8/10/1974 Carlisle, PA - Westshore is back.. kind of..

[JimF-LowBari]

Since it's about the 40th Anniversary of Westshoremen coming back on the field after almost two years off thought I'd start a thread on it. Especially since Jim Jones filmed the whole show and it's for sale on DCW (except for Troopers doing the waiting for the scores exhibition).

Also a chance to kick myself in the butt a bit as I keep wanting to do a write up on that "unique" season as we marched half a show that night and did two whole competitions later. And 2 was one more than we expected... sorry Amhearst....

Also my first year knowing about and doing corps... OY!

[JimF-LowBari]

Scores that pertain for the thread thanks to corpsreps and quick memories while getting my full thoughts together.

Saturday June 29, 1974
Hershey PA DCA
1 Reading Buccaneers 82.250
2 Hawthorne Caballeros 80.750
3 Yankee Rebels 77.900
4 Rhode Island Matadors 71.650
5 Erie Thunderbirds 58.950

Check the date 6/29.. Buccs knock off Cabs as both break an 80.

And 6/30 (next day IOW) WSM start... yes start.. learning the drill... late start explained in full write up.

Saturday August 10, 1974
Carlisle PA
8th Annual Review of The Corps DCA
1 Hawthorne Caballeros 83.950
2 Reading Buccaneers 83.100
3 New York Skyliners 79.700
4 Yankee Rebels 78.250
5 Connecticut Hurricanes 76.350

And WSM does a pre-show exhibition which had almost all the music and the first half of the drill, And that first half was all we knew at the time as still learning the closer.

3rd Annual Drum & Bugle Competition
August 24, 1974
UMass Alumni Stadium - Boston, Massachusetts
1 New York Skyliners (-0.2) 82.90
2 Rhode Island Matadors (-0.1) 71.90
3 Connecticut Hurricanes (-0.1) 71.80
4 Sunrisers 65.75
5 Westshoremen (-0.3) 37.35
Exhibition:
North East Renegades
Mt. Carmel Mounties
St. George Olympians

aka the Amhearst Show.... WSM had a night before practice, rode the buses to MA and.... LEARNED THE FREAKIN' LAST 2 MINUTES OF THE DRILL THAT AFTERNOON..... people were driving up to the stadium and we were learning the end of the show.... Oh yeah.. week before DCA...

Note: about 20 years later William Bulger became president of UMass. Had a brother named James "Whitey" Bulger who the FBI finally caught last year after about 15 years on the lam. "Billy" resigned as some of his crap was coming to light..... ah Baaah-ston....

September 1, 1974
Rochester NY
DCA Championships Prelims DCA
1 Hawthorne Caballeros 82.050
2 Reading Buccaneers 81.400
3 New York Skyliners 80.950
4 Connecticut Hurricanes 75.300
5 Rochester Crusaders 71.850
6 Rhode Island Matadors 70.400
7 Yankee Rebels 69.200
8 Guelph Royalaires 63.600
9 Long Island Sunrisers 62.900
10 Erie Thunderbirds 59.150
11 Hanover Lancers 54.850
12 Emmaus Sentinels 54.300
13 Hamburg Kingsmen 52.850
14 Boys of 76 48.750
15 Westshoremen 41.000

Wonder if Boys of 76 are still surprised they beat us. Met a few that night "Hey Harry... c'mon iver here... we BEAT these guyz".

September 1, 1974
Rochester NY
DCA Championships DCA
1 Hawthorne Caballeros 83.500
2 Reading Buccaneers 82.150
3 New York Skyliners 77.350
4 Rhode Island Matadors 70.350
5 Rochester Crusaders 67.950
6 Connecticut Hurricanes 66.700
7 Yankee Rebels 65.950
8 Long Island Sunrisers 59.700
9 Guelph Royalaires 56.550
10 Erie Thunderbirds 54.640
11 Hanover Lancers 45.100
12 Emmaus Sentinels 43.050

Last 12 corps DCA Finals ever.... IIRC

Edited August 6, 2014 by JimF-LowBari

[BigW]

Neat explanation, Jim. It did all have to start somewhere.

[Jeff Ream]

1992 had 12 also, 1993 had 13

[JimF-LowBari]

OK.. forgot about the 13 back in the dark ages.... Dark Ages as in number of corps that showed up......

But did they score in the 40s... a 10 point or so drop between Prelims and Finals ugh.....

[Jeff Ream]

oh no 40's then. totally different system

[BigW]

True. IIRC, when they did raise the finals slots to 12 in '72, '73, and '74, I remember being told those really low scores and dropoffs with 11 and 12 slots in fair part caused DCA to go back to 10.

