Puppet

And they knew that. They once marched their whole show from the final step backward while playing from beginning to end just to see what it felt like ... and the crowd loved it! Puppet

And they found him! But they won't let him conduct. They won't let Alvin Ailey design a show, either.

Have I not said this before in not so many words: this right here is our drum corps museum! Puppet

Wow! OK. Tommy, Hairbear, Anthony and others. I have loved your posts on many a thread - somehow this one is fraught with so many twists it can't get back to where it started. BTW as I first posted, there were no bad days for me and mine. Would we have loved the judges (in the tic era for all you kids!) to love our little 34 horn line? Yes. Would we have loved the judges to love our 4 man snare line, our 4 tymps, our out of the box shows? Yes. The people in the stands did and our little corps blew the doors off most others and I'm proud of my time on the field and you can scratch any of us and the answer will be (from our tours to the midwest to the deep south) YES! THE GOOD OLD DAYS WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS! Too bad some of the people posting here (the above named not withstanding) were not old enough to read while I was having my good time. Puppet

Imagine trying to kick that out on a Mellophone? I had a rotary/valve so I could get the speed but had to play it an octave down. One of my favorite warm ups after I warmed up. I was young so I didn't care if I screwed it up - it was just fun. And this just struck me - was that a 4 valve piccolo trumpet? Puppet

Ahh ... what? An Ed Lawrence reference? Wow! Great player - I used to love to listen to him "sing" parts - sounded just like the horn he was emulating. BTW absolutely no better horn was ever made for drum corps than the Ultratone Mello -just saying. Puppet

Yep. Puppet

They spent all their money in the other bars. Now all together on the answers to these: What do you do with a drummer who can't keep time? How do you know you've been in Drum Corps too long? C'mon you know these. Puppet

That's an old Madison Joke. Puppet

Good catch, Michael. This idea however takes me back (when?) when we rehearsed all fall, winter and spring and had it all together for the season (maybe some minor changes - never anything major) then sort of excised it for the prelim shows. Our drill, our spots and all the dynamics were drilled in for the next season beginning almost immediately after we got off the buses from the final August sometimes September show. It would scare the bejeesus out of me to put together a show in a week. That said - all the near adults marching now are really professionals. A five minute (or so) show could be done though my take on it would be to give everybody the same music - like 2 pieces and they pick the order and the arrangement what ever solo the drum line wants to do to fill the time limit and of course the drill would be their own. Would be interesting to so each corps take on the"limitations." Puppet

Just about to log on and do my once yearly "this is the greatest thread with the greatest selection of accumulated Drum Corps History anywhere" and just click through a couple of hundred pages of reminding myself why when I noticed that many, many photos early on in the 200-300 range are no longer there for one reason or another. If you haven't gone back in a while you will see a stunning array of shots of Garfield (Holy Name, etc) through the decades. But alas, there are some awesome shots of the Kingsmen Guard that are no longer there - for posterity's sake, here's a link to that Moe Knox site where many of those shots came from. The poise, toughness and beauty of the Kingsmen Women probably one of the most photographed and photogenic of their time Here's the link: http://xkingsmen.com/MoeKnox2/ also, just a reminder - if you were around in early '05 and before and had posted some photos to this thread, once you move them from you photobucket (or whatever service you use) they will be gone from here forever. And most of the comments regarding become pretty much gibberish without the accompanying photos. History buffs like myself enjoy the photographic trip down memory lane and more newbies should have a place to look at what went on in this activity before we all turned to Dinosaurs. With almost a million and a half views of this thread and over seventeen hundred pages of posts and replies this is history in the making right here. All props to the OP, yonnenana! Thank you. Please continue your reverie! Puppet

Historical Why not questions about the Open era? Where us old guys before the internet can answer? World Open? US Open? CYO Nationals? Danny Thomas? (and even though we not ever invited for reasons still unknown) the Dream? Before 1971 there was fierce competition, no? Puppet

True that! It's taken me this long to realize that BR was poorer than us kids from the real inner city! God Bless them for the performances they put on - especially early '71 & '72! Love you people BITD and now but my God weren't there gas stations?! Puppet

