Cadetsnare

Here are some more....1989...the peace symbol in the closer 1991 at WVU...typical daily beating! 1991 behind the beautiful vacation destination known as Teterboro Vo-Tech! :P I'm the 6th snare from the left. Incidentally, the guy on the left end is Gary Powell, the drummer for the Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things. They're HUGE in Europe (but so is David Hasselhoff...no accounting for taste! ) The last one is from the same rehearsal....ahh, to be young and skinny again! I'm the snare to the left of the xylo player on the left of the photo.

Yup...that's Lee. He's now the caption head for Carolina Crown. I was on the road doing the drumline for the Colts this season, and I was hoping to do a show with Crown, but our paths never crossed, though... Man, I can't believe that was 17 years ago!

Thanks for the "love"...many years ago, but I still try to stay in "fightin' shape"! You live in Portland? I live in Gold Beach, OR...I'm actually going to Portland on Aug 1st...PM me, and I'll buy you a drink! At least I still have all of my hair...the guy to the right of me is Lee Beddis...he's balder than a baby's butt now! By the way...the harnesses? They were painted by some dufus who was on the equipment crew. He painted 'em with a brush!!! AND....dig this....wood paint! So, here we are in New Jersey, 90+ degrees, humid, and the paint starts rubbing off on our shirts and hands! It was gross....maroon paint everywhere! After that fiasco, I don't think we ever repainted 'em, or else we'd have to strip the paint off, try to find maroon spraypaint, which we couldn't at the time...and we didn't have that kind of time on the road.

I'm the second snare in...the one looking pi**ed! It was pouring rain in Giant Staium in 1990. Thay was the line that won both DCI and the high percussion trophy, and the last line to win drums for Cadets until 2001 (unbelievable, eh?) Here's another..... I'm the 4th snare from the left...same show. Here's another... I'm the snare on the left who is fully visible....same show, raining cats and dogs...pardon the stick heights...we were mad that we had to do the show. Hot, rainy, busted our humps all day, now....sticky and smelly. Ug. One more... I love that shot...I don't remember why we only marched 9 intead of 10 that night...anyway, no plumes due to rain. I'm the short guy, 4 in from the left. Enjoy! These are the first pics I've seen from 1990 Cadets...anyone have any from 89 through 91?

1991....

Why not 2 brass judges? Because....no one really cares about brasslines. KIDDING!!!! (Runs and hides, donning his flame-retardant suit!)

Man, we were getting our butts handed to us all the way up to DCI South....Star, SCV were beating the snot out of us, and when we saw Cavies, they won 1, and we won 1...in fact, we only saw them twice during the season before Quarterfinals! We saw Phantom only once...Allentown, I think. We went through a 2 day rehearsal marathon (beating) right before South...after DCS, I don't think we went defeated after that. BUT....quarters? There was only 1 tenth seperating Cavies and us, then some ridiculously thight race behind that! I thought going into finals would be pretty clear-cut, but it sure wasn't! I think any corps could have won that week., especially the top 5!

1990...we had just added the "Bernstein Nightmare" a day ago, as it was called....after the Galop (yes, correct spelling...), we did this statement from "Sanctus"...yadda, yadda, and then there was this statement from Appalachian Spring where we did a "Stop and Go", and I blew it by 2 counts.....you guessed it....TRAIN WRECK!! I was next to the center snare, and 3 other cats came crashing into me! Thank God it was a quick recovery, and by the time we hit the "Tonight, Tonight" company front, it was over. Lee Beddis was the center that year, and boy, did we ever go head-to-head that night! Of course, it was my fault, but in the Cadets back then, there was a No-Screw-Up policy in effect at ALL times! Not a good time, but hey...everyone has to tick at least once, right? :)

Yup...90 was pretty tight going into the end....we had beat everyone, and everyone in the top 5 (except BD) had beaten us (Cadets)...it was nuts going into August. Only the 2 day child-beating in Birmingham that we went through made the difference for us. I gotta say, 85 and 87 were also pretty fierce as the season wore on for the top 5. I marched in 91, as well...I don't think it was competitive at the top AT ALL. Star had it locked up...2nd-4th was a jumble, but beyond that? Nahh.... I don't think it was a great year for DCI.

I voted 85, too. Jeramiah was RIDICULOUS, Make Our Garden Grow, to this day, is my favorite ballad, and the drill? Un-FREAKING-real!!!

