The history of the Westshoremen

[Jaminbenb]

Thank you for your kind words Ben...

I have ALWAYS been proud to have been a member of the Sunrisers. It has been my honor to have marched with some of the people in the activity that have always shown what class is... (BOTH formidable opponents AND some of the very best friends in the activity...)

What's funny, is I actually did consider coming up and marching there in 1985. I had an aunt and uncle that lived there, and they would have rented me a room

[Fran Haring]

(Personally I'd like to see Icarus, but that's just me)

That would be cool, too... great tune.

[Jaminbenb]

That would be cool, too... great tune.

Yeah, I don't get why a lot of people don't like it (coughcoughjeffcoughcough) In fact a bunch of people BITD didn't like it...But I always thought it was a neat tune, and we played the crap out of it! (Not to mention "bongo fury" )

Same with No More Blues in 83. Not a lot of people that that was a great tune, but I liked it. (although I wasn't a fan of the tune for the drum solo..."The Entertainer"...but I GET why it ended up that way given the cluster**** way that drum solo got written. I forget the original tune for it though.)

The thing that bugged me was in 81 after we did John Mile's "Music" as an exit the whole year (and did the singing at the beginning of the year until too many judges were going "why bother") The actual "ending" of that song was pretty good...but Larry for some reason thought we were going to get extra GE points at the end of the show if we stuck the tag of Impossible Dream in for finals! (and if I remember correctly we ONLY did it at finals, not prelims)

[Jeff Ream]

Yeah, the 6 week thing was an amazing accomplishment! When I saw them at the Reading exhibition the night before finals, I was shocked that they pulled it off in such a short amount of time!

Imagine what could have happened had that group just stayed together...

honestly......if the 6 week corps had not gotten so #### faced after Reading, they would have had a better relims run.

Talked to a few people in Wildwood this past weekend who were around in 82, and they said "we didn't know how to win, so we panicked"

[Jeff Ream]

And...since we're talking about it, here's what I was planning on posting when 1984 came around...some of it explains why I don't do alumni :shutup:/> I just typed some of this stuff earlier, but here it is....

Caveat Emptor: In all cases I eliminated names of offending people, and I'm sure that some of you MAY figure out or even know exactly who I am speaking of, please refrain from naming them publicly, I'm not writing this to drag them through the mud, as it were, I'm just stating the facts as they happened. Some people have made amends with me, some haven't, some, I just haven't spoken to in the time period of "then and now". But this is part of the story.

After the end of the 1983 season…I was at Bowsers house hanging out, and the perennial subject of "you gonna do it again next year" came up….usually I said "yeah, wouldn't miss it for the world" but this year was different…after the run in 1982, and the letdown of the previous season, I did some soul searching, and decided that I was done for a while! I had a few "bands" I was working with, one was just all out jamming, another did Rush, Yes, UK, and (oddly) Grateful Dead! (Terrapin Station is AWESOME to play, and more PROG ROCK than JAM BAND) and I was sitting in with a friends band when his drummer couldn't make it playing oldies and country stuff…just enough to keep me happy, playing, and put a little cash in my pockets to keep me in heads and sticks. So I was done! I figured I could take a few years off and always go back.

One afternoon, as I was finishing up a jam session, enjoying a beer and a smoke with the bass player, my father came down and said I had a call, it was someone telling me about a drum corps meeting the next day, I said to him "Eh, I'm not going back for next season, I'm taking a break… so I picked up the phone and said hi and was told; Larry sold the equipment and Westshore is technically for all intents and purposes ENDED/FOLDED/ DONE!!!! I WASN'T going to go but my father figured I better go, show support, and if anything make it look good for anyone that was potentially thinking of joining to let them know that "yeah there was a corps"…which was what whoever called me pretty much asked. But I WASN'T GOING TO COMMIT TO MARCHING!

So I went, showed support, and even agreed to show up at the first practice. Brian asked if I'd be a "drum captain" and I said "sure at least for the duration". I made no bones about it, and I told him; I was not interested in marching at this time, but I really didn't want to see the corps fold, so I'm here until at least I know that the corps will continue. So I went, I played, I learned music, I mentored newbies, I talked it up, and I made it all sound good…while this was all going on, I was getting back into the routine, and eventually looking forward to practices as I had for the previous five seasons (well six including Hershey) So we did the concert season, I had a blast playing drum set to Explosions, and was looking forward to fielding a corps…yeah we were small, but mighty! Not knowing the issues that were happening in the hornline, with what apparently was a power struggle with a few select, the drumline was thriving, and having a fun time. After one of the parades, we had a jam session with Reading's line, and I got to know a few people in their tomline (and drumline) . In fact one of them made mention that they were at least one short, but had room for two. But I blew it off, and just enjoyed the fun we had. After that parade and the next few practices, people were dropping out like flies, a few headed to other corps, a few just gave up, and a few were never heard from again, at least from my perspective.

