ironlips

All the best to our musical friends in the UK for another successful season. Cheers, mates.

It's a good bet that props and electronic enhancements, both musical and visual, will become more of a staple in drum corps shows in the next couple of seasons as groups begin to utilize these to compensate for the inevitable drop off in corps size and skill levels caused by a year or so of inactivity and lapse in recruitment. This could help the smaller and less capitalized teams to become more competitive vis-a-vis the major leaguers. "Lights. Camera. Action!"

I would suggest that the Cadet organization is an appropriate group to address these issues. Though it may seem like ancient history to some, it was quite common for many drum corps to display a marked tendency towards non-inclusion in the past. In their "Garfield" days, these things had to be worked through, and sometimes it wasn't very pretty. Not that they were alone, by any means. In the case of this particular corps however, I witnessed the often awkward transitions as the gender and color barriers were disassembled. There was push-back, to be sure, and some ties were severed, but th

"Bette Midler does a great job on that number. " Indeed. That woman has both panache and pizzazz.

Re "Minnie", The St. Rita's Brassmen Alumni, for one:

"I was a Precisionaire fan in the 70s too." Me, too. The Osage Precisionnaires were probably the single most underrated drum corps in the history of the activity. One small example: Squib Cakes - They played it better than T.O.P., not to mention the other more prominent corps who tried to capture that Funk feel.

"...and then at Finals some weird changes happened, especially with Cavies. RC went from 7 to 9 " Two words: Tick System

"...a deal that DCI made with a certain PA corps to make top 12, which they did. " Had I known it was possible to make such a "deal " it would have saved me and several of the corps I taught a good "deal " of time and effort over the years. Conspiracy theories abound in drum corps, and it is ever so. Finleyville was a very good corps in 1975, deal or no deal.

1971...Blue Rock...Wilmington, DE: At the 10:50 mark on this clip... Requiem for the Masses - arr. by Elmer "Red" Winzer

Today is Memorial Day. About an hour ago, thousands of musicians across the continental US completed a rolling sounding of Taps, each playing at precisely 3:00 PM, local time. Jari Villanueva, with the help of the folks at the CBS Evening News, organized "Taps Across America". If you are reading this, you have some connection to the drum corps activity, probably as a performer at some point or currently. The bugle is your heritage and Taps its most iconic call, having been designated the National Song of Remembrance by the US congress only a couple of years ago, at the urging of the afore

Good question. Here's a clip from 1977 DCA Finals in Allentown with only the 50 marked:

Looking for inspiration? Here you go.

A lesson for all young whippersnappers out there: There is no finish line. The show goes on forever.

When I grow up, I want to be just like Ace.

This topic caught my eye right away, though my experience was a bit different. Due to a quirk of fate (and some string-pulling), my 142nd Armored Division tank unit included a number of vets from corps like the Smithtown Freelancers, Oceanside Legionnaires, Sunrisers, Lindenaires and Cabs. On our own time we put together a mini parade corps and then convinced the First Sergeant (the head string-puller, actually) that our unit's prestige would be enhanced if we played the various ceremonies, formations and other gatherings that came up. This extra duty kept us out of the smelly o