ten [tie] 'you are the stongest motha fuckers i have ever seen.' - marc sylvester, 08.11.01
ten [tie] finals warmup, 2000: 'you make me want to be a better human being.' -gino cipriani, addressing the brass section before we walked to the gate.
nine june 26, 2000: tampa, florida. the first [and only, to date] time i ever got a "go sam!" from someone in the crowd. way cool.
eight warming up in buffalo: july 1999. there was a man in the center of our circle listening to us warm up. frank sullivan explained that he was a Cadet in 1983 and 1984. without saying anything, we played 'almighty father' from bernstein's mass. [the Cadets played this in 1983] our visitor visibly lost it. he started crying and laughing and jumping up and down. i knew then what it was to be a Cadet.
seven the 18 minutes after the Cadets' 1998 finals performance. there was nothing left. we were drained in every way, because all the pent up emotion of the season was unleashed on the citrus bowl that night. perfect does not do the situation justice. tears were flowing...many many tears...
six lynn, ma 2001. the entire evening was unreal. we had made it back 'home' after the california trip, and we were ready to show the east how much better he had become. we performed to the maximum this night. i watched gino and george jump up and down for all of moondance, and realized that the only reason i cared about winning was the chance to do the victory concert at the end of the night. i think zingali would have been proud of his cadets at his home show this night.
five normal, illinois june 2000. i know that all those kids at the boa symposium were told to jump up and down for everything we did, but it still felt special. at the company front i couldn't even hear myself play. [and i played really loud] i'll never forget the look on zak's face as he waved his arms. even though it was only the first show, it was only a precursor of what the rest of the summer had in store...
four memorial brass 2000: cadillac of the skies. we played this piece like it had never been played before [even with the squeaky woodwinds]. the echo and the sounds gave me goosebumps. people i have talked to since say that it brought them to tears. im not sure why exactly we decided to play it like that- i'm not one to ask questions, though.
three erie, pa 2001. we finally eclipsed the cavaliers' score, which meant that we would get to do a victory concert. i believe that of all the times our ballad was performed, this one was the finest. there was a woman in the crowd about 6 rows up who began crying. i think that i realized that it didn't matter if we won or lost at that point.
two leading, along with kyle, the 1999 Cadets off the field after finals retreat. it just worked out that since we were in the right place at the right time that we got to do it. i have never been more proud. all the emotion of the evening was overwhelming. there's just something in that cool wisconsin air, i guess.
one the 18 minutes after the Cadets'
1999 finals performance. there has never been a better feeling. even george
cried. its not even worth trying to put into words.