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Summer of '71


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"The year DCI allows woodwinds, guitars and keyboards will be the year drum corps will truly die."

Well, this year there are both keyboards and guitars!

I agree though, when (and of course they eventually will) they add woodwinds, then Drum and Bugle Corps will officially be dead.

Until that day, enjoy what drew you to this activity as much as you can.

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Few people know it today, but 1971 remains the BIGGEST season for drum corps in terms of attendance. More people paid to see drum corps that summer than any other before or since.

All of us carry memories of drum corps with us for the rest of our lives.

One of my fondest was 1971 World Open at the Manning Bowl. I had heard of the east coast crowds and their fanaticism with Drum Corps. Nothing could have prepared me for when I filed into the stadium as a member of the Anaheim Kingsmen. I glanced around and realized that the entire place was sold out. People on the back sides and the end zones. They were even standing in the aisles.

At retreat we were told to remove our black plumes and chest buckles to prevent them from being taken by the fans as souvenirs.

That night my perspective on drum corps changed forever. What a crowd.

Just great times.

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Here are those scores, Linda:

Santa Clara 84.5

Troopers 81.8

Cavaliers 80.95

Madison 78.5

De La Salle 78.25

Blue Stars 74.95

Argonne Rebels 69.55

Toronto Optimists 63.3

Firefighters 63.25

Thank you Brian. Scarborough Firefighters in 71; since 65, Scarborough Princemen until August 1972 when Seneca College became our sponsor; Seneca Princemen until 1975. Toronto Optimists have a wonderful legacy. We were in a recession in 1975. 1976 Seneca Optimists was the right thing to do and I respect the past directors of both organizations. It was emotionally difficult for our young minds but we persevered 'cause we, collectively, loved drum corps.

Varsity Stadium was downtown and within University of Toronto campus. It was an intimate venue with brick walls covered in ivy, like an oasis in a concrete jungle. I was there and hope that all the guests had good housing and transportation to the venue. I can't remember kiosks; we sat in the stands and enjoyed the contest and did so for many years. I've a news article somewhere that a contest at Varsity had an audience of 15,000 in 70 or 71. Thanks again to the corps that visited. Good times :-)

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...the Legion hosted junior contests through 1980 and the VFW through 1984, but you can see by the lineups that very few of the top-tier corps were attending late in the game (though Phantom Regiment won the final VFW contest!).

This is quoted from early in this thread, but CorpsReps.com lists the last VFW Nationals as 1981, and won by Crossmen. Do you have the scores from VFW in 84?

Garry in Vegas

Edited by CrunchyTenor
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Hey Linda, I remember we were at Seneca College for a Princemen show (not sure of scores). I think it was 1973 or 1974 because Princemen played "Smoke On the Water" when entering the field. In 1975 you all came down to our indoor show (played 1812 Overture?) I am guessing Ted Key wrote the book or was with you and then came to us in 1976 and 77.

Thank you Brian. Scarborough Firefighters in 71; since 65, Scarborough Princemen until August 1972 when Seneca College became our sponsor; Seneca Princemen until 1975. Toronto Optimists have a wonderful legacy. We were in a recession in 1975. 1976 Seneca Optimists was the right thing to do and I respect the past directors of both organizations. It was emotionally difficult for our young minds but we persevered 'cause we, collectively, loved drum corps.

Varsity Stadium was downtown and within University of Toronto campus. It was an intimate venue with brick walls covered in ivy, like an oasis in a concrete jungle. I was there and hope that all the guests had good housing and transportation to the venue. I can't remember kiosks; we sat in the stands and enjoyed the contest and did so for many years. I've a news article somewhere that a contest at Varsity had an audience of 15,000 in 70 or 71. Thanks again to the corps that visited. Good times :-)

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This is quoted from early in this thread, but CorpsReps.com lists the last VFW Nationals as 1981, and won by Crossmen. Do you have the scores from VFW in 84?

Garry in Vegas

Corpsreps.com is incorrect on this. There were VFW Nationals held in 1982-Los Angeles--Blue Devils 'B' winner, 1983-New Orleans--Royal Grenadiers winner and 1984-Chicago won by the Phantom Regiment Cadets.

