Navillus WP

In 1963 Richard Cardinal Cushing directed each parish within the Archdiocese of Boston to develop and implement a youth program to provide parish youth with avenues of healthy productive activity, proportional to the size of of the parish. The Massachusetts CYO Music Circuit was very, very active in the Sixties. A significant number of kids who got their start in the CYO competitive band circuit of the Archdiocese of Boston evolved into participation in drum corps. It also created a rift within many parishes. The "Age of Aquarius" produced more and more young parents who were less-enchanted with the Catholic Church and were less financially supportive of parsih fundraising. Parish councils tried to juggle support for parochial schools programs as well as fund CYO music programs that increasingly included non-parish youths. As the sixties became the Seventiesmore and more parished cut off support for CYO drum corps, competitive bands, and "drill teams." Stephen Solombrino wrote this very informative article for DCI: http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=932bc263-b061-4c00-ac7e-207e59d5bea0

It was the older kids in those other two corps at the Ramma-Damma ....(Besides, an ice-cold frosty can of Lone Star beer helped mitigate the effects of that August heat in Texas on us New England Yankees ... rehydration I think they call it.)

While at the 1971 VFW Nationals in Dallas, we housed at a Ramada Inn (aka: "The Ramma-Damma") with three other corps. It was located on a divided highway with vehicles screaming by at a pre-gas crisis 75 MPH. A small "mom & pop" convenience store abutted the Ramma-Damma parking lot. By Friday evening, they'd sold out of beer, slim jims and salty snacks. The owner was astounded because in 45 years of business, he'd never, ever sold out 100% out of every container of beer in his store.

Two summers ago (before I had a need for EZ Pass) , I was driving thru the Hookset (NH) toll plaza. My car stereo was playing an old recording of the Skyliners. As I approached the toll booth, I rolled down the window. When I pulled up to the toll booth, the attendant cocked his ear and said "1972 New York Skyliners, right?" I grinned and nodded. He thumbed himself in the chest and said "I.C. Queensmen. Winchester, Mass."

It was a little more complicated than that. After the 1966 VFW "Sit-down", the Immaculate Conception Reveries competed the next season (1967) and suffered a degree of black-balling, withdrawn invitations to competitions, inexplicable low caption scores, etc. In addition, a wave of out-of-parish kids joined: some of notable talent, and a few were black. Rising resentment of parish council support for an activity serving increasing proportions of kids from outside the Immaculate Conception Parish service boundaries, and the sub rosa undercurrent that black kids were taking spots from parish kids .... At the end of the troubled 1967 season, Father Gallager just cut off the Reveries, indicating to Reveries director George Bonfiglio that -- between these issues and the lingering embarassment of the 1966 sit-down -- the Reveries were posing too many divisive issues and controversies for the parish council. George B responded in accordance of the philosophy that he drilled into each of us who wore The Khaki: "Never quit. Never give in. Never take NO for an answer." He held a meeting in his family room and -- by the end of that evening -- the 27th Lancers were born. No uniform, no drums, no bugles, no guard equipment, no truck, no buses. Just a name and a commitment to be marching a full program by the 1968 season. They borrowed the old West Point uniforms JFK had donated to the Most Precious Blood Crusaders, and older equipment from the Majestic Knights of Charlestown, and marched in the Columbus Day Parade in OCT 1967. (see photo)

Anyone who loves "ol' skool" (in-your-face) drum corps should make an efforts to attend. Good people, nice to stroll down memory lane -- for a sawbuck.

Moe Knox belongs in the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame. Long overdue. I enthusiastically support the nomination and acceptance of Moe Knox as a Full Member of the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame. Moe is a man who has traveled throughout these United States, many times at his own expense, to document for posterity, the history of corps and events. He spent countless hours at field-side tables, showing his photos to spectators and participants, patiently answering all questions no matter how trite. He should be considered for Full Member status. Mr. Knox's photos and his ambassadorship at shows has "enhanced our visual understanding of the marching world through years of drum corps photojournalism". The WDCHOF committee passed over Moe in the selection process to the Hall of Fame, allegedly because he "made money off drum corps." In fact, the WDCHOF has never honored anyone for photojournalism, yet honored the owners of the for-profit journals for which they too photos. Moe Knox should be inducted.

