BobB

That was the DeKalb DCM championship runoff. Genius move by Joe Colla and Roman Blenski (and, I'm sure, both corps directors). Joe Bruno was the announcer that night (as always at DeKalb) and milked the moment beautifully. The crowd was absolutely electric.

Bump for some Drums Along the Foundries. Wish I could be there. All the best to my plaid brethren and, of course, to MBI. WWBD

I'll start. These are more in the vein of nightlife (Friday? Sat pre-show? etc.) but what the heck. All in Northeast Minneapolis so not too far from the University. Haven't been here but I hear it's good: www.redstagsupperclub.com Fun place on the river; nice outdoor bar(more tiki bar than northwoods): www.psychosuzis.com Some of the local craft brewers have tap rooms. Closed Sundays, unfortunately: www.fultonbeer.com www.612brew.com www.dangerousmanbrewing.com

Not sure if this exactly fits the question, but after finishing 7th in 1975, the Kilties dropped into the basement in '76, finishing 20-something at prelims. In '77 they rebounded to finish 10th. Had to be one of the more significant comebacks in DCI history.

Kilties, DCI finals, 1972. Coming out of concert, the drum major was supposed to bring up the horns, call mark time, and the horns and drums come in ff immediately on count 1--no 4-for-nothing. And we were moving immediately on count 1. Had been this way all season and was pretty well locked into everyone's minds. Except this time (of all times...) the drum major forgot to bring up the horns before calling mark time--so there was no time for anyone to get their horn up, sticks out, etc., before starting to play. And we were already moving. Needless to say, chaos ensued for about 16 counts. Somehow, we recovered and pulled it back together, but the performance was way off after that. Thought we had an outside shot at 5th or 6th, ended up 8th or 9th--not all because of the train wreck, but it sure couldn't have helped.

+1 on Whitewater. Honorable mention: Horlick Field, Racine. >aka "Drums along the Foundries." In the middle of an industrial area; you could usually hear the forging presses banging away in the plant across the street, immediately behind the backfield stands. >No track, so stands were close to the sidelines. Great audience interaction. >Surrounded by concrete walls topped with barbed wire. >Beer at the concession stand. >Corps waiting to perform were usually lined up right in front of said concession stand. (Good luck breaking ranks on the Troopers on your way to get another beer.) >Knowledgeable and responsive drum corps crowds. >Some historic moments: Racine Scouts upset win in '67, a rare Kilties defeat in '69, Santa Clara's coming out in '70. Even a visit by Hawthorne Caballeros in '75, I think.

I remember that one...you guys beat all the midwest's big guns. Shocking but in a good way--great corps that ended up, I think, 6th or so at VFW. Also remember some graffiti appearing the next day at an underpass on the south side of Racine, obviously (to a few of us, who recognized the names) posted by a couple of Scouts. At least they were smart enough to not include the Racine Scouts in their artwork--instead choosing to "advertise" their first names (<cough> Gregg? Jeff?) and their high school class. That graffiti stayed there for years. Must have been quite a party after the show (once you got away from your staff).

Ah, I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for clearing it up. Jeez, that's a long time ago...

Al, I'm recalling 6-8 minutes for prelim shows for some reason. Going from 11 down to 4-6 would have required some major hacks in the show, and what I remember is just cutting concert plus some other relatively small portion of the show. Not trivial, but not major surgery either. I do remember the piling up at the end line ("wait for the gun!") and squeezing tenths out everywhere; GE pretty much went out the window. We were fortunate to not have to worry about making finals in those days, so we'd usually throw together our prelim shows a few days beforehand.

It's been a long time...but I recall that Horlick field had no walk space with the chain link fence in front of the stands as this photo shows. Which means Horlick's seating was even closer to the field than this stadium. Great stadium, complete with concrete walls, barbed wire, and the foundry across the street.

Fantastic. I practically wore out the vinyl recording of this show. First time ever seeing it on video---40+ years later. Thank you!!!

Somewhere around midseason in '70, one of the 4 snares was moved to bass drum, so from then on we had 3 snares, 3 basses. Looks like 4 snares & 2 basses in the still, so would have to be...uh, not end-of-season, anyway.

Night Train/Choo choo/Syne makes it definitely '70 (I was one of those 4 tenors). No idea on that location though...

Yup, that's Dave. I believe the judge immediately to Dave's right is Doug Reynolds, one of the top drum judges during that time. I recognize the guys on both ends (both wearing CSJA hats) but danged if I can recall names. Memory fail...

Guys Sorry to butt in on the discussion. Been following this thread as I love these stories from the 60's. The subject video clip is terrific. I believe the corps in question may be the Madison Scouts. I wasn't at the Dream show but saw Madison many times that summer, including at VFW. They wore dark green cadet unis with shakos and white plumes, white cross sash (left shoulder to right hip), and white bucks, which seems to match the corps in the video. See post 20413 in the historical photos thread for an earlier version (with black shoes). Not sure, but it's fun to speculate. Thanks for the history lesson.

...NM, Flash went and beat me by 2 minutes. And posted the whole housing list. Overachiever. :)

Yup, it's posted on the DCI Minnesota facebook page on a list of housing sites. Under PR's housing info: "Friday rehearsal at the Metrodome." (BTW, Metrodome is now also called "Mall of America Field.")

Great photo---thanks. Those were some cool uniforms. Also, I'd forgotten about those pikes their guard carried back then (instead of rifles)--up through '72, I think. Hopefully, some alum can confirm, but I think Madison's first year w/rifles was '73?

...and in 1986, the first year MBI made finals, we couldn't imagine this in our wildest dreams. (1986 MBI #4 bass drum in his 1st year in drum corps: Joel Matuzak, now MBI's long-term program coordinator.) The slow climb has finally reached the pinnacle. Congrats to all who made it happen at MBI!

Amazing performance by MBI. Congrats to Eric, staff, and members. ...and thanks to DCA for the live streaming. Fantastic show!

Minnesota Brass: (Posting on behalf of MBI's terrific corps director, Eric Molho, who's off doing 1,001 other things in prep for the trip east.) Rehearsal site: Genesee Valley Park 99 Elmwood Ave. Rochester Rehearsal times (all tentative): Friday 8:30-3:30 Saturday 8:30-3:00 Sunday 8:30-3:00 Stop by and say hello!

Oh yeah...Kilties did have a "big cymbal" guy post-my era (guess that's why I didn't think of him...)---maybe '73-74? I recall he did have a nickname but it wasn't Baby Huey---that was definitely the Cavies guy (whose physique more closely resembled the cartoon character, IIRC). Anyway, thanks for catching that bit of history (on my own corps, no less...).

Baby Huey! Thanks...I now remember the guy and the nickname. "Spectacular" is right. Appreciate the bit of SCV cymbal history, too. SCV was so innovative across the board in marching percussion at that time that I think the impact of your approach to cymbals often gets overlooked.

Back in the mid- to late-60's the Racine Scouts had a couple guys carrying very small (12"-ish?) cymbals with t-handles. They did all kinds of tosses, exchanges, over-the-head stuff,--even wore berets as was the fashion for bass drummers at the time. Musical they certainly were not, but they were fun to watch. I've searched for photos of these guys on the web, but no luck. Also recall, for a short time in the late 60's and early 70's, it was fashionable for corps to have one guy carrying a monster pair of plates (24"-ish?), rendering a huge crash about every 32 counts or so (it took that long to wind up!). Again, not particularly musical but fun to watch. I recall Blue Stars and, maybe, Cavaliers doing this...not sure who else but I know there were others. Cymbal techniques have come a long way since then...