1984 VFW scores

PR Cadets--63.40

Royal Grenadiers--62.00

Bandettes--59.70

Rivermen--53.20

Illiana Lancers--53.00

Madison Jr. Scouts--48.30

Guardsmen Cadets--42.50

Cavalier Cadets--41.40

Sundowners--27.50

Marquis--26.60

Joliet Kingsmen--24.40

Pioneer II--23.70

Edited by Northern Thunder
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All of us carry memories of drum corps with us for the rest of our lives.

One of my fondest was 1971 World Open at the Manning Bowl. I had heard of the east coast crowds and their fanaticism with Drum Corps. Nothing could have prepared me for when I filed into the stadium as a member of the Anaheim Kingsmen. I glanced around and realized that the entire place was sold out. People on the back sides and the end zones. They were even standing in the aisles.

At retreat we were told to remove our black plumes and chest buckles to prevent them from being taken by the fans as souvenirs.

That night my perspective on drum corps changed forever. What a crowd.

Just great times.

I was a 13-year-old sitting in the audience at that show. You're right.... that was a special night for drum corps.

Fran

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I was a 13-year-old sitting in the audience at that show. You're right.... that was a special night for drum corps.

Fran

I performed at that show...and it is one of my fondest memories.

Our opening set...."Yankee Doodle"...based on a Boston Pops chart.

Openingset.jpg

Peace sign to "Battle Hymn"

PeacesignBattleHymn.jpg

Exit..."Profiles in Courage"

Profilescloser.jpg

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I marched in 1971 with Santa Clara. The biggest thing that stood out from that year was how ugly and vicious the critics were towards the Cavaliers that year. With Santa Clara we could really apprecciate pushing the envelope. What was being written and said that year about the clown and the circus theme was just ugly. You would have thought they were marching nude, with long hair,(it was the early 70's) and playing acoustic guitars. People thought they were killing drum corps. I have always wanted to congratulate the members of the Cavaliers from that year for sticking it out, they were pioneers. As far as the VFW went. You could go into the finals at the VFW National Championships vying for the top spot. You could have a whole season washed down the tubes and your chances of winning a championship ruined by some old VFW guy doing an inspection on your corps, deceiding that you hadn't spit polished your shoes well enough and subtracting from your final score at the finals with ticks against that. Another reason we were all glad to escape their evil clutches.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention one of the glorious parts of 1971. That was listening to the Argonne Rebels hornline show all of us how you were supposed to sound. They were unreal.

Thanks for this post and I kinda agree with you from what I remember. I watched and marched drum corps since '68, music was great but in 1971 the music, visual and innovation of the time was awesome from so many corps such as Argonne Rebels, Cavaliers and Santa Clara Vanguard ;-)

I checked my records and was guard captain for winter guard. The summer of 1971 Kathy was captain, Marilyn and I were sargents. Most of the penalties were not from inspection but from what we called the Nationals Party, color presentation and dropped equipment. No wonder we didn't spin our 8' poles with pikes and we kept the rifles close 'cause we might get too many penalties! That was alot of responsibility asked of 3 girls about 14 or 15 years old. I'm gonna check recaps from 2008 and see if there were any penalties.

In April 1972 I was assigned the drum major role. Had to work out the timing rules of the Timing and Penalties plus get through every inspection. It was nerve wracking and sometimes distracting from what I needed to do as drum major which was keep the corps together and let them play the music. Something had to change and it did; thanks to you and the many marching members of 71 :)

Edited by lindap
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Hey Linda, I remember we were at Seneca College for a Princemen show (not sure of scores). I think it was 1973 or 1974 because Princemen played "Smoke On the Water" when entering the field. In 1975 you all came down to our indoor show (played 1812 Overture?) I am guessing Ted Key wrote the book or was with you and then came to us in 1976 and 77.

Hey Keith. Ted was one of many instructors over the years and I remember him. He played piano and used it to arrange drum corps music. In all honesty, I've 20 years of color guard in my signature, summer and/or winter; got notes and stuff from 1969 - 1972, found our repetoire from 65-72 and working on putting the jigsaw puzzle together to send to TO. Thanks from us for filling in the blanks from 73. All I remember of 73 is the great time we had in Watkins Glen with the Squires...

to stay on topic, 1971 was an awesome drum corps season for me ;-)

Edit: Hi Keith, you've 341 open posts on Historical Junior Corps Discussions. :tongue: May I start 1 topic on this thread? Let me know if it's aok :tongue:

Edited by lindap
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