Cavie74

For your fourth post you really know how push the right buttons. I could say the Blue Devils are lucky to be scoring what they are right now but I won't because I shouldn't. The blue Devils have the most successful program of the DCI era and are the defending champions. It should come as no suprise that they are scoring so high. By the same token, the Cavaliers have the most successful program of the past five years and the past ten years. I wouldn't consider it luck that they are scoring as high as they have. I've been following all the posts this season and a huge majority of the people agree that Blue Devils and the Cavaliers have been the top two corps all season. I'm a former marching member of the Cavaliers and fan of drum corps in general - Blue Devils included. Naturally, I view drum corps through green tinted lenses but I would never disrespect another corps in a public forum like you did. I'd like to remain a lurker but I'm calling you out. STOP IT.

Can someone translate this for me?

Bingo! Picture Phantom doing a 007 show one year, original composition the next, a Pop musician themed show the next ... Picture Blue Devils performing Shostakovich. Picture Cadets performing a dance competition - backwards (alright, that's plausible). You get the idea. I think Cavaliers stray further from a set formula for a show concept from year to year more than most corps. It should come as no surprise that one season's original composition written by Saucedo should sound similar to another. I think anyone could pick out a Paul McCartney tune pretty easily too.

I beg to differ about LAST years' was the worst. To quote a designer from the 70's "...so we'll spend half the song forming the Firebird and it will crap out the cymbal line" Or "Let's play Zorba the Greek" which lasted about 3 weeks of competition. Or "Let's play Gershwin's Bess you is my Woman" which caused crowding at the concession stands and bathrooms beneath the stands. Also known as Coffee and Doughnuts Time. I'm not trying to be funny. Year after year we were handed that crap and after the '77 season, no-one showed up for the '78 season. The average age of the '78 corps was probably 16 because we filled the ranks with Cavalier Cadets. Those guys matured and held the corps together admirably. We thought we were going places in '76. We had a poor finals performance but we thought we could pass a couple of corps above us and build from there. I haven't seen the book (Building the Green Machine) yet but I lived though enough of those dark years to be able to speak with some authority. 2007 is NOT the worst designed show in Cavalier history. Ask someone wearing the famous drum corps died in '71 T-shirt.

Its true that there are a handful (about 5) non-Cavaliers in the Classic Cavaliers (not the alumni corps). One example is the Alumni Corps snare tech who restored most of the Rogers drums we use in the first half of the show is a member of the Classics. These men have been sponsored by Cavaliers and their participation has been approved by the entire corps. The Classic Cavaliers will continue beyond 2008 because so many of us still live in the Chicago area and get a kick out of doing drum corps without any of the pressures related to putting out a competitive product. Its kind of like a jam session where different guys show up for each event or rehearsal. Its "Hey, its good to see you made it today, lets play the 120 drum solo from '69. What instrument do you want to play? We could use a low bass drum today".

Actually, its legal to strike keys A thru G. The sharp keys make their fingers bleed so they stick with the flats!

Mike Boo's "Curse of 7" essay.

I marched back in the seventies. This dot system is awsome! I'm marching in the Cavalier Alumni Corps and I learned 30 "sets" of a Mike Gaines drill in two days last weekend. Its so efficient. You don't waste a lot of time working on intervals and such. If you hit your set and midpoint on the right count everything else falls into place. The musical queues for your drill moves aren't much different than in the olden days. The main difference is that its kind of like playing that old "Simon" memory game. Anyone can learn a 30 item pattern given two days of practice. BTW, visually the drill is spectacular. I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people with this drill being marched by a bunch of old codgers like us.

Cymbals are kind of like free safeties. One of us would run into a judge at nearly every show. Typically we'd yell "move" or firmly stiff-arm them with a cymbal. Once or twice I modified my drill to clear out a drum judge behind the tenor or snare line - but you didn't hear that!

I would be very surprised if they brought back a cymbal line. If I were to pick the World Class Corps least likely to field a cymbal line, it would be the Cavaliers.

I've got a fever and the only cure for it is more cymbals! Cavalier Alumni Corps Cymbal

Cavaliers 1981 - a snare stick visual. You need to take a course from Evelyn Wood to appreciate it though.

The Noose Story I copied this from the Traditions section of the Cavalier web site: http://www.cavaliers.org/years/history/1970/04.html Our introduction to the 70's didn't take long. We expected it to be Trooper's year with us close on their heels, and we'd heard that both Boston and Sac were doing okay, and that did prove out. What we didn't expect, though, was the surprise that hit us in Michigan City after Troopers took third and we were announced in second ... Santa Who???? The west coast invasion had begun. After the show the next day in Milwaukee, the snotty little left coast upstarts left us a wrapped present .... a noose with which to hang ourselves. We remembered. It was to surface again. (See 1971). 1971 ... Oh my God, the stories from that year. I promised I'd return to the noose story from 1970, so here goes. We tore up the competition during the early season, winning 5 of the first 6 shows. The show was getting mixed reviews. People either loved it or they hated it, but they came to see it. The big one was Wheeling, one of our home'shows, and the first time we saw Troopers and Santa Clara. We came in pumped up and confident. We destroyed Troopers in the cafeteria at the high school that afternoon when we entered singing - every mother-lovin' one of us. The spirit carried us through the weekend, beating them all hands down, and since Santa Clara stayed at the Hall that week, we left them a little Christmas present, the noose. We soon got it back after the Boston fiasco, and kept it for about 15 years before we had the chance to give it back. What a fine tradition between two great competitors. Don't you miss those days?

