If you could...

[thirdcoast]

If you could sit down at a bar with anybody past or present who would it be and why? Drum Corps wise for me would be GZ. I met him in Allentown in 85 and would of loved to had that second beer with him.

Edited April 17, 2011 by thirdcoast

[garfield]

If you could sit down at a bar with anybody past or present who would it be and why? Drum Corps wise for me would be GZ. I met him in Allentown in 85 and would of loved to had that second beer with him. Just one of many, for me.

Just one of many beers, or discussions?

For me, it would be Don Warren. He's the last one left who's been active, and in a position of authority, in drum corps from before DCI to today. The wealth of his knowledge and opinions would be amazing to experience.

Also I'd love to pick the brains of Gail Royer and Don Pesceone.

Reliable Rondo would be entertaining.

[kaseyW]

Probably Brandt Crocker. I'd love to sit down and chat with the "voice of DCI". He's announced every finals show since 1972 - it'd be great to discuss past shows with him.

(mind you that I am not of the legal drinking age yet )

Edited February 6, 2011 by kaseyW

[Michael Boo]

Probably Brandt Crocker. I'd love to sit down and chat with the "voice of DCI". He's announced every finals show since 1972 - it'd be great to discuss past shows with him.

(mind you that I am not of the legal drinking age yet )

Here's what you need to know about Brandt Crocker's tenure as DCI announcer, with answers to the oft-asked questions. This is directly from Brandt.

Brandt has announced every DCI World Championship finals except as specified below. The only corps he did not announce in 1972 was Anaheim Kingsmen because DCI contest manager Bob Briske came up to him and told him to go up top to watch one corps. Kingsmen went on to win.

Chicago radio announcer and DCI judge Jim Unrath announced 1974 in Ithaca for reasons unspecified. 1975 was announced by the Philadelphia mayor's executive assistant because the city was involved in pulling in the championships.

The second year in Montreal (1982) Brandt was not allowed to touch the microphone—what I'm about to tell you is absolutely true—due to an act of Parliament. This was due to the previous year at finals when the scores were being announced by Brandt in English and then someone in French and that guy's microphone cord was broken and he couldn't do his part. Brandt thought things would be okay because the scores were being shown on the Jumbotron in both languages and the translator told him to keep going. But word got back to Parliament and they took umbrage at having anything announced in public in just English.

Finally, in Madison in 1985, a local radio station donated $10,000 to DCI but insisted their number one disc jockey announce finals. That was the guy who didn't realize the people "Blooing" for Bluecoats were praising the corps and not "Booing" them, so he lectured the audience. And some wonder why Michael Cesario has long stated, "They're not Booing, they're Blooing." Contest manager Bob Briske then put his foot down and there have been no outsiders announcing since.

Someone feel free to save this, as questions about Brandt and what he announced come up every year. I've had people respond that certain recordings didn't sound like him, but he verified to me that he indeed did announce those shows in question.

And now you know!

[JimF-LowBari]

Jim Jones... I'd ask if there are any more tapes of local shows hidden anywhere.

And why in heavens name did he record "I Love Lucy" over some of them!!!!

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. My first DC field show (as a participant).

http://www.drumcorpsworld.com/ocstore/site/product.cfm?id=FEF3877F-0A08-4860-B9A1CFFD910E8658

Edit: Also ask the rest of the conversation when my corps came out and if he was one of the people talking. Would be cool to find out his thoughts if JJ was talking.

Edited February 6, 2011 by JimF-LowBari

[Michael Boo]

For me, it would be Don Warren. He's the last one left who's been active, and in a position of authority, in drum corps from before DCI to today. The wealth of his knowledge and opinions would be amazing to experience.

One of my favorite memories as a marcher is going out to dinner with Don Warren the night after my last DCI World Championship (1977) my age-out year. We had a free day in Colorado before moving on to Minneapolis for the VFW National Championship and dinner was on our own. A good friend and I asked Don Warren if he had dinner plans and he didn't, so the three of us went out that Saturday (Finals was on Friday as the American Legion National Championship was on Saturday and many of our members chose to go to the show.)

I've always cherished the chance to finally sit down with the founder of my corps on one of the last days of my corps membership. It was a lot of fun to ask him questions I'd wondered about and then just sit back and listen to him reminisce.

