elphaba01
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Posts posted by elphaba01
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"As Time Goes By":
1960: St Vincents Cadets/Norman Prince
1961: St Ctherines Queensmen/Carver Gay Blades
1962: Caimbridge Caballeros/Interstatesmen
1963: Our Lady of Loretto Knights/USAF Bolling AFB Drum Corps
1964: Selden Cadets/Springfield Marksmen
1965: Chicago Royal Airs/Conn Royal Lancers/Rochester Crusaders
1966: Bridgeport PAL Cadets/St Raphaels Buccaneers/NY Kingsmen
1967: St Josephs of Batavia/Magnificent Yankees
1968: Chicago Vanguard
1969: St Josephs Patron Cadets (St Ritas Brassmen)
1970: Argonne Rebels
1971: Blue Rock/27th Lancers
Raise a glass to their memories. Absent friends.
Elphaba
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"Garfield Cadets Faves":
1962: King of Kings S/L fanfare, French National March OTL, Besame Mucho (Which was well on 'it's way to becomming a Garfield "Standard") West Side Story medley "Concert", March of the Olympians out of concert, Sound of Music medley for "Exit" Don Angelica was their writer/instrctor, I belive Les Parks taught the drum line and Hawthorne's Jim Costello wrote and taught the drill.
1963 was almost a copy of 1962, with the additions of American Salute at CP , Fire Dance at concert and I Have Dreamed as "Exit". It was easily their most dificult program of the early 1960's.
Elphaba
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4 hours ago, Bob P. said:
So Keith, to answer your own question, would you change the fact that you used Drum corps as an escape ?
As for me, I don't tend to review past minor decisions and, everything I did that related to drum corps, I definitely would not change - it was all good!
"All Good":
1958-1966, best years of my life.
No Regrets.
Elphaba
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8 hours ago, KeithHall said:
Just for FUN....... Pick any director in Drum Corps history as well as the staff. Okay, an All Star staff that YOU create!
Director......................Vince Bruni
Brass......................... Wayne Downey, Sandra Opie and Ted Key
Percussion............... Tom Float, Fred Sanford and Ralph Hardiman
Visual....................... Steve Brubaker, George Zingali and Vince Monacelli
Color Guard............Denise Bonfiglio
Program Coordinator....George Hopkins
Dream Team:
Directors: Jim Costello
Brass: Hy Drietzer & Joe Genero Tech: Sandie Opie
Percussion: Jerry Shelmer, Bobby Thompson. Tech: Earl Sturtz
Drill: Paul Palange & Jim Jones Tech; Frank Kubinak
Color Guard: Alex Haddad, Jim Jones
Prgram Co-Ordinator: Mickey Petrone
Elphaba
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On 12/6/2017 at 7:13 AM, KeithHall said:
First to play Contras? Mellophones?
First theme show? Was it Garfield Cadets? Madison Scouts? Cavaliers?
The best 1st year corps ever....Star of Indiana?
Who would be your first call as music arranger? Brass boss? Percussion boss? Visual Boss? Guard Boss? Corps Director?
(if you could pick the ALL STAR staff)
"First "Theme" Show":
None of the above. Departing from junior corps and "DCI" for a moment the first "Theme" show that I can remember came from the old Archer-Epler Musketeers senior corps back in the mid 1950's with their Camelot production.
They also did a "King and I" show, with the late Vince Degan shaved bald and dressed as the "King" stomping around barefooted on the field.
Great corps, great memories......
Elphaba
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2 hours ago, KeithHall said:
First to play Contras? Mellophones?
First theme show? Was it Garfield Cadets? Madison Scouts? Cavaliers?
The best 1st year corps ever....Star of Indiana?
Who would be your first call as music arranger? Brass boss? Percussion boss? Visual Boss? Guard Boss? Corps Director?
(if you could pick the ALL STAR staff)
"First Contras & Mellophones":
First contras were the Garfield Cadets and St Raphael's Buccaneers in 1962. Garfield was "First" with their debut at the Drum Corps News standstill contest at the Masque theatre in Newark NJ in the winter of 1962. St Raphael's was a week or so behind with their "Debut" at the DCN show in Boston at the Boston Garden.
