ColtFoutz

Oh yeah -- that's 7:30 p.m. CENTRAL time. Remember, you can listen to archives of the show at the Blog Talk Radio profile page any time. And feel free to write me here or comment on the book blog or the Drum Corps Lunch page with ideas for future shows.

... the latest episode of Drum Corps Lunch airs LIVE at 7:30 p.m. It's part two of our look at marching music in the media, focusing this time on the book world. My guests will be fellow authors G.M. Kuzma, Jeremy "Spike" Van Wert and Courtney Brandt. Read more about the guests at http://cavaliersbook.com/interact and listen in, call in and Chat LIVE -- yes, Bob, it's fixed now -- at http://blogtalkradio.com/drumcorpslunch

Hi all: The next broadcast of Drum Corps Lunch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Central Wednesday, when my guest will be Drum Corps World publisher Steve Vickers. We'll be talking drum corps and the media: how the word gets out, the challenges of spreading word of this great activity, and areas where this can -- and should -- expand in the future. Ever gotten frustrated that the media didn't mention word one about your favorite corps or show? Ever wondered where a reporter was coming from when they attempted -- and failed -- to get at what the activity is about? Itching to see Finals on TV again? Looking for more opportunities for you to interact online about drum corps? We'll tackle that, and more. The program is an expanded 45 minutes to gather all the thoughts Steve and I have on the subject, and to allow YOU to participate. Simply call in at 347-539-5082, and listen LIVE at http://blogtalkradio.com/drumcorpslunch You can also CHAT LIVE at the program's chat site -- a first forum for drum corps in that medium? Consider it an appetizer for Championship Week.

Hello DCP-philes... Back from tour and Texas and hitting the virtual airwaves today on Drum Corps Lunch. My guests will be Cavaliers alums Paul Milano and Gary Moore. Both are rocking the snare in the Anniversary Corps, and will have things to say about that, plus talk about the life lessons they learned in the Cavaliers and the leaders both have known. Gary is the bestselling author of Playing with the Enemy, a book about his father's prodigious baseball talent. Paul counted the late Bob Hoehn as a friend and mentor; both were members and managers in the Cavaliers, and helped get Spirit of Atlanta off and running back in the day. Tune in at 1 p.m. Central: http://blogtalkradio.com/drumcorpslunch

Calling all Texas drum corps fans! It's that time of tour again, when DCI rocks the Lone Star State! Check the official Building the Green Machine blog for news of where corps will be July 14-21, and where you can pick up your AUTOGRAPHED copy of the book, which offers an insider's view of the last 60 years of drum corps adventures on and off the field: http://cavaliersbook.com/interact And give a BIG TEXAS WELCOME to the book in stores: Friday, July 18 -- San Antonio What: Book signing and discussion! When: 5 p.m. Friday, July 18 Where: The Twig, 5505 Broadway, San Antonio For more info: http://thetwig.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp Tel: 210-826-6411 I'll be sharing some of drum corps' craziest stories and signing copies, too. Show bookstores that drum corps is an audience to take notice of!

It's been a wild couple weeks, hitting the road with the Cavaliers. Met quite a few familiar faces, in the flesh, that I recognize from Drum Corps Planet. And I've had some great discussions about Building the Green Machine and drum corps in general. Home now for a couple days, and I've slotted the next four Drum Corps Lunch segments for Blog Talk Radio. Remember, that you can listen LIVE and chat online at 1 p.m. Central by visiting http://blogtalkradio.com/drumcorpslunch Here's what being dished next from the kitchen: 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 9 -- Talking with Cavaliers tour driver Bruce Miller and former Blue Knights tour manager G.M. Kuzma, who is author of a memoir of his 1994 season 1 p.m. Thursday, July 17 -- Talking with doctors Fred Olin and Craig Bales, founders of the Cavaliers Medical Corps, about changes in treatment throughout drum corps history. 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 23 -- Talking with Cavaliers drumming alumni Paul Milano and Gary Moore, both members of the 60th Anniversary Alumni Corps. Paul worked closely with several drum corps luminaries, including Spirit of Atlanta cofounder Bob Hoehn. Gary is author of the heart-warming book Playing with the Enemy. 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 29 -- Talking with former drum majors Chris Lugo and Jeff Fiedler. Fiedler spent more than 30 years with the Cavaliers as color guard, baritone, drum major, instructor, manager and director, leading them to 7 DCI world championships. He is a DCI Hall of Famer and currently CEO of the Santa Clara Vanguard. If you can't tune in live, you can always listened to archived show segments, which can be pasted into any website or blog.