The "fatal" day at City Island when Dan Bowman announced that Westshore would not field a corps, they would try to continue on in SOME capacity, to be revealed at a later date, and that we should go help out the other corps that are still in need of bodies, and he read off a listing of who he'd been in contact with, and their immediate needs. That day also happened to be the day of the Danville show. My plan was to go home, get a cooler and some beer, and head up to just enjoy the show… God KNOWS how long it's been since I had the opportunity to do that! Thoughts of marching somewhere else crossed my mind, and I figured what the heck, I'd talk to Skee and see what my options were at Reading. Being reluctant to march at all that year, and going through the whole winter/spring season, I wasn't ready to just go back home, and forget about it, and I remembered the invite to Reading's tomline. When I mentioned this, Bowser was "no freaking way man, I'm not joining Reading!" Ok, let's back up….Craig was ALWAYS complimentary of Reading, he was in AWE of (the late great) George Parks, he LOVED their shows, and was always hoping that we'd be on in such a place that he would be able to WATCH Readings show, he knew a few people in their horn lines (Smoothie being one from 1980) and asked for fingerings on certain tunes, so he could play along….closet fan? You be the judge…so I'm wondering WTF is up with him? I asked, "Ok, after all these years, you watched, studied and drooled over Reading, why now that we have a potential opportunity to join for the heck of it, and you are hedging?" He said that when Joe Santoro, who was one of our DM's at that point left, (For Reading) they offered Craig his DM spot! I said, OK, you go ahead and DM for something that doesn't exist at the moment and have fun marching in the parades, if they even get to DO that, from what I saw at this practice, 75% of the people that showed up (and there weren't many) already said they were going to try to march somewhere else, unfortunately, at least for THIS year: WESTSHORE IS DONE! I'm going to finish the season out at Reading." He thought about it, and on the way back to my house he said, "yeah, you're right, I think they killed it today, ok, I'll come along"

When I got there, I found out that Steve Rook, and Morgan Case had already joined and were marching that night (I think Rook may have sat out, but I'm pretty sure Morgan marched) I talked to Skee, and he re-introduced me to Robbie. Robbie said come to Buc field tomorrow, and we'll talk, I have a tom spot and a few "pit" spots open. (whatever pit was??) During this time, I think Rook talked Rickie Lee into joining (If I'm wrong Rick, feel free to add…This was a heck of a long time ago, and some details were fuzzy) But the thing I saw when I got there was that there were a few people from Westshore already plugged into the show, a few horns, the two drummers I mentioned, and a bunch of guard people (which are pretty much transients from my experience, which is good, because they seem to be cohesive wherever they go!) So there were a FEW friendlies! Not to mention people I knew from past years, people I met at the "jam" session, and people Skee introduced me to during one of their breaks (as the 5th tom player, with a big grin on his face) A decent amount of people actually ended up at the rehearsal besides Craig, Rick and me, One other drummer who's name I won't mention, Steve Rosito (Bari) and two guard girls (Dawn Lynn and Kelli McAllister) Craig and Steve came back to my car carrying horns and music, Dawn and Kelli as well as the rest of us were told to just show up tomorrow.

So we show up the next day, and Robbie gets the line warming up, and calls me over. He said I have a tom spot if I want it, we'd need to order another set of toms, BUT my really immediate need is for "kit". We are putting a sideline together, they're new and up and coming, so we really don't have any direction for it, but it could be yours, and I have a timpani spot open (he asked me a few questions about Rick who he said he was going to talk to next) . Now if you really WANT the tom spot, we can get you set up with music, learning drill and all that, and I have to get Ron (Gheris, the corps director at the time) to order the drums, but I can get you in the show as soon as next week if you want the pit spot! And he told me what it entailed, so I said I'd go for it, sounds like a lot of fun! (and I didn't have to learn drill and carry a drum!) So they started setting me up, and it went from there. He also told me to get a warm up packet and learn the warm ups, because I would be playing toms next year if I decide to march again, in fact, he kept me so INTO the tom world, that I used to tune them before shows! Funny stuff!

The un-named drummer wasn't offered the tom spot from what I've heard, and I'm not sure what was said, but he didn't stay much longer after that.

Ok, enough about that part of the background story….the "six week" corps was getting ready to do its thing. I get a call from we'll just say "someone" telling me what was going down, and I basically said "Hey, I'm kind of plugged in to this Reading thing, I'm not leaving, sorry, I can't DO that to these people this close to finals" I was questioned about my "loyalty" was told that other people left THEIR corps to come back, and was basically hung up on. (Years later I found out that Jim Neidinger was the person that marched elsewhere, and came back….he said that he enjoyed some of his time with Sky, but wasn't totally into it…)

I stayed around to watch them at the Reading show the night before finals, and can admit that it was very weird seeing those uniforms and me not in one. (especially since the last time I watched them was when they had the old Blue Devil uni's) I was amazed at what they accomplished in such a short time, and wondered why they didn't think of it two months earlier, but was happy that things were apparently going their way, and that the corps DIDN'T die! I mean give me a break, I spent the past 5 years pouring my heart and soul into that program, just because I was marching with a "rival" didn't mean I didn't care about them anymore! (as some people alluded to at one point)