Here are Pages #1 and #2 of the May 1987 letter from George Bonfiglio to which I referred.

Gak and Old Fart: Two-Seven. (Due respect to the hokey-pokey, but THAT's what it's all about!)

Eddie fro Cali, Steve from FLA, Steve from MA - going out in toiday's mail. Patty and Charlie Poole: went out yesterday.

I have a copy of the 1986 letter that George Bonfiglio wrote to the Two-Seven membership in which he indicated that DCI had evolved to the point where "money buys titles" - only corps that had deep sponsor pockets could compete successfully: ranking & seeding could be predicted by looking at spending budget at the start of the season. The local corporate sponsor pledged to reimburse 1/2 of the 1985 operating budget but never did, leaving the Bonfiglio family responsible for paying almost $80,000. He indicated that -- since he could not generate more than $300,000, the exist debt load plus anticipated cost for safety-repair the buses meant the 27th Lancers would cease to exist as a competitive corps. That's not at all what he had in mind when he helped found DCI for the 1972 season. (I was there in '71 and '72 when he openly shared his vision with us.)

I ate at my very first Burger King because of drum corps. The corporation just started into business. I asked for a hot dog, just to be a smart-azz. Also, we stopped at Kemp's Hamburgers (which went out of business in early 70's), White Tower (few of them in Northeast), and Hardees (none in Northeast).

How many drum corps participants would tolerate touring with out being priovided meals? I cannot recall ever receiving food provided by the corps: we fended for ourselves, paid for our own meals at rest area food courts, ate home-prepared sammiches, paid for own meals at restaurants, etc.

Yup: Thanks for the catch. Sux to get old. BTW, we are failthfully following the actual 1973 Arikat/Kupka Anaheim charts, with permission of the KingsmenAlumni Corps. We dedicated it to the recovery of Kingsman Ron Cain, who played the soprano solo in the 1974 Kingsmen field show.

The 1966 Nationals issue was not with the Racine Scouts as an organization , but with Madison Scouts' management and design team's decision. Madison Scouts took advantage of a loophole in the prelims rules. It stated that execution judging would cease when the first member exited the field, but timing to meet minimum time requirement would continue until the last member exited. Madison wrote a prelim show wherein one bass drum player left the field two minutes after the starting gun for OTL., causing all execution judging to stop, thus artificially raising their execution scores accordingly. In effect, other units were assessed execution mrks for 4 minutes, Madison for only 2 minutes. Because they seemed apparently well "undertime" as well as consciously and premeditatively breaking the spirit of the timing rule was deliberate unsportsmanlike conduct, they were assessed a 2 point penalty, which put them to 14th place behind the Reveries in 13th - both out of the twelve-corps Finals. The rules said ONLY 12 WILL COMPETE IN FINALS. Madison protested the penalty and argued that they followed the rules to the letter, and were not actually undertime, and did not feel that breaking the spirit of the timing rule constituted deliberate unsportsmanlike conduct. The VFW show coordinator had little time between Prelims and Finals, and results were posted for fans. So the Tony Schlecta revoked the undertime penalty, which put Madison in the Finals ahead of Racine and the Reveries. But people argued it would be unfair to drop the Racine Scouts from the Finals (dropped from 12th to 13th) after they were told they'd earned 12th spot and had been announced in the Finals. So, Schlecta allowed both to perform, by allowing a 13th Finalist. The argument from the I.C. Reveries managers (led by George Bonfiglio) was that since the Racine Scouts (originally 12th), and the Madison Scouts (originally 14th), were in the Finals the Reveries (13th) should be, too.

