Periphery

That movie was sooo funny!

Surely you don not mean US?! Oh, okay . . . I know who one of the groups is that you are talking about. We got some email from them explaining their exact situation. "They" are far from dead. "They" have the normal, on-again-off-again problems with membership and money. "They" have a (somewhat smaller) group than usual and lots of trouble with money. (Travel is becoming such a burden because of the per-barrel price of oil that I am certain that DCA will be smaller this year despite everyone's plans.) I will not say who the "they" are in my above statement because "they" told us but have not decided to tell the public yet for whatever reason. We have had to pare back our goals a little this season because we are too small to cover the greatly increased per-member cost of travel. (Keep in mind that the median income level in Mississippi is FAR below what most of you guys make each year, so traveling to more expensive areas (read: pretty much anywhere!) will be an ongoing battle for our corps until we grow some more. Since we really need to get out and DO some things in order to have a product to offer potential recruits, we need to have more members to defray the costs of traveling to shows. Ha, ha! Catch 22! So we are planning to do a more aggressive job of recruiting in our backyard. We are learning as we go and are being very conservative so that we do not end up in financial trouble. Other groups that have a larger membership have much more money flowing in and out of the corps' bank account. But, when the costs of travel jump up to a point that many members have to step back, well, that could have a very negative, very rapid domino effect that could have a normally strong group on the ropes overnight if the group is heavily committed that season. So rumors will spread in this sort of situation. Regular posters here in some groups might not be on DCP right now "talking smack" or being jovial because no decisions have yet been come to for their particular situation. Disparaging or despairing comments via email from members that are not actually "in the know" can cause harm, so a group that is in a state of flux might ask that members drop below the radar until decisions can be made and officially announced. Anyway, now that I am stepping down from my stump . . . Will I get to meet you at Rockmart, Ed? If we do an after-show thing we need to swap rounds! Regards, Wade

Easy, This place is actually an off-season pacifier, a REPLACEMENT for corps. When it gets quiet around here is when people are getting fulfilled by the REAL THING. They are seeing their flesh-and-blood friends much more often and they are doing what makes them happy. Here, in cyber-corpsdom, you only get to rap your gums about corps. In other words, they are busy and happy. They probably spend less time on the WWW during the summer months in general because of this.

The Bach 1C takes a mature face (read: pretty strong) to keep it totally in tune in the high end. But as a tubist that uses huge mouthpieces in many cases, I am used to that weirdness that a 1C will introduce to your playing (until you get used to it). For me, wide, deep coups tend to make the extremes of range "collapse inward." The top end is flat and the low end is sharp. I no longer have this problem and cannot remember how long it took me go grow into my first big piece. But, man, when you are cranking a big piece can sound really great. HOWEVER . . . when you go too big you will sound like you are "working harder than you need to" to others. Have at it, man! It might just be the answer to your Olds P/R dilemma.

It was already posted on the previous page. I only made it a little less yellow for Malibu and then reposted it. The color was so washed out, it was a real shame. I loved that version of the Crossmen uniform.

Here you go, Malibu. This one really deserved some attention. I am sorry that I am so inexperienced at this stuff, or it would have been better. But it is a starting point. Maybe someone else can do a better job. But it is an improvement of sorts . . . 1979 Crossmen with some of the years digitally peeled away Cheers! :)

DFragmentor – Do you know anyone that is looking for three chromed two-valved DEGs for a G hornline? I got 'em . . . pretty cheap, too. No cases, all need minor work to bell screw braces, which I will do as soon as I get some parts in the mail from DEG. All three play well and have nice, open tones, but are smaller, older horns. We have K-90s now and wish to recoup some $$$ by selling these. Let me know. Wade

Shadow, if you are interested in my F tuba, we could exchange horns up there. I would be willing to drive up because I try never to ship tubas anymore. It would be a great excuse for a road trip. If no interest in my F (I'm guessing because you asked about it in that thread) then if I sell it elsewhere I can just meet you somewhere to take the DEG off of your hands. (BTW – Is it a Willson-made super mag or the smaller four banger?) Wade

Ouch. Best look into that.

