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1975 Blue Devils


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I wondered whether other factors came in to play such as inheriting members from other corps such as Stockton Commodores or the entire brass line from the 74 Kingsmen! :tongue:

Not quite the entire brass line, but I wouldn't doubt that Kingsmen going inactive that year helped BD.

Garry in Vegas

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Not quite the entire brass line, but I wouldn't doubt that Kingsmen going inactive that year helped BD.

Not really at all Garry - By the time Bobby Hoffman and Rocco pulled the plug it was way too late to go to BD. Al Murray had been talking to Rick Odello and had them buy him bus tickets to come up 2 different times, but he ended up sticking it out till the end like most of us. If I'm not mistaken, Steve Beard, the 74 bari soloist, Paula (Popp-Beard), Vicky Olsen (Vicky Kingsmen on here), and Brenda Markham are the only one's that went to BD. Everyone else, primarily the drumline went up to Freelancers on the van they sent down to pick up as many people as they could. Al ended up going back up to Canada and then Float and John Flores (Rodriguez) went up to Etobikoke after tour and the rest is drum corps history.

There may have been a few other horns that ended up with BD, but to be honest, we saw them coming big time. We went up for guard shows in the winter and they were full and really, REALLY good and it was only January. 4 months later and Bobby Hoffman is standing in front of 24 horns in June trying to teach the 74 show because it was too late to do anything else, and they just pulled us into a group at the end of a weekend rehearsal and pulled the plug. BD did utilize Steve as a soloist in 75 and Brenda worked with the guard and marched her age out year up there. Some of the Freelancer people stayed with them as well, but most everyone went their separate ways after the 75 season. I think Vicky may have been the only xKingsmen to march BD in 75, and then winning in both 76 and 77. I'm sure she'll fill in the details once she sees this.

Bottom line, they did it on their own for the most part. They always said that the Kingsmen with their model, so it was nice that a couple people were there to lend a hand and keep the corps' spirit alive. Everyone wishes things had turned out differently in 75 than it did, but that's a whole other story that I posted on here a long time ago, but I'm glad they were able to take a piece of what the Kingsmen started and continued it over the past 35 years.

Greg

Edited by GregW
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Not really at all Garry - By the time Bobby Hoffman and Rocco pulled the plug it was way too late to go to BD. Al Murray had been talking to Rick Odello and had them buy him bus tickets to come up 2 different times, but he ended up sticking it out till the end like most of us. If I'm not mistaken, Steve Beard, the 74 bari soloist, Paula (Popp-Beard), Vicky Olsen (Vicky Kingsmen on here), and Brenda Markham are the only one's that went to BD. Everyone else, primarily the drumline went up to Freelancers on the van they sent down to pick up as many people as they could. Al ended up going back up to Canada and then Float and John Flores (Rodriguez) went up to Etobikoke after tour and the rest is drum corps history.

There may have been a few other horns that ended up with BD, but to be honest, we saw them coming big time. We went up for guard shows in the winter and they were full and really, REALLY good and it was only January. 4 months later and Bobby Hoffman is standing in front of 24 horns in June trying to teach the 74 show because it was too late to do anything else, and they just pulled us into a group at the end of a weekend rehearsal and pulled the plug. BD did utilize Steve as a soloist in 75 and Brenda worked with the guard and marched her age out year up there. Some of the Freelancer people stayed with them as well, but most everyone went their separate ways after the 75 season. I think Vicky may have been the only xKingsmen to march BD in 75, and then winning in both 76 and 77. I'm sure she'll fill in the details once she sees this.

Bottom line, they did it on their own for the most part. They always said that the Kingsmen with their model, so it was nice that a couple people were there to lend a hand and keep the corps' spirit alive. Everyone wishes things had turned out differently in 75 than it did, but that's a whole other story that I posted on here a long time ago, but I'm glad they were able to take a piece of what the Kingsmen started and continued it over the past 35 years.

Greg

That was a great post, Greg. Do you remember the Imperials housing you guys at our corps hall in Massachusetts in 74?

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I can't remember what year they came to the NT Open and won, either 74 or 75...but they were good! There drum line, I thought, improved from 75 to 76 big time.

As did visual. Did they have a change in that department in 76? If not, that person sure grew a lot in one year.

