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The One with Crossmen Alumni and MAASIN
164 Plays1 year ago
Join our hosting panel as they talk with MAASIN founder Rand Clayton for Pride Month AND we talk to Scott Litzenberg and some other Crossmen Alumni about their upcoming anniversary performance. Our hosts bring you their stories, plus news, guests, and so much more!
Special Guests
Rand Clayton - @maasinetwork
Scott Lizenberg - @crossmendci & @slitzen62
Dawn Lewis - @dldmakeup
Don Group - @dgparadiddle
Tina Matejka -
Meet our Hosts
Jackie Brown - @spintronixguard
Stephen McCarrick - @stephenmccarick
Cindy Barry - @leandermomma
Nicole Younger - @o2bnpjs & @thecookoutcg
Trevor Bailey - @t_pain151
Trish O’Shea - @trishdish1002
Beth Beccone - @bether7189
Chris Rutt - @wildhornbrass1
Cynthia Bernard - @cynthiabern
Ashlee Amos - @famousamossss_
Theo Harrison - @harrisontheo07
Stephanie Click - @stephanieclick
Whitney Stone - @dancerwhit
Justin Surface - @J_dex07
Ashley Tran - @itsashleytran
Jack Goudreau - @goudreau_
Bill Woodward - @remoking100
Emily Nee - @tch.makes.art
Ricardo Robinson-Shinall - @ricardorrobinson
Callie Quire - @cnquire
Austin Hall - @Austin_hall10
Jose Montes - @joeymontes57
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
Featuring
Lexi Duda - Host for On A Water Break In Rhinestones - The Stories of the Twirlers @lexi_duda
Thank you also to @guardcloset
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #wgi #drumline
Recommended
Transcript
Welcoming and Introducing Guests
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, we are back for another week of exciting rehearsals. This week we are talking to Mason Executive Director Rand Clayton, and we get to talk to Scott Litzenberg about the Crossman alumni performance. We also find out what made Woody say, you know, from the era we come from.
Humor and Reluctance in Drum Corps
00:00:18
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not putting on someone else's uniform. I was not in drum form. and why Rand said. And so I i very patiently am like we always willing to explain that.
Tackling Oppressive Structures in Marching Arts
00:00:30
Speaker
And then some people will get it and say, oh, OK, actually, yeah, that does make sense. You are opposed to oppressive structures. These are oppressive structures. And drum corps and marching arts as a whole is not separate from all of these oppressive structures. All this and more. So get out on the field, and we will see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of On a Water Break. Eight off the Met and Go. Welcome to on a water break.
Mission of 'On A Water Break' Podcast
00:00:56
Speaker
The podcast where we talk everything marching arts. Everyone bring it in. It's time for a water break.
00:01:07
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of season two of On A Water Break, the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. I'm Jackie Brown. We are back this week. It has been a minute since I have been on and this week I seem to be on my own for summer rehearsal today. Y'all summer rehearsals are important. So we'll see if anybody else is going to join me later. i But let's kind of get onto this because now that the whole band is on the sideline, we're going to meet our guest clinician for this part of rehearsal. Since it's Pride Month, we thought it would be great to talk to and learn more about Mason founder, Rand Clayton. Okay, now that everyone is here on the sideline, let's meet our guest clinician for this part of rehearsal. As we begin be as we begin to talk,
00:01:59
Speaker
with the MAASIN founder Rand Clayton. Hi there. Oh, you're were serious about the sound effects. Hey, we have so many great sound effects. You're going to absolutely love this. So I'm just going to give a little like tiny background about um what we've
MAASIN: Mission and Origins
00:02:20
Speaker
got. So you're the founder of the Marching Arts Access Safety and Inclusion Network, which like I said is M-A-A-S-I-N. ah It's dedicated to fostering a positive youth education and coaching culture in performing arts ensembles across the United States.
00:02:34
Speaker
M-A-A-S-I-N's mission is to be a catalyst for change advocating for the safety, accessibility, and inclusivity in the marching arts as a 501c3 organization. It is committed to charitable, educational, and scientific purposes with a vision of accessible and equitable marching access marching arts for all. i opposed It opposes inequity, discrimination, and harassment, taking a progressive stance against capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, racism, sexism, and in favor of LGBTQIA plus rights.
00:03:10
Speaker
It was a whole lot of mouthful, but honestly, such a good thing. Such a great program for our whole community. I feel like I remember when you first came out. So what was that like what when this this's first, you know, you you first developed the organization? What was that process like for you? Okay, so that's all really amazing stuff and I'm really excited to get into it. But let's start with your 32 count life story. So I'm going to give you eight for free on the Met and then you're jumping and tell us everything that's ever happened to you from birth until today. Oh, fuck. Okay. Okay, go for it.
00:03:53
Speaker
Okay, I was born in Stou- No, I wasn't born in Stouffville. I moved to Stouffville when I was nine, but I was born in Scarborough, Ontario. I am Canadian, that is a fun fact. um So I don't know, I kind of just grew up in Canada doing Canadian stuff, been playing tuba since I was 11. When I was 18, I went to McMaster University for my undergrad degree. And that was where I became introduced to marching arts. So marching arts is not super big in Canada. Basically, there's like nothing but I happen to go to one of the three universities that has like a marching band. And so I joined that and ended up taking it over in my third year. because um it's student-run and then I ran that for three years and then that's how I got involved in Drum Corps Admin.
00:04:30
Speaker
Um, so that checks out. I feel like it checks out that you're Canadian. We've had some other, ah some other people on the show who are Canadian and we have a, um, uh, one of our hosts is also Canadian actually. So this is like, I feel like it fits in so perfectly. So tell us what led you into all of this, into the creation of this organization. Cause I remember what it was before. and Yeah. And i I really love what you've turned it into now. Like this is honestly what led you to all this.
00:05:04
Speaker
so Man, summer 2020 was just so bizarre, I guess, with the drum corps season canceled and then everybody just like sitting inside and kind of wondering what was going to go on or what people were doing. And then with that empty time in the summer, when for the first time everybody in the community wasn't just thinking about the season, I think a lot of people started to reflect on what the experience was actually like for them. And so um yeah, that was what led me to create Mason was at the time I was finishing up my master's in social work degree. And I realized that maybe I had applicable skills that I could be using for real.
00:05:45
Speaker
to better my community after several years of seeing some not-cool things happen. um I worked at the Oregon Crusaders in 2017 and 2018, and those were my first two years of drum corps staffing, so kind of thrown into the fire, if you will. um yeah Every year since then has been like fine. you know I haven't like witnessed any federal crimes, I don't think. I love that for you. ah Thanks. I also love not witnessing federal crimes. Not to say that I directly witnessed any federal crimes of the Oregon Crusaders. They're probably happening, though. Well, that's a thing. Any of our listeners who don't actually know what happened, Oregon Crusaders has since folded, right?
