1972 DCI Finals CD's Question

[bawker]

I did liner notes for the Collector's Series.

Great set and probably the crown jewel in my collection; I'm glad I finally own them all.

[HornsUp]

"Oh Racine,

Racine, How you make my liver quiver

with your torn up streets and your dirty rotten river...

How I love you with my heart,

how I love you with my soul,

Oh Racine...

What a - what a - What a Hole!"

Here's the original version, music is the verse to "Turkey in the Straw"

Oh Racine, Racine, how you make me quiver

with your torn-up streets and your dirty Root River.

How I love you with my heart and I love you with my liver,

Oh Racine, what a hole!

This classic bus song, author unknown, undoubtedly dates back at least to the early days of the Boys of 76. It was always sung returning from a turnout, when the bus arrived at the city limits.

Edited September 22, 2010 by HornsUp

[HornsUp]

Garfield appeared on the original 1972 albums. When the DCI Collector's Series came out in 1995 the Kilties were on them instead of Garfield. The subsequent recording collections have also included the Kilties.

The corporation of the Kilties junior corps was dissolved in the mid-80s, negating all contracts.

DCIs recording division has plenty of corpses to feed upon.

Edited September 22, 2010 by HornsUp

[Joe Salvatore]

Garfield appeared on the original 1972 albums. When the DCI Collector's Series came out in 1995 (covering 1972 through 1991 finals) the Kilties were on them instead of Garfield. The subsequent recording collections have also included the Kilties.

I did liner notes for the Collector's Series.

I am lost on this thread... At 1972 DCI Championships Garfield placed 13th at prelims while Kilties placed 6th (and finished Finals in 8th place).

My Collectors edition rightly has Kilties and not Garfield (as they were not Finalists).

What recordings have Kilties left off (6th place prelims and 8th place finals) and Garfield (13th place prelims) added?

[Fran Haring]

You can hear the Kilties' winning performance on FCLP2332 1972 - World Open Championships - Vol. 1

I saw that performance in person at the Manning Bowl. Great show that year. The "parade block" opening segment was really cool.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Fran Haring

[bcc]

The Kilties, a perennial finalist and 3-time VFW Champion, were not invited to be one of DCI's Original Thirteen.

They wisely sold their exclusive 1972 recording rights to Fleetwood, for a much higher figure than the Original Thirteen earned from DCI.

Fleetwood Sounds now markets their remastered archives on CD.

You can hear the Kilties' winning performance on FCLP2332 1972 - World Open Championships - Vol. 1

And the best recording from that season FCLP2341 1972 - VFW Nationals - Vol. 1

Thanks for clarifying. I marched with Blue Rock that year ( along with 71 and 73), and we managed to sneak past the Kilties at US Open and Shriner's in '72. It's a shame we didn't make it to Whitewater, would have been interesting to see how we'd have finished ( probably anywhere from 5th to 12th).

RCC

[Northern Thunder]

I am lost on this thread... At 1972 DCI Championships Garfield placed 13th at prelims while Kilties placed 6th (and finished Finals in 8th place).

My Collectors edition rightly has Kilties and not Garfield (as they were not Finalists).

What recordings have Kilties left off (6th place prelims and 8th place finals) and Garfield (13th place prelims) added?

It was the original 1972 DCI Championship albums that replaced the Kilties with Garfield. As stated earlier, the Kilties had signed a contract with Fleetwood to appear on its recording of the World Open. (Since the Kilties were not an original DCI member, they were not a part of the DCI recording deal.) All later Legacy/Collector's recordings had the Kilties instead of Garfield, since someone pointed out earlier in this thread that the Kilties contracts were no longer valid in later years.

[67madplaid71]

The Kilties had a very down year in 1971 [last year before DCI] and as I recall did not even go to VFW in Dallas. This may have led to them not being one of the original 13 invitees. But there were probably more politics involved. Gets one thinking of what might happen the year before G-7 if one of them has a very down year!

The Kilties sold the rights to market their 1972 recordings to Fleetwood for $5,000. In my opinion, whether or not the Kilties organization still exists or not doesn't matter as Fleetwood paid for the exclusive rights to market all recordings of the Kilties made during 1972 and the marketing rights still belong to them. It was a one-time payment for exclusive rights forever. The damage incurred by someone selling a 1972 recording of the Kilties is to Fleetwood, not to the Kilties.

