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The history of the Westshoremen


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Well, I hope to God you didnt think you heard me... I for one dont remember much about it other than how alot of my friends had moved onto other corps and it my whole family wasnt there with me...so it wasnt my Westshore corps or family anymore. There were also some people that were "dug up" for bodies and were not anything like what I knew my corps family to be. These "imports" showed alot disrespect, rudeness and laziness...not all of them...but, enough to change the whole chemistry of what was Westshoremen in my eyes. Even after all this time it hurts to know that is how you were treated...and I look bad as I was part of that group.

Nah, wasn't you....IIRC, there weren't any females calling, or making cat calls. I DO know that some of them were the imports, but there were a few people that I considered good friends, that just surprised me... As far as the imports...I remember Bowser and me stopping by a practice the next year, and a few people that were standing off to the side were talking and I heard a conversation to the effect of "who are those guys?" "Oh two guys that used to march here, but they're with Reading now, they're traitors"

Yeah....ok...

But I do agree that the whole "attitude" of the corps changed when a few people got involved...part of it changed when the "Brut" crew took over, and I thought that the "class" we had just left the ballpark.

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Troegs? who said Troegs? I have a back yard...bring your own chairs

If I can sleep in the lawn chair, I'm in!!! :tongue:

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Kevin Kuzio was the DM in 82. aka Kevin Kazoo. Once we figgered out to follow his elbows and NOT his hands, he was readable. :)

Kevin was cool...my little brother loved him...until he saw Tommy whipping rifles.

Carlisle show, 82.....my little brother worshipped George Parks, which in our house was a no no :tongue:/>

so George is along the fence watching and my brother...4at the time, walks up to George and says he's a big fan. George was really cool and was talking to him, then Scott says "yeah, but Westshore has a guy throwing 3 rifles higher than you throw the mace".

George...always a pro....never lost a beat and said "well, I'll have to work on that!"

Ah, little kids.

Yeah...that 'little kid" is now 37 years old with an adorable 3 year old son that's a dead ringer for his daddy

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Nah, wasn't you....IIRC, there weren't any females calling, or making cat calls. I DO know that some of them were the imports, but there were a few people that I considered good friends, that just surprised me... As far as the imports...I remember Bowser and me stopping by a practice the next year, and a few people that were standing off to the side were talking and I heard a conversation to the effect of "who are those guys?" "Oh two guys that used to march here, but they're with Reading now, they're traitors"

Yeah....ok...

But I do agree that the whole "attitude" of the corps changed when a few people got involved...part of it changed when the "Brut" crew took over, and I thought that the "class" we had just left the ballpark.

by 89, that attitude had changed, and most of that crew was gone. Dan especially went out of his way to make any alumni feel welcome when they came around...and luckily Hoov and I could point most of them out :tongue:/> .

Some of that went down again in 98....sadly, some of it was people who had been around for 72 and 84.

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by 89, that attitude had changed, and most of that crew was gone. Dan especially went out of his way to make any alumni feel welcome when they came around...and luckily Hoov and I could point most of them out :tongue:/>/>/> .

Some of that went down again in 98....sadly, some of it was people who had been around for 72 and 84.

Ironically, I got a little of it in 88 when I went back for my "why not" half season with Reading...maybe I should have stuck out 89 :tongue:/> But 88 wasn't quite as bad. The other side of it was some of that crew was bad mouthing a lot of us at band and indoor shows, and was starting to garner a bad reputation...and sadly it was starting to reflect on Westshore in a "Those Westshore guys are _______!" way...

My counter was that it wasn't like that when I was there....but I do remember a few years where things started changing back...some of the later years...Trying to remember the year I was up in Scranton for parts of Prelims, and a lot of people I ran into were actually pretty glad to see me.

Edited by Jaminbenb
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Ironically, I got a little of it in 88 when I went back for my "why not" half season with Reading...maybe I should have stuck out 89 :tongue:/>/> But 88 wasn't quite as bad. The other side of it was some of that crew was bad mouthing a lot of us at band and indoor shows, and was starting to garner a bad reputation...and sadly it was starting to reflect on Westshore in a "Those Westshore guys are _______!" way...

My counter was that it wasn't like that when I was there....but I do remember a few years where things started changing back...some of the later years...Trying to remember the year I was up in Scranton for parts of Prelims, and a lot of people I ran into were actually pretty glad to see me.

honestly...my perspective was it wasn't really those that stayed after 83 as much as it was new faces that came in that knew people and could start ####.

I remember asking Dad after 72 if he got #### for going to the Yankee Rebels, and he said no. he got worse for supporting those who wanted to open YR up to women and people of color after 76. Plus, even when he was with Baltimore, he was always a Westshore fan, and we'd pop in from time to time to see how they were doing.

Being on the BOD for a time in 98, I saw some ugly, stupid #### go down. When your now former director tells part of the staff they are fired, what do you expect them to do.....sit around and wait to see what happens or find a gig? I always loved that people automatically said 98 Bucs drumline was just Westshore....over half of the line WASN'T Shore alumni. let's see...2 bass drums, no tenors that I remember and maybe 2 snares...i know 2 cymbals forsure...and 3 tops in the pit? Yeah a few brass players went over too...they were datingpeople in other sections that went. Plus by May it was announced Shore wasn't fielding, so to fill in some holes, yeah some phone calls were made, but the crew at Bucs was very good about not stepping on Westshore's feet. But to sit at a DCA meeting and hear the #### that came out of someone's mouth representing Westshore...it was the first of 2 shots that had me walk away. I'll eventually get to the other one.

