MikeD

Excellent news! Will love to hear this. I'm guessing it is a soloist feature moment in the show.

I agree that "Ragtime" would be a great show. Lots of great music in it. I wonder if anyone might think of doing Fiddler 😀 Bayonne did part of A Chorus Line that was amazing.

I LOVE Spamalot. So much of the humor is in the text, you would need a lot of singing to make it work. Be great to see somebody try.

9/15/1963 in Livingston NJ at the Hilltoppers show. I was in the Hilltoppers feeder corps as a 10-year-old. I sat in a folding chair on the HS field sideline and was a runner for a judge. After each corps I would run up to my assigned judge, grab the completed sheet, and we'd take turns running them into the school where the tabulators were. Position Corps Score 1 Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights 87.623 2 Saint Kevin's Emerald Knights 85.430 3 Garfield Cadets 84.266 4 Selden Cadets 78.443 5 Bracken Cavaliers 75.036 6 Belles of St. Mary's (NJ) 69.190 Exhibition 0 Hawthorne Caballeros Exhibition 0 Hilltoppers

Oh, yes. They got all sorts of bashing, even at their home show in Bayonne. There was a lot of VERY negative commentary in the stands as they marched to the field. They were AMAZING in 76 to me.

Very sad to hear this. I arranged "Feels So Good" in 1978 for the band where I was director. Just HAD to do a Mangione number back then!

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That is what I played in 1969 in a GSC corps. Yes...HEAVY!

We marched at the P-rade in 1970. This is Princeton U's annual alumni parade. They call it the biggest sloppy parade in the country. The campus back then was full of hippies. We got off the busses in our military looking unis and starting warming up to "Battle Hymn". The hippie types were giving us a whole lot of, well......., negative commentary. We looked like aliens in the midst of the "normal" kids. Our DM had the idea to play "White Rabbit" to warm up (with your amazing ending!), and all of a sudden we were surrounded by cheering kids. Needless to say, "White Rabbit" became the ONLY thing we played that day! 😀 OT: Oddly enough, the band I taught from 1994-2017 did the P-rade every year, so both of my kids got to march the same parade I did! Alums from 1970 who saw and gave me a lot of grief would still be marching the parade as decades older alums.

We formed a Peace Sign all 3 of my years in Garfield. 70 - after concert, we formed it to White Rabbit. The VFW powers-that-be hated us that year. However, at VFW Nats in Miami, the photos being taken of us in the form was amazing. We could see an amazing flooding of flashes as we formed the sign and moved it forward. 71 - A lot less pain by the VFW at that point, as we were doing a patriotic show about the American Revolution. The Peace Sign drill was to Battle Hymn. 72 - No More War Show. Peace Sign was moved to a Mahler Symphony.

Real basses tied together. One rim/head only. Later the drum companies started to make special bass-like drums for a while.

Corps were doing some bass stuff quite early, but much if it was not the tonal parts we are familiar with until the 70's. Dennis did a bunch with the Muchachos and then with Bayonne through the 70's. We in Garfield 71 tried to do a huge cannon boom on our largest bass with a followup "echo" on the smaller drum during a drum break in the Revolutionary War show. Judges would always hit us for "basses not playing together", so George Tuthill removed the "echo" effect. One of many issues we had with judges that year not really understanding what George had done. Prior to the tonality coming along, rudimental bass playing on smaller tight basses was big, with larger drums for straight type playing. Blessed Sac in the mid/late 60's was the best I ever saw on rudi playing. Before timpani, tying 2 or even 3 basses together with one head on each drum and tuning them to pitches became big in the late 60's. I played a double bass in 69 in a Garden State circuit corps. BS had a great triple bass player in 70, actually a guy who studied cello at a music school in Philly.

That would be great, with "Sometimes in Winter" as a ballad. I saw them live back when David Clayton Thomas was lead singer, I think when BS&T 3 was being released around 1970. Amazing concert. Lew Soloff on trumpet had been in Maynard's band, and it showed in his performance style. Bobby Colomby was my favorite "rock" drummer, with a lot of jazz influence. "Lucretia MacEvil" might fit in the show too.

Larry Kirchner was the new Bayonne's initial brass arranger in 76, with Dennis Delucia on drums. Bobby Hoffman was their visual guy. I think all 3 were still there in 79. Their 76 show with the new style caused a LOT of turmoil. A lot of old timers hated it. I went to their home show in Bayonne when they came around the school in their new unis. It was amazing to me, but wow, what a lot of negative comments in the stands.

More than the Scouts in 71. Garfield in 71 did a Revolutionary Was show, with the 2nd year of the Peace Sign drill. We passed out a printed libretto of the show to fans, a decade prior to Regiment. In 70, our first Peace Sign was formed to "White Rabbit:, and the heads of the VFW hated us, The Cavies did a partial Circus show, with costumes and movement. The Brassmen did a themed show featuring all sorts of rock and roll and anti-war stuff. We all made the Drum Corps News "End of drum corps" articles. I think the Scouts little girl was the corps director's daughter.

Yes, the chrome wall line was amazing. Bayonne had an amazing line. Dennis built their line aftet he left the Muchachos. The Bayonne staff in general was amazing. Kids who were in small corps were flocking to Bayonne after the decline of the Muchachos. Also, Garfield was on a decline somewhat in the mid/late 70s. Bayonne was THE place to go, plus their entire persona was very cool for young folks.

For their era, my favorite was 1971 Blue Rock. Mid 70's probably SCV, but also the Muchachos in 75. Late 60's Blessed Sacrament.

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East Lyme had a great band, and their percussion section was great. I judged their band competition many times in the 80's and early 90's. There was also a great fish store/restaurant just outside the high school. I had my first bowl of Rhode Island clam chowder there for dinner just before judging their competition. It became my favorite version of clam chowder.

Sounds like half the people in my NJ adult community.

A beautiful country in South America. 😎

He has done some great comedy. He has also done some wonderful drama on Broadway. Amazing guy!

He was a great man. And, his kids are also wonderful.

You should have seen the poster we passed out the next year, 1972, for our “No More War” show.

The libretto was a pretty detailed description of the music/movement of the show. Meant for audience members primarily