ozarkbugler Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Phoned home one day while on free day in NYC. Was riding the subway and found a payphone in the station. It was VERY hot. I was sweating more than I did during rehearsals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navillus WP Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) You had air-conditioned buses? George Bonfiglio told us our (ahem) "vintage" buses were equipped with "10/50 air conditioning" - open all ten windows and try to get the bus to go 50 MPH. Jolly joker ...... On a serious note, my brother Robert and I were traveling with the 27th Lancers to Canada for the 1972 Shriners International when I caught a radio news snippet at a NY Thruway rest area about the Hotel Vendome fire, the worst firefighting tragedy in Boston history. The news story listed the 16 fire engine companies, 5 ladder companies (including my father's), 2 aerial towers and 1 heavy rescue. The story indicated that eight firefighters were injured, and nine firefighters were killed when the building collapsed without warning. I did not know if my mom would be one of the eight women widowed, or if we were one of the 25 children who lost their fathers that day. I had to wait several hours until we reached our destination in Hamilton, Ontario to collect sufficient Canadian coinage and find a payphone to find out if my Dad was okay. (He was.) Edited March 12, 2012 by Navillus WP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplattSCV Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 There was a payphone under the stands very close to the field entrance at the stadium in Alabama that hosted DCI South in 1990. I remember seeing it as we wheeled in our equipment (I was SCV pit). The pit almost never took part in retreat, but this was a regional so they had us "marching" retreat that night. I decide to say "#### it" and attack that pay phone instead of wasting my time at retreat. That would be the only possible time that there was not going to be 100 people in line. Well, there was still a short line (other corps pits that didn't have to go to retreat). By the time I got on, they were announcing scores. ...and we won. What? Star and Cadets had both pretty thouroughly beaten us the 2-3 times prior. And we never came close again at any show after that either. So, I had to run back to the truck. Get back in uniform and sneak back to the field without being spotted by Gail Royer as we setup for a victory concert. "Yeah mom. I am fine. D'oh!! gotta go." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 ...I had to run back to the truck. Get back in uniform and sneak back to the field without being spotted by Gail Royer as we setup for a victory concert. ... Oh...I can just imagine what Gail would have done to you had he caught you. Yikes! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 There was a payphone under the stands very close to the field entrance at the stadium in Alabama that hosted DCI South in 1990. I remember seeing it as we wheeled in our equipment (I was SCV pit). The pit almost never took part in retreat, but this was a regional so they had us "marching" retreat that night. I decide to say "#### it" and attack that pay phone instead of wasting my time at retreat. That would be the only possible time that there was not going to be 100 people in line. Well, there was still a short line (other corps pits that didn't have to go to retreat). By the time I got on, they were announcing scores. ...and we won. What? Star and Cadets had both pretty thouroughly beaten us the 2-3 times prior. And we never came close again at any show after that either. So, I had to run back to the truck. Get back in uniform and sneak back to the field without being spotted by Gail Royer as we setup for a victory concert. "Yeah mom. I am fine. D'oh!! gotta go." Best story so far...! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WPendergrass Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I started marching right around the time that cell phones started creeping into drum corps. There was definitely a difference in corps cohesion from year one to my age out year. Bus time after shows early in my marching years was centered around the members, fraternity, and bus interviews. By the time I aged out, it was more about updating media, communicating with loved ones, and trolling DCP (for the very few that had internet back then on their phones). Definitely sad. One corps in particular held out a really long time on the cell phone thing, but I'm pretty sure they broke down and allow them and have for several years now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 George Bonfiglio told us our (ahem) "vintage" buses were equipped with "30/50 air conditioning" - open all thirty windows and try to get the bus to go 50 MPH. Jolly joker ...... On a serious note, my brother Robert and I were traveling with the 27th Lancers to Canada for the 1972 Shriners International when I caught a radio news snippet at a NY Thruway rest area about the Hotel Vendome fire, the worst firefighting tragedy in Boston history. The news story listed the 16 fire engine companies, 5 ladder companies (including my father's), 2 aerial towers and 1 heavy rescue. The story indicated that eight firefighters were injured, and nine firefighters were killed when the building collapsed without warning. I did not know if my mom would be one of the eight women widowed, or if we were one of the 25 children who lost their fathers that day. I had to wait several hours until we reached our destination in Hamilton, Ontario to collect sufficient Canadian coinage and find a payphone to find out if my Dad was okay. (He was.) I can't imagine what you must have felt like during those ensuing hours. I really can't. Life is so different today with being able to be connected to the news that is most important to us...what's happening with our loved ones. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjordansc Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 (edited) In the late 70s, early 80s, the Blue Stars would give free days on Monday when not on tour. Many of us would take a weekly brewery tour on that day. Benefits of the tour were free beer at the end and free postcards. So, it may not have been a call home, but my mother still has a box of postcards in her attic showing the distinctive La Cross six pack on the front and my weekly update on the back. Edited March 9, 2012 by mcjordansc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I too marched in the era that was right around when cell phones were slowly becoming more commonplace. I had one of those TracFones, but it was mainly for emergencies or if my mom absolutely had to get ahold of me right now, as using it outside the "coverage zone" (read: virtually anywhere we might be on tour) ate up the minutes very quickly. I didn't get a regular cell phone until after I aged out. There were a few phones on tour when I marched, but they were pretty rare and virtually everyone had a calling card in case they needed to use a payphone to call somewhere. Rarer still was Internet access. Most schools had Internet back then, but it was pretty well locked down and wifi spots were few and far between, if you even had a laptop that had a card. One particular moment of getting in touch with the outside world that sticks out in my mind is my ageout year, 2003, on the night of II/III semifinals; one of the kids in the pit had a cell phone and a laptop, and the ability to hook them up to get Internet access. We did the usual stuff with what little signal we could get: check email, look up what was a fledgling DCP in those days to see what was going on, check up on the 3 months of news we'd missed and the like. I was surprised to find several emails from close friends and teachers of mine in college telling me that a friend, a girl who had played trumpet with me in a brass quintet for the last couple years, had been killed in a car accident on the way back to Kansas from a trip to North Carolina for some kind of music camp. I didn't really know how to absorb it, and it took me maybe an hour before it really sank in. By the time I saw the email, the funeral had already passed earlier that day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Wow. I honestly don't know how I would have dealt with that, especially while being away from family and outside-of-corps friends on tour. I guess that's when one realizes their corpsmates have become their extended family, for the sake of comfort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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