BigW Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Just dug up my Les Metro hat from the closet. A little scrubbing, good as new. Hmm. I should wear this to a show. Maybe down to Nokesville. I will wear it somewhere for certain. Problem is, the corps might get blinded by the hat. The Milts used to call this my "Rainbow Brite" hat when I wore it to rehearsals. I got my MBI hat, a CV hat, and this one. Heck Fran, I should lend you this neon-rainbow abomination for a show to go with your shirts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I was on the 50 right under the GE judges at 92 prelims. They physically knocked me back and I grabbed the rail on their first big hit in Explosion. Sweet baby Jesus, Les Metro could PLAY when they had to. Oh man... I hear ya. Classic "in your face" drum corps, without a doubt. Their first year... 1991... they were the first corps on at DCA Prelims. Talk about a wake-up call!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 W, the drum major you mentioned was Maurice LeGault. (Not sure I spelled his last name correctly.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 W, the drum major you mentioned was Maurice LeGault. (Not sure I spelled his last name correctly.) Did a bit of checking, no cap, just Legault. All I know is the cat always had his act together whenever I saw him on the podium. I put him up there with the better peeps I have watched over the years- the only ones arguably better I can think of off the top of my head would be Butch at his best (he had a better technique than I think a lot of people realize, there was real steak to his sizzle!), Walt Winkleman, George Parks, Jill Moyer (Crossmen), some of the PR Conductors, David Bruni at his best, Tony Yaklich, and believe it or not, Keyser HS' DM from BITD, I never get her first name right (Annie? Abbie!?!?!?). The only HS DM I ever saw conduct like a professional and spot on. He's up there with other very good peeps. I keep a short list in my head as to who can conduct, believe me. I think anyone who did Westshore in the late 70's early 80's learned to appreciate people who had their acts together as conductors. We didn't really have it until we'd get Sylvia to do some of the show, then got Steve Hartmann and Rich Bowers on board as well. Amazing what you get when you have someone on the podium with musicality, clean cues, and a readable pattern. There were some very good assistant DMs BITD as well. Darrel Wyman and Brownie at the Bucs, Konga, and Vic Benfatti with the Cabs did very fine work as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I gotta give props to our guys when I was with Sun... Tom Hart and Tony White. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Someone mentioned how Mark conducted beat one on every beat. That wasn't that uncommon in that era, in fact I used to do it myself until I was schooled correctly in college because most DM of the era did something similar at one time or another in the show. In fact if you watched most Quebec Corps DMs, and they do/did exactly that. And, mark time on the podium as well. Maurice (sorry I don't know his last name and should, (Peashey, Tony, maybe Fran would know) (Les Dips, later with Rochester Crusaders, later with Les Dynamiques) was the archetype of that Quebec style. I can imitate it pretty well. Start conducting beat one every beat at about 160,, high step the mark time, yell "UN, DEUX, TROI, GO!!!!", and the corps goes flying. Always loved the PQ corps, Ambassadeurs, Allouetes, Les Odysee, Offensive Lions, Les Chats, Les Eclipse, L'Insolite, my fave was Les Metro, whose hornline was over the top white-hot- plasma aggressive and played some good stuff. They have their own equivalent of DCP in French of course, a friend from PQ found it for me, much the same as we are, just different language. I might start bugging them politely to see of there are any videos extant besides some of the L'Insolite stuff, and a clip of Offensive Lions in 79 in a standstill concert, yes, with the 8 tonal Basses and the Quads. Which one was the one with the wicked quints, W ? Personally, I'll never forget the Ambassadeurs in 1978...they had an all "hot chick" tomline that played their shapely little azzes off ! Canadian corps were grossly underrated, there were a lot of fun ones over the years, and maybe if they weren't high on the scoring list, they were AT LEAST entertaining! (and they exported good Canadian beer to the states for profit) I forget which corps, but in 1988, when finals were rained out and they held them the next day, there was one that had to go back...we were sharing Lower Dauphin's facilities for practice, and they came over and asked if they could perform for us since they made the trip...I think had they performed, we MIGHT not had made top 10 (well unless they couldn't march) But they were pretty decent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 And as for the whole traitor ####, fill in the blanks because it was nothing more than #### to do it- I know the peeps who said it ###### me off, enough I'll just let the cuss editor do its thing here. IIRC, I have my guesses who those morons were, and I don't think I ever got along with those clowns/cretins/bungholes anyway. I think one of them in particular, I eventually got even with, that's another story I will not go into. Look. The corps went under. Those