ajlisko Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Well Tony ... I was parading with Sky's Alumni as well in Hasbrouck Heights and Hawthorne, carrying my "air" horn and belting out flawless BHOF worthy licks ... LOL ... seriously though, I do the parades every year (if able) to honor all our fallen heroes ... especially Raymond A. Garbarina ... the namesake of the Skyliners AL Post #1523 along with John Mazarakos who passed in the early 50's from malaria ... Andy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 i brought a lot of that " stuff". were you there when wayne downey came? now that got really wild. Wayne Downey? I thought you were trying to get AWAY from Sunriser stuff! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 >>Wayne Downey? I thought you were trying to get AWAY from Sunriser stuff!<< Now, now Ray ... you know very well Wayne was with the Smithtown Freelancers far longer than his almost yearlong stint with Sun ... :-) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donincardona Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Wayne Downey? I thought you were trying to get AWAY from Sunriser stuff! aww ya know i was just ####### around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Oh yeah, I was also with your "What's the score?" buddy too!! Who, me????? LOL Yeah... I was there. Suited up with Reilly's honor guard for the three parades. Great folks in the honor guard.... it was a fun weekend!!!! And no, I am not joining their horn line, or anyone's horn line, anytime soon. By "anytime soon" I mean before the Year 3000. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 we tore down kevins house. wayne was so funny after he had some "Hawaiian stuff ". then he thanked me very much. Don, one time Lenny and I were visiting Kevin and Michelle during the winter. Now, as you know, they lived in a really nice neighborhood... but Lenny and I noticed that several homes had junk cars parked in the driveways... I mean, cars that looked they were about to fall apart at any moment. We asked Kevin what was up with that... he said a number of folks in the Rochester area had what he called "storm cars" or something like that.... cars they would buy for maybe a couple of hundred bucks, slap the minimum amount of insurance on them... and then use those cars during bad snowstorms. So if the cars got wrecked, no one cared. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) "Storm cars"? It might have been cheaper to move to Florida, or even Hawaii, where you could get some "Hawaiian stuff", like Fran's shirts. And I think we could get him to play the horn again if the Velvet Knights come back wearing those duds. "Maui Wowee", for sure. Edited May 30, 2014 by ironlips 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Don, one time Lenny and I were visiting Kevin and Michelle during the winter. Now, as you know, they lived in a really nice neighborhood... but Lenny and I noticed that several homes had junk cars parked in the driveways... I mean, cars that looked they were about to fall apart at any moment. We asked Kevin what was up with that... he said a number of folks in the Rochester area had what he called "storm cars" or something like that.... cars they would buy for maybe a couple of hundred bucks, slap the minimum amount of insurance on them... and then use those cars during bad snowstorms. So if the cars got wrecked, no one cared. LOL. LOL reminds me of the "Guam Bombs" I saw being driven when I got sent to Guam for work (twice for heavens sakes) in the early 90s. Some could barely go over 30 (no highways anyway) and rust holes in the body (near the ocean everywhere). But as someone showed me almost all the cars had the windows up and air conditioning on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donincardona Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Don, one time Lenny and I were visiting Kevin and Michelle during the winter. Now, as you know, they lived in a really nice neighborhood... but Lenny and I noticed that several homes had junk cars parked in the driveways... I mean, cars that looked they were about to fall apart at any moment. We asked Kevin what was up with that... he said a number of folks in the Rochester area had what he called "storm cars" or something like that.... cars they would buy for maybe a couple of hundred bucks, slap the minimum amount of insurance on them... and then use those cars during bad snowstorms. So if the cars got wrecked, no one cared. LOL. i had one of those. it was a 1964 chevy impala. ran good but the body was all rust and full of holes. if the street snow melted it i rean over the pudlle and it was big enough water came in the passenger floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsksun4 Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 (edited) Might be a good time for some history here. Was in a small parade corps, maybe it was early 61. We had this afternoon competition on LI where you would parade out in a block formation, stand still and play for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. We thought we were hot stuff, but I didn’t know any better at the tender age of 13. You play, then leave the field and horse around with your friends and wait for these ridiculous scores. I couldn’t even tell you who else was there. Must have been every parade corps from LI. The afternoon settles in and this truck pulls up and starts putting up these lights around the football field. Busses are pulling in the parking lot, with these people in uniform and all this cool equipment I hadn’t seen before. Most of the busses had the name of these units up over the windshield in that little display. I said wtf is this? What’s a Dumont Police Cadet, and so on? Bus after bus and cars showing up like crazy. Then I see this guy put this sign up next to the entrance, “M&M Contest”. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew we were staying. Again, no idea what happened in the afternoon competition, nor did I care when I saw all these babes with white boots, flags and rifles, spinning things. This should be real good I thought. The sound of drums, not like anything I ever heard. Bugles hitting notes I also never heard. So many people getting off these busses and the place was now filling up, so we head into the stands and wait. It’s dark now and those lights are on. New set of judges head onto the field and over to our left, this corps in white uniforms comes to the field, but they aren’t parading out to the middle like we did. Instead, they form a single line under the goal posts. Again, wtf is this? I have to say; those lights made them look great. Now I can’t wait to see what happens next. Judges slowly walk out onto the field, closer to the action. The announcer starts with good evening and welcome to the competition. First on the starting line tonight, from Smithtown LI, The Smithtown Freelancers. Please give them a warm welcome. The crowd gets loud as the drum major walks out to the middle of the field and gives the signal for horns up. This is gonna be something else I say to myself. There were maybe 30 horns, I don’t know, but it was a heck of a lot more than I ever saw. The sound gave a chill as it rang out over the crowd and they started to move like wooden soldiers. The more I saw and heard, the more I was in disbelief. This was my very first viewing of real drum and bugle corps in motion and as the night went on, with corps like Dumont Police Cadets, Our Lady of Lourdes, Irwin Kinsmen, OLPH Ridgemen and so many more, I could not believe what was happening. We went to another one of these M&M things, way out on the island. Some corps named Selden Cadets was hosting this one, and the line to get in was extremely long. The field was a quarter mile from the pay gate, but nobody was complaining. Again, I see all these busses and people in uniform, but this time, I see grown men with horns and drums getting off a bus and out of cars. No babes in white boots for these guys. The contest was long, but very enjoyable. Again, I could not believe the corps were so good. After intermission, everyone raced to their seats and there were these same grown men on the starting line. A sea of red I saw to my surprise. This should be good cause they were big, very very big. This man in white marches out, salutes, waves to the crowd and turns. With one flip of his black gloves, it begins. It’s loud. Extremely loud. Loud, like a jet taking off and they moved like no other corps that night. It got better and better and there wasn’t one person there that wanted it to end, but it had to. Not hard to figure out who this corps was and it’s not that important in all this. What is important is the entire experience. It was life changing. I’m sure there are a few who have had similar experiences and I’m sure the outcome is the same. It changed our lives and we take these memories to the grave with a smile. OK, like Pete Townshend once said, "Who's Next?". Edited May 30, 2014 by gsksun4 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.