Serve yourself a helping of DRUM CORPS LUNCH! Can't get enough of drum corps and marching band? Well, sharpen your silverware and fill your plate with Drum Corps Lunch. We're a new Blog Talk Radio show, hosted weekly by Colt Foutz, author of Building the Green Machine: Don Warren and Sixty Years with the World Champion Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps. Each week, Colt draws on his background as an award-winning journalist to interview a mix of drum corps movers and shakers -- corps directors, alumni, publishers and fans with something to say. We'll talk tour, summer 2008 scores, history and a whole lot more. Coming up this month (All times listed are Central): 3 p.m. Sunday, June 22: Tom Montgomery, a marching band alum and drum corps booster; and Jeremy Van Wert, Santa Clara Vanguard alum and author of drum corps memoir Not for the Faint of Heart 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 25: Don Warren, Cavaliers founder and DCI co-founder; and Steve Vickers, (tentative) publisher of Drum Corps World 1 p.m. Thursday, July 3: Gary Moore, percussionist in the Cavaliers 60th Anniversary Corps and author of Playing with the Enemy; and Mike Pease, chairman of the 48th-annual Pageant of Drums July 6 in Michigan City, Ind. It's a half-hour helping of smart talk you can sink your plastic corps-issued fork into. And you can participate! Listen in at www.blogtalkradio.com/drumcorpslunch, and dial the call-in number at (347) 539-5082 to chat LIVE. There are also archived copies of the show at that site. You may go away hungry -- but it will be hungry for more Drum Corps Lunch.

This is actually how that discussion began! In a stadium at Delevan, Wisconsin if you want to make the pilgrimage. Sorry to warp your fragile little minds. But as is already pointed out here, my book, while loaded with info from behind-the-scenes and on the field in 1970-72, especially from Midwest Combine and DCI cofounder Don Warren, is only one resource. Bill Howard of the Madison Scouts wrote an insightful article in Drum Corps World's encyclopedias; Michael Boo's article has already been cited; I relied a lot on Ms. Popp's breadth of knowledge collected in the DCW encyclopedias; and I believe the DCI anniversary book -- which may still be in production from Steve Vickers? -- also contains interviews with the surviving founding fathers. Don't know if you can get Larry McCormick's "When Drum Corps Was Really Drum Corps" anymore, but it delves a smidge into it. Larry oversaw the Cavaliers' legendary 1971 Circus Show, which didn't plant the seeds for breaking away, but certainly added to the backdrop, as well as the VFW's reaction to the Madison Scouts' "Alice in Wonderland" show the same summer. The Cavaliers didn't go to VFW that summer; Bill Howard and the Scouts faced Tony Schlechta's penalties-for-costumes backlash. If you have access to George Bonfiglio, Hugh Mahon, Bill Howard, Dave Kampschroer or Don Warren, ask now. These are the "Golden Geezers," if I can speak to the topic's first post -- deep wells of info and a link to drum corps' colorful past. I thought what they had to say was important enough to write a book about it. I'm glad to know it's important to all of us still to have a discussion about it.

Hey drum corps fans and bookworms! Come check out the Midwest's largest literary event -- and hear me read selections from Building the Green Machine. The Chicago Printers Row Book Fair is next weekend, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 7-8 in the South Loop downtown. I'll be reading some of the wacky tales -- the clean ones! -- from BTGM around about 12:10 p.m. Sunday, June 8 at the Columbia College tent. We're at Dearborn and Harrison. Find complete details and a link to the Book Fair at the Green Gabber blog: http://cavaliersbook.com/interact And INTERACT by suggesting what I should read!

