Dave Scott

Colonel Truman W. Crawford.

The chest plate was reversable on the mid sixties cadet jackets, white stripe on one side Black Knight crest on the other. The first cadet jackets included a white baldric and were worn until 1964.

They switched from satins to the cadet style uniforms in 1957. In 1965 they went back to the satins which were black and white with gold trim and included a gold plume, but returned to the cadet uniform the next year when I was a member. We wore the satins as a parade uniform that season.

There was actually two sop soloists in '61. John Albert played the solo in "It Had To Be You" and Gary Peterson & John played the duet in "On The Square". Both aged out that season.

Mr Shaw, Yes, we moved in August of 2008 and really enjoy Kentucky Lake. Check out the pictures on facebook. See you down the drum corps trail this summer my friend.

That's correct Dan, the helmets were first worn in 1973 along with a new uniform; both designed by the corps director Roger Kaiser. Roger was the Black Knights drum major in '58 & '58 and also responsible for designing the Millstadt Crusaders classy West Point uniforms in 1966 when he was their corps director.

From 1954 until the end of the 1971 season all members of the Belleville Black Knights had to join the Belleville Tancred Chapter Order of DeMolay. In 1972 the corps switched from being an all male corps to accepting girls in their mixed guard and the DeMolay membership was no longer required.

Wonderful story Dave! Thanks so much for sharing it with us. You are just a bit off on the year however as Forrest Creson started the corps in the fall of 1953 and their first year of competition was 1954. In those first couple years the Knights were AmVets National Champions but did not attend VFW or AL Nationals until 1956. Their highest placement at American Legion Nationals was 4th in 1958 and 2nd at VFW Nationals in 1959. Like you I was also very impressed with their uniform the first time I saw them at the Springfield, IL State Fair contest in 1960 and was proud to wear the black & white in 1966.

I was always under the impression that "Sherwood Forest" was an original composition and so stated in the article I wrote for the book "A Drum Corps History" published by Steve Vickers. Turns out the song was written by big band leader Bobby Sherwood and was called "Sherwood's Forest". A recording can be found on the cd "Malcolm Laycock presents Bobby Sherwood The Issued Recordings 1942-1947".

Saw my first contest at the 1960 Springfield IL State Fair. First year marching was 1966 with the Belleville Black Knights

After checking with a Blue Knights brass staffer today I learned that Jim Prime is in fact writing the brass arrangements for the corps this season. I stand corrected.

Where does it say in the press release that Jim Prime is BK's brass arranger? It indicates that he will be "assisting with overall programming and musical design", but that doesn't make him their arranger.

Jimmy Smith's "Walk on the Wild Side" or Sammy Nestico's "Dark Orchid"

Are you sure Jimmer is the arranger?

I attended camp and had the opportunity to chat with John and observe him the entire weekend. He is absolutely the best choice to lead the 2010 Madison Scouts. A very impressive young man in all regards!

I believe that "screamer" was a very young Wayne Bergeron.

Well the MSU band director is an old corps guy that marched Watkins Glen Squires, Guardsmen and staffer for Pioneer.

I have really enjoyed listening to all of the Off the Record installments and look forward to the next one. Keep up the great work Frank!

Oh really? I think 'a few' people might disagree with that statement.

From the Troopers website - Western Side Story The Cave (with excerpts from Maria & Somewhere) Adelina de Maya - Joseph Curiale Spaghetti Western - percussion feature with brass accompaniment One Hand, One Heart (with John Dunbar theme from Dances with Wolves) Pentium (with West Side Story reprise) Encores: Battle Hymn Chorale, Ghost Riders

Just to set the record straight, Chris Maher of corpsreps.com got the name of Glassmen's '09 program "One" from me. I received the show title from Glassmen Director, Brian Hickman, several months ago, as well as, permission to use it in my repertoires article for Drum Corrps World. Therefore, it was not a rumor as you stated. Brian recently advised that the show title has been revised to "The Journey of One". Details on this exciting program should be announced by the corps shortly.

No, I was not the one yelling turn up the volume, and doubt it would have made any difference if more than a couple did. "enthusiastic crowd"? Really? Yeah there was a cheer when Murf was mentioned, but overall the small crowd gave only a mild polite applause for each corps. If the sound was cranked and the picture clear the crowd reaction would have been very different imho, but hey, if you had a good time and enjoyed the show, fine by me.

I attended the DCI Countdown in Nashville and found it to be a waste of money. The volume was way too low and picture quality was dark and muddy. It was obvious the folks at Opry Mills Regal could care less about this event as they ignored several shouts from the crowd to "turn up the volume" and didn't even bother to bring up the house lights at the end of the show. I will not be back.

Loved the early 90's shows (and uniform), but check out 1978.

The best source for drum corps repertoires can be found @ Chris Maher's site http://www.corpsreps.com/