morganhill Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Ahh, The Thing. You had to have been there. First, the early 70's were a period of ecclectisism across the state of music in general, as well as in many other 'things.' The Thing sort of characterized that aspect of the period, as well as the "Let's give it a whirl" attitude of the time. Now, what was The Thing? The Thing was the result of a hasty merger between two drum corps from southeastern Wisconsin that were in the midst of the saddening drum corps depopulation that had started to take place during that period (sub-title: The Baby Boomers Grow Up). The two corps were the St. Patricks Imperials of Milwaukee and the Cedarburg Thunderbolts. Cedarburg is maybe a half-hour northeast of Milwaukee on the shores of Lake Michigan. So, new uniforms for the new, um, Thing? Nope. Make do with what we have. And that meant some parts of the corps wore the green, plaid Scottish kilts of the St. Patrick Imperials and other corps sections wore the dark blue and red cadet-style uniforms of the Thunderbolts. Close your eyes and imagine. A visual clash in style and color. Some members, um, bolted away from the organization in horror I seem to recall, but many stayed and made the best of it -- and with pride. That's why they were The Thing. And that Thing was energetic and entertaining. I especially remember the low brass, a musical drum line, and snares that could shed some serious wood, including an unforgattable fellow named Tom Newman who marched the whole summer with his leg in a cast. Would love to see a whole thread here on fan and alumni recollections of The Thing! The corps evolved into what today is Pioneer. That information is correct. And the name "Pioneer" comes from their then sponsor, Pioneer Garbage Can Co. of suburban Milwaukee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecoats88 Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 nope....you aren't alone.....I found myself as well as my friends snickering on that one many times! :P I mean really, in English it's close to sounding like "toilet." b**bsNot only that, but as you have said, if you pronounced it correctly, it would sound dirty! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> A friend of mine always pronounced it "lazy twats" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnysean Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 LMAO Geneva Appleknockers :lolhit: Thats just class. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> An Appleknocker is an old baseball term. It means, defines someone who has the ability to smack a few home runs....ergo: knock that apple out of here. AFO&OFA HLD Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdewine Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 I always thought that the Chocolatiers from PA. should have had a feeder corps named the "Hershey Squirts." b**bs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 There was a senior corps called the Gay Blades, but back then 'gay' did not have the connotation it has now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Hershey ChocolatiersThe Belles of St. Mary's Brain Tree Braves Personally, I think The Thing is a great name. Nice and unique. Then again, for me, the difference between a great name and a bad one is rather blurry. I always thought there should be a corps from Seattle called Puget Sound. And I always thought there should be a corps from New York called The Long Island Sound. And of course there could always be The Marin County Mariners. wasn't there an all girls corps called the Melodairres or something like that? G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuyW Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) WORST name of all time: the Albacores from San Diego, CA. I always HATED that name....cripes - it was like someone stuck a "kick me" sign on our back... ...albacore is of course a type of tuna fish, and San Diego was the headquarters of the US tuna fishing fleet until the mid-70s....but we never got a DIME out of the tuna industry, the Portuguese community, or the Italian community. A loser of a name all the way around.... Oh yeah - guess what color our unis were? Green... When we got smarter, we changed our name to the Golden Statesmen... Edited September 28, 2007 by GuyW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jocko the Wonder Llama Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 How about: Gate City Combine Fantasia III (What happened to Fantasias I and II ) Just a couple that I came up with off the top of my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarblap Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 wasn't there an all girls corps called the Melodairres or something like that? The mellodears ,Lackawana, NY Two of my favorite fantacy corps; Show Cadets and the Winnapeg Lugnuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 And I always thought there should be a corps from New York called The Long Island Sound. There was a junior corps from Bayshore, NY called Long Island Sound that was active in 1999 and 2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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