The bag is one of the ones that were sold with a "Brasswind" embossed leather patch on it, but it is a Glenn Cronkhite bag from before the ugly divorce and company division. So the bag is old, beat, and still very capable. BUT – Both straps are coming loose at the shoulder tie-down point. I was going to have our local luggage repair guy fix it years ago, but I forgot. The straps need to be cut a couple of inches shorter, the leather patch under which they are sewn in needs to be taken off, then it all needs to be re-sewn. This is (according to our local guy) very easy to do and cheap. I just never have time whenever I think about it. It is because I never use the bag. The tuba is always stored in it. There is no hard case, unfortunately. The Conn Helleberg 7B Mouthpiece is an older one actually made by Conn and not UMI. It fits well and plays on this horn very well. I hate that mouthpiece in general, but it works on this tuba rather well, so that I what I have always used on it. The orherwise-quirky pitch is very good with this mouthpiece. It is also very good with the very narrow and deep Wick 4L, which is what I use if I have to play Bydlo . . . screaming! Wade

Heh, heh, heh . . . Yep! I fixed it, too. How silly of me! Loving on our busses would have taken place on Buffy, which was Bus 3!

It is a long, tedious ad explaining everything that has been done to this old tuba by me in the shop over the years. If you are interested then click and please read it all. There are six photos that show what has been done. Thanks, guys! CLICK ME NOW! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

SOLD!! Thanks, folks!

BOAT PEOPLE What a dated term from American History. I grew up in a not-too-good neighborhood in San Antonio. We had a small, three bedroom house about six houses down from mine that had over 40 genuine Boat People living in it. It is funny how this term has become universal in drum corps. Most people involved in drum corps know what it means and many have been a Boat Person. But I wonder if today's kids that use it have any idea what it really means? SKY RYDERS BUSSES In 1984 we did a BOA clinic (called MBA in those days) at TCU in Fort Worth. The stadium was having a brand new turf surface laid with new padding underneath. Most of it had been done, with only one end zone needing stripping. Well, some of our drummers located (what I hope was the OLD) field padding rolled up in a field-level entrance tunnel. They got some knives and measured off a strip that would fit into our bus aisle and cut a piece long enough to pad (I think) all four busses. I know that Bus 2 had this pad, as I slept on it a few times. It was very nice! We would roll it up and bungee it and chuck it into our non-bathroom during the day to keep it clean and roll it out at night for comfy sleeping. PLASTIC PINK FLAMINGOS I see that you guys kept up the tradition of stealing these things! The contra section had a funeral for one in the end zone of some HS stadium. Buried him in the dirt. Stamped down the grass. Looked good but left a slight rise that we were certain would get the groundskeeper's attention. Imagine his face . . . Should have cut the grass and sprayed for red bugs! CONTRA SECTIONS AND RETREAT We had a running battle with a few sections for weird retreat behavior. We took a Sterno stove and cooked hot dogs at one retreat. We gave and received moonings that were very carefully hidden from the audience and our own corps. We used to laugh at how uptight Garfield was at retreat compared to SCV and BD and Madison, etc. We used to hold up centerfolds for them to examine if they were next to us. You must remember that this was done in total silence and so slowly that no one would notice our movement. It was like mooning on the moon . . . slo-mo, and all. The Bridgemen were great. We mooned them and they just walked over and hung out with us. Another time one of their guys "exposed himself" to our drumline, causing very loud ooo-in and ahh-ing and applause. We were kids. Oh well.

LMAO!! What a great story! I seem to remember some nonsense about some voodoo-something-or-other on another bus. That might have been it. I rode on Bus 2 – The Asylum, and for a brief period in 1984 we called it Wally's Barbecue (a disgusting story). I lived in the Troll Pit, which was the last four rows on the driver side and the last three rows in front of the non-bathroom. I was a Boat person for a brief period of time and actually had to ride in the stairwell of Bus 1 for two days. Bus two had to carry Boat People for a long time. Man, but that was crowded! Did you guys use the infamous T-Roy Airfoils for ventilation? Know the story behind the death of the AC and the birth of the T-Roy? Also, we had removed our window slider locks so that you could open the window "all the way" (meaning that you could fall out of the bus). It looks as though at least a few of yours had been removed or were still missing from our "modifications" to our living space. I actually loved living on our busses. I never really liked the food too much, however. Did you guys have to wait until after you broke 80 to get Froot Loops instead of Cheereos? The "Froot Loop Motivational Factor" was a daily factor in our lives as we toiled up to scoring an 80. I still love Froot Loops because of this. Have some on top of the fridge right now, as a matter of fact . . .

