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Shout out to the 1977 Garfield Cadets


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I have always said that if I could arrange a piece as sweet as "Pieces of Dreams" that Garfield played that year I would die a happy man. That was one of the finest ensemble sounds I ever heard.

No one is better than Dorritie. There may be some as good, certainly at some things, but getting a line to play - I mean really actually play.

BTW, the Mangione piece (Echano) was purchased from Larry Kerchner, the arranger for the cross-town rival Bridgmen, but in 1976 when Bayonne was closing on Garfield. Being a dinosaur I never quite got my brain wrapped around that, but the piece had served the Caballeros very well with their team of world class soloists. It gave the Garfield team a hot shot of ready made energy. I never thought it fit in the show, but the audiences liked it fine, so I'm wrong.

Loved the Garfield show with Pieces of Dreams that ended on "I Don't Know How To Love Him" with the vocal "Amen", which was excised for DCI (replete with "censored" sign.)

Thanks for bringing up '77 Garfield. Before they took over the known Universe in 1983 that was my favorite sounding Garfield line. Was that the year Frank taught the guard to play so at some point the entire field was covered with brass? Pretty sure it was.

Bright guy, Dorritie, but a tough act to follow, which I've had to do twice, almost 3 times if you count mid-70s Sun. Don't try it at home. Not a great way to end up looking good.

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Thanks for the kind words, Ray, but I'm not that bright. If I were I'd have gone to law school when I had the chance instead of remaining the drum corps hobo of the western world. Don't get me wrong. I don't regret that for an instant, but I suspect I'd have a bit more bread.

A couple of back-story details: "Echano" was a great chart for Garfield when we got it from Larry in '76. I had originally written "Hank's Opener", a seven-eight Kenton piece Levy had composed, as a feature for our super bari soloist, George Hilger. He wailed, but the chart itself was a bit too esoteric.

This was my diong entirely as I was going through my "I wish I were Corky Fabrizio" period, without the deep musical knowledge that the Silver Fox possessed. Mangione tunes were all the rage (thanks to the BDs) and the coordinator decided "Echano" would fit the bill for us as the new concert. We were trying to get into finals, after all. (We didn't, and probably wouldn't have anyway, what with the meteoric rise of the Bridgemen and some great performances by other "on the cusp". teams.)

Cut to '77. Like any other seeker after musical truth, I am not above learning from others and had gleaned a great deal from studying Larry's arranging style, dating from his '72 take on "My Favorite Things"...my personal favorite of all his arrangements. I fought to keep "Echano" in the book, but decided to customize (read, "re-arreange") it for the hornline we now had. Besides, unlike '76, the musical direction was now clearly Jazz, through and through.

As for teaching the guard to play brass, some of them already had done so in other corps and the rest were gamers who believed they could do anything. Bob Cardaneo and Dennis Dewey took on this project. We were going to have them join in at the shout chorus in "Echano" and they did so at some winter exhibitions but it was decided that it would be more effective to delay the surprise to later in the show.

Everybody sang the "Amen" from the Kingston Show onward, except for DCI East prelims at Allentown. I "promised" to attend a DCI meeting to discuss this rule ambiguity (no singing/chanting vs no penalties after the gun) but blew it off and left the vocals in the show thereafter. It was the following year (after I had moved to BD-land) that they excised the "Amen" at finals and held up the sign.

Re "Pieces of Dreams", I later learned that some on the Blue Devils staff were angry with me for having arranged it for Garfield. They wanted to use it as a closer in '77 to replace "Chase the Clouds Away", and went with "Rocky" instead. I laughed when they told me this. "You guys were put off by Garfield, the 14th place corps? You're kidding, right?" The Blue Devils could have played the yellow pages and sounded better than anybody.

Ray, I'm not so smart, just lucky.

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Thanks for the kind words, Ray, but I'm not that bright. If I were I'd have gone to law school when I had the chance instead of remaining the drum corps hobo of the western world. Don't get me wrong. I don't regret that for an instant, but I suspect I'd have a bit more bread.

A couple of back-story details: "Echano" was a great chart for Garfield when we got it from Larry in '76. I had originally written "Hank's Opener", a seven-eight Kenton piece Levy had composed, as a feature for our super bari soloist, George Hilger. He wailed, but the chart itself was a bit too esoteric.

