7567BC Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 I don't think this qualifies as a random encounter as much as it was a fortunate encounter. Years ago I was about to head out on tour with BAC but I wasn't able to travel with the corps at the start of the second half of the tour. It 1982 and a lot of not so good stuff was happening. We had just come back from a disasterous 3 weeks in Europe and were to go out for the balance of tour. First stop, Whitewater. So when I left the corps in Boston they were to get on busses and head to WW. I thought I would make an adventure of it; fly to Milwaukee and hitch to Whitewater. You could hitch rides back in those days. So I got to Milwaukee in the early evening and took a taxi from the airport, believe it or not, to a highway interchange where I knew there would be people heading to the show (DCI Midwest)and I could hitch a ride pretty easily. I thought I should make a sign to make it easier to get picked up but as I headed to a K-Mart to get stuff to make a sign, it closed for the night. Now reality started to set in. How was I really going to get to WW? I figured it might be along night so when I saw a Dunkin Donuts nearby I thought I needed coffee for this impending sojourn. So I am sitting in DD's not really knowing exactly where I was; I think West Allis but maybe not, pondering this bad idea and how I was going to meet the corps, I look up and in walks someone I knew from 27th Lancers, Jack Cash. Our "rivals". Thankfully we had been getting past the old bad feelings between each corps by this time, and I had known Jack for a little while. This is both the random and fortunate part. How he came to pick this particular DD to stop at on his way to WW I'll never know. But he sees me and nonchalantly says Hi, like we were in a DD back home meeting for coffee. I asked him if he had a car (kind of obvious) and if he wouldn't mind giving me a ride to Whitewater. So he did and we enjoyed a bit of drink once we arrived there. This was a most fortunate encounter for me and I am happy it tunred out as good as it did considering how bad an idea it really was. Oh and BAC never did come to Whitewater. There was an issue with busses and paying for them (sounds a lot like what hapened with other corps recently) so the corps left Boston too late to make it to Whitewater. Now I had to get myself to Michigan City where they did get to, to start the second part of tour. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Yesterday. Rose Bowl. Guy in a Kilties jacket. BTW, Bucky's football team lost, but their band kicked azz. And the Rose Parade - if you've never seen it live, and ever get the chance to....do it. It was AWESOME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos001 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Yesterday. Rose Bowl. Guy in a Kilties jacket. BTW, Bucky's football team lost, but their band kicked azz. And the Rose Parade - if you've never seen it live, and ever get the chance to....do it. It was AWESOME Could've said hello to one of the DM's for Wisconsin...current Regiment member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrowmarcher Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 I was wearing my corps jacket in a mall once and a guy stopped me to say hi. He had marched at the same corps, 4 years earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRyder_FMM Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 In the past year, I have met 3 individuals that had marched corps - all becasue I was using my Blue Stars branded Visa card. When I pulled it out to make a purchase, they recognized the photo and name, and we stated talking. The first was in an auto parts store while running errends on tour last summer. The gentleman helping me had marched with the Blue Devils a few years ago. The second was in a Bose store. The cashier had marched with Pioneer the prior year. The last encounter was in NYC last month. The man at the front desk that was checking me in had marched with the Colts and Crown. He was kind enough to upgrade my room and comp my internet service. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDAMom Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 My son got terribly sick over the Thanksgiving holidays, so away we went to minor emergency at 10 oclock at night. He had on his Blue Devils hoodie and the doctor asked him if it was BD DB&C. Both of our jaws hit the ground and my son said yes, he marched 2012. The doctor said he had never marched nor has his son, but they are big fans. He texted his son and told him he had a Devil in exam and come to find out, he is good friends with my son's seat partner. More of a small world encounter, perhaps. But once he was wearing his corps jacket at the mall and some kids stopped him, congratulated him and shook his hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaos001 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 My son got terribly sick over the Thanksgiving holidays, so away we went to minor emergency at 10 oclock at night. He had on his Blue Devils hoodie and the doctor asked him if it was BD DB&C. Both of our jaws hit the ground and my son said yes, he marched 2012. The doctor said he had never marched nor has his son, but they are big fans. He texted his son and told him he had a Devil in exam and come to find out, he is good friends with my son's seat partner. More of a small world encounter, perhaps. But once he was wearing his corps jacket at the mall and some kids stopped him, congratulated him and shook his hand. Wouldn't this be a HIPAA violation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BDAMom Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Wouldn't this be a HIPAA violation? No, he didn't tell him his name, nor did he confirm with his son that the relationships were linked up. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kazadar1 Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 I was on the train heading to school earlier this month when I sat across from a guy probably in his late 50's when I noticed that he had a hat on that only had the letters "SCV" on it. I asked him if he had marched drum corps. He gave me this quizzical look and all I thought was, "Oh lord, he thinks I'm a crazy person" when he pulls up his sweatshirt to reveal a 40th Anniversary shirt and gives me the biggest smile. He chatted the for the next 20 minutes talking about drum corps. I come to find that he marched with the Anaheim Kingsmen in '72 and with Vanguard in '73! I was in too much shock that I forgot to catch his name when I got off at my station. I felt so unworthy to have been talking to a legacy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenland Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Walked out of the Bigelow lab at Woods Hole a couple of years ago, an saw a car on the dock with a Madison Scouts insignia on the back window. Turned out that the capt of the r/v Tioga was a snare drummer with Madison a few years earlier. Further down th dock was another larger ship, the r/v Knorr, which was the ship used to find the Titantic. Turns out the Chief Mate was in a corps as a kid, and had just finished driving Bostons equipment trailer earlier that year. Another gal, a techie on the vessel was in the guard with Pacific Crest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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