Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="msf22b, post: 2893855, member: 656"] Off topic reply: Actually Coco, I didn't call him an idiot for punishing Allan...just said in general. In Allan's case, he was provoked and misrepresented to (long story, which I'm not going to tell here) but surely he deserved to be punished. It was just that the punishment was far greater than the crime. The standard being a week in KP and a 6-month demotion. You're also not correct about the manner in which the process unfolded. Once his orders were cut and approved by the hill, he was out the door in 24 hours with MP supervision...I think the well-known (infamous) General Westmorland was still in charge There was no way our CO could have been anything but a messenger boy, perhaps pleading (with his supervisors) for leniency and compromise as a way to save all three "special" bands which had been threatened by this committee of powerful civilians. The presidents of Juilliard, Eastman and Curtis and all the wind and brass principals of the NY Phil and Boston Symphony signed a statement threatening that they would never allow their students to be so treated...Meaning no future special band enlistments for their superstar pupils. Prior to that, these bands were a sort of minor leagues for the major orchestras, allowing the best students to have ample time to practice and continue to take lessons (the army paid), and get a little maturity while preparing auditions, at the same time serving their country for 3 years (enlistment required an extra year). In return, the military guaranteed you wouldn't get shot at, gave you non-commissioned rank and allowed you to come and go as you pleased so long as you showed up for all formations. It was a reasonable, if lengthy arrangement; amazing what people will do to avoid the front lines (see Heller er al). Actually I'm researching a book about a young musician trying to avoid being sent to Korea and his letters sound exactly like Youssarian. perhaps they all do. In my case, upon arrival at the Point, i immediately came to the conclusion that my clarinet skills would not take me far, especially after hearing a young hick from West Virginia, who became the leading practitioner of orchestral performance on that instrument from his perch in Chicago, I eshewed the ritual all-afternoon practicing, rather majored in recreational activities (wonderful facilities at West Point), skiing in the winter, tennis in the shoulder seasons and sailing in the summer. But surely (in Alan's case) the army's decision (and it was quick), to compromise with our country's musical establishment and before a national scandal ensued was concluded at a reasonably high level. Much, much higher than a light Col. Alan was turned around in Tokyo, detailed to the Governor's Island Band, where he was greeted by the CO with the query..."Who(m) did you kill?" He thrived there, served honorably; of course his musical accomplishments were on a much higher level than his peers and he eventually was promoted to Sgt-Major of the band, a great irony considering his checkered past at "the Point." No short-timer at West Point got anywhere close to being a Sgt-Major. At the conclusion of his enlistment, he auditioned and was appointed principal bassoon of the LA Phil, for which he spent his career, eventually continuing to cause mayhem on becoming the union chair and in his spare time he wrote wonderful, humorous stories of the world as seen from the prospective of the bassoon. He retired with his wife to the Mountains of Wyoming, where a nice Jewish boy from Longa Island, hunts and fishes for Salmon in gushing rivers. is there no end to irony? Just setting the record straight. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach