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Jaminbenb

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    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    George, in short, the problem was that nothing happened. :satisfied:

    The problem was that were were blowing people out in Brass and Visual and the Percussion gaps were very small.

    We were being told we were fine and dandy and that the show was peachy and we played it just peachy. :satisfied:

    Everyone else was yelling "HOW DA FXXX ARE WE LOSING TO DOSE KIDZ AN' FAHMAS!!?!?!?!?!?" and got told exactly why and what they could do to improve the program to get closer. In some cases, major changes. With simpler drill and modular programs and a longer season, a corps could ditch an entire number and add something reasonably easy.

    When people began to close in on Westshore, **then** we started getting things about programmatic issues. All of a sudden now that there was something good to compare the show to, there were things that were bothering the panels. By then it was largely too late to effect actual program rewrites.

    I'll continue on this subject, but I called off work. I either got food poisoned or some stomach virus that's got me really feeling crappy. :satisfied:

    There were some serious lessons learned from this I took with me as a staff member and as an adjudicator which I'll get into when I don't feel like I have 50 pounds of lead in my stomach and dizzy.

    And that's what I've said before...if the drumline started the year on the same page as the REST of the corps, I THINK it would have been different, and possibly closer, if not WSM winning the whole she-bang. But the drum instructor was new...wasn't as acclimated as the "lead guy" as some other people have been, and wasn't a good "cleaner"... the fact that next year was a serious bust proved that we were the "weakest link"!

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Oh and....the other thing... I think we have enough for a book on the W-men! I think we all need to get together and edit this stuff, conduct a few interviews, and get this baby published!

    The title should either be "Oh We're the Corps from Harrisburg..." or "Valdaree--Valderah"

    I figured between Jeff, "W" and me, we could get about 85% of this done, and add stuff from anyone else we can pull into it!

    --discuss, discuss--

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    OK...finally got through the whole she-bang...we talked about a LOT of the same shiite over the years.... the past few I think we finally realized we sound like a bunch of old drunk guys sitting at a bar remembering the same stuff 3-4 times over the course of a night! The only good thing was a few of the stories came back to us in better detail after a few times through it... in fact one that I mentioned (forget which one now) seemed to evolve into the correct story after about the fourth rendering!

    We never really DID get through the whole 1982-83-84 thing...a few spots we talked about it...then nada! so "W" 1982 ?!?! :tounge2:

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Saw the picture of the 1996 "1984 tomline reunion minus one" on FB, and it looked great! Was thinking though...Between 1996 and 1998, I was PROBABLY at my peak weight (about 380-90) and would NEVER have gotten a set of drums on! (that was a few years after I quit smoking, and just ate like a #### fiend!)

    I went through TWO separate weight loss things..and I'm back to putting it back on again... (gotta work on it) Lowest was 245, which didn't last long...250-260 was he past two-three years...but I'm back to about 270-75 depending upon which way the wind's blowing.... I don't feel QUITE as bad as Joe Itkor who went through the surgery, and went down and back over the past few.

    (I probably need to just quit drinking again....#### wine!)

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    My "mind" was there, and when it came to suggesting things, it worked...but my notation left a LOT to be desired! Don't get me wrong, Dane love the stuff I was doing with the pit, and I'd say that most of the written parts at that point were basic things, that we put in while having our cram sessions at Brian's place...but as the season wore on, there wasn't a part per-se, and things were more o less suggested and not written down as we heard the full product.

    • Like 1

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Shade stayed and they did well in 90, but I had gone back to LD plus I was helping Stauffer in his first year with Dane at Cliff....worked out ok for me

    I was bummed that Schell didn't want to stay at Cliff... THAT was the only way I would have continued teaching...but I didn't want it all by myself (I wasn't that good of a writer, and Brian wasn't willing to just write and be done with it) Dane offered it to me but I wasn't doing my own thing, so I had to wander away....

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Actually 89's show was a hodge pudge of stuff. Somehow Shade and I got the kids to over achieve until the week of chapters when Sam insisted on changes no one wanted. In 4 days contender to also ran. I quit after they performed

    Typical with him...the fact that some of these guys were totally misinformed on how to get the end of the season stuff working was amazing! That's why I loved working with guys like Dane and Dave R.! We got Noel on board with stuff like that at Hagerstown, and it worked...95% of it is playing the game!! Rook had the edge because he researched who was judging and reviewed old tapes to see what their "issue" was!

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Ok, so I'm sitting in the Hershey Theater tonight watching Ragtime, and had a memory thing.... I remember back when I was with Hershey, and we were told to bring our uniforms to practice one Sunday, we had a short performance to do... So we went to the Hershey Theater, played our show on the stage, and walked off....Norman Vincent Peale was standing there clapping and telling us we did a great job, and thanks for playing....

    :hehe:

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Still plugging here and there...got to page 450 today "Whoaa.....I'm half way therrrrrreeeee....." ($1. to Bon Jovi)

    Btw...Speaking of Jon Bon...did I ever tell you about the time I met him and his band at the Metron in Harrisburg?!?! This was about the time that "she's a little runaway" first came out, and they were still playing cruddy places... I went with a few friends that I worked with, and we saw the first set...were less than impressed, so we decided to go to another place (that had cheaper beer) And ran into them having a beer and a smoke out in the parking lot... High fived them and said great set..so they asked why we were leaving, and we said we wanted to catch another band at another place..and kept going.. :ninja:

    The history of the Westshoremen

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Historical Forum

    Posted

    Sammy M? oh god. one year too many teaching there

    He WAS a piece of work! God bless him, nice as hail guy, but just not on top of things from a "welcome to <insert year>" perspective.... I forget all of the songs, and don't remember where my tape is (and I don't feel like searching through my old program box right now) But 1981 was the LAST good cohesive show that they ever did, and I think 80% of it was suggested by either Bowser or me!

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