BD2Rings Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 '74 was my first year in drum corps. I had zero expectations as I was very naive. I assumed it was normal to compete at DCI and be up against other corps we had not seen before, as there were several new competing corps for Blue Devils. I believe Muchachoes, Kingsmen, and Troopers were all new to our mix. The mind may be going here, but this is what I remember. After we performed in finals, and since we placed eleventh in prelims and were on early, we were allowed into the stadium to watch other corps, and were not restricted to the back side. We were given a set time we needed to leave the stadium to prepare for retreat. I therefore got to witness at least part of the Muchachoes show and crowd response, and it seemed like the majority of the folks sitting in the Cornell stadium were there for the Muchachoes home show. The only time I have ever seen a crowd respond anything like what I saw that night, was for an Oakland Raiders home game. It was controlled pandemonium without the cheerleaders. I, at 16 years of age, was fully blown away by this. With no prior exposure to DCI finals, nor what a normal crowd response would be for such a performance, fully could not comprehend what I was seeing. and more to the point, hearing. Prior to this night, I greatly enjoyed the competitive nature of drum corps, but from that night forward, I understood the 'rock star' possibilities of what we were doing. And for those of you who were part of the Muchachoes, '75 was even better. There are those that speak kindly of the Blue Devils '76 show, and even I look back with favor on that year, but I can't recall the Blue Devils ever bringing home the bacon the way it was done by that group from Hawthorne. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_aborigine Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I have heard . . . There was something to do with the Muchachos being in possession of a Cavies flag that precipitated the "outing" of the over-agers. Re: Muchachos being a feeder for the Cabs, that Cos on occasion would go out of his way to dispel that rumor claiming no real affiliation between the corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Re: Muchachos being a feeder for the Cabs, that Cos on occasion would go out of his way to dispel that rumor claiming no real affiliation between the corps. Some Westshore members were talking to some Muchachos few hours before the '75 Hershey show. Someone asked if they were going to join Sr corps and one said "Yeah Sky, I'm sick of playing that Spanish crap". Irony was the Westshore (Sr) members were in HS or just graduated so were younger that the 21 year olds we were talking to. Think someone asked about the DQ and got a shrug as an answer. IOW - it happened, life goes on, oh well.... And 74 Troopers were the first big name Jr corps I ever saw. They did the waiting fo rthe scores exhibition at the Carlisle Sr show and blew everyone away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumss Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I have heard . . .There was something to do with the Muchachos being in possession of a Cavies flag that precipitated the "outing" of the over-agers. Re: Muchachos being a feeder for the Cabs, that Cos on occasion would go out of his way to dispel that rumor claiming no real affiliation between the corps. I had never heard that particular story about the flag.... at least not that anyone had ever brought up in the corps at that time... As far as being a feeder for the Cabs, there were many Muchachos who never had any interest or intention of marching in the Cabs...some of us did, but many did not. Officially the Muchachos were started by Ralph Silverbrand from the Cabs, and were taught by many Cabs over the years...but officially we were not a feeder corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Milano Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I have heard . . .There was something to do with the Muchachos being in possession of a Cavies flag that precipitated the "outing" of the over-agers. Never heard anything about that . . . and I would probably have been "in the know" at that time. None of our corps' discussions about any of this was retaliatory in nature along those lines. As I've said before, we would have turned in Troopers or Santa Clara if they had been setting the poor example we learned that the Muchachos were. And again, we had verifiable insider information on Muchachos so they became the "case study" that we pursued. No other reasons than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 Drum corps was like that back then...the question is, how did anyone know that any corps had overage members? I knew that St. Joe's had a few back in 1970 & 71 or at least that was the rumor. So how did a corps from Illinois know that a corps from New Jersey have overage members? Never heard anything about that . . . and I would probably have been "in the know" at that time. None of our corps' discussions about any of this was retaliatory in nature along those lines. As I've said before, we would have turned in Troopers or Santa Clara if they had been setting the poor example we learned that the Muchachos were. And again, we had verifiable insider information on Muchachos so they became the "case study" that we pursued. No other reasons than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumss Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Drum corps was like that back then...the question is, how did anyone know that any corps had overage members? I knew that St. Joe's had a few back in 1970 & 71 or at least that was the rumor. So how did a corps from Illinois know that a corps from New Jersey have overage members? Well...in this particular case there was a drummer from Blessed Sacrament in NJ who had moved to the Chicago area and wound up marching with the Cavaliers. He knew the overaged Muchacho drummer from previous acquaintance (and from what I had heard, previous friendship).... I met the Cavalier drummer about 2 years after the fact when he moved back to NJ, (we actually wound up working at the same company). His name has been mentioned here in threads before, but I won't mention it again in this one... He swore to me up & down that he was still friends with the overaged guy & his girlfriend at that time, he also swore that although it looked suspicious he did not turn in his friend...I'm not convinced of that of course, but it is what it is... and yes, I agree that the overage practice was a bit more prevalent in those days... not with all corps of course, but some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_aborigine Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Thanks for weighing in, my head is loaded with crap I've heard through the years from various sources, nice to know I can put that one to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russellrks Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Some Westshore members were talking to some Muchachos few hours before the '75 Hershey show. Someone asked if they were going to join Sr corps and one said "Yeah Sky, I'm sick of playing that Spanish crap". Irony was the Westshore (Sr) members were in HS or just graduated so were younger that the 21 year olds we were talking to.Think someone asked about the DQ and got a shrug as an answer. IOW - it happened, life goes on, oh well.... And 74 Troopers were the first big name Jr corps I ever saw. They did the waiting fo rthe scores exhibition at the Carlisle Sr show and blew everyone away. As a complete opposite to your memory, my first time ever seeing Sr. corps live was as a member of the Royal Commodores, also in 1974. We played an exhibition at a senior show in Cumberland, Maryland. I don't know what the fans thought of us, but I was completely blown away by the sheer power of those senior corps. Was it customary back then to have jr. corps at sr. shows or was 1974 an exception to the rule back then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 (edited) Was it customary back then to have jr. corps at sr. shows or was 1974 an exception to the rule back then? I'd say exception to the rule unless it was a local corps. But irony is I was at three regular season DCA shows in 1974 and all three had a Jr corps come on after the Srs were done. Hershey had a "kiddie" corps (looked about 10-14 yrs old) whose name I never remembered and no idea why they were requested. Carlisle had the Troopers as a name to pull in more customers. Last one (Amhearst, MA) has one or more local corps but I have to look at srcorps to find out who. After 1974 there probably were a Sr show here and there with a Jr corps but I can't remember any. But I would have been with the corps getting ready for retreat during their performance. Edit: Should say this if for no other reason the timing. DCW has just released a DVD of 1974 Carlisle show that I was talking about in my earlier post. Jim Jones recorded it and the family allowed DCW to clean it up and sell it for the benefit of the Troopers. Only problem is the only corps not on the DVD is the Troopers as that performance has not been found. But it is the only recording (including audio) ever found of 74 Westshore. Edited August 11, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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