I know this....I too...having ben conceived at a Westshoremen event, stayed largely away in 99-01. I hoped they did well, but I wasn't going around very often.

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Well I knew the group of people that came at the end of 84 and stayed a few years that were being nasty....but those people I just labeled as ignorant to the entire situation, and the typical "you don't march in the same corps with me, so I hate you" attitudes...those are always going to happen...but a few people went out of their way...

My biggest peeve was a group of people that I DID march with, who DID make comments, and weren't kidding! A few approached me, called me a traitor, (amongst other things) and that was it. Even a few that I considered my good friends at one point...and as I said not long ago, one saw me in between 84 & 85, asked if I was done with Reading, and coming back now that they WERE definitely fielding, and I said "no, not after some of what went on last year, so I was staying in Reading" and in so many words this person said that I was "dead" to them, and that was that....but ironically they didn't march that year either :tongue:

But seeing how other people were treated over the years, I was amazed that some of us were treated as badly as we were...30 years later, it's really no skin off my tush...so whatever... :cool:

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Well I knew the group of people that came at the end of 84 and stayed a few years that were being nasty....but those people I just labeled as ignorant to the entire situation, and the typical "you don't march in the same corps with me, so I hate you" attitudes...those are always going to happen...but a few people went out of their way...

My biggest peeve was a group of people that I DID march with, who DID make comments, and weren't kidding! A few approached me, called me a traitor, (amongst other things) and that was it. Even a few that I considered my good friends at one point...and as I said not long ago, one saw me in between 84 & 85, asked if I was done with Reading, and coming back now that they WERE definitely fielding, and I said "no, not after some of what went on last year, so I was staying in Reading" and in so many words this person said that I was "dead" to them, and that was that....but ironically they didn't march that year either :tongue:/>

But seeing how other people were treated over the years, I was amazed that some of us were treated as badly as we were...30 years later, it's really no skin off my tush...so whatever... :cool:/>

wait til i get to finals weekend 98

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wait til i get to finals weekend 98

Well I AM curious on how things went after 88 since I pretty much just walked away from the activity after that season...heck, I don't even know what happened in 86 & 87... My going to a show in 88 was just on a morning phone call "hey what you doing today, it's the Hershey show, want to go bum beers off people" :thumbup: and BAM I'm in Reading at Buc Field the next day learning marimba parts! :blink:

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Well I AM curious on how things went after 88 since I pretty much just walked away from the activity after that season...heck, I don't even know what happened in 86 & 87... My going to a show in 88 was just on a morning phone call "hey what you doing today, it's the Hershey show, want to go bum beers off people" :thumbup:/> and BAM I'm in Reading at Buc Field the next day learning marimba parts! :blink:/>

I thought about going in 88....but I looked around and saw some people withthe corps..well...I just didn't want any of that. So, in the fall of 88, I was at Cavalcade show Crest was at, saw Dan and John and said hi. Dan told me he was taking over Westshore, and I said "ok, save me a bass drum". Being a huge Bones fan at the time and knowing Dan's ties, I figured it was time. I figured it would be cool.

Went to the first camp for 89, not knowing fully what to expect. The corps finally made it back into finals in 88. Saw a few people I wasn't sure about, but ended up with the biggest drum...34 ####### inches.....and said ok, I'll make it work. There were some vets there ahead of me in the line and I knew I had to pay some dues. First day was all about breaking bad habits. Dan and John had a very specific approach they wanted us to use, and we broke #### down to the molecules. it was grating, but you could see some improvements as the day went on. Surprisingly, my back only killed me so much

:tongue:/>

I went home that night, and I gotta tell ya...having been "all that" in Camp Hill's band for 5 years, and teaching with Dad and Richie Sennett at LD, I thought I knew...i went home a little humbled after day 1. But I went back for day 2, and felt a vibe starting to kick in. We knew we'd get our ##### kicked all summer. But it could be fun.

by Sunday, some vets weeded themselves out. A few people got moved around. Then they sat us down and told us the show....Explosion for the opener, Strawberry Soup, and Spirit of St. Frederick by Maynard for the closer. Ok, the show had balls. Even played a few of the Explosion beats....definitely not the Westshore of the previous few years when, IMO, the drum book was WAY over written.

I was sold. it was December, who knew where the year would go, but I was in. You could see some excitement.....a jazz show yes, but more uptempo in your face.

It just grew over the winter. Plus Pudge came in in Januaryand said he wanted the biggest bass drum! Well hell yes, give me that 30...felt 80 pounds lighter LOL.

Kept building and building...brass line kept growing....Learned all of Explosion and St Fred for the Forum. Firsttime I got to perform on that stage...serious goosebumps. It was a little rough, but we made it work. Next day drill started and holy ####...first set, the basses had to jazz-crab for 16 counts! We were going for 160 bpm for sure on BoomTune!

and then the fun kept growing.....

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