Memory Day: Sixteen Years Ago Today

Sixteen years ago today, on August 19, 1999, I was in Blacksburg, about to start my fourth year of college. The few days before the first day of class were always a whirlwind of marching band activities (although we didn't have a swank practice facility like the one that just opened). We started the day in the music wing, auditioning a neverending cavalcade of returning old-timers who had not practiced all summer long, but expected to be given first trumpet parts because of their age.

Midday, I uploaded everyone's pictures to the MV Trumpets website, a classy Javascript-based site (accessible at the SEO-friendly URL "buri.campus.vt.edu/mv/") that contained MIDI files for every single piece of trumpet sheet music in the repertoire for people to practice with (total downloads in 2 years: 7). This website also featured a loud auto-playing MIDI file in which I mashed up 8 different marching band songs, including the oft-maligned "Makin' a World of Diff'rence".

After an evening rehearsal in Cassell Colliseum, the trumpet section was invited to Doug's apartment in Pheasant Run (the infamous 222 Janie Lane), where everyone tried, but failed, to beat Doug at foozball. New freshman, Anna, was also at this party, and everyone tried, but failed, to sway her away from her high school boyfriend, Ben.