00:06:27
Speaker
Yeah. Oregon Crusaders 2018 season was the last season that they fielded. They were attempting to come back for 2019, but most of the staff, including myself, had walked by then and said, we're not going to come back if you don't take children's safety seriously. We won't condone this. We're going to go work with other quarters. That's like been such a powerful statement in our whole activity. this you know How many groups have folded simply over the fact of, you know, not necessarily financial problems or some of the other, you know, there's there's always hurdles to running a 501c3 competitive performing arts unit. But, you know, just having finally member safety be one of those hurdles that they absolutely have to overcome before they can really exist is it so great. So what's the most challenging part of of running Mason?
00:07:21
Speaker
Probably? Oh, there's kind of two main challenges, maybe three, I don't know. um I mean, challenge number one is that I do wish that I i could just do this as a full-time job. I guess so right now I'm a full-time PhD student, which I love doing because I study queer culture in Dremkor for my dissertation from like a social work perspective. five Um, you know, I do wish that we just had like the funding for me to dedicate my time to it fully because I feel like an organization like this could easily be a full-time job. I could easily be running all this programming and doing all of these things for us, but that's just not something that's feasible right now.
00:07:59
Speaker
and Also, because the economy is bad and everyone is struggling, our donation stream has definitely been impacted over the past like two years, especially, which has been very rough. and so you know Funding is another challenge because it's difficult to for people to donate anyway. I feel like most people in the activity who are going to donate are probably going to donate to where they aged out at, which is like fine. like I'm not saying don't donate to your favorite cores or like organizations that made a difference in your life, but I wish that people would think outside the scope of just donating to like their favorite cores when they're thinking about how to help improve the activity for others. Although I will say that we do routinely get a lot of support for our March with Pride scholarship for LGBTQIA plus performers, which is very nice, and I do love how much the community has backed that.
00:08:43
Speaker
Um, I feel like I had a third challenge. Oh yeah, the third challenge is people not understanding what angle we're actually coming from. One of my least favorite things is when people get on the internet and they look at, and they say things to me like, well, I respect what Mason is doing and I think you guys are doing some cool stuff, but I think it's really silly, goofy, and stupid that you have stuff like you're opposed to capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism. in your like mission statement. And so I i very patiently am like always willing to explain that. And then some people will get it and say, oh, okay, actually, yeah, that does make sense. You are opposed to oppressive structures. These are oppressive structures. And drum corps and marching arts as a whole is not separate from all of these oppressive structures in the world. So it makes sense that you would have thoughts and opinions on how to navigate those.
00:09:32
Speaker
um and other people like um no i think you're stupid and you're not focusing on the real issues and it's like okay thanks you can go do that then so that's that's what things you look at people and you're just like you're just like okay so clearly you only have this much of the perspective this tiny little sliver and like you're yeah a whole and these commenters are like Yeah, because it's so goofy to not because like for example I think the classism one really gets me um because I can kind of see how people would find it a bit of a stretch to care about like imperialism and colonialism because I feel like those are two things that a lot the average person just maybe hasn't thought about too much and yes or Canada for that matter, so
00:10:14
Speaker
But capitalism, though, I find really funny because everyone and their grandma will get on the internet and talk about how drum corps costs too much. And it's insane that drum corps is a rich kid activity and only rich kids can afford to do drum corps and working class kids can't afford to do drum corps. And I'm like, there are reasons for that. If you're going to care about classism in the activity, you have to care about the system which creates classes. So that is the angle I'm coming at for that. So what's been the most fun thing about doing all this?
Community and Challenges in MAASIN
00:10:47
Speaker
What do you feel like
00:10:49
Speaker
how has this like enriched your life and make it made it more fun to be able to like you know exist basically yeah honestly some of my current best friends are just people who volunteered for mason like years ago which is kind of insane to think about like When I started Mason in 2020, I didn't have anybody who really like co-started it with me right off the bat. I just posted on social media like, Hey, I'm going to start this effort. I'd really love if other people wanted to get involved. um If you're interested, just like shoot me a DM and I'll add you to the slack that I made. Like, you know, and then so
00:11:25
Speaker
A lot of people joined who I still talk to all the time now, even if they're not in Mason anymore, which is very funny because like there are people who joined and then were like, sorry, like grad school is too much or my life is too busy and I can't actually stick around for the organizing part. Things change. But I'm so glad that I've been able to make so many friends and meet so many people who really care about the same things that I do through Mason. That's been really nice. That is so great to hear, i Rand. And I am so glad to have you today. I really hope you're going to stick around later for our What Are We Doing? and Gush and Go segments so we can get your input on those areas of our activity too. This week in the news, instead of doing our regular news rotational section, we have a very sad story.
Tribute to Larry Riebeloff
00:12:06
Speaker
We lost one of the greats in our marching arts activity, Larry Riebeloff. We interviewed him here on a water break. He has unfortunately lost his battle to cancer this week. If you do want to go back and listen to our episode about the world association of show bands, it's from August of 2023. You can learn all about him and his illustrious career in detail and get to hear just how inspiring and wonderful he was to get to talk to.
00:12:33
Speaker
i He was a board member of the Blue Coats Drum & Bugle Corps and he has a lovely obituary up on their website. So if you have a moment that you want to go and read some more about his life too, ah He was a drum major of the Bayonne Bridgeman. He worked with the Calgary Stampede, which is one of the most famous organizations. um He has also been a color guard judge. I know he got me started in my color guard instructing and judging career. He also taught so many guards. um In fact, where I met him was at the Music For All Summer Symposium. And he was one of the instructors who really kind of looked at me as a performer turning into an instructor and gave me a lot of inspiration and advice and really helped me sort of make that bridge, that transition from being a performer into being an instructor. So, you know, having this personal connection and this sort of, um you know, I understand how he inspires so many people in the community because he is just one of those kinds of people.
00:13:39
Speaker
So I'd like to go ahead and simply take a moment of silence to remember this man who has been such a driving force in the marching arts for so many generations. Thank you so much to all of you, our listeners. Our thoughts are currently with his family, friends, all of the people who he has inspired. And I'm pretty sure I just saw Scott pull up with the rest of the Crossman alumni performers. So let's grab another rep before we get to chatting with them.
00:14:16
Speaker
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00:14:49
Speaker
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00:15:29
Speaker
Okay, it is time to welcome some additional guest hosts to the sideline.
