The future of the Cadets

[Terri Schehr]

12 minutes ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

Or 27th ... don’t get me started.

Or Guardsmen.  Texas in July in school buses. 

[FTNK]

9 hours ago, MikeN said:

Did an interview with Jeff Fiedler back when DCM went away.  Cavies assisted feeding Magic in early 2000's (sorry, can't remember which year) and helped them create a tour bible and some other necessities while on the road.  The Cavs were shocked at how ad-hoc the Magic folks seemed to be running their administrative operation.

Mike

Marched with some people who were in Magic '03, heard there was a lot of popcorn and at least once their tech canceled sectionals to buy the kids Dairy Queen 

[BDCorno]

15 hours ago, c mor said:

Hey Dave -

Do you know the first year BD had a kitchen trailer?

I distinctly remember our 1976 food pattern being: Breakfast = milk/cereal,  Lunch = 1 PB&J, and 1 meat/cheese sandwich, Dinner = fast food.

Was it maybe 2nd tour, or not until '77?

I know we pushed buses at times, and the drivers, along with mechanically gifted members, repaired the buses.  I had never toured across country, so it seemed normal to me... Do whatever you have to do to get to the next performance kind of mindset. 

It took BD a couple more years to get their touring chops together.  

I was just a marching member, not in any way in the know regarding the inner workings, but I had the feeling Jerry Seawright funded the corps quite a bit from his own resources.

I believe 1979 was when we really got our act together with the food. I think we had better equipment starting in 1977, but not a rolling kitchen. What they have now is truly amazing.

[BDCorno]

15 hours ago, c mor said:

Hey Dave -

Do you know the first year BD had a kitchen trailer?

I distinctly remember our 1976 food pattern being: Breakfast = milk/cereal,  Lunch = 1 PB&J, and 1 meat/cheese sandwich, Dinner = fast food.

Was it maybe 2nd tour, or not until '77?

I know we pushed buses at times, and the drivers, along with mechanically gifted members, repaired the buses.  I had never toured across country, so it seemed normal to me... Do whatever you have to do to get to the next performance kind of mindset. 

It took BD a couple more years to get their touring chops together.  

I was just a marching member, not in any way in the know regarding the inner workings, but I had the feeling Jerry Seawright funded the corps quite a bit from his own resources.

Oh, on the funding side of things, found out many years later that Jerry, Giff and some other parents kicked in money to keep the corps fed at times, even as late as the years we marched. People get the impression that BD is so rich and such, and they do okay currently, but we were hand to mouth at times during those first couple of title runs. 

[Fran Haring]

All the stories from BITD... the 1970s and so forth, the early days of more extensive nationwide touring... the bad buses, the food situations...  those who experienced all that are quite fortunate to have survived. 

Just some of the bus stories.... wow, some of those vehicles were nearly literally accidents waiting to happen.

I marched in a DCA corps during that time period, so we didn't have the "food on tour" issues, but we certainly had some bus dysfunction stories. And then there was our corps equipment truck, which I drove on a number of occasions.  We always had a "Plan B" in the back of our mind in case either the brakes or steering decided to take some time off.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Fran Haring

[Tim K]

3 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

All the stories from BITD... the 1970s and so forth, the early days of more extensive nationwide touring... the bad buses, the food situations...  those who experienced all that are quite fortunate to have survived. 

Just some of the bus stories.... wow, some of those vehicles were nearly literally accidents waiting to happen.

I marched in a DCA corps during that time period, so we didn't have the "food on tour" issues, but we certainly had some bus dysfunction stories. And then there was our corps equipment truck, which I drove on a number of occasions.  We always had a "Plan B" in the back of of our mind in case either the brakes or steering decided to take some time off.

The bus issues back in the day were not limited to drum corps. I can recall a local school district  offering free tetanus shots for kids who did not walk to school. This would have been in the 1970’s. I guess kids were getting cuts while riding the busses from sharp edges and springs popping through the seats. I don’t recall an uproar about the tetanus shots either.

I’ve heard all sorts of crazy bus stories. One friend who marched told me kids would take turns making sure the bus driver stayed awake. Another corps that did not compete nationally had a high school kid drive when a bus driver did not show up. It was a local circuit show and just before scores were announced, the announcer asked if anyone had a license to drive a school bus and could help out. That did cause a stir.

One of the Legacy videos has an extra of the old “On the Road Again” segments with kids pushing a bus to get it going.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Tim K

[Fran Haring]

6 minutes ago, Tim K said:

The bus issues back in the day were not limited to drum corps. I can recall a local school district  offering free tetanus shots for kids who did not walk to school. This would have been in the 1970’s. I guess kids were getting cuts while riding the busses from sharp edges and springs popping through the seats. I don’t recall an uproar about the tetanus shots either.

One of the Legacy videos has an extra of the old “On the Road Again” segments with kids pushing a bus to get it going.

A different world back then, for sure.

The Catholic high school I attended in NJ... the bus I rode on had to circle around the school to get to the main road, and one winter after a big storm, other kids waiting for their buses were bombarding ours with snowballs.  This happened a few times... until one day, all of us on our bus walked on carrying several snowballs. Our driver caught on instantly... he stopped the bus, we ran out and launched our surprise counter-attack.   Imagine that happening now... the driver very well might be fired!!!  LOL

[Jeff Ream]

25 minutes ago, Tim K said:

The bus issues back in the day were not limited to drum corps. I can recall a local school district  offering free tetanus shots for kids who did not walk to school. This would have been in the 1970’s. I guess kids were getting cuts while riding the busses from sharp edges and springs popping through the seats. I don’t recall an uproar about the tetanus shots either.

I’ve heard all sorts of crazy bus stories. One friend who marched told me kids would take turns making sure the bus driver stayed awake. Another corps that did not compete nationally had a high school kid drive when a bus driver did not show up. It was a local circuit show and just before scores were announced, the announcer asked if anyone had a license to drive a school bus and could help out. That did cause a stir.

One of the Legacy videos has an extra of the old “On the Road Again” segments with kids pushing a bus to get it going.

"Crossmen you may push your buses to competition"

[c mor]

11 hours ago, BDCorno said:

Oh, on the funding side of things, found out many years later that Jerry, Giff and some other parents kicked in money to keep the corps fed at times, even as late as the years we marched. People get the impression that BD is so rich and such, and they do okay currently, but we were hand to mouth at times during those first couple of title runs. 

Yeah, I figured that.

[BRASSO]

2 hours ago, Tim K said:

 

One of the Legacy videos has an extra of the old “On the Road Again” segments with kids pushing a bus to get it going.

... uphill.... in the snow.... both ways...... Haha!

 Just kiddin'... Its true, more than once did lots of Corps marchers have to get out and push a Corps bus to get it moving... even if off the road, so the dam thing could be towed... lol