Bridgemen Organization Celebrate 50th Anniversary

The staff and administration of the Bridgemen cordially invite you to their open house on November 15th and 16th to be held at the Saint Andrews School on Broadway @ 4th Street in beautiful downtown Bayonne. 2015 will mark 50 years since the “downtown” drum and bugle corps first marched up Broadway donned in rented white dinner jackets and borrowed equipment. Their historic climb to national prominence is well documented. The alumni corps, which carries on the tradition of “non-traditional” drum corps, is preparing to embark on yet another chapter in their storied history. The entire design team will be returning for this year’s festivities. Corps director George Lavelle will, once again compose the visual program. Grammy Award Nominee, Larry Kerchner will be returning to arrange the music and World Drum Corps Hall of Fame inductee, Dennis Delucia, will pen the percussion book. The corps will be playing all new music this year and it’s all about New York. Opening up with a big NY fanfare, the corps will then do a souped-up version of “East Side, West Side” which will morph into “Birdland”, followed by Chick Corea’s “Central Park”. A segue of “On Broadway” will set up the beautiful “What I Did for Love” from “A Chorus Line”. Music from “West Side Story” will round out the second half of the show as the corps will bring such favorites to the field as; “Something’s Coming”, “Tonight” and “Somewhere”. Of course, no Bridgemen show would be complete without an encore of “The William Tell Overture” Doors will open at noon on Saturday and rehearsal will end at 6. The membership will enjoy a season kick off banquet that evening where friendships will be rekindled and new ones will begin. The celebration of the corps 50th birthday will most assuredly bring out many Bridgemen from across the decades. Anyone interested in being part of the Bridgemen, either as a member or part of the support staff, is encouraged to come to the open house. For more information, please visit the corps website www.bridgemen.com.