KeithHall Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 After reading the Avant Garde post....what was the deal with Rochester and mergers? Let's see there was Greece and Patriots (Fusion), Greece and Firebirds (Northmen), Greece/Mighty Liberators/Blazers (Renegades)...was there any more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cru2u Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Keith, You must have alot of time on your hands!!! LOL! In regards to Greece......the demise was the exiting of a director that was full of vision and spark. He had a knack for organizing parents and truly believed in the kids and their efforts. His name was Jim Fantone. Great guy and family who inspired other families with multple kids to really putting it together in 1974 after another long time director and founder of the Shoreliners who then became the Greece Cadets, Dale Bond. Dale also put his heart,mind and pocketbook into the corps but the rising of the DCI Class A champs in 1975 belonged to Jim Fantone et al. In 1975, we attended a show where the show announcer announced as the Cadets of Greece in error. The members came off the field and along with the Director, liked the sound of it and elected to change the name permanently! After winning 1975 DCI Class A ( I think their were over 60 corps in that day! ) and the US Open, Jim took a bold step and released Ed Cozzolino, one of the most talented arrangers for his time and wanted to go a different and newer direction with the hiring of a young Jerry Kelsey and the corps went from champions in 1975 to a small core of dedicated people believing in Jim and keeping the corps alive in 1976. 1976-Book by Jerry Kelsey: What is Hip, America, Dance of the Baccanale, Festival Prelude, I Write the Songs. I remember playing Contra Bass (NOT Tuba) and having 16 horns in the parking lot of NYS Legion championships and having a corps meeting about pulling out or going exhibition. We got beat by the Mighty Liberators from Rochester and barely made it thru the show. It was sad but at the same time a rebirth took place and we got thru the season and went into negotiating in the winter of 1977 with the Alpine Girls, who were on the brink of folding and their contingent of about 20 came over and we started to rebuild and prosper in my ageout year of 1977. Fantone hired Al "Corky" Fabrizio and we played Academic Festival Overture, Fascinating Rhythm, Chorus Line Medley and What I Did for Love from Chorus Line. 1978 was the best year in open class for the Cadets of Greece.......I teched the contra line and helped out with anything that needed helping with as the corps traveled to Denver for DCI Championships and placed 22nd out of 43 corps, and 1.8 behind our friendly rivals, the Watkins Glen Squires. (RAW MEAT,Yeah! lol! Inside joke for those in the know!) However on the way out, on tour beat the Garfield Cadets,Cavaliers and Boston Crusaders by total shock of all at prelims in US open placing 5th. There was much shock after another stellar show in final competition and we dropped dropped 4 points to 11th in finals after some behind door questioning of who was this corps and where did they come from??HMM? The Cadets of Greece came home and had a age-out factor of alot more and the younger corps grew with more cockiness. They were very good but unfortunately out of control off the field and after some eye opening incidents to Jim Fantone the corps took a big turn again with Fantone resigning and several people taking over and not having the knowledge lead the corps down a path that didn't represent the previous 2 season powerhouse years It was a blur as I left the organization in 1979 and 1980-81-82 was a combo of mergers making up Renegades, Fusion and an attempted re-birth of the Cadets of Greece but not having an infrastructure sounf enough to support it, it went down until we came back and had a merging of the Cadets of Greece and the Firebirds that produced the Northmen. The Northmen to this day still hold the record for the largest drum line in DCI history and were asked to play the open class corps on the field at DCI Midwest at Whitewater with 10 snares,4 quad toms,3 tri toms,7 basses, 5 cymbals and a huge pit!! All lead by Joe Guadagnino and wowed the audience everywhere we went! Ubfortunately we could only attract 34 horns but they were very talented and were very entertaining! In 1986-87 the Shoreliners sponsored a bus traveling from NY state to Dutch Boy, in the year of the Cartoon show and continued as Dutch Boy continued to climb the ranks into DCI membership with the Sinatra Show! This was the final year as the Board disbanded for lack of funds and interest. Interesting how things played out.......many people went on to other corps and fame in the drum corps world as they chose music as a living, whether it be composing,arranging, performing or educating in the "real" world or drum corps world. I just finished a 12 year run on the Rochester Crusaders Board of Directors as a performer, fundraiser and administrator and feel drum corps offered me a wide range of skills in my work and personal life! I am a proverbial "Drum Corps Nut" and wouldn't have it any other way! I love turning on noobies to drum corps and enjoy watching the progression of young kids to being successful adults thru the years! Thanks, Keith! this really was an interesting topic when you stop to think about it all! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 I have 2 weeks off and am bored. Thanks Gary, great historical background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cru2u Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I have 2 weeks off and am bored.Thanks Gary, great historical background. Nice! I forgot you teachers have the vacation!......how the heck can you be bored in Florida? At least your not living in a refrigerator! