Puppet
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Marching with 27th Lancers in the early 70's were the best years of my life. (And it's been a doozy.)
Generally, the stuff that was B-A-D were actually pretty heavy issues. Some examples:
- On several occasions, our meal orders were not taken in diners because we were a racially-integrated organization. One in Nahunta, GA was particularly tense....
- A few of our corps "rumbles" were with all-white drum corps which -- strangly enough -- were from cities that had a substantial racially-diverse populations.
- Before they had a chance to age-out, some of our friends were lost to drug addiction, alcoholism, and the draft.
But above it all. kids came off the streets and learned to play bugles, beat a drum, throw a rifle .... and make a commitment to something bigger than they were alone. City and suburban kids learned to live and laugh and work with people not like themselves or their families.
Yep. Jacksonville, FL. Been there, same here. Ugly stuff.
Best thing about the good old days?
My membership dues my rookie year at Regiment were $330
Its 10 times that now.
Please see below.
My membership dues were $25. That got us a 10-day VFW Nationals/World Open tour, housed in dorms and hotels, eating in cafeterias and restaurants.
Ah, $0.00 dues. Hotels and Motels. Most notably the Marco Polo on the Beach in Miami one year ( speaking of the VFW Nationals) And oh yeah! There were no fast food joints so we actually ate FOOD!
The Cadets will be moving on to their 78th year of continuous operation in 2012. They've been fortunate enough to have experienced the "good old days," the more recent past, and modern-era drum corps. During all of those 78 years young men and later young women experienced, and continue to experience, all the life-altering experiences that this historical forum is designed to preserve and celebrate. As an earlier poster suggested, nostalgia for "our time" and "our memories" probably does, at least for some of us, cause us to sometimes overlook the joy of knowing that each Spring a new generation begins to lay the foundation for the memories and nostalgia that they too will look back upon with the feeling of "paradise lost" that all of us who hold our own memories close to our hearts are currently feeling.
The Church of the Most Holy Name in Garfield, where The Cadets began their journey all those years ago, is currently celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the establishment of their parish. The Cadets are scheduled to participate in the closing event of that anniversary celebration in early June of 2012. For The Cadets the past and the present are proudly intertwined, with some alumni dwelling on "what was," while others focus more on what is yet to come. My personal viewpoint is that we all, Cadets and those we had the honor to share the field of competition with, have been uniquely blessed with memories that can never be tarnished. How fortunate that, as an activity, we have our past, our present, and with each Spring, a new future. I will never forget "my time" and "my memories," but I still feel a surge of excitement as I look forward to each new year. For those who cannot make that leap I understand why, but I wish that you too could continue to build new memories to add to those you already have in your hearts.
Wow ... did you ever see those Charlie Brown specials and whenever one of the parents spoke it was like a muted trumpet or something? That's what that stuff above looks like to me. But I'm here to help. The good old days for the Garfield Cadets was hearing Barbara Maroney play those solos like nobody else could. And with all the flowery blah, tradition blah, blah, they still have not given her a berth in their own Hall Of Fame.
Yeah, I'm still upset about the non service in Jacksonville, too. Equally shameful. Just saying.
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If I were to answer the posted question I would have to begin by asking one of my own: What means "Show"? Is that the venue or a particular performance by an individual Drum Corps?
If it is the former then I will say the most famous Drum Corps Show was Evening With The Corps
If it is a performance for me it can only be
Star of Indiana 1993 - Music of Barber and Bartok
Because Everybody in Drum Corps knows it and Everybody either hated it or Loved it and not to take anything away from what I consider to be a far better executed concept by Star in 1991 with the stunning George Z "double cross" we never saw coming, the '93 performance cannot be even tried again.
Just as DCI is completely afraid of having anything like another Evening With The Corps
...Just saying.
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Awesome chart, masterfully played by Barb....but "I Have a Love" was not the closer. "Tonight" followed "IHaL" and was the actual closer.
Yes, and of course, you're right ... just got caught up in the moment there. Of course my excuse could be that after Barbara's solo I was done.
