donincardona Posted May 19, 2013 Posted May 19, 2013 there is a lot of confusion on the butch, russo thing. now i don't know if i really remember stuff or it's my memory. wish we could clear it up. Quote
ajlisko Posted May 19, 2013 Posted May 19, 2013 there is a lot of confusion on the butch, russo thing. now i don't know if i really remember stuff or it's my memory. wish we could clear it up. Nothing to clear up Don ... keep whatever memories you have ... that's what drum corps myth and fokelore are all about ... :-) 1 Quote
NanciD Posted May 19, 2013 Author Posted May 19, 2013 It's been a while. I better put this up again so, folks know who we are working on now. Please Read Before You Post If you *know* who it is.... please wait a while (not everyone is on here all day or even daily for that matter) If there have been no Guesses..........Then give a *challenging* hint. When giving hints on these try to be creative and just dangle the tiniest tidbit. Make people really think / work on it. Then wait it out a while before tossing another tiny vague tidbit... C'mon we've got to make these last a little longer. PLEASE?? Also, any comments made MUST be made in good taste... this is a fun loving thread... not a revenge match. Please spew your venom elsewhere. Please submit any questions and / or pics in their full size (preferably JPG format), with full description - names, Corps, Stadium, Year... etc. to: The *Guess Who* Mailbox Thanx in advance! All that said and out of the way.. One @ a time, please... Left to Right: Guess Who # 485 ? (click on pic to enlarge) One at a time, please...Left to Right: 1. Mark Plotts - Westshoremen 2. ?? ?? Quote
donincardona Posted May 19, 2013 Posted May 19, 2013 It's been a while. I better put this up again so, folks know who we are working on now. Please Read Before You Post If you *know* who it is.... please wait a while (not everyone is on here all day or even daily for that matter) If there have been no Guesses..........Then give a *challenging* hint. When giving hints on these try to be creative and just dangle the tiniest tidbit. Make people really think / work on it. Then wait it out a while before tossing another tiny vague tidbit... C'mon we've got to make these last a little longer. PLEASE?? Also, any comments made MUST be made in good taste... this is a fun loving thread... not a revenge match. Please spew your venom elsewhere. Please submit any questions and / or pics in their full size (preferably JPG format), with full description - names, Corps, Stadium, Year... etc. to: The *Guess Who* Mailbox Thanx in advance! All that said and out of the way.. One @ a time, please... Left to Right: Guess Who # 485 ? (click on pic to enlarge) One at a time, please...Left to Right: 1. Mark Plotts - Westshoremen 2. ?? ?? ok since we've been talking about hi #2 is none other that....................jimmy russo. Quote
Jaminbenb Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 Yeah, helluva mix in the corps during that time and plenty of internal issues here and there. Part of it IMO was the difference in mentality because we had ex-Yankee Rebels in the drum line and those cats knew what it took to win. For years the drum line was the weak spot in the corps and now the horn line was catching crap for holding the corps back... which was not well received by some. Add in a new horn guy with a DC instead of MB background and first change there since the re-start... hoooo boy. Can't remember the session with Alan (Allen?) too much but did not go well. Think Mark was told to direct and Smythe kept stopping him and saying what Mark was doing wrong. This was in front of the corps which didn't do Marks confidence any good. Smythe was trying to help but was handled in a lousy way. IIRC (and not much I remember) Smythe was trying to get Mark to show more of a personality in his directing which (IMO) was the least of our worries. Lot of corps members talked to Mark later saying not to sweat it as he was doing things OK which probably did help in the long run. And at least one ex-Reb snare chewed out corps staff for allowing this to happen. "OUR DM you should have STOOD UP for him". Which reminds me.... week before DCA at Corning, NY. Same place the buses went the wrong way down the main drag in Corning... TWICE! One of the gripes about Marks style was due to our fast paced concert number "Grenada Smoothie". Mark would direct every beat which kind of made his arms a blur in bad lighting and loose sleeved uni. At Corning the woman working CG was told to direct because she could direct Smoothie by waving her arms on 1 and 3 only. Yeah, week before DCA and we're trying this crap.... The lady replaces Mark on the podium , brings the horns up, directs the song and.... jumps off the podium. Notice I never said "brings the horns down". Half the horn line popped down at the usual spot and the rest of us are still at horns up. Mark jumped on the podium with this look/smile like "I've been vindicated" and says "Horns" and brings us down. All I could think on the field was "You deserved this bit of payback buddy, good for you". Oh yeah... either 1979 or 1980 DCA (think 1979) you hear someone yelling on the last note of our show which was held..... forever.... while back I figured out who it was... Mark... :worthy:/> I tend to remember a little of that, and yeah Allan(?) Smythe was ruthless with him, but he needed it....sort of like graduating from the little league to the big leagues...Mark was a nice guy, but didn't really have what it took, and I think he was thrown to the wolves pretty quickly..as Jim said, there was a LOT of "history" marching in that corps at that time (along with us newbies) and AS a (young 14 year old) newbie, I got to hear what the old vets were saying about the poor b#st#rd.... Mark was a great guy, and rolled with the punches, but I did pity the poor boy back then (and was surprised that he lasted as long as he did) Quote
