Summer of '71

[Scerpella]

I go back a little further - but the fact that so many corps have simply gone away still hurts

What I remember most though are those great shows like the Danny Thomas Invitational, World Open and CYO Nationals, U.S. Open and the like. that's when you would find a mixture of corps like these with scores like this - competition was fierce.

Sunday July 18, 1971

Lawrence MA Danny Thomas Invitational

1 27th Lancers 84.450

2 Santa Clara Vanguard 84.100

3 Troopers 82.300

4 Cavaliers 81.000

5 St. Rita's Brassmen 80.950

6 Boston Crusaders 80.300

7 Madison Scouts 78.300

8 Blue Stars 77.850

9 De LaSalle Oaklands 73.800

10 Blessed Sacrament 70.450

11 Argonne Rebels 69.900

12 Spectacle City Mariners 52.350

I was part of that 12th place Mariners corps. That was my first year in the activity and I think a very good one to start. Mariners unfortunately were at the beginning of their slide into obscurity. Mariners did yield some big names in the DCI world including Gary Chopinski, John Brazale and Joe Bruno the voice of the Midwest. Before we faded away permanently in 1974, we managed a 12th place finish at the much DCI depleted VFW Nationals in Minneapolis in 72 as well as a temporarily revived Mariners Colorguard which won MWCGC in 72 and 73.

Amazingly, I found a person on the internet from out east who videotaped many shows back then and was able to get a copy of Mariners at Danny Thomas in 1971. Very cool to see ones 14 year old self marching around.

As a rookie I parrotted the stuff I was hearing from the Vets about Madison's show not being drumcorps, but I had many opportunities that year to see both Scouts and Cavies and those ended up as being some of my favorite shows ever. One of my favorite memories was seeing those corps perform at the South Milwaukee Spectacle of Music. That stadium and school has since been levelled into greenspace and a soccer complex but 3 years ago I bought a house literally 75 yards from where all those great drum corps memories happened. There are alot of ghosts of thousands of musicians who took part in the Spectacle wandering around and during the soccer season when they have the still used stadium lights lit, its easy to go back a few decades and remember some wonderful days of my youth.

Here's a picture of Mariners performing at Spectacle in 1974

This is John Brazale (Left) and Joe Bruno who both filled the role of DM "Cap'n Crunch".

This is former DCP member, jimmyp58, (far right) the late Jim Piscitello who was an assistent DM for the Mariners

And then when he assumed the role in 1972

This is my Mariners Corps Membership card from 1972.

Note the Corps Director - John Brazale, later of Phantom Regiment fame.

Edited February 18, 2008 by Scerpella

[Donny Drum Corps]

I was part of that 12th place Mariners corps. That was my first year in the activity and I think a very good one to start. Mariners unfortunately were at the beginning of their slide into obscurity. Mariners did yield some big names in the DCI world including Gary Chopinski, John Brazale and Joe Bruno the voice of the Midwest. Before we faded away permanently in 1974, we managed a 12th place finish at the much DCI depleted VFW Nationals in Minneapolis in 72 as well as a temporarily revived Mariners Colorguard which won MWCGC in 72 and 73.

Amazingly, I found a person on the internet from out east who videotaped many shows back then and was able to get a copy of Mariners at Danny Thomas in 1971. Very cool to see ones 14 year old self marching around.

As a rookie I parrotted the stuff I was hearing from the Vets about Madison's show not being drumcorps, but I had many opportunities that year to see both Scouts and Cavies and those ended up as being some of my favorite shows ever.

Dont forget Dr. (Cecil) Austin...

[jkyeag]

Thanks for mentioning Sandra. Sandra did not arrange music, and I believe spent more time judging. Other than that, I will leave the comparisons to others.

I can share with you that there are those who believe Sandra's early 70's hornlines are among (if not the) most technically proficient horn lines in the history of the activity. Those beliefs are generally based on a simple premise. The vast majority of kid's in Sandra's horn lines were taught to play their instruments the same/correct way, by the same incredibly gifted person. If you would like more details, please see:

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=5...b9-6e2478272910

And yes, there is reference to gender bias in the article.

JKY

Sandra Opie with Argonne hornline

Elder Hall

Northwestern University

1972 American Legion National Championship

Photo courtsey of John Russell Martin

http://tinyurl.com/2q79ye

Edited January 2, 2009 by jkyeag

[Jimbalaya]

Sandra has definitely impacted this activity. Not only as a musician and professional,. but as a very unique, caring and genuine person.

