BRASSO Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 My son marched his first parade with his HS band in Tucson. LA FIESTA DE LOS VAQUEROS. Gringos call it the Rodeo Parade. It is proudly billed as THE WORLD’S LONGEST NON-MOTORIZED PARADE. Form your own conclusions. No Gracias ! Hasta Luego !! ( haha) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindap Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 A few words told to me over decades ‘you have an active imagination’ ‘stop doodling’ ‘i like your drawings’ ‘you’re 10 years ahead of your time’ ‘you have a warped sense of humour’ ‘your sarcasm is better than your puns’ ‘you’re nice’ ‘you think outside the box’ ‘I’d like to get inside your mind’ now you know a little about me; bottom line, I care about you, that’s me : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
normy diploome Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 I am not sure this qualifies as a "parade pile" but the effect was rather similar. The Cadets (Garfield/Bergen County/Holy Name/whatever) were honored to be chosen for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in '86 you may remember. The first day of that weekend involved taking a ferry boat from Red Hook in Brooklyn to Governor's Island in the middle of New York Harbor. The mellophone soloist, Chris Lewis, didn't swim so she wrapped her self against a center pole of the small ship convinced she was going to drown and got seasick in the process. Finally ashore in this year when they played On the Waterfront, Cesario had the hornline play Christopher Street rather than the planned Shenandoah in the presence of President Reagan and the nation/world watched on TV.(The alumni were far from pleased and by "coincidence," Cesario was let go at the end of the season.) The next morning of the Operation Sail weekend, the ferry headed to Liberty Island. Same result with the mellophone soloist. For the second day in a row, because of the corps' proximity to the First Family, the Secret Service and FBI took apart every instrument, poking wands in and out of every crevice including each individual tube of the pit equiptment and down the bores of the horns. But as the corps played Shenandoah in front of the statue which Mrs. Reagan would re-christen, 50 trained pigeons were to be let go from their cages, circle Lady Liberty's torch, and head to the heavens. Well, Mrs. Reagan broke the bottle of champagne, the Cadets played and the pigeons were released. But they went from their cages and flew above the corps, only to nest on the ledge above the Cadets. Yup, poop, poop, poop and more poop on the unis, the shakos, the instruments, and plumes. Four to five washings before all that stuff came out of the wool unis. New plumes had to be provided. All the corps seemed "seasick" on the ferry ride back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Other Mike Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Back before Mardi Gras parades required " clean up scoopers " behind horse units, our Director got tired of us breaking "military bearing" to avoid the piles. He placed a rule in effect that to make sure we kept our files straight, the people with no horse #### on their shoes would clean the shoes of those who had the most. This backfired as we tried to get the most, we accidentally kicked crap all over the pants of people in front of us. Being one of the 1st sopranos in the front line, "we" decided it was our own challange to get as much crap as we could on the back of the bass drummers. 1/4 into a 6 mile parade and the director changed his mind as the ladies who cleaned the uniforms jumped him big time. Parades....My 1st year I didn't know there was more than parade season. Between the high school band and drum corps our schedule went like this ( and remember, most NOLA Mardi gras parades average 6 miles, some 7, 1 was 4 and 1 was 9 Friday night 1 parade saturday 2 parades Sunday 2 parades Mon 1 parade Tues 1 parade Wed 1 parade Thurs 1 parade Fri 1 parade Saturday 2 parades Sunday 2 parades Monday 1 parade Mardi Gras off When I 1st read our schedule for the summer that listed 3 parades and a contest on the 4th of July, I thought "screw THIS". Others laughed and said " it's not what you think". We've had to walk father to get to our buses after a Mardi Gras parade then those 4th of July parades are long. That 1st year in "The Southern Rebels" I also learned things like "fight formation", How stupid to carry a Rebel Flag in 1970 ? I had not thought about the group in any other manner than marching and music. I joined the Rebels because it was closest to me, afterall, the Stardusters were way over in Arabi, 15 miles the other side of town. When I