Jaminbenb Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 (edited) There's a conversation about a picture that Skee posted to the WSM Facebook page that Dave Krauss interjected and was talking about the 1980 crazieness up in Boston! Talk about a wild weekend!!!! Did we cover that here???? Edited February 8, 2012 by Jaminbenb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 There's a conversation about a picture that Skee posted to the WSM Facebook page that Dave Krauss interjected and was talking about the 1980 crazieness up in Boston! Talk about a wild weekend!!!! Did we cover that here???? yes. I believe that's the place where McShane showed the lifeguard he found someones bathing suit at the bottom of the pool. his own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 If you're talking about McShane and the Roundtowner Hotel full of Mormons, I have no idea whether this was ever discussed here. I remember doing the afternoon parade and some poor guy offering us his beer when we stopped near a bar. It lasted .00565 seconds. Bless him. That parade was long, hilly and hot. I think Frankie Filapelli drank most of it.... I also remember competing at Nickerson field. It rained between the parade and contest. Nickerson Field was really top-notch- was the Boston Breakers' USFL field later (how's THAT for sports trivia!?) and was/is(?) Boston College's field. The problem was that it was that early tartan turf. When it got wet, it became paper thin, and underneath it was a concerte slab. When we did that turn-around and kneel in Spanish Dreams, I can remember the huge splash of water from the hornline as we went down, the "SPLAT!" noise, and the fact my bleepin' knees hurt like hell from the impact. IIRC, Kathy Federovich's knees were bad then, and that didn't help things for her either. I don't know how much I should elaborate on McShane and the Mormons. I have a feeling people would think I was making that whole thing up. I know there's a picture extant that would corroborate what he did. It was one of those long trips combined with a hotel. God help everyone. At least we had more fun in Boston than we did in nothing-to-do-but-crowd-around-the-Silverball-Mania-Pinball-Machine in Pib-a-dee Massatoochitts. The Pool made all the difference. On occassion I deal with a package headed to Pib-a-dee. I smile, and think, Oh! Someone actually DID something there besides breathe and ordered something! I also think the other thing worthy of note was that it might have been the last actual American Legion Senior National Championships ever held. I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that- it was fitting Hawthorne came out and snagged that one from the Bucs since they're so tightly associated with that title. I don't know if any kids read this. If you are, we DID actually DO Drum Corps, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 yes. I believe that's the place where McShane showed the lifeguard he found someones bathing suit at the bottom of the pool. his own Tom did MORE than that with the Pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I don't know how much I should elaborate on McShane and the Mormons. I have a feeling people would think I was making that whole thing up. I don't know if any kids read this. Honestly, W... from the McShane stories I've heard from the folks with Westshoremen and the Yankee Rebels, nothing you say about him would surprise me, and I know the stories would be true. Of all the crazy people in drum corps (and in Sun we had more than our share, believe me.. same situation as you have alluded to, W... there are stories about some of my corpsmates... and me...LOL... that I'm almost afraid to tell because no one would believe them)... I gotta figure, Tom McShane is at or near the top of the all-time list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 I also think the other thing worthy of note was that it might have been the last actual American Legion Senior National Championships ever held. W, Doc Sebastianelli revived the national championship in Scranton around 1997 or so. It was not an open prelims/finals format, but rather an invitational... but the winner was declared American Legional national champion and was awarded the Orange Flag that goes to those champions. 2002-2005, the DCA championship in Scranton was also the American Legional national championship. The caveat was.... to win the AL title, a corps needed to have an AL post sponsorship and field an honor guard. The corps who won the DCA title during that period (Brigs, Cabs, Statesmen, Bucs) all complied, so they also were AL champs those years. The last couple of years in Scranton, basically since Doc passed away, the show there has not been the AL title show. I get the feeling that went away when Doc left us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 I've been around drum corps from birth, and i've met some crazy people. McShane wins, so please tell us about Brother Tom and the Mormons. When he came back to Shore in 92, some of us knew the legend of the cooler dives. so at a school we wont mention in Allentown ( that i was just as), McShane did a dive into someones styrofoam cooler. he got the beer they wanted. But didnt leave em much of a cooler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Okay- Hmm throw lunch in the Microwave.. start typing.... We stayed at the Roundtowner hotel in Boston in '81 (had to be 81). A really decent place. Buncha floors, etc. Larry did get us good