I Am A Band Geek
After I got laid off last year, I renewed my interest in drum corps. I went to see a few competitions and read a load of articles on the Internet. At some point I became obsessed with an old corps by the name of the Bridgemen. Never the most technical corps, they were the crowd favorites because of their innovation and rebellious attitudes. Actually, I became a fan back in high school when my band director shared an old video tape. Unfortunately, I never got to march with the original Bridgemen. They disbanded a little before my time. When I got to NYC, I auditioned for a corps known as The Cadets, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I felt that I needed to spend my time studying instead of marching around on a football field, tooting on some dumb horn.
Anyway, through some of my readings on the Internet, I found out that a few alumni of the Bridgemen were trying to reform the group as senior corps. Intrigued, Heidi and I went to an open house late last fall. They presented a 3 year plan describing how they planned to launch the corps.
After thinking about it for a couple of months, I decided that I wanted to be a part. Last Sunday I attended the first rehearsal of the new Bridgemen. I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to keep up since I hadn’t played a horn in so many years, or possibly worse, I’d be the best one there (which would’ve meant the corps was pretty freakin horrible.) It actually went really well. The arrangements were good and the group actually sounded really great. After speaking with a few folks, I found out that some hadn’t played with a group like this in more than 30 years! Somewhat reluctant, Heidi even joined me as a part of the color guard. She had a little anxiety about the whole thing, but I think she actually enjoyed it.
I know I am a dork, but I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally play with the Bridgemen. As silly as it may sound, it really was a dream come true!
Anywho, we’ll practice once a month until May and then we’ll perform in a Memorial Day Parade in Bayonne. They are still accepting members, if anyone is interested. Any fellow band geeks interested?
