Navillus WP

60's: Lt. Norman Prince Princemen, Chicago Royal Airs and Majestic Knights of Charlestown 70's: Anaheim Kingsmen, and Argonne Rebels, Yankee Rebels 80's: early Blue Devils, Connecticut Hurricanes ........ then I lost interest in what drum corps had become.

NOBODY voted for the Mello-Dears? (I voted for Bon-Bon's, BTW.... )

We picked up three additional members of the horn line at Sundays' rehearsal. (I think we've topped 70 brass players.) Irrespective of your intentions to play or not, you'll meet some great folks and find out how much you have in common. Maybe someone can help with carpooling if you want to give it a whirl. Lots of patient people willing to help. I travel down from Central Vermont to rehearsals, and could help anyone along the way (I-89, I-93) with a ride. I stop to carpool in Londonderry NH with someone who lives in Auburn, NH. Warning: I listen to "ol' skool" drum corps CD's all the way down and back.

I've found that there are many instances of shows not listed in the corps reps databases. Sorry for the threadjack. Carry on.

Thanks for adding the insight and for adding context, Lou. BTW, I dated a Lancer color guard member from "North Of The Bridge" who had been theretofore "going steady" with a BAC member, who eventually went back to seeing him "steadily" while marching with Two-Seven. That was a source of some minor annoyance, but not outright hostility. -Bill-

Love to see the Cambridge Caballeros again, or see Lt Norman Prince "Princemen "toss those 11 pound M-I Garand rifles over their heads - with frogged leather G.I. rifle slings and fixed bayonets!

Pas de tout, mon vieux. Laissez les bon temps rouler.

SHOUTED OUT IN A CROWD AT THE STADIUM (as the Reading Buccaneers took the starting line): "Hey, Reading!! Where's your Buccaneers??!?" SHOUTED IN REPLY: "On my Buccan-head!!"

DOH!

....... Wow. I've been walking around thinking about this post, particularly given the current (FEB-APR2012) unfortunate status of the SKEK Alumni Corps. Some thoughts ..... In the 60's and 70's - rivalries between local corps in the Boston area included hard feelings over "raiding" - the notion that kids who had marched with local CYO or Eastern Mass Circuit units that were based "South of the (Tobin) Bridge" should gravitate towards the Boston Crusaders, and kids from "North of the Bridge" were expected to gravitate towards Revere's Twenty-Seventh Lancers. Those who did the opposite were sometimes subjected to snide comments. Additionally in the 60's and 70's , people from the trying-to-emerge local corps competing at the CYO, Eastern Mass or Mayflower level resenting talented kids leaving their home towns in order to play for nationally-competitive St Kevins, Majestic Knights, Boston or later 27th, rather than staying behind to help the local CYO, Eastern Mass or Mayflower Circuit corps improve. By the time North Star came into their hey-day, there was an additional rivalry - within the corps. That is, the "Locals" versus "Corps Groupies" (a.k.a.: "Corpies") who came from other regions, moving from corps-to-corps, auditioning for spots -- putting them up against locals who grew up dreaming to march with the local "Marching Major League" corps. My second year, three guys showed up from California and two guys from Maine. (We were glad to have them, and no one lost a spot to them.) However ... when auditions started years later, the level of receptiveness to "corpies" began to change. Even in the 60's, this was a big source of the conflict when Immaculate Conception Parish council cast the "senior" Reveries adrift: newer members who wanted to compete at the national level lived outside the parish, and (in the eyes of some) took spots from kids whose families belonged to the I.C. Parish. (Note: it was not a problem among the kids at that point, just the adults. There was a sub-rosa element of racism as well among the adults, given that several of the new non-parish members were of color. See 1968 photo below.)

Ouch ....

You still rock, Steve! Give that man a whoopie-dip!

Come to a rehearsal, be prepared to hear some good ol'time drum corps music.

Some VERY talented musicians!

Our Alumni Corps selects numbers to include in our repetoire that (we hope) bring back such memories: BD's Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor and La Suerta, Madison's MacArthur Park, and Anahem's So Very Hard to Go and the Firebird closer. Charts are as close to recreating authentic sounds as possible. VERY VERY well received by our fans.