brassomaniac Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) In the eighties... Mardi Gras in New Orleans, ... 4 guys from Noble Callahan made the trip to perform with Empire Statesmen. Among many performances there, we went to the French Quarter and set up on the street, to play. A couple of tunes in, the crowd was so thick and close, that we couldn't even see Dave Bruni, out front. What we didn't know, was that, at the other end of the corps, the police were threatening the drum line with arrest, FOR INCITING A RIOT! Edited July 30, 2009 by brassomaniac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) Farm Show Building......H'Burg, Pa. And that show is probably still echoing in the ceiling. Lancers have done parades and finished with a concert in front of our home AL Post. Soon as I join (figure) the "powers that be" decide that we can't stand on a state route to do our concert. Oh well, now we stand in a side street with our backs to the wall and play to the other wall across a two lane road. Also play to anyone between those two walls. Only problem I have is we start with the National Anthem and we can see who doesn't stand or at least is quiet and respectful during the Anthem. Westshore played in the lobby of a hotel at the AL convention in New Orleasn (1978). No idea of the name but think it was where the PA group stayed. Not too wierd but funny stories from last year. At Winchester, VA we used to do a pre-parade concert but that was changed to a concert on the first few blocks where the parade starts. Yea... first few blocks... play two numbers.... march a block... (repeat twice). Funny part was when we had to march before the last song was over due to running late. An alto had his eyes closed while playing and next thing he knew everyone else was marching aroud him. At York pre-parade concert last year had a TV news cameraman next to me. We do an about face to prepare to start the show and the guy starts eyeballing us. Then I hear "Do you do anything else?".... my response "Nah, we just turn around again after we start playing.... you're safe where you are". Edit: Never play "Battle Hymn" in sections of VA that display the Confederate flag. We got really good crowd response after all our opening numbers. Then we played BH and it was like.... clap..... clap.... (While probably muttering #### Yankees.) Edited July 30, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarolleeT Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 I’ve told both these stories before, so I’ll give the condensed versions.Garden State Rack Track. Played at the grandstand entrance early in the day; then marched down the track (ankle deep in soft dirt ) before the big race.. A lot of people were yelling and waving their arms at us. We were thinking, “They are really digging us.” They were thinking, “You’re scaring the stuff out of the horses.” Every Memorial Day in the late 60's and early 70's the Bon Bons would spend the entire day behind the tote board at the Garden State Race Track. In between races, we would come out from behind the board, alternating sides, and play a number. We grew to hate Memorial Day because of that. The best was when we would have a contest after that. We never did a good job................I wonder why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow_7 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 When WGM was first getting started, we played a couple of local basket ball games. At one we did something during the preshow/half time instead of just playing in the lobby. They sent us out onto the court a little early and we found ourselves in the middle of some Santa Baby presentation in progress. Nice to have the best /closest view of the ladies, but I think they ended up cutting their number short because of it. A horse track in Jr. Corps. One guy forgot his marching shoes and ended up wearing black socks over his tennis shoes. Which were hanging by threads by the time we marched off. He was big guy too, 6'+ and size 13's or something. Various other standstills, but nothing really stands out. We played for a March of Dimes event this year. I think it was the only public performance we ended up doing this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassomaniac Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) A horse track in Jr. Corps. One guy forgot his marching shoes and ended up wearing black socks over his tennis shoes. Which were hanging by threads by the time we marched off. He was big guy too, 6'+ and size 13's or something. LOL! We once had a guy forget his shoes, for a competition. We had a pair on the equipment truck, that someone had previously left on the bus... A COUPLE OF SIZES TOO SMALL, THO!!! He had to wear those to march that night - OUCH!!!!!! Edited July 30, 2009 by brassomaniac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow_7 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Also back in Jr. Corps I drove up to one camp and hung around a day or more past the end. I somehow got talked into playing a gig that week, and pretty much had to borrow every bit of clothing I wore at that gig. To include size 12 shoes, where I was a size 10-ish back then. That's when I learned the trick of stuffing the toes with tissue paper helps make such shoes fit. It was strange in that it was a funeral for an alumnus. And it was open casket. Which one of the performers was not comfortable with when we rehearsed the day beforehand on location in presence of the body. We sent one of the guys in to close the casket before entering the venue that day. It was a nice arrangement of amazing grace that we played. And I eventually made it home about five days later than planned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 30, 2009 Author Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) LOL, at one show (want to think Edinboro U at Erie) corps staff realized they needed another field DM for part of the show. Found uni pieces that fit one of the brass instructions (kind of) and suited him up. Then they looked at the crap brown cowboy boots he wore and oops.... Guy walks over to one of our bus drivers who had company regulation black dress shoes and asks "Howie what size do you wear?". When told a close enough size it was "Sold... take 'em off buddy". (eye witness to this crazyness) Bus driver spent the rest of the show worrying that he'd be caught being out of uniform. "Hope the company rep ain't aroud here". Edited July 30, 2009 by JimF-3rdBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack4681 Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Boston Crusaders October, 1963 Salute to the President Commonwealth Armory Boston, MA Just weeks before his assassination the Boston Crusaders appeared at a sold out fundraiser in front of thousands at Boston’s Commonwealth Armory. The Armory, the size of a football field was configured with tables with only a large aisle down the middle to the head table. The Crusaders opened the proceeding marching through the opening and performing a short drill in the aisle before separating and lining up on both sides. More music was played before the dramatic entrance by John F. Kennedy who walked slowly through between the Corps as the Crusaders played Hail to the Chief. On either side of the aisle the invited guests pushed against the Corps straining for a glimpse of JFK. Earlier in the day Kennedy had met with representatives of the Crusaders in uniform and was presented a plaque denoting him as a lifelong honorary member. Just weeks later he was dead but the memories of that day in Boston still endure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassomaniac Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 (edited) Also back in Jr. Corps I drove up to one camp and hung around a day or more past the end. I somehow got talked into playing a gig that week, and pretty much had to borrow every bit of clothing I wore at that gig. To include size 12 shoes, where I was a size 10-ish back then. That's when I learned the trick of stuffing the toes with tissue paper helps make such shoes fit. It was strange in that it was a funeral for an alumnus. And it was open casket. Which one of the performers was not comfortable with when we rehearsed the day beforehand on location in presence of the body. We sent one of the guys in to close the casket before entering the venue that day. It was a nice arrangement of amazing grace that we played. And I eventually made it home about five days later than planned. Nice. That one reminds me of a somber one of ours: Played at the grave site ceremony for Donna Marholt this year: players from 20th Century Limited and CB! combined for a beautiful tribute. We played a new arrangement of "Amazing Grace", which I had to come up with over the weekend, and dedicated "For Donna". 20th Century continues to use the arrangement, in her honor. They will perform it at the Kingston DCA show next week. Edited July 30, 2009 by brassomaniac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassomaniac Posted July 30, 2009 Share Posted July 30, 2009 Got a challenging one coming up next week: DESA Military Reunion Banquet. 3 half-hour sets. A real stretch for a group using corps instrumentation. We ran though 24 tunes, in the last two rehearsals. We used a dozen or so, of these, in the Lake George gig, and then had to scramble up a bunch more from our short history, to complete the book for this one. This will be the biggest performance we've had to do yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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