ajlisko

W ... In my tenure with Sky's Alumni Corps (and I was there from the get go), there have been at least three attempts to "formalize" an Alumni Circuit and/or introduce competition in various ways ... ALL have been turned down by the Corps themselves throughout the years (98-current) with an emphatic NO ... the Alumni scene is just not about competition ... it is about pride and putting on a good show ... but it's NOT about competition ... and each and every corps approached told the promoters it would not work ... the first attempt was in 99 ... then another in 2004 ... and more recently around 2012ish ... you could say this ... and you could say that ... but in the end, through the years, there has been no interest from the Alumni Corps to once again compete as a Full Corps ... I&E and Mini-Corps and ensembles pop up now and then and the people who perform love it ... :-)

... and a bunch of ex-Bpt PAL Cadets gathered at the Harry Condon AL Post #11 to watch the game ... it became a weekly tradition for the first few years of MNF ... :-)

... and they still play White Rabbit ... right, Mike?

Flashback to 1991-1992 ... Skyliners Alumni (not a corps yet, just in the stands) vs. a Rookie Moosic cop ... setting the stage: Walter Winkelman (wheelchair bound) wanted to sit by his close friends who were in the last row by the walkway ... it was not a designated wheelchair area and the rookie took exception and tried to physically remove Winky ... at that point Winky grabbed the back of a seat and whoever was caretaking him bellowed out "NEW YORK" ... at that moment, all of us instantly rushed to his aid and surrounded the rookie ... and I mean surrounded ... there had to be 40-50 of us that were there in two seconds ... the rookie held firm until is Sargent looked at us - shrugged his shoulders - and told the rookie to stand down ... it got tense ... it would not have been a good outcome for either side ... and for sure, they would have won ... but for that brief moment civility won out and Winky got to stay where he was ... :-)

Okay ... I guess I misunderstood ... I thought you wanted to reprise a facsimile of the 96 Championship show in 2016 ... and I thought that John would be the best source to modify the charts to your current players ... Sky's Alumni has attempted Hy's charts from all eras of his teaching ... some with success ... some had a short life span ... but, we've hit the "main" numbers from each year at one time or another ... :-)

Well ... Arietano is still around ... maybe you could start by asking him ... :-)

How right you are Fred ... 2006 was my last DCA with Sky's Alumni (haha - can you believe I'm an Alumnus of an Alumni?) Even my wife watched all three shows along with me ... and I mean the ENTIRE shows ... Anyway ... filling in the "dead time" with prior performances was brilliant ... my only suggestion would be to show some "vintage" clips of corps (possibly the Haas videos) at some point ... maybe even during the Alumni Show ... :-)

I only had one where I had to reboot and restart the whole sequence ... other than that the feed was fine ... :-)

Pepe had a theory about sleeping and driving at the same time ... he'd recline in the driver's seat with his head back to the point where his eyes were open only a sliver ... he'd say: "Dat way it's just like yer sleepin'" ... one day we noticed that his front end was damaged and asked what happened ... he said "I tink I musta blinked" ... :-)

Henry played "those four famous notes" at prelims before the Field Corps entered ... someone from the Field Corps (prob Bob Fizette) played it at the Alumni show before the Alumni took the field ... both groups also sang the corps song prior to the other performing ...

Then he must have played when Tony Smith was in the line and I was with Bpt PAL ... is Ghost in these pics from 64 and 65? ... I didn't realize that Boston only had three snares in 64 ... thought it was a 4&4 line ... :-)

He must have marched in the same line with Charley Poole if he was with Boston in the late 60's ...

Glen Paisley still around? ... he ran the last one in Allentown in 99 ... was with the Chieftains at the time ... now you've got Sky and C2 operating out of there ... like others have said ... too much competition for hotel rooms going on that weekend ... and hotel givebacks are a BIG (did I say BIG?) part of the bid ... start with the Chamber of Commerce to see when the last bid was put in ... and check with DCI East show folks for local political contacts ... :-)

Actually ... in the past 15 years, Kingston was not held in 2000 and 2015 ... so ... it's a relevant venue for DCA ... just as much as the Barnum, which went DCI one year and all-Alumni another ... The folks in Kingston have run some spectacular Jr shows (Pow Wow) over the years in addition to DCA ... maybe they should submit a bid ... maybe they have ... who knows? ... but, I wonder if hotels would be a problem ... :-)

God bless Jack Benny and R O C H E S T E R!!!!

HAHA ... I thought it was an ancient drill dots page showing the next set for the stones ...

Okay ... understood ... you want to be Statler or Waldorf next year on the broadcast?

Historian Donnie Solinger - no? ... Great guy ... spent a few years with Sky's Alumni in the early days ... :-)

I didn't get it or like the "blue square" at first either ... until it was explained to me that the square was actually the "speak easy" room where all the sultry jazz/dance stuff emanates from ... you know ... to support their theme of "After Hours" ... the more important thing (as it was further pointed out) is that the judges got it ... and liked it ... Thanks for the rest of your "couch potato" review ... I especially liked the thought that in between corps there could be a Muppets style Statler & Waldorf set of commentaries from two old DCF's ... THAT would be a riot!

Huh?

I think DCA has always know he is for real ... when he took the bull by the horns and oversaw C2, the YEA organization re-learned that he is for real ... C2 is a fine ambassador for DCA and, IMO, will lead more talented young players to other corps in the circuit ... I think it's all good ... :-)

Kudos to you and Gold for feeling that way ... ONE MORE TIME, as the saying would go from years ago ... everyone (well most everyone) would want that chance to perform in front of a finals' crowd ... :-)

All interesting thoughts so far on this thread ... and very civil! (hope it stays that way) I didn't expect to watch finals, but was able to and glad I did ... all the shows looked crisper to me with the exception of Fusion and Scouts ... I'm in agreement with the placements in all but the Cabs finish ... IMO, their overall performance should have kept them in third ... C2 still had the most pleasing show to me ... they looked and sounded very confident from start to finish ... very happy for the strong finish by the Hurcs ... the August "restructuring" of their show paid off and vaulted them into finals ... Anyway ... another one in the books ... corps already planning 2016 shows and scheduling auditions ... it would be nice if the majority of the corps kept the majority of their current membership to allow for synergy and growth into the future ... full scale rehearsals rather scattering to the four winds would be advisable ... maybe some fall parades and Ockoberfest exhibitions to keep the juices flowing - along with an appearance or two at an I&E show over the winter ... Keep 'em together ... let 'em keep playing ...

And ... IMO ... they deserved 2nd ... I watched on the Fan Network and felt they had the best controlled sound and just a real pleasing show to hear and watch ... I was surprised at their confidence level this year ... and even my wife agreed that they outpointed the Cabs and MN ... we also agreed that Kidsgrove and CV should top Fusion ... anyway, great prelim show ... good luck to all at finals ... :-)

Okay ... having a problem testing out access to the Live Feed for later viewing ... The Fan Network is throwing an error when I try to access via IE and I get thrown into DCI land when accessing through Mozilla ... Any advice from the techies out there or the Fan Network people? I can't access their Customer Support either ... Only a few hours till SHOWTIME! ... Contact me directly at ajlisko@aol.com :-)