Crossman Alumni Performance Introduction
00:15:34
Speaker
Please give a warm water break welcome to the coordinator for this year's Crossman Alumni Performance, Scott Litzenberg, plus some actual alumni performers. So on the call, we have Tina Matica, Dawn Group, and returning to the podcast is Dawn Lewis from our first female drummers episode. Hi, everybody. oh
00:16:02
Speaker
So I'm so excited to have you guys here. I'm, I'm going to be doing an alumni performance this summer for the first time ever as a blue star alumni. And that's been like, so it's been like forefront in my mind. So I've been like watching all these alumni courts come together and watching everything you guys are doing and just absolutely soaking up every bit of it. So let's start with our 32 count life story. We're going to go ahead and do this with each guest. So what'll happen is you will hear the Dr. Beat. Dr. Beat is going to give you eight counts on the Met. And then you just jump right in with your life story. And we want to know everything about you from the day you were born until you got the invitation to be on this podcast. So ah Scott, how do you feel about starting off? Sounds good. All right, let's do it.
00:16:53
Speaker
I'm Scott
Scott Litzenberg's Background
00:16:54
Speaker
Litzenberg. I originally was from Fairfax, Virginia, went to Lake Braddock High School, went to Westchester University, ended up majoring in music there, marched in cadets, became director of Crosswind back in the 80s, again in 06, cadets director 1819, got asked to be coordinator for this alumni corps, and I'm one of three, and I'll talk about more about that later. So glad to be here.
00:17:24
Speaker
i Let's go to Tina.
00:17:30
Speaker
Hi, my name is Tina Metica, and I grew up in the Syracuse area of New York State in Baldwinsville. And I went as well to college at Westchester, and I marched with a crossman for two years. And then I was a grad assistant at University of Massachusetts. um with some more Crossman and Westchester people. And then I was a band director for 31 years conducting marching bands and I'm retired now and I ah conduct a community band and I'm really happy to be part of the alumni corps. All right, how about Dawn Grutter?
00:18:15
Speaker
Hi, my name is Don Group. I am from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ah Grew up in the suburbs outside of the city. Marching Crosswind, 1984, 1985, 1987. Went to Point Park University here in the city of Pittsburgh. Saw various high schools around the area after I got out of marching. And I currently am a marketing director for a software company and I'm really looking forward to this summer.
00:18:53
Speaker
Okay, and Dawn, since you have already been on the show and done your 32 count life story before, we don't necessarily need a whole life story from you, because people can go back, like I said, back to that first female drummers episode that we did, that was an amazing episode, still ranks literally one of my favorite episodes we've ever done. um And and ah can you just give our audience who may maybe hasn't listened to that episode, a little bit of a like introduction as to who you are and what you do? I started playing snare drum um when I was about to enter high school and I started doing that because I just thought it was very, very cool. ah My brother was a snare drummer at the time and he was my first teacher. And um his first instructor took us to our first drum corps rehearsal, ah the Skyliners, which is a senior corps from New York. yeah And because of that ah connection that I had, I just fell in love with it right away. So I tried out for the Skyliners um after feverishly trying to learn how to play snare drum for a year or two. And then I ended up marching in the Skyliners in 1991 when I was 16 years old and I was the first snare drummer female ever in the Skyliners.
00:20:11
Speaker
And I was just a baby. And I had no idea the people. Thank you very much. I had no idea the amazing ah people I was surrounded by at the time. um But I've had literally the best influences a girl could hope for. So it really helped a lot and that's that's about it for that. And then you could go back in here more detail if you like. All right, that's awesome. but i Like I said, go back and listen to that first female drummer's episode. It is so good. Oh my gosh, look who just pulled up. I really hope you brought me some Starbucks, sir. It is Woody. Hey. Hello ladies and gentlemen.
00:20:52
Speaker
Not that much, but close enough. and Well, we know stuff happens, but you are here and I'm so glad that we've got you because we're about to talk about the Crossman alumni performance. This is like seriously so exciting that you guys are getting to do this this year. So Woody, what is your connection here with with ah Scott and all of our other guest performers who are here with us today? Well, you know, with the Crossman thing, it's all about the Philadelphia connection. You know, these days, no one ever really thinks about it being a Philadelphia thing. But when I was when i was a kid, ah they practiced right in Philadelphia. They called it Boeing Beach, right at the Boeing Airport. And I was the side of the city, but all my friends who marched in Crossman, at the end of the afternoon, going into the evening, they would leave and go to Crossman practice. Do you need more were of my connections?
00:21:45
Speaker
Well, I'm just let's talk about this alumni performance. So how have you guys been jumping into rehearsals lately already? is Is there like virtual stuff going on? Do you have people locally? So kind of tell us how this sort of came about and what are what are sort of the basis that's going on right now? Yeah, I'll go back ah to the beginning when we started this. It was it was ah literally almost three years ago, a little over three years ago, we started this process. Rick Reedy, the alumni ah president. um he got ahold of me and said, hey, what do you think about, you know, we're coming up on 50. Should we try to do it? Because we watch Vanguard do it. The blue coats are getting ready to do it that summer. And so we started, you know, I started shaking the trees and asking permission. I got ahold of Dan actually ah at DCI. And he said if we wanted to do it in 2024, the ah summer was ours. And he was very excited about that.
00:22:40
Speaker
um So I said to Rick, you know, he asked me to be the director, and I was like, I don't feel comfortable doing that with something like this, that we should probably have a team that's doing this. So we we decided to call ourselves coordinators, and it's Rick Reedy, Danita Stemmit, who's in Wichita, Kansas, and myself are the three coordinators. So we kind of decided to divide and conquer and each take responsibility for different portions of doing this. I was taking care of the drum corps side of things as far as ah production staff, that kind of stuff. The need is doing a lot of the administrative ah areas and Rick was doing a lot of the data basing and and um yeah the ah ah stuff on the alumni website. And actually Don is more than just a member that's marching. We got him involved on the marketing part of it and social media stuff. And he's been a part of our admin team from the beginning of this thing as well. So we're just using whatever talents we have out there to try to
00:23:39
Speaker
pull off this half a million dollar or one performance drum corps that is kind of an insane thing to even think about putting together. But it's work. um We've ah a lot of alumni that have been getting together in groups, in parks and different places. Dawn's been a part of that with a bunch of drummers a few times. People in Florida that have gotten together, some folks in Ohio have gotten together. We had a camp at Westchester University in February with about 145 members that came in. A lot of our 360ish that we're marching.
00:24:12
Speaker
So about a third of the core and they came from as far away as Michigan, and Florida, um Tennessee, Canada, quite a few of our Canadian members came down. um And then a few weeks ago, we had a rehearsal at Upper Derby High School for two days. We did a Saturday and a Sunday ah with about 150 members there. We're having two big camps that a member is required to be at one or the other. And one of them is in San Antonio in a few weeks.
