JimF-LowBari

Man you're quick.... :) OK, will just HAVE to play 1979 DCA at work tomorrow. Glad that's one year I have on CD.

My big memory of that day was almost getting my ribs broken by a big French-Canadian in the parking lot behind the end zone. We were walking back from supper and saw a new corps standing in a group so we decided to say hi and see who it was. Turned out it was La Clique Alouette and they JUST found out they made Finals. Guy grabbed me, spun me around while screaming "We're IN, we're IN!!". My response was gasping "Great.... Who are you?". Was in the same spot getting ready when Alouettes were on the Finals field. Man did the crowd go ape-shirt during the Can Can number. Edit: Hey Pat, think both Westshoremen and MBI practiced on Harrisburgs City Island that weekend. Few days later police found a pipe bomb near the practice field. :sshh:

Wore the old BD unis 1976-1978. BUT, jaminben tells me we wore the BD gear first few shows of 1979 which I don't remember that well. Remember well ####, don't remember those shows at all. :sshh: And thanks old ohio... WOOO HOOOO :)

Lot of those Alumni type members wouldn't mind being part of a competing corps but can't due to other commitments or health (read mostly age) related issues. IMO, that freedom is the big reason for growth of the non-competative (aka Alumni) corps. Being able to still parade and standstill is sweet but it ain't like we wouldn't want to compete again. Know my arthritic toes could handle 10 minutes with a Mini corps. Weirdest part to me is what IR Baritone posted earlier. If you have 22-34 members and want to compete you have to cut someone. Trying to build a corps but have to get rid of members or basically disappear until you get member #35. WTF in my book. Understand the problems with show sponsors but would like to hear some ideas of dealing with that mess.

Psst, hey buddy.... If you still need a fix after all that, I know of two places where you can find a few recordings/videos not found anywhere else. B) Thank goodness my addiction is Senior side audio only. Will take me longer to go broke or fill up the house. :sshh:

Just to clear up any misconceptions, the only thing that changed between 'Senior' and 'All Age' is the words. Lot of "Senior" corps had under 21 members if they needed the warm bodies bad enough. (I started Senior corps at age 16.) When Muchachos were going strong bith Cabs and Sky were 21 and over only and had ex-Muchachos age into both corps. Reason for the name change was to make it easier for under 21 folks to realize they could do "Senior" corps. Same reason why some "Alumni" corps have dropped the Alumni part of the name as some have open membership rules. (shameless plug) *gasp* Some "Alumni corps also have members under 21 years of age....

:) :) Thanks. see a lot of familar faces. :) :)

Gadget, how's your DCA collection? ^0^ Still working on my audio collection of older Senior sounds. Guess I ain't retiring for a while. :(

Oh man, deja vu all over again..... History of "that" corps name.... Westshoremen - early 1950s-1959 Westshoremen Bonnie-Scots 1959-1972 (merger corps) corps inactive for 1973 Westshoremen 1974-???? (dropped Bonnie-Scots when reformed) The DCA program had it wrong for a few years too. Saw "Bonnie Scots" part of the name in some show ads and even our own program 1974-1976. Offically we were Westshormen, Inc starting in 1974 but only time I ever saw Inc was in our own program notes. When the corps reformed late 1973, it took a few months for the Board to decide what the name was going to be. Seemed the name took a back seat to getting off the ground. :sshh: (I rode to practice with some board members for a few months. Overhead some interesting conversations.)

Gad - Who make the "Choclatier" sign Must have been a product of Central PA public schools (like me ) Thanks Ohio, these are classics. Any Westshore pics from that show?

My understanding (always subject to correction) is: 1) Non-NE (Northeast) All Age regions have/had another Class of corps called A-35 which is corps up to 35 members. 2) DCA passed rule for 2007 that corps need a minimum of 35 members in order to compete at a DCA santioned show, both NE and non-NE. 3) #2 nullifies #1 - Hence the issue /anger/etc..... Just stepping back to see if I understand where we're at. "But will it fly like a bird up in the sky?" - Man I gotta get that album on CD.

In case anyone didn't know, all DCA Finals and Prelims and other scores are on www.srcorps.com. Did ChiConn do any DCA shows that year as I don't see anything listed on srcorps? Shows how bad my memory is as I thought Connection was at Canton, OH for 1978 and 1979. This was part of Westshores "Western Tour" when we did Canton Saturday night and Erie (T-Birds show?) Sunday afternoon. If I remember the rules at the time, if you were a full DCA member (aka top 10) corps your corps had to host a show. That meant DCA had to supply (aka force) corps to make a show that was far away. Interesting how both Midwest corps (MBI and CC) both just missed making top 10 in 1979. PS - 1979 Finals was to be my last corps show as I was graduating college that December (lost some credits transferring). Of course that was before that Alumni type corps movement took off and sucked me in a quarter of a century later. b**bs

#### didn't know the details until I read this post. A program from one of these shows was sent to me and thought your group was doing a great job presenting the smaller groups to corps fans. Didn't realize it ended up biting your folks in the butt so badly. Hate to say it but I might have left in a less than happy mood myself with a missing corps and one not ready.