who wanted to continue to perform at a high level HAD to go somewhere else. Anyone with two frikkin brain cells to rub together can figger that out for God's sake. For anyone to hold anything against anyone from Westshore anything at all for them wanting to move on and perform with a top end group in 1984 needs their head examined and a DNA/chromosome check for obvious reasons. Most of those people that did go were and are my friends. Period. It offended and still offends me to hear that crap about them. And the peeps who were that way, I haven't seen them on DCP. Prolly because they don't understand this thing called the internet because they don't have the brains. Hmm. I guess I spoke my mind on THAT. :satisfied:/> Have to go to work! Well..as I said, some I had no clue, but there were a few whose voices I recognized...But yeah, after not wanting to do "1984" then coming in to help until it got rolling, re-catching the bug for the year, and then being told that "we aren't"...I had to keep going or I would have gone batty (well batty-er) And it wasn't even the fact that we were going to a top end group...Reading was not good the year before, and at that point of the year, all indications were that they were going to be mid-pack again...Not sure if anyone went to Sun or Cabs, but the guys that went to Sky were "sure why not" and the guys that went to Bush were destined for it so.... And, no, of the people that were being rude...I haven't seen any on here or FB or anything...one or two that made amends with me over the years are around, but except for very few instances, I haven't seen them again... and as I said..this far out, no skin off my tush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Did a bit of checking, no cap, just Legault. All I know is the cat always had his act together whenever I saw him on the podium. I put him up there with the better peeps I have watched over the years- the only ones arguably better I can think of off the top of my head would be Butch at his best (he had a better technique than I think a lot of people realize, there was real steak to his sizzle!), Walt Winkleman, George Parks, Jill Moyer (Crossmen), some of the PR Conductors, David Bruni at his best, Tony Yaklich, and believe it or not, Keyser HS' DM from BITD, I never get her first name right (Annie? Abbie!?!?!?). The only HS DM I ever saw conduct like a professional and spot on. He's up there with other very good peeps. I keep a short list in my head as to who can conduct, believe me. I think anyone who did Westshore in the late 70's early 80's learned to appreciate people who had their acts together as conductors. We didn't really have it until we'd get Sylvia to do some of the show, then got Steve Hartmann and Rich Bowers on board as well. Amazing what you get when you have someone on the podium with musicality, clean cues, and a readable pattern. There were some very good assistant DMs BITD as well. Darrel Wyman and Brownie at the Bucs, Konga, and Vic Benfatti with the Cabs did very fine work as well. Having served under both Parks and Weyman, I can say that those two were definitely on top of the game with conducting...Parks was fun in 84 once he learned my "pit parts" he would "cue" me on stuff...and the way he looked in your eye during a show was a great thing! Mr. Intensity! 83 was great with those three...Rich was on board in 82 and was a definite step in the correct direction..Don't get me wrong, I LIKED Mark P, but he just wasn't "it"...and as I said...I didn't really remember Kevin Kuzio.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I gotta give props to our guys when I was with Sun... Tom Hart and Tony White. :thumbup:/> Fran...you mentioned in another thread about Tom being a sort of legend or something...I remember him, but not from a view of something standing out, but there are a lot of things that you miss from a spectator perspective as opposed to staring at him on the field (and seeing him in a practice situation) Just curious on him.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Fran...you mentioned in another thread about Tom being a sort of legend or something...I remember him, but not from a view of something standing out, but there are a lot of things that you miss from a spectator perspective as opposed to staring at him on the field (and seeing him in a practice situation) Just curious on him.! Ben, he was DM with the Hurricanes in the early 1970s and became pretty well-known in DCA. When he joined us in 1977, he definitely was one of the final pieces of the "championship puzzle" that Sun had been assembling. The corps had never really had a "personality" DM out front... over the years it was almost like "DM by committee" with the corps, with various folks coming and going. Tom not only was a terrific conductor and personality... but a great leader. He was pretty soft-spoken... and as a result, the rare times he would raise his voice to us if we were screwing up... well... you could hear a pin drop. Everyone listened. He had the respect of everyone in the corps. Not easy to do with the cast of hardboiled characters we had. An indication of the impact he had on Sun... he was with us for only two full seasons (1977-78, and for a brief period at the end of the 1980 season)... but is in the corps' Hall of Fame. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.