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I'm a member of the Cabs Alumni, and we were instructed by DCA that we had to fill up 25 minutes at our finals exhibition, hence the inclusion of three parade tunes after our concert number.

Fran, Your observations of 1971 Blue Rock, ( in which I played lead sop), are spot on. Our horn line was hot and cold that year. Hot: Dream, CYO Nationals, Cold: VFW Nationals, World Open as two examples. But as you stated the overall coordination of the show was amazing. We were fortunate that we marched really well, had an extremely well- designed , innovative show, and had an outstanding drum line. I remember member watching an early season video ( filmed by Charlie Haas, who had two kids in the corps), and thinking, Wow I didn't know our drill looked like this, ( racetrack, expanding crosses, etc) and it was all extremely well coordinated. Instead of watering things down, we actually upped the difficulty level over the course of the season ( i.e. our concert of Midnight Cowboy). I'll never forget we were at an early season parade in North Jersey somewhere watching out drum Instructor Joe Marella conduct the drum line, leading dynamcs tempo changes , etc. i had never seen anything like that before. Proud to have been a member of this trend-setting corps. Bob Cook

1963, first competition ( we had done exhibitions for two years prior) with the Levittown Pennsylvanians at a Garden State Circuit show in Woodbridge , Nj sponsored by the CW Townsmen. We had the largest corps in competition ( 39 horns, 12 drums 20 flags 13 guide-ons), but our average age was about 13 ( i was 10). We took last place with a 47. On retreat two corps members passed out after hearing our score. One of our "alternate horn players" ( we had three 9-10 year old backup third sopranos who would fill holes), we spotted in high atop a tree overlooking the stands ( in uniform) while we were standing on retreat. I believe the Muchachos won the show, and the Privateers were second. Also competing were the Dumont Police cadets , Little Falls Cadets,Regimental Cadets from Staten island,. Mahattanaires, and Imperial Knights. RCC

A merger that garnered little attention, but produced a ton of talented people was the union of the Levittown Pennsylvanians, and the Feasterville Brigadiers in 1966. The Pennsylvanians were hit hard in the winter of '66 , with almost the entire drumline being drafted into the Military. The Brigadiers were a relatively new corps ( formed in '63) that had a full talented drum line, and a hornline with some excellent players. At a Pennsylvanians corps rehearsal in early May, the Corps Director announced that that corps was folding due to lack of members, much to the dismay of the members. The kids were told to turn in their uniforms and equipment the next week. we were very disappointed, but the corps committee was busy working behind the scenes trying to salvage the corps. They got together with members of the Brigadiers, and agreed to a merger. The Levittown kids ( me, being a skeptical 13 year old) were a little apprehensive of the move ( since the Brigadiers didn't have the track record we had), but agreed to try it. The first rehearsal was magic with close to 40 horns, 24 guard , and a full drumline present (that was big back then!). We then rehearsed about 16 of the next 21 days ( alternating between Feasterville and Levittown sites), and learned an entire show in 3 weeks. We started off slow, but eventually won the circuit championship in September by over 8 points. After our first year our corps Director Earl Kitchenman ( father of famous drill designer Eric Kitchenman) passed away unexpectedly, and the corps changed our name to the Earls of Bucks in his honor. Although the corps was never in the national spotlight, we did produce some really outstanding talent. Testimony to that would be our streak of 15 consecutive Ensemble wins ( the equivalent of mini corps during the winters of 68 and 69), and the fact the we sent upwards of 40 members onto upper level DCI and DCA Corps such as: Blue Rock, Blessed Sacrament, Polish Falcons, Crossmen, Reading Bucs, Hawthorne Cabs, Skyliners, and Syracuse Brigadiers . We were very fortunate to have been instructed by future Drum Corps Hall of Fame members like Frank McCormick, Harry Ginther, and Bobby and Don Adair, and had a corps executive committee that consisted of who all had marched with top level corps back in the day. Some of us are still marching today, and are very grateful for the experience we had as members of the Pennsylvanians/Brigadiers, and Earls of Bucks RCC

Bridgemen never drink before a performance!

