MiamiSun76

I thought you were wearing copies of Fran Haring's wardrobe.

No. The real scary part of the '99 show was the young lady on sabre who ran through the closing triangle. She looked like she really, really meant every bit of the chopping moves she did. It still scares my 11 year old when she watches the DVD. b**bs I will always defend the 2003 program, as it's the one that finally made me hop on the booster bandwagon. I saw the show early in Allentown and several times through the season. Having friends who are pretty old school, you wouldn't believe the comments I heard. In retrospect, it probably was the culmination of the "boring" years. However, in Orlando, the kids executed it like a Swiss watch; particularly in quarterfinals. It's still my favorite show to watch even though I have to watch it on video.

I'm sure she'd be flattered, but I believe 1967 was her only year as DM and the year we graduated from high school :)

I think it's been a matter of transition to a different brass program and the maturing of the line. Last year the Robert W. Smith sound came into its own. Now let's see what they do with it.

Well, you CAN catch the GLASSMEN on Sunday afternoon at their spring Showcase at the Maumee Performing Arts Center. The details that I have for the 500 parade is that the GLASSMEN are leading it. My local cable shows it starting on ESPN2 @ 5:30 (EDT). I'll hopefully be in Maumee by then.

The 03 line was pretty good too. I really enjoyed watching the quarterfinals performance with the person who taught me to drum. How long was that roll anyway...................? Other than that, I'll stay out of this due to an obvious bias, however my cat really is named Prince Igor (actually Prince Igor II).

With the Miami Vanguards, two DMs come to mind. 1st was Rob Wessman, brother of Jo who took the Wave to great success decades later and Linda Hoffman, who was our 1st female DM and a high school classmate. The Sunrisers had the inimitable Tom Hart. Probably my favorite of them all, though was Bill Toomey with the Reilly alumni. Bill was raised to be a Reilly drum major, his father had been guard captain of the corps for many years and his Godfather was the master of all showmen: Bill Hooton.

Sorry I missed them. I'm looking forward to the Glassmen leading the Indy 500 parade on ESPN though.

Darn, forgot all about that version. And Orus Kavnor jumps into the lead for great drum writing. Somebody keep reminding me that there was life before "Proocession on the Nobles"

I'm glad that's clarified. Wish I knew how to contact Jo, but I suspect she'd see it that way too. I never meant to diminish Steve's connection with the corps, but as he said, he was establishing himself in the dog-eat-dog world of broadcast journalism at the time and the day-to-day work was done by the locals. I know that keeping that corps going was a lifelong mission for Jo, Lee Shields and many other people that I had the honor of marching with. They didn't have the glamor of a Steve Rondinaro, but they had a great deal of management savvy, as was evident in the 1987 placing. Too bad the program couldn't survive...............

Also, Rondinaro wasn't even in South Florida in 86-87: From his bio on WWAY in North Carolina: “Steve continued to cover the space program upon moving to WESH-TV in Orlando, Florida in 1986. (The Kennedy Space Center was part of WESH’s primary coverage area.) As the main anchor, Steve was also the point man for the station’s live shuttle launch and landing coverage…” FYI, about 250 miles one way.

Far be it from me to question DCI's website. But there's the Miami Herald: Miami Herald, The (FL) 1988-07-01 Section: AMUSEMENTS Edition: FINAL Page: 2C HERE COME THE DRUMS \ Herald Staff If you like precision marching, blaring bugles and drums, you will want to attend the Tropical Brass Drum and Bugle Corps Competition to be held at 7:30 p.m. today at the Miami-Dade Community College North Campus Stadium, Northwest 113th Street and 27th Avenue. The program will feature five corps: The Dutch Boy of Canada; the Diplomats of Mauldin, Mass.; the Spirit of Atlanta; Suncoast Sound from Tampa Bay, and South Florida's own Florida Wave. This is the first competition the Florida Wave has sponsored, said director Jo Wessman. "It's an attempt to bring Drum corps competition back to South Florida," Wessman said. "We haven't had one here since 1983." The Wave, now ranked 13th world-wide, is made up of 128 youths from throughout Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Their ages range from 14 to 21.

I wasn't around the corps during that era, so I'll leave this discussion to those who were. I'd say that the 13th place finish in 1987 was the "prime" for the corps' lineage and Jo Wessman was definitely the director that year. I lived in St. Louis at the time and DCI Midwest was held there. I ran a few minor errands for her there and later in Madison. I believe the corps' reemergence was featured in the Miami Herald. My understanding from other alumni is that Rondinaro was there briefly, and that his contribution to Channel 10 far exceeded his contribution to the corps.

With the Miami Vanguards, it was usually right after the Orange Bowl Parade (which begs the question of why we usually scored where we did). B)