ironlips

Even for someone relatively new to the activity, assembling this information is not as daunting as it might at first appear. There are clues everywhere. With a little research, anyone has a good shot. Go for it.

I should think the folks on this side of the DCP house might have a slight advantage here. After all, some of these pieces are "golden oldies". Of course, so are some of those very people (I can say this with authority, being a member of the Baby Geezer class), and we all know what happens to memory over time...what was the question? Still, enterprising youngbloods know how to do "searches" and all the info is out there, so this suggests some degree of parity, at least. Give it a shot. Spelling counts.

The Quincy, MA Show this Friday, July 1st, will be a tribute to the legendary CYO Nationals and so is the current installment of "Off the Record". The first person who can correctly identify, in order, the corps, year, and song title of the samples featured on the program will receive a copy of the CD "State of the Art", recorded by the Santa Clara Vanguard and Blue Devils at the Concord Pavilion, in 1980. (It was the first multi-track drum corps recording.) The sequence begins with the Boston Crusaders, 1964, "Zing, Went the Strings of My Heart". Post the rest below. Good luck!

The Quincy, MA Show this Friday, July 1st, will be a tribute to the legendary CYO Nationals and so is the current installment of "Off the Record". The first person who can correctly identify, in order, the corps, year, and song title of the samples featured on the program will receive a copy of the CD "State of the Art", recorded by the Santa Clara Vanguard and Blue Devils at the Concord Pavilion, in 1980. (It was the first multi-track drum corps recording.) The sequence begins with the Boston Crusaders, 1964, "Zing, Went the Strings of My Heart". Post the rest below. Good luck!

Hi Will. I recommend a book called "Xtreme Power and Endurance" which is based on bugle calls (British, French, Mexican and American). I compiled this a couple of years ago as a series of 20 etudes and variations that comprise just about everything one can do on a natural horn. It's available from Wayne Downey's company, www.xtremebrass.com

Scott Gordon, Ken Mason, Glenn Kubacki, the folks at Fleetwood Sounds, The Beat Goes On, Steve Vickers and everyone else involved in archiving our drum corps audio history are doing important work and deserve our support. These recordings are the literature of our activity and must be preserved. Legal process must be followed. This is not optional. I too have played on dozens of recordings but do not hold the copyrights for the music. Those belong to the composers and their assigns, and the right to copy the recordings themselves (to make "mechanical copies" of the music), having been granted to the labels (and their asigns) belong to them in turn. These people rightfully deserve to be compensated. This is as it should be. The composers for their efforts and vision which resulted in creating their intellectual property (not unlike a book or play), and the recording companies who bore the expense (and risk) of producing the recordings should rightfully derive some benefit. We as consumers enjoy the opportunity of hearing this music on demand, in turn. These principles have been in place for a hundred years in this country and never had anything whatsoever to do with how many pistons were on anyone's bugle. That said, there are some exceptions to copyright, but drum corps is not among them.

I competed in this contest but do not recall this incident. I will take the author's word for confirmation, however. A few months later I was in Army basic training at Fort Dix. In my opinion, the Viert Nam war was one of the biggest blunders our country ever made. We lost over 50,000 killed and accomplished virtually nothing. The war was also the single most detrimental factor in the decline of drum corps. The troops are worthy of the highset honor. The politicians bear the blame. All of that notwithstanding, the flag and country deserve respect no matter what. Those who acted counter to that brought dishonor to themselves. The veterans organizations were responsible for creating this activity that we all hold so dear. We owe them eternal thanks for that. I look forward to the day when that is once again made clear at every drum corps event.

The essential question has little to do with debating the pros and cons of the ACLU agenda or the fact that California's Proposition 13 undercut the tax base for education years ago, and is more properly focused on what effect this ruling may (or may not) have on our beloved drum and bugle corps activity, "N'est pas, Hastings?" As someone who has been a drum corps instructor since the Johnson administration and a "legitimate" high school and college music educator (note quotes), I would like to point out that today's high school bands now serve the very same population that local drum corps did many moons ago. At that time, many school marching band programs were so weak the hipper students interested in marching wouldn't be caught dead there and migrated to the corps. The band folks got the message, emulated drum corps, hired their people, and now do a better job generally than those local corps ever did and serve far more kids nationally to boot. If the bands decline again in a given region, an opportunity opens up for a well-organized fee-based local corps to provide a quality experience in their place. Nature abhors a vacuum, no?

