MikeD
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Posts posted by MikeD
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5 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:
Back in the days when DCA prelims and finals were on the same day it was a crap shoot if the concert would be played at Prelims. If a bunch of corps were at prelims then concert would be scrapped to save time. Still remember corps staff yelling “no concert” as we’d go in for prelims
Prelim rules at some of the big events, such as VFW Nats, mandated that there be no stopping at all. You would receive a penalty if the corps stopped. I think prelims shows were 7 1/2 to 8 min in my era.
We had to really practice NOT stopping at all when we rehearsed prelims shows, as there were often halts built into the regular show. Getting everybody to keep marking time in a spot that was normally a halt was tough. So much rehearsal time was put into the regular show with the stops that getting everybody to keep moving was not easy...all that muscle memory!
Here is an example....Garfield 1971. 1971 VFW Prelims
This is some film from the VFW prelims in Dallas that Roy Perez worked on and posted. At about 1:20 in this video, when we formed the Peace Sign in the prelims show we had to keep marking time and not stop. Note...Roy put our show music to the film, but it is in no way synched. It was silent Super-8 film or something.
Here is the World Open finals video recorded by the Haas family. World Open Finals
We start to form the Peace Sign at about 9:10 of the video. As can be seen, we do not mark time at all. We are at a halt unless we are moving to our spots before the hit to the stands. This is after concert and is our color pre.
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11 hours ago, cixelsyd said:
In your neighborhood, "BITD" would be 1959 or earlier.
In 1959, the Penn-Jersey circuit was cleaved in half permanently over a protested member transfer. Someone from St. Rocco's of Newark transferred to Sac without a release. The circuit ruled that he could, as long as he waited until a certain date to march in a contest. But then St. Rocco's granted a release after all, so on that basis Sac marched him a few days before the previously agreed-upon date... and all hell broke loose. Pretty soon, not only was Sac thrown out of the circuit, but 5 or 6 other corps who subsequently participated in an event with Sac were out of the circuit too.
I know circuits had various release processes back then, some stricter than others. That does not surprise me at all.
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12 hours ago, waliman4444 said:
Didn't Manny march with the Skyliners also?
I think so.
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11 hours ago, cixelsyd said:
I am not disputing that. Only pointing out that today, when everyone is a free agent every September, other corps offering spots to refugees is not the controversy it might have been BITD.
Going back to pre-DCI, when St Lucy's folded after the 69 season some of them went to the BS Golden Knights, including their amazing soloist Manny Salort (listen to his opening solo in the 69 opener El Conquistador). That helped BS have a great 1970 season, their last top season. I'm not sure if Manny made it to the season (due to personal issues, if I recall), but he was just one of the St Lucy's members who moved over.
Happened all the time. The Little Falls Cadets folded after the 68 season, and their girl guard moved en masse to Garfield for the 69 season to become the first females in the Cadets.
I marched 3 corps myself from 64-72, and most of the Cadets in my era had come from somewhere else outside of Garfield. It was pretty common back then. One reason the Garfield Plebes broke away from the Cadets and formed the Epochs was because relatively few of them made it to the big corps, as most members came from small corps all over NJ and NY.
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On 12/29/2022 at 11:33 PM, Jeff Ream said:
It’s not set up like that anymore. Multiple spaces for gender, age, staff, support…. You don’t get to use power or water free…. Gotta pay for school staff to be on site… there’s way more involved. And schools know they can get the $$$ cause they know corps need the school
I know that in NJ, any time there are people in a school there must be a custodian present who has a black seal for the furnace operation. On top of all other costs.
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Mod hat here...
Please refrain from making personal attacks on other posters. If you believe that a post is outside the guidelines, please report it. Mods are not on here full-time, so the assistance of others is greatly appreciated.
i have removed a few recent posts that crossed the line.
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On 12/15/2022 at 3:17 PM, IllianaLancerContra said:
Good question that I never considered. BITD many if not most Drum Corps members didn’t have marching band experience; I wonder if anyone on field at 2022 finals didn’t have marching band experience. Perhaps Troopers cellist I suppose.
We had a cellist in the band I wrote for a while back, for two years. When not playing her solos she was in the guard one year (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and a DM the other (Sweeney Todd).
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5 hours ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:
I can tell you this...I ate enough end pieces that I now flat REFUSE to eat end pieces. I won't do it...NOPE
End pieces are my favirite. Esp spreading PB so it doesn’t shred the bread.
