Jaminbenb Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Just to be clear... I am not at all saying that Westshoremen gave up late in the '82 season. You guys were never a corps that packed it in. Heck... 'Shore came back from the 1974 and 1984 seasons to be better than ever. Other corps might have called it a day. No, I didn't take it that way at all...but I DO agree that for you guys it was slow and steady, for us it was BOOM! Clifton was just a shock, and how we maintained that was crazy....I guess we were ready quicker, and as the year wore on, everyone improved, and over took us. I was surprised that you guys started off so slowly given the fact that you SHOULD have won the year before (and boy I got a load of crap for saying that when I mentioned that after I joined Bucs..but it was my opinion on that night! I saw the top three shows, and you guys smoked the competition!) and thought that you had some momentum going into 82. (and yeah, your drum line was always top notch back then...Dennis Delucia was a monster!) (and a helluva nice guy...he was OUR drum instructors instructor when he marched Bridgemen, so we got to meet him once or twice) Looking back, I realize that our drum line was the weakest link, it was a year where a lot of old vets retired, we got a new drum instructor, and things really took a slight step back, but had potential for improvement if things "stuck", and we kept a good core of players. (and that didn't happen in 83...but that's getting ahead of the game) But that year was a lot of growing pains, and it took us a little longer to get things to a point where we would have been a really great line (maybe another month, ya know) So I always felt that the drums held the entire corps back a little. I had a blast that year, and even though we hit 2nd in the end, it was still a great run, and we had nothing to be ashamed of, but we DID have some kinks to work out if we were going to STAY on the top, and eventually win that bugger. As far as 1980.. I was surprised that you guys had a weak-ish year, but even after the year wore on,was surprised that we were still beating you (and jinxing you with doves ) You guys DID keep things working with a small corps, and proved that you didn't need 70 horns to dominate. IMHO...the 84 season was a fluke... I think had things NOT changed, that Westshore WOULD have been a top 5 contender..granted I wasn't planning on marching that year, but knew that a good nucleus was coming back (and showed up at the first few rehearsals) but never figured that it would have tanked the way it did, then re-surge the way it did...it COULD have ended for good, it really could have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 IMHO...the 84 season was a fluke... I think had things NOT changed, that Westshore WOULD have been a top 5 contender..granted I wasn't planning on marching that year, but knew that a good nucleus was coming back (and showed up at the first few rehearsals) but never figured that it would have tanked the way it did, then re-surge the way it did...it COULD have ended for good, it really could have! If you don't mind me asking... what exactly happened in 1984? The corps was so strong in '83, so it was kind of a shock to hear about them struggling to stay alive during the 1984 summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 (edited) If you don't mind me asking... what exactly happened in 1984? The corps was so strong in '83, so it was kind of a shock to hear about them struggling to stay alive during the 1984 summer. How I heard it.... Larry was warning the staff and board the entire 1983 season (and possibly before that), that he was ready to get out of it, and wanted them to find another backer/corps director/etc., and told them that 1983 would be his last year, he was pulling stakes, and wanted to be bought out. No one believed him, and after the end of the season, he recalled everything (usually the horn line kept their horns, but we always turned in the uniforms) with, I think, the message that they were doing a modification to the "then new" horns, and they were sending them back to the manufacturer. About a month or so later, I received a call saying that "Larry sold the equipment, we're having a meeting, please be there" (I wasn't planning on marching that year either) So I went to the meeting and we heard the news... a faction of people decided to attempt to keep the corps in business, and we had a decent turn out at the first few rehearsals, but no horns, so with no horns the numbers started dropping significantly after that...the drumline had a decent core of people, and as usual the guard is transient so there were guard people "around". (EDIT: oh, and as far as equipment, some of us worked at some local high school bands, so drum equipment was easy to obtain until the new drums came) We had decent numbers as we went through concert season, but people were being slowly lured away, and a few got to the point where they weren't getting along with some of the new "management" and instructors, so by the time the concert season was over, we were WAY down... on the day of the Danville show, (which was supposed to be the start of our drill rehearsals) I think there were about 10-15 horns on the roster, and a few drummers, so they announced that they decided to take a break, and would make an attempt to do parades, just to keep money flowing into the corps, and regroup in the fall...maybe keep some sort of presence at local shows, recruit at band shows, etc. They also announced that several corps had spots that needed filled so a bunch of us ended up marching elsewhere. IF anyone has more to add to it, or corrections to what I posted, feel free...that was mostly what I knew at the time (and this is in a nutshell) Edited April 30, 2013 by Jaminbenb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 that's about as good as I remember it. Kinda similar to what happened after 97....except it never really came back. that's a story for another year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 that's about as good as I remember it. Kinda similar to what happened after 97....except it never really came back. that's a story for another year I have a "1984" story written about how MY year went (and will post it when the time comes)...but this is the gist of what Fran was looking for, I guess. I DO remember that there was a nice interest at the first two to three rehearsals, but the fact that we couldn't have instruments available for people was big! The drums came from those of us that were teaching places, (and drummers are easy to please) but no horns really hurt! But as I said in the other post...I REALLY think that if it was just "business as usual" that it would have been a top 5 corps that year, (especially with the turn out I remember at the first practice) Then potentially better in 85, only with how things were progressing. I DO feel that we were in over our heads in 82 because we didn't know HOW to be in first place! And with that in mind... I learned later on in 84 from a few people in Bucs, that some people felt that when we were clapping for the corps we beat (we clapped when the corps we beat were leaving the field...not sure HOW or WHY that happened, but we just had this weird feeling that "ok we should clap for you?!?!") that it was an insult because..well "WE WON, YOU DIDN'T!" and we were clapping...strange what you hear when you get within different ranks. It wasn't like that, I just think that a LOT of us had no idea how to act, and we just clapped?!?! RE: 97..I'm anxious to hear what happened from 89-on! I just walked away from the activity entirely after my 1988 season...so I'm looking forward to that stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 One thing that just came into my head....if the truck, and all of it's contents were sold (To the California Don's jr. corps) Why were the uniforms retained, and where were they? Never figured out the whole situation... Another thing was that there were pieces of gear that people had on the truck (Ruth had a personal set of cymbals, I had some hand percussion stuff, not sure what else was there) that were sold when it went west, and no one was ever able to recover it? I just thought the whole "clandestine" nature of it was the worst! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Thanks for the insight here, Ben. It's a shame things didn't work out better in '84 for the corps. The thing I remember most about them that summer was the "six-week corps" they put together for DCA Prelims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Earlier there was a discussion with Fran about the loss of momentum. One factor was the Staff really didn't get a lot of input from the Panels early on. Everything was all positive, no negatives, and the competitors got a lot of input in comparison. The Staff- and corps membership learned just because the judges aren't griping that there shouldn't be changes and enhancements to the program if things aren't where they should be. Not blaming the judges-- but, I did learn that when you do talk to someone way ahead of the game that you SHOULD discuss issues and future plans to continue to improve the program, Nowadays, people know better and don't sit on their laurels like we did in '82, letting everyone else catch up. I think everyone learned a tough lesson in that way. Reading tweaks continuously throughout the season regardless of the score gap. If they didn't, my guess is that they would have dropped one or two more Championships in their streak than they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 The clapping thing in 1982... that bothered us (Sun), too... and I know at least one other corps (besides us and the Bucs) that didn't care for it, either. Just came across to us as a bit condescending. Even if that wasn't the intent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 One thing I will never forget about the '82 Westshoremen... the corps' members coming over to us after the scores were announced at Finals and shaking our hands to congratulate us. That was a major class-act move, for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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