This was my diong entirely as I was going through my "I wish I were Corky Fabrizio" period, without the deep musical knowledge that the Silver Fox possessed. Mangione tunes were all the rage (thanks to the BDs) and the coordinator decided "Echano" would fit the bill for us as the new concert. We were trying to get into finals, after all. (We didn't, and probably wouldn't have anyway, what with the meteoric rise of the Bridgemen and some great performances by other "on the cusp". teams.)

Cut to '77. Like any other seeker after musical truth, I am not above learning from others and had gleaned a great deal from studying Larry's arranging style, dating from his '72 take on "My Favorite Things"...my personal favorite of all his arrangements. I fought to keep "Echano" in the book, but decided to customize (read, "re-arreange") it for the hornline we now had. Besides, unlike '76, the musical direction was now clearly Jazz, through and through.

As for teaching the guard to play brass, some of them already had done so in other corps and the rest were gamers who believed they could do anything. Bob Cardaneo and Dennis Dewey took on this project. We were going to have them join in at the shout chorus in "Echano" and they did so at some winter exhibitions but it was decided that it would be more effective to delay the surprise to later in the show.

Everybody sang the "Amen" from the Kingston Show onward, except for DCI East prelims at Allentown. I "promised" to attend a DCI meeting to discuss this rule ambiguity (no singing/chanting vs no penalties after the gun) but blew it off and left the vocals in the show thereafter. It was the following year (after I had moved to BD-land) that they excised the "Amen" at finals and held up the sign.

Re "Pieces of Dreams", I later learned that some on the Blue Devils staff were angry with me for having arranged it for Garfield. They wanted to use it as a closer in '77 to replace "Chase the Clouds Away", and went with "Rocky" instead. I laughed when they told me this. "You guys were put off by Garfield, the 14th place corps? You're kidding, right?" The Blue Devils could have played the yellow pages and sounded better than anybody.

Ray, I'm not so smart, just lucky.

I'll say it again - 77 Garfield absolutely rocks. The opener is the embodiment of the 'Higher, Faster, Louder' school of arranging. Pieces of Dreams was unusual at the time - a ballad in the middle of the show. It flowed seamlessly into Echano.

I said earlier in thread that 87 was my fav Garfield show; I may have to reconsider as 77 is so wonderful.

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Thanks for the kind words, Ray, but I'm not that bright. If I were I'd have gone to law school when I had the chance instead of remaining the drum corps hobo of the western world. Don't get me wrong. I don't regret that for an instant, but I suspect I'd have a bit more bread.

A couple of back-story details: "Echano" was a great chart for Garfield when we got it from Larry in '76. I had originally written "Hank's Opener", a seven-eight Kenton piece Levy had composed, as a feature for our super bari soloist, George Hilger. He wailed, but the chart itself was a bit too esoteric.

This was my diong entirely as I was going through my "I wish I were Corky Fabrizio" period, without the deep musical knowledge that the Silver Fox possessed. Mangione tunes were all the rage (thanks to the BDs) and the coordinator decided "Echano" would fit the bill for us as the new concert. We were trying to get into finals, after all. (We didn't, and probably wouldn't have anyway, what with the meteoric rise of the Bridgemen and some great performances by other "on the cusp". teams.)

Cut to '77. Like any other seeker after musical truth, I am not above learning from others and had gleaned a great deal from studying Larry's arranging style, dating from his '72 take on "My Favorite Things"...my personal favorite of all his arrangements. I fought to keep "Echano" in the book, but decided to customize (read, "re-arreange") it for the hornline we now had. Besides, unlike '76, the musical direction was now clearly Jazz, through and through.

As for teaching the guard to play brass, some of them already had done so in other corps and the rest were gamers who believed they could do anything. Bob Cardaneo and Dennis Dewey took on this project. We were going to have them join in at the shout chorus in "Echano" and they did so at some winter exhibitions but it was decided that it would be more effective to delay the surprise to later in the show.

Everybody sang the "Amen" from the Kingston Show onward, except for DCI East prelims at Allentown. I "promised" to attend a DCI meeting to discuss this rule ambiguity (no singing/chanting vs no penalties after the gun) but blew it off and left the vocals in the show thereafter. It was the following year (after I had moved to BD-land) that they excised the "Amen" at finals and held up the sign.

