steelcityrabbit

I just spit my coffee on my screen, thanks !

Hairbear, you stole my thunder by pointing out the Olds Hurst pace car. I noticed it as soon as I saw the pic. Very cool car. Worth a ton today, especially with a HEMI! As far as Billy Marshall, how many know this same geeking looking kid appears on the 2003(?) DCI yearbook cover when he was DM for 27th? Does anyone remember "woodsie"? In '80, he had a seat mate and fellow baritone player that was the funniest guy. I don't remember his name. I recall a run through he did with no pants, and no underwear! As far as the Crossmen connection, I just had a disagreement with somebody at Steel that he marched in Crossmen in '81. They said he went from the Royal Crusaders straight to 27th. And as far as the attitude of the Finleyville crew at Crossmen in '81, I always heard that if it wasn't for them, Crossmen may have disbanded that year. I say this not to start trouble, just saying what I have heard.

I remember being told this happened back in the 70's while we were on tour in the midwest. I was there but did not actually see it. The show had a mandatory parade all the corps had to march in during the afternoon. Phantom Regiment did not like the idea, so they went through the parade in their buses, playing out the windows. This is definetly one of those stories that may have been added to over the years.

I remember the "drill" thing also. I never had a judge get in my way, but I do recall talk of going after judges. We had a cymbal player in GBV who was a "floater". His job was like many have stated, keep the judge from being able to "tick".

OK, I know that this makes me sound like a "Homer", but top on my list is the Catholic Daughters of America from Butler Pa. I had huge crushes on many of their members as a young boy. There just something about all girl corps that fascinates me. Maybe the skirts, black boots, whatever, I don't know. Next would be the General Butler Vagabonds. I think this corps never got it's due. We had some amazing talent over the years. Back in the late 70's, we had a lot of I&E winners. Last I checked, we had the only 4 time champ, Pat Cavanaugh on french horn. They would bring out the I&E winners at finals, people thought the GBV guys were from Garfield.

Being at my 1st DCI finals, I remember the Hawthorne sop playing Call of the Bulls. At 13 years old, I didn't have a clue of what was going on with the whole overage deal, or why the Muchachos weren't performing. The 2 corps I fell in love with that night were the Madison Scouts and Racine Kilties. I been a huge fan of both ever since.

A corps that has successfuly done the bingo deal for years is the General Butler Vagabonds. They still have a very good thing going with bingo even though the corps has seen better days.

OK, I know there may be some heat for suggesting this, and yes, I know it's not "Drum Corps"(but then again if it were drom corps, we would be saying contra, not tuba), but how about the tuba in Blast during Land of Make Believe? You know, the one were he's cuaght goofing off.

They should have scored prelims like this: 1.cabs/steel 3. bush 4... 5... and so forth. In other words, there was no 2nd place corps. My belief is that DCA wanted to let the Matadors defend their CG title, so they used the tie as an excuse. I really don't have a problem with that. I am sure the decision helped with ticket sales. That's a good thing. Kind of like when Sandy won the 1st ever showmanship award. Story is that the judge who picked soloist of the year award that night did not know it was supposed to be a horn player. He picked Sandy. So to make the situation right, they invented the showmanship award. How many of you know that he never got his trophy that 1st year. They said he would get one later, but till this day, he has never got one. As long as we are on that topic, I have always thought the showmanship trophy should be named after Sandy. I recently learned that is was named after Vince Bruni. He deserves recognition, but not on that particular trophy, it should go to Sandy.

Sad to say the Woodpeckers are no longer with us either. I remember some of the nicknames we had for them, but I better not post them here.

just to hear about spaghetti with chili slopped on top makes one stomach turn, but until you actually taste it, MMMMM Good. As far as the show goes, here's my thoughts. 1st, St. Ritas, what can I say, WOW! Can you say quality, not quanity. Tremendous sound. It was a great pleasure to meet Ruben, a name I have heard about for years. As nice as a person as one could meet. And the DM, lets just put it like this, way better than watching Russo any day. As a side note, while watching them rehearse, I said, wow, that french horn player is really impressive. It was then I learned it was Ruben on Bari. Man, what a great sound. Yankee Rebels, two words, Kerschner(sp?) and Flowers. Put those 2 together and good things are going to happen. The hornline not only played really nice as an ensemble, but also very entertaining. The soloist were strong and confident. The "old" drums really added a touch of class. I finally got to meet Robbie Ellis. I also met a 8th & I D&B DM. I believe his name was Gene. Real nice guy. Probally the highlight of the evening was getting to meet Cindy Crawford. (no offense Robbie) Sky, what can I say. I have been a huge fan since my junior corps days when some of the older guys played tapes of them on the bus. I was saddened to learn that both "sidemouth" and "conga" have passed away. I would always try and talk with them at shows in the 80's when I was with Steel City. As far as the other corps, sorry, but I did not get to see them. Steel had a problem with our bus driver, he insisted we leave before Reading came on. What a ^&$#@^%$#! I did meet a guy from the Bucs organization Dan. He was at the liscence plate table. He was an old Marine from 8th and I. And the turkey was exceptional. Thanks to all the Reading people for a great time. Next year, we are going to get a different bus driver!

Like a lot, my signature tells the story. I will add that I played a parade with the Hanover Lancers in 1985 in Hagerstown Md. It really was Westshore's drum line and Steel City's horns. I also had a spot reserved in '81 with the Defenders but had to back out at the last minute. A good friend at the Naval School of Music played contra while on leave that summer with the corps and I was going to do it also.

