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'87 Sky Riders


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this is why Sky '87 is in my top 2 shows of all time...my favorite WSS show...

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This is a fun thread. We had a lot of shows with the Sky Ryders during first tour back in '87. At the Railmen's home show that year, our drumlines along with the Railmen's got into a mass jam session. Pretty cool, and quite loud. I also remember that one lone drummer, in Sky's line, that never wore a shako. It was a rather interesting piece of headgear. If I recall, it was for religious reasons. Regardless, Sky's drumlines could really throw down.

The first time we saw Sky in '87 was at the Geneseo Knights home show. We shared a rehearsal site with them and really thought that thier show was ahead of its time. I was more of a fan of Florida Wave's show that year; but I have to give it up to the Sky Ryders for having one of the most memorable versions of West Side Story, ever.

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Best #12 show ever. From a design standpoint anyway. It was definitely genius.

I agree. Saw 'em one time that summer, in Bloomfield, NJ.... and they absolutely floored me.

Fran

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Death Camp in Boulder and then Limping Our Way to Allentown :grouphug:

“I wanna play in the Mambo. But Mr. Lindsey says NO NO NO.

I’m getting cut from the whole d*mned show.

Cuz of the Death Camp in Boulder CO!”

(to the tune or America from West Side Story)

I previously posted this in other Sky Ryders threads but it bears repeating now... (It's been a couple of years since I originally posted it.) This may help ya to understand what we went through just GETTING to Allentown in 87.

The Website corpsreps.com is incorrect in showing Drum Along the Rockies was in Denver (it was in Boulder that year) - but correct in showing that The Sky Ryders didn't compete at any shows between July 25 (DATR) and August 1 (DCI East in Allentown). We were stuck in Boulder because our busses had been impounded and were deemed unsafe to be on the road. Many of us fondly remembered this time as "The Death Camp"

Oh and the week started out with a bunch of us having money stolen out of our wallets in the gym while we were outside rehearsing - by a janitor who worked a the school. Just par for the season really. He got caught and taken away by the police after asking Sky Corps Director Dale Antoine if they couldn’t just “Work this out.”

I may be getting some of these details wrong but here's how I remember the drive to Allentown:

After finally leaving Boulder, we stopped in Bloomington, IN to borrow busses from Star of Indiana and still barely made it to Allentown, dropping the remainder (I think) of the Sky Ryder busses along the side of the road, as they broke down one-by-one. At one point, I think we had the members that usually fit on four Sky busses packed onto two Star busses for part of the trip. We even had a breakdown on the way to pre-lims in Allentown. I remember some of the hornline members were all excited and doing mental warmups, singing through the show, etc. on the bus (because we knew we were already supposed to be at the stadium and warming up) - and then KERPLUNK!!! We once again pulled the broken down bus over and began to figure out how we could travel the remaining few miles to compete in DCI East pre-lims.

My dad actually flew from North Carolina to drive the bus for the guard straight from CO to Pa! The guard was actually stranded in CO and we had some "barely able to breath" rehearsals. LOL. I think I remember being on the bus....driving up to the stadium....dressing in the bus....then being lucky enough to perform at Allentown! All I can say is thank God my father was a truck driver and could handle driving that long. I am sure he shared duties with someone....so props to the other person as well.

D.

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All I can say about the 1987 sky ryders guard is this

The girl in Yellow was smoking hot. I loved that we toured with sky so much during that year.

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Thanks for posting the song about the death camp in Boulder Co., Brad! It was still being passed around in 90 and 91 when I marched Sky, so I knew it at one time. I had forgotten the words.

Sky wasn't the cleanest corps on the field but they defintely put on some great entertaining shows. I even loved the 89 show. It wasn't entertaining like the broadway based shows were, but the musical book was kick butt!

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All I can say about the 1987 sky ryders guard is this

The girl in Yellow was smoking hot. I loved that we toured with sky so much during that year.

that would be sherri gibbs (wife of bd director dave gibbs)

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this is why Sky '87 is in my top 2 shows of all time...my favorite WSS show...

Tommy did a phenomenal guard show. One for the record books.

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I was at Camp Randall for DCI Finals and Sky was absolutely AMAZING!!! We had seen Garfield, SVC and Star tear it up at prelims (smoking hot) but when Sky got done with their show in finals I turned to my wife and said "That was the best West Side Story" drum corps has ever done. The emotion was just overwhelming!!! I love drill and the guard was out of site. One of the best uses of color on the field ever seen. Including today. They may have come in 12th but they were one of the FAVORITE corps to the crowd that night. Everyone in that corps (87) should be very proud of that performance. "Nuff said". :grouphug:

Kemo

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I was at Camp Randall for DCI Finals and Sky was absolutely AMAZING!!! We had seen Garfield, SVC and Star tear it up at prelims (smoking hot) but when Sky got done with their show in finals I turned to my wife and said "That was the best West Side Story" drum corps has ever done. The emotion was just overwhelming!!! I love drill and the guard was out of site. One of the best uses of color on the field ever seen. Including today. They may have come in 12th but they were one of the FAVORITE corps to the crowd that night. Everyone in that corps (87) should be very proud of that performance. "Nuff said". :thumbup:

Kemo

thanks that was one of the best experiences even though it was a difficult year in other ways. I am extremely proud to have been a member and thankful for my corps family to this day.

Edited by kmanv
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