[BigW]

Another notable thing about that '74 Prelim and championship, top score doubled the bottom roughly. Saw that in DCI Open class prelims this year with the Guatemalan corps getting a 41 and BD-A getting a high 80. Couple other ones in the 40's as well, several in the '50's.

[JimF-LowBari]

Note: Updates and spelling fixes as they come

First Part - Last three months of Keystone Kavaliers up to the merger

Westshoremen Bonnie Scots folded after missing DCA Prelims in 1972. Sometime after that some former members (mostly named Filipelli if I was told right) started a new corps named the Keystone Kavaliers. Have a KK jacket in the basement colored purple with a Keystone and "Cavaliers" on the back but Steve F told me years later this was a mistake. Corps practiced in the events room at the Linglestown American Legion (Robert Hoke #272). Irony here is this is my dads Post and he has been a member for 60+ years now.

Horn line had 2 piston horns with the valves horizontal instead of vertical. Putting pieces together these were old WSM-BS horns and the corps ran into problems as two valves were not legal back then. Supposedly Buccs ran into the same problem with the VFW and should be a one liner on this in NanciDs corps blog. No idea where the drums came from and remember seeing a KK color guard flag or two being used at WSM practice in 74/75. Baris were actually Tenor Baris and since I had no idea what corps was about, really added to the "you ain't in MB anymore" feeling. IIRC about 2 dozen horn players at max, about 10 drummers and 6-8 guard. Horn line had one page of one piece of music and that's all we worked on during the 3 months I was there (ala last 3 months of corps existance). Song was Janis Joplins "Move Over". Memory problably is bad but seemed every practice we were told "next page is on the way" and then there was grumbling over how to get more members.

Around Jan 1974 (really hazy on the date) we were told the corps would merge into the reformed WSM-BS but still can't really remember this. Main reason was neither corps had enough members to form a whole corps. Thus end of a startup corps that never got out of the practice room...... Last members of KK were probably Steve Filipelli and Paul Geiger in the drum line (early 80s). I might have been the last horn member after 1976, go figure.

Note on the Tenor Baris with the 2 horizontal valves: picture how close valves are when the valves are upright. Now picture that sideways and being played with your thumbs. Your hands are right on top of each other and you try to snap up a horn that is unbalances to begin with. Surprised no one ever smacked their teeth or nose.

Next: What I can remember of joining WSM (or whatever was the name) up to Hershey show (whadda 1st show)

Edited August 7, 2014 by JimF-LowBari

[JimF-LowBari]

So sometime in early 1974 the Keystone Kavaliers merged into what was eventually to be named the Westshoremen. Have no idea what went on behind the scenes on the Westshore side of the merger beforehand, maybe a good nights talk with Larry or Bill Light might shed some light but don't get a chance to talk to them. Oh yeah... what WAS to be the name of the new corps? Every few weeks I overheard BoD members and/or vets of the corps talking about the name of the corps. WSM-BS was pushed because of the history of the name but others said drop BS as that was the (earlier) history of the name. Remember I rode with Chuck S, Bill L and every now and then Billy T (I was doomed) to practice for a few months so heard a good bit of BoD business during the ride. Few years back Steve F emailed me that BS was dropped "so we wouldn't be forced to play a Scottish number every year". For a few years in one (both?) of the programs (Review of the Corps and/or our 75/76 Jr Hershey show) the name was given "Westshoremen, Inc" in honor of the KK merger. As there were few KK members left after the 2nd year that name wasn't mentioned after 76 or so. Never heard us called WSM, Inc at a show anyway. WSM-BS at parades and a few shows but never WSM Inc. PS on the name: Tom P says the 1974 paperwork to appear at DCA Prelims had WSM-BS and think Jeff backed up that the legal paperwork had (still has?) WSM-BS. Either in DCP or RAMD Gary Matzcak had a question on the name as he saw WSM-BS, Inc or some other one timer name.

Until our first drill rehearsal in June(!!) we had music rehearsal one night a week at Cumberland Valley Middle school with horn line on the stage and drummers and guard somewhere else. If we played together at end of the night the drummers were on the floor. My first night there the guy next to me who appeared about 30ish/40ish (gasp) handed me a pen and said "when yer done marking the music.. THEN you can play". So (gulp again) took the pen and started with 0 (open), 1 (right thumb), 2 (left thumb) and X (both). Finished and the guy took the pen back with "That's how most of us learned... welcome to Westshore kid". Note #1 I was 16 and a HS Jr at the time, Note #2 I never played valves before and learning the "G" names of the notes was a beotch, especially since I never had a trombone instructor go over scales, etc, etc. I could play but only on the "read that note, make that sound" teaching system with NO theory. Interesting thing is I remember older WSM-BS vets in the lower brass when we started. Can't remember any of them by end of season.