Performance Preparation and Rehearsals
00:24:40
Speaker
same weekend as the regional. We're doing a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then we're doing one the week weekend of Allentown Friday, Saturday, Sunday for three days. ah We'll be rehearsing at North Penn High School with a the actual junior chorus thing. And then we head out. Everybody has to check in Monday night in Indy. We're rehearsing Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in Indy and performing Friday night at the end of semi-finals. So it's very aggressive. Good acting. Nice.
00:25:08
Speaker
It's a lot. At Upper Dogwood, we put on, tina what was that, 12 drill sets we got on there? All of part one, we did all that drill, right? um So we got all of part one on the field with the 150 people that were there. um we Part two was ready to go, and then we made, based on how our rehearsals went at Upper Dogwood, we made a executive decision to change how we're doing part two and some of the remaining part of the show, just to make sure we can get it all done. We are very, you know, we have, I think the number of hours left of rehearsal is about 40, which sounds like a lot, but it's not. um That's usually three days of rehearsal for our junior corps, and we're looking at having to do that.
Participants' Camp Experiences
00:25:50
Speaker
So, Tina, you were at the end Dawn, you were both at Upper Derby. What did you guys think of that rehearsal? Well, it was something to behold.
00:25:58
Speaker
I will say this, um I've been at ah and will be at every camp and I've been at every snare rehearsal that's happened in the Northeast. I actually started to get people together because I figured the sooner we start the better. um Over a year ago, it was April, I believe. um We all got together and we've been doing it ah once a month with anyone who can come. Second Sunday of every month. And so it's interesting because it's a different combination of human beings at every camp. So we're literally finding out who we're even
00:26:35
Speaker
going to be like standing next to and at the next camp i'm sure i'm going to meet all the people who are in texas in that whole zone because i'm gonna i'm gonna go to san antonio as well Even though I'm out here so I'll be at both and I I'm just fascinated with them, you know Just seeing the faces every single time because it's
Reuniting Friends and Emotional Moments
00:26:59
Speaker
always new people. So it's like a reunion every time and I've just been loving every every minute of it. It's been amazing. I can't tell you how much well last summer I I helped out with the trooper legacy core thing that did the same DCI performance. And I'm listening to you guys talk about it. And the parallels are so similar, except for you guys are going to be a little bit more prepared. You're taking an easier path. We stayed online and then the week of DCI put everything together. So I guess won't be as bad on you as it was on us.
00:27:38
Speaker
I'm amazed to hear about the drill for sure. Let us all hope, Woody. OK, so there's there's kind of two stories about getting back on the field. um Whereas as the percussion and the horns have ah paper music that they can take home or they get through the email and they can learn, the the rifles, flags, and sabers are all learning by video. So once the segment is done, it goes out by um from Tyler um on video and everybody tries to learn. Having been an educator for decades, I know people learn differently. And it's some people learn. it's It's very difficult for them to learn from a video because you have to like reverse it because they're doing the work at you and you have to think of everything. Oh, it's my left, it's my right.
00:28:26
Speaker
um And the other the other part is that I think there's a learning curve. And I know for myself, who've taught guards and designed and conceptualized, like ever since I marched in 79 and 81, that um it it got easier. And so now, you know, you get to segment two and you're like, yeah, I got this. I can watch counts and counts and counts and internalize it and and then I can go out and
Learning Curves and Emotional Reactions
00:28:49
Speaker
do it. The other unique thing, which I think is the story that you you probably want also um from marching at Upper Derby, is that we were, you know, we're we're moving and there's a gawk and they're counting us off and we're, the guard little by little is picking up their equipment once we know where our sets are and we're spinning.
00:29:07
Speaker
And then they brought out the drum line. And the drum line was learning their part. And we all stood there. And someone in the guard actually turned and she said, tears, I'm going to cry. And the rest of us are looking around like, what are you talking about? you know we' just They're going to count us off and we're going to spin. What's the big deal? And man, i' I'm getting chills just thinking about it. When when that drum line played and we spun to live music on the field for the first time, there wasn't a dry eye in the guard. That's amazing.
00:29:34
Speaker
We had we had chills going up our on our arms and up our spine and there were tears in all of our eyes and and it was I'll never forget it. There's been a very few experiences like that in my life that I never saw coming. And I don't think I'll I don't think I'll ever outlive it. So it's great. that's awesome i did year I was yeah at West Chester when we played ensemble on the second day. tina You guys were all there. I just I'm trying to talk to the core to do a wrap up and and I couldn't. Yeah, just like now you're just you're just saying that, you know, just to see this start to after three years of getting this ready to see people show up and getting out of their cars and staggering to the field trying to figure out how to use the udb app and you know, it was like, what oh and was our couch? He was like, no, you got a half the battle was getting everybody to learn how to use the app on their phone, which the udb company is freaking awesome. Given that to our drum corps to use for this whole
00:30:30
Speaker
production without without any cost to this drum corps which is pretty amazing um but they're also alumni of of doing this so they get what this is you know but it was very emotional watching that and then having the horn line and drum line arc up on sunday with the color guard in the back doing the guard work uh with the stuff that we had put together already uh was pretty cool pretty cool Don, have you been in a full rehearsal yet?
Recruitment Success and Personal Stories
00:30:58
Speaker
I know you've been working on the marketing side of things. Yeah, I know. There's a good story to that, right, Don? Yeah, there's a bit of a story to that. But I will tell you just from listening to Don and Tina's comments, um for me, it's emotional because a lot of my responsibility in the beginning was recruiting. And um there were there were days when we had 50 people. And then, you know, you'd see would get to a hundred and we had this, it was like, great, we got a hundred view. And then it just kept snowballing and snowballing eventually. And to think back to when, you know, are we going to have enough people to actually pull this off to having it actually starting to become real um is kind of gets me a little bit thinking about it. But I have, I have not been able to be at a full rehearsal yet.
00:31:53
Speaker
um because I had some ah some some health challenges. March 12th of this year, I had my left foot amputated. From a timing standpoint, have I have not been able to ah to get there. Fortunately, I was smart enough when I was 18 to learn how to play mallets. So as far as my drill responsibilities, they are very minimal. Yes. So that that is something that it was was very fortuitous and and you know having the foresight 40 years ago to to realize that I would need that this year.
00:32:33
Speaker
um So yeah, I am desperately looking forward to to getting together with everybody ah at the beginning of August and in putting this all together. Because for me, I've been fighting these physical challenges for about eight years, which culminated in in the surgery I had back in in March. so um it's been when When this whole thing started, if I wasn't sure if I was actually going to be able to do it. and
00:33:07
Speaker
Now, i've i've I've had my ah my prosthetic for, it'll be two weeks tomorrow and I'm walking really well and just trying to build up some strength and some endurance so that I can i can make this thing happen. So, I'm about to crawl. Yeah, Don. If he wanted to. Nice. If Don wanted to do this, he had to have a prosthetic because we're not gonna drag him across the field to get a prosthetic.
