JoSaints

Fran, at the Saints Mini Reunion on the Nov 9th, I announced to everyone that you and Barb weren't going to be crashing the event that evening like you did the last time around ... while everyone was disappointed, ALL the Saints are looking forward to the two of you joining us at the big event next summer (I have you listed as official crashers on the roster already!). Be assured of our continued prayers, support, and best wishes ... jo

Oh, what a night! Someone sped up the clocks last Friday night - the 4 hours spent at the Saints mini-reunion at Post 471 in Iselin flew by in the blink of an eye. Pictures are starting to come in - the postings begin in Gallery 11 on www.saintsdrumcorps.com. Stop by and see how many Saints you can identify or marched with over the years! jo

From my blinders-on perspective, the guard work is HUGELY different and exciting, and I'm not just referring to dance / choreography. I can remember us coming up with all sorts of out-of-the-box (for the time) sabre, rifle, and flag work, only to be told we couldn't use it because of exposure on the carriage sheets, even if the work was clean by today's standards (translation: ticks off for things like out-of-position equipment). Also, grounding and picking up a piece of guard equipment? You had to finish with what you started - and if it hit the field, it had to be retrieved by someone offsides and handed back to you. And yes, there were those pesky hairnets! jo

Nancy, the picture is AWESOME, but what brought tears to my eyes was reading the caption - that the corps went on to perform at various venues as a type of service project ... living out the values, to be sure!!! jo

Happy All Saints Day to everyone from the Saints! Quick reunion update ... technically, registration closed yesterday. Given that we were never on time for anything in our ten years of existence, we could be convinced to keep taking money. As of right now, 85 people will be in attendance, with folks coming back to Jersey on 5 weeks notice from California (Bill Berliner and Verne James), Connecticut (Dave Brady, Dave DeAndrea, and Robin Humke), Georgia (Bobby Matelski), Maryland (Terri Moon), New Hampshire (Eric Meyer), New York (Tom Breen, Steve Breen, Chris Karol, Skippy Karol), North Carolina (Michelle Van Malden), Pennsylvania (Brian Batista), and Virginia (Mike Fastuca). The Jersey list is too long to include here - check out the October 30th edition of Saints Scribblings for details. jo

This just came up for us over lunch a couple of weeks ago, thirty years too late. There were a couple of questionable decisions made back then, and Bucky Swan asked us why we didn't say anything. We were kids, we reminded him On show titles, if the Saints ever put together an Alum corps, I would suggest "Not your kids' drum corps." jo

I think it was more a factor of the times - there was nothing (that I'm aware of, anyway) at a diocesan, USCCB, or global level that called for parishes to drop sponsorships. jo

Keith, I'm still not quite sure where you're headed with this, but here's another attempt ... From my pew, the Church didn't abandon us - we abandoned them. Were there some corps that lost Church support while still active? Certainly. There's an expectation with sponsorship that the beneficiary of the support will, in some way, stay aligned with the values of the sponsor (or at least not be in conflict with them). When that is no longer the case, the benefactor will pull out of the relationship. We were also sponsored by the American Legion (and will be having our reunion at their post on November 9th), the VFW, the Elks, a Fire Company, the Woodbridge PBA, and a shopping mall (Woodbridge Center). We would have been lost without them - financially as well as from a credibility standpoint in the community. jo

Not only did we keep our sponsorship right through the end (1978), we just had a reunion planning meeting at the Our Lady of Peace Annex about a month ago. There are still former members living in Fords who are active in ministry there as well as are part of the local Knights of Columbus Council. jo

Sigh ... Fran, I'm sure you know of my deep love and respect for Worth ... a true gentleman and a scholar. He was the one who first encouraged me to take over the Public Relations job for the Saints while I was just a junior at St Mary's. You know where that led me :sshh: If not for Worth's gentle prodding with frequent notes to me, the Saints' archives from a written history perspective would be mostly empty at this point 30 years down the road - but we'd still have Moe's photos jo

Never having seen Moe's books, I can't say how much he's made as one of the premier historians of our activity over the years. Quite honestly, it doesn't matter. Do you want to know how I'm positive he isn't one of the drum corps profiteers out there? I was able to afford more than a couple of his 8x10 black and white photos back in my marching days. There's a cost associated with what he does, and he's as entitled to cover his expenses and make some money on it as much as any instructor or judge out there. His services have been as vital to the activity as anyone included in the various Halls of Fame that exist ... His craft - having the vision to compose the PERFECT shot at the PERFECT time which conveys the PERFECT story under less than ideal lighting conditions with a constantly moving object - requires as much skill, talent, and practice as any drill I ever marched. I know - I've tried to do what he does. Most of us use the "Moe" standard to this day in all aspects of photojournalism, not just corps and guard. If that doesn't represent excellence which is worthy of note, revenue notwithstanding, I don't know what is. jo

Anyone out there know where Peter Boyle (Saints snare drummer mid-1970s) is? We've not heard from him since our site has been up and running, and another of his former corps, Etobicoke-Oakland Crusaders, is also trying to find him. Seems we're both having reunions and would love to have him attend :-) Seriously, if anyone out there knows how to reach him or his sister Ginny, either PM me here or contact me through the Saints website (url in my signature below). Thanks! jo

