sarnia sam Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 1977. Harvard stadium. Smoking off the line to Baccanale. Isn't that a lovely echo? Hey what the heck is side 2 playing? You know things aren't going to get better when it suddenly defaults to one bass drummer pounding out the beat (Mark Blandford for those who know him). Something about practising that disaster in Atlanta the week before - but in a different part of the show, helped us recover quickly. Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimwolf359 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 1979. Secaucus, NJ. A dirt field, a total downpour right as we started. Getting hit in the face by a wet, muddy flag whipping past my head. Not fun! Oh, and we had to do an exhibition that night at the Sunriser's DCA show in those same wet uniforms. I remember that "Contest" What a miserable day! I don't think I ever saw worse conditions for a contest. Ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnZ Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 1974-ish, American International, one of the first corps on around 7am. could hardly see the stands from the back sideline for all the fog - anyway, our DM was the ultimate ditzy but 'well constructed' blonde (another story for another time). Standing at midfield in the fog, she failed to bring the corps from parade rest to attention/dress'front, and proceeded to count off for OTL. some folks tried to get her attention, but too late - drumline and guard takes off, hornline still standing on the sideline. It took her about 30 seconds to figure out that only half the corps was emerging from the fog, and there was no music going on. stopped the show, reset, and finished dead last. ...but she was 'well constructed'..... Second one, around 1985? Montclair DCA show - for some reason someone decided to give the OTL responsibilities to the second field conductor. His commands sounded like he was munching on a mouthful of crackers. anyway, half the corps still at standby, the other at ready, he takes off....took half the opener to get the corps back together. Finished the show to discover there was an apparent timing error (not sure if the gun ever went off at the start, or judging ever ended). Anyway, we got the opportunity to do the show again, this time the primary DM takes the helm - won the show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BanditKir Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 In 2006 our electronics didn't work in Denver and it created a huge cluster**** for a little while until we brought it back together. as far as personal mistakes, I stepped out of a hold early at Quarterfinals in 2007. Some people have the ability to remember almost every show and rehearsal site they were at... I do not have this ability. Those are the ones that stick out in my mind. I think this might be the same show I was thinking of. I remember during set up we kept losing power which caused a bit of delay but eventually it came back up and we started the show. Well... at some point we lost power again and by the time we got to the 'Radio' portion there were empty gaps where there were supposed to be spoken lines. From my vantage point I didn't even realize the power was gone as a lot of the lines were delivered right next to me and I couldn't really hear the speakers that well normally. The percussion feature was supposed to start during the static right after the line 'finding the hottest singles in your area' with a bass drum pickup... that never came. All I remember is static and then the looks of horror on our faces as we realized the field was completely silent. The recovery was pretty sweet though. Our center marimba started playing and we kind of layered in... and then when the battery came in we synced up to their groove. We hit the first impact about a bar early but after that it was right back in like nothing had happened. The day after that show is the only time on tour I remember the front ensemble getting a compliment. =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc oldtimer Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) First show of the year in Janesville WI, 1977. Half way through the opener, the left side of the field was about 5 counts ahead of the right side of the field. It took the DM about 10 seconds to get everyone on the same page. Nightmare. 10 seconds from hell. MAN the staff was PO'd. Edited February 23, 2011 by dc oldtimer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I love this thread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mckdan Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 First show of the year in Janesville WI, 1977. Half way through the opener, the left side of the field was about 5 counts ahead of the right side of the field. It took the DM about 10 seconds to get everyone on the same page. Nightmare. 10 seconds from hell. MAN the staff was PO'd. I'm pretty sure that Janesville was the show that I started this thread with. I remember after the show I talked to a couple of Cavies and told them about our disaster and they told me about theirs. It is amazing how many memories this thread has rehashed in so many different eras of drum corps. I guess the occasional "brain-fart" is universal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I love this thread. u terrible person... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Atlanta Regional 2009. Staff came out to us during visual warm-up, and told us about all of the field markings, including that there was marks on the field at 16 steps from the hash, which was a big help to all of us. Well, as we're coming on the field, something doesn't seem right about the field. As we march on, a couple of us start counting, and we cross that line at 14 steps..... but there was no way to spread the word through the line. We got about 2/3 of the way through the opener before everyone got on the same page about the error, and we stopped using it as a reference. But that first part..... kind of a disaster. If you watch one of the Top 7 from last year's Atlanta show, I'm sure you can see which one it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlemm Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I think it was 2006 or 07 DCA Prelims, Rochester, NY. I played on the frontline with Chops, Inc. The weather was so bad they kept delaying all the class A shows. We played in a torrential downpour. I beat the crap out of my chinaboy cymbal, which held water like a bowl, and it barely made a sound. We still won best percussion in class A somehow...but that wasn't the worst of it. We of course wanted to do well, but when we watched the other class A corps go on after us, we kept watching people slip and fall and feeling like we didn't have it nearly as bad. A bass drummer from Alliance totally wiped out and didn't get up for several counts. We felt so awful watching this horrible stuff go on. Of course the sun came out and it stopped raining for the Open class prelims... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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