Fran Haring

We got our DVD in the mail a couple of days ago. Looking forward to viewing it soon. Buccaneers DVD + popcorn = a pretty good night on the couch at home!!!! Fran

By the very nature of the different beasts, a DCA corps' drill SHOULDN'T be comparable to a DCI corps' drill. I hope no one takes this the wrong way, but IMO there is no way that a DCA corps can pull off, at a comparably high level, a drill done by the Cavaliers, Cadets, etc. .... for a very simple reason: The number of hours of rehearsal time required to do such a visual show at that high level of achievement. If the Cavaliers (or whoever on the DCI side) had only one or two days of rehearsal per week, which is basically the amount of rehearsal time for a typical all-age corps in-season, then they too would not be able to do the high-demand visual show that they now can do, with their seven-days-a-week rehearsal model. DCA is a different animal than DCI, as it should be. DCI has its strengths, without a doubt; so does DCA.... those strengths include great music, great soloists, more performance personalities, and a "one-on-one" audience connection that I don't always get from junior corps. I've said it before: I urge any DCI/junior corps fan who has never seen a DCA/all-age show to try and do so.... keeping in mind that the product is a bit different. And I would strongly suggest that junior corps fans come see the DCA corps at their best, at the annual DCA Championship weekend. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised at what you see and hear. IMO, that weekend is a weekend unlike any other in drum corps, on any level. Fran

I understand what you're getting at here... and you do have a point to some degree....there is a bit more of a "wild-card" factor for DCA corps, because of "real world" situations like jobs, family, etc., dictating who can march and who cannot in a given year. But I think there is more year-to-year consistency in DCA's finalist ranks than you might realize. Some examples: Empire Statesmen have been in DCA's top 4 every year since 1988. Hawthorne Caballeros have been in DCA's top 5 every year except two (2002 and 2005), since 1970. Bushwackers have been DCA finalists every year since 1982, which was their first year at DCA championships. Reading Buccaneers have finished in DCA's top 5 every year since 1998, and have been undefeated the past three seasons. Minnesota Brass, Inc. has been in DCA's top 6 every year since 1998. Syracuse Brigadiers have been DCA finalists every year since they returned to the competition field in 1992, and hold the current DCA record of four straight championships (1999-2002). San Francisco Renegades have been DCA finalists every year since they first came to DCA's in 2002. CorpsVets from Atlanta have been finalists, either Class A or Open Class, every year since 2001. Fran

I can't answer your question, but I agree with you that WKRP was a great show.... terrific writing, lots of "double meanings" in the dialogue. My wife and I have been watching Season One on DVD.... including the famous "turkeys away" episode. Classic stuff! Fran

Thanks, Gary.... I wish both corps well! Fran

Nothing against the corps from 2005-06-07, but I'm not sure how "classic" this particular Countdown is, with corps only from the past three seasons.... and with only six performances...... But it still sounds like a good night out, especially with the previews of some of the upcoming shows for 2008. Anytime I can sit in an air-conditioned theater and eat popcorn while watching drum corps, I'm usually good to go. Fran

1971.... so where's "Alice" in that picture? Fran

Man, that's a lot of work! Imagine telling a singer back then that he or she needed to make a million copies by the end of the week. Fran

I am convinced that if George Hopkins wrote "it's sunny out today" in his blog, it would generate a 30-page thread here on DCP. Fran

LOL...... a quick addition to the latest about Barbara..... Last Saturday we got back home after going out to dinner with our Sunriser friends Tony and Donna White. I got Barbara in her wheelchair and went to boost the chair up over the curb out in front of ourhouse.... well, the wheelchair's wheels kinda got stuck, and Barbara slid out of the chair onto the ground! She was not hurt...... and so I got her back up on her feet and then had a temporary mind cramp.... what to do next???? How in the heck do I get her back in the wheelchair???? We both started laughing. So here we were, standing up holding onto each other, laughing out loud, until we figured out our next move, into the wheelchair and into the house!!!! Barbara blamed it on her "drinking" that day.... after all, she had two glasses of iced tea at dinner. Two iced teas and she was OUT OF CONTROL... LOL !!!!! Fran

