elphaba01

"Getzen Contra": Thanks. It looks to be in fairly good shape also. I can remember when these horns were "new" (1962), and the commotion they caused when they first became available. The Garfield Cadets, St Raphaels Buccaneers,, Hawthorne Caballeros and the USAF "Blue Eagles" (Bolling AFB) were the first corps to use them. Elphaba

"Parades Prior": "Parades" were a quite common "preview" of the corps "back then", not only in the MidWest but the East also. The best "Parade Prior" I ever marched in was the 1967 Garfield "Invitational" walkathon. The marchers were treated to a free pass through a BEER GARDEN after the parade. Almost made it worthwhile, and the afternoon practice almost enjoyable.... Elphaba

"Would Have Loved to Have Marched With": 1961 Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights 1961 St Catherine's Queensmen 1964 St Kevins Emerald Knights Elphaba

"Kankakee Shadows": Yes, they did. I have a VERY old DCW (Chicago Issue) with a picture of the unit. The OLD MidWest CGC was a seedbed for some terriffic color guards. Some that come to mind were the Phantomettes, Mariners, Mutineers, Racine & Madison Scouts, Chicago Cavaliers, Casper Troopers (who copied the marching style of Alex Haddad's Phantomette guard) and Racine Kilties. Elphaba

"Kankakee": "Way Back" in the late 1950s and early 1960s Kankakee had a Winter Gurad that competed in the old Midwest Circuit. They were called the "Kankakee Shadows". The name came from their 'begining' when they marched behind the "Senior" Kankakee Color Guard from one of the local Veterans Posts. Elphaba

"Junior to Senior": Back in "The Day" there weren't many kids who marched "Band" then went to Junior or Senior corps. The "Usual" progression was: Junior to Senior to Instructor to Judge/Corps Director. Times have changed. Elphaba

nope. For once, you could attend separate events on separate nights, and weren't prevented from taking part in I&E (which it was rumored many couldn't in the past) due to rehearsals. That was some of the best fun. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> "DCA 2004": The Alumni Classic seemed to go rather well. The encores didn't drag the program too much past 2:00PM and all the participating units seemed to have a good day. Especially liked the Skyliners "In Your Face" finale, and the Hawthorne Caballeros entire marching program. Looking forward to 2005 Elphaba

Mysterious Corps": I came accross a corps called the "Burdett Golden Zippers" in a VERY old issue of Drum Corps News (mid 1960s). They were said to have been sposnored by the Burdett Zipper Company. I don't remember if it was a hoax or not, but Dick Blake, the Editor of DCN published a letter from someone claiming to be a member. Elphaba

"Kingston": Great matchup of the "Top 4" Eastern Contenders, and some terriffic performances by the rest of the field. Hawthorne's Alumni corps blew away the audience. If there had been a "People's Choice" Award, the Cab's Alumni would have won it..... Elphaba

"Tired of...." To borrow a line from Samuel Johnson: "He who is tired of listening to the USMC Drum Corps is tired of life"...... Semper Fi Elphaba

"Older Drum Corps": Going WAY back in time, the "Nationals" Preliminary contests had an "Inspection" line, a "Ready" line and the "Starting" line. Viewing the corps from the "Concert Side" you would almost always see three of them in one or the other stages of getting ready for "The Field". St Kevins Alumni have a GREAT "Old Timers" video of the corps at the 1962 VFW Nationals Prelims at Minneapolis MN. It illustrates the "Forward Movement" of the corps from the "Inspection" line right through their stepping "Off the Line". Elphaba

"Class A B & C": Remember well the old CYO Cirucits "letter" system and the HUGE number of Drum Corps, Marching Bands, Color Guards and Drill teams that would compete in the Championships, in all classes. There were so many units in metro Boston ALONE that the Championship Weekend was a TRUE "Championship Weekend", with contests running all day Saturday and Sunday. Elphaba

Caballeros 1976 One of the truly GREAT corps fielded by the 'Silverbrands'. Won the Championship (their 5th of the decade) with a 5+ POINT margin. OLE!!! Elphaba

"Greatest Bari Soloists": Hawthorne's Kent Pennel, mid 1980s soloist on "Maleguena". A few others who have performed brilliantly "Way back when" (considering what they had to work with in the way of instruments) include "Rugi" Rogoletti of the Cambridge Caballeros, John Magnifico of St Kevins Emerald Knights, the bari trio from the Chicago Cavaliers mid 1960s "Tiger Rag" set, John "Baby John" Chalmus of the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, and Bob Gaff of the Baltimore Yankee Rebels. Quite possibly the best of best is John Simpson. He made quite a name for himself with the old USAF "Blue Eagles" from Washington DC back in the late 1950's and early 1960s. He was recorded by Fleetwood (Along with super soloist Tommy Martin on Soprano bugle) for a featured solo spot, perfoming "Rhapsody In Blue", on the 1962 recording of the New York Skyliners "Portrait in Brass" album. There are many more, I am sure, but these names come come to mind. Elphaba WWW

"Fave Past Contests": Bridgeport Connecticut. Home of the annual "Parade of Champions" senior corps contest conducted by the Barnum Festival. The venue for the show, John F Kennedy Stadium at Central HS has been completly renovated and is a FANTASTIC place to hold a drum corps competition. The Bridgeport drum corps fans are pretty discerning, and quite "With It" as far as the activity goes. The "Park City" was at one time 'home' to something like 15 junior drum corps in the 1960s (Many of whose alumni are "Doing It One More Time" in the 2004 Reunion Corps) and a great many contests including the 1964 & 65 World Open Championships and the 1966 & 67 DCA title shows have been held there. Elphaba

