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Inside the Arc – The Book of Norman


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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!

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A great read as always, Frank!!!

I never actually met Ken in person... but I remember him conducting a mass group of horn players in "Auld Lang Syne" several years at the conclusion of the DCA I&E/mini-corps show. He had a HUGE baton (an actual baton... get your minds out of the gutter here, folks. 😆). I have never seen one that big in my life. (again, minds out of gutter, please.  LOL)

Where did he find stuff like that??? 🙂

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3 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

A great read as always, Frank!!!

I never actually met Ken in person... but I remember him conducting a mass group of horn players in "Auld Lang Syne" several years at the conclusion of the DCA I&E/mini-corps show. He had a HUGE baton (an actual baton... get your minds out of the gutter here, folks. 😆). I have never seen one that big in my life. (again, minds out of gutter, please.  LOL)

Where did he find stuff like that??? 🙂

"Where did he find stuff like that??? 🙂

Stuff always found him.

 

FD

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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.

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