[Michael Boo]

Jim Jones... I'd ask if there are any more tapes of local shows hidden anywhere.

And why in heavens name did he record "I Love Lucy" over some of them!!!!

For the same reason the Ithaca PBS station recorded the evening news over the tape with half the corps in the DCI World Championship Finals in 1974...and why DCI itself didn't think of video recording the first three World Championships; no one realized it would mean anything years later. In Jim's case, he recorded the shows because he loved to know what the other corps were doing. Afterwards, it was time to record another show or whatever was on television with the same tape. Thank God Troopers' director Fred Morris found boxes of the tapes in the corps office and sent them to Steve Vickers of Drum Corps World, who has released them on DVD.

I have a personal favorite memory regarding Jim Jones: I knew Jim on a somewhat casual basis; (my second favorite memory of him was sitting down with him over ice cream at the 1982 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Dallas in the lobby of the convention hotel). One night after Semifinals in Madison, I stopped at a convenience store across the street from the dorm in which I was staying with my roommate that year, Bob Abben, who was deeply involved in bringing out Suncoast Sound. Bob has been around drum corps for about 70 years. I told Jim and his wife Grace about Bob and said he’d be excited beyond belief if they accepted my invitation to drop by to eat the sandwiches they were buying.

They agreed and I ran back to wake Bob up and tell him we would be having visitors, but I didn’t tell him who the visitors would be. Bob grumbled, but obliged, and a couple minutes later, there was a knock on the door, I opened it, and to Bob’s surprise, Jim and Grace Jones walked in. Bob exclaimed, “MISTER Jones!!!” and I sat in the corner and listened to two old-time drum corps fans talk about the really old days of drum corps. I’ll never forget how Jim “made” the week for someone he didn’t even know.

[garfield]

One of my favorite memories as a marcher is going out to dinner with Don Warren the night after my last DCI World Championship (1977) my age-out year. We had a free day in Colorado before moving on to Minneapolis for the VFW National Championship and dinner was on our own. A good friend and I asked Don Warren if he had dinner plans and he didn't, so the three of us went out that Saturday (Finals was on Friday as the American Legion National Championship was on Saturday and many of our members chose to go to the show.)

I've always cherished the chance to finally sit down with the founder of my corps on one of the last days of my corps membership. It was a lot of fun to ask him questions I'd wondered about and then just sit back and listen to him reminisce.

So what you're telling us is that, if I ply you with enough booze (or cheese), you might spill enough of Don's thoughts for me get my wish?

And Mike, how much of Green Machine is first-person from Don? I know his quotes, but did Colt just ghost-write for Don on most of the stories?

[Michael Boo]

Also I'd love to pick the brains of Gail Royer and Don Pesceone.

Gail was a lot more open to people than many realized. In 1978, the year after I aged out, I drove to Denver for the DCI World Championships and stopped at SCV's rehearsal site just outside Boulder, discovering the site only because the corps trucks were so visible from the Interstate highway. I was with a friend who was still marching Bridgemen and had some free time off. I didn't know Gail and he didn't know me, but he was sitting in a folding chair when the corps was on a break and I started to chat with him. I forget what I asked, but it resulted in him giving us a personal tour of Miss Amana, the corps' cook truck that was beyond state of the art for its time, especially considering that most corps didn't have full traveling kitchens yet. That's when I learned the biggest names in drum corps were the most approachable.

[Michael Boo]

So what you're telling us is that, if I ply you with enough booze (or cheese), you might spill enough of Don's thoughts for me get my wish?

And Mike, how much of Green Machine is first-person from Don? I know his quotes, but did Colt just ghost-write for Don on most of the stories?

Cheese would do the trick, but remember; that was 34 years ago, so details would be fuzzy.

I would venture that all of the book is first person, but Colt took Don's verbal interviews and worked them into a compelling tapestry. What a special treat it is for us to have that book, which goes far beyond The Cavaliers and shares Don's memories of drum corps in the 1940s and beyond, including the formation of DCI. How I (and undoubtedly others) would have loved to have a chance to read similar accounts by the likes of Gail Royer, Jim Jones and George Bonfiglio.