Brain Beethoven

How could I forget. We used to get teased all the time, because it was a flourescent neon green. We really stood out at night. lol I must admit it was a cool uniform. I did hate the aussie hats though. They held too much heat in the summer time.

Cool, you did the whole mid-hudson valley circuit. I ran into a Baritone player from the Kingston Indians at my job. I was wearing a blue devils shirt and he started talking drum corps. No one retires from drumcorps. We just take a little time off until we're reminded about what we loved about it.

hmmm...I don't see the Falcons band in your signature, but if you were getting ready to play copacabana then you would have been standing with a bunch of us. The Mid Hudson Rivermen had just finished their field show and the Criterions were just starting to play theirs when our management rounded us up to play for the crowd. They didn't like us mingling with other groups for fear the members would see greener pastures. I do miss the green and white though.

Oh man, I remember watching the Criterions performing their field show after marching a parade in the 80's. I had some friends that marched in the Indians. Unfortunately they folded before I had a chance to march with them.

Hi Art, I see I may have confused matters by generically referring to "Hudson Valley drum corps" in my post yet naming this thread "Mid Hudson Valley." This is for Drum Corps in the Mid-Hudson Valley I've lived in the Mid-Hudson Valley all my life, except for the summers when my parents sent me to live in the south bronx with my grandmother. :-) I'm pretty familiar with the corps in the area. I've even performed in a few. For me, the MID-Hudson Valley falls between Kingston at the north end and Peekskill at the south end. It's about an hours drive between Kingston and Peekskill. Realistically the potential pool of members would come from about 30 minutes around the midpoint, perhaps orange and dutchess counties being ground zero. I think it's reasonable to drive 30 minutes to a competetive field unit. With that assumption, we could expect to draw from as far west as middletown, ny and as far east as Danbury, ct. Albany is about 2 hours drive north from this midpoint. Personally, If I were going to do that much driving, Id rather drive an hour and a half to the south and pick the Skyliners, Cabs, Bushwackers etc... or I could drive an hour and twenty minutes east to march the Hurricanes. They are much closer to the midhudson valley than Albany. I think the mid-hudson valley is the perfect distance away from the other competetive field corps, because kids with interest in marching in a field competetive unit are not likely to travel more than 30 minutes to a corps, and if they did, it would most likely be a junior corps. Im looking to gauge the interest level of folks for a local field corps. So far I haven't been dissappointed. Some of the emails I've received are very encouraging. To answer another question I've received - this will be an all aged drum corps. Thanks everyone, and please keep the questions coming. Mid-Hudson Valley Drum Corps Interest

Awesome responses so far, thanks. It's good to see there are real drum corps people in the Hudson Valley. There's a surprising number of former Cabs and Sky alumni here. In response to some of the questions I've received so far: We have mostly Kanstul G bugles, and a complete set of Yamaha drums. We are looking for a Director's advisory board as well. We are planning our base of operations in the dutchess/orange county region along the Interstate 84 and 87 corridors. Keep the questions coming. This is great.

There was a time when the Hudson Valley had a bunch of Drum Corps: Kingston Indians, Poughkeepsie Pacers, Vagabonds, Criterions, Chanlers, Mid Hudson Rivermen, etc. These corps were huge in their day and had very loyal friends and fans. It's time to bring Drum and Bugle Corps back to the Valley. This is for all those folks who want a hometown corps. Stop travelling to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Drum and Bugle Corps starting practices in the mid-hudson valley. We have the equipment, and are looking for those interested in participating. The goal is to turn this into a field competetive unit. However, we are interested in starting smaller ensembles as well: mini-corps, brass ensembles, percussion ensemble, etc. We have performances scheduled throughout the year. Horn players Drummers Color guard Support staff Instructional staff Web site support Everyone is welcome to participate Please send a note to Hudson Valley Drum Corps Interest with your name, area of interest as well as a means of contacting you and we’ll be happy to provide more information.