Invader

High mark time. The good old days.

Would like to know if any Norristown Invaders or Ridley Park Rangers are lurking around here. Really, it would be good to hear from any Philly area corps members from back in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

92 Crossmen

My top five. 1992 - The very best 1997 - Birdland & Niner Two... Good stuff 1982 - Love that show 1991 - More good stuff 1989 - Crossmen jazz... Love it

Great idea but it must have the Mark Thurston percussion chart. So hot.

I would bring back several Philadelphia area corps as follows. Bracken Cavaliers Liberty Bell Osmond Cadets Ridley Park Rangers Vasella Musketeers Haddon Heights Vagabonds Bells of Saint Mary's What a great show that would be.

Many great ones but 1968 Kilties and 1992 Crossmen stand out as the best. I miss Mark Thurston.

I think Bones lives in Pennsylvania. We could never get him to move to Pennsauken, NJ or Newark, DE. Take him away from Philly cheese steaks, soft pretzels and Robbie Robinson and the poor phantom gets all messed up. Word on the street is that he's spending a lot of time reading Zane Gray westerns. Hook'em Bones!

The best 4th of July parade in the country is in Bristol, RI. I have been to that parade 5 times and nothing I have seen or marched in comes close. It is also about 5 miles long and always hot but the folks along the parade route keep bring plenty of water to the marchers. Not the only good thing but for me one of the best things is the 5 or 6 drum corps who march every year. It is just about always Crossmen, Cadets, Boston, Crown, Spirit and they have had Blue Devils, Phantom, Cavies, Magic, Star, Spartans, 27th Lancers, Bridgemen, and others I may not remember. They even have string bands from Philadelphia. My guess is that the parade budget for that small town must be a million dollars or more. If you like parades you have to see this one.

Don't forget they were from Pennsauken, NJ for several years and Newark, De. also. The've had more home towns in more states than any corps in the history of the activity.

1983 Crossmen

That 1990 New York Voices show from Crossmen was really a great idea. Dennis DeLucia did a great job with that and I still like "Now or Never" as the best closer of all time. Music, drill, guard work was really hot in that closer.

I always liked the 1962 Ridley Park Rangers (Ridley Park, Pa) OTL of "This Is It" the theme song of the Bugs Bunny television show that was popular back then. It was pretty cool.

Crossmen 1992

Nuss, O'Hara, Todd Invaders - Norristown, Pa. Rangers - Ridley Park, Pa. Archer Epler Musketeers - Upper Darby, Pa. (various parades) Reilly Raiders - Philadelphia, Pa. United States Navy Recruit D&B - Great Lakes Naval Training Center

I'm 61 and I marched in the 50's and 60's' Norristown Invaders Ridlet Park Rangers Reilly Raiders Some fun parades with Archer Epler Musketeers U.S. Navy Drum & Bugle Corps @ Great Lakes, Il Drum corps has always been good but in the 2000's the performance level has gone to a new level with many of the top corps but on average the show content is not very entertaining as it was in years gone by.

As I recall Vince was their brass guy and Jerry Powell was the drum major. I saw Jerry at the Norristown Invaders alumni reunion two years ago. Someone told me Danny Diquattro had died but I never had it confirmed. Danny and John were two great soprano players. When they were in the line at Ridley Park Rangers with national champ Ralph Winburg that was one heck of a first soprano section. Would love to hear those guys play together again.

Oh, their has never been a shortage of passion among the alumni. Working one night in the souvie trailer at a local show will provide positive proof of that. The problem is you can't blow their check books open with a stick of TNT. I don't buy into this stuff about the alumni will now be giving because the corps is no longer a program of YEA. Our association with YEA didn't start until 1996 on a part time basis and it became full time in 97 when both boards voted to make it final. In all the years leading up to that the alumni did nothing to support the corps. It was NOT YEA stoping them from giving during those years. I always hope the alumni will respond but I don't believe they will based on past experience prior to our YEA association. I take it you are active in the alumni association. You active guys deserve a lot of credit for what you're doing to help the corps. Great job! I remember you and I believe 92 was your last year marching. Was it you who played the back field soprano solo in 92 during the exit? I think that may have been you.

I hope you are right. My experience with the Crossmen alumni goes back to 1982, long before the YEA association. We begged the alumni to give every year but very few responded. We asked them to volunteer but very few responded. For 15 years I watched them come up to the souvie trailer, say hello, ##### about the drill, music, uniforms, or something else and then walk away with out buying a t-shirt to help support the corps. Maybe if the alumni had cared about the Crossmen and donated the corps would not have come close to folding three times. I am very happy that Rick steped in and has some of the alumni organized. I hope that continues to build but it has a long way to go. It will be interesting to see if you are right.

I hope you are right... Time will tell.

Skeptic that I am I'll buy into this when I see it. It's all about money not hopes or wishes. That's what my 15 years with Crossmen taught me about drum corps. Not many people in this activity know how to raise money and that is why so many corps have gone out of business. Until I see a sucessful money making machine giving new life to the corps I will stay a skeptic.

Wrong! The best thing that ever happened to them was being saved by YEA. If George Hopkins and the YEA Board of Directors didn't take the Crossmen in the corps would have folded 11 years ago. Thats 11 years of kids who lived the Crossmen experience because of YEA.

I think it was 1984 Crossmen were returning to West Chester after pereforming at Beverly, Mass. Corps director Robbie Robinson wanted a driver break on the Connecticut Turnpike so everyone pulled into a rest area. The drivers get coffee and half the kids use the restrooms. Twenty minutes later the corps is back on the highway heading south. An hour later some cop calls on the CB asking if the corps knows a guy named Robinson. Robbie was having breakfest and the corps left with out him.

Thank you for these thoughts. George Hopkins and the YEA board of directors deserve all the credit we can give them for allowing Crossmen 11 more years of life. Now as the texas team takes over I hope they learned a lot from George and the YEA board this past year and have a plan to keep the corps operating in the black. Additional thanks should also go to Grant Davis, Don Van Doren, Thom Hannum, Chris Marino, Jim Coates, and a few others for having the wisdom to know that Crossmen would not continue out side of YEA. I've been told that Mr. Morrison is a good business pro and he has developed a good plan for fund raising. I thank George for the last 11 years and wish the Morrison team very good wishes for success.

I was just informed via the daily tour update that Crossmen will no longer have a page on the YEA website after 8-11-07. The corps new website www.crossmen.org will be up starting 8-12-07.