As my Saints compadres Alan and Peter have already said, Moe's stuff captured a large part of our lives. We would stand around in the Annex looking at Moe's proof sheets spread out on the edge of the stage and place orders every couple of weeks. As for me personally, he was ALWAYS available to help whenever I needed publicity shots for DCA, not to mention all the mentoring he provided during my early days using my Pentax along the sidelines. I still ask myself "is this how Moe would shoot it?" whenever photographing live events. Whatever we can do to recognize Moe, we must do - AND NOW! jo

The reunion date is set, and we're now taking registrations! Date: Friday, November 9 (7:30-11:30 pm) Place: T Nulty American Legion Post 471, Iselin NJ To Register: See the Alumni Page on www.saintsdrumcorps.com Hope to see y'all there! jo

I've been following this post since it began, trying to make my decision. Every year I marched was special, but if I use the original inspiration posted here, I have to go with 1975 as well. Musically, it does it for me every time. That was also the year we last competed in NJA's Winter Guard circuit -- that last show in Wildwood was a great way to kick off our best summer season. jo

Don't think I've heard a Mangione number done by a corps that I DIDN'T like! Land of Make Believe, One-Eyed Sailor, Bellavia, Echano, Chase the Clouds Away, Hill, Gato ... if pressed to choose, umm, sorry -- can't. jo

Can't say how much it cost me financially ... physically, there are scars here and there and all the other stuff that comes with aging. From a career perspective, drum corps has paid off for me. I still use all those things I learned back in the day -- the way I describe what I do (organization and leadership consultant) is that I help folks work and play better together ... just like back in the day B) I'm asked a lot how it is that I find it so easy to run a teambuilding for 100 unruly managers. What runs through my mind each time is that if I was able to get a half-dozen or more DCA corps lined up for retreat, the stuff I do now is a piece of cake :P jo

Since you crashed ours, can we crash yours? When you're ready to go down that road, just let your friends a couple exits down 287 know, and we'll help get you started ... jo

There was a break between prelims and finals? It all seemed like one big, blurred-together show to me back then, especially after going to the after-parties

CALLING ALL SAINTS! We have a plan for the reunion! Keep an eye on the website for more details -- right now, we're trying to secure a site for November 2nd (backup date November 3rd) here in Central Jersey for dinner, and will be planning a reunion weekend for sometime in June 2008. Our out-of-state members will be contacted this week, encouraging them to plan a similar mini-reunion in the greater Florida area before the end of the year. In the meantime, the Reunion Planning Committee will be gathering at the Menlo Park Mall Food Court on Friday, September 28th at 7 pm. Please join them if you're available to help with the planning and logistics. jo

It's been great to see more and more of our members connecting back to the Saints website ... our roster now includes 329 members, with a full third who have posted contact information out on the site. Counting those who are related to the people who have posted, 42% of our members have connected during the six months the site has been up and running. Pretty remarkable for a corps which last fielded thirty years ago! We're having a Reunion Planning Meeting Friday, September 21, from 7-9 pm in the Annex (if you need to ask, you obviously weren't a member!). Agenda is posted out on the site in the Guest Book and on the Alumni page. We're also still searching for our members who haven't been in touch with us yet. Each week, we have a Monday MatchUps Column in Saints Scribblings where we list members we don't know how to find. If you are a former member, or know how to reach them, please PM me here through DCP. Thanks! jo

Thanks, all, for reminding me why I marched guard my entire corps career ... just kidding ... And yes, geek is good -- guess that explains why I married a HS Science teacher ;-) jo

As someone who came from a corps where not a single person had ever marched before the first rehearsal (and probably never played a horn, drum, or piece of guard equipment, either), I realize now how brave it was to even try to start the corps from scratch. At the time, there were two additional drum and bugle corps (Avenel FireLites and Iselin Blue Angels), plus a drum corps (Hopelawn Youth Association), available just in my township. Go east by 3 miles (or south after they moved), and we had the Amboy Dukes and Little Dukes. North by 5 miles were the Cranford Patriots. West by 5 miles brought a corps in Highland Park. Expand the circle on the Central Jersey map to 15 miles and the corps and color guards you could choose included Silver Lancers, Emerald Lancers, Continentals, Los Santos, Sacred Heart Crusaders, Crimson Tide, Thunderbirds ... and I'm sure I've left some out. The narration mantra during Cadets' show was ironic in that "choice" was repeated. When it comes to corps, choice is the LAST thing that's available these days for most DCI-age marchers. jo

Just jumping in here -- another southwest Jersey corps I don't see on the list is the Cramer Hill Rough Riders ... apologies if they were mentioned earlier. jo

First off, I haven't been to a show -- DCI or DCA -- in years. Shame on me, but that's been the reality of my life as a 50-something woman who ate, drank, and bled corps and guard for nearly ten years of my life until some thirty years ago (and then sprinkled in a bit of DCA PR to wrap things up). That said -- I've followed posts this summer on the whole Garfield -- oops -- Allentown Cadets narration "thing" and finally got glimpses of it last evening on ESPN2 ... have to tell you, I felt like I was in DisneyWorld at one of the shows. I went back and forth between, "Gee, it's cool to know what the show designers and performers are thinking," to "THIS IS DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS -- LET THE HORNS, DRUMS, GUARD, AND VISUAL CONCEPT DO THE TALKING!!!" My final reaction was ... I'm proud I marched when I did, and I think the finances would be the thing to keep me off the field if I were suddenly college-age again ... Just my opinion. jo