Powderkeg

Anaheim 1972 Even though it is black and white they should still at least put it up for vote....

Abolishing the tick system had a lot to do with it.

Yes the rifles were captured in motion (split second) by the camera. What gives it away is the position of the left hand. That is where the Kingsmen member's left hand goes while spinning. If you think about it there is no margin for error...if you lose control it is a drop for sure. That is the way they were taught and probably made them better because of it. Here is another mind boggling shot. Think of the shutter speed of the camera and the tolerance for error from a timing perspective. If you look at the left hand in this photograph it is the same concept. The maximum exposure is to have the left hand as far away from the rifle as possible rather than pre-positioned for the catch.

This promotional photo of the Anaheim Kingsmen with Collins Rifles was sent to xKingsmen.com earlier tonight. It appears to be from late 1972 or early 1973 Enjoy,

No it wasn't us. Not sure why the guy pulled it. I have posted excerpts from the footage our cameraman took who followed us through the entire parade route. The corps was comprised mostly of locals and included... 23 Rifles 27 Flags About a dozen in the Nationals Squad About 70 Horns Lots of drums The Kingsmen "Cadet" style uniforms have been ordered and we should have them by the end of January. As a side note the "festive" blinking lights were a requirement for entry into the parade. Here is the Youtube link...

Don't know if it means anything, but the second, fourth, and fifth ladies marched 1971-1974. The first and third gals with their hands out of position were rookies in 1974. In addition, this would have been winter guard 73-74. It would be fair to say that by DCI Finals in Ithaca they had it cleaned up

The first, second, and fifth one. Keep in mind we are putting 25 of them on the field next August and every one of them are great. We had 23 of them at the parade last Saturday night and from the back where I was it was something to see 23 rifles thrown up in the air. The crowd was absoulutely stunned. We are also very fortunate to have two or three gals from SCV signed up to help us out. They have the best attitudes and drive/fly down every month for practice. The third gal has expressed an interest but has not signed up. The fourth one is still up in the air since she lives in Idaho now. BTW she is the gal that is pictured on the xkingsmen.com website with her head turned. Interesting that she looks so hard core in the photo but is one of the nicest persons you would ever want to meet...an absolute class act.

Here is the link The three videos from the 1974 "Key to the Sea" show are probably your best bet.

Also interesting to note that all of the corps names are accompanied by their State except the Santa Clara Vanguard.

The photo below is the "Tote" board used at the very first DCI containing the prelims placings. I am not sure how xKingsmen.com got hold of it but the picture has been in the archives for a few years now.

For anyone who may be interested xKingsmen.com was tracking the number of corps year by year up until 2003. I need to add in the last few years. Here is the link.... Click here Any way you slice it these are scary numbers.

Straight like this one????? Anaheim Kingsmen 1970 Courtesy of xKingsmen.com

They won M&M so often that after a while it was ridiculous. If you take the Troopers from 68 to around 72 they were probably the cleanest all around M&M corps to ever take the field. For those of you that never saw them during that period you really missed a milestone in the activity. Just an amazing corps to watch on the field.

At the last Kingsmen Alumni Corps practice they had five of the six they will be carrying at the Rose Bowl. A couple of the guys that are playing them said they are lighter and easier to carry than a large bass drum. Since I am in the brass line I will defer to those that may have carried both during their drum corps careers. Anyone care to comment?

It is on the agenda to be discussed at the next committee meeting (July 29th) I will let you know. Keith

For those that may be interested here is a link to the warmup from the Kingsmen Alumni Corps debut performance. It was recorded June 24th, 2006 at Mt SAC College in Walnut, California. The camera was a professional model and was located above the juges booth with multiple microphones. Enjoy, Keith

It was 1973. They showed 24 hours late for prelims. :( Hey...It was an honest mistake! :sshh:

Citrus Park Town Center Tampa, Florida It was great! They had it up so loud that the left front speaker quit during Phantom Regiment's opener. They had it working again within a few minutes. Thanks!!