Don't remember the "voodoo stick" but I do remember Karla Khaymeyer (sp?). And yes, my bus photos look suspiciously like your bus photos. Oh yes. I have to buy a scanner. I have lots of photos. They are small. Many are grainy. (How 'bout those Disc cameras!) And some are sort of dark. But I have lots of on-fiels shots from a few shows and lots of stupid "personal' shots. Coming someday soon . . . Thanks for sharing your memories! Wade

I hope so, folks. Mark was, to me, a top shelf sort of person. Very good man. Mark, if you are lurking on DCP and reading this, it has been some time since the Bus 29 days in SA, huh? Please email me. I wanted to thank you for the experiences that I had in corps. If it had not been for you I would have never marched. Wade Rackley

His name wasn't Mark McEwan, was it? My HS Bus Driver marched lead soprano with Spirit in 1978 (or 1978) and was going through Seminary in San Antonio in 1983. He got me into DCI. He was VERY nice and laid back at that time, and was far from "charismatic" in his views at the time. But that was quite along time ago. I always wondered what happened to him. It would be a shame if this was the the same guy from the dark days at RAMD. If anyone here knew Mark, please PM me.

That was an exceptionally low price that will not likely be repeated. Those horns usually go for a lot more than that. You and I really missed out on a great deal. Since even DCA corps are moving to Bb now, I am certain that the bottom will fall out of the G market soon. But will you and I want a GG contra at that point? Or will our own corps have made the switch too? Good luck, man!

We used to do little run out performances when I was in Ryders. To me, this looks like it was taken prior to the corps having left for first tour: The bus is clean (no "decorations" taped up yet, no laundry hanging on the pull cord drying in the breeze). Luggage racks are mostly empty. No hammocks tied up waiting for later use. No walkman stereos hanging from the luggage racks. Tans are minimal compared to second tour. Tommy has been shopping, it seems, as has someone else several rows back. My guess is that the corps just did a group activity that involved a mall in Wichita. That would be an easy run-out for the corps, but far enough that they might have ridden in the bus in civvies. Who knows? But Nolan Jones is our Corps Director in the Jackson Generals, so I sent him a link to see this. Maybe he can figure out why everyone looks like they were so dressed up for a ride on an un-air-conditioned tour bus!

Larger than a 3C? A Bach 3C?? Try a 1 1/2 C on it. It will take out the blatties and still be easy to control the pitch. A 1C or a 1 would be too big unless you are trying to "go orchestral" with it. These really old guys sort of need a bucket slapped on the end. I have never played the 2 or 2C, so I cannot give you any feedback on them. I play on a 1C on my Olds Ambassador trumpet and cornet. These are closely related to the bugles save for bell flare. So it might work. And then again I might be totally full of it . . . :sshh:

Learn your history and make up your own mind. Here are two links that will give you a ton of information about bugles and their history, especially as applied to use in a corps. The first one is a like to a page with a LOT of history about development and how the voices (and their names) came about. The second link goes to an archived paper by Peter Bond, trumpeter with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. It outlines the debate running through DCI for a few years while the decision to switch to band instruments was debated. While there have been some improvements to hornlines since that switch was made, there have been some losses as well. This paper does an EXCELLENT job of anticipating these changes, both positive and negative. It is something that you should print out and save. http://home.hvc.rr.com/jmitchell1/ http://www.geocities.com/marchingresearch/bonsym97.txt

Thanks again, bariforhire! You have made my week, easily! Wade

Bariforhire, thank you so much yet again!! (If anyone cares, I am the front contra in this shot. Cool to see after 22 years!!!) Wade

I am the contra on the far right, leading the arc downfield. This is the 1984 Sky Ryders during Home on the Range. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS PHOTO!!! I have never seen any photos of our 1984 season. It was a very hard year for all of us. We had folded and many vets had moved on. The staff had been fired in the classless manner of Jerry Jones ditching Tom Landry. But we managed to overcome many MAJOR hurdles and field a full corps, a full show, and two full tours. PLEASE, if you have any more of us, PLEASE post them or email them to me! This photo really made me happy. Again, I thank you for posting it! Wade