In a worldwide financial crash and national economic collapse, DCI would rank w-a-a-a-y down my list of priorities.

I own and still play a G-F Getzen Titleist "Powerbore" baritone (horizontal piston & rotary) that belonged to the Magnificent Yankees. The horncase case is marked Magnificent Yankees - Utica N.Y. and on the end marked MY 23. Carry on.

Most famous show ever? 1966 VFW Nationals : the I.C. Reveries famous "sit-down" at Finals. This changed history, and rattled the VFW powerbrokers. The corps placed 14th in the prelims, two positions out of the finals and right behind the Racine Scouts. Both corps had received many tenths in penalties which had kept them out of the finals. But this was pre-Drum Corps International, and politics still played a large role in final results. As the drama unfolded, apparently someone from the Scouts was in tight with one of the show's sponsors and their penalties were waived by VFW Coordinator Tony Schlecta.. Depite the fact that the rules allowed only 12 corps in the Finals, Schlecta ruled the Scouts could compete as a 13th corps. When members of the Reveries staff protested that if the Scouts penalties were going to be overlooked, so should the Reveries (which would move them into 11th place.) Their protests were dismissed by Schlecta. The corps was infuriated. George Bonfiglio and John Shea, along with other members of the support staff decided they were not going to take this lying down. Against the protests of people like horn instructor Jim Wedge who cautioned against any rash behavior fearing long term consequences, the directors instructed drum major Richard "Gus" Provist and color guard captain Sandy McLeevey to march the entire corps up to the metal gate where the corps would enter for finals. In doing so, the Reveries had to get past St. Joe's of Batavia, a finalist corps with a fierce reputation at the time. When St. Joe's drum major Joe Eduardo discovered why the Reveries were pursuing this course of action, he decided to offer the services of his corps and not stand in their way. As the corps reached the large metal entrance gate to the stadium, a voice from inside asked who they were, and when Provist answered "St. Kevin's", a corps that had made finals, the gate went up and the corps marched onto the field and into the drum corps history books. The entire corps sat down on the starting line and refused to leave until they were allowed to perform. After a tense fifteen minute standoff during which police were called to the scene, the VFW coordinator reluctantly allowed the corps to go on but they would not be judged and they would not be counted in the final results. The crowd, which initially seemed hostile began to swing to the corps side after word began to circulate through the stands that the corps was not treated fairly by the VFW Coordinator. They chanted "Let them play let them play!"

I saw the Lt. Norman Prince "Princemen" perform in 1964. I thought all drum corps were that good. I also thought every color guard tossed actual 12-pound M-1 Garand rifles backward over the shoulders - with real G.I. slings and fixed bayonets.

Mike Douglas in plaid sportcoat, Victor Borge in the "borrowed" white pith helmet and sergeant-major uniform, including a white belt that belonged to Denise Bonfiglio (beltless in red, in background)

No.. My family lived next door to the McDonough's on Lexington Street until we moved out of Burlington in '66. My brothers played in the school marching bands at Burlington while in Jr high before joining St Agnes CYO band in 67. We'd see Billy from time to time at local EMass or Mayflower shows.

Thanks. It was all about the passion of doing it "Once More" ..... not only for being together again, but doing it for all those who could not be there. It's for all those "absent friends" that every Lancer weeps whenever we hear Danny Boy: But come ye back when summer's in the meadow Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow 'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so. Two-Seven.

1) At Eddie - Burlington Citations? the name "Billy McDonough" ring a bell? 2) The loyalty of "Kevin's Pride" was almost iron-clad. Unlike today's "corpies" frequently changing corps in search of titles, Until the end of SKEK's last competive season in 1968, I do not recall every encountering anyone leaving Kevin's to corps-jump. Entire families marched ONLY with SKEK, generaltion after generation. (The same might be said for Charlestown's Majestic Knights - "Now and Forever.")

Yeah NOW .... I'm so old it was Able (not Alpha), Baker (not Bravo), Love (not Lima). Peter (not Papa)....