The USAF "DC" corps from Bolling AFB and the Hawthorne Caballeros both fielded the Gentzen contras by mid season.
The first melophones MAY have been the Springfield Marksmen, Troy Interstatesmen and the St Geotge Olympians. I saw the horn being used by all three units at the 1964 World Open Prelims in Bridgeport CT.
Elphaba
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"Inovators":
Can you say Mickey Petrone, James Donnelly and Vinnie Cerbonne? They were the "Team" that mafe the legendary St Vincents Cadets of Bayonne NJ THE "Inovator" of the late 1940's and through the 1950's, not to mention many times national champion of the VFW and American Legion.
Mickey was to that era's drill as Jim Jones, Pete Emmons and George Zingale were in the marching revolutions that came later, and James Donnelly and Vincent Cerbonne were to that era of drum corps as Wayne Downey, Bobby Thompson and Jerry Shelmer were to later generations.
Along with pioneering many drill inovations, the National Dream Contest was the brainchild of the late Mr Petrone. This paved the way for several other "Indie" championships such as the World Open and CYO Nationals.
Elphaba
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"Remenber When":
1962: The first Getzen contra bass bugles arrived. The Garfield Cadets, Hawthorne Caballeros, the USAF "DC" Corps and our cross town rival St Raphael's Buccaneers were the first to have them. Garfield actually "Priemired" them first at the Drum Corps News "Masque" standstill in Newark NJ, closely followed by the Buccaneers in the DCN standstill at Boston Garden in Beantown.
1962: the first use of rudimental bass drums (At least the first time I ever saw them used), by the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights. They replaced two of their tennor drums in mid season with the two rudi bass.
Great memories.
Elphaba
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"Biggest Jump":
Possibly Santa Clara's vaulting from seventh place DCI Finals finish in 1980 to WINNING the DCI Finals in 1981. Blue Devils did very well in a one year period rising from an 24th place Prelim finish in 1973, to an ninth place Finals finish in 1974. In 1975 they finished third in Finals.
"Pre DCI" may be the Casper Troopers flying up from 11th place World Open non finalist in 1964 to winning that title in 1965. They also made quite a jump at the VFW Finals with a fourth place Finals result after placing eleventh in 1964.
Our cross town rivals from St Raphael's Buccaneers also did rather well in 1965 with a third place World Open Finals finish after placing fiftheenth in Prelins in 1964.
Elphaba
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16 hours ago, ironlips said:
There were many "championships" and champions in those days. One I recall very clearly was the 1970 Miami show.
While warming up the Garfield horn line, I kept hearing some pretty fine sounds from just out of sight around the other side of the stadium. When we finished I began to walk in that direction and the sound just got better and better.
It was a corps from Kansas I had never even heard of, the Argonne Rebels! And half the horn line seemed to be populated by 12 year-old girls!
When I finally got around in front of them the drum major gave a downbeat and they tore into Barnum and Bailey's like it was raw meat. I was totally gob-smacked.
When they finished I asked one of the kids, who taught their horns. "That lady over there", he replied, "Mrs. Opie."
Sandra Opie. She sure took me to school that day.
Then, that evening, Boston wailed Mancini's Conquest, complete with young Jimmy Centorino's scorching solo, and I stood on the back sideline as the Troopers blew open the circle while every flashbulb in the universe went off in my face.
I get high even now, just thinking about this stuff. The '70s? Yeah. What a trip.
"Girls in the Line":
Argonne wasn't alone in the co-ed hornline biz. BOTH the corps I marched in way back in the "60's", the Parish unit and the Lancers had "Girls" in the hornline, (Myself included), as did the Troopers (From day one I believe), and St Mathias Cadets.
Love the articles you post here.
Great memories.
Elphaba
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20 hours ago, BRASSO said:
None of these, imo.
The BEST National Championships in " the 1970's " would have to be the 1970 VFW Nationals Championships, in my view. If we are talking the sheer volume of top rated Corps, one would be hard pressed to find a better line up than this ( non DCI ) in the 70's :
Cavaliers
Boston Crusaders
27th Lancers
Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights
The Troopers
Madison Scouts
Blue Stars
Belleville Black Knights
Racine Scouts
And many others.
