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That is tres cool...but if we hosted it..per sey up here as in kingston could we expect a great turnout??just askin and just sayin.......cause man we could trade some great stories!!! Nick?? :tongue: Just kiddin...........anyone ..anyone????????????????????????????? Hey just havin sum fun man!! crapp forgot the Erie guys...Labbat's or Blue or Canadian???be careful how you answer!!! better be CANADIAN!!! :lol: hey I buy the beer you enjoy :lol::thumbup:

The Canadian contingent (DCAT I think) has sponsored at least three GAS Reunions as far as I know ... always well attended ... they had one of the largest crowds a few years back (~600) ... quite impressive ... check it out with them ...

Andy "I've MC'd a few GAS Reunions" Lisko

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This is for Stanfori....

year... 1963? pretty sure.... that's the year.... My older brother is not in the new Brigs and had just finished a year (1962) with Crusaders after previously being a brigadier and was now joining his 16 year old little brother in Fulton Gauchos...

Contest: Ottawa Ontario sponsored by Maurice LeGault's Les Troubadours... My father, brother and myself decide to drive to the show from our home in Oswego NY... We drive my brother's little Metropolitain... anyone old enough to remember the Metropolitain knows that me in that car is an experience... fortunately, my dad was small - very small 119 # all his life... anyway...

After the show, the Kingston guys decide to take a bunch of us out on the town... now I know everything in Ottawa closes early and am told - NOPE, not if you know where to go... Lead by a Grenadier only known to me as "Kangaroo" (yes he was Australian) he proceeds to take us across the river to HULL, Quebec... We go into a hamburger joint and he says follow me... we go into the men's room and straight through and out the far door of the men's room and low and behold here is a full SPEAKEASY straight out of prohibition... gambling, entertainment and unlimited booze all night... the Grenadiers were definitely making an impression on this 16 year old...

about 4 hours later... I would guess 5AM or so - the sun was coming up... we leave (stagger out of) the illegal bar and down the street there's a gendarme putting a parking ticket on our little Metropolitain...

Running down the street goes Kangaroo... Screaming "You Can't do that!" Well he gets in this officer's face and tells him nose to nose that we are yanks and the guests of their country and there's no way he would allow the cop to give us a ticket... words got much stronger - MUCH STRONGER - and I figure all 4 of us are headed for jail... finally, he takes the ticket and rips it into a hundred pieces... tells us to get into the car and go back to the United States. We pour my dad in the back seat ... get in the car and as we pulled away Kangaroo was still in the cops face... discussing international relations.... lol

All I can say.... Don't go to Hull!

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5 things make my corps my corps:

1. People

2. People

3. Tradition

4. People

5. People

Music styles come and go. Instrument keys come and go. Drill styles come and go. Judging systems come and go. Competitive placement comes and goes. Uniforms come and go. But the signature of my corps - or any corps for that matter - are the people who make it up and the traditions that they perpetuate and create. I'm fortunate to be part of a corps with a 51-year history.

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I haven't really said too much on DCP as of late with having no real connection to 'my corps' or drum corps in general at the present time.

I agree that the people are what make a corps what it is. When I was welcomed into the Skyliners in the winter of 1993 and treated as a member like any other even though I was only 6 and my dad was bringing me down with him I knew I had found my corps. For 14 years the excitement of getting up Saturday morning or heading out after school on Friday night to head down to "The City" to rehearse is beyond compare. I remember every moment of watching the corps rehearse when I was little. The membership, legends like Konga, Sol Anthony, Gus Wilkie, Matt Dennison, Dirty Eddie, John Girardi, treating me as one of their own. The feeling of putting on that uniform for the first time at the age of 7, helping these guys pin their cummerbunds on, handing out plumes, helping the pit load and unload, making sure the truck was clean, an experience I will never forget. It was a huge honor to be a part of that amazing group of people, and then to work my way up as I grew up to be a part of the administration, to learn the inner workings and truths to an organization so legendary, to be a part of the decision making process.

Even though the current administration and I have had a huge falling out and several differences of opinion, I still bleed red and black and I always will. I've got so many great memories and experiences that I will always have and I will always be grateful for what I learned and had the opportunity to do.

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I agree with PEOPLE and TRADITION, but another one for me is

the MUSIC. I can't hear any songs that we played in the past without thinking of the corps.

In a couple of cases, i never heard the song before i heard the corps play it.

to me, the corps owns the song for that reason.

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All I can say.... Don't go to Hull!

That is too funny Tom! Thanks for sharing that bit of history...I am sure that it was quite enlightening for you at 16 to have been part of that group of consumers!!! That was a liitle before my time , although I was introduced to corps as well As Don Dean in the fall of '66 when a JR. corps was started in Kingston in preparation for Canada's 100'th birthday in 1967..thus we were known as "The Centennials"...and eventually we gravitated to the "Grenadiers"....learned some bad habits....then changed the way we thought..and out of that ...Thanks too many .....became an organization that would promote the love of music and what did I hear when I was young from Bob Gary "ESPRIT DE CORPS" and he wasn't even French ....and as always I love the people..so many did I meet in our RCA days especially..and when I competed in DCA in the 1990"S ... always good to know our history and we continue to hope that music will be an some important part of our lives.....my son and friends carry on the "Grennie" tradition ...and Make me proud every season......My friend Don is the ultimate drum corps nut ...together with his wonderful wife Brenda , ( and countless others) have continually worked to keep history alive and give DCA the canadian content that is so important ......Skol!!! :thumbup: And have a cool one...man it is so warm here today in KINGSTON BBQ time !!!

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Had an interesting talk during the last week and though I'm bring it up for discussion. Especially since part of it might be from my mugged up experiences in Drum Corps land. :thumbup:

Someone was asking why I didn't do the Alumni bit for my old corps since... "well they're your old corps". Problem is during my years there was at least three different corps (all with the same name). First there was the group of 50%+ rookies trying to bring back a defunct corps. Few year later there was the group that had vets from other corps building up to break top 5 in DCA. After a break there was that mid-80s group of vets trying to bring back a corps (again bringing back a corps but this time with people who knew what they were doing :whistle: ). While I was not a member, the corps was in the top 3 a few times which I'm sure was a different experience. Also after I left, the group get known for having a jazz type style which the Alumni group uses today.

So the question is, what do you consider to be "your" corps. Is it name and name alone, or is it experiences, the people, style of music, whatever, etc, etc.....

Know this seems geared to people with Alumni type groups but isn't meant to be. Any former member can feel free to chime in.

Hey Jim,I have always considered Steel City as MY home corps! my original Jr.corps was terrible,but ya gotta start somewhere!

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Hey Jim,I have always considered Steel City as MY home corps! my original Jr.corps was terrible,but ya gotta start somewhere!

Indeed you do have to start somewhere...and that is good that there was somewhere to start?? Right?? just sayin..$1.00 to melligene

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The Skyliners made me a better man than I thought I would have been. The lessons I learned there helped me thru Marine Corps Boot Camp, and into the fleet. I can't wait to return once my time in service is done. Nuff said...

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The Skyliners made me a better man than I thought I would have been. The lessons I learned there helped me thru Marine Corps Boot Camp, and into the fleet. I can't wait to return once my time in service is done. Nuff said...

And truly......If I could have been a snare drummer with any other corps than mine...it would have been Sky in 75 or actually any year.....10 snares holy crapp..and that great street-beat as us old guys used to call :whistle: it!!!

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