Lance has submitted A-Level research in referencing my Buglers Hall of Fame brother Jari Villanueva, the world's foremost authority on US military bugle calls. In a couple of weeks a group of us will be attending his National Civil War Field Music School in Petersburg, VA. I'm not sure who qualifies as the most overrated corps of the 1860s, but I would suggest that the bugler from G Company of the 20th Maine is the undisputed I&E champ. It was he who played "Fix Bayonets" and the infantry "Charge" that drove the Rebs from Little Roundtop and changed the outcome of Gettysburg and, quite arguably, the rest of the war. His Bb clairon had none of those new-fangled valves, neither.

Will, Send me a PM. I'd be glad to help. Frank Dorritie

A very good man has left us, a stalwart drum corps icon. My sincere condolences to Ed's family and friends. Frank Dorritie

You may be interested that this show pre-dates DCI by many years. It has its oigins in The May Day Parade, an annual event begun in the 1920s that became a tradition in the Black community of St. Louis. It was connected with the Annie Malone organization which provided housing for orphaned children as well as retired Black Civil War veterans. Corps like the Page Park Cadets and the mighty Spirit of St. Louis were regularly seen at this event. "The May Day Parade" is the title of the new CD and one man show by master storyteller Wayne Harris, Anaheim Kingsmen alumnus and current SC Vanguard CG instructor, who will be performing it next week in St. Louis.

It's not the first time I've been DQ'ed. There was that "Amen" thing with Garfield back in the day. We had a ball. As a kid, I could go to a contest and see one or two of my favorite players perform. At the BHOF, I can rub shoulders with the likes of Jimmy D'Amico, Ace Petersen, Al Chez, Joey Pero, Frank Buscemi, Frank Diliberto, Ray Fallon, Harry Hazelwood, Kenton Clarke, Buzzy Bergdoll, Jr., Ruben Ariola, Donny Allen, ...and on and on, all at the same time. It really doesn't get any better than that. What a night!

And the rest of the story goes like this... Pete's dad, a terrific guy who looked like Ernest Borgnine (but was much nicer than the character the latter played in "From Here to Eternity") decided Pete and his little brother would be less likely to be abused in the Sunrisers, so he squired them to Hempstead. Pete was a fine lead sop, but we had a ton of those so John Sasso gave him a mellophone, despite the fact that he played on a Rudy Muck, which was soon tossed out the window on the Southern State Parkway somewhere in the vicinity of Babylon. Of course, being the phenom he was, Pete was soon a star and the heart-throb of all the girls in St. Ignatius. Today nothing has changed, except all those girls are now grandmothers.

Thinking good thoughts of "The Kid", sent along from all his Buglers Hall of Fame brothers and sisters.

Try sending a PM to audiodb here on DCP

These are re-mastered by Ken Mason. You can be confident they will sound good.

Pete China? The REAL Pete China? I must confess to being skeptical. He's been the subject of the Drum Corps versions of "Cold Case Files" and "Missing" fo some time now. You'll have to verify your identity by completing the following sentence: Bo Bo See Watten Totten...

The horn in question has the look of a Getzen. The Amado keys do not suggest Yamaha. We could, of course, simply take the man's word that it was a Yammy and it's certainly possible, though unlikely.

Hearty congratulations to the inductees. It's amazing the amount of drum corps talent that sprang from this area of the country. These folks had enormous impact on the activity, down to the present.

Rich, Thanks for hosting an event that provided all anyone could ask on a winter's afternoon. My personal thanks to the Skyliner organization for giving us all a chance (an excuse?) for a good old-fashioned drum corps hang. All by itself, the St. Kevin's Quartet was worth all the traffic on the Cross Bronx Expwy.

As the Master of Ceremonies, Andy is the BHOF's version of Cedric the Entertainer, a spectacle not to be missed. If anyone recalls his performances at those traditional "after contest" parties at the local VFW and Legion establishments...well, he's even better now, and he wears a tie. Everyone is invited to this shindig, and a good time is assured. You don't even have to be a bugler. The clientele is reminiscent of the bar scene in "Star Wars", people from all over the galaxy. Details here: www.buglershalloffame.com Just click on "events". Believe me, it will certainly be one of those.

My personal congratulations to all the 2011 inductees. As the great Jim Donnelly once said, "You dont play the bugle, son, you TAME it."

Wayne is sitting here with me. Thanks, for the spell-check! (Freudian, no?) And, "Here's Wayne"... Hey Woman!...it is great to hear from you. I am sitting in Frank's office fondly remembering my Alberta Girl Days! It never got any better than You Guys! -Wayne-

Here's another little tidbit: The original SCV version of "Stone Ground Seven" (penned by Fred Sanford and Ralph Hardimon) included the brass covering the vocal parts. The only recording of this, to my knowledge, is on the mid-season "State of the Art" album, recorded on the stage of the Concord Pavilion.