proudTXmom Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 I'm a fifth teacher and there are 4 days of school left. In order to keep the kids interested in class I've started showing WC Semi-Finals (2011) in the morning. (Don't Judge! ) One of my students said, "My dad did that." Um, maybe. I'm so used to people saying "oh yeah, I know about that. I've seen the movie Drum Line", that I was a little sceptical. Turns out he was! In the early 80's he was in connection with both the Crossmen and Phantom Regiment! We were both so suprised to find out that we wound up talking for 20 minutes! Even cooler, he played the exact horn that my kid plays. It really is a small world. I would love to hear about chance encounters you've had! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonW Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 (edited) After thirty-some-odd years out wandering around, I went back to school to get a degree. All semester long no one commented on any of the drum corps apparel I had been wearing, so I was figuring no one on campus knew about it. I was part right - none of the students knew, but staff did... The assistant dean got all giddy when she recognized my Scouts cap and we spent the next hour talking drum corps. She marched in an all-girl corps from Springfield, Ill. We've been sharing stories and music since. For one of my classes, I needed to do a concert report. I commented that I was familiar with the entire program due to various corps playing those selections at one time or another. The band director revealed that he too marched, and almost all his musical choices are influenced by a fondness for the excitement and power of drum corps - he likes his bands to play big and bold. I'll be seeing both again in the fall, eager to share more stories from this coming summer. edit: Oop! I forgot to add that buried a couple pages back is a cool thread titled "Random Encounters". Check it out! Edited May 21, 2012 by JonW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2000Cadet Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Back in 1999 after tour, I went back to my teenage job working at a supermarket. A customer came up to the register with her groceries. Her son had on a Cadets T-shirt. I asked him where he got the shirt. He told me he went to a "band" show that previous summer (he must have assumed I didn't know about drum corps since he referred to it as "band"). I told him I march for Cadets. The kid went ballistic. He asked me for my autograph lol... May not equate to the OPs post, but close enough I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skajerk Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 edit: Oop! I forgot to add that buried a couple pages back is a cool thread titled "Random Encounters". Check it out! Here ya go. Random Encounters With Drum Corps Fans 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 1) My wife Barbara and I were grocery shopping a number of years ago here in Baltimore.... my wife was wearing a Crossmen T-shirt... and the young man who was the cashier asked about it. Turned out he was marching with the Bluecoats! 2) Around 2001, we were having dinner with my mother-in-law at a restaurant in Barbara's hometown on Maryland's Eastern Shore... about as far removed from the drum corps scene as you could get. The guy at the next table over asked me if I was "the guy who announced the DCA show in Cumberland" (in western Maryland, about five hours or so from where we were). I was the PA announcer at that show, for years. But for someone there to ask me that... it floored me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skajerk Posted May 21, 2012 Share Posted May 21, 2012 Well, what shirt were you wearing at the time, Fran? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spatula67 Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Sometime in the early 90's, my wife and I were on the way to a DCI Regional in Bloomington, Indiana. Our car broke down on the interstate and since it was before the days of the cell phone we had to hike to the nearest house to use the phone. Luckily, a very nice & trusting lady let us in to use her phone and wait for help to arrive. She asked where we were going. I hesitated before telling her we were going to something called a "Drum Corps Show". Her jaw dropped - it turns out her daughter had been a color guard member of 27th Lancers for five years. What's the chances??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azul Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I have several and I'm just a youngin according to some. Last year I worked for vector marketing selling knives to customers I was recommended to by their friends. I go and do a demo for a couple while wearing my pennies from Bluecoats and they asked me about it. I told them I did this thing called drum corps and they got all excited since their oldest son had marched VK back in the day. Unfortunately I was never able to meet him since he had passed some time ago. Another chance "encounter" (haven't met the guy yet) I had was that my best friend of almost 10 years told me that his uncle played trumpet. I thought cool and just recently I was forwarded a text from his mom saying "Do you know of a drum corps called the Velvet Knights? My brother marched there." I was floored because it was awesome! But also I never knew after so many years of my friend knowing of my drum corps obsession/involvement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skajerk Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 I was just reminded of a DCP encounter before I knew it was a DCP encounter. Back in 2010, I was in Fresno for a few weeks visiting my family. I was wasting time in a Barnes and Noble and noticed this "kid" in crutches. Now, I can't remember which one of us was wearing corps apparel but we struck up a conversation. He was marching with SCV that year until he blew out his knee. Last month I get this in my DCP pm box: "I'm not sure if you remember, but I think we've met before. My name is Matt, and I think we met in fresno in 2010. You were at the barnes and noble, and I was on crutches since I blew out my knee on tour and had to go home for the summer" Matt is fsubone here in DCPland. Even smaller, he goes to school with Mel Stratton's son. Mel was my director in The Dons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 22, 2012 Share Posted May 22, 2012 (edited) 1) My wife Barbara and I were grocery shopping a number of years ago here in Baltimore.... my wife was wearing a Crossmen T-shirt... and the young man who was the cashier asked about it. Turned out he was marching with the Bluecoats! 2) Around 2001, we were having dinner with my mother-in-law at a restaurant in Barbara's hometown on Maryland's Eastern Shore... about as far removed from the drum corps scene as you could get. The guy at the next table over asked me if I was "the guy who announced the DCA show in Cumberland" (in western Maryland, about five hours or so from where we were). I was the PA announcer at that show, for years. But for someone there to ask me that... it floored me! And a few years ago I asked on another DC group what ever happened to a (marching) bell player that I marched with in my old corps. Fran (who I had never met at the time) responded "I married her" (see above). Favs from the thread Randy posted: Working with a guy for two years, going on an overseas trip (Iceland?!?!?) and finding out he was with my old corps just before they disbanded. Then he found out I first joined the corps when they got back together. Boy did we spend time until he retired catching up on the others history. Sister went to school at a Div III school and had a Cadets shirt on (never marched but a fan). Found out one prof marched IC Reveries in the 60s. Told her to ask if he was part of the sit in at VFW. Few days later get a phone call from her "What the #### was the sit in? I asked and his jaw hit the ground.". My answer was the corps felt they were left out of Finals unfairly (google for full mess) so blocked the stadium entrance until they could perform. And he aged out the year before.... Still shaking my head about the Unix class I had in Columbus, OH (needed for that Iceland trip). Walked in the class and there was my corps ex-tymp player who I hadn't seen in 10+ years. (Hi Rick.. Hi Jim... wait a minute ). On the way home (Columbus to Pittsburgh) two flights got combined so no reserved seats. I wait and follow the end of the mob on the plane and halfway back I see my corps ex-Business Manager and Bluecoats manager Larry Hershman seated. Only had time to say "Hi Larry" as I shuffled past. Edited May 22, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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