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted January 1, 2010 Author Share Posted January 1, 2010 We took the grandson to Disney last week and I was sick for a few days before that. Not much of a vacation though. I'm getting ready fo my next class...starting to write my dissertation this summer which will take about a year and then hopefully after defending it, I'll have my degree. Would love to spend a few summers with Sun Devils but I am going to have surgery next month and I'll have to hold off on corps for a bit. Nice! I forgot you teachers have the vacation!......how the heck can you be bored in Florida? At least your not living in a refrigerator! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cru2u Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 We took the grandson to Disney last week and I was sick for a few days before that. Not much of a vacation though. I'm getting ready fo my next class...starting to write my dissertation this summer which will take about a year and then hopefully after defending it, I'll have my degree. Would love to spend a few summers with Sun Devils but I am going to have surgery next month and I'll have to hold off on corps for a bit. Nice! Good luck on the dissertation! Always fun to be with family, especially the little ones! what surgery you having? surgery at our age is something I don't look forward to........Good Luck!~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damjiboo Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 (edited) After reading the Avant Garde post....what was the deal with Rochester and mergers? Let's see there was Greece and Patriots (Fusion), Greece and Firebirds (Northmen), Greece/Mighty Liberators/Blazers (Renegades)...was there any more? Don't forget: The Cadets of Upstate NY 1983, Greece and the Gauchos (i think) I marched Fusion '82, also i was in Northmen in '86 when we did the Avant Garde thing witch was fun for a short time, that ended up benefiting Dutchboy in a very BIG way. Incidentally we used the Greece unis that year (82) and i remember just LOVING wearing that uniform, my all time fav...................i was 12 Also i think the Patriots were the only corps to survive a merger w/Greece. After '82 i remember watching Greece merge w/a different corps pretty much every year and thinking (wow, they just go from struggling corps to struggling corps and rape'em of members and move on). i doubt any of these corps really felt like they needed assistance to stay alive before they were approached by Greece until they were sold a line of ####, they were probably better off on their own. I hind sight, i think Greece should have folded after 81, but instead chose to become a DCI cancer, taking corps after corps down with them. Edited January 7, 2010 by damjiboo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cru2u Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Don't forget: The Cadets of Upstate NY 1983, Greece and the Gauchos (i think) I marched Fusion '82, also i was in Northmen in '86 when we did the Avant Garde thing witch was fun for a short time, that ended up benefiting Dutchboy in a very BIG way. Incidentally we used the Greece unis that year (82) and i remember just LOVING wearing that uniform, my all time fav...................i was 12 Also i think the Patriots were the only corps to survive a merger w/Greece. After '82 i remember watching Greece merge w/a different corps pretty much every year and thinking (wow, they just go from struggling corps to struggling corps and rape'em of members and move on). i doubt any of these corps really felt like they needed assistance to stay alive before they were approached by Greece until they were sold a line of ####, they were probably better off on their own. I hind sight, i think Greece should have folded after 81, but instead chose to become a DCI cancer, taking corps after corps down with them. at least sign your name when u defame a fine name and drum corps that never "raped" anybody!!! but then again I wasn't a part of Greece from 1979 till 1983 when we were approached by Gauchos and do the merger for the year as you so well know about.....second thought.....stay anonymous.......its better to treat ignorance that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damjiboo Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 (edited) at least sign your name when u defame a fine name and drum corps that never "raped" anybody!!! but then again I wasn't a part of Greece from 1979 till 1983 when we were approached by Gauchos and do the merger for the year as you so well know about.....second thought.....stay anonymous.......its better to treat ignorance that way! i honestly didn't mean to offend you personally Gary, but this was how it looked from my end. Edited January 7, 2010 by damjiboo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cru2u Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 i honestly didn't mean to offend you personally Gary, but this was how it looked from my end. well at least you looked at it from your end......the right place for sure! U didn't hurt me whats so ever but you are dragging aname that I helped build to national prominence in the day and all the wannabes that appeared after the best time for the Cadets of Greece tried but just never got there because of too many egos and ignorance......enuff said! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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