What Did You Put Up With?

[Navillus WP]

• Selling eggs and soap products to raise money to run the corps.
• Buying our own uniform shirt & trousers from Eastern Uniform in downtown Boston
• Smoking on the buses.
• Marching in three long parades on July 4th before marching in a competition that night -- all involving driving ourselves to/from each event.
• Putting on exhibitions to raise money: (ex. grand opening of a liquor store, the re-consecration of a Greek-Orthodox church, first night of the racing season of Wonderland Park and Suffolk Downs, first day of Revere Little League.)
• Losing top drummers and horn players to the military draft.
• Waitresses in southern diners who refused to take our orders because we were racially-integrated.

Edited November 29, 2011 by Navillus WP

[DPEmerald]

Waitresses refusing to take ourr orders in southern diners because we were racially-integrated.

Good ones Bill, especially the smoking on the bus. I forgot that one. We also had to field strip the cigs when we were done.

Then there was the waitresses who refused to wait on us because they knew someone was going to bail without paying the check.

[Jocko the Wonder Llama]

Wait...Busses had BATHROOMS!!??

Best we could do was a coffee can with a post-it note saying "We are sorry, the plumbing is out. Please watch for sharp edges"

[HornsUp]

Sleeping on the bus floor and waking up feeling like an ashtray.

[Navillus WP]

Then there was the waitresses who refused to wait on us because they knew someone was going to bail without paying the check.

Naawww.. "bolt on a check" !?? Really? Next thing you'll accuse us of is shoplifting cowboy hats from Ponderosa and "clippin" brass lamps off the tables from Pewter Pot .. .. Musta been the older kids from West Roxbury.... (yeah, that's the ticket).

Edited November 29, 2011 by Navillus WP

[KeithHall]

Watching a corps member steal a horn from a corps who wore straw hats and jean overalls. A few of us "suggested" he return it ASAP.

[lindap]

I was a drum corps guard girl rookie in 1969 so I ventured to the back of the bus. Next thing you know I’m hanging upside down outside a window of a parked yellow school bus held by my ankles by drummers and contra players. No worries, I put up with it lol. I decided to take a photo of one page of my scrapbooks to share with you. You guys are cool, hugs to you all sincerely lindap

[baja]

I was a drum corps guard girl rookie in 1969 so I ventured to the back of the bus. Next thing you know I’m hanging upside down outside a window of a parked yellow school bus held by my ankles by drummers and contra players. No worries, I put up with it lol. I decided to take a photo of one page of my scrapbooks to share with you. You guys are cool, hugs to you all sincerely lindap

First I had to laugh about going to the back of the bus event. Usually going to the back of our bus meant "seven minutes in heaven"

Seven minutes in heaven is a teenager's party game first recorded as being played in Cincinnati in the early 1950s.[1] Two people are selected to go into a closet or other dark enclosed space and do whatever they like for seven minutes.[1] Sexual activities are allowed; however kissing and making out are more common. Variations on the game expand the time allowed to any reasonable short period up to 30 minutes. [2] The participants can be selected by various methods, such as spinning a bottle, or the selection of an object from a hat. Limits are established either before the game or by the two participants once alone.

Second, what is that orange and red hair looking stuff in the lower left hand corner just below Ronald McDonald? Is that Ronalds's hair?

BTW,

[lindap]

First I had to laugh about going to the back of the bus event. Usually going to the back of our bus meant "seven minutes in heaven"

Seven minutes in heaven is a teenager's party game first recorded as being played in Cincinnati in the early 1950s.[1] Two people are selected to go into a closet or other dark enclosed space and do whatever they like for seven minutes.[1] Sexual activities are allowed; however kissing and making out are more common. Variations on the game expand the time allowed to any reasonable short period up to 30 minutes. [2] The participants can be selected by various methods, such as spinning a bottle, or the selection of an object from a hat. Limits are established either before the game or by the two participants once alone.

Second, what is that orange and red hair looking stuff in the lower left hand corner just below Ronald McDonald? Is that Ronalds's hair?

BTW,

Oh my! We were in yellow school buses most of the time. There was no room to change your mind let alone have a seventh inning stretch on those buses. Wed sometimes travel by coach on long trips to New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio … um … and the next trip is was back to girls on one bus, boys on the other lol

It looks like Ronald is wearing a wig. I wrote in my scrapbook on another page … June 27, 1970 Scarborough Fair, our contest. Junior B results (no scores) Midlanders 1st, Marauders NY 2nd and Firefighters 3rd . We did 10 shows for MacDonalds that day, practised afterwards in our uniforms, had little time to go home, change, eat, change back into our uniforms and do the contest. I dont think we even got a bite of a Mac burger; it was play, play, play all day!

edit: the orange and red hair looking stuff in the lower left hand corner just below Ronald McDonald is Taffy Apple wrap and please don't ask how the Ketchup compressed yet the sugar packets and toothpicks are fine lol that page is a science project :)

Edited December 1, 2011 by lindap

[Bucbari]

Just think about:

• The bus rides: Always breaking down, no AC, no bathrooms, one driver for 14 hours

• Housing sites: Sleeping outside in a parking lot because there was no housing, sleeping in a basement of a closed church, no showers (cold showers were a welcome surprise)

• Practice fields: They had more holes, bugs and no rest room facilities

• Food: Well we all know many a corps that had dry cereal, BP&J and stale chips or a ham sandwich for a meal. The norm was at least 1 meal a day was on your own.

Corps today would fold or be turned in to DCI for that.

What did you go through, or know of?

Oh I remember so many things...lol. We had a practice field called Lost Valley because every time it rained it got lost. The bugs were to die for. We finally switched practice fields and ended up in a cemetary.

But the thing that bugged me the most was no fraternizing between the genders. Hey we were sponsored by a Catholic Church. I have a fond memory of Father Joe doing mass at the front of the bus and I was in the back reading "My Secret Life. The sexual memoirs of an English Gentleman". Shoot me I was 14.

The food was always pretty good. I still remember the blueberry cobbler at Weslayan University in Delaware Ohio where we stayed for the 71 US Open. On the other hand that's also the show where my seatmate didn't tell the bus driver that I was not on the bus when the corps returned to the housing site after Prelims. I had to hitch a ride back to Delaware, 20 miles...lol. He was definately on my you know what list...lol