MikeD Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Yes, a good one, but did you ever hear them play "Americans We"?Oui? No, looking at corpsreps that was a bit before my time by a year or two. I played it in the little parade corps I marched with from 64-67, actually. The community band I play with just did it at our Holiday concert in December. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 Oh I don't know. discontent seems to be such a strong word. IMHO I would first of all not blame it on the corps who in their naiveté joined DCI, but on the DCI Henchmen themselves. Their blatant disrespect for the all American activity as it was practiced at the time, combined with how much money running their own shows and hand picking those who would attend those show and thereby helping to line their pockets, along with how much more difficult it was to avoid the "unit penalties" mentioned earlier helped toward the demise of the Color Presentation. Puppet IMO having a set piece show, including a color pre, does nothing to honor anything. Some corps were already using faux American flags even when I marched to eliminate the chance of a penalty. If you have to do it, where is the inner pride and patriotism? It just becomes a rote sort of thing. We did one in 1970 (Aura Lee/Battle Hymn); our entire 1971 show was one big color pre though we did present both American and British faux flags to Battle Hymn after our concert of Ives' "Variations on America". IN 72, the closest we came to a CP was our Peace Sign to a theme from Mahler's 5th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted January 3, 2008 Share Posted January 3, 2008 IMO having a set piece show, including a color pre, does nothing to honor anything. Some corps were already using faux American flags even when I marched to eliminate the chance of a penalty. If you have to do it, where is the inner pride and patriotism? It just becomes a rote sort of thing. We did one in 1970 (Aura Lee/Battle Hymn); our entire 1971 show was one big color pre though we did present both American and British faux flags to Battle Hymn after our concert of Ives' "Variations on America". IN 72, the closest we came to a CP was our Peace Sign to a theme from Mahler's 5th. You're right on many levels, Mike. But I think the thinking at the time was perpetrated by the management of the individual corps. In our case, with so much strife over the Vietnam conflict and many of our members from the former St. Joseph Patron Cadets in uniform, there was a different mind set. When Hy and Carmen developed our Woodstock show for 1971 we juxtaposed the chaos and irreverence with The West Point Alma Mater as our CP and then played it as a reprise as our exit piece after having subdued "Those Who Would Attack Our Flag." Every audience at every show responded to that thing - it was amazing. These men were thinkers and along with our Moderator, Father Shiraldi gave us a sense of patriotism that has guided many of the members to this day. Now I'm not a flag waver of the Limbaugh stripe not by any means - I just like how it made me feel. Emotion's good, right? Puppet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay B Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 60's Troopers/Cavies Battle Hymn. 1965 Racine Scouts Iwo Jima, the first year of the chome domes. Favorite, though, is the Royal Airs 65, a jazzed up version of the Battle Hymn (I think they called it John Brown's Body). That thing just swings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 You're right on many levels, Mike. But I think the thinking at the time was perpetrated by the management of the individual corps. In our case, with so much strife over the Vietnam conflict and many of our members from the former St. Joseph Patron Cadets in uniform, there was a different mind set. When Hy and Carmen developed our Woodstock show for 1971 we juxtaposed the chaos and irreverence with The West Point Alma Mater as our CP and then played it as a reprise as our exit piece after having subdued "Those Who Would Attack Our Flag." Every audience at every show responded to that thing - it was amazing. These men were thinkers and along with our Moderator, Father Shiraldi gave us a sense of patriotism that has guided many of the members to this day. Now I'm not a flag waver of the Limbaugh stripe not by any means - I just like how it made me feel. Emotion's good, right? Puppet Oh, no doubt. It's a GREAT thing. I know our 71 Revolutionary War show was developed at least in part as an answer to Tony "hic" Schlechta'a comment in 70 that we did not even belong in the VFW Nationals show because we were forming a Peace Sign...to "White Rabbit". Our design team, Bobby Hoffman, Pete Emmons, Frank Dorittie and George Tuthill were like "They want patriotic...we'll GIVE them patriotic"...only to bust chops they did the Peace Sign again...this time AS the Color Pre to a great version of "Battle Hymn" written by Frank (Ironlips here on DCP) and George. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martybucs Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 No one likes to bash DCI more than I, but I don't think it was a deliberate move to disrespect the flag on their part. Creatively, DCI speaking, it was just in the way, so it had to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColtFoutz Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 No one likes to bash DCI more than I, but I don't think it was a deliberate move to disrespect the flag on their part.Creatively, DCI speaking, it was just in the way, so it had to go. I know as one of the DCI founders, taking the flag out of performance was one of the things Don Warren fought for a long time. But hey, no Hero Squad meant no tics from that area of the field, and really, they weren't doing much but standing there anyway, right? Here's a question: for the first couple years of DCI, there was a Canadian corps in the charter membership. Did they ever put the Canadian flag on the field? This may be such a basic question to the old-timers that I deserve a disgruntled severed smiley or two, but it just now occurred to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A27Lancer Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I know as one of the DCI founders, taking the flag out of performance was one of the things Don Warren fought for a long time. But hey, no Hero Squad meant no tics from that area of the field, and really, they weren't doing much but standing there anyway, right? You hit the nail on the head, Colt. Different T&P judges had their own interpretations of trailing and other flag code violations. Championships were lost based on those interpretations. Also, the American flag section was usually made up of the most inexperienced members, thus leaving the corps more open to errors based on experience or lack thereof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Troopers. Pick a year. I hear ya! On the DCA/all-age side, the Skyliners did some outstanding color presentations. "I'll Walk With God"....."The Longest Day"...."Victory at Sea"....among others. Great stuff! Another of the all-time great color presentations, IMO, was Yankee Rebels' "Requiem For An Era"... 1969-70-71. Awesome. Fran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martybucs Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 In the OT forum there is a thread entitled VFW/LEGION POST and one of the younger moderators asked, "What's a color pre?" Drum corps sure has evolved. 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.