I sent it to them. It was found in the bottom of a box and restored a few years ago along with 27th. Too bad they didn't show more of it or put it up for a vote. Maybe next year for the 35th anniversary.

Citrus Park Town Center Tampa, Florida Thanks for turning the sound up!!! It sounded great!!!!!

I also found this article which was on the front page of Drum Corps World in 1972 at the time of his departure from the Kingsmen. Anaheim, California Don Porter Sr. has resigned as director of the Anaheim Kingsmen, the corps that he founded as a boy scout unit in the early sixties. Mr. Porter told Drum Corps World that the reasons were both an increased workload in business, and sickness in the Porter family in Florida. Mr. Porter is an electronic engineer with North American Rockwell in California, a company he has been with for 26 years. A long time in the space program, Don worked with the team of scientists headed by Dr. Werner Von Braun back in the mid fifties at Cape Canaveral. At that time, Don was working on the original Navajo project. At present, Mr. Porter is in charge of new business for North American Rockwell, and working on ground launch equipment for the Minuteman systems. An ex-Naval officer, Don was able to procure the facilities of the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station for Kingsmen practice sessions. Porter was the first to take a west coast drum and bugle corps to the east. Since that time, many of the west coast corps have toured the nation and his Kingsmen have been built into a super-power attraction.

Don Porter Sr. the founder and director of the Anaheim Kingsmen from inception to the 1972 season was selected by the legacy committee for induction into the DCI Hall of Fame today. The DCI news release can be found here A truly great day for the drum corps community. It is worthwhile to point out that under Don Porter's reign, the Kingsmen were perhaps the most financially stable Drum Corps in the activity. Sponsored by Disneyland, the California Angels Baseball Team, Knotts Berry Farm, the City of Anaheim, and Bob Hope's USO tour to name a few. Without his leadership, and keen sense of fiscal responsibility, they collapsed financially 26 months after his departure. I also spent some time earlier today rummaging through my old copies of Drum Corps World and found an editorial authored by Dick Blake in reference to Don's resignation from the Anaheim Kingsmen. It was written in 1972. I have copied and pasted for your enjoyment....... The front page story this week is of and about the resignation of Don Porter Sr., the director of the Anaheim Kingsmen. Although it is proper to say ex-director, I guess we who have known Don, will always consider him as director. As Editor and Publisher, I have, over the past decade, been the victim of timing. Timing that did not allow me to single-out individuals in drum corps for praise-worthy editorial salutes. Indeed, in great sorrow, I had to write about friends like C.H. Beebe and Jay Tobin in the form of past-tense eulogy. This is the trouble of our present day to day existence…We are quick to criticize our peers on what we think is their failings and we seldom, if ever, shell out the praise where it is so richly deserved. Well, such praise is due our friend, our drum corps friend, Don Porter. I have observed many, many, people in drum corps management, and for the most part, they are truly dedicated to their job of providing a decent and honorable pastime for the membership of their organizations. There are however, many people in drum corps (just as there are many other activities) who have no business in dealing with the lives of youngsters and young adults. These self proclaimed dictators do much harm of the spiritual and moral well being of these youngsters, and the benefits of derived by such individuals in power, go not to the corps, but to their own selfish gain…one big ego trip. The question raised time and again is – as a parent would you entrust the lives of your children to such a power? The man, to whom I pay editorial homage- Don Porter, is the type of rare individual to whom I would entrust the lives of my three youngsters. And, I am certain that their lives would be greatly enriched by such an association. Don will be sorely missed in drum corps; he’ll be missed much more by those who are connected with the Anaheim Kingsmen. Unselfishness is rarely rewarded, but it is a trait to be admired, and for some, it is a trait that few will ever attain. And so I take the mere minutes of an hourly day and type out a few words about a man whom many of you have never met-what a shame! If you had, you would feel the same way as I do- “What a pity that there aren’t more around with his foresight and deep dedication.” Don- I can only say that it is a privilege to know and have you as a true friend. Whatever the future holds in store for you, I can wish you the very best of everything in every way. You are a credit to the human race and everything that is good in mankind. Good Luck from an admirer, Dick Blake

Last year I sent DCI and Tom Blair a remastered digital copy of the 1972 Anaheim Kingsmen DCI Finals performance. Since it is high camera and black and white, I am not sure they are going to put it up for vote. Sure would be nice for the historical significance though.