"Veterans Best":
Pretty much concur, although VFW Dallas 1971 comes mighty close with Santa Clara Vanguard, Troopers, 27th Lancers, Blue Rock, Anahiem Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, Garfield Cadets, Madison Scouts, Blue Stars, Boston Crusaders, St Paul Scouts and Bellville Black Knights.
End of a great era.
Raise a glass!!!! Bottoms up.
Elphaba
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16 hours ago, Fran Haring said:
1970 and 1971 VFW Nationals were great shows.
Keith, I'm with you on the U.S. Open. Marched there a couple of times and was a spectator for part of another one.
Not always a "best of the best" lineup... but the atmosphere in Marion was awesome!!! The town rolled out the red carpet for the corps, and the crowd was always fired up.
The World Open in 1971... my first year marching junior corps, my corps missed finals (by a lot... LOL) so we got to see the night show as fans. A great night for drum corps... all the big guns from that year were there. It was the first time I had seen corps like Santa Clara Vanguard, Anaheim Kingsmen, Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Blue Stars, Argonne Rebels, among others... and I was blown away.
"Boston Drum Corps Weekend 1971":
CYO Nationals, the World Open and the Danny Thomas Invitational. ALL the major junior players in that last year of "Pre DCI" Championships" went head to head for three slugfests in a row.
Blue Rock marched off with the CYO flag and the 27th Lancers out pointed the fields at the World Open and the Danny Thomas.
The two days of 1978 DCI Prelims in Boulder Colorado get our "Honorable Mention", primarily for the number of excellent corps that did NOT make it into the night show.
Great memories.
Elphaba
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On 10/26/2017 at 11:05 PM, BRASSO said:
The I.C. Reveries did not become the 27th Lancers however.. nor did they " morph " into anything else. The 1.C. Reveries continued on as a Drum Corps for more than a decade after the 1966 incident at the VFW Nationals.. The Mgt of the 27th Lancers left the I.C. Reveries after the '66 incident, and started their own Drum Corps, and named their brand new Corps the 27th Lancers, and copywrited the name. Years later, for example, when an alumni/ reunion Corps " 27th Lancers " group decided to keep that " 27th Lancers " name ( beyond '94), the original owners of the ' 27th Lancers " name went into court and got a court order for that Corps to drop the name . They protested that court order, but then acquiesced, and agreed to change the name from the" 27th Lancers" to "The Light Brigade". Ironically, neither the 1.C. Reveries, 27th Lancers, nor The Light Brigade ( all once fine Corps )perform any longer in either competitions, nor exhibitions. Finally, I'm not quite sure what any of this has to do with the subject matter, which is principally the American Flag, Color Presentations, its history, Freedoms and/ or Protests with the Flag, etc and so forth. Oh well.. we occasionally digress from time to time on here, and thats fine too, imo.
"I.C. Reveries to 27th Lancers"
"Legend" has it that the "I.C" Reveries (of 1966 VFW sitin fame), continued through the 1967season participating in the World Open show (Among others), and the instructors, members and the eventual director of "Two Seven" the late George Bonfiglio (Who had been a quartermaster for Revere), founded the Lancers in the Fall of that year.
"Legend" also has it that there was another "Reveries" junior corps that continued until the 1974 season, after which most of it's membership were absorbed by the 27th Lancers.
If there are any Reveries, or Lancers alums out there PLEASE jump in and lend clarification to all of this.
Elphaba
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On 10/13/2017 at 12:54 PM, JimF-LowBari said:
Easy as Hades to overblow lol....
And I have played piston rotor, 2v and 3v all in g.
"Getzen Deluxe":
Only had my trusty Getzen Deluxe GD valve slide bass baritone for 7 years, way back in the day.
Didn't worry too much about "Overblowing". Joe Genero and Hy Drietzer usually said we weren't playing LOUD ENOUGH!!!!!!
Elphaba
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2 hours ago, DAvery said:
Blue Stars never beat Star. Troopers sound good. Maybe Crossmen?
Troopers and Crossmen.
