jascd

This show had everything that a good drum corps show should have. Exquisite brass arrangement, tight percussion, and a clean visual program - I mean, to end the show in an old-school French curve form was quite an elegant touch. One of my all-time favorites which I just listened to today, now that you mention it.

Tradish has had no real purpose since hi-stepper drum carriers were introduced to keep the playing surface level. It has remained for three reasons: Homage to the past - for hundreds of years, snare drummers had to use the grip to accommodate the awkward positioning of sling-carried drums. For many years, the snare drum was called the "side drum." Visual appeal - Complex backsticking patterns never go out of style, and tradish allows for many more interesting visuals. It looks cool. Elitism/sense of superiority through the creation of artificial demand on players. Tradish fans love to crow "Matched Grip Sucks!" as they fuzz roll after roll (mostly through crushing drags and tap rolls), struggle with "helicoptering" (unevenly pulsed long rolls), and subliminally flip their left hands over during impacts, trying carefully not to hit the rim and lose the stick on the way back. On one hand, it is safe to say that Tradish has stayed on for the same reason pro baseball doesn't allow aluminum bats. It doesn't give any extra physical advantage. The lines that use it have to work harder to clean and balance things out. On the other hand, it makes sense for drum corps, as it is congruent with the work ethic corps is known for. Overcoming adverse conditions are the hallmark of drum corps. I have used both grips, having played snare and tenors. When I pick up sticks, though, I usally revert to tradish first. Habit has made it my "default" setting. It may be the case the whole corps scene over. Some of my favorite DCI lines (L'Insolite for one - man, I miss those guys!) played matched. Matched allows for extra-intricate writing and a greater dynamic range. Less chance of injury as well, not to mention an even tan for both arms! I like both.

I hope a little bias is forgivable: Rapid City Express. 1991 U.S. Open Finalists

A couple of us were in a classroom after hours messing around on the tenors when I played a riff that sounded like the desert music from Super Mario Bros. 2. My buddy immediately went to the bass drums and started doing the bass line. We were digging how amazingly authentic it sounded when out PI walked in and said: "That's gotta be a streetbeat." We made it into one and used it in the next parade, where we heard a little kid say: "Mom! They're playing Nintendo!"

I LOVE it when that happens. In '90 we were at a parade in Sherbrooke, where we were the only non-Quebec corps. A group of girls on a corps bus were yelling some things at us, not mean stuff or anything (mostly sexual banter), and they found the whole thing quite amusing until the busses started up. They got in a few more choice words and I yelled "Je parle francais!" You could have heard a pin drop. They may have thought they were "on the hook" for all those things they were saying they wanted to do to me...In any case, I had a good laugh at their expense when they they thought it was going to be vice-versa.

Well, I'm sort of partial to the corps in my sig...

Phantom was cleaner overall. The forms were sharper, the music flawless, and the Maxell factor was extremely high. SCV was the sentimental favorite, and had a great show, but they just weren't as "perfect." There were the horn solo cracks, the dropped tenor mallet (outstanding recovery by Iko noted), and the very ending, which was added that night - it looked like it needed another week to pull off what was intended and top '88's ending. I liked 88's "Music of the Night" much better. Still tingles my scalp. One other thing I love to this day from '89 SCV is at the end of the percussion feature, on the release before the horn line comes back in. The timbre of that release, between tenors and bass, was incredible. RH chose to match the biggest bass drum to the smallest tenor drum, which gave this unexpectedly deep "pop!" Count on me to notice something like that...

Done and done!

Here, here, well spoken Ron! I certainly can vouch for that, having a large body of research to draw from Gee, look at me, thinking I'm Hugh Hefner over here. Not quite!!

The poll question is far too inclusive. It would be better to ask about a more specific group of Canadian corps, it's not like asking "Which is your favorite Canadian baseball team", where the choices are far more limited. Asking about Canadian Corps and leaving out past champions like L'Insolite (Christian Brunet was a rock star in '88), Academie Musicale (placing 13th in open class brass as an A/60 corps), and Scout House (they made records, for pete's sake!) shows the question is better asked as an open-ended one. It is a good topic, though. Don't get me wrong. There's always been a unique flavor and style to the Canajun corps. Maybe it's the post-retreat beer tents B) :mmm: I loved touring there!

I never got more chicks in my life than when I played snare. I had girls in multiple corps and home simultaneously, and I still don't know how I managed to keep them all straight. Ah, so young and hormonally driven... Part of it was just being a young man, part of it was that polyamory seemed to be expected and actively encouraged by the staff, all the way up to the director. I caught grief only when I attempted to have a monogamous relationship my rookie year as a tenor player. I was openly ridiculed and ostracized from the corps the entire summer. Then, the following year, I made snare and went to the "girl in every port" philosophy. My director and his wife told my parents that I "had improved" greatly, and I was a key member of the corps from then on. It was seen as a healthy thing, going out and having fun. It had its moments, which I still pleasantly recall from time to time, but it took its toll. I squandered so many potentially rewarding real relationships for the fleeting moments of fun. But I did enjoy the "playboy" label.

1988 - my rookie year, what a first year to have. Hauling around those 50 lb. tenors in that HOT summer. Hey, I played that Goshen show, our drumline played on everyone for retreat. That was a unique experience, getting to play the Cavies on! It was because our hometown was closest, so we were determined to be the "home corps". Man, it was hot - I don't think I can overemphasize that. First day of first tour in Rosemont: 105 degrees at a "housing" with no showers or access to anything, just a parking lot at an elementary school. Repeat daily 90 times, that was the summer...