Ross also played mellophone for the 1985 DCA Champion Hawtorne Cabs, and was a member of the US MarineDdrum Corps based in Hawaii in the 70's. Go Chris!!! RCC

A great night of Drum Corps in Annapolis. I was seated 11 rows up on the 40, to the left of the 50.This won't be a full blown review, but I thought I'd comment on the performances I witnessed last night.... I'm a brass player, so that's of course where I tend to focus when watching a show... Marines- Very enjoyable, and of course technically proficient... The brass line handled many difficult articulation passages ( re; American Salute) with ease. Great soloists... Really enjoyed the percussion section as well... Loved the tuning of the bass drums. a great way to start the show. White Sabers- A show whose design fit the size and talent level of the corps. Very smart programming. Some talented soloists throughout the show. My favorites were Love Potion #9, and Moon Dance. You can tell the corps enjoyed performing the show... Windsor Regiment- Nice field coverage. Contras really fill out the brass line sound. I'm not a big fan of mixing sections in the brass line, especially with a smaller horn line, I think that affected the brass sound, as it caused individuals to stick out of the ensemble. Definitely a step up from their inaugural season though, they're on the right track. Govenaires- Always the entertainers, this year was no exception. I'm sitting there watching, and with only 12 brass (11 in the opener), they are really exposed....if you have an off night it can ruin the corps show, well no one had an off night! Particulary impressed with the playing of the 3/4 sops, and 2 contras. Fun show with all "Fire' related tunes, including disco and Rock songs. Held my interest from beginning to end. Carolina Gold- Great guard, and impressive field coverage. Percussion was notable, and their pit had some really tasty stuff going on. Brass also projected very well. A well deserved championship. Fusion Core- Holy Cow! one of my favorite shows of the night. What major strides they made since last year. They belong with the big boys... Where'd they get that killer lead trumpet line? Very exciting high -energy show. Great soloists ( this will be a theme throughout the night) seem to tire a bit at the end, but very impressive performance... Renegades- Have been a fan of these guys since they first came east years ago. Very powerful brass and energetic percussion throughout the show. Nice contrast with the guard in white , and corps in black, made the guard work standout. Like the use of the stage for the soloists, and solo sections, but maybe a little too much of that during the show. The sop soloist in the red/cranbury shirt was incredible. I expected to see a pack of dogs charging toward the 50 and any moment due to the amazing range this guy displayed. One thing missing to me though was a recognizable tune that I could get into. Anyhow great to have these guys back east again! The face that they finished 10th is a testimony to the quality of finalists this year. I can recall finals in the 90's where after the top 4, you had nothing but "Hot Dog' corps... Atlanta CV- Very powerful brass, excellent guard, and a talented pit were the highlights for me in this British-themed show. Thought in portions of the performance there were some uncharacteristic ( based on my viewings of CV in the past, individual brass players sticking out of the ensemble. Nice job with Bohemian Rhapsody! Placement and score were right on. Kidsgrove Scouts- My favorite show of the evening... In your face brass... lots of movement drill-wise... some excellent screaming trumpet work as well. This show held my interest from start to finish, and had me bopping along throughout. Loved the Miserlou arrangement. Thanks for coming to the states! Empire Statesmen- Well you can tell these guys play in "G" . As always very entertaining. Thought the integration of the guard in the show was very good. Percussion seemed very aggressive. A show full of tunes you can hum, played quite well. My favorite was Luck Be a Lady. Any other year this show would probably be in the top three... Cadets2- For a first year corps, very impressive... The standout section for me was percussion.. excellent battery, and a very confident , and talented pit. They moved more than anybody drill-wise, and for what they were attempting did quite well. Brass was a little too controlled for my liking, and to me the brass book really didn't any "wow" moments, but well performed none-the-less. Welcome to DCA, looking forward to seeing how they progress next year. Hurcs- OK, very enjoyable brass book.. but to me also probably one of the least challenging, and therwfore I guess I expected it to be performed a t a higher level ensemble-wise. The guard as many have said was excellent,and percussion was kickin' it. To me though although an enjoyable program, I think it wa scored two places too high. Cabs- The best product they've put out in years, and a very different one at that...Outstanding solo work, impressive guard, and groovin' percussion contribute to this fine show. This is the best balanced Cabs hornline I've heard in quite a while.. they played extremely well as an ensemble. My favorite was the closer, got me movin', and groovin. Well done Hawthorne! MBI- These guys remind me of an all-age version of the 70's and 80's of the Blue Devils...Very assertive playing, wailing Trumpets (ok they were sops BITD), and playing tunes you can hum, and tap your toes to! Loved the "bullet hole effect to the "Bonnie and Clyde Mobile" Did I hear a little Big Phat Band stuff in this show? Great Performance, might have been another winner in a different year... Bucs- This crew has the whole package. Every section compliments each other. I'd put that percussion section up against the top DCI lines ( and the rest of the corps isn't far behind either). They have raised the bar once again. Congrats Champs, there was no doubt who the winners were going to be! Star United Mini Corps- Excellent Ensemble sound.... Complete with drill!! What talent!! Congratulations on defending your title again. Very impressive!! As I said earlier, the corps have raised the bar once again. Looking forward to next year! RCC

Kevin, and Brent, Thanks for providing the play by play. The Bridgemen always(as I'm sure do many others) look forward to your narrative. RCC

