Michael Boo Posted September 12, 2012 Share Posted September 12, 2012 How on earth did those kids make it through that in one piece? That is beyond awesome. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldsoprano Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share Posted September 12, 2012 How on earth did those kids make it through that in one piece? I honestly don't know, and I don't think any of them know, either. Having aged out in 1979, I was a volunteer driver that summer (and was driving the other of the two rental vans that fateful night). I still remember watching that exhibition from the front sideline, in tears from the moment the first member came through the back gate and onto the field. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 Thanks for posting this! Very moving! Here's some more background on Spirit's performance that night in Memphis: http://www.dci.org/n...0e-f5b4639e7c7f It was truly a day and night I'll never forget. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rd Glasgow BB Posted September 13, 2012 Share Posted September 13, 2012 I guess the kids who marched that night in Memphis are the only people who could answer how they got through it. Drum Corps is funny that way... sum of the parts etc. I suspect this clip will mean everything to folk who were involved in some form or another. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Clark Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 As one of the members, all I remember is that we were determined to to perform, however, we weren't sure how far we could get. The solution to do the show as a standstill with the drill to LIBM was felt to be the best tribute....and what we felt in our hearts..play his music...and perform the music and drill as a personal statement to Jim. I was a bear to play while crying the whole time. It was the most memorable performance of a lifetime for me. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devsabre Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 (edited) I was a Drum Major with the St Croix Rivermen in 1980 and we were at that show. We performed that evening with no knowledge of what had happened. When Spirit entered the field we knew immediately that something was wrong. When it was announced what had happened to Jim Ott there was a painful silence that settled over the field. Stunned is too soft a term for how every person in that stadium felt. It is nearly indescribable the love and heart break that Spirit released in their performance. Sprit drove every person in that stadium to cry like small children, it was devastating. It was one of the most awful and most beautiful things I've experienced in my life. It never occurred to me that this performance could have been recorded, experiencing that moment again was...not easy. Edited September 19, 2012 by devsabre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 How on earth did those kids make it through that in one piece? That is beyond awesome. One poor brass player didn't as they fainted (left front) right before the end. You see DM's and staff responding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Detweiler Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 My wife was in that 1980 Spirit rifle line. It was her rookie year of drum corps. She went on to march '80 and '81 Spirit, '82 and '83 Bridgemen and '84 Blue Devils with me, where we aged out. She then taught Spirit for three years after ageing out. Through 3 years of dating and 26 years of marriage, we have shared every experience in our lives with each other, including all our drum corps memories. One thing she has never shared with me though is her feelings regarding that summer...just too painful. When this video was first posted I told her about it and all she said through a pale face of shock was "I don't want to see it". Sort of sums up the emotion that is still so ingrained in that experience for her. I have many friends that marched in that corps and while I don't want to put words in their mouths, I think most of their reactions would be similar. Dan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaballarosJr. Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Obviously I am going to reply to this being one of those in Birmingham who cried in 1979 over Phantom (which I have gone over a bazillion times) and the next year over Spirit. Hardly a week or less passes where I haven't had to put on my vinyl records (I bought four that I thought would last a lifetime in 1980 with PR, Spirt, Cavs and 27), then CDS, then DVD's then sometimes when I am in a library and I just have to hear my non-Caballaros Jr. favorite song "Let It Be Me" I go to yoxtuxx for "One Night In August". Amazingly, from 1980 and the advent of CD's three of four of my records are now scratched, worn out or melted in my cars. I love that I have finally seen the actual night of Spirit's performance and they did a wonderful job. HOWEVER..... I slightly disagree with doing just an exhibition. My mother died just a week before a Marathon I was planning on dedicating to Elsa's Procession, Carmen, Beethoven's Ninth etc. Instead, I dedicated it in church during a eulogy to my mother. I had no intention of having some sort of exhibition like run. I wanted to have the marathon of my life then be at the finish line with some type of Cold Case Kathryn Morris moment with my Mom. I was on a goal pace, incarnated August 18,1979 to finally qualify for Boston, at Mile 17 until an injury forced me to stop. I would have felt horrible just downgrading to a half marathon or 10-K. I feel as though Spirit should have done an actual competition with having July 8,1980 being the eternal highest score in DCI history. They should have taken that emotion and vowed stuff like "No one cracks a single note, no one gets out of formation, no one drops a rifle or mistimes a flag dip, or whatever percussion sections did wrong for tics.(I never played drums)" "Tonight for Jim we are going to be perfect, not just real good so that for the rest of history drum corps fans might someday be mourning the loss of All My Children while typing (on a Monday at about 1 p.m.) on their computers on this thing that will be called The Internet about the night Spirit got a 100." "Everyone remember what Jim taught us and be perfect tonight. I wouldn't have wanted to just stand there and play or like they did. I would have wanted to hear that night during retreat "And In First Place with a score of 100, The Spirit of Atlanta." If I were in Spirit that night I would have wanted to just blow the stands down, send rifles in whatever the percussion solo was called(Devil Went Down To Georgia?), up to heaven to Jim then catch them perfectly, I'd want to have played and color guarded with such precision computer generated models would use us as perfection. I would have wanted some parent to find a really quick working local sign shop or even better a plague to be installed in the ground reading "On July 8,1980 The Spirit of Atlanta achieved perfection at this site in memory of Jim Ott." After the retreat scores they could have installed it right there for generations of Band members, crowds and athletes to be inspired. For few who have done stuff there in the last 32 years probably know what happened there. Just like the few residents who live in Jersey City's Society Hill housing where The Sit Down occurred. Well, I have to get ready for a training run with Jim Ott's waiting for me when I get home. I can't decide to watch July 8th, a DVD of Birmingham or just go to DCI FAN NETWORK, which is very much worth the price. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctortelco Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) I had a friend of mine from high school that was on the Spirit of Atlanta's staff that year. I always meant to ask him about it and I never have. Scott Smith Edited September 18, 2012 by doctortelco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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