This page is a collection of stories as told by our alumni. If anyone would like to submit a story, please email the webmaster!
The Neckstrap Incident
The neckstrap incident....there was a sax player named Denise...I think she was one or two years behind me. At any rate,
she "misplaced" her neckstrap after rehearsal one night and proceed to blast sax-l with threats of finding the <expletive deleted>
who STOLE MY NECKSTRAP!!!.....except that this went on for several paragraphs. It was very odd, very random....not sure if she
ever found it. But she did end up in the clarinet section....to get away from those theiving saxophones....but only for a little
while as she eventually disappeared. I think. Actually, I don't really remember what happened to her come to think of it.....
Steve Gerbracht ('00) may actually have the original email since he saves all this stuff. Last I knew, he had the original Ariel
"Band Resignation Letter" which ended up being the spark that started Duct Tape Appreciation Night.
The Founding of Rank Lizard
Anyway, the story goes, Ralph Tuba '95 and I were moving into our room
in our fraternity house at the beginning of our Junior year. There was
all sorts of random crap left in the room, very weird stuff. We're
making some good progress cleaning up the room and settling in, when
Ralph pulls out from under his bed, this large rock ... with an electric
cord coming out of it. We were on the floor laughing. Pet rocks? Even
better, an electric rock! Why on earth would anyone want to plug in a
rock? We were absolutely dumbfounded. Finally the previous occupant of
the room walked by and said "Oh you found my lizard warmer!" Which of
course started a new round of hysteria. ("Hey baby, wanna warm my
lizard?")
Hence lizard mania was born that year. Of course one of the first nights
of band camp was that night too. I was rank leader and when they
assigned me rank 'L', what could be more natural? We of course had to
create a shot called the lizard warmer. We've posted how to mix one
before, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Key to the shot was
everyone chanting "Warm the lizard. Warm the lizard."
That rank proved to be full of a lot of great people that ended up being
die-hard 4 year bandies: Eva, Yarn, Windex, Corey ... crap I hope I'm
not forgetting anyone. Eva and Yarn actually MADE clay lizards at one
point. I also remember we had a big plastic croc that fit in a sax bell
that the rank leader would use to wave around when forming ranks.
The important thing though, was that everyone was into it, felt a part
of the team, and had fun. Don't feel like you have to be rank Lizard
just because some nut job [many] years ago did it. Go be rank Lima Bean if that's
what you guys want. Or if you do like the idea, don't be afraid to get
creative and make it your own. Is there some cool sax lizard song you
could play? Dress up like lizards for Halloween?
The Sax Wagon
The sax wagon was actually born out of laziness, I
think. See, we liked our hot cocca on Tuesday nights,
and we needed an efficient way to get the hot cocoa to
the field from the band room. That was the year we
started mixing the cocoa in five gallon coolers, which
gets kinda heavy. So, before the first band staff
meeting, we went down to K-Mart and bought the present
day wagon. I think it was Eva, myself, Yarn, Corey,
and Anne who pooled our money to buy the finest wagon
K-Mart had to offer.
So, my first (and only) band staff meeting that I
attended that year, I spent putting together the wagon
and drinking a (maybe several) beer(s). (Which was
very, very wrong. I should have never had a beer
during an official band event)
