JimF-LowBari Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 (edited) Nice to see the 1977-78 Matadors mentioned on here. They were just a great group of people... we had a blast hanging out with them from time to time. Those were two wonderful years for them. Terrific crowd-pleasing shows. Their performance at the 1977 Madison Square Garden show in June of that year was one for the ages... one of the most electric, energetic, absolutely unbelievable performances I have ever seen from a drum corps. I mean, one of those "you had to be there" shows. "Roaring standing ovations" would be an understatement. And in 1978, I thought they could have been a placement higher at Finals. Might as well bring this one up again since you met Paul Gieger. As you know Matadors had an off year for them in 1976 and we just missed Finals coming in 11th. 1977 WSM were supposed to be at the Danville Memorial Day Saturday exhibition (have that poster somewhere) but Carlisle HS (think Carlisle) was to be at Indy 500 and no way we would start the season with a lotta holes in the corps and staff. Paul, Cheryl Beers(?) (WSM Bari), my soon to be ex-girlfriend, and me go to Danville for the show. I drive my beat Mustang II which was a REAL tight fit for four. Anyway Paul and I were wondering if Matadors keep going down and WSM keep going up would be be better than them that year. RI comes out with those Spanish bedcloths unis and we laughed. Then the show started and our jaws hit the ground. We were one or two rows from the bottom (bottom row had their feet level with the field) and had a bell to face view of the big push at the end of their opener Rodeo. Bad news was Paul and I looked at each other with a "Ain't gonna beat 'em this year" look. Good news was having the screamers coming at me and ending up about 30 feet away from me is still one of my big DC thrills. Oh yeah Danville was the breaking point for the girlfriend and me. She was raised real strick and religious (well their version of religion ) and judgemental as Hades. Frank Filipelli came up after the show and talked to us and she just froze. Later it was "You KNOW that person?". My response "That person is my FRIEND". Then I started counting the weeks until we both went away for college and my planned easy break up would occur. Frank was called "Wolfie" cuz he looked like the Wolfman (even for 1977 standards) but sweetest guy in the world who would give his (last) shirt off his back for you. Last person to be judged in a nasty way for his looks. Edit: 1977 Prelims and 1978 Finals for RI are on YouTube. Little chopped and non-professional quality but Edited June 8, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Being completely honest here... we in Sun hated that whole clapping thing in 1982, too. It came across to us as disrespect, or condescension, or whatever... even though as you guys have said, that wasn't your intent, and I believe you. Oh, I knew that! I was talking to one of your tom players when we had the show in Verdun and he said "what's with the clapping?" I told him that we pretty much didn't know what to do when we won, then we figured it was like a "respect" thing. But when I got to Reading and a few people figured out where I came from I got hammered about it from a few horn players! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Frank's on FB, still a nice as hell guy! When I was in the corps in 79 I was in the (marching) timpani line with Frank...He kept an eye out on me and I was his personal "rookie" (which pretty much meant I had to help him get his drum in the case after practice and shows)(he helped me with mine, too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Frank's on FB, still a nice as hell guy! When I was in the corps in 79 I was in the (marching) timpani line with Frank...He kept an eye out on me and I was his personal "rookie" (which pretty much meant I had to help him get his drum in the case after practice and shows)(he helped me with mine, too) ahhh you had a rookie monster too! I didn't have one as a rookie....I was a legacy, and knew about the corps than pretty much everyone in it in 1989 LOL. Hoov was the old man of the drumline and I knew more to the old stories than he did! now my last year, I had a rookie...Axe, who played tympani for us this year. I love him to death, and tried not to abuse him too much. He was well trained tho....one finger snap and he knew I needed more beer! and for the Matadors....I'm telling you, if you sat through the rain for the 99 alumni show...what a ####### treat! Jim and Richie put on a show....kind of a back and forth "I can top you" trade...and OMG, Richie won. He hit notes dogs in South Jersey heard. and then they kicked in with the 77 Rocky version. Oh, heaven. by my time at retreat was different per sections. The guard did their own thing ( usually hysterical to watch), but were polite, the horns would cheer for us and do some chatter, and we stood there like robots, only coming to attention when we were announced. Did hear a great story at Dave's retirement party. Carlisle was the first of the local bands to stay at attention the whole way through retreat. it wasn't planned. They were last on, came off the field and went down to the end zone and fell in attention. Dave got distracted and let them there, and when he turned around, saw them still at attention, and a tradition was born! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 oh and Frank....I love Frank. heart of gold. some crazy ideas, but the sweetest guy. Having known that whole clan since before birth, when I went to Mom F's funeral, Frank was the first one I saw. Huge hug, and was more concerned about asking about me than me asking how he was holding up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 oh and Frank....I love Frank. heart of gold. some crazy ideas, but the sweetest guy. Having known that whole clan since before birth, when I went to Mom F's funeral, Frank was the first one I saw. Huge hug, and was more concerned about asking about me than me asking how he was holding up Yeah Frank was great! He didn't abuse me, he kept an eye on me because I wasn't a "total" rookie since I did Hershey the year before (and had to deal with Ted Arndt ) The timpani loading was a necessity since those bears were awkward to get into the cases....lotta bad memories with those cases...dove poop included! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 that was the beautiful thing going to the semi in 89....every drum had a slot/cubby. all strapped in. Well except for the LKO in 89 when Ralph drove over a curb, slammed the breaks and everything went flying. I should be able to get to that by 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 that was the beautiful thing going to the semi in 89....every drum had a slot/cubby. all strapped in. Well except for the LKO in 89 when Ralph drove over a curb, slammed the breaks and everything went flying. I should be able to get to that by 2020 Crap...at that point we had the old blue refrigerator truck that they used to need to tie stuff down, I'm sure Jim remembers that more than any of us The next truck wasn't SO bad, at least it had some shelves on it. I remember getting into Rochesters truck in 78, they had a spot for everything, and even slots that you could put mirrors into outside so the drumline could watch themselves play! Readings was equipped with a "tap system" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 (edited) Crap...at that point we had the old blue refrigerator truck that they used to need to tie stuff down, I'm sure Jim remembers that more than any of us :shutup: :shutup: :shutup: :shutup: Too bad we couldn't remove the inner walls of that truck so we would havbe had some room. Didn't look that bad until you looked in the back and realized how thick the insulated walls were. Wonder if the cops today would get Paul and me for not buckling the seats belts..... what seat belts.... Hell what seats???? LOL my fav was the thermometer that was on the outside of the van portion of the truck. #### thing was so rusted solid you couldn't read the dial let alone think the needle on it moved. Edited June 8, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Glad to hear Frank is doing okay. I see Steve now and again. And Fran as for the clapping, if someone woulda told Larry, we'd have stopped. The last thing we'd want to do is honk anyone off after we saw what the Hurcs did for us, and I mean for us. I do have to wonder if that letter had never been sent to us in 1979 whether the corps would have really gotten much better. It was a powerful motovator. If DCA would have wanted serious compeition every week, they shoulda scheduled us to go up against the Hurcs every week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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