gak27

WP, Thanks! They are truly excellent!

^Sign me up!

Can we currently get '76 Oakland Crusaders or '75 Kilties? Also: So if 2 corps played the same music (let's use Bridgemen and Royal Crusaders, who both played music from 'A Chorus Line') and one made finals and the other didn't, even though both performances have been sold in the past (on LP) you can't buy them now? If that's true, where's the difference, other than one corps made finals and one didn't?

"Mark Twain, mark!" Didn't they also use "Pop Goes the Weasel" as their walking beat and do a little "hop" when they got to the "Pop!" part of the melody?

The smell of shoe polish and Brasso in the gym before a show . . . . followed by adults bellowing at you when shoe polish and Brasso residue were found on the gym floor

Trooping the stands... Summer "love"... That "connected" feeling you had with everyone, esp. when the uniform went on... How your bed felt the first night back from tour... The hometown crowds when you entered the stadium and took the field...

If I could have, I would have. In a heartbeat.

Several: - going to Championships for the first time (as a spectator) in '74: It was the first time I had ever seen SCV and they've been my favorite ever since. The electric feeling in the stands the night of finals -- especially during Muchachos, Kingsmen, Madison and SCV -- the crowd seemed to feed off itself... - After CYO or World Open (can't remember which) in '75: We got lost and were parked along the side of the highway when some neighborhood kids thought it would be a good idea to throw rocks at our buses. Half the horn and drum lines piled out and took off after them... - Walking into Franklin Field for Finals in '75: Seeing that wall of people... - 1982: The first time I played "Danny Boy". Putting my 2-7 uniform on for the first time. The last time I played "Danny Boy" -- the retreat lineup on the field had us next to (I believe) SCV close to the center of the field and BD was on the other side of them. For whatever reason (noise ordinance after a certain time...) the corps were not allowed to play themselves off the field. The crowd (obviously) wasn't happy about it and neither were the corps; I seem to remember at least one other finalist just left the field. We were delayed in marching off b/c of our place on the field when our drum major came back to us saying "They're going to let us play!" When we started to play "Danny Boy" the crowd was thrilled! We wailed on it as we trooped in front of SCV and BD.

I know some time back someone was asking about the picture that showed the Kingsmen rifle line in unison. I'm pretty sure they were talking about this one (I think I have a better version somewhere; I found this in a video on 'that' site)...gotta luv them Kingsmen rifles!!!

Not quite -- Although it IS very hilly in the Pittsburgh area, there was a flat football practice field behind the local school (just outside the town). When that wasn't available, we did have to occasionally go to other local football practice fields. The times where we could actually get permission to practice someplace with stands high enough for the instructors to watch the show were few and far between.

"Give 'em hell, Finleyville!"

You realize, of course, that a response was virtually assured (courtesy of theholynamecadets.org):

Cadets and Phantom -- rainout in Massillon before they performed...

To be honest, I can't stand the amount of this stuff they put in, whether it's the WWC or (especially) the Olympics -- it used to be the Olympic broadcasts would show the competitions, and show more than one or two competitors before going to break. It's now generally agonizing to watch any of it, esp. on the 'Big' 4... On topic, I'd love to see a tape-delay broadcast, knowing I won't... I don't get to enough shows to warrant my getting the DVDs or Blu-Rays and watching on-line interests me little. Plus, in the few videos I watched during the free period awhile back, there's a propensity to spend way too much time on close-up shots (pit, field members, etc.) and not nearly enough "high" camera time. Way too many times, producers seem to miss impact moments b/c they keep the tight camera shot of a pit member on the screen.

We thoroughly enjoyed last night's show in general. Loved BK's and LOVED SCV's shows, although I DID NOT like BK's ending. It seemed like they were getting ready to do a quiet ending heading to the right endzone when they suddenly stopped playing, there was some more singing, and then the announcer saying "The Blue Knights!" What was that all about? I also didn't get the pre-show singing: if you can't understand the words or know in advance what it is, how does it add to the show? This show is good enough w/o it. And I know this has been harped on ad nauseum but PLEASE...EVERYONE turn down the amplification on the marimba/vibraphone instruments. You have, in some cases, 10 of the things down there - BITD we could hear 2 just fine. Really liked BAC's show in general but the ballad would have been MUCH better w/o the cloth. You are already getting the ethereal impact from the silks. Also, what's with the two lights underneath the cloth? My first thought was of a kid staying up at night reading comic books under his bed covers. As far as the show organizers/DCI: they surely knew about the line of storms coming from the west early on -- there are posts in this thread mentioning it WELL before the start of the show. So why not get rid of the intermission? They could have gotten at least Cadets and probably Phantom on. And what's the deal with starting the show early? If they did it to get a jump on the storm, why not get rid of intermission also? As was mentioned previously, there were NO UPDATES provided AT ALL.

Got our tickets yesterday - Section 3, 45 yard line, a few rows down from the box... I'll be wearing either my turquoise SCV marching horn line shirt or my 1999 Phantom - Tragedy and Triumph shirt if anyone wants to say 'Hi' ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ anxiously awaiting a 'face peel'

"Lezghinka" is from Khachaturian's "Gayne Ballet Suite". The bulk of SCV's '78 and '79 show came from it...

A SCV hat... A St. Vincents' Cadets shako (for my dad)... A Beethoven bust flag from '78 Phantom... The Yellow Rose of Texas "garment" the Troopers rifle line flashed in '74...

Love it... Not many choices on my iPod now since I don't have much time to do conversions from my vinyl but... 1975 27th 1974 Anaheim 1977 27th 1982 27th 1994 27th Alumni

I think it's primarily the general geographic collection of those counties -- they kind of form a horizontal shelf/tier along the bottom (southern) border of New York. Correspondingly, the counties across the border in Pennsylvania form the Northern Tier...

Here you go...

Skyline(rs)?

I would like to see Phantom bring back the little fuzzball Phantom Phans -- little, round red pompom type balls w/ eyes and a pith helmet. They had a ribbon that said Phantom Regiment and feet that were sticky so you could put them (for example) on your car dashboard, etc. All the corps could do it with the proper colors and headgear...

I LOVE the Walleye Fest banner!

Spirit of Atlanta crashes the party and smashes everything in sight w/ their "Forging Icon" hammers -- the Cavies guard draw their weapons but don't hit anyone due to the multiple reflections from the Blue Devils' mirrors set up around the room...except Jeffrey. Phantom just sits there, staring blankly at the huge chandelier over the table.