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20 hours ago, waliman4444 said:
Posted this a few years ago...When I marched with the N.Y. Skyliners, one of my first shows was an exhibition we had at Lewisberg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.WE marched on a field surrounded by inmates who, while being guarded closely, appreciated our brief presentation...But the highlight of our brief presentation was an acknowledgement by one lone cellmate overlooking the field who yelled out:"Hey Pee Wee, Hey Pepe" as we left the field...Aparently the old Brooklyn neighborhood guy had made it to Lewisberg for a few years of R and R and when he recognized Pee Wee and Pepe, we(the corps) laughed our ##### off at our apparent popularity with the underworld set...Some of us picked horns and drums in our respective neighborhoods to express ourselves BITD....Others chose knives and guns...Needless to say, I was glad to be back on the bus and outside prison the prison walls
When I marched in the Cadets we used to have drill practice in the parking lot of the Bergen County jail in Hackensack in the evenings. We could hear the inmates yelling through the windows.
i wonder if us playing the same 12 minutes if music for hours on end, all summer long, would qualify as cruel and unusual punishment. 😀
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So many over the years...here a few outside of the many excellent choices here:
Cadets "Moondance"
Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights great closer "Free Again" (69 and 70)
Regiment Symphony #3 (Organ) by Saint Saens
Skyliners "Little Ol' New York" opener many times
27th Lancers "Crown Imperial" and "Danny Boy"
Bayonne's "What I Did For Love/One" closer from "A Chorus Line"
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Clovis HS from California is also marching in the parade. Another great music program.
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23 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:
I recall at a few DCA Corps having no-under 21 years old policy unless a parent was in the Corps.
After the 1971 season a good piece of Garfield’s drumline quit and joined the Cabs, who were the next town over in Hawthorne. George Tuthill was the drum guy for both, and Garfield let him go. None of the drummers were 21.
i switched to baritone to not play in the Garfield drumline under the new guy…Fred Sanford. 😮
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On 10/20/2022 at 12:10 AM, Jeff Ream said:
thanks Corporal O'Reilly
Or Agarn!
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On 10/8/2022 at 12:05 PM, greg_orangecounty said:
How did I not know about this!!?? I always thought Garfield were the original protestors with their "damed dirty hippy" peace sign.
Formed to White Rabbit the first time we did it in 1970.
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On 10/3/2022 at 7:44 PM, Terri Schehr said:
They put curfew at 10pm today. They’re saying our power should be up by Friday. We have water but it’s non-potable. And bluestream repaired the internet to our house. Just waiting on the power. Things should be a lot better by the weekend.
Our friends have power as of today, but no internet or TV.
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37 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:
Didn't help that I had about 5 pounds of frozen bait in freezer...😎
Dinner? 🥟🦪🍤🐟
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On 10/1/2022 at 9:48 AM, Terri Schehr said:
We went home yesterday. Minimal damage to our house. Fence is toast. Landscaping is gone. No water, power, or internet for an indeterminate time. We’re on our way to Illinois to stay with my sister until services are restored. If you are so inclined, say a prayer for the people of SW Florida. Our area is devastated. It will years for it to come back.
Our neighbors are still at their home in Punta Gorda. No power as of this morning, and they don’t know when the’ll get back to NJ. Was supposed to be tomorrow, but flights are not happening until Wednesday. There is a 9:00 PM curfew to keep looting down.
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Take care, and you have the support of everyone here.
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Moderator hat here:
Please refrain from making personal comments about posters. Discuss the topic, not a person’s personal viewpoint.
Thanks
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On 9/17/2022 at 2:27 PM, Weaklefthand4ever said:
In 1985, VK played Chimes Festival. My High School band played it the next year. So even back in the 80's, good HS band programs were copying DCI LOL.
Marching bands were emulating drum corps long before the 80's. The first band I taught as a freshman in college in 1971, was directed by one of the Cadets brass instructors. The wind score was written by Larry Kirchner, brass arranger for Blue Rock from Delaware, and the percussion by George Tuthill, who was the Cadets percussion person in 71. We actually used Blue Rock's opener of "American Salute" pretty much note-for-note since BR's arranger did the band chart.
Even before that, in the 60's there were a few corps people leading bands, like Don Angelica from Bergenfield NJ. They always did corps style shows.
Later in the 70's I was a band director. I arranged the 27'th Lancers "Crown Imperial" as our opener and used the Troopers "Battle Hymn" as our closer, pretty much note for note.
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A couple of posts have been removed for being political in nature
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6 hours ago, ironlips said:
Sadly, drum corps has often given evidence of this, particularly in percussion. But it's really a question of perseverance. Think Shellmer, Sanford, Hardimon...etc., all of whose initial innovations (each distinctly "musical" and progressive) were greeted with knee-cracks.
The question is, how long can a corps persevere, suffering those "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"? (Apologies for the mixed metaphors.)
I would add George Tuthill to that. Garfield let him go after the 71 season, and a good portion of the drumline left, moving to the Cabs where he was also teaching. His percussion score to your 71 brass score was great, though many of the older drum judges were not quite sure what to make of the drumline being split into two with the brass.
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My daughter lives in London, Greenwich to be more precise.
She came home to visit us a few weeks back, and flies back tomorrow.
When she came here it was Queen Elizabeth and PM Boris Johnson,
She flies home to King Charles and PM Liz Truss.
I think it is her fault. 😃
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#DCI2023 rules proposal voting results
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
In my era the shows were 11 1/2 - 13 minutes. Execution stopped at about 11 minutes. In the World Open finals video I posted above, you hear a gun at about 11 min, 10 seconds. That signaled the end of execution for us.