Way I understand it, the only way an under 35 corps can perform a field show at a DCA sanctioned show is if the sponsor is nice enough to allow them to do an exhibition. To get a score, the <35 (Almost had a math minor in college) corps would have to do a judged exhibition. No idea if the judges would be paid extra (and who would pay) for doing the extra work. How would you like to recruit with that option. "Want to join our corps? We might do a field show if someone, somewhere, somehow, maybe lets us." To go back to Garys post about crowds and sponsors not liking shows with smaller corps, any thoughts on a 5 +1 type of show? That is 35 and larger corps and 1 smaller than 35 corps. Not sure if this is doable outside of the NE where distance for any size corps is an issue.

DCA Prelims at Hershey 1979???? (Used to live 15 minutes from the Stadium and saw my first corps show there)

I disagree with DCA on this rule too and I've been following their corps for 30+ seasons now. Simply put if you have 22-34 members in your corps, you cannot do anything within DCA unless you can get an exhibition somewhere. And that's a hinderance to building your membership. No slam on the Mini corps but if you want to build a field corps you're just plain screwed if you have under 35 people PERIOD. Let's face it, not easy to build a corps with younger people who want to play corps if you can only do one show a year (Friday night Labor Day Weekend)

Craig, we did the same thing in 1976 when we came in 11th and Guelph came in 12th. We were one of the last corps on the field for Prelims 'cause we weren't even an Associate DCA member. Caught our breath (kinda) and stood in front the mics in an arc while people were lining up outside to get into the stadium for Finals.

When I started out I was with a corps that had been inactive and was rebuilding. We went almost the entire season coming in a well deserved last place at shows. We went against some of the best corps in DCA and got our head handed to us most of the time. But even at the few shows we did an exhibition we wanted to be judged. Why?? So we could use the score sheets to improve our show. Even if we were not competative against the top DCA corps, we sure as Hades were in competition with ourselves to improve each week. And ya know what, we weren't anything to be afraid if that year but it was a BIG reason why we started kicking butt in the coming seasons. Ah, nothing like being a teenager had hearing a future DCA VP scream "#### what the other corps are doing. Just beat last weeks score!!!!" :sshh: Starting and working with any size DC is positive. Building for the future while taking lumps today is a #### good attitude to have. Remembering 1993 DCA when only 13 corps showed up I'm for ANY new corps, regardless of size.

Thanks Fran, always wondered about the point gaps between groups of corps. Also wondered if the 40 point performance of Emmaus and Hanover was the reason why DCA went to a ten corps Finals in 1975. Wow weird thought, Hanover was the first corps I ever saw at a DCA Finals as we were late coming back from our motel by the airport. Now I'm in their Alumni corps. What I remember is laughing about the Hanover DM as he was also my HS Assistant Band Director. :P

LOL, bought some old programs from eBay and have write ups from 1975 and 1969. Will have to scan or type in the BS, err the write ups as they are a hoot for various reasons. Never thought I'd see "space age" used in a DC write up. Also have the 1982 program for Rajah Theater concert. That one is scarey as it has a pic from 1979 Prelims in it. How do I know it's 1979 Prelims?? Corps is wearing the new black/blue unis with the old shakos and some a-hole Bari is missing his plume. Anyone have a recording for 1969 WSM-BS? Will have to check my stash to see if it's on an old cassette, sure it's missing on the CDs. :( PS - Have the 1984 and 1985 pics from DCA in the cellar "somewhere". If you know of anyone who wants 'em, let me know. I'm in crap cleaning mode this spring.

Parable #1 Once upon a time there was a group that sold widgets. This group didn't make the widgets but they took the responsibility to get the widgets to where people could buy them and enjoy them. For a while there were widgets for everybody, even if not all the widgets were of great quality. After a while the number of widgets began to go down. Some people said the group should try to find ways to create more widgets. Other people said "Creating widgets isn't their job, be quiet". Still others said "Less widgets, but they are better quality, no problem". and still others said "Look, hundreds of people are trying to buy one widget. Interst is high, so no problem." There were other groups who tried to create widgets but on a small scale because new widgets are expensive to make. The big widget selling group ignored them and soon people thought these widgets were not good and ignored them. Soon the small widget groups gave up. Eventually the number of widgets went down to zero because no one thought it was their job to worry about it. And the people who sold the widgets and the people who enjoyed the widgets were equally screwed. Parable #2 "Back in the day...." OK, think you know where I'm going with this. Big butted questions is: Any ideas before we run out of widgets?

Eh, short memories

From what I've read a large portion (most?) of the corps that went under since the late 50s did so because of money or membership issues. AL/VFW Posts started cutting back due to declining membership or Posts themselves closing. Sponsors from the Inner Cities either closed up or cut way back due to budget concerns. <Check out state of the cities since WWII> As far as less new corps starting up than back in the day. Yep, check out the costs to start up today compared to in the past. Back then some corps even got help starting by buying cheap from corps that folded. On the other hand (IMO): DCI didn't kill a lot of the corps but their "If you don't tour, you ain't getting any publicity" mentality is NOT helping start up corps today. Only thing I'd like to ask Frank about is the growth in Jr corps was a result of the baby boom. Thought the big start of Jr corps was earlier but my info might be lacking.

Eh, Reading Buccaneers played it a few years before Blue Devils...... What was the point of this thread again??????