ironlips Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 Yes, Andy, St. Vincent's Cadets did rule in the early '50s.I It's ironic that the VFW and American Legion were also rather at odds. There competition rules were quite incompatible, essentially in minutia (like timing, required tempos...etc.) but also with respect to the equipment permitted. That forced corps to choose one over the other. Of the two dinosaurs, the VFW was the more evolved, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 >>>Of the two dinosaurs, the VFW was the more evolved, I think.<<< Hard to tell who was more progressive ... most Jr shows during the season followed Legion sheets ... I only recall VFW sheets being employed at States and Nats ... maybe one or two other VFW Post sponsored shows ... I forget now which one banned the contra bass at Nats in 61 or 62 ... that, after a few corps had used them all season (Cabs, Garfield, St. Raphael's purchased the first "baby" Getzen's ... Tony S's "no dancing, prancing, or costumes" came as late as 1971 ... Times ... they were a changin' :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomPeashey Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 couple of points (answers?) Yes this was all before the Combine and then, DCI... I can tell you that there were MANY phone calls between DCI people and Vince Bruni in the early 70's culminating with Pesceone resting at Vince's camp in the Thousand Islands after Ithaca in 1974. DCI avoided much controversy and saved much anguish by learning from DCA's history. As for Lefty and Cos... they could live as friends but when it came to competition on the drum corps field, they were both ruthless... I don't think "trust" was ever a factor - especially after the '72 crisis - nope... won't go there... All of us on here know what happened... Interestingly enough - especially considering what's often said by his distractors - those of us CLOSE to Vince Bruni begged him to give up the leadership of DCA. He was so danged honest that it was seriously hurting Crusaders. He was making decisions that hurt his own corps because he thought they were right for DCA. I for one, worried more about Cru than the general interests of DCA and had several arguments with him about it. I hope that I had something to do with his decisions and the emergence of Mickey Petrone as someone with the gonads to handle the thankless job. As for the legion and VFW, if from 1955 to 1963, they had worked together - Drum Corps as we know it might be much different today. Those of us in the activity wanted 3 things... 1. one set of rules for all shows (frankly, it really didn't matter which rules as long as they were all the same) 2. For the veterans organization to recognize that the WWII vets who ran them were getting too old to march and soften the membership rules accordingly 3. Give the corps some say in the selection of who will judge them. Sponsors selecting judges was the biggest control they had over the corps and corps would select what shows to go to based on who they knew the sponsor would choose to judge them. Tony Schlecta maintained control of VFW with an iron fist and often determined the winner by who was chosen to judge. The legion did the same thing but it was more by committee and behind closed doors... Those 3 things were so obvious and really fairly simple to do and would have left the veterans organizations clearly still in charge - isn't hindsight great? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Priester Posted June 18, 2015 Share Posted June 18, 2015 Hello, hello! Is this thing on???? Eerily quiet here. BTW, I got nothin' to post anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Sunrisers also came on board in 1966 with DCA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Sunrisers also came on board in 1966 with DCA. Yes, I remember it well. The Sunrisers finished 4th at finals, about a point and a half from the top, and bested the Cabs for the first time in their history. We promptly drove back to LI, to our favorite pub in Massapequa, the Driftwood, and partied like it was 1966. The piano player invited us to play along and John "Cookie" Kamerdin and I got our horns out of the car and did "Rock-a-Bye" with him. A guy sitting at the bar approached, complimented us, and introduced himself. It was Billy Butterfield. Realizing who he was, we were speechless. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Had to google Billy Butterfield as that part of my music history is lacking but wow..... Kind of like when Mike Siglow called us over to see someone he was talking to as he thought "you might want to meet him".... Not sure what he said after "This is John Simpson" as my brain froze up. And this was right after I received a copy of Bolling Fields recordings and John is mentioned in the corps introduction (and I played "Summertime" well more than once or twice). Best part is we saw him another year at Annapolis and had another nice talk. LOL - just kept thinking BigW would probably be giving various body parts to be able to here talking to John Simpson.... Edited June 19, 2015 by JimF-LowBari 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Simpson, Hightower and Gaff...the Murderer's Row of baritones. Throw in Baby John and the late, great Pooh Bear and you're in low brass heaven. Photos, anyone? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 >>>Simpson, Hightower and Gaff...the Murderer's Row of baritones. Throw in Baby John and the late, great Pooh Bear and you're in low brass heaven.<<< Never heard Pooh Bear (who was he with?) ... but, how spoiled were we at I&E shows in the 60's? ... add to the mix on any Saturday night: John Magnifico, Charlie Bruen, Cliff Richmond, Al Richmond, John Donovan, Russ Veschey, Ruben Ariola ... We were ALL in bari heaven! :-) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Priester Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 >>>Simpson, Hightower and Gaff...the Murderer's Row of baritones. Throw in Baby John and the late, great Pooh Bear and you're in low brass heaven.<<< Never heard Pooh Bear (who was he with?) ... but, how spoiled were we at I&E shows in the 60's? ... add to the mix on any Saturday night: John Magnifico, Charlie Bruen, Cliff Richmond, Al Richmond, John Donovan, Russ Veschey, Ruben Ariola ... We were ALL in bari heaven! :-) Let's not forget the late, great Pat McCue and Sol Anthony either! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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