Navillus WP

I miss being able to seeing 10-12 competitors in a show with very little time between the competing corps. When one corps stepped off the Starting Line, the corps on the Ready Line moved up. No need for extra time between performances to set up the pitted percussion, set up amplifiers and sound systems, conduct mike check, setting up "field props", laying out extra equipment for dancing color guards.

Pbeau or Standor marched with St Agnes as well, and can probably attest that you are making reference to the BAC story of "Give-it-to the-band." That was about BAC/St Agnes Band. We played songs that ended up in the 'Sader shows (Promises, Promises; In a Persian Market; California Dreaming) and we got music the 'Saders had turned up their noses: (Sweet Charity, Hey Big Spender, El Cid). In SEPT or OCT Ed would pass out music. Some ended up as part of our Winter Concert. Others we'd play it for a while, and he'd say to us "that's enough - pass it back." Next spring, we'd hear some of them at Sader horn practice in the St Agnes hall.

I doubt it, Ghost. During the 60's Ed taught Prince, BAC, Holy Family Jr.'s and three levels of St Agnes CYO bands. In the 70's he taught all St Agnes bands, BAC, R.I. Renegades, Sancians. He taught music at St. Agnes Elementary School in Arlington and Arlington Catholic High School for over 30 years. Rick Connor (marched with Cambridge Cab's and instructed North Star) was musical director for St Williams from early 80'sthru their demise as a senior band.

I saw the Lt. Norman Prince "Princemen" perform before 1965. 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 G.I. slings and fixed bayonets.

Real drummers strapped-up.

Bump

If you listen to various recordings of the Boston Crusaders in 1969, you'll hear Tim VanCamp playing the marching bells at the Shriners International, but not the National Dream or VFW Nationals. Ed Denon's explanation at the time was that - unless there was a potential national title on the line - the added "General Effect" upon the music was strong enough to warrant a penalty for playing un-sanctioned bells. Part of Boston's "We don't GAVA" mind-set, I suppose.

Dunno, Ghost, but I don't think so. He did Aggies until their demise in 1979, as well as Princemen, Holy Family (for a while), BAC, Sancians, and R.I. Matadors. Rick Connor (former member of Cambridge Cabelleros and instructor of North Star) was St. Williams music instructor/arranger from mid-70's\to mid-80's.

One more historical factoid: "weapons" are not allowed inside an Olympic stadium, so the Lancer Color Guard members who carried rifles and sabres had to be trained to handle flags. Read more: http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=f503fd49-f202-4406-a5a5-1bf7cfdae33f#ixzz1ihPpUw4O

Come join us Grumpy Old Farts Who Don't Know Anything in the Alumni Corps Discussions.

My family (all 7 kids) started in the marching arts with St. Agnes C.Y.O. bands in Arlington, Massachusetts. The legendary Ed Denon taught school at St Agnes School and directed our bands while he was also instructing the Boston Crusaders. After St Agnes band finished rehearsals, the Crusaders would practice after us in the same school hall. One afternoon, my mother asked "Mr. Denon" what "B.A.C." stood for. Ed replied: "Boston's Articulate Crusaders, Mrs. Sullivan." Mom replied" Oh, good. I was afraid it meant something crude like Bad-Asss Crusaders." Ed later told us that the "Articulate" reponse was the "party line" when explaining it to members of the clergy or anxious mothers.

Before marching with Two-Seven, I marched with St. Agnes "Senior" CYO Band (BAC's Ed Denon was our instructor) as did all of my three brothers and three sisters. "Aggies" had the distinction of being the only organization to ever beat "Willies" twice in a row.

I still dream .... .... that I'm back at M&M practice behind the Northgate shopping center, and I can't remember the marching routine. Everyone is trying to help me. .... that I'm in my spot wth the corps on the Ready Line and the DM asks: "Where's your shoes?" ... that I'm marching in a parade with the corps and my mouthpiece is missing.

27th did the opening ceremony and closing ceremony of 1980 Winter games at Lake Placid. THEY WERE NOT PAID A DIME beyond actual fuel, a per diem for meals, and a gym floor to sleep on. According to his daughter Denise Bonfiglio, George B felt it would enhance the national image and would broaden the world-wide exposure to drum corps - 180 million viewers. So, funding was solicited from sponsors and the balance paid by the participants themselves. Fanfare: The 27th Lancers Olympic experience by Michael Boo The story of the 27th Lancers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Excerpt republished from Drum Corps International Magazine, Winter, 2010 edition

Thanks, Linda. Truth be told, the Shriners International shows in which I participated (including 1970 and '71) remain my all-time "favourite" venues. The crowds were very appreciative, the folks of Greater Toronto and Hamilton area were warm and genuine, and the shows were impeccably organized and conducted. However, to this day, members of Blue Rock believe the judges robbed them of the 1971 title by means of a "mysterious" 2.0 point color guard penalty. (They subsequently received the same penalty at the National Dream competition in New Jersey.)

