mikespeed Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) I was vaguely aware during my only year of high school marching band that there was a thing called "DCI" and they were "a lot better than we are"... but one day I stumbled upon the ESPN broadcast of '06 finals, just in time to see the last 3 corps perform. That sparked my interest, and Youtube did the rest. I understand the many reasons why DCI moved away from ESPN, but hey, they gained at least one fan from it! :) EDIT: Oh yeah, after this, by a strange coincidence, I also bumped into the Blue Devils while they were performing at a 4th of July parade in Centerville, OH, where I was visiting my grandparents. That phenomenal brass sound was what inspired me to shell out the money for my first show. So, to recap: 2006 Blue Devils, 2006 Phantom Regiment, 2006 Cavaliers, and the 2007 Blue Devils playing parade tunes. Edited January 31, 2012 by mikespeed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 ... So, to recap: ...2006 Cavaliers... 2006 Cavaliers Download of the Week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozarkbugler Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 There was this good-looking guy at my church who was really into drum corps. He wore this t-shirt that said "Phantom Regiment" on it all the time. Knowing that I was a musician, he explained what it was and told me about the shows he'd seen. I happened to notice that this drum corps thing was going to be on television, so when I mentioned the broadcast, he asked where I wanted to watch... his place or mine! Our first date, then, was watching the 1986 finals on TV. I remember being awed by the whole thing and being particularly impressed by Santa Clara's costume change. The first show I saw live was the 1987 finals the next summer, by which time I was engaged to this good-looking drum corps fan. I was blown away. Sad to say, we had to miss the 1988 finals because we got married that weekend. I really loved the 1989 Phantom Regiment & Santa Clara shows, and the 1990 Cavaliers show was also a favorite. I also remember sitting in the Cotton Bowl, patting my pregnant belly as I listened to Phantom Regiment playing "Nessun Dorma" thinking maybe someday... Now we are really privileged - - our daughter will be marching for the first time with Legends, and after marching two seasons with Legends, our son earned a position in the 2012 Phantom Regiment front ensemble. And guess what - - they're playing "Nessun Dorma." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHRISP Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 There was this good-looking guy at my church who was really into drum corps. He wore this t-shirt that said "Phantom Regiment" on it all the time. Knowing that I was a musician, he explained what it was and told me about the shows he'd seen. I happened to notice that this drum corps thing was going to be on television, so when I mentioned the broadcast, he asked where I wanted to watch... his place or mine! Our first date, then, was watching the 1986 finals on TV. I remember being awed by the whole thing and being particularly impressed by Santa Clara's costume change. The first show I saw live was the 1987 finals the next summer, by which time I was engaged to this good-looking drum corps fan. I was blown away. Sad to say, we had to miss the 1988 finals because we got married that weekend. I really loved the 1989 Phantom Regiment & Santa Clara shows, and the 1990 Cavaliers show was also a favorite. I also remember sitting in the Cotton Bowl, patting my pregnant belly as I listened to Phantom Regiment playing "Nessun Dorma" thinking maybe someday... Now we are really privileged - - our daughter will be marching for the first time with Legends, and after marching two seasons with Legends, our son earned a position in the 2012 Phantom Regiment front ensemble. And guess what - - they're playing "Nessun Dorma." That is an awesome story!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 EDIT: Oh yeah, after this, by a strange coincidence, I also bumped into the Blue Devils while they were performing at a 4th of July parade in Centerville, OH, where I was visiting my grandparents. That phenomenal brass sound was what inspired me to shell out the money for my first show. It is kind of fitting where you saw BD. For a long time the Centerville HS band emulated the BD in style and appearance (and were perennial BOA finalists, even winning Grand Nats). I judged some band shows in Ohio (back in the late 80's, early 90's) including their home show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarasn Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I was 7 years old. My older brother was in the Madison Scouts. For some reason my parents left me home with a babysitter while they went to Drums On Parade at James Madison Memorial Stadium (about 4 miles from where I lived) I loved going to my brothers rehearsals especially to hear the drums, but I had never been to an actual show. I was outside playing with 3 friends and all of a sudden I heard a drum line warming up in the far off distance. After talking my friends into following me we ran from street to street and backyard to backyard stopping along the way to try and figure out which direction the sound of the drums were coming from. After a while two friends decided they had to go home but one friend and I trudged on. Finally we made it to the back of the stadium and I stood mesmerized watching drum corps after drum corps until it started getting dark. Then getting a bit scared my lone friend and I started home, realizing at this point that we had drums to lead us to the stadium but nothing to lead us home. Well, a couple of hours later and after dark we arrived home to a crying babysitter and very mad parents. I was grounded for a couple of weeks but the good thing that came out of it was that my parents took me to every show they went to from then on. I was hooked. I followed my brother into the Madison Scout. Marched until my age out year (1885). In 2003 I played Scouts 1995 for my oldest son, (which was a year he was the mascot) he was hooked and started marching that next year, his final 2 years with Scouts aging out in 2010. While showing my younger son a video of my age out year I realized that my older son and I both aged out playing Slaughter and Rhapsody....a quarter of a century apart. