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KeithHall

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Everything posted by KeithHall

  1. In 1979 while stationed in Germany as a Military Police K9 Handler, I would sit out at the kennels for a 24 hour tour. I would sit out there a daydream and miss the drum corps activity. I had this cool idea of doing a light show on a football field. This was before LED lights and way before Brass Theater. When Star of Indiana turned into Brass Theater and then Blast. I knew my ideas weren't crazy! Just thought I'd share this with you
  2. So if you are a Pre-DCI person....maybe this is not where you should be!!!!
  3. Imperial Regiment (NY). I respected them but hated them. They had a really good drum line and would always beat ours although I think we were much closer in 1976. I always felt our horn line was better BUT the difference was....they had two brass instructors ALWAYS with them as we didn't.
  4. DCI owns the Kobold library. I wish I could by some recordings again because my cassette's I got from him don't work any more
  5. Precisionnaires came to the NT Open in 74 or 75 and blew me away!!!! I wish Ken Kobold was still alive so I could have gotten a recording of that show along with Toronto Optimists.
  6. I knew it wasn't a real thing based on the guy who told us. He wanted to be a big shot and when he had the opportunity to take over our corps he merged us with a sad little corps. Yes Finleyville was great in 1975 although I was aSquire and Precisionaire fan and they took 13 and 14.
  7. Looking at scores for 1975...as DCI World Championships approached PR was beating RC and then at Finals some weird changes happened, especially with Cavies. RC went from 7 to 9
  8. Now it's been a few years (46) but I remember a former Phantom Regiment member telling some of us of a deal that DCI made with a certain PA corps to make top 12, which they did. In fact, said corps place ahead of Phantom. Does anyone have insight to this or was this guy just making stuff up?
  9. I LOVE the quality today! If DCI and the corps currently making up DCI are okay with what they have then...Okay!
  10. Back in the 1970's west coast corps had to travel east to compete against "the big boys!" Troopers (pre-1970) toured to be able to compete. Let's be honest, they were all that was available in that region until Anaheim and Santa Clara. Then came DCI and then everything changed. Smaller corps were eventually forced to undertake more touring. I marched in the 1970's and every Saturday we traveled to a city in NY, PA, OH or Ontario to compete. The good part was, as a teenager, we got 3 or 4 days of being able to be a kid and hang with our friends. Drum corps had two evenings of rehearsals a week and meet early Saturday morning to leave for wherever the show was. Fast forward 10, 20, 30, 40 years and every corps has to tour all summer. This model forced a whole lot of corps to fold up their tents. It helped some bigger corps as the serious drum corps kids would travel to California, Massachusetts, NJ, WI, IL or wherever a good corps was still active so thy could continue marching. Joining a corps became more expensive and so joining a corps took money or sponsorship. In 1977 I could have and should have went up to Toronto to march Seneca Optimist but...I didn't. Anyways, If the Drum Corps activity is to grow today, smaller corps and less touring is essential. In the 1970's it was a big deal for us to travel to Marion and then Butler to do a "tour." Our best year was 1976 and we didn't go to those two shows, although I wish we did. Time to look at history and re-group!
  11. Yeh, so I was just speaking about Bluecoats. But feel free to speak for me!
  12. Going to say this here..... Drum corps misses The Empire Statesmen!!!! Every year the corps ENTERTAINED the FANS!!! I mean this in both DCI and DCA too. I was never a member of the Statesmen and was a loyal Rochester Crusaders member for a few years. Every year the Statesmen made sure that the audience left humming their songs. Today, probably The Bluecoats are the only corps that entertains the audience. DCI corps would be wise to read a how to manual by Vince Bruni, if there was/is one. Just my opinion
  13. Good for Bluecoats!!! Entertain the Fans!!! Don't get into the same old crap every other corps does where you don't recognize the music!
  14. BITD you could purchase from Ken Kobold but DCI owns all his recordings now. Wish I could get my corps recordings again
  15. The Old Drum Corps pictures that were posted? 1,000's of pictures. It was so awesome to see them.
  16. Someone suggested I do this so....... It was 1986 and that summer as I was stationed in Camp King with the 4th Transportation Command, I somehow got the phone number of the corps director of a Frankfurt drum corps. A few days later I was picked up by Manfred Wiede and some others. One of the guys in the back seat turned out to be an American named Pete Montanez who was the DM for The Geneseo Knights and was also in the Madison Scouts guard. I liked what I saw with the corps and started teaching their horn line. After that season we started on making the next year memorable. Drum corps in Germany was on the rise but behind Great Britain and The Netherlands. Lots of enthusiastic people though in Germany! We planned the music for the next year opening with "The Score" by Emerson, Lake and Powell (Cozy replaced Carl Palmer). New uniforms and drums. We put together a great show and did well. I spent a lot of time with these folks and even though I was not great at the German language, we understood each other. I left in 1988 to head back to the US. I got to judge a few shows in Germany and was excited to judge Jubal and Beatrix. Great times back then!
  17. My OP was not to slight the current HoF members at all. Just tossing another idea out there. Yes today's members normally only do about 2 to 3 years. I personally marched 8 years total in junior and a few in senior/all-age. My time on some staff's both in the US and Germany added up to more time. No one would care that the Hoechster Schlossgarde horn line I took over in 87 and 88 were very good!
  18. God's healing touch on Ken and lots of prayers!
  19. A thought crossed my mind..... Is the HoF about the corps members who endure scorching sun and everything else that a rehearsal and a competitive summer brings OR is it about those taught, judge, volunteer, etc. I ask this because every year we never see a young person who put, let's say, their entire teenage years into the activity and walk away. In professional sports, it's usually about the players (mostly) with coaches and management second. I guess with all the young people in the activity since 1972 (start of DCI) that would be a hassle. Just throwing this thought out there!
  20. In the 1970's (when I marched junior) there were many corps. We (Royal Coachmen) spent a lot of time in Canada. I think our director felt we were fairly adjudicated in Canada as opposed to the debacle in NY. I remember competing against Opti-Knights, Precious Blood Cardinals, Midlanders, Opti-Lancers, Seneca Princemen, Etobicoke Crusaders, and later Oakland Crusaders and Seneca Optimists. Add Dutchboy Cadets, Ventures, St. Johns Girls, Krescendos, Flying Dutchmen, Les Compagnon, Kiwanis Kavaliers, etc. My first time I saw Les Eclipse was at a show in Oswego (when I was in the Army). Lots of corps up there with at least one competition every weekend. Not sure why the demise but probably the same reason that corps died in NY. I don't believe it was because of mergers because they all didn't last very long. Guess it was not fun for kids anymore. Maybe the activity became more serious or maybe more high school and college musicians saw the light and became the majority in corps.
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