Something that really upset me though, was the people that were in the back stands at finals heckling us as we went on the field…some familiar voices, and words like "traitor" were uttered. People I thought were my friends, but apparently didn't think that. That put in my mind the idea that I would never march there again, especially as long as some of those people were involved. My involvement with Reading THAT year was to finish MY season, that was started when I was trying to help, stuck it out, then was told that there wasn't going to be anything left, go help these people fill in some blanks! The fact that some people expected me to say "Ok, sorry, my corps is now going to start back up, sorry I wasted your time for the last x-weeks …see ya!" Nope, not the way I worked. Up until that point, there WAS the option to go back, if I felt that I wanted to go back, but after that incident, I knew it wasn't going to happen. I hadn't decided if I was going to march anywhere in 1985, I really didn't want to march anywhere in 1984, but circumstances prevailed, and I did…. One thing I DID know at that point… I knew I wasn't going back to Westshore. (heck, I even thought of joining Sun for a brief moment, since I always was a fan, and had an aunt and uncle that lived on Long Island during that time period!)(Not sure if I ever mentioned that in public before) But that moment in time was fun, and the 1984 season was a whirlwind more than anything else, but if anything, it got me to march with someone that was very instrumental in my development as a marching percussionist, Skee! He was my high school drum instructor, and I've known him since the first practice in the spring of 1977 when I was still in 8th grade, but was told by my band director that drum line practice for next year started NOW! So this was a cool thing, kind of coming full circle! (I always thought it was cool that he made a point of watching Westshore whenever we performed and it was cool to see his big grin (hard to miss with that mustache he had back in those days) and him clapping for me during the show! He really was the one that got me hooked on this activity. At one of the first practices when I was in band I saw his old VW bus pull up, and saw that he had a "Reading Buccaneers Drum & Bugle Corps" license in his back window..I remember asking him about it, and that event was my first notion of the activity…the next was driving by a house on a road near where I lived, and seeing a big truck that had "Hershey Chocolatiers Drum and Bugle Corps" painted on the side, then the first day of school, and seeing this weird red headed kid wearing a Hershey Chocolatiers jacket, and asking HIM about it….But Skee was the original person to let me in on the "secret"..so this was something that made ME feel good in as far as what he had done for me over the years.

After having so much fun in 1984 I decided to go back in 1985 and play toms. I ran into Robbie at a band show and he said "toms?" and I said "ok"! (and the year layoff made it tough, but I made it!) After the 85 season, I really decided to hang it up. I did everything I set out to accomplish in Drum Corps at that point (well except WIN a DCA championship..ok, I TIED for prelims in 84 and marched in the top drumline) One of the proudest moments was in 84 when we won drums, the Sunrisers drum captains came over and gave us a couple cases of beer as a congratulations gift! I always thought that was one of the classiest things I've ever experienced in drum corps! I still have that bottle of Becks on my shelf as a memento of that! (so THANKS! To any of you former Sunrisers that lurk here!) I never got to march there, but Sun was always one of my favorites!

sadly history repeated itself with the traitor BS in 98. i'll get there some decade

[Jeff Ream]

Popped in quick for another thing but saw the 6 week corps posts. Someday I should get my 1984 experiences down. Form Frank F. ordering me to re-up for parades... to "we're doing Prelims" during a picnic in between parades.... to doing Honor Guard with Pete and Al (not a nice experience but maybe I can say the details now).... etc, etc, etc.....

Including the (names still removed) near fight on the Island that started with:

"Those ###### left the corps and joined Reading"

"How the #### could they leave when there wasn't a corps to leave?"

Rest of season walking egg shells on that and none of those people felt comfortible enough to come back in 85. Don't blame 'em and it bit WSM in the butt BIG time for a few years.

and again 14 years later

[Jeff Ream]

Man... I would really like to see the alumni corps do that tune. To me, it's a Westshoremen classic!!!

many of the drumline members want it too!

[Jeff Ream]

Let's see...an "unlike" for that post....Jeff? :tongue:/>

(Personally I'd like to see Icarus, but that's just me) :devil:/>

it is just you on Sicarus

now we'd end up Thurstonizing the parts....no single 9 for us...Stauffer and Moyer would shoot me for suggesting it!

[Fran Haring]

it is just you on Sicarus

now we'd end up Thurstonizing the parts....no single 9 for us...Stauffer and Moyer would shoot me for suggesting it!

Oops. LOL

I just remember the horn book... cool brass chart.

[Fran Haring]

sadly history repeated itself with the traitor BS in 98. i'll get there some decade

Sun had some of that B.S. going on at various times in their history, too. I shared some stuff with Ben in a PM.

That crapola is never helpful, ever.