jbl
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Posts posted by jbl
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What is she doing now?
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They also do Dairies as a way to track viewers. My family has been chosen twice in ten years. They send this book in the mail and you write down everything you watch.
That's how Arbitron works for radio. My family was an arbitron family and their were diaries for each listener in the family to track time and the station we listend to for a week.
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Nope, it ended silently, and there was a little color presentation, too :)
Was there a re-entry in 77 then?
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thats correct jbl, and we did not 'Bottle Dance' in '77.
Ok what was the Appalachian Ending in 77?
When I marched SCV in 83 I was under the impression that was the first time the soft ending was done?
Was I mistaken all these years?
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3) SCV
--Who was the SCV drum major in '77?? Garth Snow
--What happened at the end of "Appalachian Spring"??? Bottle Dancing
Rick South was drum major in 77.
I'm not sure who Garth Snow is but,
Garth Ruhlin was drum major in 82, 83
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Best season ever, in my opinion.
... BD's classical jazz show, ...But a great year.
Liferaft Earth
Piano Concerto #1 -- Keith Emerson
Karn Evil 9 - ELP
First Circle -- Pat Metheny
BD's classical jazz show?
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Rick South
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So, I bought my season pass today and had the idea to listen to the 1972 playlist. Wow, I was blown away with the hornline! To think they were doing that with a valve and a piston! I just can't believe the sound. I'm sorry if you think this was a useless topic, but I thought that it would be refreshing for you "old guys" to see someone who is young appreciating the early years.
Any suggestions on other shows I should check out?
I thought it was a piston and rotar? And music used to be taught:
Piston, rotar, piston, open, open, ...
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Yeah....all I had to look at were Wayne Downey, Jack Meehan, and Dave Carico.... :P
No one....NO ONE...looked better on finals night than Catherine!
Come on Sam you liked looking at Jack do a half lotus. :)
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That's right I forgot he was going to Julliards at time... no wonder he was so incredible
I used to talk to him and watch him play just to get pointers...didn't know about him memorizing other parts...that's hot....of course when I went to Berklee a few years later I had to change my whole style
I remember that he came back from school in '84 and was using some new grip for double mallets that his instructor had shown him. Catherine liked it and had the rest of the pit copy it.
In '84 he had learned the Cadets show so well that it was difficult to tell the difference between him and the Cadets' date=' until he started to add to his version.
During those years the competition was always for 2nd...he had the top spot locked...[/qoute]
In 84 or 85 I don't remember which year exactly but when he was asked to set up for I & E he rolled his keyboard to the edge of the judges table. Then asked if he was close enough.
Wonder what's he's doing now....it would be funny if he's still lives in NYC...that's where I liveAbout a year or so ago I exchanged some emails with him and he said he was living in the NYC area at the time.
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Dave Brown (Blue Devils) one of the most incredble mallet players I've ever seen; won I & E all 3 years I participated....
If I recall correctly Dave was studying at Juliards at the time.
He used to listen to other corps shows and memorize their keyboard parts. Then he'd go back and practice them on his off times.
Before I & E he would have about three or four pieces he would be working on through the summer. Then about a couple weeks before the competition he would choose the one he liked best and then practice it almost every spare moment he had.
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Re: The Blue Devils horn line "tater tot" thing as brought up in the 1984 Yearly thread.
I never did understand the origin of it. I just played along. I do remember mystifying 27th Lancers at a retreat at a show in Montreal where the organizers played (at that time) top 40 songs over the PA while the corps formed up for an olympic retreat. We were in line beside Lancers. The 'Just a gigolo/I ain't got nobody' song came on and most of the B.D. horn line chimed in (very loudly): "I ain't got no taters! ... Boisey boisey bop, tater tot!" Well, even if you were there I am not sure you would understand it.
LancerLady, were you there?
It's stuff like this what starts rumours of drug use.
.. and then we lost the show to Madison. Yikes!
I believe the tater tot started with a mid-horn player who walked away from his plate at a meal and lost his tater tots in the process.
When he came back he was "upset" about it. "Where's my tater tots?" Which eventually if I recall earned him the nickname "tater tot".
Speaking of drug accusations was it 84 or 85 there was an accusation of drug use? It had something to do with some lipbalm the horn staff had on hand at a warm up before a show.
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Well so much for my memory. I guess I'm a victim of old age. Did we do "it" in '84 as well? This did happen in Denver right? Ah well, I'll just go and have a nap...
Jerry, "piscine" just means "pool" as in swimming pool. Even an English-Canadian knows that. ("Allez-vous a la piscine? Oui, je vais au piscine.") Hmm, maybe some of the Quebec contingent were having some fun with mis-translation for Americans.
As for the "tater tot" thing, after extensive research I have figured out that it was in 1985 so I will post my memory of it in the 1985 yearly thread.