There's plenty more stories in the book ... The Noose courtesy of the Santa Clara Vanguard Some Green Black and White flags "allegedly" missing from a Worlds Fair venue. The Riot in '57 with the Cavaliers and Reilly Raiders VS East Coast Junior drumcorps. The live chicken a member bought and hid on the bus during tour - not a happy PETA ending for that bird either and many more

Mischief? How about a few Cavaliers tried to touch Lincoln's nose on Mount Rushmore. Founder Don Warren was nearly arrested. Park officials told him the the penalty was six months in jail for each of the four offenders. Don's quote was "Tell my wife I love her and I'll see her in two years!" The full story is in his new book.

I thought it was worth posting this in DCP. You might want to add this book to the DCP store. I'm not clear on the DCP policy on the sale of merchandise so please delete this topic if violates any policies.

Building the Green Machine Don Warren and Sixty Years with the World Champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps by Colt Foutz ISBN: 978-1-932714-39-5 Hardcover, with dust jacket. 480 pages, 100 + photos. Price: $29.99 Order the special first edition NOW! With a foreword by Cavaliers alumnus Gary Moore, author of Playing with the Enemy: A Baseball Prodigy, a World at War, and a Field of Broken Dreams. (Coming soon as a major motion picture!) Also with a preface by Cavaliers founder Don Warren. It's history -- with a soundtrack Can the Van Halen. Rack your Kid Rock. Stow your Styx. For this musical journey, we're leaving the amplifiers with the long-haired pretty boys in spandex and taking a flying leap from the concert stage: to a football field, baking in the heat of a late June afternoon. Sixty guys spread out in a loose parabola near the 50-yard line, lean back with horns in their hands and manufacture loud the old-fashioned way -- with their lungs. With those words, author Colt Foutz opens Building the Green Machine, which tells how a ragtag bunch of Boy Scouts from Chicago's Logan Square grew into the one of the most popular marching groups in the world, winners of 20 national and world championships. The story of the Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps is also the biography of their charismatic leader, Don Warren. With no musical talent, Don founded the Cavaliers as a teenager and has led them ever since. His gift for working with people -- instructors, parents, volunteers, the kids -- built the Cavaliers into a musical juggernaut, "The Green Machine". Hop along on the tour bus for this rags-to-riches ride. From more than 200 interviews with Cavaliers alumni, and officials, musicians and fans throughout drum corps, Foutz gives a behind-the-scenes look at the camaraderie, guts, politics, pranks and tradition that have shaped marching music over the last seven decades. Whether you're a drum corps nut, or a newcomer, you'll laugh, cry and cheer for Building the Green Machine. Published December 2007 by Savas Beatie P.O. Box 4527 El Dorado Hills, CA 95762 www.savasbeatie.com sales@savasbeatie.com

No, Vince is setting you up. Back when I marched in the mid seventies, Vince's dad (Drum Corps Hall of Famer) Sal was assistant Corps director. Before any of our big shows he'd give one of those inspirational speeches where you were ready to walk through fire. Anyways, he always wore this ugly chartreuse sports coat and one day I finally found out why. Sal was one of the marching leaders in the early fifties when they were trying to pick out a new uniform. The uniform company gave the guys a stack of fabric samples and they thought the chartreuse looked pretty sharp. When the fabric company looked at their selection they said "That color dye is pretty new and it probably won't hold up well to washings and sunlight. Why don't you use this tried and true Kelly Green fabric instead?" The rest is history. By the way, Sal Ferrera had bypass surgery last week and I hope he's doing well.

It may have been a tick convention for some other corps but the '75 Vanguard were ridiculously clean.

The Cavaliers standing man (see my avatar) originated from Cavalier cigarettes available back in the 1950's. The colors of the cigarette pack were red, black and white. Hmm, I wonder where the Cavaliers got their name? Speaking of colors, the first green uniforms were going to be chartruse (spelling?). The guys pick the color swatch from the fabric mill. At the time it was a brand new color. When the fabric mill saw their choice they said "You know that die is pretty new and we doubt it will hold up well in the sun and with all the washing. Why don't you use this nice reliable Kelly Green fabric?" Hey Colt, did you ever here this story when researching your book?

Go to the Store in the Cavalier web site, I bought the Chronicles DVD collection and it has every finals performance from '75 - about 2000. Cavalier FMM '74 - '77

There's plenty to do in Indianapolis. Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune Travel Section from earlier this week (August 5th): http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-i...0,6607846.story All it takes is a little research to have a good time.

Yes, it sounds like a one armed man clapping! b**bs

Me too. Last year there were a lot of Phantom, Madison, Pioneer and Cavalier fans there.

Paul, I was a 14 year old cymbal player when you aged out and I remember you telling me how lucky I was to be that age. You said "Look at all those girls! When you turn 21 you'll wish you were 16 again." Cavalier 1974 - 1977 Classic Cavalier 2006, 2007