Sumthin' I just thought of: Larry Peck brought a good number of his Golden Sabers (Sabres?) color guard with him to WSM. Don't think Larry was part of Keystone Kavaliers. 1975 WSM did a standstill at Central Dauphin High School (current Middle school building) at Golden Sabers color guard show. Sure the school loved the boots stomping the crap out of the main gyms floor finish. then again we used to have Donkey Basketball games there but donkeys had rubber shoes supposedly.

At Cow Valley I went from a 2 piston horn to a (very) used piston/slide. If nothing else I was getting a taste of history but.... that taste was in a literal sense as the horn I had smelled like it had been in a musty garage... of cellar... or swamp until I got my mitts on it. Slide was very pitted and "sludgy" in the action. Of course I had no idea how to take care of the beast so I just suffered with this massive thing. And suffered meant banging my teeth if I pulled back too quick on that freakin' slide. We were supposed to get new piston/rotor horns but the order didn't arrive... didn't arrive... didn't arrive.... About every rehearsal or so Larry would tell us that the horns are coming so don't get disgusted with the horns we have. IOW - PLEASE DON'T QUIT..... Found some old music in my P/S case and putting 2 (what I remember I had) and 2 (corpsreps) together think the horns came from York White Roses who were in between the Jr and Sr phase of their history. Finally we got the new Olds Duratone P/R horns which the corps used until at least 1980. Never had a problem with mine but some Baris (bought in a later year?) had the plastic linkage to the rotor break on them. Maybe mine had a metal linkage or I just was lucky (oiled better?) and the rotor never jammed. Around 1975 or so had a drummer who worked in a metal shop and he made some metal linkages as replacements.

And let's talk about that Duratone finish. Ultratone had the normal shiny finish and Duratones had the flat/matte finish. Only two other corps that I know of (thanks to DCP) had Duratone Baris. Rochester Phoenix in 75/76 and forget the other one (Derry Patriots?). According to a DCP poster (Ken Norman(?)) the Dura horns originally had the shiny finish but there were imperfections in the finish. Sooo... a light run thru the sand blaster to turn a bad shiny finish into a nice looking flat finish. And the flat finish was sold at a lower price. Considering the ton of red ink the corps had those early years I'm willing to bet this was a BIG consideration in buying the flat finish. BTW - 1974 we had 2 contra players (Bill Miller and Kirk(?) Henry) and they played the "baby" contras. 1975 we received our Duratone Contras. BTW #2 - think Kirk hires himself out as a tuba player for kids parties and such, Once in a while he's mentioned as one of the areas top tuba players (yeah WSM alum).

Music for the first year I have no idea where it came from. Our concert number had a opening of "Also Sprake Zarenthusa(sp)" aka "2001 Space Odysee" which went into "MacArthur Park". Years later on a CD I heard the Yankee Rebels play the same arrangement around 1970 so must have been a Colonel Crawford arrangement. Sorry but never did like it, even when the talent level of the Rebs did it. But after you hear 1975 versions from Madison and Cabs, any other arrangement of Mac Park is kind of "meh". Other songs I remember are "Watermelon Man", "All The Things You Are" (not even close to the later version), "One of Those Songs" (gag). Closure was "My Way" and the only one we kept for 1975. What I remember of "My Way" was whole and half notes for lower Baris. Must have been a ending fanfare but can't remember it at all but can remember the opening fanfare. Well first half the show is on the Jim Jones DVD so it would be easier to remember.

And parades up the wahzoo..... Only ones I know for sure 1974 were Middleton, Willow Street (or was it Water Street) in Lancaster County and Annville-Cleona. The parades were when I learned that those old WSM-BS unis did NOT breathe. I called it my powder blue bake oven for a reason. Thought they would be haz matted (Hazardous Material) after we got rid of them after 1975. But Hades no... if I see a black and white pic right in History of DC Vol 1, the Troy Defenders had them... poor buggers. Also the shakos were not black in 1974 as the corps spray painted them black in 1975. Literally a bunch of flat black spray paint was bought from probably a body shop and sprayed by hand. In 1974 the sides were still pearl colored (all different shades of pearl which is why they were painted). The top of mine was light (powder?) blue which... looked ... wierd. No idea if all shakos had the same top color. Oh yeah, at one of the parades (forget where - maybe Middletown) we got word that Amhearst, MA wanted us for their competition. After a few comments of "they must be hard up" and "guess we better start on a drill" we learned the corps took the job. Why not... we were getting PAID!!!! (remember that red ink comment earlier)

Next chapter (probably Tuesday): Start with Hershey Show and start of drill next day, drilling with Barney Toomey, Carlisle half show memories.