DCI Dinosaur Communications - 2 cans and a string?

[corps8294]

Back in the day, the season was a couple weekend shows and then first tour followed by the July push to the big regional championships (DCM, DCW, DCE, etc), then a weekend show, then second tour (which was the big push to DCI). Heck, back in '87 they had a Judges Field Day show in Delavan, WI at the end of May. Every corps there had their show completed. I miss those long seasons. A lot more shows and a lot more corps.

[Fran Haring]

In the mid to late 80's there was very little information available before tour began. You had to rely on word of mouth from people you knew in other corps. Every once in awhile someone might have a cassette tape of a rehearsal that they would share. Drum Corps world was really the only source of info. Most of the time we didn't know what anyone else was doing till we saw them on tour!

All good points... brings back some memories of the "dark ages" of drum corps communication!!! LOL

Drum Corps World... and Drum Corps News, back in the day, were a must-read to at least try and keep up with scores, news, etc.

Sometimes, I (and hopefully others...LOL) was caught completely off guard by an event that I knew nothing about until well after the fact. One example for me... 1975 DCI Finals. I got to the show site in Philly, and only then found out that the Muchachos had been disqualified after Prelims. "Shocked" would be an understatement!

Edited June 17, 2013 by Fran Haring

[BRASSO]

Heck, back in '87 they had a Judges Field Day show in Delavan, WI at the end of May. Every corps there had their show completed. I miss those long seasons. A lot more shows and a lot more corps.

With early shows, Corps had a chance to make wholesale changes in time for their show to be ready by Finals too, which usually took place the 3rd week of August ( around the 15th-23rd ). The Madison Scouts that won themselves a DCI Title in '75, scrapped much of the show, music, drill, etc they had in their first week of the season of '76, and had their new show ready come August Championships week and almost won themselves a repeat Title in '76 ( finishing 2nd and to the Blue Devils in '76 )

Edited June 17, 2013 by BRASSO

[boxingfred]

Way back in the early 90s, RAMD was much better than the mind-destroying abyss it descended into later. The internet was a different world back then.

He said " Way back in the early 90"s"

[Standrews]

.....there were Drum Corps standstill exhibitions in January at Boston's Symphony Hall ( recorded by Fleetwood Records to later be sold to attendees and fans nationally ) and Standsill Competitions in April at either the Boston Garden or Boston University...

Edited June 17, 2013 by Standrews

[Standrews]

Competed against Boston at the Drumfest in 1971. Some hockey arena. Believe it was in April. Wore white dinner jackets because our uniforms weren't ready.

Read Eastern Review in those days to see if we were ranked Top 10.

[lindap]

During winter guard contests and stage concerts in the 1970's, we would get a program that listed each corps and their planned repertoire. Sometimes the music would change by summer and it would be a delight. One spring, we had movie night and watched 'The Troopers are Coming'.

In the mid 1970's, the corps director would phone 10 phone numbers if travel plans changed or for news. 10 parents were assigned 10 phone numbers and within hours 100 people knew the news of where and what. Otherwise, members would write letters and postcards to their families.

The families sent letters and packages to predetermined mailing addresses during tour which to my delight, hasn't changed : D

[SACMellos2010]

There were more shows back in the day but there were also a lot more corps to spread across the country. If my memory serves me correctly there would typically be 8-10 corps at each show. I am not sure how the scores spread so quickly but we typically heard by lunch the next day of other scores but never seemed to really consume us like it seems to everyone today.

I wish today's drum corps participants were able to experience a lot of the things we did when we marched. You basically moved in Memorial Day weekend and were then disconnected from the rest of the world until Finals was over. We would receive letters from home once a week and thus had far less distractions and were able to completely emerse yourself with your drum corps family. You also stayed around at shows because of retreat and had chance to get to know people from other corps. If you went on early in the show then you had a chance to see others perform as well but I can say the late part of my drum corps career I never got a chance to see anyone else as we were typically last or next to last. I am glad you guys have aero beds thought:)

Something else that made it exciting is with many more corps you may not see your closest competition until late in the year and could possibly not see them other than once or twice before finals week.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the fun and the way of life but will stop now and wish everyone on the road this summer a fun, exciting and safe summer!!!

[Pete Freedman]

It's wonderful to see the very different experiences we have shared, so to speak, in this activity. Brasso's Boston area story is amazing, because it seems as though drum corps was a basic part of life in some areas and times, while in others it was always "the few, the proud" (i.e. unheard of) that it is generally today.

I can add a perspective that hasn't been shared yet; the parade corps. In the late '70s I was in a corps that did parades in the summer and standstill competitions in gyms in winter. Most people in the corps never really heard about DCI. I think in some cases directors didn't want people leaving to go to those corps, and in other cases the directors just didn't come from a drum corps background. Some of them were civic leaders who just wanted to do it for the kids, but had no real interest in the larger activity. So it wouldn't have occurred to them to tell us about it.

After years in the activity our brass instructor took a few of us out to the parking lot to play us his tape of the Blue Devils on his car cassette deck, and we were completely blown away. I had the feeling that he had to sneak us out there, but that might be wrong.

So, for my first year or two, we didn't even have two cans and a string.

During college I went to a corps that was doing a "summer M&M show" (traitor!) in the Garden State circuit, and even there I was surprised how little interest there was in DCI. All the discussion was about DCA corps, as if they were the only corps that existed. And mostly reminiscences at that. Fortunately by then I was in the loop and attending DCI shows, PBS finals parties, etc. And subscribing to Drum Corps World. We even stayed at Wildwood near Garfield (swoon - wait, I'm a dude!)

[Fran Haring]

.....there were Drum Corps standstill exhibitions in January at Boston's Symphony Hall ( recorded by Fleetwood Records to later be sold to attendees and fans nationally ) and Standsill Competitions in April at either the Boston Garden or Boston University...

On the DCA/all-age side when I marched (late 1970s-early 80s), in the NY/NJ/CT metro area, there were the "Round Robin" indoor concerts during the winter and early spring.

The Hawthorne Caballeros, NY Skyliners, L.I. Sunrisers and CT Hurricanes all ran a concert... the four corps attended each other's shows. Depending on availability, other competition and/or parade corps (all-age and junior) were in each lineup.

I remember it was kind of a barometer for how well, or how poorly, a given corps might be doing during the "offseason"... if a corps was still playing last year's music without any, or much, new stuff at the later concerts, it was often an indication that particular corps wasn't having such a great winter.