Thanks John for the support. And you are right, marines never prank. Here's the story, My aunt lives in Mars Pa. and is well known there, for reasons I won't go into. The local fire dept. has always had a huge 4th of July celebration. In the 70's, you would have at least 4 D&B's, baton corps and a few high school bands in the parade. My aunt has a big party all day and has the best yard in town for watching the fireworks. Well, in '97, we were at the parade and realized that there was no musical units, just firetrucks and a few commercial floats. The next year we decided to put together our own little parade corps. I should add that at one time, my brother, 2 sisters also marched in drum corps. My aunt had a box full of kid's toy instruments, so we all picked something and marched around the yard. Then we marched down the street to her neighbor's party and put on a concert. Within an half hour, they marched up to our get together and did their own concert for us. Well, someone came up with the idea that we should march in the parade that afternoon. My aunt called the mayor, who she was a close friend of, he called the fire dept and before you know it, we were between 2 firetrucks marching down main st., Mars, Pa., in our street clothes and playing toy instruments. The real shocker came later that day when we were informed that our corps had placed 1st in the marching division, Heck, we were the only marching group there. They offered us a $100 prize, but we accepted only the trophy. Over the next year at family gatherings, we discussed next years parade. My wife made patriotic vests, we got campaign hats and we broke out some old "real" instruments. The next year we were up to one snare, my brother, one bass drum, my dad, who has no sense of timing, and me on soprano. The next year we had a few trumpets, a flute, tuba, and my brother and dad on percussion. As the years went along, we would get a few more family members and friends to march. We only lost twice and came in second, once to the Meridian Woodpeckers All Girl Fife & Drum Corps and once to the Mars High Band. We still dispute the Mars band due to the fact they are hometown. The last year we competed, my brother could not make it so I actually played snare since we had 4 high school kids playing trumpet. We decided to put the corps to rest after my mother passed away last year. It did not seem right without her being there. She always marched with us and even when her health got bad, we talked of putting a chair in the back of my uncle's pick-up, just like granny on the Beverly Hillbillies. One year we changed our name to the Kathy Brannon All Stars. That's my oldest sister who never marched with us because she was "embarrased". My son was just a few months old the 1st year and my wife pulled him in a wagon in the parade. By the last one, he was playing bass drum. I joke about our little parade corps, but to be honest, it was some of the best experiences I have had doing parades, and I have done many over my 33 years of drun corps. To see how excited the kids would get marching down the street is priceless.

It is with great sorrow that I have to announce that another fine drum and bugle corps has gone inactive. The Division Street All-Star Marching Brigade from Mars, Pa. is now inactive. This once brilliant corps has never placed lower than 2nd in any competition it entered over it's 10 year tenure. As a founding member, it was not an easy decision, but one that had to made. All corps equipment will be stored for now for a possible comeback. To anyone who over the years marched or helped out in any way, I am deeply grateful. Your efforts will not go without notice. To all those who supported us, thanks.

Thanks for help !

Just my 2 cents here, but what I have found to be true is that most flugel players are coming from the lead sop section. Most of them will use the same mouthpiece that they play lead with. You really need to use a flugel mouthpiece. I also agree with the statement that flugel sound should be dark, not high screaming.

I am looking to buy a Kanstul 3 valve power bore "G" bugle. Any suggestions on where to buy one online? I have looked at Kanstul's website, but it does not show how to order one. They say that you can buy direct from the factory for the "G" bugles, but I am lost as to how. I have also checked several online music stores with no success. Any help would be grateful.

I know I should have made the "philly Flyers - 0" a bit bigger, but then that would look like I was rubbing it in.

Pittsburgh Penguins - 3 Philadelphia Flyers - 0 HeHeHe !!!!!!!

I have a few older uni's from the Shriners I have picked up along the way. I have a red eisenhower jacket with tails and a white long sleeve satin dress shirt from the 40's-50's. Both have really neat embroidary(sp). I hope they are still around when I get older, I would love to join, but I know you have to be a mason and all that.

Rumor has it Steel has a new and from what I have been told, very good looking, soloist.

I don't know, I really didn't get too upset when I saw the "Tuba" pic, but then, the sop picture. Now that's not right! When they find the *#@^#$@*'s , no punishment would be enough. I can see a slight slap on the hands for the tuba deal, but when you destroy a soprano, the least should be instant death. (the following was a 33 year soprano player attempt at humor, :troll food: please note, no actual tuba players were harmed during this ) (also, I would never had made light of the situation if I did not feel that the positive has outweighed any negative in the situation )

Does any of the money go to the Buccaneers? My guess is Slick Eddie Rendall pockets it.

Well, we had a great turnout today at the open house. 34 horns with 11 missing. 5 snares, 2 quads, 5 bass drums and 3 cymbals, not bad, not bad at all. Got to run through the entire lineup with the percussion. The only negative was the screamer 3rd sop who hung over several times on releases. Steel City looks ready for Reading !

The truck that pulled your trailer back in the 80's was from company that also did "cameo appearences" in the "Sopranos. They were black and yellow. I used to deliver down the road from their terminal in East Rutherford, if I remember correctly. Why not go see if Tony can get some answers. (I would have not made light of the situation had I not read all the positive that has come out of this.)