It's hard not to agree with that. I'm afraid we've seen the end of an era, and those days are not likely to return soon. Now, I know what what you're thinking: "Jas., you're bringin' me down". But hey, I'm not all about a rainy day. With the rising cost of fuel, and the fact that cheap oil IS gone forever, we may see a return to more local circuits as we had in the past. Drum corps will never die, but as corps are faced with skyrocketing transportation costs, adjustments will need to be made. Corps will need to stay closer to home, and guess who's there? That's right, the fans! There will be no reason to fear a change like this, whether it is forced on the activity out of necessity or not.

By default I chose Marion and the Harding High School show. What a great Drum Corps town. Every townie I met there knew about drum corps. We never had the cops called on us for rehearsing too loud, and they were even cool about losing to us in softball. I can't think of too many other places quite like it. There's a lot of history packed into that little stadium. It should be consecrated as a shrine.

I love that show. The corps was just incredible, and not just the performance. They were great people. They were the headliners at our home show, which was also Rapid City Express's first ever in June 1991. It was otherwise a real small-time show, they were the only open class corps, but they were cool enough to come out and blow us all away, just because they cared enough to see a new corps get a good start. Their drumline even hung out and watched us warm up. A real class act, and I'm sad they're gone from competitive drum corps. The good news is, as Blast! they have been outstanding ambassadors of DCI to mainstream society.

My favorite combo was Premier Tendura up top with a Diplomat snareside. Individual gut tuning to a "G", and man, that was a great sound. Always smooth the bearing edges with fine sandpaper and use paraffin wax when putting new heads on. I like my snare sound like my beer: crisp, full-bodied, and clean! I just could never dig the "cranked- into-the-stratosphere", tin-canny, formica-counter sound - except for solos.

What about '91? Sure it was a little rough around the edges, but "Respect" rocked, and the tenor line had one of the hottest licks I ever heard!

I wouldn't say that PR '89 was underrated...the best corps to not win DCI to that point with a 98.4, and one which many believed to be the real winner that night (That's an issue for another thread!). I don't think '88 Cavies was really underrated either, you guys seriously overhauled that show, especially after DCM, it was just a highly tough group up at the top that year, and I have no doubt Don Pesceone had you in mind as one of the "6,7, or 8 corps...that could win it". It does tend to get overlooked, though, in the continuing debate about the Top 3 and who "should have won" that year. I loved your show all year long, and the later version of "Firebird" Cavies did later in the 90's really sucked compared to it. (This is the only time you will ever hear me say such a thing.) I thing Bluecoats '88 was underrated - flawless Jazz, awesome soloists, I still whistle their Latin version of "Take Five"- really a quantum leap from '87. Sky Ryders '89 was also underrated, since the dark symphonic literature was so radically different from the broadway musicals and more lighthearted fare they were known for.

Although it's probably not my favorite (that would be SCV 2000), it was really something. Imagine hearing that, at full volume, about ten feet from your head. It was really something! As they say: "To the victors go the spoils!" If I were in your place at that moment, I'd still be there, having spontaneously combusted and melted permanently into the Astro Turf!

But I will reiterate what I've said may times before: SCV '88's "Music of the Night" was my favorite closer of all time. It still makes my scalp tingle to this day!

Yes, Yes, Yes - This is right on the money. I had the distinct pleasure of Madison '88 as the first open class corps I saw live - in my 3rd corps performance ever in Rockford, Il. This was before they went to Europe, and I knew then they were going to contend. Even that early in the year, the power blew me away like few shows have. Also, the point about BD was right on. They weren't flat, but their drill was nowhere near as complex as the Scouts, only Garfield (and I can say that legally!) came close in that department. The phrase "If we just had two more weeks" really applied in their case, since their execution was impeccable, but the GE lacked - it didn't have enough for the average fan to "dig", and lacked the "grabbers" they had in '87. (Of course, going on after the Scouts didn't leave the crowd with a whole lot of adrenaline or oxygen for that matter - it was like the scene in Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" where the Orca-fat man eats 3 tons of food, and then refuses the mint wafer, and well, you know the rest!) I would have hated to be a judge that night - such good performances, and the randomization of performance order really hampered "slotting". The top 4 corps were within a point of each other...it's too bad they don't try that again! Sure made for a memorable rookie year for me.

They took the top 12, then separated the top 5. The DMs pulled a big numbered card out of a big envelope, and the number was the order. The bottom 7 picked from 1-7, and the top five pulled from 8-12. At the end of Semis, the top 12 knew they were in the top 12, and the top 5 knew they were in the top 5, but they didn't know where. Did it work to create more drama and reduce "bias" - probably too well, since they never did it again!

That's an ideal 5-tom setup. I guess an 8" shot would be better called a "bongo". Essentially, with a 6" and an 8" together as a set, that's what you have: a set of bongos. We could have used that setup well in '88! Our caption head could never get the sound he was looking for.

Yes BD won Brass, and boy, did they deserve that - NO contest. From '88 to '89, SCV got new drums and were more featured. '88 had no percussion feature to speak of, but the parts you could make out weren't bad at all, especially that mezzo-piano roll in the opener as they marched single file. Remember also that caption winners were determined that year by combining P&A and GE. If it was just P&A (Which was the combination of Field and Ensemble into one judge), Garfield had it hands-down with a 14.9/15. As Hulka said "Good grief, yes - they were INSANELY clean". If you get the audio recordings for that year, listen close and you'll agree on that - the TV show couldn't pick it up, partially due to the the Premier Marathons and the lousy acoustics at Arrowhead. They didn't win percussion because the GE score was much lower by comparison (14.0/15). '87, that's going to be debated forever!

The sock tan! I swear, the secret "lapel pin" or ID Badge of the Drum Corps Fraternity. At the beach, I have guessed with nearly 100% accuracy which people were in corps at some point.