Ageout90

Crossmen beat the Cadets at several shows in 1991 including DCE Championships in Boston and at Prelims in Allentown. The first time was in Kannapolis, NC which was actually Carolina Crowns first ever home show if I remember correctly. 1992 Crossmen beat Cadets just a couple of times but were trading brass and percussion captions back and forth as late as the week before finals. Then the Cadets vaulted up to 2nd place with one of their great late season surges of all time.

Having been a DCI brass caption head (Cadets, Crown and Glassmen) and also a conductor of a professional level British Brass Band (Imperial Brass). I am sure the training could be done for either side of the pond to learn the ins and outs of judging for the opposite circuit. The fundamental difference in judging brass bands is that timbres are conceptualized differently than we do here with outdoor pageantry. It is not about the pyramid of sound as much as it is about each section having their own distinct timbre and blends as a whole. Also the whole use of vibrato is always a conversation to be had among judges. For British brass judges coming over to DCI; I believe the challenge would be teaching them how to ##### and reward simultaneous demands that are inherent in the visual design and how that plays into overall. The one thing both circuits have in common is excellence and technical proficiency. Both cultures revere and reward displays of these skills and I would consider it to be universal. *Last thing to keep in mind is the idea of "test pieces". I would love for the idea of DCI to have compulsory competition...maybe at Allentown in the park or on Wednesday of finals week. Imagine is there was a figure 8 basics block or "move & play" circle drill competition. Or some sort of color guard 1-2 minute choregraphed piece that everyone had to perform? Drum lines kind of have their parking lot thing...imagine if it moved into a competition format? Sorry to pontificating as I rarely go on this forum...but this was an interesting post. Just some food for thought. Anyway...I am happily retired from the activity.....and just enjoy watching my past students teach, design and march. Sincerely, Larry

Hands Down 1997 Cadets Year of the Dragon/Celebration was the hardest book ever from the perspective of technical demands and stamina. (And that slow movement was no piece of cake either...spread across the field in large intervals and mixed instrumentation. Not to mention playing on G bugles. Are there shows that may have required higher demands of musicality? YES Are there shows that may have required a more diverse range of technical skills in regards to stylistic changes, tempi, and nuance....? YES BUT for sheer...note to note, bar to bar, step to step...there was no harder show EVER:-) As they said to Mozart...."too many notes". For those of you who know me...I have taught alot of different hornlines in a lot of different genres. This book tested my skills as a caption head like no other. We really were entering into unchartered waters (at the time.) In a twist of Irony..I am conducting Year of the Dragon with my Wind Ensemble at Bridgewater-Raritan for contest. We are just started hitting it when we came back from holiday break. We are performing it for the first time on March 1st!

Not sure if it was clarified about 1995. And no disrespect to anyone, but 1995 was a three way tie. This happened due to Dci averaging the scores from all three nights. I was the brass caption head for the Cadets that summer. We won brass outright on Friday night. The Devils were great on Saturday and Madison was hot all week:-). (Thus a 3-way tie. There are pictures of me and my staff with the Jim Ott trophy if you need proof. ) Sincerely, Larry Markiewicz past brass caption head of the Cadets and enjoying my first summer of retirement from drum corps!

Saw the old team...(the bones) in Old Bridge, NJ the other night. I thought it was the best version of the corps I have seen in many years. Chuck did a super job with the book. Jason Buckingham and Steve Jones know how to make a hornline play well and play strong with a sound technical approach. I wish them the best this summer...my advice...be patient, put down the recaps, stay off the multimediea and just rehearse. All will turn out just fine.

In the late 1990's (April of 1997 if I remember correctly) YEA put together a 1,000 member marching band to kick off the 1,000 day countdown until the new Millenium in times square. This group rehearsed in the parking lot at Giants stadium for two days and then bussed over into the city on a Sunday morning. The group included BOTH marching band and drum corps people. I remember a fairly large contingent of Sunriser folks there. At that time we still had G bugles which made it very interesting. It was such a large ensemble that we spanned from 42nd street back up broadway to almost 48th street. The group played approx. 5 or 6 selections and many people held lyres since we had little time to memorize everything. I ended up being the conductor and they had me on a 3 story scaffolding that stood over the Armed Forces recruting booth and they also had me on the jumbo tron for the entire event. The highlight for me was when Mayor Julliani came up there with me and got on the PA system to announce that times square is the central meeting place for the world and that it would be everyones focus on New Years even 1999-2000. He then asked me to help him conduct stars and stripes (which was also the 100th anniversary of that march) The man could not conduct at all and you could see me on all three major networks and CNN in back of him trying to keep the time together. *As a side note the jumbo-tron had a slight delay so we had to quickly tell the ensemble to not watch the jumbo tron but please watch me.:-) I do not have a video clip of this...but if anyone does please let me know. Larry Markiewicz

Interesting,,,,but if one were to look at the 2010 staff rosters for the top 5 DCI corps. It is littered with people who taught the Crossmen between 2003 and 2005. I think it is much more than teachers/arrangers. Since semi finals of 2004 the corps has been a bit of mystery. Many good people have come in with great intentions, but is simply will not spark and come to life. I do hope they will thrive once again.

