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What's missing in today's DCI...


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Yes! they should suffer just like we did!

Suffer? I always liked retreat. Kinda cool saluting the winner as you paraded by. Made it unique. Now you only see it at finals. Shame.

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Suffer? I always liked retreat. Kinda cool saluting the winner as you paraded by. Made it unique. Now you only see it at finals. Shame.

When I marched, I had a love/hate thing going on, regarding retreats/awards ceremonies.

Sometimes it was fun. Other times, when there would be various local officials on the microphone up front going on and on about this, that, and the other thing... well... not so fun. LOL

Same for me with parades. Didn't like many of them. But I enjoyed the Barnum Festival parade in Bridgeport. Mostly because during the multiple stops along the parade route, if we played a tune for the spectators sitting curbside, they would give us food and drinks. LOL. Also liked some of the fireman's parades, for the free hot dogs and birch beer at the end of those parades. :tongue:

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When I marched, I had a love/hate thing going on, regarding retreats/awards ceremonies.

Sometimes it was fun. Other times, when there would be various local officials on the microphone up front going on and on about this, that, and the other thing... well... not so fun. LOL

Same for me with parades. Didn't like many of them. But I enjoyed the Barnum Festival parade in Bridgeport. Mostly because during the multiple stops along the parade route, if we played a tune for the spectators sitting curbside, they would give us food and drinks. LOL. Also liked some of the fireman's parades, for the free hot dogs and birch beer at the end of those parades. :tongue:

Oh, yes, the birch beer! Loved those beer trucks. Especially when I marched a parade corps from 64-67, my dad (a quartermaster) would buy me a all-you-can-drink mug and one for himself, and I got some GREAT birch beer. He had the real stuff.

Not a huge parade fan overall though. Did like the Wildwood parades though, as it led to beach and boardwalk time afterwards. In 1971, at the Dallas VFW's, the parade was shown on TV on a delay of some sort. I recall getting back to our hotel room just in time to see ourselves march down the street. That was cool.

As for retreat, not a big fan...once a year would suffice for me.

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hmmm... where to begin:

Missing today:

1. Corps without insurance

2. Corps without food

3. Shows were all but the last 2 corps had 35 or less horn players

4. Early season contests where we'd play "can you name that tune" as it was very hard to tell what song the corps was attempting at times

5. "signature" closers

6. marching bells

7. high boots on the guard in skirts or shorts (ok I do kinda miss this one actually)

8. judges smoking on the field while judging a show

9. the starting gun shot

10. then ending gun shot

Just a few...

Edited by George Dixon
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hmmm... where to begin:

Missing today:

1. Corps without insurance

2. Corps without food

3. Shows were all but the last 2 corps had 35 or less horn players

4. Early season contests where we'd play "can you name that tune" as it was very hard to tell what song the corps was attempting at times

5. "signature" closers

6. marching bells

7. high boots on the guard in skirts or shorts (ok I do kinda miss this one actually)

8. judges smoking on the field while judging a show

9. the starting gun shot

10. then ending gun shot

Just a few...

11. Judge sheet "runners" and the "sheet bag" coming down on a wire from the press box (at some shows)

12. Score "easel" at the front right corner of the field (right near the tabulation table/tent) during prelims (at shows that had them) with handwritten corps names and scores with "dynamic" finalist postioning :satisfied:

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To wit:

scoreboard_for_old_drum_corps_show_op_52

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Not a huge parade fan overall though. Did like the Wildwood parades though, as it led to beach and boardwalk time afterwards.

Oh man... those Wildwood parades.

Especially the September one at AL States... sometimes we'd do our show at some ungodly hour... 7 AM or so... then we wouldn't step off for the parade until mid to late afternoon. Lots of time to kill. I remember a couple of blocks from Maxwell Field, there was a neighborhood ice-cream stand that also had great burgers and hot dogs. We'd do OK killing time there!!! LOL

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I miss those Sunday afternoon shows that seemed to be all over New Jersey and New York. Most shows I participated in as performer, or fan, were "under the lights" on Saturdays. Those of us who couldn't get enough drum corps were able to hop in the car, drive a couple hours an see corps we didn't get a chance to see any other way. Sure, it was hot, very bright, and we were still tired from the night before. Maybe even after a 7 hour bus ride coming home for our own performance as the sun was coming up. Through it all . . . . Sunday afternoon shows were a bonus. We HAD to go !

Biggest of them all . . . . . . . The Dream at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City.

Oh, those heavy Cadet-style uniforms worn by St. Lucy's, Garfield, Boston, Skyliners, and many more. They 'dropped like flies" on Sunday afternoon !

Edited by Fred Windish
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I miss those Sunday afternoon shows that seemed to be all over New Jersey and New York. Most shows I participated in as performer, or fan, were "under the lights" on Saturdays. Those of us who couldn't get enough drum corps were able to hop in the car, drive a couple hours an see corps we didn't get a chance to see any other way. Sure, it was hot, very bright, and we were still tired from the night before. Maybe even after a 7 hour bus ride coming home for our own performance as the sun was coming up. Through it all . . . . Sunday afternoon shows were a bonus. We HAD to go !

Biggest of them all . . . . . . . The Dream at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City.

Oh, those heavy Cadet-style uniforms worn by St. Lucy's, Garfield, Boston, Skyliners, and many more. They 'dropped like flies" on Sunday afternoon !

Each summer from 1949 through 1980 the stadium was host to one of the most prestigious drum and bugle corps championships, The National Dream. During that span, over 100 of the country's most elite competitive drum and bugle corps met to battle it out on the stadium's sun-baked field vying be crowned Dream Champion. Famed corps such as Jersey City's own St. Patrick's Cadets, Newark's St Joseph's Cadets "The Hilltoppers",Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights and St. Lucy's Cadets, Bayonne's St. Andrew's Bridgemen, the Garfield Cadets, Blue Rock, and many more from around the nation met in Jersey City each summer. The original host corps was the St. Vincent's Cadets from Bayonne N.J. Many Senior corps were involved as well. The famous Hawthorne Caballeros. New York Skyliners, Reilly Raiders, Archer Epler, Muskateers and Lt. Norman Prince just to name a few.

Demolished in 1985...too bad...

and 100 corps!!!!...wow that's a lot of drum corps!!!

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