accomodations while I marched, I have to make sure readers know this. We figured, it was gonna be time to PARTAY.... Well... Larry gets the corps together and reads us the riot act. He rarely ever did this. But, he tells us that we were shairng the Horel floors we were on or above and below with a Mormon convention. Yep, the Church of Jesus Christ's Latter-day Saints/Brigham Young were in the building with.... US. We were told we had to behave, and NOT do stuff that might get the Mormons upset with management. Hold on while I get out my Chef-Boy-ar-dee, please.... When some of us heard, "mormons", they started repeating the word "mormons" over and over and started wringing their hands with a pretty evil grin, and Larry warned them again to behave.... The Roundtowner had a nice pool on the roof, it was hot, we were young, hey- of course we all went up there for a swim or to hang out. And of course, the Mormons felt the same way for the same reasons. What we didn't know was that McShane borrowed Trout-woman's blue one-piece swimsuit. Being made of lycra, it, well... fit, as we found out when he comes up to the pool, hair moussed/slicked back and dives in. Now.... the really interesting part was the overall reaction. We all wanted to laugh, to say something, but we didn't. Why? 1: It'd get McShane in God-knows how much trouble, which would get US into trouble, and have Larry upset. 2: all of us knew to observe and see just how far this whole thing could go, which was usually preety far when McShane was concerned. Mall trips in Canton looking for women's clothes in his size (42 fat, incidentally), dives into piles of sawdust, playing the bugle underwater, etc etc. He was able to use HIS swimsuit because he was wearing Trout-woman's, but the real piece d'resistance was when the Mormon guys start talking to him and flirting at the side of the pool. It was ... well, like watching a really good NASCAR or IndyCar wreck in slow motion. you knew SOMETHING was gonna happen, somehow, but WHAT.... One of the guys says soomething funny to him, he says in his drag-queeny voice he was using, "Oh, you BRUTE!" and shoves the Mormon into the pool. This is comedy movie material, for God's sake. There IS a picture out there, I have seen it. Hopefully, maybe I can ask nicely if this pic can resurface at the party after Profiles in Music. The one serious thing he DID do was at 1980 Championships- bet a friend in Hurcs we'd beat them, each got a gold piece worth at the time 500 bucks, each wore it around their necks during their respective performances, believe me, when he told the horn line, it gave me EXTRA focus to do a good job. We all know what happened afterwards, and he paid off. So there's the McShane in Boston story. And thanks for clearing up the AL Championships status thing, Fran. I thought Dr. Sebastianelli did some things afterwards, and it's too bad it hasn't continued. Really, the Scranton show is the last vestige of the AL-DCA link that's really seen short of Post 199 and the Cabs.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 So there's the McShane in Boston story. That is absolutely hilarious!!! I might have told this one before... but in 1977, at a late-season show we were hanging out waiting for retreat to begin... and watching guys from the Yankee Rebels/South Wind corps doing "human bowling." 10 guys lined up as tenpins, and another guy (the "bowling ball") rolling down a hill into the 10 guys, trying to knock over as many as he could. All this with their corps uniforms on. The best part was... in one frame, the "bowling ball" left a split on his first roll down the hill... it wasn't a 7-10, but a split nonetheless. On his second roll, the "ball" knocked one of the remaining "pins" down with his body, and stretched out and leg-whipped the other "pin" to the ground. We were laughing so hard we were almost crying. I mean, this was great entertainment!! A buddy of mine who marched with the YR/ South Wind corps that year has told me McShane was an integral part of the bowling game... it was part of what they called the "Wide World of Dorks" sports series, including cooler and parking-lot diving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 That is absolutely hilarious!!! I might have told this one before... but in 1977, at a late-season show we were hanging out waiting for retreat to begin... and watching guys from the Yankee Rebels/South Wind corps doing "human bowling." 10 guys lined up as tenpins, and another guy (the "bowling ball") rolling down a hill into the 10 guys, trying to knock over as many as he could. All this with their corps uniforms on. The best part was... in one frame, the "bowling ball" left a split on his first roll down the hill... it wasn't a 7-10, but a split nonetheless. On his second roll, the "ball" knocked one of the remaining "pins" down with his body, and stretched out and leg-whipped the other "pin" to the ground. We were laughing so hard we were almost crying. I mean, this was great entertainment!! A buddy of mine who marched with the YR/ South Wind corps that year has told me McShane was an integral part of the bowling game... it was part of what they called the "Wide World of Dorks" sports series, including cooler and parking-lot diving. when he came back...i think it was 91.....wow. those guys had no idea what they were getting. the few vets still around just laughed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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