Russellrks

I just looked up "Sport" in wikipedia. Scroll down to "physical art" and read what it says. It just might end the argument. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport

I used to wrestle in high school and every year some of the football jocks would try out and most would quit because it was way harder than they thought. My senior year I decided to try out for the swim team. It was right after wrestling season so I was in really good shape but evidently really good wrestling shape does not translate into really good swimming shape. The first day, the swimming coach says "O.K., we're gonna separate the men from the boys. Give me 20 laps arms only followed by 20 laps legs only." I almost drowned. Needless to say, this "boy" didn't come back.

Anyone who thinks you cannot affect your opponent's score in golf has obviously never played golf. You can't do it physically, but you sure can psychologically. By the way, competitive drum corps have affected each other this way as well as far back as you want to go.

Mike, I assume you meant they recorded prelims and not finals. This is the first time I've heard this story. I always assumed that the Kingsmen, Vanguard and Madison were the only corps recorded since those are the only shows I've ever seen. Who are the other three corps? Anyone remember the order of appearance at prelims? Because unless the three above mentioned corps went on back to back to back, I would wonder why they are the only three recordings in existence, besides the other three that I've never seen.

I used an air mattress back when I marched but I had to blow it up myself, so I would lay on it and then blow it up. I considered it just another breathing exercise. Might have something to do with why I could play louder, longer than just about anyone else in the hornline.

I would say yes, that was Ken Norman's arrangement. Interestingly enough, Kenny arranged "God Save the Queen" for the San Leandro Royalaires in 1972 as our color pre as well, sans all the Key changes.

Interesting possibility with the choice of Boston. I believe that Howard Weinstein was a very big factor in the success that Boston has enjoyed of late. Now, with him gone, will the new management team follow the template that is already in place or will they make wholesale changes in the organization's structure and way of doing things? A lot is riding on the decisions that will be made regarding this corps IMO.

Thanks for all the advice. I got it with the right click. I usually just put the cursor on the picture and I get a little pop up that gives me the option of saving it. For some reason it doesn't work on only that picture.

Hey, that's me. For some strange reason I can't seem to save this picture to my computer. Dang, I know we didn't eat all that well on tour but I look downright anorexic in that picture.

C'mon guys, lighten up. If you think about it, editing finals performances (with different camera angles of the same performance) is kinda like airbrushing the zits out of your high school yearbook pictures... and who wouldn't want that?

It's nice to see the pics from '79 prelims. The changing words in the back stands seats became a tradition the two years that DCI held finals in Birmingham. In 1980 pretty much the same thing happened until someone spelled out "JIM OTT" In a collective sign of respect, no one changed the seats from that moment on and Jim's name remained there through the end of prelims and maybe even through finals. I may be wrong but that's the way I'm going to remember it.

Anyone else notice that the last place corps in prelims took high M&M? They must have had a lot of stop time, thus the 13.4 in penalties. Warren Tom didn't play. Is it just me or did Warren Tom do timing and penalties at every show, every year on the West Coast?

Not only Wayne Downey but Dan Smith, (long time DCI judge) Tom Weutrich (taught marching when I was in the Royalaires and long time Pacific Coast judge), Brian Aller (taught horns when I was in the Royalaires), Chris Reynolds (played baritone when I was in the Royalaires). and Shirley Whitcomb (taught marching when I was in the Commodores in '74 and long time DCI judge). A very competant judging panel to be sure but... Apoch, I guess your post was directed at me so let me just say that I'm not complaining so much that Argonauts won the show, but moreso that the spread was ridiculously large. I mean, come on, we had just performed at DCI prelims three days earlier in Philly and that panel had the Commodores 1 pt. down to you guys and then all of a sudden it balloons to almost 10 pts. That's all I meant by "they" made sure you guys won.

Fromthepressbox doesn't show any scores for the Kingsmen prior to the Big "V" Invitational on Aug. 4th. When did you guys start competing in '76? And Crunchy Tenor, did you march V.K. in 76? I was looking at recaps from DCW and didn't even realize that you guys came in second place at prelims! They had everybody pretty bunched together with the exception of the Argonauts. Boy, they really made sure the Pacific Northwest was going to win that show, didn't they?

Here you go Tansea. http://www.fromthepressbox.com/19800816div1finals.htm

That would be too easy. One part, four guys makes this one of the most difficult and possibly the all time best timpani part in drum corps history.

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No wonder I couldn't find it. I stand corrected, thanks Kamarag. I thought it was Rob McConnell because I had the wrong Blue Devils tune in my head. The BD tune from the same album was "Ya Gotta Try" not "T.O." They've got a sample of the tune here if you want to hear a couple of the sax licks that Robert didn't use, one is right at the end of the opening statement and another is just before the solo at the end of the sample. Just scroll down to hear the samples.

The "Time Out" that Suncoast played was done by Rob McConnell's Boss Brass. I can't seem to find it anywhere though. Don't know what album it's from but it is the same album that Blue Devils got T.O. from. Two kick ### openers from the same album, with the same initials. Both corps arrangements were pretty faithful to the originals as well, although there were some alto sax lines that I wish Robert would have tried to use that were probably just too tough to pull off.

Check out the chin strap between the nose and the mouthpiece. I tell ya, those Cadets are always doing things differently, aren't they?

It's called "Bird's of Fire"....John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu orchestra.

I believe the Garfield "G" was also in their '83 show.

It was no picnic for the average drummer either. I remember you guys played that solo at half tempo for so long, us horn players didn't even know it was supposed to be played twice as fast, or was it just the tymps that had to learn it at half speed?

What I remember about '75 is the horn line getting the music to concert on a Wednesday night, 3 days before our first show. Tansea, you can correct me if I'm wrong, I believe the drumline got their music to concert on Saturday morning, the DAY of our first show. We performed our first show up thru concert only, no closer yet. This was 6/22/75 in San Bruno, a date that will live in infamy due to the fact that it marks the first time that the Blue Devils ever beat the Vanguard, not to mention BD also breaking SCV's gaudy 55 show winning streak in drums.

The little girl represented innocence and when the balloon left her hand, the emotion we wanted to be felt was one of loss. She was crying because she lost her balloon. Everyone else who cried at that moment was either feeling her loss or maybe their own loss, or the Country's loss of some 50,000 servicemen and women.