Jaminbenb Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 That's part of the reason I picked it - it was different, plus it rocked! Well it was the bongo parts that MADE it rock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironlips Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Ah, yes, "Icarus". I felt like I had been waiting forever for the opportunity to arrange this tune. The Blue Devils could have carried it off no doubt, but I had already moved on from there and the Westshoremen had all the right stuff that year. Those cats were musically hip, sophisticated and confident...all the things (you are) that the best DCA corps would become over the next several years. In short, they were ahead of the curve. I positively relished being with them at that time. If the chart was a little too understated, blame me. Robb and I took our best shot, and the visual, well you really couldn't argue with that given the cats involved. They were (still are) superior. My hat is off to the corps who topped us, irrespective of the judges. They also gave their best effort. Westshore, in my opinion, set the tone for the kind of smooth approach which became a standard for the next several seasons and I for one am very proud of having been a part of that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairbear Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Ah, yes, "Icarus". I felt like I had been waiting forever for the opportunity to arrange this tune. The Blue Devils could have carried it off no doubt, but I had already moved on from there and the Westshoremen had all the right stuff that year. Those cats were musically hip, sophisticated and confident...all the things (you are) that the best DCA corps would become over the next several years. In short, they were ahead of the curve. I positively relished being with them at that time. If the chart was a little too understated, blame me. Robb and I took our best shot, and the visual, well you really couldn't argue with that given the cats involved. They were (still are) superior. My hat is off to the corps who topped us, irrespective of the judges. They also gave their best effort. Westshore, in my opinion, set the tone for the kind of smooth approach which became a standard for the next several seasons and I for one am very proud of having been a part of that. And it was apparent to a fan in the stands from Cincinnati, Ohio. I realized I was watching and listening to a new kind of drumcorps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 And it was apparent to a fan in the stands from Cincinnati, Ohio. I realized I was watching and listening to a new kind of drumcorps. EXACTLY. And good to see Frank caught us! And I also figured the Diceman picked Icrarus because it was so unique. I can tell you the corps really had trouble getting its arms around it hornwise early on. The one thing Dave impressed on us constantly was to "make MUSIC, not just play black notes on white paper!" That was the problem. We read the rythms, we played the notes, but we didn't get it, and we were frustrated. We were excited to meet Frank, and he comes in and pulls out this instrument that most of us were clueless as to what it was. "This is an Afuche, I picked this up on a trip to Brazil...." 30 years later, musicians are far more familiar with world instruments. That term wasn't even invented back then. There was stuff I knew from Eastern Europe (Tamburitza), but not from Brazil! The problem was that we weren't internalizing the groove and feeling it. I'd say mainly because we never had to play anything with that kind of groove before. Frank starts cranking away on the Afuche, *ts-ts-ts-ts* etc., and we then started to understand what was happening. The piece began to make musical sense to us. H-B also brings up the other point. How do I put this- there was a real resistance with DCA to certain changes back in that era. Frank always told us, when you fight the champ, you can't beat them by points. You have to knock them out cold. You can't rely on the judges to give you the nod. I'd say when Reading and Sun won from 1977 to 1980, they were just so clean, and so obviously beyond their competition that they did this. Anything different and not "playing the way certain other corps thought it should be done" was more or less heretical to many elements in DCA. If you weren't musically driving your tank through the buildings, over cars, and blowing up everything in sight, it wasn't the way you were supposed to do things. The problem was, it played into those corps' game if you tried to do that. Those certain corps did that well, and Sun, Reading, and Westshore weren't wired to do that sort of thing. Sun was kind of like McLaren in tha Can-Am racing era in their use of tried and true things when it was appropriate to use them, and intelligently introducing new technology when they felt it was to their advantage and knew how to make it work to win. They knew what ideas from both ends of the spectrum fit them well and how to make those varied ideas work for them. They knew when to turn John loose to get the crowd rowdy, they knew when it was time for the corps to lean back and howl to grab the crowd even more, but they also had moments they showed real thoughtful and subtle things. Reading had the big symphonic sound, great charts, and great leadership on-field as well as some College Mus Ed grads from WCU and Mansfield on horns. Westshore couldn't be any of those other corps. We just weren't mentally wired like them, and had we tried to be them, we'd have been pretty ridiculous to watch and listen to. We had to make our own mark and establish ourseles as unique and set apart from everyone else. Icarus did a lot to establish that, and I'm glad the Diceman liked it, because I remember some DCA stalwarts out there didn't get it at the time, nor did they want to because it didn't fit their expectations of what DCA was. There were some other things about the corps that made us musically a bit different and "odd" versus the more "traditional" DCA members, which I'll get to. I have to get up in 6ish hours, I'm racing today and you all know how I love to compete, whether I win or get pounded as long as I give a good effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Hey Frank! All I can say is the musical education you gave us back then was