Building Generational Connections
00:33:32
Speaker
Yeah, we're gonna get like the lo dog a little loaf cart, you know, just drag me out there and yeah So we decided not to do that. I got to tell you the most surprising thing so far about doing this is the sheer volume of people who when they get out of their car and they see other people just seeing the reconnections. um You know, we knew that was going to happen, but now at after the second camp that we just had, now you get people who have just met in February that ah that feel like they've known these people for the last 50 years. um And that's really cool. And now it's generations reconnecting that never knew each other. And now they're going to have that connection in addition to their original connection from ah when they started. You know, we're with' going all the way from putting uniforms together
00:34:22
Speaker
and coming up with the uniforms, picking the music, of the whole process of doing this has been all about connecting the generations, connecting the dots from year 50 all the way back to year one. And we have somebody marching from every year of this drum corps, except for this year. Wow. Because obviously, this is the 50th season, so none of those members are marching as part of our show. They might be involved in some other way, but right now, you know, we have 49 out of 49 years worth of people. marching in this. We actually have a couple that were in the feet of two feeder corps of the Crossmen that never marched in the Crossmen. We have a couple of them because we opened it up to those members as well and one of them's son was a bass drummer back in the 90s so he's getting the march of his son who was a Crossman and he was a 507 Hornet because there was two drum corps that formed the Crossmen. 507 Hornets.
00:35:18
Speaker
and a Keystone Regiment. So it's cool that we have a couple members from the theater corps that created the Crossman as well as the Crossman. That's amazing that you're able to bring all these people together. And it's kind of like seeing everybody after life has happened to them, you know, the music come in with like, we come into your junior core and you're like fresh out of high school, or maybe you're still in high school or something. And, and everybody's just so young and vibrant and, and, you know, hasn't had a whole lot of experience, but coming back is one um nine everybody's had different
Adaptation and Staying Young
00:35:52
Speaker
experiences. What's that been like kind of trying to,
00:35:55
Speaker
mesh everybody together. One of the funniest comments of Oprah Darby was somebody who's a few years older than me, turns to me on Saturday afternoon and goes, where do all these damn old people come from? And we are know we are the old people. but we that's it just I don't think any of us think of ourselves that way. I really do i think this keeps you younger. now I think that's what's amazing about it. You know, again, And I hate to keep harping on this thing, but I can't tell you how how identical your experience is to the one I had last summer, except for the emotional part, because I was not a trooper. And if that is the reason why I did not participate, because you know, from the era we come from,
00:36:43
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no. I'm not putting on someone else's uniform. I was not in the drum corps. But to be a person to sit on the sidelines and watch all those things that Don spoke about with the personal interactions and Scott, how you just mentioned people getting out of a car and reconnecting right away. All these things just came together like that. and I really appreciated that, you know, and we're about to let what we're doing about it. But I guess that's what keeps us in the activity, huh? Keeps us young.
00:37:18
Speaker
you know, not to bring my health or anything. That is, that sorry, that's that in itself is funny, Don, as you mentioned it, because I can't tell you how many of us were broken, but they were going to get out of that field. I can tell you how people felt getting out of the car in the morning, how they felt getting back in the car in the evening was a very different feeling. Sure. with very I'll tell you, the one thing for me with the issues I've had with my health over the past few years, having this to look forward to is submit something that really has driven me to, get time yeah you know like having have you know, having this on the calendar saying, OK, I've got to get to this point by this day and this point by this day. and That's awesome.
00:38:07
Speaker
you know It's, it's really, I'm not entirely sure that I would have gotten through this physically, what the challenges that I'm dealing with if I did not have this. Cool. That's awesome. and so love them I love hearing that too, because you know, you know i could say one thing about but What I'm the most excited about is finishing the show. What I'm the most scared about is finishing the show. Because you get to get this done, it's going to be crazy. And I know we're going to get it done. So I'm real excited about it.
00:38:47
Speaker
I don't think I'm scared about anything, but a I did want to say that when I'm in my flag in the flag rehearsals or the Upper Derby or anywhere, ah the years between when these people were my friends and now have disappeared. It's hard to think. So many years and so many life experiences. Yeah, existed and passed between the last time, like Sue and I shared a house together or um Deb and I were at rehearsals together. I mean, it's just it's it that the time. It's just not there. So it's I can't wait. I can't wait. it You know, ah going back to Don's day, you know,
00:39:24
Speaker
Not to make this a geriatric, geriatric episode, but I have to tell you, man, I really believe that this sport keeps us young. You know, I have some physical ah I have some physical things going on. I'm without a kidney. And when I walk into the place to see the doctors or whatever, they are always so amazed because I'm so upbeat and so, so chipper and so happy and they can't, they're like, how do you do it?
00:39:59
Speaker
And, you know, I'm working and I was teaching and they're like, how are you doing this? I have to believe that this activity has a healing power definitely at that level that makes us, we have something to live for. must We're very lucky, yeah very fortunate, very fortunate. Dawn, what about you? i What are you most excited for and most worried about? Honestly, I've been thinking about something since everybody else spoke. um And Tina mentioned something about um you know how the color guard has to learn a different way. and
00:40:37
Speaker
and all of the years that Scott mentioned that are are represented. And I and i think, um and it's funny, it could be overlooked that you have to remember that 50 years ago a lot of these drummers did not read music. And they are revisiting something that they haven't done in years. So the efforts um that are actually really being put in to make sure everybody gets to participate is well beyond what you can imagine because there are guys that haven't ah never read music in their lives that are participating. And then we have other guys that are literally teaching um drum corps currently. So that the amount of time and energy that each individual is putting in because of the diverse levels of even education they were offered at the time.
00:41:34
Speaker
It has been absolutely amazing and an honor to be a part of that process. And I am to no end dedicated to every single one participating that night, no matter what. So all I've been doing and and my and my buddies have been doing is actually making videos. We make videos of every section at slower tempos. um at different angles and I send them to individuals who ask for them and so do my friends and my buddies that are really out there, you know, reading music. They've been doing this a long time. We've been really working our asses off. So if you want the nitty gritty, which is what you didn't ask me, I'll give you that. it's We've been busting our butts to make sure that we can present something that the Crossman in the next 50 years can feel blown away by.
