Jeff Ream Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 (edited) ah, no biggie as far as I'm concerned.... I think Skee was the one that fabricated the medals, I know he had access to that sort of machinery and made medals for others, as well as the "B's" that were on the side of our hats...doesn't surprise me that he did that for Sun, I know that we all got along fairly well back then, I think I've told you the story of your drumline bringing us a couple cases of beer at retreat in 1984 to congratulate us. That's STILL IMHO one of the classiest things that ever happened to me in my corps years (and I still have the bottle on my trophy shelf as a reminder) I know in 96 one or two people brought some stuff over to individuals they knew ( I remember Ponzo bringing stuff over to Kevin Murphy) but in general our victory was not well liked. Hell the 3rd place corps trooped off and played to their home town fans, never even saluted us. I really wish that year had been in Scranton. A lot of locals would have gone, as well as many alumni. I just got a dvd of retreat from Hershey in 96. I'm going to watch it later this weekend, because I remember the alumni and local support that night. The 50th, great corps....hell the week before we won Barnum.Word spread fast, and man, what an outpouring of love. One of the 4 times in my years I felt like a rock star Edited March 1, 2012 by Jeff Ream 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 God...some of the "Eric rants" are classics!!! "IS THAT RIFLE GETTING HEAVY LITTLE GIRL?" "DON'T CARE IF A MOSQUITO THE SIZE OF A B-52 LANDS ON YOUR NOSE, YOU DON'T SCRATCH, YOU DON'T BLINK, YOU DEAL WITH IT!!" and the ever famous "YOU HAVE TO HAVE PURPOSE! EVERYTHING YOU DO ON THE FIELD HAS TO HAVE PURPOSE" He was fun to "party" with, pretty introspective, and intense to chat with when relaxing. I always laugh at anything related to Hopkins...heard some wild stories about his Crossmen days from some of the guys I knew that were in "Cross" when he marched. Cedar crest, mid 80s. "whats the matter little girl? is your piccolo too heavy? Didnt Mummy tell you there arent any shade trees on a football field?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 Bernie Brown maybe? Not sure if it's Thomas, although it MAY be? (whom I went to lunch with when I was in Phoenix last summer, he's also a part time stand up comic, "Downtown Tommy Brown" Funny stuff!!) his stand up is good stuff! I remember some show in 95, we're in the ballad, facing back field andnot playing yet, and I hear foot steps right behind me...figure it's a judge, then I hear "bass #1 good technique", then he walks around to my front, smiles, and with his recorder at his side starts chatting with me LOOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTux Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 ah, no biggie as far as I'm concerned.... I think Skee was the one that fabricated the medals, If I can remember....LOL I'll ask Skee next time I see him. (wish we had this conversation last week, I could have asked last Saturday at the BHOF/SkyAlumni show.) I know he had access to that sort of machinery and made medals for others, as well as the "B's" that were on the side of our hats... In the "Learn something new every day" category.... I did not know that. doesn't surprise me that he did that for Sun, I know that we all got along fairly well back then, I think I've told you the story of your drumline bringing us a couple cases of beer at retreat in 1984 to congratulate us. Yep, and I was there.... That's STILL IMHO one of the classiest things that ever happened to me in my corps years (and I still have the bottle on my trophy shelf as a reminder) Cool!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 3) I'm not sure it they knew which ones of us (Sun) were armed at any given time... (there were several LEOs that marched in Sun) Plus Mr. Hart (not Tom.... the "other" one...LOL).... with the loaded rifle in his car trunk. Truly a story for another day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 doesn't surprise me that he did that for Sun, I know that we all got along fairly well back then, I think I've told you the story of your drumline bringing us a couple cases of beer at retreat in 1984 to congratulate us. That's STILL IMHO one of the classiest things that ever happened to me in my corps years (and I still have the bottle on my trophy shelf as a reminder) We always got along well with the Buccaneers... even when they were kicking our butts in 1979 and 1980, and most of 1981. It just seemed that both corps had similar mindsets.... kind of an "outsiders in DCA" sort of thing. And... from the stories I've heard.... similar senses of humor, too. Somewhat twisted, to say the least. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTux Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Plus Mr. Hart (not Tom.... the "other" one...LOL).... with the loaded rifle in his car trunk. Truly a story for another day. And no one knew if, or when, he might take that out of his trunk... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Idont profess to know the YEA situation with Eric, but please, remember there is more to running a corps than just the on field product. I'm not bashing Eric, I love him to death, but the business side of things can get to many people, and with a boss like Hop, you're expected to put in a lot of hours for not a lot of money. I know. It's one of the main reasons why at least three other people I've known personally who have worked there are gone. The thing is, how much business/fundraising does the Director of one of a spinoff YEA! corps necessarily have to do and devote time to if they're under the aegis of a theoretically well-funded parent organization? A loaded question Jeff, and one I'm seriously asking. I know one person squealed on that thread like I stuck them with a red-hot poker when I wondered if the problem was that not enough money was incoming for the Cadets2 project. Even as lacking in business savvy as I am- if I were thinking of doing this project, I'd have made sure the money and funding was in place from the start so that there were no concerns. This much I learned from Larry and other people who know how to do stuff. It's common sense. I would think a lot of his job would be involvement as a super-coordinator/manager of the staff, show and the overall directon