27th Lancers of the mid 1970's

[drmr27]

I was lucky enough to be in the Lancers during some very good years but ended my tenure in 1974. Without a doubt the worst year in the corps' history to go out on.

That 1974 show was not a very good show to begin but if you could get past some obvious performance issues and listen to the structure of the show there were some pretty good ideas going on there. Unfortunately those good ideas were too few and far between to hold an audiences or judges interest for very long. After the staff made the changes and "improvements" recommended to them in many post show critiques, the show we brought to Ithaca was REALLY bad. In spite of all that the members and staff all worked extremely hard that year if only to get the corps to survive until 1975.

Someday I am going to get around to re-posting the original version of "TWO-SEVEN" up on the Beanman.net. I thought chopping it up into 8 or 9 chapters would make it easier to stream and more accessible but sometimes you just have to leave things alone...no matter how bad they are.

Special note to John2780: come down to Florida where the weather isn't nearly as hot and stormy!

[john2780]

Special note to John2780: come down to Florida where the weather isn't nearly as hot and stormy!

Thanks God for Central air. I think I may leave the house sometime in October.

[O.P.]

Thanks God for Central air. I think I may leave the house sometime in October.

..only to drag the buck you shot from your bedroom window into your house. And then we wont see you till Spring.

[john2780]

And then we wont see you till Spring.

just in time for Golf Season

[LancerLegend]

Once again, Uncle Z is correct. There was a major ageout in '73.

I was fortunate enough to begin marching with 27th in '75 with the Ralph Pace /Joe Marella show. It was a great year to begin my DCI career as we toured with SCV and went to the left coast where I met some great friends. Not to say thatt my last year wasn't too bad either. Some fun times in the middle too

Funny - I was marching and have my yearbooks. I don't see where there was a major age-out year. Beanman mentioned some things - I'll mention a few others.

Staff

1. It was the end of the Jim Buckley era in percussion. Several veterans that were still able to march, opted to take a year off. In addition, drumlines were expanding and we were still a small line. We needed to replace the entire snare line, and the entire tenor line. We were left with a few super veterans (see Beanman above) who carried the torch and kept the younger guys and newbies inline. Our staff consisted of John Ferertra - a former 2-7 snare. While he could play a great drum, the charts were not as supporting as could be. We struggled with frequently changing parts thoroughout the year. I remember getting the album after finals, and I could not remember the charts I played. There were three tenors - me and two others. We executed so poorly together, the other two were on accessories while I banged.

2. Several guard staff members departed that also helped to mold the corps from it's inception. A new staff had great vision and energy. George Zingali, Stephen Covitz and Peggy Twiggs had aged out and formed the best guard staff the world ever saw. Still - the guard was depleted for a number of reasons, and we brought up many 13 year olds from the feeder guard.

3. It was the end of the Ike Ianessa era. There were some concerns that Ike was not as "hands on" as he had been in prior years. We had an exhibition in Montreal for a CFL game, and George B called the corps together as asked the corps what were their thoughts. We had 6 members that were left from the original corps, and they chimed in. There were other senior vets that echoed their feelings. At that point, George B made up his mind and Ike was asked to step aside.

George B gave Ike the opportunity to address the corps at a fall practice at the Melrose Armory. (Now mind you - I was in awe of Ike, and eventually was able to judge with him many times. I told him how much he meant to me, and the lessons he taught me were passed onto my sons. Luckily, I had many great years to judge with him.) Ike addressed the corps and said many things. He concluded by saying "without me, you will not be the 27th Lancers, and without you, I will not be Ike Ianessa." Truer words were never spoken. Ike never again returned to teach at the upper echelon of DCI, and it took the corps an entire season to rebound without him.

4. Gil Norton as the Visual/M&M guy. I would like to think Gil was several years ahead of his time in terms of show design. He could explain his ideas to the corps, and I think they were well received - we believed in him. But.....the ideas seemed to come across better in words than in our performance. Maybe the judging community was not ready for some of the things we were attempting? Gil did try to expand on the British theme, but it may have run its course.

