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Canadian Alumni Corps at DCA


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Torn between going to Peckville for White Sabers or Kitchener Ontario to tend to another corps I do business with, I went to Canada.

DCA Alumni fans are in for a treat on Sunday AM, if they can shake off the Saturday night festivities! There were 3 alumni corps in the Scout House Tattoo that are worth seeing.

Obviously the host Scout House did their thing and feature the historical pieces such as Waltzing Matilda and Bridge over the River Kwai march theme, but also have some new material penned by Dave MacKinnon from the Bluecoats and Gord Cupskey. A bit smaller than some of the recent editions, Scout House still delivers their trademark unmistakably Canadian flair. Brass line was in the 30's for numbers and drums were full as well. These guys are always a crowd favorite and of course at their home show, they were well received!

Les Diplomates are back with a strong horn line numbering in the 50's. a cool concept, a great drum major and a different style of front ensemble. The pit featured a cello, tenor sax, a few synthesizers, and numerous latin style drums, The set drummer has constructed a wheel-on rack that has all of the drums just as a set would have them that is very unique. Some former Brigadier soloists showed they still can scream on trumpet, but the remarkable Genevieve on Contra was unreal! A mixed bag of material included cool arrangements of Tequila, some Les Miserables pieces and other Latin pieces. Drum line was solid as a rock and the guard showed a lot of presence with their costumes and theatrical and physical accompaniment to the music offered.

The Kawartha Kavaliers were also out for the show. This is the corps I wrote for and they are very good players and performers! The show is a mix of songs one may hear in summer concerts in a park in the 70's. The music selections are a combination of Barbra Streisand tunes, Chicago, Burt Bacharach, Ashford and Simpson, The Supremes and others. (The way we were, happy days are here again, 25 or 6 to 4, Saturday in the Park, What the World Needs Now and Aint no Mountain High Enough are included in the show). Around 36 brass, a strong battery of 5 snares, 3 tenors and 5 basses is formidable. These are many guys that played together for years in the Kingston Grenadiers so they can groove. The brass line is very talented and able to handle the arrangements very well. Thanks to Randy Billings for giving me the call to work with this group. I am going to play as well because it is fun to play with these guys.

Get up and come out to the Alumni show on Sunday! Add the Canadians to the rest of the stand by Alumni, Sky, Cabs, Boston, Hamburg Kingsmen et al....and you will get a blast from the past!

DA

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Thanks for this mini review (preview) of the Canadian corps that will be at the DCA Alumni show. Les Diplomates are looking forward to appearing at the show and renewing some old friendships. Also, thanks for not "spilling" the beans completely on our cool concept for the show.

Salut, Bob P. Les Dips '64-73, 06-16

PS. This is Les Dips 10th anniversary of Alumni activity

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I remember first seeing Les Dips at the 64 WO in Bridgeport when that did their "floating" box ... absolutely thrilling M&M maneuver for that era!

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I remember first seeing Les Dips at the 64 WO in Bridgeport when that did their "floating" box ... absolutely thrilling M&M maneuver for that era!

Yeah, I (french horn)was in that box. Got killed by the tick system, score-wise, though, because the judges didn't know what to make of it! By the Dream of 1966, the box had morphed into a triangle rotating and then splitting into two triangles.

Salut, Bob P.

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Loved the Dips, Bridge over Troubled Waters ,when the guard made the bridge by conecting ribbons on the flag poles ,Beautiful exit pcs for them .

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Also speaking on the Canadian corps I always wondered what the flag poles where made of .On a strong dip it looked like most poles bent ?they be at all angles after completing .LOL

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