Top 5 Musical Moments of My Life (or at least so far assuming there are not other musical moments later in my life that could be better than these 5)

I have a couple weeks off from marching band and overall school stuff, so I thought I would write a few blogs. That way I won't be completely lazy and stress myself out about people and things that I can't control while passively watching DVD's that I have already watched a thousand times while slacking off on the things that I can control.

So we start with a Top 5. I don't write enough of these. Enjoy.

6. Special Dream Musical Moment:
This one didn't actually happen. But if I were even more bored than I already am I would make a top 5 dream musical moments. This is not to be confused with moments that I wish would happen. These are events that have actually happened in my dreams while I was sleeping. This one occurred last night:
In my dream I was completely stressing out about some marching band mellodrama (bad pun with ill-conceived intention) at school. The school randomly looked like the IU Jacobs School of Music and not Eastern Greene. All of a sudden I see Carry Underwood walk by. She says hi to me like we vaguely knew each other in high school. I tell her that I am pretty good bass player and would love to do some session work on her album. She says that would be awesome and told me I would have to be in Memphis in a couple days. And just like that I am going to record for Carry Underwood. My friend (more like my idol that I wish were my friend) Davis Harwell made an appearance and gave me some pointers on what it was like to record with Carry and said he would join me.

An extremely important side note: Carry Underwood looked exactly like Jaime Presley and for some odd reason I was not confused by this.

Ok done with that. Now on to the real list:

5. The Last Connexion--May 2005:
For more than two years I was the regular bass player for the college service at ECC in Bloomington--Connexion. Now this blog is gonna come out sacrilegious because I am going to talk about it from a purely musical angle and not bring in (too much) our work for The Lord. I will say this though-- one of the reasons that band clicked so much is because we (eventually) stopped worrying about what everyone else and God thought of us and just played. We used our God-given abilities and dedication to developing those abilities to play great music, which would then lend to great worship from the congregation.
That Connexion band should go down as one of the best worship bands ever assembled-- but we are not allowed to do that because it is not about the music-- oh well. I will say it. We rocked for Jesus without apology. We weren't showing off at the end of that journey (we were in the beginning) we just clicked as a unified unit. The band had an intimidating lineup of musicians for a simple church worship team. Daniel Vencil leading on acoustic guitar and vocals backed by his wife Leanne and Christine Ondrik (probably the best low female voice I have ever heard, not kidding) We also had Mark helping out on vocals (can't remember the last name--sorry). The guitars were strapped on by Jim Walsh (an outside the box guitarist who was about rhythmic and harmonic variety yet never took a solo) and Dave Fladung (who had a ton of cool gear and took a few lead parts since we can't call them solos). The group was rounded out by the funkiest and heaviest (both words with multiple purposeful meanings) rhythm section in Christian music: Keshar Miller on jembe (always a natural on that thing), Davis Harwell on keyboards (a great musician and listener who also loved to kick his foot out), and the Burkhart brothers-- My brother Chris and I (we can lock in so well at times that we didn't need to practice song forms, and yet we practiced constantly).
Our last night playing together was special because Daniel--the man who put the group together-- was leaving and the rest of us would never quite be the same as a unit even if we were all around. We played all of our favorite tunes (Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble, Beautiful One) and played with a freedom that could only be allowed in a church-- and can only be criticized in a church.


4. The Eastern Greene Marching Thunderbirds at the Linton July 4 Parade:
It should be noted that all of these events are events that I was either performing in or in charge of. There are a couple of big moments in my musical dynasty that I was simply a spectator for. I mention this here because the reasoning behind this being in the top 5 could be used for more than a couple concerts I have been to.
This was the debut of the Eastern Greene Marching Band under my direction. The first ever public performance. We were dressed in all black in preparation for our Black Parade Show at the State Fair. It was an extremely interesting time because I was as nervous as Lindsey Lohan taking a breathalyzer test. (Ok that joke has been overdone. My bad.)
I didn't want the band's first performance with me as their director to go badly. We warmed up and got ready to set out and everything looked ok. There were some people out of step and you couldn't hear the trumpets on the melody, but other than that it was alright. Nothing awe-inspiring, but alright. Then we are about a quarter of a mile from the end of the parade. Everything is peachy, the kids are getting a little tired, but it isn't bad. The rain clouds had been popping out all day but it looked like they would hold. All of the other bands had finished their parade route and we were the last one remaining. Then it hit. The rain dropped like a Li'l Wayne mix tape. No one could avoid it. The rain was so heavy that the back of my t-shirt was soaked in under 4 seconds. And the best part was...the band loved it! I honestly thought they would wine and complain but they were wailing! The drums were banging as hard as ever and the brass decided to go for it in an otherwise timid performance. It was an amazing experience that left the kids cheering and singing all the way to dismissal. I was amazed that the rain could unify a group like that. It was a crowning achievement in a very interesting first marching band season, and I will never forget it.