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It seemed like this critical change the Blue Devils made from '75 to '76 has widely been accepted as a "corner turning" year for Drum Corps, and helped mold and shape the activity to what it became for the next several years until the next "corner turning" situation (which from my point of view was the drill design changes beginning with Cadets utilizing the Z pull.)

Up to 1975, the Madison Scouts had had the lock on power, SCV had the lock on finesse, and the Blue Stars and 27th Lancers had the lock down on crowd pleasing straight forward drum and bugle corps. Certainly many others in that time frame as wellwere performing straight forward drum & bugle corps very well. But the '74 Blue Devils going into the '75 Blue Devils I think may have been where the solidifying base of style and intent to put out a polished program of unequaled sound and control was being born, which actually presented itself as "THE" change in 1976. A "cool" approach to music in '75 - a less strict "rudimental sound" (Blue Stars; Kingsmen; Cavaliers) from the drumline and a more specific cleanliness to well played controlled rudiments. Drill that had strong field coverage, and pulled away from traditional "enter & exit" the field.

In 1976, the Blue Devils came out with so many well thought out and activity changing elements, that '74 into '75 is often overlooked.

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It seemed like this critical change the Blue Devils made from '75 to '76 has widely been accepted as a "corner turning" year for Drum Corps, and helped mold and shape the activity to what it became for the next several years until the next "corner turning" situation (which from my point of view was the drill design changes beginning with Cadets utilizing the Z pull.)

Up to 1975, the Madison Scouts had had the lock on power, SCV had the lock on finesse, and the Blue Stars and 27th Lancers had the lock down on crowd pleasing straight forward drum and bugle corps. Certainly many others in that time frame as wellwere performing straight forward drum & bugle corps very well. But the '74 Blue Devils going into the '75 Blue Devils I think may have been where the solidifying base of style and intent to put out a polished program of unequaled sound and control was being born, which actually presented itself as "THE" change in 1976. A "cool" approach to music in '75 - a less strict "rudimental sound" (Blue Stars; Kingsmen; Cavaliers) from the drumline and a more specific cleanliness to well played controlled rudiments. Drill that had strong field coverage, and pulled away from traditional "enter & exit" the field.

In 1976, the Blue Devils came out with so many well thought out and activity changing elements, that '74 into '75 is often overlooked.

The big thing with BD in '75 was they didn't quite have the impact that they had in '76 ... In the words of one of my drum instructors (who shall remain nameless, but he co-hosts the quarterfinals theater-cast), "If they would have shot their load just once during the show, they would have won finals."

A colorful metaphor for a colorful period in drum corps history.

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It seemed like this critical change the Blue Devils made from '75 to '76 has widely been accepted as a "corner turning" year for Drum Corps, and helped mold and shape the activity to what it became for the next several years until the next "corner turning" situation (which from my point of view was the drill design changes beginning with Cadets utilizing the Z pull.)

Up to 1975, the Madison Scouts had had the lock on power, SCV had the lock on finesse, and the Blue Stars and 27th Lancers had the lock down on crowd pleasing straight forward drum and bugle corps. Certainly many others in that time frame as wellwere performing straight forward drum & bugle corps very well. But the '74 Blue Devils going into the '75 Blue Devils I think may have been where the solidifying base of style and intent to put out a polished program of unequaled sound and control was being born, which actually presented itself as "THE" change in 1976. A "cool" approach to music in '75 - a less strict "rudimental sound" (Blue Stars; Kingsmen; Cavaliers) from the drumline and a more specific cleanliness to well played controlled rudiments. Drill that had strong field coverage, and pulled away from traditional "enter & exit" the field.

In 1976, the Blue Devils came out with so many well thought out and activity changing elements, that '74 into '75 is often overlooked.

Good points. 1976 didn't just "happen" out of nowhere.

Fran

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Good points. 1976 didn't just "happen" out of nowhere.

Fran

So just when did BD decide to go Jazz. Was that plan hatched in 74 or did it happen earlier?

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  • 2 months later...

Coming off the '74 corps successful season, there was an 'aura' that surrounded the entire organization during the winter that something special was going to happen in '75, and it did.

The corps finally defeated SCV early on, which included our drum line which ended SCV'S 58 show WINNING streak.

Personally, the '75 corps will always hold a special place in my heart.

Edited by Blue Devil Legend
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1975 was BD's coming out year. When they took the World Open title they shocked everybody. It was the first time that I'd ever heard of them. I didn't even know where they were from. It seems rather strange today, but that's the way I remember it.

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