Sam, it wasn't so much a mis-translation, rather they didn't know that piscine meant swimming pool in French.
As I took it they kept telling the girls they were staying at the swimming pool.
Tater tot was 85? 84 and 85 were pretty close tour wise that it's hard to keep straight which year events happened.
But the wall was Denver. Because a few minutes after "the act". I got an earful from some SCV guard members I had marched with in 83.
ce le vie.
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My memory isn't the best either but I believe it was '84 because one of the reasons given for doing it was that the horn line had done it "last time" in '83. I believe in 1985 we had learned our lesson or perhaps the staff were keeping a sharper eye on us.
:P
Wasn't 84 also the infamous Tater Tot incident?
"Who ate my tater tots?"
and remember in Montreal we were staying the word "piscine" was everywhere when we walked in the door.
I remember at the show some members of the corps had made arrangements to meet some girls the next day (a free day in the city). And when the girls asked them where they were staying, the guys thought the name of the school was "piscine". I still remember hearing the girls laughing at them.
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-- Blue Devils 1984
So...this awesome ensemble of talent that Blue Devils collected coupled with a killer show went out head to head against Vanguard and we got buried. We lost to the Vanguard the first show of the season. We regrouped, and went out for the next show and lost again...and again....and again....until the unmentionable thing happened.
We were approaching a consecutive loss count to Vanguard that would surpass the 75 Blue Devils. The first Blue Devil corps to beat Vanguard. The veterans were besides themselves. We all knew we had a great corps and show, we fully believed in our corps. Vanguard, surprisingly, with many members gone due to the Olympic Band down in L.A. were walking all over us.
We were a corps in turmoil. Losing was not something we did very well.
We were already sensitive to the consecutive loss count to SCV. [ more to come ]
In '84 there were about 20 - 25 people who had marched SCV in '83 and went to BD. When I arrived I used to hear jokes like, "well you came to BD so you could win at Pacific Procession."
And then didn't win. What a surprise it was that BD didn't win that year. I believe the first is several years.
Was this the year we did the partial show for the opening ceremonies for the international sports competition in Walnut Creek. And just before we finished because of the time they started the fireworks during the final tune? (yeah I'm getting old so memories get fuzzy).
And then there was the "wall" at Mile High in Denver. Wasn't there a complaint over it?
And barking at DCI Midwest? I think there was a complaint there also?
Wasn't '84 the year of the Lansdale (sp), PA show? Happy Birthday.
Then prelims at Atlanta. I would love to have seen the corps photo that was taken that night.
As far as La Fiesta, it was the tune of the night at finals.
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Smores anyone.......
'85 was more than just smores for BD.
It was the year we ate like Troopers after the fire. Hot plates and Roy Rogers anyone?
It was the year we had several people end up in the hospital for stiches while on first tour.
It was the several hours in the desert near Wendover, NV because of a cracked engine block. (Years later I was driving through the area and pointed out the spot where we were stuck in those many years ago. The look I received was a, "I guess you had to be there look." Then I got the, "do you need to leave flowers for you lost youth" comment.
And wouldn't you know it just outside Wendover a tire exploded on the truck I was driving. We spent several hours looking at the salt flats waiting for the correct tire size to be delivered.)
And I still remember Jon bent in half walking to the car at Stillwater on his way to the hospital. And with mentioning Stillwater, SHHHHHHHH...
It was the year of the first, and only, time I lost to Madison.
It was the year it rained on us in Canada.
It was the year of the orange cone at prelims.
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Nope, I don't need too. Casper's show was traditionally not a "DCI" sanctioned show. So....who knows what the scoring was. I don't really care.
Wasn't Casper the infamous "applause meter"?
I believe BD lost many times to that meter.
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This made me laugh!
This happened to the 81 Blue Devils.....but with different results.
The 81 show started off with the horn line powering punching the first note directly into the stands while standing on the front sideline. POW! We had 8 counts of a cymbal ride before the power punch. 4 counts before the POW, a euphonium player would say "Good luck" to the contra next to him and then POW!
Well....at Louisville, the "Good luck" came a couple beats early, followed by a very loud contra doing the power punch POW!
All by himself.
The effect of this was quite different from the Cavies response you portrayed. Granted, we may have had a different mindset since we really did not have any competition at that show. It didn't effect our performance or mindset. The contra player certainly caught a lot of crap from the hornline on the bus ride that night.
After that....we forgot about it.
We knew it was a freak occurance....
The 82 season, at the same show, I have video of the Blue Devils starting the opener......followed by the announcer "Is the corps ready"....right in the middle of TO. I can vividly recall that moment thinking "CRAP!" We continued on, hyping on the DM's mistake and belted out a homerun of a performance. We got a perfect score in GE brass that night. Two weeks before DCI.....
Doesn't that tend to be a mindset of BD? When ever something strange out of place etc happens it tends to energize the corps.
