BigW Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 (edited) Sun's percussion was a real bastion of strength for that corps- those guys were like a monolith for how many years during that period. Again, experience- I think a corps that understood when the race really started, etc. The drill was written by BD's Mel Stratton, which would explain a bit of it's originality. There are other issues show-wise looking back you could blow holes in, but a lot of that's just because show concepts have changed over the years as well. THere was one big horn boo-boo to put it politely, rest of the show, pretty darned fine. Another thing about that one show score- IIRC, that panel was a younger DCA panel, newer judges, we didn't expect to be as well-liked by the old guard when we showed up in the A-level shows instead of running wild over people on the B-Circuit. I'm not as willing to sit and point fingers at percussion regardless. We were a corps, and those guys were and are my dear friends, whom I have a lot of love and respect for. Reminds me of some graffiti I saw in a West Chester University practice room when I went there. "Did the Garfield drummers get fifth place percussion rings!?!?" Underneath it in somweone else's handwriting... "YOU BET." We were a corps, period, won and lost as one. What's really irritating to me is that we got rid of most of the Drug and Drinking issues- then we had the Drama show up in spades. Again, I can think of three new people to the corps that just made things more difficult as well. Some of it directly affected me, and my performance, and cauised me a lot of personal grief because of those individuals and their games. It took a lot of personal satisfaction and enjoyment out of my 5th year in the corps- I should have enjoyed that year a lot more than I did because of those people. In many ways, I liked '84 a lot more, because those people were gone (never would have stood for performing with what was gonna be a really not-so-good corps, period...) and rehearsals and being with my friends was more enjoyable as a result. When you have any of the three D's... you're gonna be in trouble. We just didn't have some of the strife to that level before.... Edited September 17, 2010 by BigW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayfallon Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Sun's percussion was a real bastion of strength for that corps- those guys were like a monolith for how many years during that period. Again, experience- I think a corps that understood when the race really started, etc. The drill was written by BD's Mel Stratton, which would explain a bit of it's originality.There are other issues show-wise looking back you could blow holes in, but a lot of that's just because show concepts have changed over the years as well. THere was one big horn boo-boo to put it politely, rest of the show, pretty darned fine. Another thing about that one show score- IIRC, that panel was a younger DCA panel, newer judges, we didn't expect to be as well-liked by the old guard when we showed up in the A-level shows instead of running wild over people on the B-Circuit. I'm not as willing to sit and point fingers at percussion regardless. We were a corps, and those guys were and are my dear friends, whom I have a lot of love and respect for. Reminds me of some graffiti I saw in a West Chester University practice room when I went there. "Did the Garfield drummers get fifth place percussion rings!?!?" Underneath it in somweone else's handwriting... "YOU BET." We were a corps, period, won and lost as one. What's really irritating to me is that we got rid of most of the Drug and Drinking issues- then we had the Drama show up in spades. Again, I can think of three new people to the corps that just made things more difficult as well. Some of it directly affected me, and my performance, and cauised me a lot of personal grief because of those individuals and their games. It took a lot of personal satisfaction and enjoyment out of my 5th year in the corps- I should have enjoyed that year a lot more than I did because of those people. In many ways, I liked '84 a lot more, because those people were gone (never would have stood for performing with what was gonna be a really not-so-good corps, period...) and rehearsals and being with my friends was more enjoyable as a result. When you have any of the three D's... you're gonna be in trouble. We just didn't have some of the strife to that level before.... Well c'mon darn it - name names!!! Enquiring minds want to know!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 (edited) I saw Westshore and Sun on several occasions in 1983.... it was my first year not marching. IMO, the huge difference between both corps that season was in percussion. Sun's drum line was awesome, with one of the best snare lines ever... and I mean anywhere, DCI, DCA, pre-DCI, pre-DCA... in particular. Westshore's percussion section was not even close to Sun's. No offense meant to anyone from 'Shore who marched in the drum line that year. Honestly, there was one show in particular at which I thought Westshoremen could have/should have beaten Sun (not the first show of the season, where in fact Westshore DID beat Sun...Sunrisers' only loss that season, but the show I'm talking about was later in the season).... except for the difference in drums. Both corps had terrific horn lines, and again IMO I thought 'Shore had a better drill... at least from a design standpoint... that year. Edited to add: Almost forgot....Sun's guard was excellent that year, too. HOLY CRAP FRAN I DON'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY WROTE THAT! As a member of that drumline, I agree. We had our share of problems that year. First and foremost, the drum instructor that we STARTED the year off with decided that things other than teaching drummers were first on his agenda, and therefore pretty much phoned in his beginning of the year basics program, and song arranging, so that suffered from the git-go...that started a bit of a snowball, and we lost some talented players who were fed