With regard to the Kilties having a "very down year" in 1971 all I can say is that the Kilties Small Corps was undeafeated that winter; the Kilties winter guard won the 1971 Badgerland Association Color Guard Championship in addition to winning or placing very high in color guard contests throughout that season; the Kilties full corps won the 1971 North American Championship in addition to winning the following contests during the summer of 1971: Northwest Festival at Milwaukee, Des Plaines Vanguard's contest, Woodstock, IL, contest; National Preview contest at Salamanca, NY; Racine Scouts contest; and the annual Labor Day contest at Janesville, WI. The Kilties also took many seconds and thirds that summer. The Kilties just had a very slow start that summer.

With regard to going to Dallas for the VFW National Championship, yes, the Kilties did in fact go to Dallas, however the Kilties never got there. After taking fifth at finals of the Mid-America Open in Overland Park, KS, the members of the Kilties voted to turn around, save the money and go back to Racine. The Kilties were not real flush with money at the time so the idea of spending additional money by continuing down to Dallas without being in contention for the national championship just didn't seem to make sense. The survival of the organization mattered more than an 11th or 12 place finish at finals - on the way to Dallas the Kilties beat the Belleville Black Knights who took 12th place at VFW Nationals by almost 2 points on August 12 at the Argonne Rebels contest and beat the St. Paul Scouts who took 11th place at VFW Nationals by almost 4 points on August 14 at the Mid-America Open.

Yes, I believe that politics did indeed play a very important part as to why the Kilties were not included in the original group of drum corps that organized DCI. Being privy to some private information all I wish to say is that it is my understanding that some of the founding Midwest corps did not want to include the Kilties and so they weren't included. I don't believe that it was an oversight or an accident that the Kilties, who won three of the previous seven VFW National Championships prior to the organization of the "Midwest Combine" in the fall of 1970, were initially excluded from the combine and later from DCI. Some rivalries are very bitter! I would expect that the "official" reason from DCI would be that they didn't want to have too many corps from the Wisconsin - Illinois area included, that they wanted to have the DCI member corps spread out over the country and not have an area really saturated with them. The other "official" reason I would expect to hear from DCI would be that the Kilties didn't have a very stable management team in place at the time.

[audiodb]

The Kilties sold the rights to market their 1972 recordings to Fleetwood for $5,000. In my opinion, whether or not the Kilties organization still exists or not doesn't matter as Fleetwood paid for the exclusive rights to market all recordings of the Kilties made during 1972 and the marketing rights still belong to them. It was a one-time payment for exclusive rights forever. The damage incurred by someone selling a 1972 recording of the Kilties is to Fleetwood, not to the Kilties.

Perhaps it doesn't matter (in this context) whether the Kilties are still around, but it does matter whether Fleetwood is still around. And bear in mind that Fleetwood Sounds is not the same organization as Fleetwood.

Yes, I believe that politics did indeed play a very important part as to why the Kilties were not included in the original group of drum corps that organized DCI. Being privy to some private information all I wish to say is that it is my understanding that some of the founding Midwest corps did not want to include the Kilties and so they weren't included. I don't believe that it was an oversight or an accident that the Kilties, who won three of the previous seven VFW National Championships prior to the organization of the "Midwest Combine" in the fall of 1970, were initially excluded from the combine and later from DCI. Some rivalries are very bitter! I would expect that the "official" reason from DCI would be that they didn't want to have too many corps from the Wisconsin - Illinois area included, that they wanted to have the DCI member corps spread out over the country and not have an area really saturated with them. The other "official" reason I would expect to hear from DCI would be that the Kilties didn't have a very stable management team in place at the time.

I'd surmise that not being in the Combine led to Kilties not being a charter member of DCI. DCI was started by combining the Combines, then inviting three additional corps that did exceptionally well in 1971 (Canadian champ De La Salle, AL Nationals champ Argonne Rebels, and Mid-American Open champ Kingsmen).

Of course, there could be more to it....Del did a lot of Combine shows in '71, while Kingsmen and Argonne were key participants in the type of touring DCI was designed to support. Other corps from the IL-WI or NJ-MA corridors may not have been as interested or as crucial in stitching a national tour together.