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Ithaca, NY 1974 Prelims - Anaheim Kingsmen - 2nd Place - 86.85
And most of us who have gone through this thread more than once have heard it said that Anaheim was possibly the most photogenic Drum Corps or a certain era and that rifle line ... totally kicked it to a new notch!
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I guess I'd remind people of Jim Centorino of Salem, MA, the featured soloist of Boston Crusaders 1969-71.
Before BAC, he was featured soloist for Majestic Knights (Charlestown MA). After aging out, Jim was featured soloist of the Rhode Island Matadors.
While attending Boston College, Jim starred as featured trumpet soloist and was band president, where his focus was on concert programs of popular music.
Jim was inducted into the Massachusetts Drum Corps Hall of Fame and the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame.
His solo on the BAC's 69 opener jazz version of "Conquest" was amazing.
Now HERE'S the importance of DCP... Jim Centorino is a guy I've heard of forever, but I never knew his work... and it turns out he played some of my favorite solos of all time.... TOO COOL!
No matter what your list, no matter what the era (even if you don't know enough to know that there were players before 1974 or what ever. No one Junior Drum Corps soloist ever, ever made my hair stand on end like Jim's awesome performances (show after show!) during that Conquest OTL! If you haven't heard it, find it ... listen to it ... be amazed because even for the recording technology from back then you will hear a virtuosity surrounded by a horn chart that could only be called inspired.
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Pre-DCI. These are a few that I am familiar with:
St. Rocco's Cadets
OLPH Ridgemen
Our Lady of Lorretta Knights
St. Catherines of Ciena Queensmen and Marrinettes ( excues the speeling )
Paterson Police Cadets
Fairlawn Police Cadets
Many more from the NY City area back in the '60's.
Well if you're going to go there ...
It was really Our Lady of Loretto Knights
St. Lucy's Cadets
St. Joseph of Batavia Cadets
The short-lived always up and coming St. Joseph Patron Cadets
The Bronx Kingsmen
The Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights
Speaking of girls in the corps: The Trumbull Troubadors (45 girl color guard - no joke!)
Staten Island Lawmen ( I think)
The Bon Bons
St. Ignatius
The Appleknockers from Upstate NY
Then I have to give a nod to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, many members of which went on to become Directors and Instructors of some of the best Drum Corps in the East.
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Thought that would get you to read this! LOL
This morning while in the shower, for some reason, I was thinking about the dreaded 1985 Bridgemen and the Christmas in July themed show. Could this had been the signal to us about "The Day That Drum Corps Died?" Of course I jest there...it isn't dead, just taking a well-deserved rest until we start to see corps sprouting up all over the country and Canada once again.
Back to my shower....I started to become depressed thinking about the '85 Bridgemen and comparing it to the 1976 Bridgemen. Where did it all go wrong? I remember seing them at World Open and said, "What the heck is that?" Can someone tell me WHAT HAPPENED?
Keith, Keith ... Keith. You could have used American Express and I still would have opened this thread because it was you.
What happened as I see it began well before '85 or even '76. It was because it was the end of 1971, it was because of a group of selfish, greedy Mid-West Corps directors wanted to make money from a great activity, because of a very stupid conflict in Vietnam, because of the breakup of many communities, the lack of families having dinner together because of f-ing McDonald's, 50,000 young people not coming home, Nixon, gas prices ... 1971 was (as has been discussed before) "The Year Drum Corps Died" Drum Corps went into a cocoon for just about a decade then emerged to scamper around with little or no focus until the another group of people got together from Indiana with a real plan on how to run a Drum Corps as a business and not use anything other than talent and focus and not politics to build an organization that if others had followed their model they'd be successful, too and within six years they were the corps everybody had to get out of the way of ... and then ... like any great champion quit after realizing no matter what, they could be better than any other corps but they would never beat the system. (Was that a great run-on sentence or what!?) So after the mid 90s Drum Corps went back into the cocoon again and coasted along uninspiring me at any rate until a couple of years ago when Phantom, and Carolina Crown, and SCV and even BD and the Troopers got some life back ... but even though Juliet had a spark that made my heart skip a couple of beats ... well you know.
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I loved that ending - I got to walk down the field in front of the hornline sampling every player in the company front and was beyond impressed - just a great ending.