saw and heard the Dusters off the line in 71 VFW, it made me want to change corps. Then to find out they didn't need to fight during Mardi Gras was even more interesting, but alas, problems in several corps caused the formation of the Bleu Raeders. Mostly Stardusters, some Southern Rebels and a few Masquaraders, and now you know the rest of the story. Sorry for the rant. My Ritilin kicked in with my coffee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 A few words told to me over decades ‘you have an active imagination’ ‘stop doodling’ ‘i like your drawings’ ‘you’re 10 years ahead of your time’ ‘you have a warped sense of humour’ ‘your sarcasm is better than your puns’ ‘you’re nice’ ‘you think outside the box’ ‘I’d like to get inside your mind’ now you know a little about me; bottom line, I care about you, that’s me : ) ... darn drummers ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) Parades....My 1st year I didn't know there was more than parade season. Between the high school band and drum corps our schedule went like this ( and remember, most NOLA Mardi gras parades average 6 miles, some 7, 1 was 4 and 1 was 9 Friday night 1 parade saturday 2 parades Sunday 2 parades Mon 1 parade Tues 1 parade Wed 1 parade Thurs 1 parade Fri 1 parade Saturday 2 parades Sunday 2 parades Monday 1 parade Mardi Gras off Holy Mackeral! I thought I did a lot of parades in rapid succession " back in the day ". I can't hold a candle to this level of parades one after the other. 15 parades in 10 days takes the cake. Gotta tip my hat to you for doing this level of parades in a little over a week. Edited March 8, 2013 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDale Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Gracefully march around the pile and right back into ranks. ##### does NOT look good on white spats. I think of the West Allis Western Days Parade as one of the most challenging one for this. Lots of horses and bands in the auld days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 (edited) A few words told to me over decades ‘you have an active imagination’ ‘stop doodling’ ‘i like your drawings’ ‘you’re 10 years ahead of your time’ ‘you have a warped sense of humour’ ‘your sarcasm is better than your puns’ ‘you’re nice’ ‘you think outside the box’ ‘I’d like to get inside your mind’ now you know a little about me; bottom line, I care about you, that’s me : ) "To Da Rear" This is a reminder of the GREAT "Barnum Festival Street Parades" from WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY "Back in the day". Andy will no doubt agree that old Bridgeport threw a fantastic parade in conjunction with the annual Barnum Festival. The line of march was just LOADED with DRUM CORPS. In addition to the dozen or so juniors in Fairfield County (St Raphaels', Bridgeport PAL Cadets, Conn Royal Lancers, St Annes', Milford Police Cadets etc) the senior corps that had performed in the Barnum's 'Parade of Champions' contest were included, with the Champion leading off the parade. Picture the NY Skyliners, Hawthorne Caballeros, Connecticut Hurricanes, Baltimore Yankee Rebels, the Interstatesmen and Geneva Appleknockers hoofing it down North Avenue. The "Exibition" units from the show were also to be found in the line of march and included Preston's Scout House and the USAF Academy corps. The crowds were litterally wall to wall, stretching from Seaside Park to the parades finish. Great memories..... Elphaba WWW Edited March 11, 2013 by elphaba01 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alankarls Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 There was one parade in Illinois, Harvard, I believe, that had a milk festival parade in which they painted the streets white. On hot sunny days..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly99 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 I noticed you were a DM. Did you ever call a roll off on a hill or an incline and the Corps want to beat you with a flag pole or some such with that decision ? In my first year as a DM I made that mistake I never did it again. ( haha) We had a very good legacy program for our guard captains and drum majors. When you became a junior DM or captain there was always a senior DM or captain to guide and counsel you on duties and expectations for the position. I was fortunate enough to have marched under some excellent DM's even before I was asked to be junior DM so the groundwork was very solid. Sadly, I still did not avoid the rookie DM mistake of caling the roll-off on a hill. Like you, it only took one time - I learned my lesson.... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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