SomeOtherJoe

It's a semantic argument that will always be present but doesn't make sense. The scientific community will always hold onto the Gregorian calender ref arg and assert the 1-0 accuracy. Biz, media, and common joes will continue to be just fine referring to cardinals like '70s, '80's, and '90s fully aware that the 1st decade, for ref sake, gets short-changed to only 9 years... unless, of course, there's an argument to be won asserting otherwise.

Ah, man... not the millennium argument again. I understand the args on both sides of the debate, both the folks holding scientifically true to the Gregorian for ordinal point of ref, and those that opt for common sense cardinal app. Personally, I prefer to ref the '80 as the '80s and not the '80's minus 1980, plus 1990. But that's me.

Also, the BD win extends and keeps alive their streak of winning at least 3 championships in each DCI decade.

BD's Sanford trophy breaks a tie with SCV and pushes 'em into 1st in terms of drum trophies earned in DCI.

I dunno... can a drummer drop a stick, have it picked up and handed to him by a judge, and the drumline receive a perfect score? It's subjective, folks. The scores have zilch to do with any literal, relative relationship to perfect execution. Can't figure out why anyone (and this ain't pointed at you, iSop) would try to rationalize a complaint re: scores being "too high" or "too low." They're subjective... relative from corps to corps, only... SUBJECTIVE!

Well, it would certainly be pretty hard to argue against them being the most decorated in DCI history. 13 - Championships 3 - Minimum # of championships won "per" decade 7 - 2nd place finishes (top 2 in 20/38 years) 5 - Number of losses to 1st by .3 or less 3 - Number of losses to 1st by average of .1 (.1, .175, .025) More high drum trophies than any corps More high brass trophies than any corps Color Guard? You can include references to the 40's, 50's, and 60's for corp "x", but DCI has been pretty clearly owned by the Devs. If there's one thing they've proven, it's that they'll figure out and adapt to any judging system that's thrown at 'em with the constant being supreme execution. Heck, anyone wants to complain about judging systems over the history of DCI, why bother comparing corps "y" to corps "z". . . just compares Devs championships from one decade to the next. There's enough of 'em to go around ;-) Congrats to BD and BDB on their wins, and congrats to all corps for pulling through in the face of widespread sickness!!!

Where's Dave Glyde in that line, 3rd from left (when viewing from front)?

I said "first time", Sam... not last time! Nothing compared to being on field w/ y'all blowing La Fiesta... always felt like killing something by the time it was done.

Was it Rome or DCI Canada in Hamilton, Ontario? Coolest thing about that night, for me personally, was standing in that arc while you guys played Strawberry Soup. That horn line made the hair on the back of my neck stand up... literally gave me goose bumps. First time I'd ever experienced a horn line that loud playing behind me.

G, where you standing in this one?

BD gave the best finals appearance that year... by far. SCV's prelim performance was better than its finals appearance. Garfield's show carried 'em... you could see it coming in '82... completely new direction. Still, they WERE given a break on execution, IMO.

Mike became a judge a few years later. Saw him on the field a few times and would always talk at him a bit before stepping off. In fact, he judged '84 prelims which, for me personally, was pretty cool having him out there on the field. Told him to make sure he stuck to the snare line like glue and he complied. He seemed to be enjoying what he was doing. The guy to his right on tymp #2 is Gary Gardner. Gary went up north to Freelancers the following year and spent several years there playing snare. You've got a treasure trove of pics, G!

Add in the prior year as well as one other guy from '79, and there's even more eventually heading north. Gary Gardner, who played tymp #2 in '79, ended up heading to Freelancers with Dane and playing snare there for a number of years. Gary & Dane were the guys who got me back into DC (spent a year in Sac before heading to SCV) after spending a summer off playing frisbee and being a general juvi delinquent. From '78, there was obviously Kubitz who spent some time in Rockford before heading over to BD to play in their '83 snare line (still one of the best I've seen). Less known is Dan Squires. Dan played #4 tymp in '78 and ended up in SCV's mallet line in '82. He was the tympanist in '83. That which doesn't kill ya...

Seems to me back in the '80s when everything went subjective, jazz charts -- especially in terms of percussion arrangements -- took a "hit" and were automatically viewed with a "not as musical" bias when compared to classical arrangements. Jazz phrasing/dynamics garnered little merit when compared to the same in classical charts. A classical chart was deemed more musical right out the box. When you write to appeal to/appease the greatest common denominator in opinion of those handing out the scores, musical selection, composition, and arrangement will probably refelect the greatest common denominator in opinion of those handing out the scores. Good or bad, the direction of music selection must be impacted by judging more than anything else.

Strap on some harnesses and march a line of those things up & down the 50 and I'll be there!

