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

[Jeff Ream]

Alias'?

many variations of Westshoremen, West Shoremen, West-Shoremen, Westshoremen Inc, Westshore, you name it. I don't remember seeing Tater salad though

Edited August 12, 2014 by Jeff Ream

[Jaminbenb]

I DO remember an article in a paper way way back that referred to them as Westehoremen Inc. (78-79-ish?)

I also remember being called the "Westshore-liners" at a show in Erie in 79....

(and speaking of Tater Salad...and the other thread talking about Robin Williams...I saw Ron live once....)

Edited August 12, 2014 by Jaminbenb

[JimF-LowBari]

Think a local radio station had us as West Shiremen when talking about a parade. Think they were running thru who won what captions and didn't really give a crap. All I could think was "Long as the check cleared".......

Hope to get back to this today,,,,,

[BigW]

Denny Chiavetta was friends with Donna and Sue as well. Hung out with those guys a lot. Still remember his 1969 Valiant. One of the last good cars Chrysler made before its first big mess, that car ran like a truck. Hope everything is okay with them, especially Denny. I remember that Westshoreliners thing, prolly directed by Larry Hersherman or Larry Hersherberg or Larry Ishouldareadthecopybeforeiopenedmymouthonthepasystemandnowiwillmakeabuttheadofmyself.

I think the whole corps busted out laughing or groaned when we heard that stuff. Eric woulda killed us. After Eric beat some sense into us, we'd just smirk and get meaner when they'd butcher Larry's name. One rumor that went around was that Larry got the announcers to screw up to loosen us up.

[BigW]

Being what the Brits called a Petrolhead, I can remember a lot of the cars the guys drove BITD. I should put some stuff up about that some time.

[JimF-LowBari]

Night before our first drill rehearsal was the Hershey show which was also the same night as a rock concert at the Arena. Forget who it was (Foghat, Aerosmith, ???) but nothing like bunch of stoners and corps people with their kids sharing the parking lot. Still remember some of the rock fans looking at the stadium trying to figure out why was there drumming in the Stadium if the concert was in the Arena. Get to the ticket booth and.... concert side (8,000 IIRC) is sold out. A five corps DCA show and only extra interest was Cabs and Buccs knocking heads. So when we talk about attendance today I remember this. So we buy General Admission on the other side and had an interesting view of my first show. Haas family taped this show and the Cabs website has the vid of their show on-line. Somewhere in that grey blob in the back stands is the family. First corps on was probably Erie Thunderbirds and waiting for the scores exhibition was some Class B or C Jr corps from NJ that I forget the name. All I remember is a lot of "Lees of Old Virginia" from 1776. Just made the Troopers more of a shock 6 or so weeks later.

Oh yeah.... Buccs knocked off the Cabs and learned something. Reading may be closer to Hershey than Hawthorne but a LOT of Cabs fans that night. Fans that didn't mind throwing their programs after the scores were announced. Remember we were on the back side so got a great view of the "snowstorm". Just another chance for my parents to think what has the boy got himself into this time?

Next day a couple of hours of drill at home away from home City Island. In 1974 CI was still known as party central and there usually was a green haze over the parking lot to the north of the Market Street Bridge. 1975 the city cracked down and Westshore had to beg to be allowed to practice there. 1975 we were showing horns, etc to prove to the cops we were allowed on the island. And that was just to get off the bridge to drive down the entrance ramps, Surprised no one got clipped by traffic that summer. But 1974 horns would be on the southern side and the drummers were on the northern side trying not to get harrassed by the stoners. Once in a while someone would wander over in a haze and we'd point and say "Party's over there" and they would leave. And IIRC the light go off at 10PM...

Every night of drill started with close order. This ended the next few years and never quite sure why we did it in 1974. We would line up and count off in groups of three. Then off to the races as we'd try to follow Barneys commands... and those commands would get closer and closer together until things would break. Only other memory of that close order is Barney would yell "Freeze" before and "Hodge" after commands (well that's what it sounded like). So it was "Feeze right.. Hodge" for individual turns and "Squad left Hodge" for the groups of three. Looking at old vids and pics of corps shows I see some squad of three work so guess it was a hold over. More I think about it, I think the drill was being written as we went along and doing close order was a way to get us to march without showing how little drill we had to work on. We had the first half down pat by the Carlisle show. Even someone on DCP (hardbat or audiodb) said we looked halfway decent. But we still had the other half to learn. Think by Carlisle we were starting on the second half show drill but know dang well that last 2 minutes were learned at Amhearst.

Night before the Carlisle show we did a drill rehearsal under the lights at the HS stadium. Also went over how to come out and leave for retreat since that was new. About time to quit some buses pull up and.. the Troopers are here.... We sat in the stands as the corps did a run thru of the show. No idea why they did this at 10PM or so or if they did anything after the run thru but... wow... just freakin' wow. F Troop was top of their game those years and it just showed as rebuilding WSM just sat in the stands with their mouths hanging open. Lot of "glad we're on first and NOT near when they go on". At the show we did the before the competing corps exhibition and Troopers did the waiting for the scores exhibition. The DVD has the competing corps and then WSM but check the amount of daylight during our show. Competing corps are at night but the sun is still out during our show. Troopers were on the field for retreat and pretty sure at attention or at least totally still at ease the while time. Can't remember if their drum line played the rest of the corps on for retreat or not. WSM also came out for retreat.

