up4479

IMO there's a lot of truth in that but let's not forget our other friends. On the other hand I joined in '76 and the corps dropped a place. HMMMMM.

1965 booster decal

I recently bought a copy and think its great! Steve Solombrino

The original clock face was set up for 15 minute quarters, the pro time. It ran in a "clockwise" direction. Later it was changed to 12 minute quarters, the high school time. That's why it looked like a regular clock running backwards.

The thread where Ohio senior corps spawned junior corps got me thinking of how drum corps used to spread. I'm not sure things work at the same scale today. There are certainly fewer corps. Here is my story. My grandfather Carmine (father's father) is a good place to start. He was in the U. S. Army during WW I and marched in an Army field band playing woodwinds in France. After the war he came back then joined a circus band and toured widely. He then joined the Navy between the wars and was in the band aboard the U.S.S. Pennsylvania between the wars as she served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets visiting many ports both U.S. and foreign where the band played at each stop. He returned to civilian life and played oboe with the North Shore Philharmonic and marched in another Army field band as a reservist. There were other bands and orchestras he played in during this time as well. My father Al, picked up the trumpet when very young and marched in three bands at the same time (Let's not forget the dance band he lead under the name of Al Kray where Herb Pomeroy, Gene DiStasio and others got their start as high school kids.) He would start each home town parade (Revere, MA) with the Revere High School Band. There were several future drum corps parents in that band including the majorette, my mother, Adelva. When the band got to the finish he would then run back with his horn, change and jump in the middle of the parade with St. Anthony's Band. (Years later George Zingali and other drum corps people would get their start there.) He would then run back again, change and march with the American Legion Post 61 band at the back of the parade. (His father marched with that band too!) Later, my father's cousin Vin Giarrusso along with Ray Samoura started Fleetwood Records and Drum Corps News. My father and John Lascowski went on the road and sold records and Drum Dorps News at shows. The World Open was born and yet another cousin's kid, Joe Chiccarelli (Google him for fun.) would do field recordings and studio engineering for Fleetwood. (The current owner of Fleetwood, Wayne Terminello marched with the I.C. Reveries and took a job at the studio with Fleetwood. He eventually took over part of the business when the original partners gave up. He never left and decades later Wayne with help from Ray and others digitized the Fleetwood catalog and re-released all the drum corps albums.) All that drum corps stuff (every major junior and senior show and more) was too exciting for my dad to not be more involved so when I was 8, I (and later my brother Scott) was introduced to marching with the I.C. Reveries Juniors. The Senior Reveries (they were a 21 and under corps) were run by the Browns, Sheas and Bonfiglios who went to school with my parents. All their kids would march in the Reveries and/or 27th Lancers. My parents became heavily involved with the corps after I joined and Al still sold records. After the Senior Reveies did the sit down strike at the 1966 VFW and due to some other issues the seniors were disbanded after the 1967 season, my parents supported the Bonfiglios when 27th was formed. They ran the concessions at both the Reveries' and Lancers' shows for years and did a lot of other behind the scenes work for both corps. (This was in addition to working with the local circuits, judges associations, Fleetwood, etc.) My father eventually became director of the Reveries and later co-director of the Reverie/Blue Angels and then Northstar. During this period several children of my parents' friends and former Revere High Band members joined the Reveries. Other kids were recruited by my father at the record tables at various shows. All these kids were long time marchers. Many of the Reveries kids (and 27th kids and Northstar kids as well) later became long time instructors and judges for drum corps and bands including working on staff for Blue Devils, Santa Clara, Garfield and Phanthom. Several of the former members of the Reveries, 27th and Northstar had kids who marched with several great drum corps and bands. Its too soon to tell but maybe some of them will also continue on as adults in some fashion. I marched for a total of 11 years in junior corps with the Reveries, Reverie/Blue Angels, the beginning of Northstar, then 27th. My brother did the same with the exception of 27th. I later I became involved with and marched with the 27th "Once More In '94" corps. There are hundreds of stories of how people expanded upon their involvement with drum corps BITD. What's your's?

Not a new idea in that DCA used to do something like this on a weekly basis. In the old days all the corps would show up at whatever town the show was in on that particular Saturday night, find their own practice area, count heads and adjust their music and drill accordingly. Everything had to be worked out on the fly in one afternoon. This went on for many years. It may not have always been great but it worked. It was more like show up for as many shows as you could but you had to know the music. That's what the one or two weeknight practices were for and don't forget that many had been playing for decades. No two performances were the same. Each week the top spot could be up for grabs depending on many factors. Everyone would show up for the really important shows and usually the biggest and loudest would win but they all could play well. Don't forget, back then, DCA corps didn't practice several days a week like they do now. That's why many now have alumni corps that often dwarf their competitive counterparts. Acting like a DCI corps is a lot of work for those that work for a living. Steve Solombrino

In IIRC 1966, the I.C. Reveries Jrs. appeared on Boom Town with Rex Trailer. http://www.rextrailer.tv/ We did a reduced size field show on camera in the parking lot at the WBZ TV studio on Soldiers Field Road and then each member appeared individually during the possy segment of the show. That is when the children in the studio audience passed through a door in the set that was supposed to be the sheriff's office. This was done on camera allowing each kid five seconds of fame with a head shot.

