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Imperial

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  1. North Star is proud to announce: North Star Drum & Bugle Corps! “All Age Drum Corps” North Star will conduct an official Open House on Sunday, March 30, 2014, at 1:00pm, at the Malden Emergency Center - Jackson Suite. Located at 114 Centre Street, Malden, MA. North Star welcomes everyone interested in becoming a member or learning more regarding performing with this legendary corps. To kick-off this momentous occasion, please join us at a social gathering and fundraising event. The social will be held at the same location on Friday, March 28, 2014 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $25.00 each and are available at the door, or by sending a check, payable to North Star to: Lynda O’Brien, 1002 Foxwood Circle, Peabody, MA 01960. Come join us! Share your drum corps experiences and reacquaint with friends. The corps intends to begin their performance schedule in 2015, which is the 40th anniversary of the North Star organization. To begin, the corps will have a limited practice schedule (one per month, with optional sectional practice time). We are excited to announce that we have secured the services of most of the instructional team which helped create the North Star magic back in the day! Dave Vose, will assume the position of Percussion Caption Head and Arranger. Dave was the architect of the famous “Chrome Wall” and arranged the charts associated with our DCI finalist shows. Dave is a Professor at the Berklee College of Music. Dave is also a member of the Massachusetts Drum Corps Hall of Fame. Neal Smith, will resume the role of Visual Caption Head. In addition to writing and overseeing the entire North Star marching experience, Neal has designed for many DCI and DCA corps. He has been inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, Massachusetts Drum Corps Hall of Fame, Boston Crusaders Hall of Fame and Connecticut Hurricanes Hall of Fame. Currently he is the visual designer for several high-profile marching bands and continues to adjudicate visual design throughout the United States. Jerry Noonan, returns as Brass Caption Head and Arranger and he will perform with the corps. Jerry, one of the most recognized soloists in DCI history, not only arranged and taught North Star, but also enjoyed a successful tenure in the same capacity with the Boston Crusaders. Jerry is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. The Color Guard will be under the direction of Dolores Zappala, and assisted by Kathy Kerrins and Greg Horne. Dolores has had a long and successful career working with the WGI finalist Blessed Sacrament World-Class Winter Guard and Kathy has also taught WGI guard and has judged. Jim and Lynda O’Brien, two of the Co-Founders and Directors of North Star, will assume their former positions in the new All-Age Corps. Jim and Lynda are alumni members of the Board of Directors of Drum Corps International (DCI) and have held similar positions in many local and national organizations. The corps hopes to attract members who would like to continue the North Star tradition of excellence and performance excitement. We will attain these goals within an atmosphere of fun, camaraderie and pride. We openly welcome all members of other alumni organizations. We fully understand schedule conflicts may arise, so we will set our schedule to minimize them as much as possible. While we are proud of the past accomplishments of the North Star Drum & Bugle Corps, our focus is to the future. We hope you will be part of this and we welcome all new members. See you on Friday, March 28th and Sunday, March 30th, 2014! email: northstaralumnicorps@gmail.com phone: 978-535-5740
  2. Dear corps brothers and sisters, The Imperials D&B Corps, South Shore, MA, are looking for 2 or 3 more experienced horn players for their mini corps to perform in the Bugler's Hall of Fame Series in winter/spring of 2012. By experienced we also mean, you played at one time in your life and haven't lately but you can knock off the rust! You will be joining a small but very, very talented brass section. Percussion is pretty well set but we would consider more. We are playing "Artistry in Rhythm" and "La Suerte de los Tontos", and "Dindi" so, if you enjoyed the corps back in the day and wish to play these pieces, we welcome you with open arms. Members from other corps who wish to sit in and don the cranberry are welcome too! The entire ensemble this season is under the direction of Mr. Paul Pitts, of Crusader and judging fame. Paul is also the Director of Fine Arts at the esteemed Boston Latin High School. Cost of membership in the Imperials is: Zero, zilch, zippo, nada, nothing, $0!! We practice in Abington, MA on select Sunday's. Please email John Stark at pathway500@yahoo.com for info. Thank you!! http://www.imperialsdrumcorps.org
  3. Your friend's comment is interesting, and sort of funny, Fran, and I can see where it comes from! LOL. I think we fit with your comment that some of them are the combination of both. We tend to be more youthful in our make-up. Groups, such as us, are trying to exist to carry on the traditions though. We are a resurrected organization and we are simply taking things one step at at time and we don't know where the road will take us. Unlike some Alumni corps who have dusted off the horn flag or drum, our alumni only helped get us started again with financial support. Now that we are up and running they really don't have any interest in participating. That's our reality. So, we maintain the name and the colors though, as a tribute to them. (I'm the only former alumni in the corps.) Our new members are less attached to the name, logo and colors (although I think now they are slowly building devotion to it). Now, after 8 years as a resurrected corps, which due to our fate, meant mini corps, we realized we weren't really growing the group lately... so, I did a recent experiment and allowed woodwinds just for summer parades and tried being a band just for summer parades. Well it's bearing fruit, as we got an instant infusion of young and enthusiastic band kids. I think we may have transcended a mental block for them by them thinking they were doing something totally familiar to them. Already though, these woodwind players are messing with our brass instruments and have brought their brass friends and after some fun parades with us, all have expressed interest in learning brass and more challenging charts over the winter and doing the Bugler's Hall of Fame show in the late winter next season with us as a drum corps. I am now strongly considering becoming an umbrella organization for a Band and a Corps and members may float between the two. It is my intention however to make the corps version more selective, demanding and of much higher standards and keep the band part more relaxed, easier sight readable charts and fun. Long story but my point is, all the different groups starting back have to follow their own paths and do what's best for them.... these paths are usually set for them by the situations. Who knows where it will all take us but hopefully it all will contribute to the big Drum Corps mosaic!
