KeithHall Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Stories please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 The first time I ever saw the Commodores was at the 1972 VFW Nationals in Minneapolis. The 1973 Commodores had one heck of a hornline (arranged by Jim Ott, with sister Bonnie Ott doing the solo work throughout). They peaked at DCI prelims, with 3rd place in total horns, and 3rd in GE horns. Unfortunately the collapse came quickly for the Commodores in the following years, including in ill-fated merger in which they became the Royal Commodores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j.morgus Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 I first saw the Commodores at the 1973 CYO nationals. Being with the St. Francis Mariners, we immediatly liked them for there similar sense of style They had a very crowd friendly show that year, us young'uns were especially pleased with thier rendition of the Popeye theme. Good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amadorj Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 (edited) Not many people know it but back in 1967 the (then) Stockton Police Commodores helped another drum corps formerly known as the Sparks Drum and Bugle Corps get established as the Santa Clara Vanguard. The corps donated old bugles and drums to help the corps get on its feet. In the early years of SCV Jim Ott who was the horn instructor for the Commodores took a break from instructing and played mellophone for SCV a number of years. He later went back to instructing the Commodores which was where his heart was. Santa Clara was always competing with the Commodores for high horns in those early years. The Commodores had a great large sound topped off with melodic solos by mellophone player Bonnie Ott (then dating Mel Canales mellophone player with SCV). They were a great corps from the Valley! -Jesse Edited July 3, 2009 by amadorj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Anello Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Those, like me, who saw them at DCI prelims in Whitewater, witnessed an excellent performance with an unusual twist. It was extremely overcast and humid - thunderstorm weather - and just as the corps started their show, a huge thunderclap hit west of Warhawk Stadium. The chief judge tried to waive the corps off the field, but they kept on marching their opener of Russian Sailor's Dance. The crowd really got behind them, especially when their concert began with Rainy Days and Mondays (ironic, huh??). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 The Commodres probably could have used that thunder at finals. They had a real letdown from their prelim performance in '73. Fell from 3rd to 8th in total brass, and REALLY dropped in GE brass....from 3rd in prelims to 12th at finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esch Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 (edited) They were a ton of fun in the early pre-DCI days.... hot horn line (where Jim Ott learned his way... and Bonnie... well...). They had an incredible drum major whose name I think was Al Gomez, but we always heard the announcer say "Apples" so that what we called him. My strongest memory of them was marching off at retreat at an afternoon show playing "Popeye" (of course) and as they were heading off down the track they did the last horn break down (Baris: "I fights to"; Sops:"The finish"; Mels: "'cause I eat"...) and the contras turned to face the stands and marching backwards did the "my spinach," spinning on their heels to head off like a Caballero soprano. We were still on the field, but we were smiling! They were great! Edited July 3, 2009 by esch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BD3BK2R2 Posted July 5, 2009 Share Posted July 5, 2009 Munson Chan of the Renegades has a website, I'm not sure what it's called but he has tons of vintage drum corps pictures and I'm positive there are plenty of Stockton pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwrice Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Loved the corps. The performance at DCI prelims in '73 was fantastic! The previous poster was correct, they did start the show with a loud clap of thunder. However, more importantly and probably more impressively, they ended their show the same way. One of my favorite corps of all time with both a great "look and book"! Rice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secarizona Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I remember them in 79. They were always 3 points behind us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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