Puppet

It's almost eerie Keith, that you posted this. I was pining away today wondering when the spark would come back. I saw the scores from last weekend's shows posted and almost chortled when I realized they looked like scores from back in the 'tic' days (forever now known as BITTD!) and a bit of the old ennui lifted. But that was only because I was remembering how it was and not thinking about how it is. I've said this before: I totally eschewed the activity from '73 until about '87. Maybe those were some of the halcyon days for some of you but I must say my Drum Corps DNA was completely re-energized by the verve and almost mystical presence of Star and their rise ... I believe they took the whole of DCI to a another level. We had a lot of that kind of raising the bar action during the late sixties early seventies. By that time, many of the corps from the west, mid-west and east had competed against each other and we all began testing the boundaries and each other and not 'playing it safe'. I think DCI during it's fledgling years only saw a couple of corps willing to take chances - so few, I don't even have to name them - and then nothing really hit the fan for a long time. To bad, I think, we did not have the technology available to bring back even more memories from those days now a half century gone. I agree with you Keith. Maybe they could do something for the fans, like bringing the championship show to Lynn or even Marion or host an Evening With the Corps at a cool venue like the Hollywood Bowl (bet the kids would like that!) But it's that kind of thinking that seems lost on those who run the show now and makes it difficult for us who are looking for some action that wows and amazes us ... OK ... ME! And please, folks. This is not a knock against today's Drum Corps, just the off the cuff ramblings of an old guy who remembers when Marilyn's skirt was blown up by the air rushing under her from a subway train ... and not blown up by a brick of semtex like they do today. And all you saw - ah never mind. Thanks, Keith! Puppet

Oh yeah! THERE you are! Feels good, doesn't it? Puppet

I have said something about this on other threads but perhaps not as succinctly. The way Bb horns are built ( I think) which use more tubing and smaller bores need many more constituents to make an equal sound of a line who uses G instruments. I might add this whole thing of pointing the horns up is just a silly affectation that does not result in louder (Hey! Designer guys and gals ... a horn bell is created to throw out sound in an almost perfect 200 degree arc - point it up and much sound bounces off the stupid roof of the Lucas indoor dumb hall which makes for poor sound need I go on about that, either!) And has anyone mentioned that Drum Corps is an outdoor activity? Someone might say something about the ambient reflection of playing to the back stands and how some really smart horn arrangers used that to great advantage. Puppet

Gee, Michael - and I know it's been years since you wrote this post - I wish I could answer coherently and even take you up on the challenge. If we had a forum such as this back when whatever people were playing before I picked up my first French Horn in G (not discounting the one I played in Orchestra (F/Eb) there would be a far more interesting conversation. I'm afraid however, most of those guys from days then are gone. Great ad for Steve's book, BTW. As to sound improvement since the turn of the decade...probably has a lot to do with the quality of the players, don't you think? There are more polished and older players (ages 18+ with 5 or more years on their instruments these days versus 12+ with about 4 to 6 months experience BITD) as I'm also thinking that it's a little easier to sound better when you have 60-80 horns who don't have to push as hard for volume. As you know, I am "died-in-the-wool-old-school-cadet-style-we-need-color-presentation-and-for-God's-sake-young-people-back-in-the-activity" kinda guy. Never gonna happen. So let's just get Star Of Indiana back to show every other Drum Corps how to put a whole show on the field again. Which would make Phantom step up and even TRY a show like (no matter how much an epic fail it was) the Red Violin. Because no matter what, the activity will not have people filling up the back stands again no matter what brass instruments are played unless some one corps takes it to another level. (Oh yeah - singing and synths) time to go! Just saying as always, Puppet

60 horns seems a little small for today's standard - right? So the mix would be more like 30-15-20-15? Or are you basing your average on all 25 corps now competing in all classes? Not just the World class DCI? Puppet

Best Mello line ever for my money! Just saying ... again! Puppet

Star. I have said over and over there are a few individuals (0ne in Particular from Garfield Cadets) who were great mello soloists. but far and away - and that one double cross bit which had members of Star scampering around like field mice (and playing the whole while!)has astounded me not to mention the charts. Gotta be Star - here or not - their legacy is legend! Puppet

