Favorite 27th Lancers Program

[dccorpsfan]

WORLD OPEN! That's it! I remember seeing a championship flag in their honor guard as part of their '75 show, and I thought it was a CYO flag.

[LancerLegend]

I was lucky - yes - lucky enough to have marched with drmr27. I'll piggy back onto his recap of 1974 - I left it off my original post for many reasons.

1974 was my second year in 27th. While 1973 was a total blast for me, I am guessing it was a bit of a let down for those members that had marched in 71 and 72 - of which we had about 25 or 30 members. I have written so many times that I marched and taught during the greatest era of 27th - with a half dozen originals members from the inception of the corps, to marching under Ike Ianessa and Jim Buckley and through the Ralph Pace/Joe Morella/Mike Kumer era and on to teaching the great 2-7 corps of the early 80's with Zingali/Wedge/Poole.

As 1974 began, both Ike and Buck left the corps. George B brought in John Ferretra (sp?) - a legendary former snare drummer to take care of the drumline, and Gil Norton, to create a visual program. Jim Wedge was still at the helm of the hornline, and Peggy Twiggs, Ann Fields and George Zingali were spinning their magic with the guard.

I know in my heart, the corps was optimistic, but we never seemed to be able to project a show that the judging community could absorb. While many of the members of 74 embraced the season as a "team building" exercise - it was a very depressing experience for me personally.

As drmr27 pointed out, we did change the show under the advice of the experts, and although we had new enthusiasm and renewed intensity, we fell further back from the pack. I can tell you, we changed our percussion parts so frequently - that when I got the DCI albums a few months later - I could not remember the parts I played. At DCI prelims, we just sat and watched as our name was continuously moved down on the placement board as our scored was no better than 20th.

For all the 1971 offered, 1974 was the lowest scoring, lowest placing corps in our history. Luckily, that 20th placement was the fuel used to create that monster 1975 corps.

[john2780]

My favorite year to march with the corps was definitely 1971, it was the pinnacle year of old school,

I still tear up when I hear Wes Hobby say " and when the competitive dust had settled at Manning Bowl, The 27th Lancers were the WORLD OPEN champions.

Edited August 27, 2007 by john2780

[A27Lancer]

1971 leaves the most indelible mark on me because the package was total - from start to finish a most amazing show. I went to church the morning after World Open (Immaculate Conception in Revere - the roots of 27th), and the priest announced that the Lancers had won the championship the night before. The church rose and gave a standing ovation!!

1978 - You're right, LancerLegend, the show let us down. Of the 3 years I marched (76-78), I felt that we had our most talented corps that year, with a weak program. George B. brought in some legendary brass consultants, but the show was a mish-mash of styles (and who can forget "Because I Think the World of You"). The fact that we ended up 7th, however, is nothing to be ashamed of.

1994 - I actually said "Holy S***" at the end of Crown in Foxboro, and I remember Bob Wallace physically shaking next to me. The busses were parked right near the exit to the stadium - Bill Parcell's personal lot - and I'll never forget the many fans coming over to hug us, shake our hands and reminisce. A member of the Blue Devils came over to me and said, "I don't know what you guys did in there, but that audience was ROCKING!" That was the greatest night of my life.

[LancerLegend]

......1994 - I actually said "Holy S***" at the end of Crown in Foxboro...... That was the greatest night of my life.

James - I might as well conclude my life as a 27th Lancer. Yes indeed - the performance was good - but the audience was better.

I was lucky enough to be able to march with you, drmr27, LancerFi and many others that had marched together years earlier.

In true Lancer fashion, I remember our last run thru in Waltham. One of the visual folks comes running up to the snares, quads and bass and is yelling at us. What? We had done that drill a zillion times and had many exhibitions. Now all of a sudden it was important? It seems that "we"were the top of a star burst. Well thanks for telling us, here at our very last run thru. The video all made sense for us when we finally saw it.

Bobby Wallace was shaking? How about Michael Dustin talking to me when we were backfield? And Chris Perry, with his "Space Cam" camera mounted on top of his bass drum to record the drum solo (aka - the guard work).

I remember being so pumped up to play Wee MacGregor and listen to Don MacTaggart play the bugle call. I also remember worrying about the folks who never marched with us, and thus, had never experienced that Danny Boy wheel/color guard standing ovation - I was hoping they would not mess their pants (or their kilts !!!) when the audience would throw babies at us.

It was magical and I am proud that wifey and I were able to march "once more in 94."

Edited August 28, 2007 by LancerLegend

[drmr27]

I was lucky enough to be able to march with you, drmr27, LancerFi and many others that had marched together years earlier.

....

It was magical and I am proud that wifey and I were able to march "once more in 94."