"Maybe Crossmen":
"Bones" was my other choice. I didn't want to put too many picks down. Troopers over their long career have beaten almost everyone at one time or another, particularly in the "Dynasty" years (1965-1974), as a lot of todays "World Beaters" were on the rise.
I have a memory of Crossmen having wins against almost all the "Giants" at one time or another, or holding them to a tie.
Elphaba
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"Wishing, and Hoping.....":
1972 Madison Scouts. They had a really rough start, but picked up enough momentum and members that by DCI time they could have slipped into the first ever Finals.
Another near miss that innaugural year were the resurgent Bellville Black Knights. The prior evening they had managed to beat DesPlaines Vanguard, the Bleu Raeders and Garfield Cadets, all of whom got past them in DCI Prelims.
Elphaba
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Blue Stars & Troopers
Elphaba
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3 hours ago, ajlisko said:
Also the breakout year for several "on the rise" corps as they moved up the ladder beating the guns ... Selden beat Garfield ... St. Lucy's topped Kevin's, Sac and Garfield ... Bpt PAL knocked off Boston and Garfield ... Vasella topped Sac, Garfield ... Boston topped Chicago, Sac and Garfield ... and a lot of GNYC corps scared the b'Jesus out of the "guns" they were chasing ... 64 - 66 were pivotal years in drum corps ... the great "equalizer" years ... what a great time to be in the activity ... :-)
"Pivitol Years":
INDEED!!!!!!!!!!! St Mary's Cardinals and St Joe's of Batavia had great seasons with the Card's over St Kevins many times, and St Josephs and the Cardinals great showings at VFW Prelims and Finals.
The "Rise of the Casper Troopers" kicked in at World Open Prelims when their Marching excellence GASSED the AM crowd, and their near miss for Finals (To crosstown rival PAL Cadets) got them the opening exibition slot in the night show. The rest is history.
It was indeed the "Best of times" to be part of junior Drum Corps!!!!!!!!!!!
Elphaba
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"Standout Season":
1964. Yeah, a very long time ago. That year to me was THE most incredibly competitive season ever in my short drum corps experience.
Everybody was beating everybody else, with Racine Kilties "Out of Nowhere" win at VFW, Boston Crusaders torrid win streak going into VFW Nationals, Chicago Royal Airs staying penalty free at the VFW's "Singer Bowl" show to win (St Kevins, Kilties and Chicago Cavaliers all sufered from the penalty hits), and St Kevins Emerald Knights upset win at the Dream show.
The great "Comebacks" of SKEK and Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights at the World Open, with Sac's Prelim win, and St Kevins tremendous show at Finals, which I thought they had won.
Great memories.
Elphaba
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"DCA Champ Fave:"
Quite possible the very first one at Milford's John Law HS in 1965. Not the greatest of locales, but "VERY up close and personnal" with the corps, as the concert side bleachers were so close, and the sell out crowd, both sides got me a seat on the sideline grass at the "50", with the super soloists of the day seranading me only a few feet away!!!!!!!!!!
One of my best ever drum corps memories!!!!!!!!!!
Elphaba
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4 hours ago, xandandl said:
The first DCI all-trombone corps???? (I kid, I kid.)
"Big Announcement fro Chicago":
Hey: How about "G BUGLES!!!!!!!!!!!"
Elphaba
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17 minutes ago, Kamarag said:
I hope no one ever shows Stu any videos of a band like West Chester University...he'll have an aneurysm.
"WCU's Imcomparables":
INDEED!!!!!! THE "Drum Corps Style" college band, or at least the most like one I've ever seen. I understand their director wrote/arranged Hawthorne Caballeros shows the last couple of years,
Elphaba
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4 hours ago, oldbandguy said:
Thank you Madison Scouts and DCP. A fitting tribute.
"Never Forget":
Thank you Madison Scouts and DCP. Truly a wonderfull tribute to those we lost.
Elphaba
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5 hours ago, dbriggs said:
I guess - except (at least this) old farts don't know or care who Radiohead is
"Radiohead":
Are they like Herman's Hermits, or the Rolling Stones or the Beatles??????
Elphaba
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All time shows: Corps that are no longer with us
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
'St Vincents Cadets":
THE "Great Grandfather" of modern drum corps.
Elphaba