Thanks Luke.

"I wish I had been a teenager in the 80's.

The Glassmen newsgroup has come alive lately with memories from the corps' colorful history in the 80's; from tour busses being given accidental "sunroofs" to roaches that scurried in the housing sites at night. Besides obvious reasons like legwarmers, crimped hair, and Run DMC, reading the newsgroup has reminded me of just how great the 80's were.

It's fun to imagine that eventually I'll be contributing my own stories to alumni newsgroups. Looking back on what I've shared with DCI.org, I didn't think that I could come up with any other memories from tour...until I stumbled across this little gem of a topic:

Adam was an unlucky guy. He had been given the nickname "Mullet" during the 2002 season after showing up to move-ins with a bad haircut, and since then had been plagued with various misfortunes.

He was a member of the famous Glassmen scaffolding crew, and his duty was to set up and tear down the huge metal structure every morning and night. On a particularly unfortunate day, he slipped and took a head-first dive off the top level of the 20 foot scaffolding and landed flat on his back. He miraculously walked away without major injuries, save for a bruised ego.

On a free day in Chicago during the 2001 season, Mullet accidentally stubbed his toe in the showers. It wasn't any normal stub, it was the kind that semi-crippled him for his one day of freedom. His friends ran ahead on the streets and taunted him while he dragged his foot behind, wearing his bright red Glassmen bowling shirt while his face became sheet-white from blood loss and exhaustion.

"It was like God had heaped all the bad luck in the universe on this poor guy," commented former Glassmen contra Lee Bond. "Too weird to live and too rare to die."

Another instance of bad luck befalling our tragic hero was when an airplane flew overhead during rehearsal in New York. Everyone was told to look up to see what was apparently a very interesting plane, and Mullet unfortunately looked up too fast. Eyewitness accounts all agreed that he was on his knees faster than anyone could say "Hey look, it's a bird, it's a plane!"

He had suffered a whiplash.

After a hospital visit and several painkillers, Adam seemed to be okay. He was in a somnambulant haze and speaking in third person as "The Mullet", but we figured he deserved to have a little escape from his unlucky reality. He spent one week in a neck brace (while developing an odd tanline from it), and was back in business by the next weekend.

I can't wait to share my Mullet stories with future drum corps generations, and I hope to see more people like him in years to come. If you've got a Mullet-like person in your drum corps, feel free to contact me and share your stories too."

And thank you, Gail (And Garth, Moomey, Jeff, Matt...)

"When Mullet hit the ground he was traveling at approximately 19.5 miles per hour."

You really, really have to know this guy.

MUSIC: Dashboard Confessional - Hands Down