rayfallon

I thought that would get a lot of reaction. People just don't care about sackbuts the way they used to. Now it's all about Kim Kardashian and that kind of butts. B I G B U T T S

I thought you wrote "Reading Sunrisers" I'm thinking you've been in Florida too long.

yeah, I don't own a baritone/euphonium. It was agonizingly fun. Our last 6 mos in TX we lived in an apartment to save some money - I didn't touch my horn the whole time - since I've been home I've been working on the house constantly - this will force me to practice - I can't sit in the middle of a bunch of college kids and let myself suck. Dan is playing trumpet there too, so a little family fun. Forgot how much I hate Sousa.

Dennis Argul is going to make this a great year for the Kilties.

Good friend of mine - David Healey - worked Boston with Tom Lizotte and me in the early 90s - is now the Band Director up at Boston College - actually has been for years. I went and sat in on trombone tonight - God I sucked, but it felt good. Weekly on Tuesdays from here on in.

OK, - good point - not marching then... GE Music?

If I'm a duck, I'm staying away from a buckeye what er that is, even if I have no idea. I'd avoid ribeye steaks... Stinkeye... whatever... Sucks to be a duck...

That's a good price for those horns, in decent shape. They won't take long to move.

Screw Wildwood - I'm going to Puerto Rico next Saturday. I haven't been through a Boston winter in 3 years and this one is wearing me out.

Ever get a price on the tubas?

Sounds like the stories of so many smaller corps during the 60s. Long Island was rife with Palace revolts, new directors pushing out old ones, and the old ones relocating (with a bunch of kids) to other area corps. We in Oceanside were pretty lucky - Roy Johnson ran the corps until his first child was born, sort of a late arrival in Roy's life - at that point, Harvey Husser, who had about 6 kids in the corps over the years, took over and stayed in charge long past my departure for the USAF in 1969. But man we went through instructors, at least bugle instructors. The Palace Revolts there centered around the perennial percussion (and marching) instructor Ralph Parkhill, kind of a LI Legend. He taught some amazing drummers and percussionists, including Jack Murray, and idolized the Big Red Machine, although I think his only experience was with the pre-Sasso Sunrisers. But brass guys would come and go, and Ralph would stay. We had Bill Gallagher (Viet Nam took Bill away); Ted Sasso; Ernie Fesler; Bob Bunce, Hy Dreitzer; Me (don't ask - I was like 16); eventually Tom (Bunyon McCarthy) while I was overseas; and a couple others in between. That's a lot in 14 years. I may have hijacked your "Out of the Spotlight"(which I'm enjoying) but you got me thinking (not an easy task - ask Fish, or Andy, or Fran, or...) I knew very little about CT drum corps until I moved up there in Fall 1978, and even then I had missed the Glory Days. I knew the Contra player from St Rafaels, although I can't remember his name at this second. I eventually knew Dennis Banks, and some other folks. I knew Bob Wilcox from CT Yankees, and some of the folks from the Seymour Vanguards - I think that's an amazing story - the Hurcs wouldn't accept female players in 1977, even at the point of near extinction, so they taught their (formerly male) color guard to play, and put many very talented brass and percussionists into their guard. If they had any less talented teacher than Frank Dorritie it could never have worked. Even as far along as 1982 we were still teaching folks each year that had never played. Go figger...

Geez, I should never look at the internet without my glasses - I could swear you wrote Hmmm... that's what they used to say about those Hawaiian girls... THEY SMELL BETTER THAN THEY TASTE!!! I was wicked concerned... this is a PG13 forum. The Queen expects certain fairly rigid standards to be upheld. Forget a lifetime ban - more like "off with his head!"

and he was judging GE Marching!

One of the (many) great things about the BHoF shows is meeting folks you haven't seen in a while - the last time I was able to attend I saw John & Ted Sasso (two of my earliest heroes and mentors), Ernie Fesler (Skyliner soprano great and also one of my first instructors), and maybe just as exciting was meeting two young ladies that I had taught in Milford Shorelines in 1978 who were now playing with CT Alumni. Just the fact that they remembered me was pretty neat. It would be great if (in addition to being a venue for the young players in the various areas the shows are run) the I&E Andy Talk-fests became little mini reunions to an even greater degree. Plus they're places you get to see some really cool "acts". My first exposure to the Romeos was at BHoF, plus the only time (believe it or not) that I've seen Mass Brass was at the Boston show, the same day I saw Basement Brass for the first time. Love those shows, and grateful to the folks that are making them realities. Really looking forward (especially as the snow falls steadily outside my window) to getting to shows I couldn't make from Texas.