You have got to go back a long way (30+ Years at least!) to find a reason to field a Horn in any configuration. BITD, and this was before the advent of Mellophones on the field, the French Horn (in G) was the bridge between lower register sopranos and the Baritone horns. Marching the way we did- pounding the turf with our knees up and elbows out doing the military turns and so forth - keeping that little mouthpiece in place putting out volume was a true chore. And a Mello with a french horn mouthpiece is as crappy a sound as one could ever imagine. Unless you put a trumpet mouthpiece in a Tuba! Puppet

Is it off topic for me to mention that although I never played a Duratone, the feel, finish and balance not to mention the sheer beauty of the original Olds (rotary/valve in G) was a wonder to play... ... and after 40 years is still great to look at! Puppet

Darn! I couldn't find an Etch-A-Sketch image I liked. :lookaround: Good work, Mike! Puppet

It's likely that they can get sponsors of a Grey Goose nature. After all, they're pretty much all of drinking age these days. And, with empty stands all over the place, DCI needs money from somewhere. OMG! What a thought! Sponsors! The Cadets! Sponsored by Irish Spring or Irish Mist! OK, I'll stop. Puppet

Just so i won't bore everybody to tears with some of my ramblings - a while back I started a blog about my memories of life during the way back days when I marched. If you like, you can check some of those postings out @ My link It's aptly named Drum Corps Memories. Times of which I am fond. Enjoy and comment if you like. I will get back to it - there are so many more stories to tell and Michael Boo doesn't have them all - Love ya, Mike! Puppet

Hey! Is that an iPad? These guys were way ahead of their time! Cool! Puppet

Love the McDonald's story! I may have mentioned this one before but we were on our Mid West Tour to Kenosha & Racine, WI in 1969 and stopped at a Howard Johnson's in Warren, OH on the way. Well the folks in Warren had never seen such a mixed collection of kids like us before. The Brassmen were mixed in every single kinda way you could possibly imagine. A regular United Nations that was really the face of New York City. The staff was startled but it was our comportment and the fact that we all had our own money and knew how to order that stood us in good stead. On our way out, the horn line (all 30 of us!) purchased kazoos and gave the crowd in the parking lot a review of our entire rep to their astonishment and we were rewarded with cheers and applause. It really did make us feel good to be ambassadors. The Kenosha show, BTW was our first witness of the awesome Anaheim Kingsmen. They beat us by like just under two points and the St. Paul Scouts beat us by a tenth. The next day in Racine (You'll see where I'm going with this considering your post adjedrummer and the previous one) we got lambasted by non other than the Troopers and the Kilties: The scores - and remember, this was during the "tic" era: 1 Troopers 73.550 2 Kilties 70.400 3 Anaheim Kingsmen 68.750 4 Des Plaines Vanguard 67.050 5 Blue Stars 66.550 6 St. Rita's Brassmen 64.500 7 Santa Clara Vanguard 63.300 8 Boys of '76 62.550 9 Kenosha Queensmen 48.300 10 St. Francis Sancians 44.450. What a tour that was for a bunch of inner city kids 41 years and 10 months ago. But who's counting? Puppet

As I said just having a little fun. Get another thousand or so posts under your belt and a sense of humor and you can have some fun on these threads, too. Oh, BTW you misspelled, misspelling. Puppet