Bayonne Bridgemen... Milltown, NJ

I seem to recall that the Haddonfield All-Girl Royaleers had a good-sized section of euphoniums (might have even replaced their whole Baritone section in the late 60's). In fact I think they may have won the VFW All-Girl class championship when they used them. RCC

I was down in Miami Beach, Labor Day week, and saw the actual poster( and took a picture of it) in a Clark's Store with my wife, a former Haddonfield Royaleers Baritone. We got a big kick out of it-especially the missing rotor and the position of the hand that would press it down. She played on the same valve rotor horn back in the day. RCC

Got to hear Bobby Adair play his horn on a weekly basis from '66 thru '67, as he wrote for, and instructed our hornline (Pennsylvania Brigadiers and the Earls of Bucks)- a real treat! What a great guy. He gave me my first solos at the age of 14 in "My Funny Valentine", and "Phantom Trumpet" with the Earls (It didn't sit well with some of the 17 and 18 year old's I beat out for the part). He was truly an inspiration to me. Bob Cook

Well I marched in that show- no way there were 30,000 in the stands - not even half of that. Speaking of ticket prices, I can tell you that for 1969 VFW Nationals in Philly the cost of tickets (all general admission) was TWO dollars- pretty good deal I'd say!

Here are some randow thoughts on the show ( I didn't take notes, and my memory isn't what it used to be) coming from a brass player's perspective.... Sunrisers- Music from Les Mis was enjoyable. Drum line seemed muddy to me. At times pit seemed to overpower the hornline. Liked the uniforms thought they enhanced the performance. I'm not a fan of big field coverage with a small corps, it exposes the individual players too much and hurts overall sound. Don't understand why corps continue to do that. Some nice high note work in the lead trumpets, and ome pleasant mellophone section work as well. Windsor Regiment- Very nice showing for a first year Corps, the uniforms are really sharp looking, and the brass horns compliment the uniforms. For me the highlight of the show was the opener. Some nice dancing and some strong playing. Nice trumpet feature as well. They had a good size guard that was working hard throughout the show. In one of the numbers they had each brass section grouped with percussion, and featured them individually, although a good idea, there were some tempo issues going on. This is another corps that needs to tame down the percussion/pit level at times, as it tends to obscure the brass. Some strong playing early on by the high brass, but seemed to run out of steam at the end. Fusion Core- I was pleasantly surprised by them. Very well designed show, that focuses on the corps strengths. Some very solid brass playing. Hornline also blended together very well. The corps visually moved very confidently. The impact points were right on. Percussion was really a surprise. I seem to remember that being a weak point -even in last year's champs, but not anymore. They had the balance issues with the hornline nailed- no problems there. With the African-themed show however, would have liked to see the pit percussion stretch out a bit more. Must also note the bass drum line really nailed their feature in a percussion break! Bushwackers- Give them a lot of credit for competing with such a small hornline, they could have easily thrown in the towel. That said, the show design os making things more challenging for them. They are simply too spread out and exposed. Yes they have a few good brass players, but the inexperienced ones stick out, and that does not help the production. Their best tune was the ballad very nice playing by the low and mid- range. The corps still moves well, but the drill exposes the brass too much. It's puzzling why there's a need to inter-mingle brass players from different sections when you've got so few to begin with- has to hurt the players confidence level. Let me add however that the percussion section is first rate. They managed to blend nicely and not overpower the brass, and played very cleanly as well. Hurcs- Their guard is excellent and is really integrated nicely throughout the show- making the corps appear much larger than they are. I thought the percussion was the best I've ever heard a Hurcs line. Loved the way snares were tuned. Brass-wise, the lead trumpets had several moments where individuals stuck out from the ensemble. Mid-Range and low brass blended very nicely. To me the overall pacing of the show was a bit choppy. Oh the pit- some excellent playing there- some DCI-esque moments on the keyboards. Cabs- Started like a house on fire, and then the rest of the show just kind of ran together. I enjoyed the opener, also there were the trademark excellent lead trumpet playing, and fine solo work throughout the show. Liked the way snippets of recognizable tunes were woven throughout the show. Didn't care for the ballad- not the typical lush cab-type piece. Guard was big and enhanced the show. Visually the Corps seemed to be going a a break-neck pace , which may have hurt the brass a bit. Can't recall anything of note from percussion, other than them being a larger line than I expected. Didn't stick around for the Latin Express, sorry, had a two hour ride home. Saw the scores on line, and I agree with them and the placements. Thanks for reading..RCC

The Doug Johns listed in your 1992 line...is he a professional bass guitar player? I have a CD from a Doug Johns that I bought on CD Baby- it's really funky stuff with some great horns as well. RCC