Well said my vet bro. Most who post here - perhaps the poster himself - do not know what to complain about. Puppet

OK. I read the first two pages - I'll catch up after I post this. Obviously we weren't called the Cinderella corps for nothing. We made money, we spent money on our corps. So (even as St. Joseph Patron Cadets) we went pretty much first class. I remember a trip to Dobbs Ferry historically spoken of by members that was a disaster. As St. Rita's however, we had new instruments, new uniforms and all the rest. The good old days were the good old days because we never had less than we needed - the staff and the instructors (of whom I have talked about often on these pages) were of the best quality and storied HOF individuals. We didn't have to eat at Mc or BK because there were no such things. We slept in Motels and we were clever enough to get to venues early enough to scope out the local High School with a football field. Stops were regular on long trips and the buses were as comfortable as the times could provide (BITD) I am sorry you have such a crappy memory but perhaps you should not dwell on the journey as much as the destination. Winding up in places like Miami and Kenosha, Racine and Lynn were real eye openers for many of the very young (13 - 16) young men and women who populated our corps representing just about every ethnic and socio-economic strata of our NYC community. Wow! how shocked we were to see that the Madison Scouts were kinda like us?! Drum Corps was (still is and can be in the best of all possible worlds!) a true learning experience if we let it. We are saddened that there are so few children exposed to it no matter what the reason. I might add that my experience in the three corps I marched with was without the need of any outlay of money on our part. Our uniforms (and their cleaning) was provided for for the most part. I first played a pretty bad French horn but Hy and Carmen taught us something called "pride of ownership" so you cleaned it and when restored, even the oldest piece instrument can be made to play - if you have the ear and the dedication - I was allowed to play during the famed Calliope section of our Entry of the Gladiators off the line -when there was such a thing. No better feeling then to be singled out by the great Hy Drietzer. Do I have great memories? Yeah, you're right. they weren't all that good ... they were great! Respectfully submitted. Puppet

Sorry, I've been away and working and not whoing Wishing you and your Dad all the best. You all were so good to me - this is family to all of us! Puppet

May I just say that out of this entire thread, this sentiment seemed to be the most eloquent until it was blown with an easy spelling mistake. To wit: the "core" of something is not the "corps" of anything. Your heart was in the right place, though - great last paragraph. Puppet

Whoa, fellers. You're responding to somethng that wasn't said. I heard "the amps add sound and when mixed badly it sounds horrible and should be discounted." It's just physics - how many horns did Crown field this year? You bet your patootie they were loud. Now, if they could just learn dynamics. Best transition from piano to forte and everything in between: Phantom. Puppet

Now this I like! I think like this but I could never compile these kind of stats or an easy to understand comparison. It's this kind of thinking we need as our GE judges. Someone to take meaningless numbers and crunch them so they mean some thing. Oh yeah, indoors, synths, more than 6 in the pit (unless you just must have a bottle blower or two), and put a decibel controller on that puppy, too and of course I don't know about bringing back the Kazoo - don't those things have like a little paper thing that vibrates like a reed on a clarinet or something? Please not in Drum Corps. What else ... That's it - the GE caption. Toss it. Yeah. Puppet

What am I doing wrong? I have been trying to join an listen to DR for like 3 years to no avail. Help? Puppet

Eddie. Puppet

In my very humble opinion, there far too many corps listed for on decade (10 years?) And you left out 1980 - which to many is the last year of the seventies era. We count from 1 to 10 don't we? Otherwise good choices but I conjecture that many of your voters (a hardy majority I'd guess) were from the west and mid west. Hence the absence of those corps of the east especially in the early part of the decade. Puppet

EEEEEK! Puppet

I remember the Mosque Theater! I still have the Fleetwood recording: We were kind of protected from all the havoc, somehow. * New York Skyliners * New York Kingsmen * St. Joseph Patron Cadets * Mt. Carmel Mounties That is one classic recording and still available on disc from Fleetwood. Puppet

Now that is down right hilarious! Puppet