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The history of the Westshoremen


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Well...84 some of us thought that we finally got them when we tied at Prelims....part of the group thought we finally made that step...another part thought "sell more finals tickets"... another small group thought "tied at finals"...Robbie had us working, and said this has to be our best one (when we were tuning the drums) Not sure if I told you...Rob tuned the snares, and I tuned the tenors...he knew I could, and figured that once the carts were loaded, I was "free"!

We did the show, a lot of us thought it was the "one you left on the field" and walked away drenched, drained, and like you can't go on. I don't remember if they went on before or after us, but I just remember being told "don't unload the cart"...so I'm thinking someone knows something, and it MIGHT be good... So we left the cart at the gate, and reconvened for retreat.

At retreat a lot of us were thinking we did it, but as they announced captions, and they won M&M, someone said "we got 2nd"...so when they announced scores, it was doom....but the best part was that a few of Sun's drummers came over and brought us a couple cases of beer as a "passing of the torch" since we won drums (and I know a few of us still have that bottle on a shelf as a reminder...I do!)(it's right next to my runner up Thoroughbred Posterior award! :thumbup: )

I never got it anywhere...but I had a fun time!

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Just saw on Facebook....it's Skee's 20th wedding anniversary...what's crazy is, about 35-36 years ago he started the bug that got me INTO drum corps since it was about this time in 1977 that I started going to high school band practices (while I was still in 8th grade) and I (as he referred to me at my senior band banquet) started out as a "two left footed bass drummer" and turned into a fine world class "triples" player in both band AND drum corps! (at this point he saw me at the indoor concerts) I do know that one of his happiest moments was when I walked into the first Buc's practice in 84 and we actually "marched" together! Then the next year when I played tenors, he was ecstatic!

I shot him a note today and said that I appreciated what he did for me all those years ago, and if it weren't for him, I probably never would have joined drum corps, and got into the craziness! :thumbup: (and met all of you silly b#st#rds!) :devil:

wow....I'm old! :blink:

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Well...84 some of us thought that we finally got them when we tied at Prelims....part of the group thought we finally made that step...another part thought "sell more finals tickets"... another small group thought "tied at finals"...Robbie had us working, and said this has to be our best one (when we were tuning the drums) Not sure if I told you...Rob tuned the snares, and I tuned the tenors...he knew I could, and figured that once the carts were loaded, I was "free"!

We did the show, a lot of us thought it was the "one you left on the field" and walked away drenched, drained, and like you can't go on. I don't remember if they went on before or after us, but I just remember being told "don't unload the cart"...so I'm thinking someone knows something, and it MIGHT be good... So we left the cart at the gate, and reconvened for retreat.

At retreat a lot of us were thinking we did it, but as they announced captions, and they won M&M, someone said "we got 2nd"...so when they announced scores, it was doom....but the best part was that a few of Sun's drummers came over and brought us a couple cases of beer as a "passing of the torch" since we won drums (and I know a few of us still have that bottle on a shelf as a reminder...I do!)(it's right next to my runner up Thoroughbred Posterior award! thumbup.gif )

I never got it anywhere...but I had a fun time!

84 was the show I thought could have done it.

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84 was the show I thought could have done it.

Yeah...85 was good, but 84 was crazy good! (and I had a blast with Rickie Lee on the front sideline! :tongue: )

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85 kinda seemed like 84 rehash. Plus in85, Cabs drumline got good

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85 kinda seemed like 84 rehash. Plus in85, Cabs drumline got good

Different mindset within the corps...the only stuff we kept was Wind Machine (opener) and Rainmaker (concert) The drumline wasn't quite as good in some respects (I thought the tomline was better, and the pit wasn't as good :tongue: ) But the hornline was a LOT better on the whole, but our soloists went a little lacking.

The year just didn't feel great like 84 did...not sure why.

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in 95, we had no idea how high we'd end up. We just knew we wouldn't be DFL like the year before.

funny Robbie story....in 96 at Barnum, Dan asked him to run tape on us from the stands.

so we get to the 2nd drum solo, and Robbie's on his tape "So, um yeah, the drumline's so #### clean, I'm checking out spacing in the 3rd baritones on side 2.....Dan, it's June, don't peak yet for God's sake"

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in 95, we had no idea how high we'd end up. We just knew we wouldn't be DFL like the year before.

funny Robbie story....in 96 at Barnum, Dan asked him to run tape on us from the stands.

so we get to the 2nd drum solo, and Robbie's on his tape "So, um yeah, the drumline's so #### clean, I'm checking out spacing in the 3rd baritones on side 2.....Dan, it's June, don't peak yet for God's sake"

That's good! Robbie was fun to work with, we just had fun and got good in the process! 84 was really fun because we had more ex-Bones guys in the line, and it was like a family...85, as I said, was a little different....some of those guys "retired", and a few old Buc vets decided to hang it up... it almost felt a little like the 82-83 change over in 'Shore...and the talent that came in 85 wasn't up to snuff in comparison. (although it wasn't "hangers-on" like those that showed up in 83, there WAS talent, but not GREAT talent from a cohesive kind of standpoint. Good individual players, but didn't fit well within the line)

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That's good! Robbie was fun to work with, we just had fun and got good in the process! 84 was really fun because we had more ex-Bones guys in the line, and it was like a family...85, as I said, was a little different....some of those guys "retired", and a few old Buc vets decided to hang it up... it almost felt a little like the 82-83 change over in 'Shore...and the talent that came in 85 wasn't up to snuff in comparison. (although it wasn't "hangers-on" like those that showed up in 83, there WAS talent, but not GREAT talent from a cohesive kind of standpoint. Good individual players, but didn't fit well within the line)

that was the key to 95-96 for us...not just thedrums either. A lot of vets from 87-94 came back, especially folks from years like 89-90

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that was the key to 95-96 for us...not just thedrums either. A lot of vets from 87-94 came back, especially folks from years like 89-90

I wasn't sure who was who that came back in 85... (or 84 for that matter...I knew of some people that I've seen over the years, but unless someone said that "this was so & so who marched in 198_ coming back" I was clueless...) but I DO know that we got a few of their old vets in 83, and they weren't up to snuff for what we really needed... :devil:

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