One Last Hurrah!
1998
After 4 fast years of drum corps, we come to my final season.  The show was a bit different this year, with no real theme except being an all jazz show.  The title: "Power, Pizzazz and All That Jazz!" (leave it to Scott...).  Our opener was based on (of all things) the theme from a Japanese cartoon called "Lupon!"  It was a straight-ahead jazz chart that reallly smoked.  Next was a twist...a classical/jazz fusion if you will.  We took parts of Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite No.1," "Morning Moods" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" to create "Swingin' Pete...Sweet!"  (yep, Scott strikes again) which actually turned out to have some of the best moments of the show.  We closed with a jazz/rock fusion that Madison premeired in 1990 called "Remembrance" by Paul Hart.

The tour was great...it was my second time to do a west coast tour, and later became known as FREE DAY TOUR.  We had free days in Santa Cruz/Monterey CA, Las Vegas, NV, Glenwood Springs and Denver/Boulder, CO, and New York City, NY.  Most corps don't know what a free day is, and we were bombarded with great ones this year.
 

 "Baywatch" look out!!  This is (L-R) Tim Berndt, myself, Brad Harry and Corey Stanley posing on a free day in Santa Cruz,CA.  This photo is proof that a summer of drum corps keeps you in good shape, AND gives you a killer tan!
We made sure there was plenty of time for sightseeing out West by having shorter rehearsals so we could take advantage of this beautiful scenery.
Three of Us
 Corey, myself, and Tim in front of a breathtaking view in Utah.  We're smiling because we aren't at rehearsal.  :-)
Scooter Holding Scott
This is at a scenic viewpoint we stopped at in Utah.  The guy in the orange shirt is Scooter, a member of the visual/guard staff, holding the corps director, Scott Stewart.  Yeah, there's a lotta love in that corps!
One of the best advantages of being a five year veteran in the Madison Scouts hornline is having the honor of playing the solo in our corps song, "You'll Never Walk Alone," which you are hearing right now. This is a photo of our last day of rehearsal for the 1998 season, my last day with the corps, playing that solo for the last time.
Stephanie and me
This is Stephanie, now my wife, and myself after DCI Finals.  One thing I will NOT miss about marching drum corps is leaving this beautiful person for three months out of the year.  Thanks for sticking it out, Stephanie.

More pics to come on this page.
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