Jaminbenb Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 The story I was told was Jimmy was supposed to go to Sky and Butch was supposed to go to Cabs. Costello wanted Jimmy and Lefty wanted Butch. (Butch told me that around 82/83...) We were talking about "It's a small world after all".... (How did we end up were we were) After my time with BAC I was supposed to go to Sky (As a Bari) and went to the Renegades (Everett MA, RCA Corps) met Donna and never went to Sky. When I marched in the Hurcs it was still "all male" and Donna wanted to march, Mike DeLorenzo (Director of Sun in the winter of 74) invited several of us from Poughkeepsie to come down to Sun and, as they say. the rest is history... You should write a freaking book Tony! Quote
donincardona Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 I tend to remember a little of that, and yeah Allan(?) Smythe was ruthless with him, but he needed it....sort of like graduating from the little league to the big leagues...Mark was a nice guy, but didn't really have what it took, and I think he was thrown to the wolves pretty quickly..as Jim said, there was a LOT of "history" marching in that corps at that time (along with us newbies) and AS a (young 14 year old) newbie, I got to hear what the old vets were saying about the poor b#st#rd.... Mark was a great guy, and rolled with the punches, but I did pity the poor boy back then (and was surprised that he lasted as long as he did) i may get slammed for this but.......alan smythe was a great showman. he could really put on a show. but as a good director, not so much. corky wouldn't let him direct concerts. and after he left the drumline would never watch him. we would go off the lead snare. just telling some truth here. Quote
TomPeashey Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 i may get slammed for this but.......alan smythe was a great showman. he could really put on a show. but as a good director, not so much. corky wouldn't let him direct concerts. and after he left the drumline would never watch him. we would go off the lead snare. just telling some truth here. I don't know why anyone would slam you Donnie... NO ONE (save possibly Vince Bruni and I'm not even sure of this) was any closer to Alan than me... BUT... He had to work his butt off on the music to be just "passable" ... as a music director goes, he was a national champion baton twirler... we definitely would tell new guys to NOT watch him... but as a LEADER on the field he was second to none... and had a heart as big as the state of New York... Quote
JimF-LowBari Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 I don't know why anyone would slam you Donnie... NO ONE (save possibly Vince Bruni and I'm not even sure of this) was any closer to Alan than me... BUT... He had to work his butt off on the music to be just "passable" ... as a music director goes, he was a national champion baton twirler... we definitely would tell new guys to NOT watch him... but as a LEADER on the field he was second to none... and had a heart as big as the state of New York... All this talk about DMs, Mark, Alan (Tom must be spelling it right), etc, etc reminded me of one of our contras who was former Yankee-Rebel. No idea which YR DM he was referring to but the line was "We'd always tell people, don't watch his arms... watch his feet". Quote
JimF-LowBari Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 (edited) I tend to remember a little of that, and yeah Allan(?) Smythe was ruthless with him, but he needed it....sort of like graduating from the little league to the big leagues...Mark was a nice guy, but didn't really have what it took, and I think he was thrown to the wolves pretty quickly..as Jim said, there was a LOT of "history" marching in that corps at that time (along with us newbies) and AS a (young 14 year old) newbie, I got to hear what the old vets were saying about the poor b#st#rd.... Mark was a great guy, and rolled with the punches, but I did pity the poor boy back then (and was surprised that he lasted as long as he did) Never did figure out why the corps had someone go from HS to totally fronting a corps trying to claw their way into the top half of DCA. Hershey would have been OK, Westshore in leaner years would have been OK, but the pressure on us in 1979 to break way out of bottom rung Finalist???? Think at least they could have found/hired someone for a year while Mark field DM'ed and learned the ropes. IIRC Rich T brought Mark down from "the North" and... well... sometimes Rich rubbed people the wrong way which didn't help Mark either. LOL - guess we're exposing the GW'ers (that's Guess Whoers Ben) to the wonderful soap opera of Westshore.... Edited May 20, 2013 by JimF-LowBari Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.