3. IU vs. Duke--Winter 2005, The Day Marco Killingsworth Died:
I had to choose one IU basketball game from my IU pep band days. There were several highlights throughout my years with the Big Red Basketball Band and the Crab Bands. I wish I would have traveled with them more when I had the chance (I missed an all expenses paid trip to LA because of a recital. I suck). But this game sticks out the most.
Duke had not played at the Assembly Hall in forever and they brought a Bloomington North alumnus (Sean May who is slowly becoming a poor man's Elton Brand or a rich man's Udonis Haslem depending on your world view). So the game was hyped. And when the game is hyped the band is too. I played as loud as physically could using those two giant speakers and still didn't play loud enough for people across the court to hear me. When Marco (an extremely talented post player who spent more time than even I do at Taco Bell) got his 30th point the crowd lost it. So did I, rocking the bass as illegally as I could (my drum partner and myself may or may not have inspired some new Big 10 regulations on when we could play thus destroying the famous door bell after free throws. That night I rocked the door bell with distortion. Screw you Big 10.
The band played all the classics of IU pep band lore. 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'Basket Case', 'Tango di Smedley', and a host of others. It was one of the more intense nights of my life. I perspired more than than Big from "Big and Rob" trying to get off the couch to get a doughnut. I played grooves that, to this day, get copied at IU and now at Eastern Greene. We lost the game. But the journey there was so incredible that I actually included myself in "we" even though I technically didn't play.

2. My Senior Recital-- April of 2005
I am not the best musician ever. I don't suck and I am in fact pretty good. But I am not a master of any one musical instrument or style. My greatest talent (more accurately my greatest effort) is my absolute desire to be a Renaissance man in the world of music. I have always wanted to do a little bit of everything. This recital (which is on CD-- maybe I'll post it sometime since it's not cool to blog words anymore) was the culmination of my hopes and efforts to create something that was musically diverse but still very well connected. And I think I succeeded at that. This was my greatest outpouring of my talent and soul into 50 minutes. And the best part is that it counted for a grade. I put a lot into that day, and what made it number 2 on this list is how much it all worked together.
What connected the music together was not some chord or thematic thread in the music-- it was the people. The recital was, as my trombone teacher the honorable professor Carl Lenthe put it, a rock show without rock music (I don't think he actually said this but I felt he deserved a shout out for being such a great open minded teacher while his idiot student attempted something that had not been attempted too often.
There were fifteen people in the recital. Two trombone quartets, my brass quintet, a a talented piano player, and The House band (featuring the great guys I had lived with for those two years). The audience was comprised of over 150 people that I knew and loved from all the different random stuff I had been a part of over my college career. There were mistakes and mishaps, but overall the day will go down as one of those few special days where it is ok that the world revolves around you (the other days being your wedding and funeral--one of which is really about the woman, and the other you are not really attending, so this day was special).

1. November 1, 2003-- Mountain Madness
And here we are-- number 1 on my list of all time greatest musical moments of my lifetime. Is it when I performed with Paul McCartney? When I sang drunken Irish songs with Bono? When Joe Alessi called me for help on his new concerto? When Victor Wooten borrowed some of my licks for a gig and asked me to sit in with him? When I invented the bassoon?
No to all of those. My greatest musical moment was at my 21st birthday party. For those of you who don't know, I don't drink (not a subject for blogging, I promise that it is not for some religious reason though). Anyway, so my 21st birthday party was a Mountain Dew party. My addiction to Mountain Dew is comparable to a coffee addiction or a spell of alcohol abuse that is not necessarily alcoholism. The part was designed to be for everybody I knew (and even people I didn't) with all the mountain dew possible and a couple of options for people who weren't feelin' that. The party was fun and was probably the most well attended non-alcoholic party without an agenda during autumn on Highland Ave. in Bloomington, IN ever (including a special appearance by the Daly girls).
But a wonderful side plot occurred. My bedroom at that house became an open room to jam a little bit. There were drums, guitars, basses, little flutes, and even some trombones available. By about halfway through the night we were exploding in intense simple funk grooves with horn solos and me on bass. It was one of the only times that I have completely lost myself to the music I was playing. It was the greatest night of my musical life even though it probably didn't matter to anyone else's. I am still looking for the next time that I can lose myself to the music. It is hard for me to do (as based on my writing style, I am pretty self-conscious and constantly thinking). I hope that one day I will do it again, because it is the closest I have ever gotten to being truly at peace. That is what music should bring to everyone. I guess I am lucky that it has happened to me at least once.