I went with Argonne because I feel they had great arrangements, always had great intonation and played clean. IMO they were the most consistent from performance to performance. Other corps had great moments. Great one show and not so great the next. An example would be 27th. In 1971 they won the World Open and only had 1 tick against them in horn execution. This was in a show with all the top corps there, all in great form. (Jim Wedge carried those execution sheets in his briefcase for years to prove a point to later 27th horn lines.) I'm sure the line never played that well again that year though they were very good throughout the season. I'm also sure that other lines had near perfect shows from time to time and season to season but Argonne was always the line to learn from in their prime. This was also a decade where there were many great horn lines in existence all at once, year after year as opposed to the 60's where there were about three or four truly great lines each year. Let's not forget that during that time (up to probably some time in the early 80's) most corps were street gangs playing music, mostly by rote on mediocre instruments. A couple of decades later the horn lines may have been even greater but with mostly well trained musicians and better instruments. IMO, an apples to oranges comparison but if you were there in the 70's to play and listen you were always blown away by musicianship and sound despite the supposed lack of resources as compared to today. (We didn't need no amps to knock the stands down! )

Scoring was pretty straight forward in 71, but I don't remember getting scored for cadence. Can anyone enlighten me on this one. VFW rules required everyone to maintain a steady cadence of, if I remember correctly, 120 beats per minute. Changes in tempo were not allowed. It gave the timing and penalty judge more work to do during the show. This was one reason they had more than one stopwatch.

I.C. Reveries-I.C. Reveries Juniors St. Kevin's Emerald Knights-Emerald Gems-Emerald Chips (3 corps, class A, B and C) Blue Angels-Shooting Stars Braintree Warriors-Braintree Braves Spartins ST. Mary's Cardinals-St. Mary's Crusaders Everett Statesmen-Everett Statesmen Juniors Cambridge Caballeros-Cambridge Caballeros Gatesmen-Gatesmen Too many more to list just in the Boston area. Also in the Boston area some drill teams and CYO bands acted like feeder corps for Class A corps. This can be expanded to American Legion and VFW Post corps that had separate corps for adults and youths. Some DCA and other over 21yrs. circuits' corps had relationships with local under 21yrs. corps that acted like feeder corps though they were separate organizations. There were also some under 21yrs. corps that had relationships with other local corps with younger kids that acted like feeder corps though they were separate organizations. Some were class C and B feeding class A and some were even class C feeding nearby class B. Back in the day in the Boston area (late 50's through pre-DCI), we were marching kids as young as 7 who would march till they were 21 and then would march with corps as adults. They would progress to larger and more expert corps as they aged and gained experience. While very few relative to the very large numbers of kids back then made marching a life long experience, those that did are still out there.

What makes anyone think we haven't left for good already? To be fair, I'm from Boston. My signature tells only part of my DC background. I sat through nationals in Madison in 92. I hadn't been since Denver in 77. It was different as expected but not real satisfying. Nationals came to Boston in 94 when I performed with 27th and sat through the other two nights. Ehh. Nationals were not a memorable experience for me that year except for our performance. My next show was nationals again in Boston in 05, all three nights. It was there I remembered why I hadn't gone to a show since 94. I won't be making that mistake ever again therefor woodwinds are OK because I don't care what DCI does in the future. I won't be sitting through it anyway. I know I'm not alone. BTW, my grandfather was a pro woodwind player. I have nothing against woodwinds or those that play them. Have fun.

I was in the stands on the 50 that night. No rain. Biggest drum corps crowd ever in Manning Bowl. 22,000 plus in a stadium with a 21,000 capacity. Best World Open ever, IMO.

Yes! Exactly! I forgot about that famous quote.

They recently took delivery of another set from Kanstul. As I understand it all Kanstul horns are made to order regardless of the key or price so making 2 valve G bugles is not an issue for Kanstul. BTW, I started out in 1965 with a slip slide G D Getzen and for the Lancers in '94 I bought a 3 valve G Kanstul. That helped me transition to a Bb trumpet a few years later. I still mostly play my Kanstul even though I have my father's circa 1946 Martin Committee. I guess after all these years I still "hear" music with an ear for G instruments.

