homebilly

well.........i was one of those blue devil alums that worked with the corps. Scott Kent was one as well. i was there in the early part of 1983. we rehearsed at the old Park Plaza Hotel across from MacArthur Park in downtown LA. Chuck Edwards was the buffoon that ran the show. he still owes me $500 for my work. there was a marine corps cat that did the horn arrangements and another that worked with the drum line. Daniel Bejarano (Stockton Commodores and now drummer with Kenny G) was a drum instructor as well. he's waiting for his $500 bones as well. Sandy & Doug Macdonald (?) were instructors as well as former Two Seven color guard member Anne McCormick (rifle instructor). we used to practice in a HUGE empty ballroom on the second floor and sometimes go out to the bandshell in Macarthur park and play for the bums. in those days the park was REALLY dangerous. then a run to Tommy's for a chili-burger after practice. Chuck was pure Hollywood BS. getting all of us to believe in the dream and do it until we got beat out of our dough. others that came along later like Bob McClure (Santa Clara) also got the Chuck Edwards, dude where's my money treatment. it was an interesting time to say the least. ron meza

i'm pretty sure that is me should be 1975 commodores?

but russell 1975 wouldn't be complete without a picture of you in both a Vanguard uniform and a Stockton Commodore uniform :-)

you know i think you might be right. maybe after 30+ years i am confusing jim and i standing together at the end and not at the beginning. and i think that is diz diniz. boy it has been a LONG time

i'm in this picture. i am second on the left just behind dave gibbs. this should be us entering boulder "mork and mindy" stadium at '78 prelims. jim macfarland is the lead sop standing next to me and behind pat haro. jim and i were the two that went out and spotted our OTL formation on either side of the 50. it does look pretty bad###ed

hey russ Spirit '79 was the LOUDEST hornline that I ever heard!

dig that plastic mouthpiece the happy dude is playing

Tubas? wtf?

stockton doesn't get humid just hotter

i couldn't agree more!!

art west 1978

ahh! the infamous Thunder Bass as we called it.

looks like lisa to me

hey dave didn't we do that spiral move first in '78 as well? ron

i believe that it was Scott Turret (sp) [sounds like turray]

baton twirler http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/08/31/Robin...ears/index.html you will have to scroll through the photos to see it oh, well!

i just remember how funky Shaft was coming off the line

i was always amazed that every solo was improvised, something that wasn't so common in drum corps. i thought he was really a hip soloist and always admired those solos that i got to hear from the back sideline while marching in the Commodores. not making finals had its advantages for a young member. i got to see a lot of shows. one thing i remember is seeing Madison at the San Jose show playing Shaft...........then being on tour and seeing a completely new off the line. i really dug checking Jim Elvord out back then. sorry for the name that soloist mistake. the solos are still quite vivid in my mind though. thanks ron

russ, is that during the Black Orchid solo?

i played my mellophone in 1978 with my ring and middle finger as it was a long (about 4 inches) flat rotor palette as well on with traditional piston rotor soprano bugle in 1975-76

hey dave. it's been a l.....o.....n.....g time i'm here in LA writing film music and sound designing. Bob McClure says that you are in the area somewhere down here.?. i saw Chris and Larrie for the first time in 25 years this summer at the Anaheim show. I'm in Venice. It would be great to see you. oh, and i'm for bringing back the piston and the rotor!!! enough of this NONSENSE with valves......all three of them. real men and women play piston - rotor ron

that's me next to Dave Gibbs

do you have any front sideline shots of blue devils 1978? the soloists perhaps?

hey ben yes, Jim and Bonnie were BIG influences on me too. i fortunately inherited Bonnie's spot when i marched in Blue Devils '78. it was great to carry on the Commodore (stockton) tradition with the blue crew. Jim had just left to do Spirit that year but we got to see a good amount of him on tour. Jim just had a way of teaching that was built for success. he would frequently warm up in the arc with us. he was really great! Edison High was the place that i saw all of those shows from my stroller. we in fact rehearsed there on occasion with the Commodores in 75 & 76. the coolest part about 1976 was going over to Jim's house before commodore rehearsal and having him show me and baritone player Ronnie Ross the arrangement of Channel One Suite as he was working on it. he had done the same in 75 hipping us up to Space Shuttle. but Mom's Ott is the one that pushed me and 4 others from the now folded Commodores to go and audition for the Blue Devils. We had been rehearsing with the Freelancers (checking them out) and one day i ran into Moms and told her about it and she said what are you doing over there? so we drove to concord, auditioned and got in. i am a big Chicago fan so when i found out that we were doing Chicago III suite i knew that i had made the right decision. that was an amazing experience!!! i'll be going to stockton for xmas so i'll do some digging around and find those old 8 millimeter films that i know that are somewhere. i'll try and pump my siblings for information too. in fact my brother is still married to the woman that he met while marching in the YMI. 40+ years ago and my sister is still married to her husband that she met marching in the YMI too. i remember the watching Cathay playing (More, i think?) the Richmond Hawks, Royalaires, the San Francisco Chinese. drum and bugle corps is the best! ron

its funny because i was in stockton a few month ago for my mom;s 80t birthday and i spent the afternoon downtown trying to remember sitting on the side of the street watching one of the many parades that i saw back then. you see downtown is still there but it's been skid row since the mid 70's when all of the businesses moved to the new mall on the other side of town. downtown stockton was my childhood and drum and bugle corps was part of that childhood. in 1975 i got to march in my own parade downtown as part of the Stockton Commodores. it was wonderful!!! to think that we had so many corps in a town that back then had a population of maybe 125,000 or so i think that my siblings may have actually been in the delta thunderbirds in 1965 but they were in the caballeros shortly there after.