donincardona Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 Hard to believe he's gone ... what year did he take over as DM for the Bucs? wasn't it 74 or 75? Quote
ajlisko Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 wasn't it 74 or 75? You are correct ... from his bio on his Drum Major Academy: 1975: G_____ P____ becomes drum major of the Reading Buccaneers Senior Drum and Bugle Corps. :-) Quote
ereese Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 In '76 when we were competing against Reading, I used to watch him and just marvel. Complete control, and what a talent with the mace. 1 Quote
Jaminbenb Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 Not sure when he actually took over as DM...I seem to remember someone saying that he played contra for a season, but not entirely sure... I met him here and there throughout the years I marched Westshore, and did the usual small talk crap, etc. We had one of those "I don't know your name but I know you" kind of things with him (although I obviously knew who he was). When I walked into the Bucs practice in 1984, he looked at me and said "Well it's about time you get your butt here!" Shook my hand and patted me on the back. What was funny was how he would "learn" our parts and cue us...it was really wild to lock eyes with him during a show, he was thoroughly intense! But just a very nice down to Earth guy from my perspective. Weird that he's gone... One other funny thing was that he traveled with his "Intellivision" system, and was apparently hooked to the football game...when the rest of us were partying like madmen at hotels, he was beating the crap out of people with the video game! Quote
ajlisko Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 Not sure when he actually took over as DM...I seem to remember someone saying that he played contra for a season, but not entirely sure... Makes sense ... his bio states that he was a tuba major in college ... Quote
Jaminbenb Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 Makes sense ... his bio states that he was a tuba major in college ... Yeah, that I knew, but wasn't sure if he actually marched contra with Bucs or not? He played tuba with West Chester, then became their DM...and IIRC, he used his WCU DM uniform for a while with Bucs...I seem to remember reading something about that....I think it might have been an article, or series of articles called "The Mace Bearing Professor" in Drum Corps News?! Quote
TomPeashey Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 George was an amazing guy... a FANTASTIC musician and a talented showman.... they don't get any better than him... We had many discussions on the activity and throughout his success and recognition as one of the great bandmasters of all time, he never forgot what drum corps did for him... My dear friend Alan Smythe was thrilled to give him "pointers" on how to handle the mace and showman angles of drum majoring while his natural musical ability allowed him to control the corps/band in front of him completely and effectively... Someone was surprised that the national news picked up on his death... I wasn't... You know there's a lot more of us former band geeks out there leading the world than there are football jocks... and so many former band/corps people recognize him as "The Best"... with all the talented musicians I've known, he is the only one that to me personifies the ability and success of the master of masters, John Phillip Sousa... 1 Quote
Jaminbenb Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 Sliding off topic for a second.... Seeing that a few of you marched in Rochester...did you march in 78? I was in the Chocolatiers that year, and back then they sponsored the "Hershey Invitational", and therefore, since I was a member, I was assigned stuff for the day. My assignment was being the liaison for The Crusaders! (Basically, me and another guy were to meet your busses, and hand your corps director a packet of info for the show, the local food places, etc. And just be there in case you needed anything until about lunch time... What I remember, when you guys pulled up was that the hornline got off of the bus playing the "Tonight Fanfare" and we were totally blown away by that! But what was also fun, was meeting (for the first time) Big Bob Gibson (and little Bobby at some point...he was late arriving) As well as a few guys from your drumline that I ended up becoming friends with and getting to know better after the Gibsons came over to Westshore the next year.... Dallas the tom player and Jim Prentice the timpani player. That was just a fun day to get to hang out with you guys...and it was a great show that year! Quote
donincardona Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 Sliding off topic for a second.... Seeing that a few of you marched in Rochester...did you march in 78? I was in the Chocolatiers that year, and back then they sponsored the "Hershey Invitational", and therefore, since I was a member, I was assigned stuff for the day. My assignment was being the liaison for The Crusaders! (Basically, me and another guy were to meet your busses, and hand your corps director a packet of info for the show, the local food places, etc. And just be there in case you needed anything until about lunch time... What I remember, when you guys pulled up was that the hornline got off of the bus playing the "Tonight Fanfare" and we were totally blown away by that! But what was also fun, was meeting (for the first time) Big Bob Gibson (and little Bobby at some point...he was late arriving) As well as a few guys from your drumline that I ended up becoming friends with and getting to know better after the Gibsons came over to Westshore the next year.... Dallas the tom player and Jim Prentice the timpani player. That was just a fun day to get to hang out with you guys...and it was a great show that year! i was a drummer with cru. the gibson's were good people. prentice was a guy i taught the in's and out's of playing tymp.....i hated that drum. and dallas came to us in 1975. i beleive he ended up an instructor after i left after 1980. they were all guy's that came in on colin campbells recruitment. all good guy's. the tonight fanfair went all the way back to the early 60's. a doc mizma arrangement. Quote
donincardona Posted May 24, 2013 Posted May 24, 2013 George was an amazing guy... a FANTASTIC musician and a talented showman.... they don't get any better than him... We had many discussions on the activity and throughout his success and recognition as one of the great bandmasters of all time, he never forgot what drum corps did for him... My dear friend Alan Smythe was thrilled to give him "pointers" on how to handle the mace and showman angles of drum majoring while his natural musical ability allowed him to control the corps/band in front of him completely and effectively... Someone was surprised that the national news picked up on his death... I wasn't... You know there's a lot more of us former band geeks out there leading the world than there are football jocks... and so many former band/corps people recognize him as "The Best"... with all the talented musicians I've known, he is the only one that to me personifies the ability and success of the master of masters, John Phillip Sousa... yeah tom i think george parks was the best there ever was. bar none. 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.