Gooooooooood GRIEF...it's overwhelming this thing called corps

You know...I'm just sitting here at my computer speechless. Really. SPEECHLESS. I guess when you get to my age (as I pop my false teeth in), you tend to get a little reminiscent of time that has gone by, and you remember things, you romanticize things, you embellish a little hear and a little there ("The fish was THIS big!"), you tend to forget (or want to forget) that bad things...well...here...just read the following text. This is a cut and paste job of something I put over in the member's only section of the Kingsmen Alumni Discussion Board--and since I'm the author of it...I can place it where I want!! :-) Anyway...describes the feelings this morning...

Just a quick word from "The Mouth"...uh, sorry, I mean..."The Voice"... A little birdy called me late last night and left a message for me on my cell. The message was simple, if not slightly cryptic...it went like this... "Hey Ryan, you won't believe who I sat next to at rehearsal tonight at Western HS. I'll give you a hint. Ready? We got something you're REALLY gonna like!! BYE!" Click.

That was it.

Now, some of you if not ALL of you are probably scratching your head wondering A)who the heck left such a weird message, and B) what the heck WAS that weird message? Trust me, when I heard that message, I audibly GASPED. So loudly in fact that my wife, who was in another room, called out, "Ryan are you OK?" I yelled back, "Oh yeah...I just had another drum corps moment." Something I have affectionately referred to in my 11 years of wedded bliss (COUGH!!!) when I just don't feel like explaining the back-story to something that The Warden wouldn't appreciate in the first place. Right? It's a "why bother" moment. Non-drum corps people just don't get some things that are important to us. But we do.

TURNER, GET TO THE DANG POINT!!!

Folks--if you don't know this, I was drum major of VK in 1986 and 1987. They were some of the best years of my life, especially 1987. The 1987 show lended itself to me more of a "fun" style for me to conduct, and when I say fun, I mean not standing ramrod straight and conducting with just my forearms, but rather, using lots of how I refer to as "body English" and getting the crowd involved and what not. As a matter of fact, if memory serves me correctly, I scared the crap out of the staff at semi finals by turning around to the crowd at Camp Randall as the baritone section started their soli section of "California Girls", and I did what an self-respecting VK drum major SHOULD have done...and that's get 40,000 people to clap....AND ON 2 AND 4 OF COURSE! Permission was granted for that to occur at finals--and I did it. But there's something important to know about my antics in 1987 as drum major.

Outside of the big influence that Greg Clarke had on me as a performer, there was another influence that few knew of. I kept this near and dear to me, and always regarded this person as truly an icon of what, at least in MY eyes, a drum major SHOULD be--commanding, enthusiastic, entertaining, and a musician. I found that person one day at a corps show way back in 1982. He was the drum major of the Freelancers at the time. And then, I saw him again in 1983, but this time, it was by accident. While attending "Boys State", an American Legion sponsored "political camp" at Cal State Sacramento, and being infinitely BORED to tears with the camp precedings, I ventured off to find the source of this GREAT music I was hearing. And lo and behold, it was the Freelancers rehearsing. And there was that same drum major I remembered from a year before. This time--he actually looked over at me and waved. You see--this person, without even knowing it, influenced me in ways that wouldn't see any results of for 4 more years, and I guess indirectly, everything since then in my participation in whatever way I've had in the world of band/corps/guard. And it's when a person like this who shows BY EXAMPLE to another of what CAN be done, and in turn, influences another to strive for something better, it's pretty special. And it stays with you a long time. A REALLY long time.

Well--the point of this is that that cryptic message above told me that none other than Carl Allison has joined the KAC. Carl Allison yelled the above "We've got something you're really going to like" at the crowd at 1983 finals during Freelancers' closer, "Even Now". Carl Allison, out of all the drum majors in 1982 and 1983 (and out of almost all the drum majors in drum corps SINCE then might I add) with the exception of Mike Zapanta from SCV, was very, very highly regarded. So unbelievable admired. Both by competitors...fans...and geeky band nerds like myself, who aspired to be what HE WAS some day. I never met the man except for the wave in 1983. But I was his fan. And he never knew what he did for me by just being HIM. And I don't know if there's a greater compliment that I can give.

There's not much else to say but thank you Carl. And it will be a understatement of the century to say that I will be honored to stand in the same baritone line with you, much less in the same ROOM with you. I don't even know if he reads this board...but anyway--just had to get that off my chest.

The KAC keeps rocking...unbelievable what this venture has done. And I sincerely mean what I say...you have a legend in your midst.

There you have it. Just an incredible time in my life. Full circles and all that.