00:42:26
Speaker
So if our followers, if our listeners want to follow you guys and see the Crossman alumni come together on social media, how should they go about
Following Crossmen on Social Media
00:42:37
Speaker
finding that? Are you guys posting on the Crossman Instagram page or do you have your own separate one or is it on YouTube? Where can we find sort of stuff? Right now, the Crossman are ramping up to being on the road and doing what they're doing. Their social media team wants to add some of what we're doing in with theirs. Okay. But we're not doing a separate Instagram, separate that kind of stuff. Our Facebook page is really just for members only. It's a way that we can communicate. But if they follow the regular Crossman social media stuff, you're going to start to see some stuff popping up on that. We haven't had much to be able to do because we haven't had many rehearsals and stuff. So now we have some more to do with that. Got some good footage from Upper Derby and they're working on some segments for us to do for that. Plus there was the clandestine aspect of it too where we tried to keep as much of it to ourselves prior to the performance as possible. And I can tell you, in this day and age of costumes, we are wearing a uniform. And when we come to the gate, you will know exactly who we are. There will be no question of what's wrong with what's to do in the Lucas oil stadium. All right. OK, we'll go follow the Crossman's Instagram and social media and you will see the Crossman alumni. We need to get back out on the field because we need to look good before our alumni start showing up. So we'll see you guys after the break. Thank you.
00:44:12
Speaker
Hey everyone, it's Jeremy, and here are your announcements coming from the box. Don't miss all of our bonus content, including On a Water Break in Rhinestones with your host, Lexi Duda, exploring the world of the Twirlers. Don't miss parades and drum majors at Step Off with your host, Jack Goudreau, and Get Lost in Translation with your host, Cynthia Bernard, exploring all the words that confuse all of us in the marching arts all across the world. and go behind the lens with marching arts photographers all across the country with your host, Chris Marr. Plenty more bonus content from On A Water Break, so listen anywhere you get your podcasts. If you want to be on On A Water Break as a guest, or you know somebody that would make a great guest for On A Water Break, email us at onawaterbreakpodcast at gmail dot.com.
00:45:15
Speaker
All right, we are back and several of our guests have decided to stick around and join us for our, our are my favorite segment, honestly, nowadays.
Challenges of Hygiene at Events
00:45:26
Speaker
It's what are we doing? Your favorite? in Your favorite section?
00:45:35
Speaker
What are we doing? It's just, it's just sort of my favorite thing. Like you get to air your grievances. Maybe somebody one day will hear it and make some changes. You never know. Woody, do you want to start off? Oh, you always give me this way, Jackie, don't you?
00:45:53
Speaker
grievies You know, no, um um I'm a pretty happy guy. I'm pretty excited that the season is about to start. Everything's falling in line for me for the summer. I'm very excited. I don't have any grievances, actually. I'm sorry, Jackie. There's no grievances with the start of DCI coming up. you know um No, I tell you why. I know there's a lot of things we could be upset about, but we should be thankful that our activity is still rolling because, all right, we have a very expensive lifestyle. with you know We toss a lot of money up in the air just for our own personal entertainment. And true you know I read the post, you hear people talk about it, and I know things are not the way they used to be.
00:46:42
Speaker
But we're very fortunate to have it. And as in the previous segment, you know we still are very fortunate to have those friends that we made, those friendships that are just bonded and cement. That when you see them after 20 years, you see them like, hey, Tina, Woody. And you pick up right where you left off. Gotta love that, right? Instead of ducking behind her behind a rack when you see someone in the cow door. Oh God, there's Joe from high school. Oh God. So Woody's, what are we doing is what are we doing not being more thankful for our activity? Way to bring it together for me there, Jackie. That's why you're the captain. Well, I just like to, I just, I just like to make sure we're guided in the right direction. Rand, I,
00:47:34
Speaker
I'm excited about to hear about yours because I know this is it's not a unique experience to what happened, but what are we doing, Rand? What are we doing with the state of Porta Potties in this activity? This is something I have been thinking about since 2018 when I saw the scariest Porta Potties I've ever seen in my goddamn life at the Atlanta Regional. It's so hot. It's disgusting. They're tiny. And either you're like me, and you are an idiot who wears overalls all the time, and then it's difficult to put all the straps together and everything. Or what if you're in uniform? I cannot picture trying to fix my uniform up in these porta potties without dropping them in. Like yeah them, I mean gauntlets, a hat, I don't know, like whatever pieces people have on their uniforms.
00:48:22
Speaker
And I've been thinking about this for so long because I cannot look at a porta potty, I cannot think of a porta potty, I cannot see a porta potty without thinking of the Atlanta 2018 porta potties in the lot because like it was just a miasma of demonic energy emanating from those porta potties. There was like bugs. It was like a writhing mass of bugs in the porta potty. And like I thought maybe I had like made that up until years later I made friends with someone. I made friends with Sarah Bowden and it came up just like on its own one day where they were talking about being traumatized by the 2018 Atlanta Regional Porta Potties.
00:48:58
Speaker
And it's not like we don't have better porta potties available to us. I know that it would be more expensive, but there's those ones that are more like at a bathroom. Like you rent like a trailer that has like multiple in them. I don't know. I feel like it's worth investigating. I feel like it's worth perhaps investing in. I don't know how we haven't had more porta potty related casualties or traumas in this activity, frankly. Well, especially throwing the bathroom. That's going to have to be the next like Mason campaign, I guess. I don't know. So I got to tell you back when I marched, two for the um yeah tell guy yeah weren i'm sorry so you weren't allowed to use the ones on the buses because you get your buck hit. So I came to fly in a hot box of a porta potty over anything that we had back then.
00:49:48
Speaker
I mean, I'm pretty sure Bus Corps still, you can't do, you can't use the bus bathrooms. Uh-uh, not allowed. Yeah, number two was a violation. Like, they're gonna get called a bus pooper if you can use a bus bathroom. You can go number one, but you can't go number two, right?
Uniform Traditions and Uniform Challenges
00:50:04
Speaker
And I was just going to say, like, throwing it back to the traditions of the uniforms and everything. You know, some cores are like, you don't take off a piece of your uniform in public. So you can't even remove, like, your accessories and stuff outside of the porta potty before you go in. And that's, that's, yeah, scary. one And listen, I used to run the Atlanta Regional. I can tell you, more times than not, people- Did you run it in 2018? I was about to say, time out. I ran it up to 2018.
00:50:34
Speaker
But I can tell and i'll forgive you, then more times than not, people go to those porta-potties not in full uniform. It's when they first get in the lot or after they perform. So it is quite the show to watch around the porta-potties. that's Terrible. Just terrible. Scott, from your perspective, i before so how did we know Next time you have a round rule. I question that a lot when and Woody woody but kind of made a comment about it you know people that um we used we didn't used to do it this way, didn't used to do it that way.