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musclebud Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Great question. The first time I saw DCI was on PBS in 1977. But it was in 1978 that I saw my first live contest in Little Rock, AR. It was all amazing, but the corps that hooked me for life that night was the Bridgemen. It was raw, loud, unique and thrilling. I can still hear their versions of Saber Dance and Spanish Dreams in my dreams. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leed17 Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 1983 - a friend let me borrow a recording of Blue Devils playing T.O.(we were doing it in our high school marching band). I listened to them, along with the four other corps on the tape. I loved it, but didn't get hooked yet. That was 1986, finishing my HS Senior year, another friend let me borrow his 1985 DCI PBS tape (all fuzzy picture), and I watched it literally until 2 in the morning, over and over. I was hooked. I had known about drum corps because my Dad was a band director and he watched it each summer on TV, but I didn't get hooked until that 1986 summer. I watched the 86 broadcast on PBS live that summer, and been addicted ever since. I started a Drum Corps World subscription in the fall of 86, and also started to collect recordings and vids of all DCI stuff I could get :) Went to my first live show in Allentown during 1987 - sat in the endzone, but it still was wonderful :) Saw Cadets, SCV, Sky and more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted February 1, 2012 Author Share Posted February 1, 2012 1983 - a friend let me borrow a recording of Blue Devils playing T.O.(we were doing it in our high school marching band). I listened to them, along with the four other corps on the tape. I loved it, but didn't get hooked yet. That was 1986, finishing my HS Senior year, another friend let me borrow his 1985 DCI PBS tape (all fuzzy picture), and I watched it literally until 2 in the morning, over and over. I was hooked. I had known about drum corps because my Dad was a band director and he watched it each summer on TV, but I didn't get hooked until that 1986 summer. I watched the 86 broadcast on PBS live that summer, and been addicted ever since. I started a Drum Corps World subscription in the fall of 86, and also started to collect recordings and vids of all DCI stuff I could get :) Went to my first live show in Allentown during 1987 - sat in the endzone, but it still was wonderful :) Saw Cadets, SCV, Sky and more. Do you now own the Legacy Series in order to have good quality re-engineered recordings of all the classic shows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Doherty Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 This ts a tough one for me because I first started going to competitions in the early 50s when I was about 6 years old and I was hooked from the start. I loved Holy Name and St. Vincent's but was probably more influenced by St. Joseph's Hilltoppers of Newark, probably because the Principal was my cousin - not that they weren't a great corps, they finished as high as third at Nationals - but they just couldn't get past Vinnies and Holy Name. But even before then, probably from age two or three, we would go to parades in Newark that always featured the best New Jersey corps. I always got very excited to see St Joes coming down the street and blowing the dinky high school bands into the asphalt. BTW, I have seen some statements somewhere that LT. Norman Prince made the greatest contribution of instructors, writers and players to DC, but I don't think they came close to St. Joes contribution that included Hy Dreitzer and Bobby Thompson as well as many others. With the new issues of historical recordings, St. Joes is now generally available. My first record contained the 1958 Caballeros on side A and the Reilly Raiders on side B. My second had 1960 St. Vincents on A and Scout House on B. Back in those days Fleetwood Records were sold retail and you were limited to whatever the store had in the record bins. I don't recall whether they sold mail order or not so that you could order what you wanted, and I don't recall seeing order forms in the rare copy of DC News I came across. I never saw a copy of a Stetson Richmond recording until the late 60s. A deprivation perhaps, but live was always better. Unfortunately the competitions were poorly advertised in the daily newspapers, so you got to attend by hearing about them by word-of-mouth. I can't pick a single event because I was a little kid immersed in the experience, but at the same time my Mother was taking me to the Ballet in Newark where the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (the successor to Diaghilev's Ballet Russe) came every year or so. They always had a kid's matinee and did either Copland's Rodeo or Billy the Kid as well as some of the more exciting stuff from Swan Lake - no dying swans involved. The orchestra was live and I was glued to the tympanist. Lots of musical experiences rolled into one. The Jazz stuff is another story. Ask me about when My Dad and I went to hear Coltrane. Had enough yet? ( I can spell. I can't type) Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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