Old vid of NOrthern Aurora 1988

[supersop]

I remember seeing them at DeKalb for the first time and liking their show and the level of difficulty, although I questioned the gung-ho nature of the drum line.

Gung-ho in what way? The style of writing or the style of performance?

I know NA battery books in the mid 80's to early 90's were pretty thick and sometimes overpowering ... but they were definitely a strength of the corps. The 88 show was written by Wayne Bovenschen who is now at Oklahoma State University. I still admire his book very much. It had alot of musicality and intricate writing between sections ..... but I do agree that it's thick at times and sometimes overpowering. Definitely aggressive ... but I like it like that :)

[tommytimp]

Gung-ho in what way? The style of writing or the style of performance?

I know NA battery books in the mid 80's to early 90's were pretty thick and sometimes overpowering ... but they were definitely a strength of the corps. The 88 show was written by Wayne Bovenschen who is now at Oklahoma State University. I still admire his book very much. It had alot of musicality and intricate writing between sections ..... but I do agree that it's thick at times and sometimes overpowering. Definitely aggressive ... but I like it like that :)

Sorry I'm late. I was cleaning my apartment.

I thought the book was pretty tasty if a little checky, and that the line (battery and pit) was a little too hyper-kick-azz for the Prokofiev show that was being done. (I had the same "probelem" with SCV the year before. Those guys looked like a 27 line.) First time I watched the timp player, he was so "into it" that he literally missed his drums a couple of times he was swinging so wildly; I wanted to throw a tarp over him or hose him down. We bunked w/NA at DeKalb and i talked with some of their guys and watched their run-throughon Friday night and appreciated the level of difficulty and thought they werre cleaner than we were but that we would clean and execute better than they would or Gmen would. AND I WAS RIGHT. I kind of wish NA had made Top 25 that year; I liked their show better than Spartans or L'Insolite. Glassmen were our boyz that year so I'll never break bad on them, but I would like to have seen NA make it in.

[supersop]

Sorry I'm late. I was cleaning my apartment.

I thought the book was pretty tasty if a little checky, and that the line (battery and pit) was a little too hyper-kick-azz for the Prokofiev show that was being done. (I had the same "problem" with SCV the year before. Those guys looked like a 27 line.) First time I watched the timp player, he was so "into it" that he literally missed his drums a couple of times he was swinging so wildly; I wanted to throw a tarp over him or hose him down. We bunked w/NA at DeKalb and i talked with some of their guys and watched their run-through on Friday night and appreciated the level of difficulty and thought they werre cleaner than we were but that we would clean and execute better than they would or Gmen would. AND I WAS RIGHT. I kind of wish NA had made Top 25 that year; I liked their show better than Spartans or L'Insolite. Glassmen were our boyz that year so I'll never break bad on them, but I would like to have seen NA make it in.

Too funny Tom. Larry Yunker is DEFINITELY a wild man!!! Looking back at the pit staff we had .. and guard staff .. they were very influenced by SCV. This is where all the "dancing" came from in the pit. Battery staff was all PR along with some of our horn staff. Hence, the checkyness in the battery and the 7 baritones that sound like 20. I think you hit it head on now that you explained what you were saying.