tommytimp

Because sentence fragments are very.

The Bridgemen never did make the switch over to carriers in their Top 12 lifetime. They always used straps and the big drums.

I didn't know Cavies had five drums on the "quad" setup. Live and learn.

Bridgemen for Twix, of course. 1985. (Says 1988, but naah.) Guardsmen did a KFC commercial long ago, 1975 I think.

Nope, 85 and 86. And leif is absolutely right about the "Wait, WHAT?" factor. That's what makes it immortal to me.

"Mouchoirs," perhaps?

I must say, I find your point of focus in most of these shots to be very... what's the word... correct.

PAGING DR. LEAN! DR. KEYBOARD LEAN!

Limited Edition. Stupid. Makes them sound like they were predicting their own demise. Knight Command. Are you frigging kidding me? I'm not a huge fan of singular-entity names like "Force" or "Power" os "Spirit" (ATL gets to use it, everyone else stay away). I like "Sound" in that context because it's aural, and a sound is also a body of water, like Long Island Sound, and Sucoast Sound makes me think that way. I'm having trouble thinking of a corps name that's been in the activity less time than I've been involved (1980) That's any good. I guess that's a new parlor game, though.

I too agree with this. Although I was chosen as a "proven elder" with a sort of face for the drum corps community (the year before, my mug was all over the promo shots DCI sent out for us, plus I had written an article for DCW), the DM prior to me was a rookie with strong band presence in the community, and he was appreciated by the members right away. Then again, the Knights were a small corps by that time, and perhaps the difference in mission of a small corps vs. a big corps like Crown, say, might have something to do with it.

The albums don't actually say that at all. Rondinaro's liner notes say "There was a tenth penalty--but Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Grieg never sounded better." The yearbook doesn't mention dropped equipment either. They both mention the "ONE-TENTH OF A POINT OMG" but DCI's official house organs made no mention of dropped equipment.

Garfield had three marching instruments (actually bells, vibes, and xylo) sitting on horn cases down front, with a timbale setup and five grounded marching timps. Five players. A few other corps used their marching keys and had legs on them-Avant Garde and Bridgemen come to mind. Spirit had concert timps, concert vibes and concert xylophone, so if we must, I'd call them the first grounded melodic ensemble. But yes, your memory is correct re: Garfield. But the "pit" off the field was created for the 82 season. Bridgemen 81: Garfield 81: Spirit 81: And here is a sample pit from 82, VK, down front and off the field: And oh my yes, those 27 timp lines were the shiznit. I wonder how long those guys were together. Here's 1981: And 83, which I like to call "Charlie Poole's Hit-n-Crank Timpani-porium:" For obvious reasons, I'm glad this thread has turned into a de facto discussion on the history of the pit. I could talk about this stuff all day, but hopefully these photos will help answer some questions.

Saginaires. Didn't make Top 25, but still. 27 grounded theirs for concert and drum solo.

You don't need to be sorry. (And I never said they were boring.) Garfield had already made history, by doing what they did to great acclaim in 82, then winning with it in 83. 84 to me is NOT AN ATTRACTIVE DRILL, period, stop trying to change my mind, y'all, and, with the exception of the non-telegraphed front at the end, doesn't seem groundbreaking. Beatles/Garfield, whatever, the comparison isn't without merit, and in a way you're right (look at what the Billboard # 1 was the week before "I Want to Hold Your Hand"), but I think 84 is the ugly sister of 82, 83, and 85.

Kilts were the first junior corps to use concert timpani, in 1978, and he still had to mark time in portions of the show. I'm pretty sure 79 was the first year a keyboard was grounded permanently, and it was the Guardsmen. BD had concert timps in 1980, and the Crossmen had a concert vibraphone as well as roto-toms and grounded marching timps with bongos. By the next year, over half of the top twelve had a grounded setup of some sort, with a no-wheels policy in some form or another, I believe. (BD had no penalties at Montreal, and their timp player once said in this thread that his drums had the wheels taken off.)

Coaching carousel. It happens. PR is solid as an organization. Their brand is as durable and popular as any, with maybe one exception.

Phantom 1983. Troopers 1988. Concur on Symphonie Fantastique. Still, IMO, one of the best shows on paper of the decade.

Well, great to see we've reached consensus so far. I'd get the tech guys on it, but...

Put horsies "in" there, it would be a barbecue.

"I'M SITTING IN MY OWN FILTH!!!" "Here is a score for the 1975 Muchachos... Just kidding. Another promo for the CDs." "Bro, you've been ICED."

Garfield 84. Musically mildly interesting, but the drill is very unattractive. NOT the mold-breaker everyone seems to think it is IMO.

I hate their style. Love the unis, love the script Ohio, hate the marching style. Just yicch. But they do it well.

Arguably the best battery in DCI history. The segmented writing in the drum solo is awesome. Everything in the show is awesome. It's like the horn guys and drill guys just gave the show over to them after the second week of practice. We saw them at Naperville before the end of June and they ere already cleaner than most lines are at Finals.

SCV played it in 84 and 85, not 83 and 84. 84 is the better of the two because that push absolutely rocked.

Find the recordings of 27th Lancers from 1984. You should be able to get part of the part that died back. Esp if you can find John Blair's field tape from that year, in South Carolina.