All good stories. One of my favorites, that ended up in Building the Green Machine, was of a Cavies rookie who came to pre-tour with a brand-new pair of white sneakers and this bright yellow poncho. So all the mistakes he made, instructors immediately locked on to him. "Bad day to wear a yellow poncho," the director said. And he earned his nickname, Scamper, I believe, by rushing back to his dots. Ended up being one of the great corps members though, and one of the last with no real background in music, learning on the fly. Classic. Another story about a rookie had the horn sergeant going around making introductions as camp opened. This kid, a bari or bass horn, said "You can call me Mr. L.B." "What does that stand for?" the horn sergeant asked. "Mr. Low Brass." Without batting an eye, the sergeant shot back, "Nah, you're Bucket of S***." And that was the kid's name for the rest of his tenure. Who else has got Pre-Tour Rookie Stories? (It's OK if they star YOU. No one is going to question your veteran supremacy now.

Friday is move-in day for the Cavaliers. And right about now, or soon, corps from around the country will be digging in for those crucial weeks of pre-tour rehearsal. It’s a time of contrasting luxury and back-breaking work. On the one hand, many corps members will be sleeping in college dorms on the campuses at which they make camp – a nicety soon forgotten when tour kicks off and sleeping bags and gym floors become the norm. On the other hand, these kids are putting in 12-, 14-hour days learning the show and fine-tuning the music, with no evening performance to bring the adrenaline rush to a fine peak. But despite the work, camp is a time of new friendships, and building excitement. As you bond with your section mates, and get the feeling as the show comes together, “Hey, this might be OUR year.” So: What are your favorite camp traditions? What do you bring with you that you can’t leave home without? What about camp always got on your nerves? What about camp got the socks going up and down? I’m guessing, from what I’ve heard and the evidence outside the window today, it was rarely the weather! I've also started this thread at the interactive Building the Green Machine blog. Fire away here, there... everywhere.

You know the type of feeling you get when good things happen to an even better person? Well, prepare yourself for a case of the happy shivers. On Monday, 1972 Cavalier Gary Moore will kick off his national book tour for the paperback edition of Playing with the Enemy, his book about his father Gene's tarnished baseball dreams and his job guarding Nazi submarine prisoners during World War II (he taught them to play baseball). This edition, released by Penguin, and the audiobook version, released by Illinois company Oasis, comes hot on the heels of a sensational hardcover from Savas Beatie. Oh yeah, and the major motion picture of the book begins shooting this spring. Shivering yet? It's even sweeter because Gary is such a great guy, the type of person anybody would want in their corner. You can read more about him, and share your thoughts and kudos, at the Green Machine blog here Below is a look at Gary in his Classic Cavaliers duds -- playing the snare, second from left.

And that DCI was formed in a series of secret meetings held down the road from where the same corps directors and staff meeting in secret were also in town for the 1971-72 Legion winter meetings in Indy. Sneaky ninjas, indeed.

Great responses so far... Anybody who feels like posting pictures of examples, fire away. Same thing with describing the uni's a little. You may know what is conveyed by "1876 Dubuque Pioneers -- the back", for example, but we'll all see it better if you add: "They wore the short pants, the ones with the lace frills at the knee, and a kind of red, polkadotted toque with replicas of Baron Von Meisterson's mustache pinned to the top. Oh yeah, and flour-dusted bakers' aprons instead of shirts." Ya know?

Hear, hear. And from your earlier post, I understand your point even better. Perhaps going with "their" composer every year makes you wish for more variety in the Cavaliers' music, but it does lend them an identifiable style. Nice to have that consistency in drum corps -- something that is often decried as lacking. As for exhausting the music out there, you're right, it can't be exhausted -- there are always more catalogs to draw from that haven't been tried. So, OK, I'd love to see that being done more, too. But what about utilizing the same composer/arranger year after year -- what other corps in the activity have their characteristic sound, sound that maybe could follow your argument too, and need updating? Maybe a composer swap every other year?