Tony, we also did one in 1981. There's a story from THAT day that I really can't share on this forum. The 1982 Doubleday exhibition.... when we were done, we were all looking for some food and drinks. I wanted something other than the canned beer made available to us.... I wanted one of those expensive drinks they were serving the country-club set on the hill above us. So someone from the corps.... I think it was Dania Cabrera.... told me "if you go up to those tents, just get in line and you get a (good) drink for free." Sounds good, I thought.... so off I went and got in line with the rich folks. I got to the front of the line to order, and the guy serving drinks asked me which club I belonged to. WTF???????????? Dania never told me I needed to give the guy the name of a club....I was about to be exposed as a fraud!!!! But..... just then.... I overheard someone on another line tell another drinks-serving guy "I'm with such-and-such club." So I went with that...."Uhhhhh....I'm with (the same club)." IT WORKED!!!! I got my expensive drink!!!!! LOL Fran

I should be OK.... I'm about 25 pounds heavier and have less hair than those days...LOL Fran

Heh... that was also the night when Dave Whelan played the "Parking Lot Attendant" game.....he was good at it, too. He did it another time, either that summer or in 1982, at the country-club exhibition we did for Nelson Doubleday those two years. I think that was the day when some drunken rich guy came out and could not remember where he parked his car on the golf course....LOL..... this was, of course, after Dave had "relocated" the guy's vehicle. Fran

Only three? It seemed more like 40. Fran

The Warriors had a great run for a while there, in the early to mid 1970's. "Theme From Shaft" and other cool tunes. Later on, the all-age corps in which I marched, the Sunrisers, picked up several members from the Warriors, and they helped us win our second DCA title in 1978. Fran

No apology needed! The first gig we did for New York's Nightlife was in 1980, at the opening of the Majique disco in NYC..... upper East side. Bunch of celebs there.... I remember seeing Joe Namath at the bar. (Now THERE'S a surprise....LOL) But the thing I remember most about that night.... well, aside from another story that came about at the end of that long night involving Mike Clougher's car (a story for another day)..... was seeing Dave D'Andrea, sitting on the curb right outside the disco entrance, wearing a "Disco Sucks" t-shirt, while all those hard-core disco folks were walking by him into the club!!!!! Then there was the summer of '81, at a club WAY out on Long Island... we were told "don't play too loud" since we would be indoors in a fairly tight space. Of course, we took that as a command to PLAY TOO LOUD!!!!!! Heh...... Mike Fitzpatrick and I had the duet in "Late in the Evening" that year. That night at the club, we stepped out for the duet, and saw a couple sitting at a table, basically right in front of us, kinda snickering/laughing at the corps. So we went right up 'em, stuck our horns about a foot or so from their faces, and played the duet. Then, we emptied our spit-valves on their table!!!! True story. Man... the stuff we got away with then that would not even think about doing in this day and age!!!!!! Fran

I agree. I don't think the uniforms or the "military tradition" of drum corps has anything to do with any perceived lack of diversity. The "military tradition" of the U.S. military does not seem to have kept minorities from signing up to join one of the U.S. armed forces. Fran

That's right... I almost forgot I had hair then.....LOL Fran

Nanci, that photo isn't loading on my computer. Probably my fault. Nat actually got sick twice... once at the Meadowlands show in 1978, and again at the Gloversville NY show in 1979. The story of that 1979 incident is best not repeated on a family site like this. Fran

OK.... if anyone believes the above statement about the 1960's Sunrisers, I have some oceanfront property in Montana to sell to you. You guys laid the groundwork for us 70's and 80's guys on AND off the field.... LOL Tony, you sure that's me in those 1982 photos? ####, I was thin back then!!!! Fran

I'm pretty sure that if/when the Electric Light Orchestra does a reunion tour, they will use electronics. As for drum corps.... other than the Cadets, I have no idea. Fran

I've been following this thread on and off, and I gotta say.... that is one very classy and well-spoken post. Hats off to you, and best of luck to The Academy this summer. Fran (Involved with drum corps in one way or another since 1967)

1992. We were sitting at field level, watching the whole thing unfold.... or should I say, collapse. The looks on some of the Statesmen horn player's faces.... classic "WTF???????" looks as they fought their way through the cloth enveloping them. I give those guys a lot of credit for somehow still being able to play their instruments while they dealt with that situation. Fran

A dumb question, perhaps.... but who are the Chadwick Bay Buccaneers? Fran

I agree 100 percent. I posted something on the DCI forum recently that junior corps fans who have never experienced a DCA championship weekend really don't know what they're missing. It's a great weekend, for the fans and performers. Fran