Taylor

Tommy Igoe. He was featured in the 1997 PBS broadcast along with Al Chez, Pete Bond, and Jeff Kievett(spelling?) as some drum corps alumni who made it as professional performers.

My wife routinely wears her sweatshirt that says CROSSMEN in block letters on the front and it's landed us a couple of interesting encounters. -Last weekend we were at Seneca Rocks, WV (fun fact: the only rock formation east of Devil's Tower, WY with a summit accessible only by 5th class roped climbing) and all the climbers in the campground are waking up to start their day. A guy that passed us saw the sweatshirt and turned out to have been a Cadet in 2000. He was from San Diego but was in WV to climb with some friends. -About eight months ago we were walking past the White House in Washington D.C. when a uniformed secret service agent yelled "Crossmen!" at us. It turned out he was a Cadet in 2005 and Crossmen staff in 2007 and he had since gone into the service.

In the late 90s in the Crossmen, we used to joke that Shari Lewis had died... until she actually did.

I've known Mike since we were kids (it was him that convinced me to try out for the Crossmen and me that convinced him to try out for BAC) and he's a beautiful human being. If you aren't aware, read what he's done for New Orleans musicians several times over the last few years: http://offbeat.com/2010/06/01/horn-adjustments/ For anyone who doesn't know Mike but may have attended DCI 2001 finals, he's the guy that proposed to his girlfriend on the field that night. They now have two young children. When his daughter was born, Mike's Facebook profile photo was a photo her in the the hospital cradle with a tiny Bb French Horn laying on it. For the birth of his son, he repeated the stunt with a little soprano trombone. I send him all my trombones when they need repair. A few years ago I sent him a 1956 Conn 6H that had been in my family since the early 1960s. While it played well, the lacquer was totally gone and it looked terrible. He sent that thing back looking like a brand new horn.

A lot of people will miss Jaime, but he's married now and might have some other priorities at this point in his life. I'm not worried at all. Ed, Chuck, and Lee know the Crossmen inside and out and I have a lot of faith in them. I don't think I've met Andrew, but I got to know John this summer and he's really earned my respect. All in all, my excitement for 2012 is still firing on all cylinders.

Here's the abstract from his doctoral dissertation. He was always very interested in the way each drum corps show venue altered the timbre of the brass. http://gradworks.umi.com/33/31/3331361.html

Dean was, among other things, responsible for turning the Crossmen hornline from a perennial also-ran into a serious powerhouse from 2000-2003.

I'm so sad right now. Dean was the greatest mentor I ever had. Everything I do when I teach is an attempt to follow his example.

That feeling I get when I see Bones.

Aaron Goldberg, the director of athletic bands at BU, is a staff member at the Blue Stars. Just FYI in case you decide to attend BU.

Go to everyone's favorite video site, search Crossmen 1994, click on the first link (the full show), it's at 10:58-11:00.

No kidding!

Curses! You beat me to it. How did that thing not get squished?

They have a sign up at their souvie table that says they are donating all proceeds of their merchandise sales to the Japanese Red Cross to aid in tsunami relief. Please spend some money at their booth!

The X markings are a reference to the Crossmen uniforms from 1996-1998 that had four triangles of fabric arranged to form that same shape on the front. As far as the Spinning Wheel bit goes, I assume it's just to play up the lightheartedness of that arrangement. There are a number of other sight gags happening on the field during that piece.

You are correct.

I think it's actually quite clever. In order to get to their seats, everyone will have to walk past all vendors and souvie areas. Plus, they will open the gates at a certain time but not open the seating until later so early arrivals will have lots of time to browse.

Speaking as a souvie seller, bringing everything onto a concourse is always a pain in the butt... but it's worth it if it means more traffic for us. The way they have designed crowd flow will work pretty well. The sponsors are all on the concourse under the East side visitor's stands (spectator entrance is on that side). Corps and DCI souvies will be at the North end by the big horseshoe and the DCI trophy. No need for anyone to go downstairs this year.

I've often thought that if we had the '02 show with the '01 corps we would have really made some Crossmen history. The '01 corps had an energy to perform that I've not seen since.

"Your social security check is late. Things cost more than they used to. Young people use CURSE WORDS!" -Futurama

If that were DCI policy, then people wouldn't be able to visit our souvie trailers at a lot the shows we do because a lot of stadiums don't have room for us to fit on the inside. I personally saw the event staff doing hand stamping at the Bowling Green show and I'm certain that's not the only show that does it.

Is this where I jump in to mention that the Crossmen have two trumpet holes?

Very cool! I left a brief thank-you on her Facebook page.

As of today the only hole at the Crossmen is for trumpet.

Look a little harder. Lots of corps have 3x. A few go up to 5x.