Awww, shucks (blushes) Right back at ya' LL

Makes me wonder how many alumni couples marched that night, and whose marriages miraculously survived that whole year. Like Mrs. Beanman said to me with raised glass a few weeks later on our 13th wedding anniversary, "Here's to 5 years of happy marriage... and the other 8 didn't suck too much!

[DPEmerald]

I will also add what a wonderful experience it was in 1994. For me I got to march again with some good friends I marched with in 1973 and then became close with. It was also a great feeling at 40+ to march with people I idolized from the 1971 & 1972 corps and some very talented people from the late 70s and 80s corps. It was kind of sureal. I don't think any of us knew it was going to be as special as it turned out. It may have been the hardest 18 months of our lives just because we actually had lives, but I don't know of anyone who regretted it other than a few spouses and families that tolerated what we went through.

In regards to my favorite Lancer show, I actually favor 1979. That corps was tenacious. They had less than 20 horns in May and grew almost 40 points during the season.

I remember going to a rehearsal that year I think in late April of May and watching George teach drill with color guard members in horn spots so he could see that things were going to work. I was told they had 20+- horns in mid May. Then a couple of months later seeing that corps perform at DCI Canada. THAT, was when I said this corps is going through something special.

Edited August 28, 2007 by DPEmerald

[MikeD]

I go with 1981. Niner-Two is an underrated, landmark piece in drum corps history, picking up on the ideas of Channel One Suite (which DID stop) and presaging what Spirit did with Blues in the Night a few years later in terms of epic charts around which an entire show was based. Not to mention the fact tthat the percussion writing is soe of the best, most over-the-top, hysterical writing ever, esp. in the shout chorus. And it's startlingly faithful to the original. Plus the execution level of the whole corps was phenomenal that year.

A very good GSC corps, the Cranford Patriots, did Niner-Two as a drum solo in the late 70's, I think...arranged by a great drum guy named Ken DeStephens.

[MikeD]

I hate to inform you, we didn't win the CYO Nationals flag until 1977. Then we won it again in 1981.

The best of the best? 1971. Hands down - nothing comes close. Ike Ianessa, Jim Wedge, Jim Buckley and Mary Berkley got this corps razor sharp. Their 1971 CYO Nationals performance in Lowell's Cawley Stadium remains my fav Lancer performance - and they wound up 7th behind their cross town rivals the Boston Crusaders. A few days later, they won the World Open setting a new high score, and even after celebrating after that performance, they won the Danny Thomas Invitational the next afternoon. 1971. It put the corps on the map for everyone to respect.

That CYO had some very odd results...we were 10th...behind corps we usually...but not always...beat that year like BAC, Blue Stars, Cavies and Scouts.

[ferb27]

I will also add what a wonderful experience it was in 1994. For me I got to march again with some good friends I marched with in 1973 and then became close with. It was also a great feeling at 40+ to march with people I idolized from the 1971 & 1972 corps and some very talented people from the late 70s and 80s corps. It was kind of sureal. I don't think any of us knew it was going to be as special as it turned out. It may have been the hardest 18 months of our lives just because we actually had lives, but I don't know of anyone who regretted it other than a few spouses and families that tolerated what we went through.

In regards to my favorite Lancer show, I actually favor 1979. That corps was tenacious. They had less than 20 horns in May and grew almost 40 points during the season.

I remember going to a rehearsal that year I think in late April of May and watching George teach drill with color guard members in horn spots so he could see that things were going to work. I was told they had 20+- horns in mid May. Then a couple of months later seeing that corps perform at DCI Canada. THAT, was when I said this corps is going through something special.

Being a member in 1980 speaks for itself but for me 1979 is my favorite year. I remember being at the "pier" and having George O. check out our rehearsal, with nothing good to say about the whole package. Of course, I think were still very short in numbers at the time so it was probably hard to see what exactly what we were doing. The first few weekends of competition weren't great but we were still filling in numbers and getting the show performable. Then first show on tour- a 55 at Altoona, PA. A huge disappointment for all of us. But we stuck with it. And the score kept creeping higher and higher. By the time DCE came around, we were on a roll. We reached the upper echelon level at World Open, had a minor glitch at CYO (kudos to North Star) and kept rolling right into finals in Birmingham.

That was a very special year to me because everyone involved from management to staff to the members worked their butts off to get the corps to the level we achieved that year. Going from a 55 in Altoona to 5th at finals, a great achievement for all involved that year. That corps represented what the 27th Lancers (and drum corps for that matter) were all about. Hard work under the most adverse circumstances (holes to fill during the year, low scores at the beginning of the year, breakdowns, etc....) to bring the best product performed at the highest level to the field at finals. An extremely fulfilling year for me.