Galen

Here here, Chuck! May I also add Baroque Samba (Crossmen '91), Swing Swing Swing (Cadets '95) and Immanuel (Freelancers '85) to your list?

I'd LOVE to hear BD play TO again. Also a fan of 95 Glassmen, that doesn't get too many mentions these days. Some others that come to mind are Cadets 95, imo their most entertaining show of the 90's. Also, Phantom '99, Intro: Tchaikovsky's 4th Symph. finale. Phantom made Gail Royer's dream come true with that chart.

I can't wait to hear what their show will be.

2001, Pioneer missing semis by .05. 2003, Cap Reg missing semis by .3

Ah, the good old days of drum corps... Only brawl related story I have was from '01, with that little scrum in Huskie stadium between Cap Reg and the NIU football team. And we all know who REALLY won that one. ^0^

Here's the story as I've heard it told. I'm not an expert on it, so take it as you will. Sometime in the 80's, Boston tried a Europe tour, only they either ran out of money or had some severe financial difficulties and got stuck "across the pond". The city of Boston eventually had to bail them out financially just so they could get back. This whole thing exposed some internal mismanagement issues and led to the city actually forbidding the corps to use the name Boston Crusaders, since it had hurt the city's reputation. Why they called themselves "Boston" instead of "Crusaders" or something else, though, I'm not sure. Here's hoping somebody else fills in all the holes I've left.

I've read in other threads that BAC actually used A+E, in some form, during their 1984 show. Can somebody elaborate, specifically on to what extent (if any) they were penalized for using illegal instrumentation? Thanks.

I think Cadets had more GE for their show, imho their drum books were just as good. That year SHOULD have been a tie.

The crowd might also have been booing because they dropped a spot finals night.

I apologize in advance for my youthful ignorance, but what exactly does the "bell" portion of drum and bell corps entail?

I loved the drum judge tapes, but I found that the hornlines sounded very "distant". I know that the mikes were right in front of the pit, but the hornlines (even Phantom to a slight degree) sounded like they were muffled and playing farther away. They were all much clearer live, even from my Finals night seat in the far high corner of the end zone.

LOUD, LOUD, LOUD

You ever hear BD's hornline warm-up in person? Definitely worth the experience.

How big of a contra line do Scouts typically march? I think they marched 12 this past season and I'm pretty sure that's bigger than what they've had in recent years.

They weren't the only ones...

Not a drummer, but after listening to the drum judge's on the DVD's, you bet your ###. Those guys were SICK.

Funny about the Wright's, I used it 2 years that I marched and was told it was fine, but this year we were told at CR NOT to use Wright's Cream, because it is apparently abrasive. Our director even told me as I was en route to the shower with my horn NOT to use Wright's on it. The gel is ok, I guess, or at least less abrasive. Paul Collins (from The Br(x)### Shop), came by during everydays and gave us a basic horn-care clinic. He told us that the absolute best way to clean the horns was what hiccups mentioned, fill up a tub of warm, soapy water, completely dismantle the horn and put everything in. Let it soak, then snake out the slides, clean the valves, etc. He said that if we did that 2-3 times during tour, the horns should always work mechanically as long as they were kept care of. Of course, we wound up doing that 0 times during tour, it was pretty much our own responsibility to keep the horns clean. We were told this last season to use Tarni-shield, but I could never find it on tour. Tarn-X works pretty well for getting the black #### off the horns that builds up over time. And under NO circumstances should you ever use a toothbrush on silver horns, it leaves nice little scratches in the finish. They can work well for cleaning the valve caps, though. Horns should also NOT be exposed to fireworks, as falling ash can have a tendency to leave burn marks in the finish that are f'ing impossible to remove. Wish somebody had pointed this out to DCI before that opening ceremonies fiasco a couple years back.

Why not? Cap Reg is doing it, and I've heard of Spirit doing it in the past as well. Of course, that's an advantage of having your corps based in the south, the weather would be decent enough to let you start doing drill without having to rent out an indoor facility like we did last March. Good luck, Pio. I'm excited for you this year.

That opener's really something. I think it could still work today.

Every time I listen to BD '86, I always remember that closing image of that one big contra player who was drowning in his own sweat, and Rondo saying "That guy came to play"

BD '86, Crossmen '03 and (even though it's not jazz), Phantom '95 come to mind.

As bad as that is for the horns, it's still a cool hype. Some of my funniest memories from tours came from standing near Troopers in the retreat line and listen to their ripples go CLANK CLANK CLANK all the way down the line. I never had the opportunity to see Freelancers live, but I've seen some of their shows on tape, I really like '90, '93, '89 and '85, particularly the opening music.

Um, rain delay at prelims?

It is on the DVD, but it's a split second shot at the very end of the show. They cut away to it just as the middle cymbal's jumping (I don't remember if they catch the wind-up or not), and they cut away again just as he lands.

Or the rest of the corps on there, that would be really great too.