Ya, I was going to throw Bridgemen in there as well. Bridgemen with their three year run of 80, 81, and 82 followed up by Float & BD's four year run of 83, 84, 85, and 86 and the demise of 27th -- the last top-flight DL grip holdout -- pretty much did matched grip in. Not saying that everyone is/was a follower... definitely not the case. Yet, the willingness to do something "non-traditional" is definitely a bit higher when someone's doing the same and winning. For what it's worth, having played in two matched lines and two traditional lines ages ago, I think the "symmetry" argument is overrated. I was glad to see matched go the way of the dinosaur.

Yup... thought that may have been the case. You know off hand whether they played any portions of '76 matched?

There are a few inaccuracies in the blog article you ref'd (actually written by Greg Dilley who marched in SCV's snareline 78-80 I believe... off-topic, RIP Greg!). I might be wrong, but I believe '76 was SCV's first matched grip year (don't quote me on this... believe Dale Lofgren peruses these boards... he'd definitely know). Second, and more important, is the portion that reads "the very next year, lead by a new instructor whom himself was not fully comfortable with matched grip for snare drumming, the SCV snare line de-evolved back to the use of the traditional grip ." That's not correct. SCV continued to play matched grip up until 84, and the snare tech (Curt Moore) for the three years prior (81, 82, 83) was plenty comfortable with the grip. SCV went back to traditional in '84 because: a. Curt left and was replaced with the return of Bob Kalkoffen; and b. the majority of the prior year's snare line either aged out, quit, or bolted to Blue Devils making it convenient to switch back. It was a preference thing... Bob's pref was traditional. In terms of the rest of drum corps throwing the style out and going traditional, I "suspect" it had a lot to do with Float and BDs dominance in the early 80s. He was setting the standard at the time, and lines have a way of following (just as some followed SCV in their move to matched). If it were SCV instead of Float that dominated -- with matched grip -- traditional might of gone the way of the steam engine.

Ya know, I was a pretty decent player at that age due mainly to being a practice nut to the point of dysfunction and having Scott to watch and learn from in HS. Yet, I was still just a 14 yr. old kid mixed in with much more mature players. As I recall, that's a pretty good description of the corps that year overall. They had great difficulty filling in the ranks, and there was a wide range of experience across the board as a result. In hindsight, if I were to fault the staff for anything (which I don't) it would be giving the corps too much chance to succeed rather than not enough. I took a year off then got a call from some old VK friends who were marching Freelancers. I spent a year on snare there, a couple at SCV, then my last at BD. I use to kid the guys I marched with that some of the most difficult notes I ever played were stocked in '79 VK's book. Judging by the PA numbers in the drum book, and the associated analysis numbers in the other captions, there seems to be some validity to that. It wasn't the design numbers that were low, it was the execution numbers. I've always looked back at both years I marched VK -- including '79 -- with a good deal of fondness, and that absolutely includes the staff. Likewise, though I moved on, I had a big grin on my face watching them grow and succeed in the early '80s... always felt a kinship to that corps. I've seen folks lament '79, but I'm not one of 'em... wouldn't trade that experience.

Don't sweat it, Rob. It's all part of my master plan to use the internet for settin' up a believable alias to support a life of crime in my twilight years. Once my mother starts addressing X-Mas cards to "Joe", it's on! ~ Criminal Joe

And, including Scott K., all 4 of 'em ended up in BD's snareline... one with a detour through Phantom, the other though SCV. Good to hear Scott M. still drums. He was a good set player (and snare) back in the day. Scott recruited 3 guys from that 79 pic -- 2 basses and another snare (myself) -- from a little high school in Covina. I have him to blame. Happy Holidays, G.

Man, I'm a wimp! I thought the camps in Blythe, CA -- in the middle of the Mojave Desert -- back in the late 70's with VK were tough. Average temp of about 115, but it was a "dry" heat. That's NOTHING compared to the Sahara. Must'a been a helluva bus ride!

I didn't get to see 'em in '77, but I kind'a liked the live corps in '78. Cool uniforms, nice book, Bellavia, kick but sabre line. Probably not the best that they ever put out, but definitely under rated. If not for an absolutely attrocious hatchet job in horn field ex. coupled w/ a gift of a score for the Kilties in the same -- both by Opie -- they would've marched Finals. In fact, if memory serves me right, there was quite a bit of buzz over that... a lot of folks were stunned they didn't make the show. I definitely thought they got jacked. Not that I didn't like the Kilties -- I did. Regardless, I think quite a few thought there was a crime commited that day. Opinions... everyone's got one.

Then again, 27th "followed" BD in prelims (16th vs. 19th) and lost by .3 rather than .1. So, following that logic, they might have ended up down even more. But, hey... don't let me get in the way of a good story.

Never heard the nocturnal story. However, during the early 80s, there was a bit of a tradition in the snareline (don't know when it started, but it probably ended in '83). Once a year, round about late spring on a Saturday night, the snareline would run an all-nighter sectional complete with instructor at the hall, then immediately drive over to the field for all day Sunday rehearsal.