dc oldtimer Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I am guessing The Cavaliers were pretty strict about birth certificates in '77. More in '76 since that was the year after "the incident". I don't remember anyone from DCI asking for my birth certificate but I was a snot-nosed 15 year old who looked like I was 10 so I obvioulsy wasn't a target. I think we did have a few of the guys with facial hair who were asked but obviously there were no "findings". Interesting times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wort Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 (edited) 1976 was, simply put, one of the best years of my life. I was 14 years old and played Contra with a bunch of amazing people in the Guardsmen. We made a commercial. We made DCI! I don't know about the rest of the members, but I cannot remember working so hard on anything else. Working, eating, sleeping, it seemed everything revolved around the show. I remember Whitewater. What a great place. My favorite place to play, by far. About halfway through the show the inside seam of my pants leg started coming apart, and by the end of the show it was pretty much completely ripped. The uniform ladies just laughed at me. Like most corps, daytime prelims shows were not out best performances. For Philly, though, we somehow pulled it off. I wish we had pictures of us in the stands when our score was annouinced. Absolutely one of the high points. By finals my chops were totally shot. I reached back for all I had left and it just was not there. Wish our prelims show made it to the album, but can't have everything. If you listen to the recording though, a half second before we started the opener someone shouted "chicken sucks!", a refeerence to our KFC commercial! Hilarious. Yeah, 1976 was a great year. Edited April 4, 2012 by Wort 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 Was that commercial made in 1975? I just remember the old uniforms. 1976 was, simply put, one of the best years of my life. I was 14 years old and played Contra with a bunch of amazing people in the Guardsmen. We made a commercial. We made DCI! I don't know about the rest of the members, but I cannot remember working so hard on anything else. Working, eating, sleeping, it seemed everything revolved around the show. I remember Whitewater. What a great place. My favorite place to play, by far. About halfway through the show the inside seam of my pants leg started coming apart, and by the end of the show it was pretty much completely ripped. The uniform ladies just laughed at me. Like most corps, daytime prelims shows were not out best performances. For Philly, though, we somehow pulled it off. I wish we had pictures of us in the stands when our score was annouinced. Absolutely one of the high points. By finals my chops were totally shot. I reached back for all I had left and it just was not there. Wish our prelims show made it to the album, but can't have everything. If you listen to the recording though, a half second before we started the opener someone shouted "chicken sucks!", a refeerence to our KFC commercial! Hilarious. Yeah, 1976 was a great year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp1955 Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 My Age out year with the Bridgemen. With the way 74 and 75 went I was real glad I stuck around and helped get the Corps back on it's feet. Was a sweet moment standing in the tunnel waiting to take the field after missing finals in 74 and not even bothering to go in 75, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wort Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 Was that commercial made in 1975? I just remember the old uniforms. No, Keith, close. 1976. I'm at the top of the "F". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wort Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 My Age out year with the Bridgemen. With the way 74 and 75 went I was real glad I stuck around and helped get the Corps back on it's feet. Was a sweet moment standing in the tunnel waiting to take the field after missing finals in 74 and not even bothering to go in 75, My belated congratulations on a most excellent performance!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 My belated congratulations on a most excellent performance!!!!! Agree :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piperguy Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 You're right about '76 being a great year. It was my first year of drum corps and I was a Bari player with Wausau Story. I especially remember that year because of my "introduction" to drum corps. I was selected to be a member of a featured group during our flag pre, American Salute. As we started to play the group feature, my pants somehow came unbuckled and I had to figure out how to play the feature with one hand (piston rotor horns at that time) and grab my pants with the other hand. I marched about a third of the show that way until drum solo came up and we had a backfield move where I could put my bari under my arm and "fix" the problem. I got to listen to the GE tapes later that night and was surprised to find out I received a special mention! At least the color I chose to wear that day matched the uniform! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Anello Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 One corps whose 1976 season hasn't been mentioned was the Racine Kilties, who really struggled in 1976. However, there was one day, where they really connected with the audience, and that was at prelims for DCI Midwest at Whitewater. For once, there was no phasing during Knightbridge March, and Holy John was solid. All this set the table for their concert, a repeat of 1975's Roll Over Beethoven. Simply out, the corps in general, and Tommy Meredith in particular, wailed. Bt the end of the concert, most of the stadium was standing and screaming. It was that wonderful phenomenon when a corps connects with a crowd and the crowd responds, which only feeds the kids in the corps. The crowd kept feeding the corps through Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing, and they became absolutely bonkers during Tommy's solo. By the end of the tune, it was hard to hear the corps. The corps kept firing on all cylinders through the final notes of Syne. The corps didn't make finals that day. I think they scored in the mid-60s. But it was unbelievably exciting. Hopefully, some of you were there to witness it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 For me 1976 was a year I taught two Garden State Circuit corps, the Imperial Guardsmen and the Monarchs, and also the year I started to judge percussion in the GSC. The Monarchs decided, in mid-season, to merge with the Greenwood Lake lakers from NY to become the King's Regiment. We both pulled out of the rest of the GSC season, sometime in late July, to put together a combined show for the September AL Wildwood States. We took two GSC corps going nowhere fast and created one large corps. Our intent was to put on an exhibition in Wildwood and march the parade. I think somehow they ended up scoring us. That month of August 76 might be the most fun I ever had in drum corps, as we put together the pieces of the show, like a Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "Hey! Let's put on a show" movie from the 40's. Took bits of both corps shows to create one single show. The Imperial Guardsmen were another middle of the road GSC corps, but we had a wonderful timpani section in 76. I worked them all winter long, teaching them to read and lots of ear training exercises for tuning. One judge at the Class 'B' WO Prelims commented that they were as good as any timpani section he heard all day...in any division. Since I had marched with them in 68 and 69, it was a lot of fun teaching them along with another of my former marching partners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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