Northern Thunder

I recall us discussing the fact that I remembered that a member of Sacred Heart got left at the stadium (was that you, Fran?) they were sitting in front of me at prelims that day. Here are those 1971 US Open prelim scores, Fran: Blue Rock--83.4 Madison--81.9 De La Salle--81.4 Cavaliers--81.2 Des Plaines--77.95 Bridgemen--77.55 St. Joe/Batavia--77.55 Brassmen--77.35 Cardinals--77.25 Nisei--76.1 Appleknockers--73.45 Shoreliners--72.8 St. Patrick Imperials--72.35 CMCC Warriors--72.05 Marion Cadets--71.55 Bon Bons--71.25 Scarborough Firefighters--70.85 Emerald Cadets--70.6 Knickerbockers--70.35 Magnificent Yankees--70.05 Purple Lancers--69.75 Pembroke Imperials--69.25 Polish Falcon Cadets--69.1 Blue Angels--68.85 Brookhaven Cru--68.1 L.I. Kingsmen--67.95 SACRED HEART CRU--67.3 Chessmen--66.9 Wynn Center Toppers--66.55 Marauders--65.3 Midlanders--65.15 Queen City Cadets--64.45 Mariners--63.7 Dukes--62.9 St. Ignatius Girls--62.7 32nd Hussar--62.5 Compagnons--61.5 Royal Lancers (MI)--60.45 IC Reveries--57.3 I would vote for any and all of the 3 years I attended the US Open...'71, '72 and '73. Each had its merits!

He heard Northern Thunderous applause!

My nephew was a trombonist with Mucca Pazza a few years ago.

This thread actually belongs in the historical forum (pre-1989), but"Goodbye Yesterday" from that '88 show remains one of my favorite all-time charts!

https://www.10tv.com/article/founder-drum-corps-columbus-youth-receives-life-saving-organ-donation

Reminds me that a beloved junior corps never did pay their housing bill for the 1973 U.S. Open in Marion, OH.

It took quite the staff of instructors to help Santa Clara pull off their great show this year!! https://www.scvanguard.org/vanguard-educational-staff/

Time flies, eh Keith??

Great year for drum corps!

Maybe it's because those things were posted 13 years ago.😊

The conversation going on that day at the Sound Machine drum corps forum was riveting. Along with the horror of the entire situation, we found out there were several drum corps-related people that were lost that day.

It seems that once DCI started their major regionals (East-1973, Midwest-1974) those were the contests with more prestige, and placing well in them was more important than the prize money, which DCI never advertised as a major thing. U.S. Open and World Open still maintained some major sponsors to fund prize money through most of the decade, but the prize money seemed to go by the wayside for the rest of the activity.

I think the prize money days ended in the late 1970s. U.S. Open and other major contests were still awarding decent prize money if you made top three. VFW and American Legion were criticized in the 1950s and 1960s when they would give more money to a guest trophy presenter (Miss America, for instance) than they gave to the winning corps. Polish National Alliance held a championship contest that gave higher prize money than VFW or Legion.

Sounds like each organization has been in communication with each other over this for some time. BDB's 2019 update stated.... "The leadership teams of both organizations have been in communication over the past several weeks and are committed to making the 2019 summer experience strong."

According to my calculations, 1985 was the last season that both Vanguard Cadets (then known as Vanguard 'B') and Blue Devils 'B' kept entirely within California for the whole summer.

It should be everyone's dream to retire early with their dinkles.

This is a shock!

It was always interesting to see how the travel expenses were factored into the "prize money" back in the 1980s. The Pacific Northwest corps often were among the top "paid" corps, based on their distance from the DCI Championship sites in Florida and Georgia.

I have wondered the same thing. I've never contacted DCI about this.

Yes, those Hershey shows, which were exhibitions, had some experimental "judging" measured by audience reaction, among other things.

Great years!

The earliest I've seen for the term "drum & bugle corps contest" was from 1901. So the answer is probably 1902.🙂

As someone who has researched drum corps history for a LONG time, I can say that I have seen dozens of published accounts dating back to the late 1950s, stating.... "Drum corps is America's best-kept secret".

Great photo!

Hats off to Dave! Thanks for decades of great drum corps journalism!