MarimbasaurusRex

oops

Pretty funny that a school from INDIANa had to change the name. Maybe they should change the name of the town and the state, too. Lots of insert name here University of PA people. I had the distinct displeasure of marching as DM with the Edinboro U of PA Fighting Scots. Just a matter of time until the Scottish community demands a name change! Lots of corps people from there back in the day. Our claim to fame was making the world's largest towel, a Steelers "terrible towel," the size of a football field and a Guiness record. It went along nicely with our Opera/Disco show featuring works by Verdi and the Bee Gees, a big hit with the football fans.

Just got an email from Frank and yes, Mike is his brother.

Sam's right. That's not the guard uni. THIS is the guard uni...

Yay! It's official! We're Jocko the Wonder Llama approved! ^OO^

If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...

Hey kids, ages 14 to 94! Don't miss this once in a lifetime chance to be an original member of the first successful drum corps ever in the San Fernando Valley. The response has been great so far and our biggest concern right now is how to fit everyone in the band room! Over 25 drummers have RSVP'd and the brass and guard numbers are equally impressive. We have potential members from several DCI and DCA finalist corps and the staff includes former DCI champions, professional music educators and musicians with decades of experience in the LA studio/club scene. If you live north of LA and have ever wished for a drum corps in your own back yard, THIS IS IT! Circle Dec. 9 on your calendar. Wake the kids and phone the neighbors, cuz it's about to get very loud around here!

I love seeing the candid rehearsal shots of BD and others. Reminds us that these great landmark corps were regular kids, not super humans, just talented kids doing drum corps really well. I enjoy that 70's period the most because corps weren't caught up in their own hype, yet.

Dunno, but Frank is from Cedar Rapids and marched Emerald Knights in the 70's, I'll ask him.

Check out the harness racing stripe and the sign of the killer rabbit from Holy Grail. Fortunately, our striped tube socks didn't make it into the shot. From the left is Raymond Attard, played xylo with Seneca Optimists before Blue Stars, and Frank Gorman most recently seen blowing your face off with AK Alumni.

Those are regular glasses, the better to mangle the keys with! On a hot day you could start a fire with those things.

Wish it was!! They played the coolest opening mallet lick in the history of drum corps (IMHO), tight as a clam. That's Wayne Rahl, also known as Willllllburrrrrrrr, along with the incomparable Tom Nanni.

Standard symphonic/concert interpretation is hand to hand, LRLR. If the composer writes out three grace notes, LRLR is what is expected unless written otherwise. This includes successive ruffs for consistancy. Other stickings, including RLRL, are rarely used.

Don't forget, there will be Punch and Pie. (not really, but come anyway!) Viva La Resistance!

Hehehe... The only thing I'm bringing is a helping hand. The more choices the better. Blow us away! PLEASE!! :) And if you all want to be at the core of something really fun, you better get to this meeting while the gettin is good! Be there or be square.

I'm on the right... Once a Thunderbird, always a Thunderbird. Maybe we can bring a little of that Erie spirit to Granada Hills. Heck, we were doing "all-age" back when it was still senior corps.

This is standard orchestral technique, don't alternate or change hands unless you absolutely have to.

Hey Gary! Thanks for the vote of confidence. Just hoping to make a positive contribution. Sam has the ball rolling and I encourage anyone in the area to jump in for what should be a fun experience!

Tom is a lawyer in Dayton. Retired from playing many years ago. He was originally with Rochester before BS and BD. Haven't seen him in years because I don't get back that way very often, but he's around and friends have his contact info.

I'll see your baloney and raise you a pimento loaf... Ballet doesn't compete at all, nor do any of the arts. That's exactly the point. When was the last time the NY ballet faced off against Philadelphia? Did Bartok compete against Copland? Did Brahms compete against Wagner? If so, who won? What are the rules of art? What are the rules of performance? What are the rules of ballet? What are the rules of photography? I'd really like to know. Please, list them for us. And when did rodeo become an art?

Certainly you can, and it's been done that way for many years. But, they are strange bedfellows and it gets stranger all the time. Art is about creation, nurture, propagation. Militarism is about war, destruction, domination, triumph over a foe. They run contrary to one another. You can forcibly smoosh them together, but neither lends itself very well to the other. It appears to an outsider as a kind of split personality, a weirdness that goes unexplained, the pink elephant in the room that no one talks about and pretends not to notice. It's that "Huh? what the...?" factor that keeps the drum corps niche ever shrinking. Don't get me wrong. I'm a 70's guy. I like the military aspect just fine. Spent many hours standing at attention and did plenty of saluting as a drum major myself. Heck, as a kid I used to learn the salute of every drum major in the top 12 and a few others just for fun. I also love great art and all kinds of high performance. But, I think when you do emotive interpretive dance and rigidly salute at the same time, it starts to get goofy and becomes pointless. I just think that if drum corps want to be progressive, then they should be progressive. Hovering in some odd in-between gray area isn't even a very drum corps thing to do. Choose a direction and commit. Then run with it all the way.

Some of my favs in no particular order.... Gail Royer Jim Wren Wayne Downey Larry Kerchner Rick Young Tony Yaklich John Arietano Pete Spadaro - seconding the motion from Rocketman, Pete left us too soon.

I would like to see NO RULES and just shows that are the most effective they can be in a stadium. Rules are what have limited the growth and potential popularity of the drum corps medium. If you really want to do "art", then there are no rules. Art and rules run contrary to one another. It's the only way drum corps will ever find it's way out of the proverbial box, or football rectangle as it were. Just seems silly. With that said, I would also like a number added to the judging sheets: the LAME FACTOR - One judge assigned to the task of knocking off points for anything that's lame, stupid, silly, embarrassing, poorly designed, or ill conceived. I would also like to see drum majors stop saluting. It's pointless and doesn't make sense anymore. If you want military, do military. If you want art, do art. I just wish drum corps would make up it's mind and do one or the other. Because, like oil and water, no matter how much you shake and stir, they just don't mix.

Actually, it's PhiliPPines. And for what it's worth, they have been using 3-valve horns in Bb decades before DCI. Get out and see the world, my friend.

My interest in drum corps is based not so much on what it was or what it is, but what it could be. Call me an optimist, but I think drum corps has tremendous potential that has not yet been reached. I didn't think the 70's were great, but it showed potential, and I can say the same about every decade since. While I often don't agree with the approach, that potential remains. I don't go to a lot of shows anymore because they simply don't excite me much. I'm hoping someday that will change. Billy Crystal once said: People don't go to a baseball game to see perfect pitching or a double play. They go to see the batter hit one out of the park. It's about the anticipation and hope that it will happen. If it does, the people go nuts, and if not they'll hope for the next time. All forms of performance are the very same. People want to see you hit it out of the park. Sometimes drum corps hit it out of the park and sometimes they don't. I'm still waiting for the 11 minute grand slam home run. It may never happen, but I can hope for it anyway and that's half the fun of it. Bottom line: I like musicians in motion. And drum corps, with all it's flaws, is, and always has been, the best game around. There are lots of swings at the pitch that don't connect, but maybe, just maybe, someone will hit that grand slam someday.