CHILLS & THRILLS IN SCOTLAND: GOLDEN EAGLES REMEMBER

Bob Adcox sang at an impromptu gathering.

The Queen's Royal Hussars performed at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Even Golden Eagles need a nap.

All the bands played in the finale. This is an official Edinburgh Military Tattoo photograph.

Actor Sean Connery and the Edinburgh lord provost partied with Southeast's Sarah Morris, Errin Fluegge and Heather Biondo at a reception.

The Golden Eagles paraded through Edinburgh.

Golden Eagles in the mist.

Director Barry Bernhardt: "Kilts are quite comfortable."

The night-time temperatures in Scotland were in the high '40s and low '50s during the Golden Eagles' month-long performance at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, but the chills came from another source.

Bass drummer Bob Adcox of St. Louis won't soon forget playing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" on the esplanade of the nearly 1,000-year-old Edinburgh Castle every night before a sold-out audience of 8,600.

"When the flag came out people began cheering," he said.

The Southeast Missouri State University marching band returned from Scotland Sunday after performing 26 times in 28 days. Many of them, including director Barry Bernhardt, had an experience of a lifetime.

"I've done a lot of neat things in my career, performances at the Super Bowl and the Olympics," he said. "But this far surpasses any of that."

The performance was seen live by some 200,000 people, including the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Anne and actor Sean Connery, and was broadcast by the BBC to an estimated 100 million people more. The broadcast could be viewed in the U.S. via the Internet and probably will be shown on PBS stations later, Bernhardt said.

After arriving in London at the end of July, the Golden Eagles performed first for the Lord Mayor of York and the refugees from Kosovo who were staying with him. The mayor gave each musician a medal.

The band and the Southeast Jazz Band also played for a breathtaking 20,000 people at an event called Jazz on Sunday Afternoon Aug. 1.

The following days were dedicated to rehearsals and performances on the esplanade, which is actually the castle's 25-by-85-yard parking lot. Grandstands are erected on three sides during the tattoo.

The Golden Eagles had the spotlight alone for only nine minutes each night. Their tunes were shortened versions of "Old Man River," a Count Basie version of "Strike Up the Band," "Sing Sing Sing," the Latin-influenced "Sunrise Lady" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

All the performers at the tattoo joined together for the finale of the 90-minute concert. The other performers were: the Massed Pipes and Drums, the Barbados Defence Force Band, the Tattoo Scottish Country Dancers, the Thin Red Line (a historical pageant), the Tattoo Ceilidh Dancers, the Massed Cavalry Bands and Tattoo Choir, and the Massed Military Bands and Massed Pipes and Drums.

Bernhardt said the Golden Eagles impressed everyone with their precise timing and performances. The director of the tattoo made criticisms of the bands at the regular production meetings.

"When he got us he always said, Brilliant," Bernhardt recalled.

Bernhardt himself was affected not only by the students' musicianship but how patriotic they turned out to be.

When the commandant of the military base they lodged at asked if they wanted to raise the American flag during their stay, four former Boy Scouts in the band hoisted the flag up the pole as it's supposed to be done. And as a trumpeter played the appropriate notes, the other members of the Golden Eagles spontaneously began singing The National Anthem.

"It was one of the most moving things I have ever experienced in my life," Bernhardt said.

The band lowered and raised the flag every day.

The Golden Eagles' appearance was covered by all the major media, including the London Daily Telegraph and the London Times. The media made a star of twirler Erin Fluegge of Jackson, who twirls not only batons but flaming knives.

European military bands don't have baton twirlers and their performances tend to be somber.

"They'd never seen anything like her before," Adcox said.

The band members slept on cots in barracks, 20 to a room. They adjusted to the lack of privacy, even to heavy snorers and one member with sleep apnea. "Everybody else wanted to get to bed before the snoring guys did," Bernhardt said. "And they would watch the guy with sleep apnea because they were afraid he'd stop breathing."

Adcox misses the camaraderie of the barracks. "When I got home, I kind of missed having everybody there when I woke up," he said.

Sam Godwin, a Bertrand senior who plays tuba in the marching band and bass in the jazz band, left Scotland with an impression of Scots as nice people.

But he wasn't in love with the food, which is heavy on potatoes and lamb. "We spent a lot of money at Villa Pasta," he said.

During their stay, the band took a 12-hour bus tour to Sterling Castle (where "Braveheart" was filmed), a resort called Glencoe, to Loch Ness and to Inverness.

Besides Bernhardt, the Golden Eagles were accompanied throughout their stay by Dr. Dan Dunavan, a percussion professor at the university. Visiting for shorter periods were Dr. Robert Fruehwald, chairman of the Department of Music, Southeast President Dr. Ken Dobbins and Board of Regents President Don Dickerson.

Eighty of the approximately 140 members of the Golden Eagles made the trip to Scotland. The number was based on how many could afford to make the trip, Bernhardt said.

Those 80 Golden Eagles will perform their nine-minute program tonight at Houck Stadium during the first game of the 1999 season. A rumor is circulating that some may be wearing kilts.