PS - remember Bennys Troopers cap? He bought it at that show and wore it for years. He also wore it when giving the trophy at our Jr corps show at Hershey in 1975. Show that year was dedicated to him but forget who was 1976 if there was a dedication. There's Benny handing the trophy to the Madison DM and Craig Kern says out loud "Is Benny wearing his Troopers cap?". We watched those Jr shows from the press box as the place was packed and we did before show exhibitions (or did we?) and Yankee Rebels (IIRC) played in 1976. As for the Troopers stuff I wanted THE blue Troopers shirt with the big crossed swords but sold out at the time. IIRC the Troopers sovie truck looked like an old time Chuck Wagon.

Can't say much more about the drill other than what is on the DVD. Horn and drums were along the back sideline (my side) and end zone line. Guard was allowed on the field to start the show and I think this was new to DCA or at least since the corps last competed. Only remember standing there forever one day as the guard practiced coming out and it's getting slower each time. We started whistled "Yankee Doodle" to it for a bit until one of the Larrys (Peck or Hershman) chewed us out. After we learned the full drill we ended in an arc with the color guard to "My Way". Like I said before I can't remember a closing fanfare but sure we had one since everyone else closed that way.

Last one will be Amhearst.. Prelims... and me getting shang hi'ed for 1975...

Edited August 14, 2014 by JimF-LowBari

[BigW]

City Island was one weird place up till what, the late 80's when the city rehabed the Stadium for the Senators and cleaned the place up to make it more "family friendly?"

I know I've discussed stumbling on the "hidden trails" that ringed the island in that period not knowing what the heck they were and what they were being used for. After the newspaper published an article with a detailed map and I was able to place what i saw, I consider myself extremely fortunate I saw nothing.

Interesting comments about the fan behavior. The folks on the DCI end of DCP would be ever so appalled anyone ever acted that way at a contest. People would get worked up, boo, whatever. At least the reactions were genuine. People reacted the way they felt. When you got a reaction, it was earned and honest. I think we still see those but we need more of them when earned. Just my tuppence.

[Jeff Ream]

oh the Island. used to swim across and sneak into the concerts

[JimF-LowBari]

Hey W... remember the "scavanger hunts" in the 80s when we had practice right after a concert? Blankets, booze bottles, stuff you didn't want to think about, etc, etc right in front of the stage.

Two 80s memories there......

1) Lining the field off with busted pieces of snow fencing until the bags of lime showed up. On my knees pushing in the pieces and hear a noise. Look over and see.... the kneecaps of a police horse. I look up at the cop and say "Good morning... how are you doing". I get a blank look and "Sir what are you doing?". Pointed to horn line in the arc and said setting up the field for later use and we would be removing the pieces when done. Cop double checked that we would be removing the pieces and then left.

2) Work truck goes past the end of the field and back into those trails W used to walk. About a minute later 2 or 3 Hbg cop cars go FLYING back the same trail. Few minutes later cops come out with a pair of kids and push 'em into a cop car. Had to have been 1984 as IIRC Ted Arndt said the one kid said "I didn't do anyone, I was just the lookout". Later in the news read that the kids found the truck keys in the visor and went joy riding. Someone walking on Walnut Street bridge saw them and called the cops.

[BigW]

Well, I never walked those trails! I literally stumbled onto them! What happened was this:

Remember, there were no "Sanitary facilities" on the Island proper when we were there. This had to have happened in '82 specifically because I told Dave I had to go and go now. He just nodded, it was cool.

The closest rest room to the Island was the Hardee's in Lemoyne which is now a pretty neat fancy-schamncy juice and smoothie place. I knew I wasn't gonna make it so I ran as fast as I could into the woods that ringed the Island. I grew up near wooded areas as a kid and other kids and I had cut a few trails in them. About 15 feet inside the trees, I look around and see a well-defined trail path. Whoa! You wouldn't have seen it from the parking lot. I keep going and find another concentric trail and a small clearing. Whoa! I looked up and down the trails, made sure no one was around, took care of business, and got back to practice wondering WTF those trails were all about since they were like the ones we'd beaten down as 10 year old kids back in the woods around the burbs I grew up in.

In 87-88 when I was DoBands at Harrisburg, that's when the map and article appeared in the Patriot News that showed the trails and clearings in detail, and they matched exactly what I had seen on that day. When I found out what those impromptu trails and clearings were used for, I did a spit take and realized I was very lucky I hadn't stumbled on anything out of the ordinary back there and as a 19 and a half year old kid, that I wasn't lined up by anyone as an "interested party"!!!!

Ironic Mayor Reed was the one who exposed the whole thing and used that as part of the push to upgrade City Island's facilities and upgrade the Stadium for the Senators AA Team, hmm?