Re "Pieces of Dreams", I later learned that some on the Blue Devils staff were angry with me for having arranged it for Garfield. They wanted to use it as a closer in '77 to replace "Chase the Clouds Away", and went with "Rocky" instead. I laughed when they told me this. "You guys were put off by Garfield, the 14th place corps? You're kidding, right?" The Blue Devils could have played the yellow pages and sounded better than anybody.

Ray, I'm not so smart, just lucky.

Clearly some of my memory cells are located around my heart rather than my brain.

You would have been a terrific lawyer until you had to defend some mutt and ended up getting tagged for felonious assault. Wasn't in the cards.

As to the question of smart or lucky, if you were as lucky as you are smart you never would have gone to Californa - you'd have been in Vegas since the mid-70s. By now you'd own it, including Cher's make-up trailer.

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A couple of back-story details: "Echano" was a great chart for Garfield when we got it from Larry in '76. I had originally written "Hank's Opener", a seven-eight Kenton piece Levy had composed, as a feature for our super bari soloist, George Hilger. He wailed, but the chart itself was a bit too esoteric.

I remember that "Hank's Opener" tune early in the 1976 season... that bari soloist was absolutely off the hook.

Speaking of 1976... how on Earth did the Cadets miss DCI Finals that year?

That is one of the more curious results in the history of DCI.

OK... that's being charitable. LOL. Actually, I thought it was a blind ripoff. A complete hose job.

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I remember that "Hank's Opener" tune early in the 1976 season... that bari soloist was absolutely off the hook.

Speaking of 1976... how on Earth did the Cadets miss DCI Finals that year?

That is one of the more curious results in the history of DCI.

OK... that's being charitable. LOL. Actually, I thought it was a blind ripoff. A complete hose job.

That bari soloist was also a GREAT guy. George marched with Garfield a lot of years...I marched with him when I was in Garfield.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I marched in the Crusader's in 1977. You guys actually hung out with us for a night in Denver. I marched from '74 to '79 and that was the one and only time I can remember another Drum Corp actually deciding to hang out with us. In fact, aside from that night, I don't ever remember a member of another Drum Corp approach us before or after a show to have a chat. Maybe someone could refresh my memory. Anyways, I suppose we weren't the most approachable of bugle bands and we did tend to drink a lot of beer and act like the hooligans we were. But, as I remember it, you guys held your own and put up with our nonsense. We also watched a bit of your practice and you did have an excellent horn line.

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I was just going to say, that era of BOSCRU was not the single most approachable group of young people on the planet, what with the Whitey Bulger stares on retreat, etc.

I was standing in a parking lot with Eric Rosen in Oklahoma City in 1978 - we were just shooting the poop after that show on tour - about 15 minutes later I see him in the parking lot with a pile of bags, etc.

He says, "The ######## took all my stuff off the bus and left me here..."

It was a kinder gentler group of Crusaders by the time I got there in '92, but that was a tough crowd in '77 - '79.

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I marched in the Crusader's in 1977. You guys actually hung out with us for a night in Denver. I marched from '74 to '79 and that was the one and only time I can remember another Drum Corp actually deciding to hang out with us. In fact, aside from that night, I don't ever remember a member of another Drum Corp approach us before or after a show to have a chat. Maybe someone could refresh my memory. Anyways, I suppose we weren't the most approachable of bugle bands and we did tend to drink a lot of beer and act like the hooligans we were. But, as I remember it, you guys held your own and put up with our nonsense. We also watched a bit of your practice and you did have an excellent horn line.

Really ? I was one of those guys that hung out with you guys in Denver. I was invited up and had a great time.

Back in 1972 or 73 I had a few guys from the Crusaders stay at my home when they came in for the show in Garfield. Back in those days corps put visiting corps up in there homes. I can remember one year we put up Boston and Chicago during the same weekend. Those guys were cool, but one was terrified of our NJ. mosquitos! Yes terrified .

1980 I played football for Royal Brigade .We came up to Boston ,played had a good game and everyone was cool. Hooligans ?

Thanks for the compliment ! We had a great staff... What was that's guy's name? ONLY KIDDING!!The brass guy's were very dedicated to us and us to them. They could get us to walk through fire if they wanted.

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