Most Exciting Senior Corps, Early DCA

[goalieguy]

While not as substantial a history as my esteemed compadre from Wisconsin ...I personally can concur with a few others when I put on nearly equal footing the two major powerhouses I first saw at that famous show in Racine in 1972. Cabs and Cru !!

After seeing them battle it out for the crowd in Racine, and then in Chicago the next night at Legion, I kinda knew what I wanted to do musically after that.

I had a cassette tape of part of that show, and it died a horrble death. Just a couple of years ago, I saw DCW listing a number of recordings that were from that period, and found that they had the 4 senior corps from the Racine show on CD..I jumped all over that.

I will admit that I never got to see big time DCA shows until '77, when I first went out with MBI (Brass, Inc. back then). The lone exception was '75 Legion in Minneapolis (I flew home from the Army) when I once again got to see the 2 big name seniors I saw in Racine / Chicago..Cabs and Cru. Imagine my surprise to see another eastern powerhouse - the Matadors.. had only read about them in 'Drum Corps America', as the first 8 man contra section..

I loved Cru's show that year - so different..Rick Wakeman's 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' and of course - the full blown color pre in vintage Vince Bruni fashion..The Cabs playing Mancini's 'Conquest' OTL, along with Mac Park, and closing with 'Chico'. Matadors had some good stuff, and both them and Cabs had the tuned steel can drums...

After that - I probably will go with the '79-'80 Buccaneers..Just such total packages..At least I got to see/march the '79 show in Hershey.

Gotta jump on the Skyliners wagon too - after only hearing the records, seeing them for the 1st time in '77 was just amazing..John 'Grass' just knocked me out..

Too many 'favorites' - too little bandwidth..

Pat

Edited October 18, 2010 by goalieguy

[rayfallon]

i was most impressed at my first senior show, the 64' world open. the hurricanes were electrifying! it was at that show that i effectively became a hurc...though it didn't actually happen for just over a year later! but beyond my home team........................

the best corps of my time, bitd, i believe, was the 80' buccaneers....wonderfull show, clicking on all cylinders....impossible to beat!

the most exciting, hands down...the skyliners of the 60's and 70's but specifically the 72' edition of the big red band. when they exploded out of the corner booming "little ol' new york" stadiums shook...surrounding neighborhoods vibrated...and they generally got a standing O about 8 counts in! they were perhaps the loudest corps in history of drum corps. the combination of that power and drietzer arrangements made them a monster!

i have to agree with Oz about their marching....i always believed if they'd paid more attention to there feet, they could have racked up, perhaps, another 5 or 6 championships. in any event, they were fun to watch, left their mark and also a huge void in the all age scene since they left......here's hoping they come back!

Ya know, you can't change history and you can't go back in time, but over the years I've come to the conclusion that I would rather have spent the summer of 1972 on New York than in Viet Nam. I've heard the stories about '72 Reading, '72 Sky, '72 Hurcs, and that '72 Cabs eventually swept over the whole incredible crowd, and remembering that Baltimore was still hot, and Sun, while transitional were sitll the corps of my childhood, I'm pretty much convinced that I would have preferred it to the 115 degree, 100 per cent humidity and occasional shelling that marked that summer, the year I was 20 years old.

It seems to be the first of many high-water years for a large number of DCA corps, something I believe we could use right now, i.e. a DCA championship where anyone of say 5 corps could come in expecting to win and a dark horse (even a dark horse in white blouises) could walk away (or in their case march away) with the flag.

[hairbear]

Ya know, you can't change history and you can't go back in time, but over the years I've come to the conclusion that I would rather have spent the summer of 1972 on New York than in Viet Nam. I've heard the stories about '72 Reading, '72 Sky, '72 Hurcs, and that '72 Cabs eventually swept over the whole incredible crowd, and remembering that Baltimore was still hot, and Sun, while transitional were sitll the corps of my childhood, I'm pretty much convinced that I would have preferred it to the 115 degree, 100 per cent humidity and occasional shelling that marked that summer, the year I was 20 years old.

It seems to be the first of many high-water years for a large number of DCA corps, something I believe we could use right now, i.e. a DCA championship where anyone of say 5 corps could come in expecting to win and a dark horse (even a dark horse in white blouises) could walk away (or in their case march away) with the flag.

I understand ya' Ray.... I would rather have been ANYWHERE other than Viet-Nam in 72/73... anywhere EXCEPT Minot, North Dakota. 100% humidity beats 75 below zero any day of the week! Like you, I only heard of such corps from my sister, when she sent letters or cassette tapes. Most of the "sounds" I heard that year were of F4 Phantom engines running up at "zero dark 30" on their way to Hanoi. That and the occasional 122 rockets lobbed at us.... I actually believe the most pleasing sound I heard that year was "silence".

[chasgroh]

Ya know, you can't change history and you can't go back in time, but over the years I've come to the conclusion that I would rather have spent the summer of 1972 on New York than in Viet Nam. I've heard the stories about '72 Reading, '72 Sky, '72 Hurcs, and that '72 Cabs eventually swept over the whole incredible crowd, and remembering that Baltimore was still hot, and Sun, while transitional were sitll the corps of my childhood, I'm pretty much convinced that I would have preferred it to the 115 degree, 100 per cent humidity and occasional shelling that marked that summer, the year I was 20 years old.

It seems to be the first of many high-water years for a large number of DCA corps, something I believe we could use right now, i.e. a DCA championship where anyone of say 5 corps could come in expecting to win and a dark horse (even a dark horse in white blouises) could walk away (or in their case march away) with the flag.