More importantly, Rick, while about a third of the participants in the "Once More In '94" DCI performance hadn't been 27th Lancers before 1986 (the last junior corps season), the people who DID participate" busted butt" for almost TWO YEARS: rehearsing, drilling, performing in several exhibitions, and marching in parades. Anyone who wore the corps uniform and performed under the Two-Seven banner for two seasons deserves to be considered a Lancer. The fact that the "Once More In '94" DCI show was so well done speaks volumes about everyone who made the commitment. A large number of the post-1986 members had been members of corps that had been instructed by Lancer alumni and/or by Lancer staff/instructors. A couple of the "Once More in '94" participants were in fact former 27th Lancer instructors who'd never marched with Two-Seven. (e.g., Charlie Poole)... or were members of the pre-Lancer I.C. Reveries (e.g., Jerry and Charlie Foley) who had not marched as Lancers

..... moving right along.... In the so-called "good old days" ACCOUNTABILITY OF JUDGING was sometimes an issue: There was a time when judges' score sheets were only on mimeographed paper (no copies). "Runners" would carry them from each judge to the tabulator, and the tabulator would take all the originals and tabulate ("arrange information in table of columns and rows") which was then the basis of determining the outcome of the judging. There were some shows that - after the scores were announced - a statistical error was found that may/may not have affected the outcome. Sometimes it was because of mis-read handwriting of the judge's numbers. More ominously, there were more than a few accusations that the numbers were altered sometime after the judges turned them over to the runners to bring them to the tabulator. In at least one National Championship in the early 70's, a show coordinator (years later) admitted that he altered some numbers (downward) because he was upset by the performance of one nationally-ranked contending corps. Other issues included judges allowing personal opinions to enter into assessing a scores: GE judges who did not like "costumed figures" or dancing members of the colorguard, drum judges who did not like double snares (one drum w/ upper and lower wire snares) or tightened drumheads... on and on. Regional bias of regional judges associations was always the subject of debate. There were sometimes (but not always) different interpretation of some rules for different organizations, such as American Legion, CYO, and VFW. "Vocalization" for example, and standards for corps inspections (or no inspections).

Taking kids into the corps without auditions, regardless of their ability to play a G-BUGLE or percussion, or whether or not they could read music. We all joined in and helped them to rise above inexperience, and somehow found spots for them to fit in if they stuck wth it. Practicing year-round WAS our "social calendar." Not being able to understand that some people didn't "get" why being in a drum corps was different than being in a "marching band." (Half-time PA announcer: "The band will now form a choo-choo train on the field!") Having drum corps "rival-friends" all over the country.

My first look at them was at the 1970 CYO Nationals at Boston College. It was rumored that Anaheim was not going to make the show in time to perform. As we (and the Boston Crusaders) assembled in the parking lot, Anaheim's buses roared in, and they disgourged having mostly changed into their uniforms. They put on a hell of a show. -WPS-

Marching with 27th Lancers in the early 70's were the best years of my life. (And it's been a doozy.) We had all the crap posted previously. Yeah the clunker buses broke down and we peed in bottles. Yeah, we ate crappy food and stunk. But George Bonfiglio to each one of us on our individual Day One in the organization: It isn't easy being a Lancer. We knew what we were in for. Generally, the stuff that was B-A-D were actually pretty heavy issues. Some examples: On several occasions, our meal orders were not taken in diners because we were a racially-integrated organization. One in Nahunta, GA was particularly tense.... A few of our corps "rumbles" were with all-white drum corps which -- stranglelyenough -- were from cities that had a substantial racially-diverse populations. Before they had a chance to age-out, some of our friends were lost to drug addiction, alcoholism, and the draft. But above it all. kids came off the streets and learned to play bugles, beat a drum, throw a rifle .... and make a commitment to something bigger than they were alone. City and suburban kids learned to live and laugh and work with people not like themselves or their families.

Before the DCI era, the exact definition of "Aging-Out" was a (ahem) flexible standard ... a concept that some corps learned the hard way towards the end of the Seventies. (I'm just sayin' ....)

Maybe holding it at "Scarboro (Maine) Fair" would be do-able...

I resemble that comment ...