Evolution of Drum Corps
00:51:03
Speaker
I wish people would just enjoy what this activity is for what it is and not try to make it something that it that it was 40, 50, 70 years ago. I mean, if we did that with cars, we'd still we still wouldn't we still would have a button on the floor for hygiene for God's sakes.
00:51:21
Speaker
Yeah, something's changing the better. Once in a while you end up having an Aries K car and once in a while you have something better, you know, and the market certainly drives that and I just I wish sometimes the armchair drum majors and the armchair show designers will just take a breath. before they want to rip apart what kids are doing. Working just as, I i can tell you, the drum corps nowadays work harder than what I mark. Not even close as far as how hard they, the hours they put on the field and what they have to do from a physical standpoint. I well i i don't know if I could have ever done that. um So i ah yeah I just wish people would just back off a little bit and not be so vengeful.
00:52:05
Speaker
Well, there's a conversation within itself. That's another show, Scott. I was going to say, that's a whole episode. I feel like we could really get into that. It's more like a whole other season. Tina, what are we doing? I'll half answer at your question that that was kind of inspired by everyone else. And it's a little bit back to like the Crossman and the whole alumni years through it, is that when the Crossman and like most drum course started, um they were only pulling in people from certain you know areas, wherever they were they they were from, like the Philadelphia area for the Crossman. And so, and I marched in 79 and 81 and there was a huge difference between 79 and ah the local people who came from
00:52:47
Speaker
the Hornets and the Bracken Cavaliers and and all of those that that connected. And there were a few band kids like myself who really liked marching band and wanted to do more of it and wanted to do in the summer and wanted to be really good at something. And then in 1981, it was by the time I came back two years, another year later, ah there were a whole more band and college musicians. and such. And then throughout all of these years, most of the drum corps have become, um you know, there's ah there's there's a move-in date. and We had a move-in date, but like I just found another apartment in town, you know, and or people lived in a house with 20 other people.
00:53:23
Speaker
um yeah people Yeah, and and now you know you go to any drum corps and you poll like where are you from or where do you live or where do you go to college and it's all over the country. So the unique experience with doing the Upper Derby Camp and the Westchester Camp in February and all of these these ah guard rehearsals that we've been having like every other week it seems down in that area is that those people that I marched with all lived there. So I know them. And I'm doing the the San Antonio camp. And that'll be exciting. But that's, you know, I don't want to say hired guns, but those are like people who pay thousands of dollars every year. And they and they and they move in and like, I want to be a crossman or I want to be a blue devil or I want to be ah a, you know, phantom regiment.
00:54:06
Speaker
and they work it into their summer they've earned money and they move in but they're not necessarily from there they just there's an identity that core that they're drawn to so i feel really fortunate. To be part have been part of the core when it was it was a low it was a little bit more of a local community it was the college areas of. New Jersey and Pennsylvania and a little bit of New York, and and and i i I think it's a little bit different now. so you i mean I'm not saying it's good or it's bad, but I'm sorry. Go ahead, Scott. We rehearsed Friday nights at at the elementary school down there in media. On I-Marks and cadets in 82, 83, every Sunday from 12 to 5, we had rehearsal in Garfield.
00:54:51
Speaker
That's what we did. you know We didn't have a camp until March. you know We just rehearsed every Sunday because most of the chorus showed up on Sunday. and Every Sunday, we never had a winter camp. you know You come back after the last show just before September. You come back in October and here every Sunday until we got warm outside again. It was like a YMCA club thing. I do remember those days, Scott. right you would we drum on her drum on the cafeteria table you know wasn't it like green element school or something like that and uh rose tree media i think something like that i'm jack what was that scott oh well we lost it we lost the moment jack i feel like i kind of
00:55:35
Speaker
March on the cusp of what you're talking about Tina with people coming in I I went to the blue stars and I was I was very much an out-of-stater and So many of the members were still local and there was just a few of us who had come from other states and and it was just neat It was just a really neat experience to kind of be a part of that sort of changeover because it really was different It's and I I know that there was a lot of different connections that were formed prior to the core Like, you know, prior to the Corps having rehearsals and stuff, because a lot of these kids like went to school together, or they went to rival schools or something in the area and they all knew
'Gush and Go' Segment
00:56:14
Speaker
each other. But, okay, that's enough complaining for now.
00:56:17
Speaker
It's time to do our gush and ghosts. Great job, everyone. Set your equipment down. Gush and ghosts. All right, so this is the segment where we gush and go on about anything related to the marching arts. And Woody, do you want to start us off? This is the other favorite segment of mine. This is like the opposite of waterway doing. It's what you love. The entire show should be your favorite, Jack. Honestly, I have a hard time picking. Oh, you know, I'm really looking forward to the fall. As as you know, I've been doing a lot of judging and I'm actually getting my first airplane judging show this year.
Excitement and Opportunities in Judging
00:56:57
Speaker
I'm going down in Louisiana and I keep getting super psyched I am because I've been looking at expanding my world that way and I'm um'm i'm looking forward to that. So I can't wait for Drum Corps to be over because marching band will be there and I've been holding my skills and
00:57:15
Speaker
I'm ready to go. Rand, what do you want to gush and go on about? I'd like to gush about SoundSport, actually.
Benefits of SoundSport
00:57:22
Speaker
So I mean, I guess people know that this year with the Bluecoats, I'm actually the operations manager at Rhythm & Blue, which has been fun to switch it up and go back to SoundSport because that is the category that I competed in when I competed because I'm Canadian. And so we're kind of nerfed in the drum corps department, especially if you're um poor. and can't afford to go to the US to march like I couldn't. So um yeah, I think it's really interesting how there's lots of groups that are kind of doing their own thing and how it provides a lot of freedom for how you want to run your group, whether you'd like to try to go to a different category like open a world class in the future or all age, or whether you'd like to kind of just keep it in sound sport to keep doing crazy and wacky things with like a bunch of saxophones or whatever you want to be doing. um I think it's providing a lot of opportunities, which I think is fun to see. And I'm having a fun time being back in it and also connecting with other people who are trying to make cool things happen in the category. I think it was the port of party. That's what I think.
00:58:17
Speaker
not doing it but reporter po I'm doing it because, yeah, I get to be in like the convention center or whatever instead of the port-a-potty situation, and yep, you got me. ah One of the scholarship winners at Spentronics this year is a SoundSport member, and this is the first time I think that we're sponsoring somebody who is doing SoundSport. They're marching with the Memphis Blues, so it's cool to see SoundSport doing the thing that it was designed to do and like creating these opportunities for different types of groups and smaller groups. I i love it too. I'm going to gush about that myself too. I love SoundSport. I've actually joked about how the experience... So this kind of harkens back to what you guys were talking about with how there's there's no local core anymore. Nobody does their like local core, but SoundSport is kind of bringing that back in a way in which they are local groups that are having local kids at them.