...heh, you lost '72, I lost '71! Isn't that irritating, Ray! Always bugs me, when in conversation, I gotta say "...oh, I wasn't around in '71." Interestingly, filling in that gap is *still* a process, will it ever end? LOL...

I might as well chime in on my "most exciting" Sr. corps...even though the Cabs were always one of my favorites, and I was on the east coast teaching Muchachos in '75, my heart was always with Skyliners. Being from the west coast, we lived on Drum Corps News and records for soooooo long, then touring began and such things became reality with a BANG! So, imagine me, never actually seeing Sky, I'm on the sidelines at '75 Dream...out of the gate comes this guy with what must've been a 40" bass drum, boom-boom-boom-boom and here comes 13 snares rounding the corner playing their streetbeat. I was yakking furr balls! From the sideline perspective that show was the most astonishing thing I'd ever seen (and may be to this day)...and I wasn't too far, timewise, from experiencing an Arclight strike (that's a B-52 bombing run, for those that need to know)! Way ironic was that I was sitting in Post 199 in Hawthorne that same evening...surrounded by a whole bunch of unhappy bell-bottomed Caballeros...wishing I could figure out how to march Sky and still teach in Hawthorne! ('cause, doncha know, *that* was kinda special!).

cg

[A Cavalier TDY]

I loved what Bucs did with the Verdi Requiem in 73 and their whole show in 74. Cru's show in 75 was a blast. Being a 'proud Canadian', I've GOT to go with Dips finish in 73!

[MrKlark]

I was a lowly 2nd sop playing in the CW Townsmen back in '66 when the director of that corps bused us all in to see the Dream in Roosevelt Stadium that year. It was the first time I had ever witnessed Sr Corps, and man - if ever there was a show to see, it was that one. The NY Skyliners left a mark on me that day that has never diminished.

I went on to march with Garfield for four years, but never had the opportunity to 'graduate' to Sr Corps - much to my regret.

I have however, been able to fulfill some of those missing years when back in 2002, I became a member of the Skyliners Alumni. Since so many of our members were actually there during the years when Sky was such a powerhouse, it has been a phenomenal 8 years as I became familiar with the unique-ness that was Sky back in the day.

As a part of the vibrant and exciting family of musicians - many of who still play with us today - as we carry forward that legacy as the Skyliners Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps, and after reading the memories of Skyliner years that left an impression on so many of you, I am even more humbled to be the current director of this phenomenal organization.

--Rich

Edited October 18, 2010 by MrKlark

[Ray Priester]

So, imagine me, never actually seeing Sky, I'm on the sidelines at '75 Dream...out of the gate comes this guy with what must've been a 40" bass drum, boom-boom-boom-boom and here comes 13 snares rounding the corner playing their streetbeat. I was yakking furr balls! From the sideline perspective that show was the most astonishing thing I'd ever seen (and may be to this day)...

cg

And that guy on the thunder bass was John Hertlein, now a resident of SC. Great guy, great Skyliner!

Like I said Chas, we have one o' them thar contra thingies just a waitin' for ya! Coming to the open house next Sunday?????

Ray

[brassyNsassy]

For excitement, I go with 86 Steel City Ambassadors...

Right on the money Dude!

[rayfallon]

...heh, you lost '72, I lost '71! Isn't that irritating, Ray! Always bugs me, when in conversation, I gotta say "...oh, I wasn't around in '71." Interestingly, filling in that gap is *still* a process, will it ever end? LOL...

I might as well chime in on my "most exciting" Sr. corps...even though the Cabs were always one of my favorites, and I was on the east coast teaching Muchachos in '75, my heart was always with Skyliners. Being from the west coast, we lived on Drum Corps News and records for soooooo long, then touring began and such things became reality with a BANG! So, imagine me, never actually seeing Sky, I'm on the sidelines at '75 Dream...out of the gate comes this guy with what must've been a 40" bass drum, boom-boom-boom-boom and here comes 13 snares rounding the corner playing their streetbeat. I was yakking furr balls! From the sideline perspective that show was the most astonishing thing I'd ever seen (and may be to this day)...and I wasn't too far, timewise, from experiencing an Arclight strike (that's a B-52 bombing run, for those that need to know)! Way ironic was that I was sitting in Post 199 in Hawthorne that same evening...surrounded by a whole bunch of unhappy bell-bottomed Caballeros...wishing I could figure out how to march Sky and still teach in Hawthorne! ('cause, doncha know, *that* was kinda special!).

cg

You know I never knew you as old as I!

I lost from Nov 71 through June 74 - all over in Asia (no drum corps there then).

When I came back they were starting out in the middle of the field and all this craziness. I had no idea.

Then Pete China made me go see DCI in 1975 and I was completely turned inside out (although I had witness SCV and a few others while I was at Language School in California in 1970).

The single best show I ever saw was the 1969 Dream - first time I saw "Requiem for an Era" I was blown away. What a day - with my drum corps hero Joe Genero taking the day in one of the most intense competitions I've seen before or since. You could have put any one of those DCA corps in first that day and I would have said, "Yeah - I can see that." But Genero was the most intense b*stard I had ever seen on a podium, until about 5 years later when I saw George Parks.

Those two guys in battle would have been one of those Jedi deals, or Harry Potter against Voldemort - sheer magical power one against the other.

Man - I know the activity has evolved, but it's hard for me, even after all the years I spent working in it afterwards, to think of anything as "better" than those days. More musical? I guess. Better movement? I guess? Total show packages? I guess.

But Better?

I guess?

[Rocketman]

No question 1972

Cabs

Sky

Bucs

Hurc

Crusaders

Rebels

All these corps beat the eventual champion Cabs at some point in the season. Crusaders did it by 7 points on 7/8

All WOW!