This thread contains the funniest, most bizarre, and entertaining series of posts in the history of DRUM CORPS PLANET. As I scrolled the 12+ pages I went from being interested, to ###### off, to hurt, to laughing till I had tears in my eyes...to just shaking my head ruefully at the screen. Being a past member, instructor, program coordinator, assistant director and director of this tough little corps originally from Philly...it is my sincere HOPE and DREAM for the Crossmen that everyone puts their energy towards the future of the corps in a positive manner. There is enough venom and negative energy to supply electricity for a small city. Folks...channel that energy into the kids and the corps! The two times I have walked away from this organization (92 and 05) has directly been due to the "Upper Deck Flyers Fan" attitude of people who are supposed to show their love and support of the corps. Last summer I felt compassion and sadness for the corps more than anything else. I truly with you all luck and hope the Crossmen find their way again. Something tells me they will.....just wish it would be sooner than later. Larry

Hope this helps: I brought Donnie in as a consultant to the Cadets in 96 and 97. During those two years, he did a total of 2 camps, approx 8 days of tour and we had several dinner meetings in S. Jersey (where we both lived) He was particularly helpful in assisting in mentoring me in how to administrate a staff, how to orgainize the caption day to day, and how to plan an entire season. His pedagogy is fairly straight ahead and simple: BUT IT WORKS. So was the Lombardi Packer Sweep, but that worked and won for many years even though everyone knew it was coming. Although he is not a trained musician...(back in the 90's he was the chief administrator at one of the largest hospitals in Philadelphia) Donnie is very good at hearing or "catching the one thing" that everyone else is missing. He really does know what works and what doesn't. After I left Cadets to teach the Glassmen in 98,99 and 00...Donnie came to Cadets and brought his team in. Although I am not officially from the DVD school and not one of his henchmen...I have paid attention to what they do, and have great respect for their hornlines over the years. It is fun to still compete against them as I am once again on the Cadets staff and they are obviously doing well at Crown and have their hands in Blue Stars and now evidently Madison. Larry

Felt Compelled to post one last time: From personal experience, I was a marching member of the Crossmen and brass staff member pre-yea (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992) And then was blessed to came back as the program coordinator and then the corps director of the Crossmen in the Y.E.A. years of (2003, 2004, 2005.) George was nothing but helpful and positive for the Crossmen. For all the reasons stated on the previous posts particularly by Gary and Boxingfred: The lists of what he has done could go on and on, but for some new thoughts on what I consider to be an old topic as a person who had access to the books and helped formulate the budget for the corps hand in hand with George: Food Expenses for both corps were dead even, transportation costs were dead even, staff flight budgets were dead even, access to the office for all materials necessary to run camps and the tour were exactly the same. YEA- (The Cadets, USSBA and formerly the Crossmen from 1995-2006) have done nothing but help give 1000's of kids great experiences that have shaped their lives.) At the end of the day...that is priceless. Most of the bias that I have seen from these anti-Hop posts in his relationship to the Crossmen were conjured up by people who did not have all the information or simply just did not "get it" They chose to blame George or YEA for things not really working out when really they probably could just look in the mirror to get the real answer. Once again...looking forward to a great finish for DCI this summer. Best of Luck to the Crossmen, and both Hall of Fame inductees! I hope all of you get out there next week when the tour comes to the Northeast. Go see a show buy a T-Shirt and make sure we have this great activity for years to come! Life is too short to be bitter.

It is amazing that George is not in already, and It is a real hoot to see two great friends such as Gary and Hop get in together. Looking forward to West Chester this week! Congrats to both of you!

Those King Contras were fabulous. As well as the King Baritones

While I do not post much these days... I would like to make two points: #1) Michael The newly appointed DM is a great leader, and also was my private student for a while. He also studied Euphonium with the late Bill Kellerman. (Both of Bill and I spent a little bit of time around the bones over the past 20 years.) I also had the pleasure of helping out his marching band several times with him on the podium. The kid has the "RIGHT STUFF" Megan is a Rutgers student and over the few times I have gotten to chat with her at a show...I have always been impressed with her ability to lead that corps back up the ranks last summer. #2) As far a Jarret...he is a stand up guy and one of the gentlemen of the activity. His passion for teaching and for the welfare of the kids experience is right up there with the best I have ever seen in the activity. Not to mention knowing the "nuts and bolts" of getting a drum corps down the highway at the age of 22/23 is truly phenomenal. So any of this banter about his qualifications, or the decision making of appointing him to the DM position should be "off the table". Posted by a person who knows a little bit about the Crossmen and Drum Corps. Larry Markiewicz

I have all his Albums; my favorite is Thriller.

I had the pleasure of teaching with Frank in 93, 94, 98,99, & 00 Most of my stories and quotes should probably not be posted on here. But let me just say that I enjoyed every minute I have worked with him. One good story I can share was in 94 at Cadets. I was teching the mellophones and they had a "high A" sustain while running backfield for 24 counts in the beginning of the Prologue. If you remember on the old G bugles "A above the staff" was the note that had the highest percentage of cracking. Especially while running in Sully's drill and we were way back field (behind the hash). The Sopranos had the same note up front, So, I decided to just put them down the octave thinking noone would notice. WELL....Frank flew into Boston for the weekend (around July 4th). Within minutes we got to that section and on the first rep he got on the mic to ask the mellos who was playing the high A? No hands went up and finally after an uncomfortable silence I told him that I took it down the octave since it was so far back field, and the Sops had the same note up front with a smaller step size. More silence....then Frank asked me to come up to the press box. So, I climbed up the stands and mounted to ladder to the box, as I got there he was standing inches from my fingers on the top rung and said "If you do not fix that %?+*ing high A in 2 minutes you are FIRED!" I went running back to the mellos and basically said, "My job security relies on this next rep...please play the high A and do not crack or play out of tune." Thank goodness the mellos liked me. Later that season I was doing all the daily warm-ups and technique time with line going into finals week. Half way though the warm-up he started ranting for the hornline to "bring it in" during one of my exercises. I was thinking oh boy...here we go. Instead he just told the line they should thank me for how well they are playing and the great quality of sound they have this time of the year. I had to pull my hat down low to hide the little tear I had in my eye. He did not give out compliments very much and I guess he still doesn't looking at some of those posts...lol. I adore Frank and he has taught me much over the years. It is my hope that one day he will be in the DCI hall of fame.