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TennTux

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    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    And Tony long story on how we picked a Bichon. Wanted something small and wouldn't try to eat our old Siamese cat. I told Kris if she wanted a dog that bad she could pick one given the conditions. After a year checking she came up and said "I want a Bichon Friese". First thing out of my mouth was "What the Hell is a Bichon Friese?". Then she showed me what she found about temperment, etc and... yes honey great choice.

    Donna wanted a Bichon but there wasn't one at the local rescue. The one thing we were sure of was we would be getting a small dog and we would be adopting one from the rescue... (It was a couple of months before Sam and Vicky came in so we're glad we waited...)

    VERY long story made short.... (yes, pun intended. heh)

    Because of my health condition we were looking for a small friendly dog. Victoria (we're guessing she was around 2 yrs old) was my pick but she was VERY timid when they brought her out to be with us. They let us know she came in with another dog (Samantha, guessing she was around 4 yrs old) and brought her out and Vicky all of a sudden was very playful and friendly with Sam with us. We were not planning on adopting two dogs but could leave Sam there so we adopted both....

    • Like 2

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    And Westshore didn't field a corps in 1973 and came back too.

    And $100 for nothing Tony.... yep.... Our time table for getting a new Bichon keeps moving up. Started at new year and now at maybe Fall sometime. Plan to get a rescued one that is past the housebreaking stage. Bichons are so high maintenance with grooming and plucking ear hair every few weeks there are a couple of rescue groups in the northeast.

    Sadly there aren't many dog breeds that are also VERY low on shedding and dander..... With my respiratory needs that's the one thing that keeps us from owning many different types of pets.

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Either you got off cheap or I need to use vets in your area..... 14 and still going.... :thumbup:

    Had to take "that" final tip to the vet a few days before our Bichons 14th B-day.....

    I don't think we "got off cheep".... Every time we go to the vet it's another $100 even when there's nothing wrong. heh

    This year's DCA weekend brings us to the 2nd anniversary we took our Samantha (she was our 16 yr old Border Terrier) to that final trip to the vet....

    We use the 4th of July as both Sam and Vickie's B'days as that's the day we got them from the local rescue....

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Just the mention of his name brings a smile to me - I was just a snot nosed kid and when he saw my Brigadier uniform, I was his best friend... He may have bled BS Golden blood, but he always considered himself a Brigadier... Bobby Thompson... one of the few who truly changed the activity... even if he couldn't hit home runs...

    Is there such a thing as going OT when we're already OT?

    Our GW # 1 made the "50 Years of DCA History, A Corps Rebirth" promo video clip!

    50 Years of DCA History, A Corps Rebirth

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    since you axed my friendly curmudgeon brother....there was this vending stand under the bleachers distributing a fine malted beverage known as Genesee Cream Ale.....the aforementioned miscreants used our non-competitive status to, ahhhhhh, sample the wares.....as time marched on, we approached the vendor for a refill and, lo and behold, we were informed that we had consumed his supply of the nectar of champions. By now the culprits were deep in philosophical realms attempting to opine the why of what we do and how to explain in concise form a definition of "performance"......after belching many times and passing the water that we had previously consumed, we boiled it down to a simple expository 'do good; don't suck' and that is the genesis of the aforementioned First Law........as for how I got into corps you might say that I was born into it, but that is history for another time.

    Guido

    Punctuation IS important. (I stand corrected, it's "Do Good; Don't Suck"..... there is no "and". :worthy::thumbs-up: )

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Thanks for the JPG's guys, but I saved them as and tried everything to paste them here, but no go.

    It's interesting to see now what went down in 68. Don, you guys were right up there with Bucs and Hurcs in drumming I see.

    Not too shabby my friend.

    MANY moons ago, this question was asked and answered on DCP. (I was one of the people that asked and later answered....)

    http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php/topic/104608-imagespictures-in-posts/

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Pretty sure Brigs won high horns 68 DCA. I don't recall the sheets after the show, but something tells me Flowers and that drum line helped put Reading in first place. Rightfully so I guess, since as far as I know, Bucs only lost twice in 68. Both times to Hurcs, Stratford and the Dream.

    Tom or Frank, do you recall any of the breakdown for top 3, DCA 68?