The chart eloquently points out three trends that began in the period 1972 to 1977 that more or less started the roller coaster spiral downward towards the abyss. The first is the concept of national tours. Jim Jones and the Casper Troopers started the touring concept out of the need to compete and the lack of drum corps in the area. Santa Clara and Anaheim continued the trend in the early 70's as superpowers representing Northern and Southern California respectively. By the mid 1970's it had become a requirement that in order to "be" a drum corps you had to tour. As was pointed out earlier, doing local shows was no longer adequate and with touring was the financial burden and the demise of a number of drum corps Anaheim included. The second phenomenon that took hold during the same period was "imports" or traveling musicians. Case in point the 1972 Anaheim Kingsmen won the DCI title with members from the Los Angeles basin. Granted a number of them started their drum corps careers with the Lynwood Diplomats, Santa Ana Velvet Knights, Carson Crusaders, San Diego Golden Statesmen, and a host of others, however, the point still remains that musicians stayed within geographical bounds. To give you an example of how quickly things changed, the 1974 Anaheim Kingsmen had members coming from all over the United States and a few from Canada to be a part of it. This not only happened to Anaheim, but to Santa Clara as well. When the Kingsmen financially imploded after the 1974 tour, the members scattered to Santa Clara, Madison, the Blue Devils and a host of other corps. The end effect was that it caused a meltdown of the local corps because members were no longer content to march in the local community, but instead set out to march wherever they were accepted. This in turn made it difficult if not impossible for the smaller non touring corps to survive. The smaller non-touring corps had two options for survival and both of them were deadly, one is to tour which they did not have the financial base to do, or two, to not tour and watch the members pack up and leave. The third is the idea that there was one and only one national championship. Prior to DCI, VFW Nationals was more or less considered to be the grandaddy of the drum corps contests. But there were also other national titles including US Open, World Open, Danny Thomas Invitational, CYO Nationals, Mid America Open, Evening with the Corps, Drum Corps Midwest, American Legion Nationals etc. Once again tying this back to touring, corps in the Boston area as an example were content to appear at World Open, CYO, and maybe a weekend in the New York tri-state area. The same was true for the Northwest where corps from Washington state would travel to California and then call it a successful season. With the advent of DCI came the notion that there was only one National Championship. End result here is that several of the national contests were unable to draw quality corps for several reasons and within ten years of the founding of DCI they were for the most part no more. Now you have one National Championship, you are based in Seattle, and the national championship is in Orlando. Granted DCI has brought regional contests to the mix in the last decade or so, but primarily as an additional revenue stream. In addition, the notion that only the local corps from a geographical area would attend the regional show as part of a budget oriented season is gone. The activity has dwindled to the point that it is the remaining twelve to fifteen corps that attend and dominate the regionals. The conclusion of all of this, and I admit I am getting a little winded, is that there were several reasons for the huge loss of drum corps. Is DCI entirely responsible...no. Are they partly responsible...probably, mostly because the charter was not written to try and keep drum corps on the field, and face it that was not their focus, and certainly not because they intentionally wanted to kill off or otherwise harm the activity. The three trends I have described tell the story primarily from 1972 to 1977. From 1978 on is the after effect of the issues that I have laid out.

Not to make a comment either way but to offer a gut check. This URL is a chart reflecting the number of drum corps from 1972 to 2003. I believe the 2004 number was 57 and I have no idea what it was in 2005. Active Drum corps from 1972 to 2003 Keith