California... Anaheim... Disneyland And suddenly, the loudspeakers all over the park announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the Dayton Hillbilly Marching Band from Dayton Ridge, Texas." A momentary hush fell over the crowds, until from beyond the Matterhorn came the sound of drums and then the sound of horns, cymbals and washboards as the band pla...
I: Brigid and the Patriot's Day Parade "Thbbb! ... Th-thbb!" He licked his lips and tried again on next group of sixteenth notes, pressing against the mouthpiece that felt like a block of ice no matter how much he blew into it. Even through his full-length wool uniform, and the long underwear, he could feel the frigid wind knifing right through him. It...
Chapter 2: The Open Road Recommended music for this story: "Nausea", by Beck "John Kerry is a slick, conniving son of a bitch." Or at least, that's what the message of the political ad on my TV seemed to be trying to get across. "JESUS H. CHRIST!" I shouted, throwing a fruit loop at the television. My roommate, Mike Sars, turned and looked at me. "What...
Hello folks, This is the first chapter of a new series. I haven't written anything in over a year and a half, so it's nice to actually get back to being creative. Something I plan to do when writing this series is listen to music as I start working on each chapter. Given that I'm a lifelong musician, I figure that the right song can give me the right way t...
It was another late Saturday night on the bus. I was a senior in high school and I was in marching band (really cool, I know). It was a Saturday in late October, and we were coming back from a contest that had been held two hours away from our school. These bus rides would normally suck, but the past month or two I had been hanging out with this girl, Blai...
I’m 23 years old, and am straight out of school with my Bachelor degree in Music Education. I received my first teaching job as a band director for Littleton High School, that’s in a small town in the mid-west. The first couple of months took some getting used to. Just trying to get into the groove of teaching and all of the administrations of a full band pr...
Fun fact: this IS a true story. I've changed the names, including my own, the girl's, and the band director's, but it is indeed a real-life experience I had. And yes, it was this good. ;) * * * * * First off, let me introduce myself. I'm Mark, and I'm a senior in high school. I've been in marching band as long as I can remember--I'm a trombone player, and...
Mr. David was in his second year of teaching Band and things were not going well. The previous band teacher had been very old, and band in High School was never really the cool thing to do, so he was having a really hard time getting kids to be in his Marching Band. He had brought in outside help in the form of one of his friends from a marching band corps,...
Gabriel- Why must there be heartache? If the purpose of life is to love and be loved, why must people suffer loss, betrayal, suspicions, etc, at the hands of the person they handed their heart to? Is it too much to ask that once in a while we measly humans get to have some semblance of happiness? Maybe, just maybe there is a point to heartbreak. I'd like to...
Note: This story brings back many memories of my growing up... Please let me know what you think. I had graduated high school a couple of months earlier. I was eighteen years old and it was August. In a month I'd be attending college in California. But, as I had done since my Dad had died several years ago, I would fly to Columbus, Ohio and visit my grandmo...