Dennis.......I can fondly remember when Mariners competed at Blue Rock's show in Wilmington. The saber toss was nothing less than spectacular.

J

beware the trolls and posers

[sky]

Dennis and Jim, I remember having competed against the Mariners at Baynard (?) Stadium. They had a great show (beat us, but didn't win the show). I later met Brasale in DC when he was with the Marine D&BC and was also teaching OLPH VIPs Jr. Corps (along with Bill Semanek and Bob Neidrich). Great guy. RIP, John.

SKY

Edited March 25, 2008 by sky

[jkyeag]

Thanks for your historical perspective. I hadn’t before heard many of the details behind the alleged change in direction. I had heard before references to the ’71 Cavaliers show as an attempt to take the activity in another direction. However, what I find interesting in this historical account is the above assertion that Cavaliers (and Scouts I suppose) were merely adapting to their interpretation of what the judging community was “demanding” – a total show concept with lots of GE. To me, this implies the driving force behind the change in show design might have been outside of the corps and their organizations and more to do with a paradigm shift in the judging community. That is, its differ to me to think the Cavaliers set out to change drum corps (ala the new argument against Hopkins) as opposed to the Cavaliers merely adapting to their perception of the judging community’s expectations (even though they probably reacted more innovatively/unconventionally than some would have preferred.)

Am I off-base with this interpretation?

Maybe this will help. Please see Jeff Mitchell's The Evolution of Scoring Performance (section II - the Era of Transition) at:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.ma...32f13681d7b7c09

[bobk9258]

Yes, the product has improved. The days of the home-town corps has passed. Appreciate DCI for what it is; a select few are chosen to participate and pay a hefty price to do so. Although I miss the days when hundreds of mediocre corps competed with squad drills and patriotic mis-matched repetoires, I also love what today's corps are doing. IT IS WHAT IT IS. No amount of complaining or reminiscing is going to change anything. Sorry for the rant. Watch DCA for a while and become a fan. I, personally love both DCI and DCA for what they are.

Very well put, I could not agree with you more. Although I do miss The CYO Nationals. Mission Drums, Shriners International, Danny Thomas Invitational,. so many more I could keep going but they are all gone!!! I still have some of the best memories from all of these shows. I feel pretty lucky to have been around during the 1960's & 1970's in Drum Corps.

I still love all aspects of Drum & Bugle today with DCI, DCA, Alumni Corps etc.. As they say Variety is the spice of life

Edited April 4, 2008 by bobk9258

[jkyeag]

In my mind, it was the musical revolution that was driving change as much as anything in 1971. The formation of DCI and their scoring adaptations over the next decade would bare that out.

Please see Jeff Mitchell's The Evolution of Scoring Performance (section II - the Era of Transition) at:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.ma...32f13681d7b7c09

The DVD recordings of the 1972 DCI Championship are now available. These recordings are the perfect illustration of what Jeff Mitchell was trying to tell us. Please check out Argonne's closer, Love Story. The exposure in Love Story (both musically and physical placement on the field) was way beyond anything that could be rewarded using the existing score sheets. Argonne added Love Story for only the possible gain of one or two tenths in Content Analysis (CA/MA). The caption was not large enough to support an adequate spread based on what was occuring on the field. Although it was a first step, CA/MA was nothing more than a caption to slot corps by difficulty. Because Argonne was more interested in pushing the activity musically, they had to overcome the increased exposure with proficiency on the field,...while other corps were rewarded in the execution caption for playing whole notes and half notes.

Mitchell was correct. Changes continued to be made to the score sheets to reflect what had already happened on the field.

Edited December 31, 2008 by jkyeag

[Northern Thunder]

When I first heard Argonne live in '72, I couldn't believe that baroque arrangement of Love Story. What they did on the field in those days was incredible! It was pretty much the same in '73 when they came off the line with Fanfare For The New. It was like they were playing in another league altogether.

[danguernsey]

Didn't Madison do the 'Alice in Wonderland" show at VFW with no costumes or props? Must have been bizarre to see....

Jim,

Yes, that is correct: we had to discard our costumes at VFW Nationals. I was in the guard in '71 (one of the 7 dwarfs, in fact!).