The Moment I Became a Man

I remember the summer of 1994 quite well. In between two major life events — that being graduating high school and shipping off to basic training — I toured the U.S. with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps.

At the time, it was a thrill. I’d had some good moments in high school, but nothing like this. We’re talking playing in front of tens of thousands of fans at places like Mile High Stadium in Denver and Foxboro Stadium in Boston, to tiny venues in the middle of the middle of the Midwest.

It didn’t matter where we were; we brought the heat, and had a blast doing it.

But looking back at that time of my life, I view it as a coming of age experience.

Those opportunities for young people, and I think this is more important for boys than girls, to have a moment that they can identify as becoming a grownup are increasingly rare these days.

Perhaps this is why so many people have trouble with “adulting”.

It seems it’s never occurred to some people that they are no longer children and should therefore interact with the world differently than when they were.

At any rate, I wanted to have the man who “ran the show” with the Madison Scouts, Scott Stewart, on the podcast. Scott was a legend in his time. We all revered him, and on a subconscious level could sense his work was a true sacrifice, and that he wasn’t doing anything for any purpose other than to provide a great experience for all of us.

I met up with Scott at his home near Madison last week, and got to ask him all sorts of questions about what made a Madison show so special compared to so many of the other groups on the touring circuit.

You can watch or listen to the interview at this link: https://jamesdnewcomb.com/stewart