Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Personally, I'll never forget the Ambassadeurs in 1978...they had an all "hot chick" tomline that played their shapely little azzes off ! Oh man... those ladies were smokin'!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 ... The corps had never really had a "personality" DM out front... over the years it was almost like "DM by committee" with the corps, with various folks coming and going. Before your time with Sun, Kenny Soper did a pretty good job of getting the crowd involved in the mid-60's and was definitely a "showman" with numbers like The Joker, Rockabye You Baby, Sunny Side of the Street, Swanee, Chatanooga, etc., Sun's show was a real crowd pleaser 65-67 ... Kenny used to engage the crowd in many "hand clapping" exercises ... he's in Sun's HOF as well ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Ben, he was DM with the Hurricanes in the early 1970s and became pretty well-known in DCA. When he joined us in 1977, he definitely was one of the final pieces of the "championship puzzle" that Sun had been assembling. The corps had never really had a "personality" DM out front... over the years it was almost like "DM by committee" with the corps, with various folks coming and going. Tom not only was a terrific conductor and personality... but a great leader. He was pretty soft-spoken... and as a result, the rare times he would raise his voice to us if we were screwing up... well... you could hear a pin drop. Everyone listened. He had the respect of everyone in the corps. Not easy to do with the cast of hardboiled characters we had. :tongue:/> An indication of the impact he had on Sun... he was with us for only two full seasons (1977-78, and for a brief period at the end of the 1980 season)... but is in the corps' Hall of Fame. Cool! Never knew that. Interesting the lineage of some of these guys...reading in the other thread as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Tom and Tony were always spot on- and as Fran said, part of the championship equation. Easily up there with the people who had it together. Maybe not as much "sizzle" as some of the more well known personalities, but presence/professionalism, conducting- YES. Sun 77/78 was really all about the total package, having all elements assembled, not just having one or two parts of the package incredibly awesome and the rest being just okay. They were a real wake-up call to the DCA establishment to say the least, and they were definitely game changing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Same here, W. Metropolitans had some killer high-energy shows during that period, 1991-94. You're right on the money about their horn line... super-aggressive. oh Les Mets 91-94....first corps on at prelims in 91. ####### huge...then that wall of sound!!! I really loved 94...I'm a huge sucker for the music from Interstellar Suite, and they did it in a way that even DCA fans loved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Well..as I said, some I had no clue, but there were a few whose voices I recognized...But yeah, after not wanting to do "1984" then coming in to help until it got rolling, re-catching the bug for the year, and then being told that "we aren't"...I had to keep going or I would have gone batty (well batty-er) And it wasn't even the fact that we were going to a top end group...Reading was not good the year before, and at that point of the year, all indications were that they were going to be mid-pack again...Not sure if anyone went to Sun or Cabs, but the guys that went to Sky were "sure why not" and the guys that went to Bush were destined for it so.... And, no, of the people that were being rude...I haven't seen any on here or FB or anything...one or two that made amends with me over the years are around, but except for very few instances, I haven't seen them again... and as I said..this far out, no skin off my tush :music:/> I know Terry martin went to Cabs with Rich...I'm pretty sure he wasn't alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 (edited) Tom and Tony were always spot on- and as Fran said, part of the championship equation. Easily up there with the people who had it together. Maybe not as much "sizzle" as some of the more well known personalities, but presence/professionalism, conducting- YES. Sun 77/78 was really all about the total package, having all elements assembled, not just having one or two parts of the package incredibly awesome and the rest being just okay. They were a real wake-up call to the DCA establishment to say the least, and they were definitely game changing. I didn't even know what drum corps was until about this time of year in 1977, so 1978 was my first live experience... I was able to go to DCI East (Prelims and finals) a few of the local shows around town, Danville, Hershey, Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, and Championships...both prelims and finals again...but my best experience was the Dream! That was the first time I ever saw the Sunrisers, and BOY was I blown away...In fact I thought they blew Hawthorne out of the water....(it was also cool because I got to see a bunch of the Jr. corps I saw at DCI East going at it) But Sun got their revenge and won finals which was pretty cool! I just remember that the "personality" DM's were George, Butch, Jimmy, Alan Smythe from Rochester, and Ritchie Price those years, The rest were either blah (Westshore) or just all business (Sun)... The funny thing at Dream was when Butch got out of the limo with two chicks and they had champagne! Edited May 22, 2013 by Jaminbenb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 (edited) I know Terry martin went to Cabs with Rich...I'm pretty sure he wasn't alone Yeah...that's right! Forgot about them! :thumbup:/> I'm sure I missed others as well... Edited May 22, 2013 by Jaminbenb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 (edited) Before your time with Sun, Kenny Soper did a pretty good job of getting the crowd involved in the mid-60's and was definitely a "showman" with numbers like The Joker, Rockabye You Baby, Sunny Side of the Street, Swanee, Chatanooga, etc., Sun's show was a real crowd pleaser 65-67 ... Kenny used to engage the crowd in many "hand clapping" exercises ... he's in Sun's HOF as well ... :-) I forgot about Ken. You're right. One of the all-time great Sunrisers. I guess I'm thinking more about the late 60s, early 70s... when it was kinda like the "DM of the Month Club" there. Edited May 22, 2013 by Fran Haring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 but my best experience was the Dream! That was the first time I ever saw the Sunrisers, and BOY was I blown away...In fact I thought they blew Hawthorne out of the water.... 1978 Dream story: We had won '77 Finals by .05 over Cabs, closest margin to date at DCAs. '78 Dream like you said, Ben... we were absolutely on fire that day. It was DM only retreat... I was sitting with a guy from Sun and a friend of his from Skyliners. The Skyliners guy tells us, "you guys definitely won this show... you were great today." Now... since when it came to us, guys in Sky threw compliments around like they were manhole covers, that was quite a compliment!!! Background: Sun had never won the Dream. The corps always felt like a bit of an outsider there. So... scores are being announced for the '78 show... Skyliners announced in third place... then the announcer says something like, "it may interest you all to know that first and second place are separated by only .05." Before we hear the names, the Skyliners guy turns to us and says, "That means Hawthorne won. They would never let you guys win the Dream by .05 after last year!!!" LOL Sure enough... he was right. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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