The_Clav

If anyway possible I could use copies of any Saints recordings you may have. I had a number of albums including The Dream that I loaned to a friend some years ago, never to be seen again.

Wish I'd known about this thread at the time. A lot of familiar names here. My time with The Saints was relatively brief, but I still carry the memories (and some scars ) btw, I still have a copy of the cookbook The Saints put out in...75? Drummin' it up in the Kitchen I also have an original (if somewhat threadbare) t-shirt. Craig (aka The Clav)

100% homer here, but in all fairness I liked them before I joined (which is why I joined) The Saints (Woodbridge/Edison NJ)

I've seen all those same characterists shared in team sports, but that doesn't make them Drum Corps. :P I do see the point you're raising, and to be honest it's a valid point. The problem is the last part. It's really not in good hands, for it's not in the hands of those that love and enjoy it, only those that see it as a business. But, that's just my personal perspective. I could be wrong. B) I would be curious to compare the number of M&M corps in 1975 to the number in 2005? I just got done posting on a 4 page thread listing Corps no longer in existence. I'm quite sure that a corresponding number has not sprung to life. So, I will agree with you that Drum & Bugle as a "concept" still exists, but what Drum Corps was, and it's more than the characteristics you've listed, has certainly died. Tell me, will Blue Devils take some kid cold off the street, stick a horn in his hands, and just like that make him a member? Even back in '80 and 81 I had to try out for the Cadets and Avant Garde. I'm quite sure it hasn't gotten any easier to break into a top 12 type corps. I'm afraid that my feelings lie more in the direction of the original post of this thread, than with yours.

That reminds me... Troop 12 Indians, the feeder corps for the Kingston Indians. I'm glad this thread was started. I've been enjoying the photo thread, but many of those memories are a bit out of my grasp. The only Open corps I had the pleasure to march with was The Saints. I'd been offered a spot at one point with the Cadets and had a cup of coffee with Avant Garde, but for one reason or another I was unable to march with them, be it financial reasons or other obligations. So many of the corps listed offered the opportunity to march that I had with the Indians. No, we were never going to be a DCI contender, but we gave it our all. These days there are so few corps that will just take someone off the street and teach them. How many independent circuits are still even in existence? No, I never got to take the field at DCI finals, but I sure had fun none the less! It's just a shame that countless others will never be afforded that opportunity.

Ah, I saw Les Eclipse listed. I'll never forget one year when I was marching with the Kingston Indians they stayed for a brief visit at our the Indian's lodge (our practice hall). We had taken the time to learn a song or two of each other. Later we did a parade, both corps marching together. 80-90 horns...what a sound! B)

It was nice, and a bit sad, to see two of the corps I marched with listed. Saints and Kingston Indians. How about a couple my brother marched with? Dukes Imperial Guardsmen I think of all the corps that used to be in the Mid-Hudson Valley area alone. Pacers (and the Pacemakers, their feeder corps) Continental Cadets Port Ewen Cadets Vagabonds Imperial Guardsmen (? A different one than the corps mentioned previously. I'm not 100% on the name). A little more north... Patriots Barons of Steuben Watkins Glen Squires (I'll never forget their tuned 7 man base drum line) Volunteers

For me, hands down, the 1975 Saints (Woodbridge-Edison NJ). Every year my parents would pack us up to go to Wildwood. We'd watch the parade, then go to the show, where we left after the Corps my older brother marched with had performed. I usually found myself bored to tears. In '75 my brother was marching with the Saints. I trudged along with my parents and sister to the show expecting to be bored. I wasn't disappointed as the smaller corps performed. (Later, I learned a lot of respect for those corps, but I was a kid at the time, what did I know? :P ) There was a short break followed by the Open Class corps performances. The Saints came on with Rhapsody in Blue as their OFT (what ever happened to Off the Lines? ) It might have only been my imagination, but I'm pretty sure the stands were blow back 10 feet or so. My Way, their exit, was only icing on the cake. I was hooked!! b**bs No other corps I've ever seen, before or since, ever hit me with such a wall of sound. Well, Junior corps, that is. :P

You know, it's actually a good thing, in retrospect, that the time I've devoted to Drum Corps has greatly tailed off over the years. It seems I've avoided witnessing the slow death of an activity I once loved, an activity I once gave so much of myself to. I marched in bands, I marched in Drum Corps. Each were enjoyable in their own way and each had their place, though I far more enjoyed my Drum Corps experience. Drum, Woodwinds, Amplifiers & Bugle Corps is just too unwieldy of a name. Let's keep it simple, Drum & Bugle corps. I agree with the idea expressed by others that Drum Corps began to die after 1976. I watched smaller independent circuits and Independent shows slowly choked off and squeezed out of existence. This took away an activity from countless people that for what ever reason were unable to devote the time, money and travel to march with a DCI competitive corps. DCI was, is and always will be the bane of all that was good about Drum Corps.

In the Saints, it was Bluto (Bill Berliner??) Forgive me if I got the name wrong, memory is not my strong suit. He was a contra player that always seemed to be laughing and was the designated nickname assigner. But, he wasn't only the one that kept us laughing, he was an all around good guy. I remember him offering to put me up for the summer so I could keep marching in '77. I remember seeing his name on a number of DCW articles. I can only hope that he kept on writing.

http://www.corpsreps.com/search.cfm Malaga was first done in '73 by the Rebels and Blue Stars.

Kingston (NY) Indians, circa 1964. Well before my time. This thread is going to have me digging through boxes for some old pictures. B)

This is a tremendous thread! I'll have to finish sifting through it some time. I only got to page 60 then skipped to the end. :P If anyone has any Saints pictures floating around I'd love to see them, especially 75-76.

Tommy Swan. He was the horn instructor for The Saints in the mid seventies. I had joined them because I was simply blown away by the wall of sound they produced when I'd seen them in Wildwood at the end of '75. That wall of sound was directly attributable to Tommy. I was only 13 when I joined and my previous experience with a horn instructor was my middle school band teacher tapping on the podium to get us ready. His favorite phrase, when you were having problems with a part, was, "trying working on that more." Tommy's was a different style: "Play it, God ######!" I can still feel the flecks of spittle hit my face as he yelled at me. He terrified the crap out of me back then, but he got me to play it, god ######! B) I never marched with a corps better than The Saints (19th at DCI in '75). I was never in a position that I could go off and join a finalist corps, for one reason or another. Still, Tommy's legacy lasted with me throughout the rest of my drum corps career. While just a lowly 4th baritone with The Saints Tommy had given me the tools and the confidence to later play lead in the 3 corps I marched with after them and to be offered lead in a DCI contending corps. Though, I never got to march with the later corps. Having a kid at 20 squelched that idea. :P I had seen Gus Wilkie's name mentioned a few times previously. I had forgotten about Gus, but he'd actually worked with Tommy on a number of occassions with The Saints. He worked on cleaning up the numbers.