BD 79-82

Correct... and the wheels on the tympani were covered with pvc plastic caps so they could be "legal" while sitting on the competition field. In 1981, the hornline started the show in a single company front on the front sideline. After the first 8 counts, you had to reach over and drag the drums across the line, being very careful not to step over the line for a penalty. TommyTimp is correct that the grounded equipment was first moved off the field in 1982. One theory I've heard floated about why the pit concept was adopted was due to influence from drill designers - Marching mallet instruments and tympani occupied the center / upfront area of the field for a large portion of the show, and once people started grounding tympani and other things it occupied it for all of the show. That's valuable real estate for a drill designer. It definitely worked in their favor to have the front part of the field freed up. However, I don't think they envisioned the "everything plus the kitchen sink" set ups that later followed those early bare bones days. :P

Interesting side note, if you watch the 79 DCI broadcast, right before BD steps off you'll see a toddler in a mini BD uniform on the DM podium "conducting" the warm up - that's Bob's son Robbie.

Bob was from the Troopers. I met him in 1979, my first year in BD. I believe he first joined BD mid season in 78 and was caption head in 79. Someone else will have to fill in details of the earlier history, but I believe he was an I&E champion and I know he taught at SCV in the early 70's with Fred Sanford. After BD he was caption head of the San Jose Raider Drum Corps through 1983. I lost track of him after he moved to the midwest. Here is a link to a DCP forum that had some additional info: http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums//lof...php/t64697.html

My first thought was a big "thank you" to the video producer for letting us hear them drumming and avoiding the temptation to dub over some slick sounding pre recorded soundtrack on top of the video. I enjoyed that very much. Good luck to Jonz in 07 (and everyone else too - I just love hearing great drumlines!)

In particular, the Devils' 1982 performance at the show in Bayonne, NJ, to this day ranks as one of the top two or three performances I've ever seen, on any level of the drum corps activity. Absolutely incredible. Fran Fran, Very memorable from the field level as well and the audience that night played a huge part in that. The crowd gave off such great energy - particularly memorable is when they gave us a loud standing O as we were being announced as entering the field. This is before we had even played a single note. What a rush that was! I can't speak for the rest of the corps, but I know I was fired up by that great reception and all through the show from the incredilble energy coming out of the stands. That Bayonne show still stands out as one of my favorite memories. Thank you for the kind words. TW

When my wife and I started dating in 1991, I had a tendency to babble on and on about this drum corps thing I used to do. I must have seemed like the biggest geek to her at the time... heck maybe I still do. Even though she is passionate about the arts and is an accomplished modern dancer, she had never heard about this activity. I think despite my descriptions, she still had a mental image of an out of tune, rinky dink ensemble complete with majorettes and baton twirling etc. I managed to drag her out to a show in Stockton CA that summer to see what I had been babbling on about. We caught FreeLancers, SCV and BD and needless to say, she was floored. So after that she was able to understand my enthusiasm, but that didn't translate into a high degree of tolerance for sitting through more drum corps shows. I went into what seems to be a common occurance for many newly married drum corp alums - a drum corps black out period for about 5 or 6 years. There just always seemed to be family calendar conflicts and attending drum corps shows lost out. Fast fwd to 2001 timeframe. Through her modern dance circles, my wife met Carol Abohatab who's the choreographer for SCV's 99 show (and other years too- just don't remember them all) and numerous top level programs in the N. Cal WGI circuit. At the time, Carol was starting up a Childrens creative movement / dance program to serve as a community outreach program for the Vanguard organization. Childrens creative movement is one of my wifes specialties, and Carol hired her as a teacher for the program. So now the circle of irony was complete; I was the drum corps nut, but my wife is the hired staff member of SCV - I liked to tease her about the drum corps borg: "Resistance is futile - you will be assimilated" MMMWAAAHA HA HA... After I finish this post, I'm going over to SCV hall to watch the final day of the Childrens program winter session and then head over to take in a little bit of the A corps rehearsal at the high school nearby. B) "Can't complain but sometimes I still do, Lifes been good to me so far" - Joe Walsh

BD 1978, right before Spanish Fantasy soprano solo intro: "Art West you pervert!"

Hi Rich, You're thinking of Bill P. I'm very sure that it was Bill P - not Chuck King, who went home mid tour. Chuck was there with us all the way to finals when he aged out. Bill was very young, but he bounced back the next year and made the snare line in 81. Tom BD 79-82