something to rely upon as I went through the rest of my musical days! even though I was a drummer, you taught us all well, and set us up for great things! Thanks for being there! (and I'll never forget the story you told us of you on the Long Island Expressway when you were "buzzing" your mouthpiece and got pulled over! ) I know a LOT of people didn't like Icarus, but (well besides the bongo solo) I always thought it was something that set us apart from the other senior corps and the usual "BAM BAM BAM" sound that people were used to hearing. Reading, and Sun were the only other two corps that had any sort of sophisticated musicality at that time, and to be in direct competition with them week in week out in 82 and 83 was something to accomplish and be proud of all these years later! It's just a shame that it all fell apart for a few years after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 You know, I've done the mouthpiece thing on 322 heading towards Hershey, thought of Frank, and looked off to the side for cops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceman Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Hey Frank! All I can say is the musical education you gave us back then was something to rely upon as I went through the rest of my musical days! even though I was a drummer, you taught us all well, and set us up for great things! Thanks for being there! (and I'll never forget the story you told us of you on the Long Island Expressway when you were "buzzing" your mouthpiece and got pulled over! ) I know a LOT of people didn't like Icarus, but (well besides the bongo solo) I always thought it was something that set us apart from the other senior corps and the usual "BAM BAM BAM" sound that people were used to hearing. Reading, and Sun were the only other two corps that had any sort of sophisticated musicality at that time, and to be in direct competition with them week in week out in 82 and 83 was something to accomplish and be proud of all these years later! It's just a shame that it all fell apart for a few years after that. *I* liked it! It was cool to hear something different/unexpected - and you guys did it justice, IMO... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) You know, I've done the mouthpiece thing on 322 heading towards Hershey, thought of Frank, and looked off to the side for cops. Oooofff! Derry Twp. is NOT a place I'd be doing that! I'm not one to criticize law enforcement, but the way they handle it here is a joke! Rewind back to like circa- 1980....just got my drivers license that summer, driving my fathers bigazz 1979 Ford LTD (in jade green ) and I'm heading out to Hersheypark to drop off a job application (because I want my own stupid car and not to drive that dang LTD) (although it DID have a rather large back seat....another story for another day... ) (her name was Karen) ANYway.....I'm on my way home after dropping off the paperwork and them saying "don't call us, we'll call you" and I'm at the 322 exit turning onto Waltonville Road. I stop the car, look both ways, (left, then right, then left) see nothing and pull out...Ok, so there's some stones on the road, and the tires spin a little...apparently I didn't see officer friendly sitting off the road a little ways, and he pops on his lights.... so I pull over and he striiiiides up tot he car and starts his "license and registration" BS....so I hand it to him, he gives it a quick glance and goes "do you know why I stopped you SON" (and me being my usual smartazz self is thinking don't call me son) but I behave and go "why no officer, I haven't the slightest idea, please tell me" "Son, you PEALED out at that stop sign, and we don't appreciate that sort of behavior in Derry Twp.!" I said "I'm sorry, but my wheels spun on the loose stones, I'm not really used to driving this car" He made some comment about my father not appreciating what I was doing in his car, and surprisingly I'm staying focused on not being a smartazz I said, well maybe he wouldn't, but he'd know that I spun on the stones...the cop said "what stones?" so I had to take him and show him...long story short he left me go with just a verbal warning...but ever since then I've hated Derry Twp. cops and their attitude! (I don't even drive more than 3 miles over the limit here, you never know where they're putting up a stupid speed trap!) Edited March 17, 2012 by Jaminbenb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 *I* liked it! It was cool to hear something different/unexpected - and you guys did it justice, IMO... Ben mentioned it earlier, the closest anyone ever really got to it was BD and "Pegasus". I do know when things changed in '82-- many of us including myself became serious students of BD and how they did things and aspired to try and be as much like them as we could in terms of excellence, quality, musicality, and grooviness as humanly possible. I still drive friends nuts with my "Digital Devils" CD's in my car, and listening to so much of it with Rook BITD, I still know all the percussion kicks in a lot of the stuff. The last show BD did that I really was absolutely sold on was the "Phenomenon of Cool", which was just a huge gas from one end to the other. Got into Brubeck in college when I acquired a large portion of my Uncle's Jazz collection on vinyl and hosted a jazz program on WLVC BITD. Most of my Jazz CD's now are a ton of Kenton stuff-- that, Chicago, and some ska... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 And yes, Derry Township.... Wasn't Boltzie (Bass Drummer early 80's) well known in the corps for his string of traffic tickets in the Hershey area? Speaking of, when the corps moved in cars from one place to another, that could get pretty crazy. When I had that Wildcat with the 430 in it, I know I was hustlin' as long as it was a straight line. The one thing I do remember was this. I'd be riding with someone or driving, and we were usually moving at a 'brisk' pace, and the next thing you know, a Ford LTD/big FoMoCo full-size sedan with Larry at the wheel would usually blow by you like you were Granny Smith coming home from church in her Model A. HOW he never got pulled over is beyond me. I think even Dad got passed by him at Warp Factor 85 and he told me about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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