Having said that to feel that no one with sense or taste could disagree is as whacky as me saying that anyone in their right mind knows that the end of Cadets 84 show is clearly the best in history - it's the best for me! But I could very easily buy 91 Star or any number of others.
Cherish how that made you feel, but realize that lots of people cried at the end of shows and for lots of reasons and lots of corps - hell - I cried my eyes out at the end of '92 VK because I could no longer laugh that hard.
That's why they make chocolate and that other stuff...
I must agree to disagree and while saying that agree to agree with Mr. Fallon on this. While taking into consideration the adoration any horn player of note could have for Mr. Ott and while Spirit's closer was great ... there remains one song, one player and one corps that stands out from any other closer, solo performance (show after show and year after year) that could just have me in stunned awe.
The year - 1984.
The song - I Have A Love
The Corps - Garfield Cadets.
The caveat - I to this day have absolutely no love for Garfield and except for a couple of George Zingali years and the peace sign No More War show, I have been underwhelmed for decades. Actually the only thing that impresses me about The Cadets (or whatever they are calling themselves nowadays) is their longevity. But Barbara ... Barbara is and was the player who could make me tear up - even when I knew it was coming - even on CD or DVD.
So like Ray says. Hold that thought for Mr. Ott and that performance ... and I'll just cuddle up with mine.
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1969 - Pagliacci Overture, Thunder & Blazes Billboard March, Make Our Garden Grow
1970 - Three Blind Mice In Symphony Hall
1971 - Ride Of The Valkyries, Point Alma Mater, Woodstock!
Played some great stuff in St. Joe's, too. Dance Macabre and Minnie The Moocher which featured one of the great Euphonium players of our era, Rubin Ariola
Just as a side note: I think that the 1970 CMCC Warriors' Voodoo Suite was one of the most innovative and imaginative OTL Hy Drietzer ever created for Drum Corps. And that my friends, is saying something.
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[*]Waitresses in southern diners who refused to take our orders because we were racially-integrated.
Yeah - I feel you on that one. 1970 Jacksonville, FL. Similar scenario. Ugly for a bunch of 12 to 17 year olds from the most diverse city (NYC) in America. We never knew what hit us most of the bus ride down was like that ... until we got to New York's 6th borough - Miami!
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Please refer to posts #6
#7 and ah... #8 
Not to mention shows like the Dream, the World and U.S. Open where the fans were rabid and the stands were full!-
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What do I miss? Having a full head of hair, and having a 28 inch waist.
You mean you were fat back then?
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I have been saying that yonnenana's thread is the single most complete pictorial history of Drum Corps as we know it ever compiled.
No where else will you be able to find the depth found within those now two thousand plus pages. It is virtually (now!) impossible to view everything therein in one sitting or even one day. I am proud to be a contributor and even more proud to have been around when Mr. Quip, Tommy Tymp
wrote: (as the 109991th post on page 1100)
ETA: 1100 PAGES, Y'ALL. 1100 Mickie-Fickin' pages. The Best. Thread. Ever.
The comments are sometimes better than the pics and the insight shown by some of the writers is as entertaining as it gets.
Keith Hall, Apoch003, Lindap, Jocko the Wonder Llama, DPEmerald, Lancer Legend, Lancerlady, A27Lancer, (lotta 27 here) randomnoise, Malibu, the very venerable MikeD and so many others whose names I can't remember (these were all off the top of my head) have kept me laughing and remembering all these years.
Now as I've said before ... now I'll shut up.
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I'm not in any of them.......probably better that way.
Yeah, but your comments have been picturesque.
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Time to wake up!!! Let's go!!! Let the memories begin!!!
Keith ... dude, you have got to be more specific. I mean, I've got all kinds of memories of all kinds of things I'd like to share before I forget them.
Like this is what I looked like just before the VPW Nationals in Florida ... that year when the Belleville Black Knights edged us out of the finals. Want to talk about 1970 the year the Troopers romped around the country whipping up on everybody?
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From "A History of Drum & Bugle Corps" for the WO.