Ya see? It's tough to keep going after pictures of NUNS! I hope you're happy Andy! Penguins! Gives me chills from all the way back in the '50s. slight aside - the school where those monochrome sadistasistas used to whack me was a couple hundred yards from the Hempstead Legion Post - Our Lady of Loretto School (not the one in Brooklyn) directly next door to Hempstead HS. Got locked in a metal locker by one of the "holy sisters" (that description from me Irish mother) in first grade! What on Earth can a 7 yo boy do to get locked in a metal locker? Esp with a size 8 head! Frightening! I can still see the light coming through those little vents. I hope they're all sitting in extremely warm surroundings today, and I don't mean Costa Rica.

Just a word - my daughter started in WC WGI at 9 yo. She marched SAC's "Natural Born Killers" show at 13. Disclaimer - when she was born she never went home from the hospital - rather she went to a drum corps camp where I was teaching. When I look back I wish I had forced her to take more time to be a kid, before diving into this activity. I'm not sure she'd agree, as it has been a great life to her, but man... 11 years with BAC on the field, a couple more teaching; Blue Devils Winter Guard teaching; BDB Guard teaching. Stints with University of Cincinatti. Makes me glad about the year I made her play Little League baseball. She hadn't done much for fun besides march, spin, toss (and catch virtually every time), teach and judge in her 30ish years. Makes me feel a little guilty most days. Don't push too hard. If they want to do it, there's time, but in my opinion having the youngest kids in a bunch of different groups may not all it's cracked up to be. If she decides to do it though... get ready to watch some (thousands) guard shows. I need to pick a week this winter to fly out to see BD's Winter Guard this winter to see what she's up to now.

Now that Sky has left the bright lights, big city for strip-mining country - seems as if they'd be a natural for that show. C2 a participant?

Sadistic little penguins... if they had had guns in the 50s and 60s instead of rulers and pointers, I'd be dead a long time ago. Give me a good Viet Cong any day of the week. At least your mom and dad didn't take their side of things...

Ya know, it feels like you're exaggerating, but think about it - I was a 15 year old kid - there were like 8 corps at the show, many of them I loved - 50 years later I remember Vinny and Winky. The crowd DID love it. As far as love being in the air... there was probably a lot of it in the back seat of cars after performances...

I think MSG Felt Forum in 64 - 65? Then Symphony Hall?

Remember the tap dance at Symphony Hall in Newark on "Once In Love With Amy" - as the dancer (forgot his name) finished, Winky pegged his horn about 20 yards across the stage. Good times...

1964 was just a year or 2 before my I&E time - just about there - and those shows were magical, in large part due to the names you mentioned - in smaller part due to the names that judged us - Angelica; Sasso; Dreitzer; Hazlewood; you name it. The Metro NY shows in my day had Ruben, Mickey McKuen, Pat Tully (OLC), me, Bruen, a girl from St Ignatius, it was wild - Ruben as might be expected Ruben won more than his share - anyone on that list could have taken anywhere between 1st and 6th on any given night. And that's just on baritone. When I think of Manny I hear an absolutely flawless "William Tell Overture" triple tongued from start to finish. Dose were da days...

Pretty sure that's most of what Manny Salort was doing besides triple tonguing in those couple of years - "melting pot" Pepe used to tell a story about slapping him across the face and telling him "You're gonna die in da guttah"...

Ah geez Andy, is that Peanut that passed away now? Good kid, decent contra bass - bought his own King horn to up his game. Loved Sky as much as any of you Mafia types. Man, this decade has not been good for our brother/sisterhood. RIP Peanut. Almost makes me wish I didn't beat you at DCA I&E.

The way Long Island was in the 60s, and the earlier we're talking about, the more this was, for a 13 year old kid, Idaho was closer than Selden. Suffolk County was the end of the Universe - I'm betting Frank can tell some stories about weekly treks to Kings Park. I have 2 Suffolk stories, and one of them was actually in Eastern Nassau, or "almost Suffolk" When they built the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway, I would take my VW up on the (Closed/Not Open Yet/ Unfinished) highway to see how fast it would go. One day I almost made it to the end, which would have sent me over a not there bridge, plummeting about 25' to the ground below. Can you imagine that sized road being left untended, no jersey barriers, etc? One day on the LIE, out by (gasp) Riverhead, my VW started clanging. I got out in the right lane and laid under it, wiring up my muffler. Never saw another car during the 15 or 20 minutes it took me and my trusty clothes hanger to make the repair. Riverhead is the County "Capitol". About 10 years later Harry Chapin was crushed like a bug when his VW slowed down on the LIE, albeit a few miles further West. Suffolk was like the Wild Wild East back then. To get to Selden would have taken a sled and a pack of dogs, like the Idiotarod.