Northern Thunder

Here you go, Jim: Dear Reader, It has come to our attention that there are broken video links in the article “Drum Corps Japan Championship showcases 22 corps in three divisions” that begins on page 8 of the January 2020, Volume 48, Number 15, issue transmitted on Friday, December 20. Please be advised that you can view the entire performances of each of the 22 competitors and several guest corps directly at http://bit.ly/2EGiIr8, courtesy of "Drum Corps Fun” (#drumcorpsfun). The photos within the article are also attlributed to #drumcorpsfun. Many thanks to Mr. Hiroshi Ozawa with Drum Corps Fun for his permission to include the photos in the article. The video linked from the article does not include short clips of the corps, but note that the title and full description shows the links to all of the full corps performances at #drumcorpsfun. For your convenience, you can use the list below to go directly to a performance you may wish to see at #drumcorpsfun. Performer /// Link to Official Drum Corps Japan Championship Videos Division III performances Kamakura Women's Univ HS Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cM0Wtjd5wY SATSUKI DREAMERS Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49dpxqhcFU4 Legend of ANGELS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8L5fGZ3rUg SONIC LANCERS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1L-KX8-dI Tokyo Phoenix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cfbgaTLeBw PHOENIX REGIMENT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3IdxW95zvo Imperial Sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n43V4JPxjkw Zama City Girl Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b4y4vvy5yI Tsutsujigaoka Junior Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEAe3RcPWW8 The Garnet Nagasaki Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blAqdapXsd8 Division II performances FUKUOKA Dream Scouts Performance Corps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL1L-KX8-dI GENESIS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P_fiJbOAtY THE FOCUS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIWq_uTF_UM White Galaxy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63hmUbn7Beo 2019 JOKERS Drum & Bugle Corps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8BbRCmbOwA (Note: Jokers AJC performance recording is not available.) SENDAI Verdures https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4UN2glFSBE Shonan Dolphins Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMVbU1YVWg Division I performances Yokohama INSPIRES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P_fiJbOAtY THE YOKOHAMA SCOUTS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxy8s1EH19U Shonandai HS Brass Club White Shooting Stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKhF0zabOaI Alumni performance Yokohama INSPIRES Alumni https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blAqdapXsd8 Guest performances Yokohama Heian Elementary School Marching Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yqg-KXqlwE Yokohama Shioda Junior HS Pacific Winds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iUFGrzks5o Marching Kids Saitama Elementary School https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InGcd4f-43A Kanto Gakuin Marching Band http://bit.ly/2ECr5Uz My apologies for the incomplete links contained in Gary Dickelman’s excellent article on the Drum Corps Japan Championships! He will have a third report in the February 2020 edition, released on Friday, January 31, covering the mid-December Japanese Marching Band Association Championship that includes some of the drum and bugle corps and like groups that appeared at earlier events he included in the November and December on-line magazines. Go here to view those earlier issues — https://www.drumcorpsworld.com/pdf-issues/. The new year and a new schedule of events are getting underway and no doubt every organization in the worldwide activity is preparing for what they hope will be their best and most successful season of competition. What most fans are always waiting for is news of tour stops for their favorite corps and what programs and repertoire will be included to entertain audiences all around the world. Because of copyright permission and video synchronization rights, announcements of specific plans have become delayed, in many cases, into the late spring or early summer. DCI has announced their tentative line-up of competitions across the country (see DCI.org) and ticket sales for some events have recently been put on sale. As the months roll by, additional seating will be available for you to decide where and when to get a good look at costumes and the musical selections the corps will be presenting for judges. We will continue to monitor news and provide a wide array of content as the 2020 season moves closer to reality! Steve Vickers Publisher Drum Corps World

If you look at the last few pages of the monthly Drum Corps World online issues, you'll see they have a cd with the Royal Coachmen from the 1973 U. S. Open.

I sat next to Tom Root 50 years ago at the Minnesota All-State Band Camp. He played tuba, and was fresh out of the University of Minnesota as a student clinician. I was a trombone player, a few years younger than Tom. You can always appreciate the good memories you had when you enjoyed drum corps some years back.

John Ratzenberger (Cliff Clavin from Cheers) IS in the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-bf6lvxUQ8 And the corps he marched with were CT Royal Lancers and St. Ann's Loyalairs.

And then there were the 1977 Bengal Lancers...... they won the DCI Class 'A' Championship on August 17. On August 27, at the UOEC Championship, they were found to have marched overage members during the year. The corps director immediately pulled them out of the Garden State Championship, which was held the very next day. DCI never did anything to punish them, despite the fact they won the DCI title. I guess all their attention was on the Bridgemen that year.

Michael Trump was a member back in 1990. https://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/end-of-summer-scuba-diving-trip-to-niagara-ends-in-tragedy-for-family-with-reading-ties

bluecoats88 is correct. Troopers also beat Madison during the 2007, 2008 & 2009 seasons.

Blakeslee is a FANTASTIC drum corps venue! The very last time I ever spoke to Gail Royer, was in the end zone at Blakeslee on July 5, 1992. Had a great talk with him in his final year with SCV. Sadly, just 11 months later, he passed away. He told me he had no idea what he was going to do after he left the corps.

Twice we had some extremely dangerous weather conditions get in the way at TCF. The first one (2010) was serious enough to keep a number of people completely away from the show in later years.

I think DCI wants an indoor facility. The sound in the great outdoors was GREAT at TCF Bank, but it seems the days of major outdoor drum corps shows are gone.

DCI Minnesota may move into US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in the future.

And their fine 1973 hornline (one of the best in DCI) had 23 females, out of 6o total.

They sure did, Fran! When they tore off the line playing Miserlou, they had the crowd begging for more. Along with Blue Rock, Del was the most impressive corps at that show.

Is that you, George??

Hi Mike! I used to do an annual active North American junior corps census for Drum Corps World....probably did them for 20 years. The index of corps that appears in the Drum Corps World book A History of Drum & Bugle Corps, was done by me. It turns out that with more digital sources available today there were MANY more active junior corps than were ever published. I have recently found corps that literally nobody ever heard of, that did parades, exhibitions, etc. I meticulously researched the corps that were performing. In that final pre-DCI season of 1971, the numbers would have been close to 1,000 in the U.S. and Canada.