Prelims: 63=19, 64=42, 65=29; 66=34, 67=33, 68=41, 69=44, 70=39, 71=36, 72=no prelims, 73=33, 74=25, 75=27, 76=26, 77=25, 78=20, 79=25, 80=16, 81=18 (Bridgemen, Garfield, North Star, and Blue Stars did not have to perform in prelims), 82=19, 83=20, 84=18 That's an average of 28 each year the prelims were held for the A Class.
Anyone notice how the prelim numbers dropped off considerably after (ahem!) the DCI era began? Interesting to note that The Crusaders practically owned the show until about 1968 and appeared in every one until 1972. Much props for that!
Please note also the aforementioned double bass drum configuration in this Color Presentation shot from 1967.
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Also if you enlarge it there is no valve button and the rotary looks like the spring is gone, it's down and she's not touching it.
There is bus partner potential though.
They all look good in uniform ...
but I can see what you're getting at 
or want to get at or... 
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Nobody but the Royal Airs ever referred to the CYO, VFW and AL Nats as some sort of triple crown. I always felt that the World Open was much more of a significant title to win than the CYO, so if there ever was such a thing as a triple crown, in my mind it would have included the World Open and not the CYO which was initially only for catholic corps and usually drew a lesser slate of top corps. Besides, winning the World Open in 1965 probably was more of an achievement than even winning AL Nats, let alone comparing it to the CYO.
I'll go as far as saying that just a few years later the triple crown would become that glorious weekend in MA. that included not only the CYO Nationals, but also the World Open and The Danny Thomas Invitational. More corps that weekend and more incredible fans assembled in one small area in the late sixties than ever before and not ever since. I don't think there were ever anything less than 35 corps in the prelims for the W.O. (I could be wrong, though!)
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What horn?
Oh, there it is..I hadn't looked that far north.
Pretty much the same thing I said when a Facebook friend posted this a couple of weeks ago!
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Olds Ultratone BU-20.
Very rare left-handed versions, or else the negative was flipped over.
Good and funny catch! Soon as I read your post I looked at the color guard's hands ... yep reversed the photo is. Cool shot, though!
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You realize, of course, that a response was virtually assured (courtesy of theholynamecadets.org):
Is there an Emoticon for scratching your eyes out?
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We all know the 19965 Scouts utterly DESTROYED the crowd with their performance...utterly spectacular from the moment they entered the field. We also all know the applause went on for a LONG time. But for the first time I decided to time it.
It started from the beginning of the rotating company front at the end of Malaga...44 seconds of continuous crowd love...and continued for almost a full minute with little cessation.
:worthy: :worthy: :worthy: To any and all alums of the 1995 Madison Scouts....I am insanely jealous of you to have been on the receiving end of that....truly.
It's really good to know that Drum Corps and particularly the Scouts will be around eighteen thousand years from now.
How's the video from there, or can we actually play that technology now?
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I judged in the Garden State Circuit in the mid-late 70's to around 80. There were a few timpani sections that used to crank like crazy..but they weren't hooked up to anything, so the pitches never changed!
Whe I'd call them on it at retreat the instructor would tell me most of the judges couldn't tell the difference, and they'd receive great PA marks and comments about their marvelous timpani lines.
I was a fly on the wall during a couple of conversations that Eric and Hy had before we purchased our first two tymps. They were rather heated because Eric was not liking the idea of adding instrumentation that was not "drum corps". Once it was settled though, it was all about the music. And if you didn't have an ear, you were not in the section no matter how well you played in the section you were transitioning from.
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I'm on vacation, was doing research, checked corpsreps.com a few times today, no luck loading until now. I'm trying to piece together history for a few corps in word documents and hope to send to corpsreps later. Brenda and I are putting stuff together for a web site for the ladies but Brenda works at a high school. Sometimes hobbies need a deadline otherwise things get postponed. Wish us luck
I do wish you lots of luck with corpsreps. I'll tell you they are pretty unreliable when it comes to the real history. If you go back it's really spotty. It's better the closer we get to current stuff and I have tried to submit info on shows we've competed in to no avail. It's weird when you do a scores search and don't see your corps in a show you know your were in and then you go to another corps score page and there you are. Missing info happens a lot the further back you go.
Nee-Hi's
in Historical Junior Corps Discussions
Posted
Darn, Keith. You got me again. I thought you were opening a thread about soda.