I remember the Canadian show when it started raining in the middle of the show there was this inexplicable energy that seemed to come out during the last part of the show.
Or, after the fire and the Rosemont show (when the drummers used VK's drums -- turquoise with fluorescent orange).
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What a mess......talk about a "diamond in the rough" or finding something good in turmoil.
Corps were dying/folding left and right. Powerhouses were showing signs of trouble, and a new world order was on the horizon.
The East was the region most in trouble, losing the Defenders, and North Star and seeing 27th and Bridgemen in trouble early....Alliance turned it up a notch and became a true finalist contender. Avant garde, Les Eclipses. and the Valley Airs became stronger but you just knew the East was dying.
Memphis Blues, Rivermen, Imperial Guard, Saginairs, Blue Stars, Guardsmen, Seattle Imperials, to name a few all lost their relevance as corps were vanishing left and right.
As for the venue ?? Horrible....bad area, heat, low attendance, BAC in fist fights, Troopers in trouble, and right in the flight path of the International airport.....yuk !
The night Garfield Cadets won the title was the day drum corps,as we knew it, died. Garfield Cadets threw down the gauntlet and challenged everyone else to come into the future....fast, kicking and screaming, reluctantly, but in need of following or be left behind.
I think some of the wrong corps made finals that year and I felt the slate should have looked a lot different.
The Geneseo Knights, in the early season, had their way with the Cavaliers, Bridgemen, 27th Lancers, Crossmen, and Alliance, only to wind up behind them by finals......still, something shady there if you saw their performance, they belonged in finals, making all the way to eleventh two weeks before at the DCI Midwest regional. ..I guess the judges decided to screw them AFTER Midwest this year instead of at........said some.
I thought it should have went like this:
1. Garfield Cadets
2. Blue Devils
3. SCV
4. Phantom Regiment
5. Madison Scouts
6. Suncoast Sound
7. 27th Lancers
8. Spirit of Atlanta
9. Freelancers
10. Knights
11. Crossmen
12. Alliance
13. Cavaliers
14. Troopers
15. SkyRyders
16. Bridgemen
17. Valley Fever
18. Velvet Knights
...........flame away, but the Knights and Crossmen had finals caliber shows, IMO.
The Blue Devils and Vanguard stayed conservative in repetoire choice, they, aong with Garfield kept the same openers used in 1982, but offered different styles for the rest of their shows, Blue Devils with feathers ?? yikes !! Still a tough show, hard to beat, but the night belonged to Garfield.
The Madison Scouts took high guard that night, and deservedly so. Nobody, can handle rifles in an ensemble manner better than the Scouts, agressive, clean, and full of trickery and unique work......they just didnt quit.
Suncoast Sound vaulted into finals all the way in fifth place after prelims. Anyone that can remember them from Montreal in 82 knew they were poised to become the next "big thing" ..and they sure were with brass that was unstoppable, a wide open drill style and show design that was top notch, they challenged and became a new powerhouse fast.
Spirit of Atlanta turned their fate around with a revitalized, recharged program of southern charm and climbed backup the ranks also.
~G~
When Garfield showed up at prelims/finals the show's tempo was slower than what it had been previously in the year. At finals the most exciting show was Blue Devils in the top three.
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It was 2001 I think at the BD home show and a girl in the Mandarins Guard had her top fall down exposing her breasts during a company front halt thing. She held it there for a good 15 seconds and I couldn't believe what I saw but then she went on with the show and her next throw she NAILED IT!
That was the best recovery from an embarrassing slip up I have ever seen!
When SCV introduced the new guard skirts in '83 a week before finals one of the guardmembers lost her skirt at a show in the Tampa Bay area. Her skirt wasn't fitting her well because of the amount of weight she had lost during the summer.
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Let me have my one moment in the sun man!! :P We stood atop the drum corps universe for one night in 1978. I tried to get them to call off the rest of the season after that but nobody would listen!! B)
To beat Sam to the punch:
"I marched 84 BD. Where's my ring?" :)
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I have my BD chain that hung on the jacket. I have a pair of Phantom guard gloves (one pink one white) from 84.
My SCV starburst was stolen but I still have my no Garfield button from 83.
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Hey Sam,
was it 84 BD when a couple of the snares wore the dog collars?
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from experience, you bet there was emotion Nancy........what was "quiet" emotion all day until we hit the starting line, our finals performance was electric.
That was the tendency of all the finals shows that BD did during the early 80s. A case in point was 1983, of the top three corps that night in Miami BD's was the most electrifying. SCV's show was flat from prelims, and the shows that Garfield was doing at finals just didn't have the excitement as they were at DCI Midwest. To clarify, I'm not saying their show was not good at finals, but that it just wasn't as exciting as they had done earlier in the season. I'm sure my comments are debatable, but my point is that BD was the exciting corps on the field that night.
Famous, or infamous, corps stories, myths, legends
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
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