your 2024 program announcement video! I wish you nothing but the best, and can't wait to see you live this summer.
  2. Ken's son Derek is selling part of Ken's extensive rare horn collection. Derek has put together a website to facilitate the sale. Some 150 horns were in Kenny's collection. Not all are for sale as Derek is keeping some of the collection, but some REALLY cool bugles (sops, flugels, mellos, frenchies, baris and a couple tubas) are for sale at: derekvnorman.wixsite.com/normanbrass Prices are reasonable. Check it out.
  3. After Kenny's unfortunate passing, his family held a very nice wake and tribute to him at Preservation Hall in Racine. Hundreds of local musicians and drum corps people came and were treated to a performance of about 10 Kenny Norman arrangements, including his famous "Auld Lang Syne" arrangement by "The Belle City Brassworks", a great 40 piece brass ensemble that Kenny arranged for and played E flat tuba with. Then a wonderful big band jazz outfit based in Waukegan, IL that Kenny arranged for and played valve trombone with played more Norman charts. Then we had an "Open Mic" storytelling session about our experiences with Kenny. It was wonderful, funny and at times inspiring. Kenny's family brought a bunch of Kenny's T-shirts, headbands, and other possessions to give away to the folks in attendance. I snagged one of only two ties I ever saw Kenny wear (he did some gigs where ties were required.) It's a great black tie with a bunch of little trumpets on it. (The other I saw him wear was a McCloud Plaid tie that he wore with his McCloud Plaid blazer in his junior Kiltie staff days. That jacket is now hanging in the Racine Heritage Museum as part of the "Drum Corps Capitol of the World" display). I wore the trumpet tie proudly at our May performance of "The Mad Plaid Brass Concert Bugle Corps" No surprise that Kenny was one of our arrangers, and played bari with us before he passed. RIP Kenny, and thank you Ironlips for the great tribute. WWBD!
  4. Still having trouble posting. Not sure why I keep getting "Error 403". If this message is posted, I'll try retyping the closing paragraph that I wanted to post earlier.
  5. Kenny was also a great organizer in the pursuit of having fun and making music. A Racine Christmas Holiday tradition called "Silverstein Brass" was founded and directed by Kenny. On the Saturday before Christmas every year, a bunch of old drum corps guys (and a few legit musicians like Kenny) would meet at Georges Bar and Kenny would show up with a lunch box full of "little green books" full of Christmas carol charts and song sheets of altered carol lyrics. You never knew what Kenny would be wearing from year to year. One year he conducted in a Catholic nun outfit, one year he conducted in a wet suit, etc. After a quick run through of the repertoire at Georges, we would all board a school bus and barnstorm the local business in Racine, marching into local malls, grocery stores, furniture stores, jewelry stores, etc. and loudly play a few carols. Between stops we drank a whole lot of beer and sang dirty drum corps songs on the bus. As the saying goes... "If you aren't hung over the day after Silverstein, you weren't there". Kenny also organized "Wooleys Polka Band" for the Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day festivities every year. Wooley's Bar in Milwaukee provided our uniforms (Woolies Band T-shirts) and game tickets, and we'd barnstorm the parking lot at the old County Stadium playing for the tailgaters. Then we'd go to the game and play polkas in the stands between innings. Kenny always played tuba, and managed to smuggle a 12 pack of beer into the stadium in his tuba. We had a blast, again thanks to Kenny organizing everything.
  6. For some reason, when I tried to respond to this thread with a long winded reply, I couldn't post it successfully, so I am going to try to break up the original post into smaller responses. Here goes... Kenny was my room mate at “The Walker Whitley” (1111 Park Ave., Racine) for about 6 years in the 1980s. At the time, Kenny was our Brass arranger and instructor in the Boys of 76 drum corps in Racine. He showed up at my apartment one rainy night with a suitcase and asked if he could stay the night because his landlord had just kicked him out of his apartment a couple blocks south of mine. I obviously let him in, and he stayed until I moved to England in 1988 and got rid of the apartment. Ken built himself a nice bedroom in the attic and was never a problem, except you couldn’t leave beer in the fridge. He had a bit of a drinking problem at that point in his life. But his drinking didn’t interfere with his musical genius. I remember having a party on a Sunday afternoon to watch the Green Bay Packer game on TV with about 15 loud, boisterous and mostly drunk Packer fans. Kenny sat in a corner of the living room, felt tip pen and lined staff paper in hand and arranged the complete show for a high school marching band in Northern Illinois during the game. He never once used his keyboard during the arranging process. He did the whole thing in his head. When the game was over he put the score in a yellow manila envelope, put a bunch of stamps on it, look at me, smiled, and said “I’ll be able to make rent this month”. Shortly after I move back to Racine from England, I ran into Kenny at George’s Bar (the long time center of the live music scene in Racine). Kenny was playing keyboards in a great little jazz ensemble. Kenny proudly told me that he had quit drinking cold turkey. I can’t tell you how happy I was to hear that. Kenny actually became even more prolific once he quit drinking. He arranged for more varied musical ensembles than ever in his later days.
  7. Thank You Kevin! Another outstanding job describing the action for the fans that couldn’t make the trip to championships. I for one really appreciate your efforts.
  8. A celebration of the life of Ed Bergles will be held Sunday August 9th from noon to 4 PM at Cliffside Park shelter 1 in Caledonia, WI. Please bring pictures and memories to share. We ask that you bring masks if you want and adhere to social distancing. Food will be provided. Bring your own beverage of choice and your own folding chairs. At 3:30 we will play Slow Syne. Again, RIP Ed.
  9. It is with a heavy heart that I inform the drum corps community of the recent passing of former Racine Kiltie Senior Corps Director and soprano soloist Ed Bergles. Ed succumbed to a short battle with bone cancer on Tuesday June 30. He was 62. Ed was the Kiltie corps director from 1996-2000 and played a huge role in the success of the corps during this period. Under Ed's leadership the corps enjoyed competitive success that was unmatched in the Kilties Senior corps history. Details of the funeral services for Ed will be posted when they become available. That great alumni drum corps in the sky now has the right player to hit the high note at the end of Auld Lang Syne. RIP Ed.
  10. If I wanted to hear people playing within themselves, I'd go to a symphony performance indoors (in fact I went to see the Racine Symphony Orchestra performance just last week). The roots of drum corps for most folks my age are "screamin Philistine in nature. That is what drew us to the activity in the first place. Scremin Philistine goose bumps baby. It doesn't mean that I don't appreciate a little concert Euphonium from time to time. Back when I was attending drum corps shows, I was paying to witness the loudest, coolest, all acoustic, unamplified outdoor musical activity ever invented. But hey, that's just me. The activity is surviving without me.
  11. Genius! I'm gonna go out on a limb and pick "Somebody else" in 11th performing in exhibition after all finalist corps have performed.
  12. 1997 DCM Senior Championships in DeKalb, IL. Kilties beat MN Brass, Govies, and Bluegrass Brass to win the championship. Go Kilties! WWBD
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