of the project. I'd think he'd excel at that. I'd trust him with that aspect in half an eyeblink. I know he'd also get the mundane stuff right, like scheduling what and where and how. If it were all fundraising as the director, I'd think common sense would indicate one would retain someone who was an expert schmoozer/grant-writer/fundraiser/money maker as the individual to be the Director- or... have a Business Manager in place within the corps structure to do that special work. Am I making sense, or as someone I knew awhile used to say, Am I making too much sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 1, 2012 Author Share Posted March 1, 2012 I know. It's one of the main reasons why at least three other people I've known personally who have worked there are gone. The thing is, how much business/fundraising does the Director of one of a spinoff YEA! corps necessarily have to do and devote time to if they're under the aegis of a theoretically well-funded parent organization? A loaded question Jeff, and one I'm seriously asking. I know one person squealed on that thread like I stuck them with a red-hot poker when I wondered if the problem was that not enough money was incoming for the Cadets2 project. Even as lacking in business savvy as I am- if I were thinking of doing this project, I'd have made sure the money and funding was in place from the start so that there were no concerns. This much I learned from Larry and other people who know how to do stuff. It's common sense. I would think a lot of his job would be involvement as a super-coordinator/manager of the staff, show and the overall directon of the project. I'd think he'd excel at that. I'd trust him with that aspect in half an eyeblink. I know he'd also get the mundane stuff right, like scheduling what and where and how. If it were all fundraising as the director, I'd think common sense would indicate one would retain someone who was an expert schmoozer/grant-writer/fundraiser/money maker as the individual to be the Director- or... have a Business Manager in place within the corps structure to do that special work. Am I making sense, or as someone I knew awhile used to say, Am I making too much sense? You're kinda making sense. Remember YEA may be the mothership, but the director of each entitiy under YEA has a ton of stuff to do for their small piece of the pie.In this economy, you can have the greatest schmoozer in the world, but funds can be hard to come by. Since YEA likes to pay for positions of powerr, unlike many DCA corps where it's all volunteer at the management level, Often times you'll find people don't want to work for free if they see one person getting some cash. Don't believe me? Ask me how much work I do as a Chapter Coordinator and then ask me what I get paid. Hell, I can tell you what I get paid. $0. Plus helping to train judges, help run the website.....plus the hours of volunteering atACC's and Wildwood? At least, thank God if you work a certain number of hours at Wildwood, you get a free night for your room. Don't need one for ACC's since it's around the corner. My point....A lot of work, for not a lot of pay, it can overwhelm people. I just a month ago started feeling comfortable as Chapter Coordinator...and I started doing that in August. Now, whether YEA is well funded or not, I'll leave that to the book keepers. But all I can say is he must have had metrics to reach, and he obviously didn't meet them. it could have been recruiting, funding, whatever....Hop felt he needed to pull the trigger. I'm not saying Eric's to blame or not to blame, I don't know enough, nor do I want to. Is Eric a master motivator? #### yes he is. But I'll tell you right now, you ask me to run a drum corps, and I'd run for weeks to avoid you. You'll find many corps directors have little input in the actual show, and run the business side of things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 You're kinda making sense. Remember YEA may be the mothership, but the director of each entitiy under YEA has a ton of stuff to do for their small piece of the pie.In this economy, you can have the greatest schmoozer in the world, but funds can be hard to come by. Since YEA likes to pay for positions of powerr, unlike many DCA corps where it's all volunteer at the management level, Often times you'll find people don't want to work for free if they see one person getting some cash. Don't believe me? Ask me how much work I do as a Chapter Coordinator and then ask me what I get paid. Hell, I can tell you what I get paid. $0. Plus helping to train judges, help run the website.....plus the hours of volunteering atACC's and Wildwood? At least, thank God if you work a certain number of hours at Wildwood, you get a free night for your room. Don't need one for ACC's since it's around the corner. My point....A lot of work, for not a lot of pay, it can overwhelm people. I just a month ago started feeling comfortable as Chapter Coordinator...and I started doing that in August. Now, whether YEA is well funded or not, I'll leave that to the book keepers. But all I can say is he must have had metrics to reach, and he obviously didn't meet them. it could have been recruiting, funding, whatever....Hop felt he needed to pull the trigger. I'm not saying Eric's to blame or not to blame, I don't know enough, nor do I want to. Is Eric a master motivator? #### yes he is. But I'll tell you right now, you ask me to run a drum corps, and I'd run for weeks to avoid you. You'll find many corps directors have little input in the actual show, and run the business side of things True, most directors are more a "business manager". As for asking you to direct my corps? Nah. Could you help tech the battery/front ensemble and arrange things if you wanted to? And I'd promise I'd pretty much stay out of the way unless something **really** bothered me? I know you'd be more comfortable and happier with something like that. Maybe that's what happened with Eric. That being said though, there's just a feeling here that someone goofed in not making the best usage of the talents of the people on board the ship. And that's also really crucial in any activity, especially this one. Yes, I can tech drill, I can help there, but that's really a waste of my best abilities with a program for instance... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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