"Silver & Brass": The old "Boys of 76" senior corps from Racine Wisconsin used GD Valve/rotor horns of this kind back in the 1960s. I believe Dave "Big Daddy" Richards was their horn instructor. Elphaba

"Remember When": The Senior World Open Contests (run by Drum Corps News in conjuction with the Junior World Open) in 1963 & 1964 were won by the New York Skyliners & Connecticut Hurricanes. The DCN hosted Senior World Open Invitational in 1971 which was won by the Skyliners. The 1963 show was held in Roosevelt Stadium and the 64 & 71 contests in Bridgeport's JFK. Elphaba

"Back In the Day-1960s": "Releases": Most of the East Coast, New England, CYO & Mid Atlantic drum corps circuits had a "release" rule which stipulated that a Circuit corps could accept a member from another Circuit unit only via a written release. Since most of the competition in those days was "Local" ("Touring" was a trip to one or the other of the Veterans Championships) and in "Circuits" the 'release' rule was easy to 'enforce'. In the main, almost all the junior corps memberships of that era was "local", and "Loyalty" to the "Parent Unit" was pretty intense. A certain amount of "Changing Sides" did ocour, usually from one of the "smaller" units to one of the "Contenders", but not at all like the frequency of 'corps jumping' that is present in the era of DCI. Elphaba

My Memory: Butler Catholic Daughters of America Our Lady of Chesochowa (spelling) Ramblers St Michaels Chi Angels St Patricks Imperials St Mathias Cadets St Francis Sancians St Ritas Brassmen St Ignatius Cadets St Johns Girls St Paul Scouts were a Explorer Scouts drum corps. Elphaba

"Olde School": Remember when: The Madison & Racine Scouts wore actual Boy Scout uniforms (this is late 1950s early 1960s). Also, both corps carried marching glockenspiels. The Chicago Royal Airs were the "Alamo Rangers". The Santa Clara Vanguard was the "Sunnyvale Sparks". The Anahiem Scouts were the 'seedbed' for both the Anahiem Kingsmen & the Velvet Knights. Boston Massachusetts had a TON of great junior corps and most of them were beating the Boston/Hyde Park Crusaders. Their numbers included: St Kevins Emerald Knights Cambridge Caballeros IC Reveries St Marys Cardinals St Marys Majestic Knights St Rose Scarlet Lancers St Thomas Moore Cadets Braintree Warriors Boston Gatesmen Malden Cavaliers The state of New Jersey was the drum corps capital of the nation with both junior National Champions (Blessed Sacrament & Garfield Cadets) and the senior Legion Champion (Hawthorne Caballeros) all within a couple of miles of each other. The Hawthorne Caballeros winning seven American Legion National Championships (1958 through 1964) in a row. The first contra bass bugles were introduced (1962) and the corps that carried them: St Raphaels Buccaneers, Garfield Cadets, Hawthorne Caballeros & the USAF "Blue Eagles" from Bolling AFB DC. All of the great juniors that were lost in 1962, St Vincents Cadets, Cambridge Caballeros, Our Lady of Loretto, St Catherines Queensmen & Marionettes, and Floyd Bennet Golden Eagles. This was the greatest pre DCI "crash & burn" until 1968 when the Viet Nam War "draft" wiped out: Bridgeport PAL Cadets, St Raphaels Buccaneers, Chicago Royal Airs, St Roccos Cadets, NY Kingsmen, Pittsfield Cavaliers, and the St Kevins Emerald Knights. There are many more "moments" from this time period, but the above listed come to mind. Elphaba

"Gone But Definitly NOT Forgotten": St Catherines Queensmen Selden Cadets Our Lady of Loretto Knights Floyd Bennet Golden Eagles OLPH Ridgemen NY Kingsmen St Josephs Patron Cadets Babylon Islanders Smithtown Freelancers CMCC Warriors Manhattanaires Carter Cadets Knickerbockers St Roccos Cadets Staten Island Lawmen Staten Island Thunderbirds I'm sure there are quite a few more "Metro" New York corps that have been missed (my apologies). The above listed come to mind. Elphaba

"Memorial Days Past": I remember "Splitting" the corps, sending each "half" to a different parade, in different towns. We usually marched both days of the Memorial Day Weekend, and often had a full corps field exibion or a contest Saturday night. The July Fourth weekend was often busier, with multiple parades and contests all weekend. Elphaba

Being an old time Vet, several excellent sop's besides Art and Art ( Can't remember how to spell their last names) of the 60's Hurricanes come to mind; Tommy Martin - Skyliners, a little known player from the 50' and 60's Ken Adams of the Geneva Apple knockers and Don Angelica of Hawthorne. There are many more from that era who given the three vavle trumpet keyed to a bugle range could surpass a lot of today's sop players. Remember these guys did it with just a valve and rotary. "Art & Art": One of the "Arts" is none other than 'Art' Hylwa the Hurricane's gret soprano soloist throughout the late 1950s and the Championship years of the 1960s. He is currently the horn instructor for the Connecticut Alumni senior corps and the 2004 "Park City Pride" Bridgeprt Ct 'Reunion Corps'. He is still a GREAT hornplayer, as demonstrated at a recent "Pride" rehearsal. A few other great soprano soloists of the 1960s senior era include Tom "Bucky" Swan, Ray Eyler, Harold "Skip" Groff, Jimmy D'Amico, Dave Fite, Frank "Junior" Ferraro, and Riggie Laus. Some of these guys "did it" on a valve/SLIDE GD Getzen. There are no doubt, many more, but these names come to mind. Elphaba