I hear what you're saying, Lance, and I appreciate it. I guess as a classically-trained composer and musician, I sort of take for granted that not every arena of music or life is going to match up or exceed what I've been exposed to or crave as far as "new" music. My criteria for drum corps sort of falls along the lines of what I'd expect going to a ballet performance or a music theater show. (I'm NOT saying it's the same standard, or the same music.) What I mean is -- does the music composed fit the idiom it's composed for? I love seeing interpretations of Rite of Spring and Firebird and anything from faves like Copland and Bartok and the modern choral composers done by drum corps. But that's been done, you know? The areas where the activity is being pushed, in the artistic sense, evolve along lines of movement and voicing and total show. I wouldn't necessarily put any of the compositions done originally for drum corps on the concert stage, but it does fit with drum corps -- this era of drum corps, that is. My take... .

They've seemed to go back and forth lately, haven't they? There was the string of original music and mind-boggling movement that began their title run in the 2000's -- you had to have found something to dig from 2000-02, right? And that continued through 2003, when the corps finished second in an incredibly competitive summer to the Blue Devils. 2004 brought us James Bond -- pretty cool, eh? What I like is that even with popular music, the corps does a reinterpretation of it. That's key in an artform, I say: make it your own, adpat it, stretch it, see how far it goes, give the audience something familiar, sure, but titillate them with something new. 2005 was another step in the popular direction -- Chicago-themed music with a couple original movements in there -- and another 2nd-place finish. 2006 we were back in the realm of the original -- Machine. Maybe you couldn't quite hum the tunes, but the movement was great, no? The execution spot on. And in 2007 they danced with Billy Joel, one of my faves as a pianist/composer. I think they applied the "stretch it" formula very well. Finished 3rd, but bounced around from first with a handful of other corps. Another very competitive summer. So now in '08 we're getting Samurai. From what I've overheard at camps, and the faith I have in them, I expect another summer to challenge your aural sensibilities and blow you away with incredible movement and guard theatrics. It's part of the curse of winter and the blessing -- we have to wait to see what comes out on the field in June, but man, we will enjoy seeing it when it does.

Yeah, Boston's still kickin' -- kinda nice to see, though I did vote for them, based on performance/show/etc. This is sort of an interesting experiment, trading one subjective bit of evaluation (what you thought of a corps' program and how well they executed it) with the sort of evaluation we used to conduct in high school student council elections, or voting for homecoming queen: how can we stick it to the person who really, really wants it and probably would do a great job with it, but we could really stand to have someone else get it, finally. It comes down to who we're/you're sick of seeing win all the time, right, and who we could bear to win this time. One question: Do Blue Knights and Colts get to form an alliance? Can Troopers swim back onto the island and steal the food out of everybody's trucks?

OK... I'm with you so far... why? What did you like about them?

Drum Corps is alive and well and dating your girlfriend -- get used to it. (And maybe get a new girlfriend.)

I got a chance at the Cavaliers' February camp to tag along with Don Warren and get a sneak peek at the corps' color guard costumes for the 2008 Samurai Show. In the interest of discretion, I'll save the big "reveal" for the summer, but suffice to say, the design was a stunner. Should be one part of a great show. And it got me thinking... So this week on the Building the Green Machine blog, we get into color guard uniforms throughout history. What have been the most memorable? The most forgettable? Discussion on the book site is not limited to Cavaliers chat -- weigh in with your opinions about their color guards through the decades, sure, but expand the discussion: What uniforms throughout drum corps have taken the activity in a new direction? What uniforms as a performer were the easiest to move in? What unis most matched/added to the performance? What uniforms might have been better left on the truck? What role does a color guard's look play in the overall presentation of the show? Stop by, say hi, leave your comment: www.cavaliersbook.com/interact

A couple Cavaliers members with NIU ties have checked in and are OK, thank God. The corps, as many of you know, uses NIU as one of its home bases during the summer pre-tour camp and tour. I've had the occasion as a reporter to visit campus for a few journalistic functions, and several of my colleagues went to school there. It's a great academic community and I know they'll pull together to get through this. On a personal note, I had a cousin who was teaching as a graduate student at Virginia Tech at the time of those shootings. He was in the same building, and directed students to help barricade the door. I can't imagine what he was feeling or thinking in that moment, but I get heartsick thinking about it. All those feelings came welling back yesterday and today. This kind of junk has got to stop. I'm not naive. Maybe it never will stop. I can't imagine the state of mind the guy had to be in to do what he did, but I do believe groups like drum corps are part of the antidote -- being part of something, part of a community, talking it out. We've got to try and realize there is always more time to talk it out. Crap, right?