up. After semi-recovering from that, those of us that were left were working under the instruction of one of the keyboard players who was making a name for himself in the PA high school band circuit, (Brian Schell) and Billy Kaufman, who was called in as a consultant at one point, and then asked if he would take us on as his own. Now remember, this was around the time of the first shows, and we were scrambling to learn the re-written music that was left VERY messy from the original instructor. In fact, there's a picture linked on my FB page from one of the rehearsals outside of Clifton, NJ (at the pool) where the tom line was re-learning the concert number that was so pathetic, junior high kids would have looked at the music and said "We played harder stuff in elementary band!" And most of the rest of the music was that pathetic! I think by about the 4th or 5th show, we had most of the music re-written, our drum solo was supposed to one song (and unfinished), and ended up being the Entertainer by Billy Joel because Billy Kaufman, heard something that he thought fit, and re=wrote the drum solo based around THAT tune...yeah, it was THAT BAD! I think by the end of the year, we finally had the drum line in late June/early July form! And yeah, we were the weakest link. It was just a bad situation that could of been avoided if our original drum instructor didn't have his head up his ###! That said, I make no bones about it, and have said it many times before, even when Sun had a BAD year, their drum line was always better than the average line, and to this day, one of the crowning achievements of MY drum corps experience was when we won drums in 1984 (when I marched Reading) and the Sun drumline brought us a couple cases of beer to congratulate us! (and I still have a bottle on my shelf as a "trophy") Edited September 17, 2010 by Jaminbenb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 I think by about the 4th or 5th show, we had most of the music re-written, our drum solo was supposed to one song (and unfinished), and ended up being the Entertainer by Billy Joel because Billy Kaufman, heard something that he thought fit, and re=wrote the drum solo based around THAT tune...yeah, it was THAT BAD! I think by the end of the year, we finally had the drum line in late June/early July form! And yeah, we were the weakest link. It was just a bad situation that could of been avoided if our original drum instructor didn't have his head up his ###! I remember someone in 84 or 85 playing that on the boom box and shaking their head. Comments were something like "Can't beleive this fell together by DCA". "If you call that together" "Remember what it was like before" "Oh yeah..." Now I know the "rest of the story" <$1 to Paul Harvey> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 I remember someone in 84 or 85 playing that on the boom box and shaking their head. Comments were something like "Can't beleive this fell together by DCA". "If you call that together" "Remember what it was like before" "Oh yeah..." Now I know the "rest of the story" <$1 to Paul Harvey> Yeah, it was pretty bad... those that were there from beginning to end will all probably agree...unless they were totally clueless! (and we had our share of those!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 (edited) Yeah, it was pretty bad... those that were there from beginning to end will all probably agree...unless they were totally clueless! (and we had our share of those!) Another stray memory cell kicked in: something about a drum tape with the comment "Still trying to figure out how you went to the Entertainer". Or was that "WHY you went to the Entertainer". Time to play the 1983 show since I have a record player..... Edit: What the Hell... <$1 to Jeff Dunhams Peanut character>. Seems like Westshore had to struggle to get it's crap together almost every season. Either they were fighting to make top 10 or just make it on the field. And when they were successful, they were just fighting..... Think I'm glad I was in the fighting to make it on the field/top 10 years..... Edited September 17, 2010 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Another stray memory cell kicked in: something about a drum tape with the comment "Still trying to figure out how you went to the Entertainer". Or was that "WHY you went to the Entertainer". Time to play the 1983 show since I have a record player..... I forget what the original song was supposed to be, but it was Billy K's idea to change it to The Entertainer (should have been Captain Jack if ya ask me ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 I forget what the original song was supposed to be, but it was Billy K's idea to change it to The Entertainer (should have been Captain Jack if ya ask me ) at least you'd be smilin'..... or sit at home and mast...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 Another stray memory cell kicked in: something about a drum tape with the comment "Still trying to figure out how you went to the Entertainer". Or was that "WHY you went to the Entertainer". Time to play the 1983 show since I have a record player..... Edit: What the Hell... <$1 to Jeff Dunhams Peanut character>. Seems like Westshore had to struggle to get it's crap together almost every season. Either they were fighting to make top 10 or just make it on the field. And when they were successful, they were just fighting..... Think I'm glad I was in the fighting to make it on the field/top 10 years..... wait'll I get to 96 in our thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 17, 2010 Share Posted September 17, 2010 (edited) wait'll I get to 96 in our thread. I've seen hints on there with the "Drum Nazi" tidbits. OY VEY! (and I'm Lutheran). I was thinking about it when I posted. LOL, things were so much nicer before the Internet let us get the behind the scenes stuff..... s/ Guy who didn't know who won 1996 DCA until he listened to the cassettes in early November. Edited September 17, 2010 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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