Yes. Some big shows like the U.S. Open, World Open, American Legion and VFW conventions had mandatory parades as part of the deal. Sort of like a side show. Some celebrations like the Barnum Festival or a giant 4th of July town celebration like Bristol, RI had a huge parade (with seemingly endless waiting to start) and the show was, well, the side show. Some of the parades were also judged using various schemes. In the end it was always a killer having to march an exhausting parade for a couple or three miles in the hot sun in front of an indifferent or worse, hostile crowd (think lots of beer) and then having to get your act together that same night for an important show. The horn line was often required to play virtually the whole way (some organizers had "watchers" follow musical units to make sure they played) and blisters and/or very hot, sore feet from scorching pavement were often just two added attractions to make your show performance all the more difficult. We've all been there I think. Even today (I'm 52, you'd think I'd get over it by now.) I still hate parades and will not even go to watch. I have other drum corps friends that love them and still go out of their way to watch one. Go figure.

It was always more fun when they were facing the same direction we were. More than a few got knocked around by us over the years. Since most of us hated parades, looking for "targets" like this was our entertainment. OK, OK. We weren't mean to little kids or pets that got in the way, just adults and especially teenagers!

I agree. Not only that but five years from now when you listen to the recordings you'll have the same problem.

So now I'll return the favor...take a look at the IC Reveries guy whose out of step When I saw this I figured I knew who it had to be. (The guy I'm thinking of not only marched out of step and out of phase. In later years when he was with 27th, Jim Wedge would plug his mouthpiece as we entered the field! Keith Hall can probably ques who I'm thinking of. ) After looking at it I'm not quite sure who it is but he should have been spanked! Knowing the contra player behind him, I think he probably did. BTW, its not me. Go here for more Reverie photos. http://imageevent.com/up4479/icreveries Go here for more 27th photos. http://imageevent.com/up4479/27thlancers

The first pic with the blue drums is the Mariners. The next two with the red drums are the I.C. Reveries from Revere, MA. Thanks for sharing photos from what IMO was the best World Open ever! BTW, my family was directly involved with Fleetwood Records, Drum Corps News and the World Open. In addition to marching with the Reveries with my dad as corps director in the later years. I got to work the World Open (and of course watch the show each year), go to shows all over the Northeast and sell records and DCN and got to edit a couple of albums with my cousin (who is still a Grammy winning recording engineer and producer). I had a charmed drum corps life as a kid! At least till DCI came along. Mariners then Stockton Commodores - World Open Parade - July 16, 1971

From what I remember in the Boston area, CYO, Eastern Mass and probably Mayflower all started their seasons on Memorial Day weekend but no shows on Memoial Day itself so units could suck up as much parade money as they could. The show in New London, CT would run either Saturday or Sunday night in the 70's and attract some of the more powerful corps from the North East. In the 60's the show was run later in the season as it was more recently. The big hurtle was always the weather. Not so much at the shows and parades as the weeks leading up to that weekend. Many a night were spent freezing and wet behind Northgate Shopping Plaza by the I.C. Reveries and 27th Lancers. No matter how much of the drill you put together indoors during the winter you needed to get outside in order to practice on a full size field. The amazing thing was we were always ready for that first weekend! After all, these first shows usually set the tone for the season and counted in CYO for the seasonal championship. I remember other corps taking penalties for being under time as their shows were not yet complete. Everyone was rough! The crowds loved it though. It was great to be outside after our long winters. A bit of personal history. The I. C. Reveries Jr. corps continued on after the Sr. corps was disbanded and formed the 27th Lancers. We were a championship corps in Class C (Eastern Mass and CYO) in 1968, continued our dominance in Class B in 1969 and 1970 and were forced to progress to Class A (Open class, or Division 1 or any other name for the big corps) for 1971. The first show of the season was a CYO show at White Stadium at Franklin Park in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. We won that show, our first Class A show! (We still have the trophy!) While we were a small corps we managed to show we were ready for the season and set the stage for very heated local competition in the years to come. The more established Class A corps learned a lesson and were always more prepared in following years.

Pioneer doing a tribute to 27th Lancers, with Danny Boy, Celebration Suite and Crown Imperial March Actually, Pioneer did a tribute to 27th in 1994. They played Gary Owen March and Danny Boy to in part celebrate the rebirth of 27th as an alumni corps. Someone from Pioneer actually called George Bonfiglio and asked permission for Pioneer to play Danny Boy for 1994. 27th was in the midst of preparing our show for 1994 nationals and they were afraid of stealing our thunder or something to that effect. When George told us, we knew we were on to something big. Of course George said yes. It was a great behind the scenes moment.

This is true. The performances were filmed on Boston Common either the day of or the day after the show. There are open playing fields along Charles Street over and next to the underground parking facility. That's the location. The performances were open to the public and many "in the know" watched. There were no stands but it is a very conspicuous location for any event in Boston. Check out Google maps or Google Earth by searching for Boston Common, Boston, MA and find the baseball diamond. If you zoom in on the satellite view you can see the borders of a football or soccer field lined out. Back in the day the border of the field and the 50 yard line were all that were needed for a field show so there were no problems with the corps performing in the open like that.

This was my first thought as well! I wasn't sure what to think. I must have spent their whole performance trying to make my eyes work. They performed well but the visual impact of the uniforms was a distraction, IMO. Steve Solombrino