A rookie? Oh, I get it. Me putting in a quarter of a century in the activity as a member and instructor and having 2 music degrees makes me a rookie. Only if someone was around the activity in the 50s and 60s....THEN they have a valid point. Nice. And no, I don't know what it is to pull out a slide to play a flat or a sharp note. I also don't know what it is to scratch on cave walls and beat my dinner with a club, either. I just know that there are much better ways of getting the job done. I respect what the people who went before me had to do to make their piece-of-junk instruments function...but it IS better NOW, period. Three valves that work well, pitched in a key that eases the learning of the instrument, and technique based off of universally-accepted concepts in the legit music world....versus...instruments that were built with archaeic tuning methods, pitched in a key that only guitarists can appreciate, and taught mostly by people without any pedagogic knowledge of their craft. Sorry....just glad it's 2007, that's all. Also, I have heard some of the recordings you mentioned...they didn't move me musically at all. Give me a Star 1991 horn line any day. At least music educators don't cringe and run away when they hear a recording of a post-1985 drum corps. It reminds me of an old joke..."Why did the College Music Professor cross the road?....To get away from the drum and bugle corps competition!" Hornlines simply play better today, with more musicality and better technique....end of statement. That point is not debateable. And I wouldn't be walking around New Jersey anyway...I'm originally from New Hampshire. But...I always wanted to walk around north Jersey in a wife beater like Tony Soprano...that would be kind of cool! And if I didn't do drum corps, I would have done what I did...prepare for a lifetime as a music educator, and audition for college as a functioning, sight-reading, competent musician. I'm glad I did drum corps for so many years, but it wasn't the pinnacle for me as a musician, that's for sure. Don't worry about missing finals....it's okay. Keep your eye open for the email from DCI, apologizing to you for making it inconvenient for you. Just stay home behind your keyboard and bi**h. I'll have a cold one for you with all of the Vic Firth folks. :mmm: "Just thinking of the modern days....and the fact that I now have a bed to sleep in since I just got off tour"......

CODI, when they invent a time machine, I'll personally donate 5,000$ to send you back....if they want you there. GOD BLESS MODERN DRUM CORPS! At least the kids actually learn musicianship now.

Man, this is undeniable proof of the Roswell landing! Scotty...beam all of our sticks up!

Alright snares, that's the LAST time you get ribs and buffalo wings before a show!

Jesus...I know Innovative Percussion says they're sticks are light and fast, but C'MON!!

Reed! How are ya, man??? Hope things are well in San Diego. Give Tom Cole a "Yo" for me!

....just thinking of the good NEW days, when musicians actually play like musicians.... I was there for part of the "good ole' days".....and they sucked. I grew up in New Hampshire in the 70s and 80s...Eastern Mass shows? Pistols going off in the middle of shows? 15 inch snare drums on slings with heads that constantly pulled out? Overblown horn lines? Sorry....you can keep all that junk. Buy a plane ticket to finals, man up, and instead of whining, why don't you go on the road this summer and teach a top 12 corps, like I just got off the road doing....unless what you learned in the good ole' days doesn't apply anymore. I see people complaining all over the board about the state of drum corps....how about DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT instead of being a keyboard quarterback? sorry...rant off.

I was in the Cadets in 90...if you check the scores that year, we were getting spanked by Star and SCV up until Birmingham. The corps went through two days of ridiculously long rehearsals, and something clicked. The book was always there, but it was not being performed until then. After Birmingham, we went untouched into finals. Cavies beat us once mid-season, and we beat them once. SCV was clean early on, but I think the depth of their book kept them out of the hunt at the end. Cavies had a crowd-pleasing show, for sure. If we hadn't gotten Uber-clean at the end, we'd have ended up in third or 4th. If I wasn't wearing Maroon, though, I would have been in Star that year. I LOVED their show!

Yes, Scouts will have 4 tenors. I talked to Roger Carter about a week ago or so, and told me they were short a guy. I made several calls, and talked to a buddy of mine who teaches percussion down in south Texas. I did a clinic there last year for his school (if you can believe this...the SAME school who is being sued by that marching instructor...), and they had a really smoking tenor player, so I hooked the two of them up, and as far as I know, he's there already learning the show, but isn't marching shows yet. Rog is an INCREDIBLE teacher, and I have full confidence that he'll get them to where they need to be VERY soon.

I started teaching high school lines to play with the tilt. It really, REALLY makes a HUGE difference in quality of sound. I wish we had done it at the Cadets. I'm now a HUGE proponant for the tilt.

Getting back on the road and TOURING again!!!

It would be AWESOME to see the Cadets wear uniforms like they did in the 80s....oh, wait....nevermind! :)

I'm touring with the Colts from June 22 through the 5th of July....PR is doing a bunch of shows with us then, so I'll see 'em in Iowa on the 22nd of June.

When I'm teaching a Yamaha line, the first thing I do after putting new Remo heads on everything is remove the center 2 guts from each of the snare assemblies. It REALLY cleans up the "Yamaha buzz" that all Yamaha snares have. Works like a charm, every time. No tape, no muffling.....just clear, meaty snare response. Or....they could just buy Pearls, and not have to do ANYTHING but tune up and play!!

The drumline sounds ridiculous, as usual. When you hear this year's production, you'll see what I mean by narration "overkill". They play their balls off, for sure. If they had the opportunity to simply play and move, pound for pound they're pretty #### untouchable. But....narration might kill GE, if it's percieved the way I saw it.