Topic: "the warrior"
I knew everyone else was going to be doing medieval fantasy armor so I was going to be different. Still didn't win though!
I think this came out of my year as a high school band director in the microscopic west Texas town of Sanderson. The school only had about 100 students so every boy HAD to go out for football no matter how pathetically scrawny he was. Technically not required but I'm sure the peer pressure was enormous. Of all the boys in my band exactly one was not on the football team and thus able to be in the marching band during football season.
That was Martin (mar-TEEN), about the only person in that whole town with what might be identified as having wit or cleverness. One Friday night he asked me if he could lead the band in the school fight song.
"Sure" I said. The game was just about over. The "Eagles" were losing again. It didn't matter and the band didn't really need a conductor for that anyway.
So, he gets up and does the best parody of conducting I've ever seen. He's giving cues and dynamics and everything, too. Imagine Stokowski doing a fight song for Fantasia but funnier. I wish I had film of it.
I have no idea what became of Martin after that year. I hope he got out of that sleepy town.