The parallels are a new staff, seasoned veterans that left due to having an inexperienced new staff, and yes, many new members.

The turn around happened because many of the vets that remained were pi$$ed off after 1974 and stayed on to fight to earn some respect back. Coupled with a visual guy that needed a new corps to experiment with (Ralph Pace - formerly with Blue Rock in 1971) and his salesman drum buddy Joe Morellla (who could sell ice to and Eskimo) - they arrived as a team and were given the keys to the store.

It must be noted - that the IC Reveries, the CYO unit that remained after 27th was born, was struggling as well from 1974, going into 1975. Many of the local Revere kids moved over the 27th, while some refused. (They later transitioned from a merger of the Reveries and Blue Angels in Danvers, and following 1975, formed the nucleus of North Star in 1976. O.P. could add to this history.) It was that contingent of Reveries that truly resurrected 27th from its 1974 finish and their passion and dedication continued with many of those members aging out in 1980.

I miss Ike.

[A27Lancer]

2. Several guard staff members departed that also helped to mold the corps from it's inception. A new staff had great vision and energy. George Zingali, Stephen Covitz and Peggy Twiggs had aged out and formed the best guard staff the world ever saw. Still - the guard was depleted for a number of reasons, and we brought up many 13 year olds from the feeder guard.

I miss Ike.

Let's not forget Ann Fields and Denise Bonfiglio. Denise is still a staff coordinator with Santa Clara Vanguard. Annie is retired from teaching both on the field and from elementary school.

And I miss Ike like crazy. I was never under his tutelage as a marching member, but he was a beloved mentor to me in my teaching days. Sometimes I think about all of the great people I had contact with in my drum corps days - Larry Kirchner, Jim Wedge, Jimmy Centorino, George Zingali, Marc Sylvester, Dennis Delucia, George Park, Jeff Perkins, Charlie Poole, Ralph Pace, the list goes on.....

I am honored to have worked with, and learned from, so many geniuses. So many standards were set, and so much artistic creativity was passed on to so many people. Whenever I get an acting job, my fellow actors never fail to compliment me on my discipline and my ability to breathe life into a character. When they ask how I do it, I tell them it's a drum corps thing. Always leaves them scratching their heads

[LancerLegend]

Let's not forget Ann Fields and Denise Bonfiglio. Denise is still a staff coordinator with Santa Clara Vanguard. Annie is retired from teaching both on the field and from elementary school.

And I miss Ike like crazy. I was never under his tutelage as a marching member, but he was a beloved mentor to me in my teaching days. Sometimes I think about all of the great people I had contact with in my drum corps days - Larry Kirchner, Jim Wedge, Jimmy Centorino, George Zingali, Marc Sylvester, Dennis Delucia, George Park, Jeff Perkins, Charlie Poole, Ralph Pace, the list goes on.....

I am honored to have worked with, and learned from, so many geniuses. So many standards were set, and so much artistic creativity was passed on to so many people. Whenever I get an acting job, my fellow actors never fail to compliment me on my discipline and my ability to breathe life into a character. When they ask how I do it, I tell them it's a drum corps thing. Always leaves them scratching their heads

James - I did not forget Denise. She was still marching in 1974 - aging out in 1975. When she was on the staff side - she certainly complimented that great guard and visual staff beyond words. Ann was still there as well - the single holdover - I didn't mean to overlook her. It was the Zingali/Covitz/Twiggs addition that set the world on fire.

[A27Lancer]

James - I did not forget Denise. She was still marching in 1974 - aging out in 1975. When she was on the staff side - she certainly complimented that great guard and visual staff beyond words. Ann was still there as well - the single holdover - I didn't mean to overlook her. It was the Zingali/Covitz/Twiggs addition that set the world on fire.

Without a doubt it was the Zingali/Covitz/Twiggs that made 1975 a baby throwing year. Guess I was looking more at 76-78.