Occasional Musings by Kevin Russell
July 28, 2024 – Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina I am in the comfortable embrace of the South in North Carolina. Yesterday, I was picked up at the airport by my drum corps brother, Tim, and a friend for two days of the annual reunion and to attend NightBEAT in Winston-Salem. This is one of the best drum corps shows of the year. … Continue Reading →
July 27, 2024 – Nashville International Airport After two days of love in the south and the spirit of Music City, alas, I must leave. I am seated at C13 at the Nashville airport with plenty of time to catch up while I wait for my flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. I am meeting up with drum corps brother, Tim, family, and friends. We … Continue Reading →
July 26, 2024 – Nashville Tennessee I have left the mountains of Vermont for the sidewalks of the city, The Music City, Nashville, Tennessee. Instead of the Friday adventure with my local adventurers ascending to a peak, I am on my solo jaunt amid the tall skyscrapers and hard surfaces of the iconic city of the south, known as the capital of country music, … Continue Reading →
July 25, 2024, 9:00 a.m. – Burlington International Airport (BTV), Vermont This has been a musical morning. Rising at a reasonable hour to catch a 10:10 a.m. flight to Nashville, I set my streaming service to a tribute to Chick Corea by Hubert Laws and other great jazz musicians. On the one-hour trip to BTV, I heeded the music that came into my head, … Continue Reading →
July 17, 2024 – Phen Basin, Vermont My living room is not your average indoor climate-controlled space. In fact, it is outdoors, the Phen Basin Wilderness Area of the Camel’s Hump State Park in Vermont. I do not own this room but have lived in it as often as possible since discovering it in 1999. I also work there, maintaining the Old Mountain Road … Continue Reading →
July 11, 2024 – Along the Mill Brook This is my 70th trip around the sun and my 30th year residing along the Mill Brook. Over these past three decades, I have observed this efficient watershed that drains Mount Ellen, General Stark, Baby Stark, and Molly Stark Mountains. Along with Camel’s Hump to the north, these make up the Green Mountain Monroe Skyline. As … Continue Reading →
July 2, 2024 – Mason Ohio 8:00 am Today is the final show day of this phase of my 2024 DCI tour. Tonight, the Bluecoats are here to shake things up in their backyard at the Summer Music Games in Cincinnati. Boston Crusaders, Carolina Crown, and Phantom Regiment will be here to duke it out with them. Some in our group predict a shake-up … Continue Reading →
June 30, 2024 – Chicago, Illinois Touring multiple DCI shows during the short summer season requires much rubber to hit the road and wings in the air. After five days of traversing the landscape in the Kia, I am sitting here at the car rental complex at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. I just returned the budget rental that transported me 750 miles from … Continue Reading →
June 29, 2024 – Muncie, Indiana If there is one major thing that I have come to equate with the State of Indiana, it is youth music education. I have found that no matter what political color a state is, music education is a core value. When a drum and bugle corps competition comes to an Indiana town, all eyes are fixed, and ears … Continue Reading →
June 28, 2024 – 9:00 am – Steuben County, Indiana I am back in Indiana at a rest area on I-69. I am en route to Muncie for the second in my Midwest DCI series. It’s time to update you on my travels and sleeping accommodations last night at an undisclosed location in southern Michigan. Let’s just say that those who were permanently encamped … Continue Reading →