00:59:05
Speaker
And something I've joked about is that doing Rhythm in Blue is closer to the original Bluecoats experience than the Bluecoats is now, because we're all like sleeping in the can we're all sleeping in the Champion Event Center at night. you know We're in the Bingo Hall. That's where we're setting up shop on the weekends in Ohio. So I think it's just funny. Not the Bingo Hall. Wow. Scott, what would you like to gush and go on about?
Dedication in Crossmen Alumni Project
00:59:31
Speaker
I'd like to gush and go that we have put together an administrative and design team for this alumni corps that is doing this for nothing that we've been meeting. Well, we started with just two or three of us three years ago, and now every Wednesday night, and Tina's been part of these meetings too with the design team. And I look at the screen some nights and just go, these are people who are legends and next in this activity, who are just yeah working so hard to make sure they create this kind of experience.
00:59:58
Speaker
I mean, when you have Tom Hahnem, Jeff Sactic, Ralph Pace, Bob Morrison, you know, Eric Kitchenman, um all these people, Mark Thurston, Chris Thompson, all these people on one phone call, yeah, trying to put this thing together out of the goodness of their heart. They're not getting paid amazing through this. Amazing. I mean, Jeff's calling us from Carolina Crown's camp. Well, I know he has really good but he he gets on the phone with us every every week to make sure we're if this is happening Bobby Jones is in there It's it's just it's just amazing. I'm very thankful. I love you I love the volunteers that we have the number of people that are out volunteering from a medical standpoint I mean all the areas we have to cover are And most of all, Danita, Stemit, and Ricky. I mean, you talk about people who are committed to doing this. So I feel really good about it. And I'm just, I will always say that the team is pulling this thing off because it absolutely has been an incredible team. up You know Scott, it's funny.
01:00:59
Speaker
It's funny when you say that because the way we look at it now, the the legends are more Midwest to Western oriented. But when you talk about this CrossFit Alumni Drum Corps, if there are people who have been a around in the 80s and lived to now, you will see that this thing, that CrossFit Alumni thing should be stacked. with the people who built this activity because it it it was such a hardcore East Coast kind of thing working its way out to the West. And all the innovators, you know, just when you said that, I was like, wow, you should be stacked with... Yeah, I forgot Matt from past you who wrote some of the most amazing horror arrangements without drum corps from the late 80s all over the mid 90s.
01:01:48
Speaker
He's writing all the horn stuff. So, I mean, it's pretty impressive, pretty overwhelming. And we just get in the call a half an hour early. Well, we get in the call a half an hour early every week just to sit there and tell drum force stories. It's crazy.
Weekly Gatherings and Project Updates
01:02:01
Speaker
That's the best part of the week. That's the best part of the week. And it starts up immediately with somebody abusing somebody else because that's just what they did, you know. Hey, Scott, I'm leaving standing in front of my car. All right, I'm leaving. It's an hour later. t I'm leaving. I'm getting in. And then someone says something and you're back out of your car. this It is the best part of it all. That's that friendship. The people, and I can't wait for to spend... We got the hotel warned that we're all staying in one hotel out in the Indy and they know what's coming. Same place the blue coats stayed a couple of years ago. Blue coats have been unbelievable in helping us with all their information,
01:02:40
Speaker
Larry Hirsch for all the details. you set me up He sent me book with that thick of all, everything that they did for that, for their alumni court two years ago. And he got a bunch from Santa Clara and we're sharing a bunch of ours with Spirit of Atlanta for next year. So we're just all trying to do this. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel. We're just trying to keep enough air in the wheel to get to the end of the road, you know?
Closing and Gratitude
01:03:01
Speaker
Yeah, well that blue coat's kind of set the standard now. I had to tell you, they had the trip of people all worked up. yeah Yeah, we'll be OK. Tina, what do you want to gush and go about today? OK, so I was thinking but when I was in grad school, one of my professors said there's no there's no substitution, let's say, for the experience of doing something that truly excels and probably one.
01:03:27
Speaker
and of like the the cumulative greatest experiences was doing the drum corps with all of these people and you know living, eating, sweating, breathing, getting sick, getting healthy and experiencing all the all the great stuff that comes with it from doing that. And then you know teaching 31 years, I tried to make sure that my kids had those experiences because you you seek them. When you know what it is to be part of something that's really good and you you kind of saturate yourself with that to create it. And it's such a great feeling, man, you want your kids to feel like that. You want anyone you come in contact with to feel like that. And so coming back and doing this this ah this core is all the chills and the excitement and and the tears all over again. and so
01:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's great to be able to step in those step in those shoes and step in those uniforms. And and it's it's just going to be great. And I also found out um the other night on the thing that I'm going to get to ah be able to conduct part of one of the pieces back field because having been a conductor. at Westchester and and having a community band and stuff like that, but being part of the guard, which is the best thing, being part of a team, there's nothing like it. So yeah, no, I'm gushing about that. Yay. We also have Christine Rehm is going to jump in here and throw in her gush and go. And I just want to do a really quick congratulations to our host Ashley Tran. She's not here right now, but it's because she just had her baby last night. And I'm so excited for her to be expanding her family. ah Thank you guys so much for a great rehearsal this week. Thanks to all of our hosts, Woody, Rand, Scott, Tina, don Dawn, Dawn.
01:05:13
Speaker
Where can we find you guys on social media? I'm on Facebook. I'm pretty much on Facebook. I have Instagram, but I don't know what the hell to do with it. So I'm just im here. Scott, if you're scared, get a dog. If you're scared, get a dog. You heard my dog. We had an Eagles thing on this week on Facebook. If you're scared, get a dog, Scott. No, baby. Rand, what about you? I would prefer that people follow the Mason social media. so That's M-A-A-S-I-N, and then the rest of the word network. so It's network preceded by M-A-A-S-I. and That is on Twitter, that is on Instagram, and then we are also on Facebook. You can just search us up there.
01:05:57
Speaker
Um, my actual accounts are locked right now because of a job application that I'm waiting to hear back. Well, don't need no asking what the hell I'm doing in Ohio. So i and Mason is doing awesome work out there. So I'm really, I hope everybody goes and follows and, and makes sure they are up on all of that stuff. Cause it's great. So one more thing, don't forget we have our YouTube channel. It has many of our interviews as full video additions. So go and subscribe so you don't miss those. And then before you close out of your podcast listening app, go subscribe, write us a review and love reading your guys's reviews. Share this with a friend. Make sure you follow us on all of our social media at on a water break. And we'll see you at the next rehearsal.
01:06:42
Speaker
On A Water Break. Thank you. Thank you. The On A Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lida. To learn more, visit lidamusic.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.