Rogue Cup Vol 4 A New Lie

[Ahabstar]

Beez and Snarl. I contemplated letting you agree on a choice of topics to be a little different but figured it would be more fun (for me anyway) to keep you guessing. And everyone knows that I entertain myself and just let others along for the ride. 

So for this narration, my lesser known quantity...music. 

1. I was offered a four year full ride scholarship at The University of Tennessee from the band director. 

2. I played with Lee Greenwood. 

3. I auditioned as the new drummer for .38 Special. 


Short and sweet without a large story to distract.

I guess I go first!

@Snarl LOSE???  NEVER!

Well maybe.

Claim #1.  What was the band director's name?

Dr. Julian. A very distinctive voice and I did do an impersonation. Which he never heard, obviously.

Question 2
How close were you and Dr. Julian: before, during and after your school years?

Before attending UT, I did not meet Dr. Julian. But I did meet Mr. Sparks who was the assistant band director. Typically there is an audition, especially for the percussion section as there are only The 33 snares, 6 quads, 8 tonal bass drums and 15 cymbals. I had five years marching as I was brought up to the high school marching band in eighth grade and had three years as the quad player. Plus I had to write my own quad parts as our music was only scored for tri-toms. That interview negated any need for an audition. 

During my time there, I cracked a joke about the behavior of the Akron Zips Marching Band that came to Knoxville in their football program’s inaugural season. The joke itself happened after they did a cheer in the stands prior to the pregame show. “Give me a T-U-B-A. What’s that spell? Sousaphone.” Dr. Julian turned his head to shake it at the stupidity. To which I quipped “And now you know why I came to Tennessee instead of going to school in Ohio.” He wandered off without saying a word and came back with Mr. Sparks and Miss Root and had me repeat it to them while he was laughing the entire time I set it up for the quip. 

When I made the decision to withdraw from UT as I could not schedule required theater classes for the second semester in a row. Dr. Julian chewed me out for not coming to him first. And that was when the full ride was offered in exchange for changing my major from theatre to music. 

After UT, I was invited to be in the alumni band for Dr. Julian’s final year. He walked up to me while I was tying new cymbal straps on a pair of cymbals for one of the students. To which he said, tell me you didn’t go back to Akron. And I talked about some of the things I had done in the intervening years. Which includes a few of the things mentioned above...