84Cadet

Yes!

There was a cymbal player from Garfield who marched from 1981 until 1986. She then took some time off and came back for her age out year of 1990. So she has four rings. If she had marched in 87 she would have had five.

Yes.

I'm never going back to Lucas Oil Stadium. Ever.

The new jackets (and shorter drop sashes) came in 85.

I remember PM Magazine following us around in 84. I never did see the program, though.

I just saw __________, and they are MUCH better than they were last year at this time.

I love this topic. It is always interesting to me that a lot of us seem "bored" by the shows today. I have a few theories about why we have lost a sense of "connection" or "awe" to the shows put on by the corps these days. These comments are purely from an "audience" perspective. 1) Difficulty isn't impressive. As musicians and performers, we spend years perfecting our craft. To us, speed equals accomplishment. We want to tell the world "look at my chops! I'm blazing fast!" Unfortunately, the world doesn't care. To most audiences, speed = boring. As a young drummer, I had a private teacher who used to tell me that "to an audience, the simplest things sound the best." It took me years to understand what he was talking about. Audiences don't think 16th note runs are impressive. If you want a standing ovation, play a whole note for 45 seconds. I saw Stevie Wonder do that on a harmonica once and the audience was throwing babies. Lets face it, gang. We all love loud whole notes more than wimpy 16th note runs. It's the same thing visually. If you want a standing ovation, do a company front. Is a company front difficult? Not really. But audiences love them. I'm still waiting for a corps to open their show with a company front. It will be a guaranteed standing ovation in the first minute of their show. Talk about opening up with a bang! While judges may love virtuosity, audiences tend to go nuts for the "easy" stuff. Designers need to keep this in mind. 2) Precision IS impressive. There is nothing more impressive than seeing 150 people do something perfectly in unison. One of the things that attracted me to drum corps in the first place was that they were a LOT more precise than my high school or college band. Drum corps sweated the details. They had snap. Audiences love the Marine Corps silent drill platoon. Why? Because they perfect. And perfect is impressive. 3) Speed kills. Unfortunately the "snap" that drum corps used to have in the 70's has been replaced by speed. The corps are too busy running around to be perfect anymore. Now they just look a bit sloppy. If we want to have greater impact on audiences, we must slow it down and tighten it up. Also, audiences like to groove. They want to bob their heads and clap along. Drum corps don't let audiences "participate" any more. Every fun concert has a "sing along" or "clap along" segment. It makes them feel like they are a part of the show! 4) Use emotion. To me, two of the most memorable shows from the 2000's have been by the Phantom Regiment. In 2003 they played Canon. I thought that was brilliant because when I heard it, I immediately thought about my wedding. And the tears started to flow. They made an emotional connection with me through the music they were playing. Regiment also did that in 2008. When the girl in the guard got killed and Sparticus was screaming in grief, I just lost it. Pure emotion. It will work forever.

LOL! This is especially funny because Karen's sister was a member of the Garfield Cadets at the time!

I really, really like it.

So I introduce my new wife to one of my best friends from corps. He shakes her hand, looks at her straight in the eye and says... "I bet I've seen your husband naked more times than YOU have." True story.

82 Phantom Regiment

I've said it before and I'll HAPPILY say it again... The 1982 Blue Devils were the most perfect drum corps I've ever seen... EVER! They were awesome. Just awesome. Smooth, precise, cool, in your face, awesome. To all of those 1982 Blue Devils out there, THANK YOU!

I will never go back to finals there. The sound was terrible. The sad thing is that I live 3 hours away by car. Closest finals for me EVER. Oh well. Looks like I'll just go to Allentown from now on.

Hi Sam, All of those 84 Garfield interviews were on the original PBS broadcast, but they never made it to the DVDs. I just wish I could get my hands on the "PM Magazine" feature that was done on us. They followed us around for what seemed like a week. I've never seen it before. I hope all is well with you!

For all of you Barbara fans, I posted a 1984 interview with her on a predominant (yet unnameable) internet video hosting site. Search and you shall find.

Me too, Bill. I remember being THANKFUL for a fruit and juice break! It seemed like our food truck was broken down a lot more than it was rolling. I'm glad to hear that times have changed.

You hit it on the head, Bill. I hope you're doing well!

That is VERY true.

I guess ties are okay for the marching members themselves. I think most fans started to get upset (chanting no more ties!!) when there were three ties in five years. And after two years in a row, it just started to seem... fishy. Especially when you consider that there are hardly ever ties during the rest of the season. To have those ties starting to become a trend, on finals night, for first place, it all just started to feel a bit... manufactured. Here is why I didn't like the tie trend. DCI sells finals night tickets essentially promising to crown a world champion for the season on that very night. And those tickets are MUCH more expensive than the Thursday or Friday night seats. After my third tie, in a strange sort of way, I started to feel duped. Like I was paying extra money for this "one night only" event, and DCI couldn't seem to make up their mind. To me it kind of took away the hype and devalued the event itself. I started to ask myself "why am I still paying for Saturday night when there are more corps for less money on Friday?" I don't know, maybe I'm just weird. I know that ties ARE mathematically possible, but on finals night, only ONE champion should be crowned.

Barbara Maroney started playing soprano when she was 7 years old. She was in the Sundowners from DuMont New Jersey. After taking some time off, she joined Garfield in 1981. Here is a nice interview with her on The Middle Horn Leader website: http://www.middlehornleader.com/Maroney%20Interview.htm

...

Whitewater finals.

Nice gesture, Sam! There is no doubt that Barbara deserves the honor. The only problem is that I've been told that she is "missing in action" and nobody can seem to locate her.

No, Sam, my rant wasn't directed at you or even anybody in particular. I've certainly never thought of you as a homer. Sure, you're proud of your corps (as you should be—the Blue Devils are AMAZING), but you also appreciate a great job by a competitor. To me, awesome is awesome—no matter what color uniform the unit is wearing. And I have enjoyed drum corps a lot more since I have learned to put my personal bias aside. I just wish more people could "get" that. When folks tear down a competitor just to tear them down, all it does is make THEM look bad.