I'm getting to this post too late to help you directly for your classroom presentation -- how did it go? But I wanted to say, in the future, if you -- OR ANYONE ELSE -- has presentations like this, please let me know, and I'll send along flyers, biz cards, etc. about my book, Building the Green Machine. The book, if you haven't checked it out already, gets behind-the-scenes in drum corps and related activities (such as WGI and BOA) from the 1940s through today. My goal when writing it was: show what drum corps kids, parents and fans are like, how hard they work, and how much they love the activity and have fun doing it. Focusing on the Cavaliers was my way of getting up close and personal, but really, as a marching band kid myself, anybody in any group should identify with the stories collected in the book. That's the aim, anyway. And in my personal effors to "spread the word," I've found that kids get really excited about reading about the activity they love. You know, football and baseball, etc., have their literature, why not us? Anyway, feel free to e-mail me at author@cavaliersbook.com to request electronic files of posters, contact info, etc. And check out the web site: www.cavaliersbook.com for more. One of the things the publisher is doing is starting up a MARCHING MUSIC BOOK CLUB to get schools and other music organizations involved. A great learning experience, and I'm happy to have more and more people be a part of it. OK, that's my spiel. Go drum corps!

Maybe they can start using the triple digits!

Hello, everyone: great discussion! Let's see if I can clear things up a bit (while implying -- hint-hint -- buy my book, because all of this, and a whole lot more about the Cavies and drum corps at large over the last 60 years, is in there!) The Cavaliers' "corps song" is titled, simply, The Corps Song. It's a set of original lyrics set to the tune of the Coast Guard anthem Semper Paratus -- or Always Ready. Story is that drum corps Hall of Famer horn instructor (and original Cavalier) Sal Ferrera was sitting at the back of the bus, coming back from a 1960s show, with member Reno Valle and they wrote original lyrics to the tune. You can find them at the link posted earlier. Each generation of the Cavaliers tends to sing the song a little differently, melodically and rhythmically. It's the organization's philosophy that when you're in the corps, you get to pick. But they're really just variations of each other -- one more strictly melodic (which all Cavaliers tend to know), and the other a bit rhythmic, chanted, all leading to the culminating cheer, SPLOOIE! (I don't know much about Splooie, not being an initiated Cavalier, and though I asked about it, it wasn't my intention to reveal this secret of secrets in the book. I think you get a feeling of how special it is by knowing how sacred they keep it. And it would never mean the same thing to you or I as non-Cavaliers as it does to the corps. But I do go into Splooie's origins in the book: check it out.) As far as Somewhere Over the Rainbow, this piece first crossed Cavaliers music stands about 1951 courtesy of instructor Ed Baker. It cemented itself in the repertoire in 1952, after a Cedar Rapids contest in which the Cavaliers were hardly favored to win (they'd been finishing third pretty regularly that summer.) But they leapfrogged local rivals Norwood Park and Austin Grenadiers to take the trophy at the Hawkeye Tournament of Drums, and Midwest Corps News trumpeted: Cavaliers' Wish on Rainbow Comes True. As for singing it differently, that, too, seems to vary by generation. Now for the Fiedlers -- a funny coincidence that the first two drum majors, brothers Dave and Jarvis Fiedler, should share the same name as Cavaliers legend Jeff Fiedler. But that's it. A coincidence. Dave and Jarvis actually traded the baton from 1951 to 1956, with Jarvis taking it during Dave's two-year stint in the army, then passing it back for a season before resuming his leadership. Really cool legacy. And then Jeff became drum major in 1979-80. So, a whole lot of "Fiedlers" leading the corps, and Jeff's dad, Maurice, was instrumental in developing the corps' Cavalier Promotions Inc. souvenir business, for which, among other feats of support, he was made an Honorary Cavalier. The family tree, as readers of the book know, gets a whole lot more entangled and joined, as guys in the corps marry each other's sisters, etc., and girls from other corps join the Cavalier family. A story that is reflected throughout drum corps, of course! Well, that's enough spilled computer characters from me! Any other questions, ask away!