  4. Our sincere condolences, Fran. Barbara was a kind and helpful soul. John Stark
  5. Thanks to Mike, Tony Convertito and SKEK for having us in your show. We had a blast. Sincerely, The Imperials, featuring "The Contra Dude"!
  6. South Shore Imperials Artistry in Rhythm Take The "A" Train Sing Sing Anyone wishing to play these tunes and to be taught by the esteemed Mr. Paul Pitts, come on down. Alumni mercenary types welcome!
  7. Thanks so much for the plug, Andy!!! We really appreciate it!!! PS: The "Contra Dude" will be back!!! But no one is allowed to try and recruit him, LOL! Ha ha JK! John S.
  8. Dear corps brothers and sisters, The Imperials D&B Corps, South Shore, MA, are looking for 2 or 3 more experianced horn players for their mini corps to perform in the Bugler's Hall of Fame Series in winter/spring of 2011. By experienced we also mean, you played at one time in your life and havent lately but you can knock off the rust! You will be joining a small but very, very talented brass section. Percussion is pretty well set but we would consider more. We are playing some old Big Band favorites, like "Artistry in Rhythm" and "Take the A Train", so, if you enjoyed the corps back in the day and wish to play these pieces, we welcome you with open arms. Members from other corps who wish to sit in and don the cranberry are welcome too! The entire ensemble this season is under the direction of Mr. Paul Pitts, of Crusader and judging fame. Paul is also the Director of Fine Arts at the esteemed Boston Latin High School. Cost of membership in the Imperials is: Zero, zilch, zippo, nada, nothing, $0!! We practice in Abington, MA on Sunday's. Please email John Stark at pathway500@yahoo.com for info. Thank you!! http://www.pembrokeimperials.org
  9. Was groomed a few years before in Pembroke, I might add!
  10. Next to Jim Jordan is Al Jones DM of North Star. (I was in that corps then)
  11. I'm so happy for you Jim. You are a legend. The Bridgemen are as close to magic that a drum corps can be. Lots of us other drum corps nuts had fun this weekend too at the Boston Bugler's HOF show!!!!! Regards, John Stark - Director, Imperials
  12. Thanks for the kind words, Ray. We are proud of Rob Needs (our contra entry). When he asked me what he should play I just said anything you wish and work the crowd. I knew how good a player he was, so I trusted him completely, but he blew even me away. It was way more than I expected. If anyone cares to see it just join "The Imperials of the South Shore" on face book or friend me on FB. Thanks again, Ray and to the show organizers. What a fun day! John Stark
  13. Hi! I think I can help you. Before we got real uniforms we used polo shirts. When we bought bibber marching pants a year later, we realised we could no longer tuck the shirts in. So we folded the shirts up inside and used a special double sided adhesive tape to hold them up. Then we pressed the shirts with starch. You could do this or sew them up, which is more permanent but is also more work. To see an example, go to our website at http://www.pembrokeimperials.org click on photos then, go to 2005 Scranton performance. There you will see the shirts tucked up! Hope this helps! JS Imperials
  14. We are recreating the old days..... Even though this grass roots thing is very challenging and I wish things would move at a faster pace, it's so cool to operate the way we do. Allow me to digress.... I was in old-time drum corps back in the 70's with Pembroke, saw that corps fold because of money and I transitioned into the 80's Marching North Star then teaching Boston with more touring and bigger stakes. Followed it into the 90's with Boston until I got married. Then, watched as Boston hit the big-time. But now, because I'm raising young children and time is limited, here I am back at the grass roots resurrecting my old corps. Now it's like Drum Corps of yore.... we have an old truck, which was donated to us by Light Brigade & we lovingly restored it to respectable running condition. It's paid for. We have used equipment which is paid for. We barter for rehearsal space by doing a parade for a parade committee chairman who has an empty clean building he lets us use. I drop my returnable bottles and cans off to him every week to help his parade fund. We have dedicated volunteer staff who run a music studio and they let us do sectionals there. We have some paid staff and we augment their pay by bartering services for their services. We compensate younger students in our group by sharing parade money with them. Our uniforms are paid for. We even have a small amount of money in the bank. We are not in debt. It’s humble, but solvent. We are tiny but we are growing slowly and improving. We make do with what we have. The management team sleeps at night, knowing there are no collection notices to deal with. This is so much like the old days…. Mom & Pop management with a delivery truck, some equipment and a dedicated membership! It’s becoming more and more enjoyable. Nostalgic too! One thing we have that the corps of yore didn’t have is the internet. I really believe the internet was huge in reconnecting people and stopping the activity’s decline. But, I do believe the DCI business model is severely flawed. Unless a corps has a sugar daddy, and is able to generate loads of cash raising money, the whole thing is unsustainable. Spending most of the time involved in a corps raising money –to me- is not fun. Unless you can stomach going through bankruptcy every 15 years or so or ulcer causing money worries the DCI experience is all consuming. Our vision is to be part of the community and only take a trip when we can well afford it. Also we perform more to the general public than a drum corps audience, so we do our part to make the general public know what a drum corps is. Everything we decide upon is within the constraints of staying financially solvent…. Thus sustainable.
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