I don't know where this went .. but here's a little relic. circa 1971. Puppet

All right then, let's look at these from a fossil POV, shall we? You know you are a fossil when you remember.... Marching with piston rotary horns, brand-new ones! Can you say: emery cloth and slide oil? Making the American Flag squad was a huge accomplishment for a color guard member! Most started in the American Flag Section. The accomplishment was Color Guard Captain (with Sabre!) Every corps marched a cymbal line,tympanies (you mean Tympani, don't you?) and one or two keyboards! Keyboards?! What you talking 'bout Willis? Fossil DC had snares, tenors, cymbals, and two different size Bass Drums. There was no marching during the "Concert" number! That is why they called it "Concert" - there was usually a short stand still during the finale of the Color Presentation. The color guard marched with 20 different competition banners, and used them in the show! Fossil Guards Marched with the Banners that brung 'em. And dare I say the flag poles were called "PIkes"? Being out of step was an embarassment! As a fossil it is an embarrassment to misspell embarrassment. You were taught marching by the designer, who was also the director and extra bus driver! Designer? Hey, how old are you, really? We had horn instructors, Drum instructors ... Drill instructors You could actually hum all of the songs from each corps! Or you could play them on your cassette player. There were three levels of music; loud, #### loud, and Madison loud! You mean: East Coast New Jersey loud, East Coast New York loud and East Coast Massachusetts loud. All equally louder than the other given the venue of the show ... you were talking about the fans on both sides of the field, right? Otherwise in the late sixties and early seventies Madison was not the loud you're thinking of and these guys from 1970 were not loud. There was no such thing as a food truck, those were the buses which dropped you off for 30 minutes at a mall! Mall?! There were no Malls ... no. Really there were no malls - anywhere! If you aren't old enough to remember when there weren't any malls, no fossil be you though the attempt at fossil-like memories are admirable. Another 10 years and you will be right there. Oh and can I get a ruling on the carbon dating here? 'Cause I only go back to the early sixties so that's only a little less than 50 years. I know there are those who predate me. And just so you know this: I'm not knocking your memories, only having a little fun pointing out the juxtaposition of yours versus mine. And I'm just glad I can remember anything at all. Puppet

I do have other stuff, you know. Hope you can read this. Puppet

But when you're really old like us what's the difference? Tropical Classical And since you just had to go into so much detail - Leaving out the Casper Troopers, It made me wonder just how many corps played Malaguena. I know Madison Scouts played it on and off from about '63 until the mid 90s. The Bronx Kingsmen and the Muchachos and I seem to remember the Blue Stars ... probably many, many more. Like anything from West Side Story And by now you should know I never miss a chance to post my favorite: best guard uniform ... ever. Puppet

And not a slam at this particular post but 'fossil' kinda means 'old' to me. Like if you're going to mention singing a corps signature tune from the fossil days. For instance: How The West Was Won or the drum solo titled Unsquare Dance Big Spender, Concerto In F or even The Captains From Castile. I'll bet the old old timers can name the corps that made those (and many others!) famous long before the Stravinsky you cited. Oh, here's another: Baby Elephant Walk; a classic I didn't really care for but the corps that played it made it a staple because the crowd ate it up - not to mention the first instance of a soprano mouthpiece in a Contra Bass. Just saying ... Puppet

Oh, let us not forget there were corps in the East who way predated the Theme as Drum Corps. Garfield's Civil War (complete with peace symbol) show comes to mind. Our War themed 1971 show which opened with Valkerie, closed with West Point Alma Mater and had a full fledged riot as the production number. Puppet

And don't you mean there was actually a squad on the field who "guarded the colors"? And that there were actually colors to guard? BTW, you're REALLY a fossil if you remember being on the field before anyone tossed a rifle around. Big NO Prize to whomever can remember that guy from the Sunrisers who constantly tried to hit the Moon with his tosses. Puppet

I really miss that singular sound, too. Really the hardest to play and march ... especially during the 'slide' days. Puppet

This may be a little off the wall - 'course I'm famous for that - and I know this was a bunch of years ago but wouldn't it be cool to have every corp for every DCI prelim show reduce the size of their corps to let's say half and build the show accordingly. 40 horns (like BITD) a few snares - like no more than four same with quads (nobody's gonna give up their quads!) but no pit - sorry Tommy - and half the "guard" ... No would that not be interesting? Huh?! Huh?! As to the video - lots of good stuff going on and let's face it you're not gonna cover a lot of field with such a small group. Believe me - I think the biggest horn line we ever had was less than forty and we did a lot of innovative stuff and mostly it was not as spread as today. It obviously took lots of guts to even take the field and I really applaud the verve with which they performed. Puppet

Another reason to lobby for pre-season venues like that of the Evening With The Corps. Those nights and the sounds produced by both first caliber Senior and Junior Corps of the time in Late April and Early May were quantitative of the work put forth through the fall and winter. It may be a little tougher logistically with corps members coming in from the four corners of the earth instead of just around the the corner or next town as it once was ... but just think of the recordings to be had in a controlled environment and all the competitive spirit of corps in one place not to compete but to just show off - better than a parking lot any day - I bet! Puppet