    Ron Allard's site doesn't have the recaps for the 68 DCA's'

    http://www.dicemanradio.com/SrCorps/dca1960.htm

    1968 DCA Championships

    September 1 - Aquinas Stadium - Rochester, New York

    1 Reading Buccaneers 82.150 2 Long Island Sunrisers 80.116 3 Syracuse Brigadiers 79.816 4 Rochester Crusaders 79.566 5 New York Skyliners 79.016 6 Connecticut Hurricanes 78.450 7 Yankee Rebels 77.050 8 Hawthorne Caballeros 75.650 9 Les Ambassadeurs 71.683 10 Hamburg Kingsmen 68.216 Prelims 1 Reading Buccaneers 83.033 2 New York Skyliners 79.450 3 Long Island Sunrisers 78.266 4 Connecticut Hurricanes 78.018 5 Rochester Crusaders 77.833 6 Syracuse Brigadiers 77.666 7 Yankee Rebels 76.850 8 Hawthorne Caballeros 76.330 9 Les Ambassadeurs 73.383 10 Hamburg Kingsmen 70.716 11 Springfield Marksmen 70.700 12 Bonnie Scots 69.000 13 Kingston Grenadiers 64.700 14 Pittsburgh Rockets 64.400 15 Les Diplomates 64.300 16 Reilly Raiders 63.350 17 Guelph Royalaires 59.733 18 Kawartha Kavaliers 48.283

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    i was so lucky brother. those guys were men and they were like extra fathers to me. my dad was a contractor and he couldn't watch me all the time and my mom couldn't handle me at all , god rest their souls. so cru watched over me..

    I hear ya brother.... Mom and dad divorced around the time I started marching in DC... Single mom with me and two sisters (one older and one younger) it wasn't easy for my mom either. (and on top of that did I mention we lived in Lynn MA? LOL)

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    i was always a crusader.when in elemetary school vince bruni was my gym teacher. he knew my parents very well. in 1964 he saw me start hanging around with some older kids in a gang. so he intervened. he started to take me to crusader rehearsals. i enjoyed it. it kept me off the streets. that year in september there was a show in syracuse and he took me. that was the show that put cru on the map. they beat the cabs. now i was hooked. i spent 1965 going to rehearsals and a few local shows. tournament of drums and some others.i did the same in 1966. then the A.L. NATS was in washington. and bob ashto took me to it. it was exciting. prelims one day finals the next. i really wanted to be in cru. we all remember the fiasco on the field. in october of that year bruni said you look old enough now ans said i could join. so 1967 was my rookie year and i never looked back. i wouldn't trade it for anything. and it kept me out of jail. :thumbup:

    So did't my time with the Lynn Continentals and BAC..... not by much but by enough. LOL

    • Like 1

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    I think everyone will agree with FTD. "No one will top that"

    As proof I'm not very good at writing or putting these things in a decent story line....

    My Drum Corps history...

    I’m not sure this would rise to a "good one" or not. IIRC, I’ve written this before somewhere.

    I became aware of the Drum Corps activity sometime around 1958-59 (IIRC, I was about 5 yrs. old). I lived on Rt.107 (Western Ave, Lynn, MA) right across the street from Manning Bowl….

    I remember standing on my mother’s second floor porch, which I could see over Manning Bowl’s front and side wall into the field. Watching and listening to all of the Drum Corps was something I hadn’t seen or heard before. (Though at 5 years old I hadn't seen or heard very much of anything!)

    Of course what I was seeing and listening to was local small Drum Corps circuits and Marching Band competitions as it would be several more years before the “World Open” would be held in Manning Bowl. By the time the W.O. had made it to Manning Bowl I was competing in it…

    When I asked my mother if I could join the Corps across the street her reply was “When you can cross the street by yourself.” That happened at the end of the 62 season and by the 1963 season I was a member of the French Horn section with the Lynn Continentals! (I was moved to the Baritone section by the end of 63.) Fortunately my mother had no idea we were rehearsing more than 20 blocks away on the other side of Lynn. I know she would not like knowing a 9 year old was walking back and forth to rehearsals carrying the horn after dark. (Most DC folks have been to Lynn, MA. It’s not normally advised (especially a 9 yr old) to walk around town alone in the dark. LOL) By the time she learned where our rehearsals were I was walking back and forth with several other members of the Corps. (Amazingly that didn't make her any happier.)

    There was a thread on DCP some time ago (the DCI side) and the OP was asking “How did you originally get involved in the DC activity? What Corps got you started?” I replied; “ALL of them.” I was fortunate to see quite a few Drum Corps, of course I thought they all were “across the street”… heh

    Blessed with meeting Jimmy Centorino (he was teaching the Lynn Continentals horn line) and getting a “1960’s invitation” to join BAC for the 69 season, (“I’ll come by and pick you up around 5:30, have your horn with you”) I got to see this activity from a VERY different perspective than I had in the Continentals. Going from a very small Class “C” (then moving up to Class “B”) Corps to the Boston Crusaders was an eye opener to say the least. Most of what I do remember from the 1969 season was this 14 yr old keeping his mouth shut and only speaking when I was asked a question. (Which was not very often. LOL)

    During the 1969 season we lived on Park St. in Lynn, I lived next door to WDCHoF Richard ‘Dick’ Doucette. (DM of the Renegades and an Alumni of the Lt. Norman Prince Princemen), when I was invited to join the Renegades (RCA Sr Corps from Everett / Boston, MA) after the 1969 season. “Sr Corps” was another eye opener… This is also where I met Donna, who I am honored to be sharing our 43rd wedding anniversary this June! (2014) By the end of the 1973 season it seemed that the Renegades might not be fielding a Corps for the 1974 season. With several fellow members of the Renegades, John “Cupcakes” Curran, Fuzzy Vorell, (Sops) Paul Gaffney (Guard, Rifle Line) and a few others we all headed down to Shelton, CT to check out the Ct Hurricanes.

    As the 74 Hurcs were still an “all male” Corps Donna was not able to march the 74 season but she still wished to so when Mike DeLorenzo Sr came up to Poughkeepsie, NY (where we moved to after the end of the 73 season) to speak with several of us (Tom Hart (Hurcs DM) and several Alumni of the Poughkeepsie Pacers) were in the process of starting a Sr Corps, “The Empire State Lawmen” (that never got off the ground) based out of the Poughkeepsie, NY area. There were originally 10 of “us” (The Poughkeepsie Crew) that drove down to Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, NY and joined the Sunrisers for the 1975 season.

    Though the 75 Sunrisers were not “knocking it out of the park” that season, there was something special about the group we were joining that year. Over the next couple of seasons several others, from the Poughkeepsie area, would commit to making that trip with us and joined the Sunrisers as well. That original 1974 October weekend trip down to check out the Sunrisers turned into a 10 year stay with 4 DCA Championship Titles. (77, 78, 82, 83) THANK YOU Mike DeLorenzo Sr for taking the time to drive the 3 ½ hours up to Poughkeepsie!

    And in closing this mini-book of happiness, (with apologies for ending on a down note) my “carrier” with the Sunrisers, and my active participation in the Drum Corps activity came to an end on Saturday night / Sunday morning June 9, 1985 in Bridgeport, Ct sometime after 4AM. After the B’Port show several of us (Sun) were driving back to the motel we were staying at for the parade on Sunday. The road curved to the left and I didn’t. The right side of the rear fender of my van caught the road sign on the right side of the road and that “assisted” me in quickly swerving to the right. Right into “the oldest tree in Bridgeport”. (So the court papers said) If the saying IS true, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger”, then this did. I was given last rites the first day in the hospital in B’Port and twice in my life since then and I’m “still here”.

    There was a post on DCP where I shared a pic of the tree and my van “after”.

    http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=106210&st=12300&p=2513622entry2513622

    Now you know why I always say “Happy Saturday!” (or whatever day it happens to be.)

    “Every day above ground is a GREAT day!” ~ Me

    • Like 1

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Looking back now, I think I like the French horn sound better. I never played one while marching, but I know how difficult it was. Paul Daunt and Billy Kirk while with Selden, did the horn justice. I know you marched with Daunt in the later Sun years, so you know what I'm talking about.

    Interesting enough, Kirk had a solo in the exit number with Selden in 64 and it can be heard on the World Open record. One listen to that and you never want to play one of those, and he was top shelf material. Went on to play in Sky with that same horn.

    Bob Bunce gave me a melllophone in the winter of 64 and after a few days, I gave it back. Ya don't want to be the only one playing that instrument. Didn't make sense to me, why only one.

    Might be because he bought that horn himself. I do recall hearing I believe the 65 Chicago Royal-Airs wail on those things however. We had them in Sun, but when you have guys like Steve Buglino, Charlie Howell and I believe it was Tommy Leonard playing them, all you can say is wow!

    I know Fran will agree with me about Paul Daunt..... "Unbelievably good" is a fair description of his abilities on the FH. :worthy: It was an honor to have had the opportunity to be in front of Paul while he was playing...

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted · Edited by TennTux

    and where the hell have you been???

    PARADING!..... (Well, Reilly was parading.... I was driving behind them while they were parading. LOL)

    Saturday in Annville, PA

    Monday in Bayonne, NJ and then Hawthorne, NJ.....

    Photos to upload and post, and with the thunderstorms going through here, it takes a little longer....

    Oh yeah, I was also with your "What's the score?" buddy too!! :thumbup:

    *edited fer spellin'

    • Like 1

    Guess Who?

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    You guys know I worship John - I make it no secret. I would have loved to see a rehearse off between him and Bill Parcells.

    John would do a measured "nutty" - pick on certain things or people to get their attention.

    I know he took one on me in 1976 at Marist College.

    I've probably told the story - he was in for a camp after a long time of not being around, during which I was running rehearsals. He had us play the middle of Procession, the part in "bugle Eb"

    My fingers got all flugmucksed and he went off - called me a "disgrace" and told me not to come back until I knew the part (I actually knew everyone's part).

    I walked out of the room without opening the door - I fit throught the space underneath it.

    I'm betting rehearsal was pretty quiet during the 2 hours I was expelled.

    But Frank could comment - I do believe that John brought a little extra to Sunriser rehearsals.

    I was there (Marist in 76), John could word things in a way that "you" (everyone) understood what he meant and wanted from us. Sometimes the volume of those words could also rise above a whisper for sure...

    And yes, (IIRC) it was "quieter" for a while after that "conversation" between you and John.

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