The 1989 Thread

[mingusmonk]

This was my 4th season as a drum corps viewer. 1986 I only went to one show and I had no idea what I was getting into. 1987 was also just one show. But the thing is, I saw SCV live in 87 and instantly became an all-in drum corps fanatic. Let me know if someone decides to break with the rules and do a 1988 thread because I hopped around the Midwest like a deadhead following The Grateful Dead's summer tour at 16 years old. On to '89. (NOTE: Perspective of a nerdy and under-trained musician at the time).

My first show of the year was the debut for a few of these groups:

June 16, 1989
Goshen IN
1 Phantom Regiment 72.100
2 Star of Indiana 68.900
3 Bluecoats 63.700
4 Colts 46.100
5 Glassmen 38.400
6 Quad City Knights 37.800
7 Northmen (WI) 22.700
8 Guardsmen 17.900

Phantom came out on fire. Most of the corps still felt like they were just getting started. But PR felt like they were poised to plow through the rest of the season's competition. I was a DCI Today subscriber so I had already done my homework and studied up. But nothing could prepare me for the power that this corps packed out of the gate. And they were hitting on all captions.

Due to friends marching, I mostly knew what Star had in store for us. They did not disappoint. This battery hit the drums REAL HARD which was right up my alley. By the end of the summer most of my high school friends were playing Cheerio, their Scottish flavored cadence, with obsession. The brass was already a step up on 1988. I was sitting next to a friend that had marched contra at Star in 86, 87 and 88. 89 would have been his ageout and the look on his face was indescribable. He knew exactly what he was missing. It was a wild and sad feeling. But within a matter of days he would be in a plane with Bill Cook to join the corps and march that ageout season.

This was a new look and sound for The Bluecoats. It wasn't truly complete and IMO, the most disappointing part of the show was that most complete part: the playful and cutesy arrangement of Johnny One Note. Fortunately there was growth on the way.

--Cut to my next show stop, two weeks later--

June 30, 1989
Mishawaka IN
1 Phantom Regiment 82.100
2 Cavaliers 79.300
3 Sky Ryders 70.500
4 Limited Edition 50.400
5 Quad City Knights 43.100
6 Bandettes 42.400
7 Guardsmen 30.600

Phantom still bringing the fire. Great percussion BTW. Sometimes they may have been guilty of a not entirely balanced contribution aceross percussion sections. But this group had front and battery all doing the things. I would just walk along side of this battery playing their Wooten cadence(s) and they were so poised.
                                                                                
Cavaliers had begun honing in on what they could, and would, do best. I was at their first show in 1988 when they debuted Firebird with struggles and tepid fan reactions, but this was a new year and a new program.

Is it wierd that Limited Edition's Carmina Burana is etched into my brain more than Sky Ryders' rendition? Always enjoyed LE but they could never seem to turn the corner that they were aiming for.

--Cut to one month later--

July 29, 1989
DCI Mid-America
Bloomington IN
1 Star of Indiana 89.500
2 Blue Devils 89.400
3 Cavaliers 89.200
4 Cadets of Bergen County 89.000
5 Bluecoats 82.600
6 Suncoast Sound 76.400
7 Blue Knights 70.600
8 Florida Wave 69.800
9 Troopers 65.600
10 Colts 64.400
11 Glassmen 57.200
12 Spartans (WA) 49.500

First year of the Bloomington show being at Memorial Stadium. No more soccer field thanks to Bill Cook buying/donating lights to IU for the football stadium. It was also the first year of the Mid-America Regional that would shuffle sites and formats in the 90's. Great venue. Watched Star rehearse there in the afternoon. Basked in that show with the nearly empty stands that would shutter and vibrate when they hit rim-shots. This was back when I was a secluded and naive Midwestern kid and had not been exposed to the Star backlash. In retrospect, they probably didn't do themselves any favors with the haters by book-ending the show with Henry V and Crown Imperial. 😁 As has been stated earlier in the thread, this was definitely a stepping stone year. The show wasn't pushing any envelopes. It was just a top notch vehicle that was setup for them to prove they had the power to move. They were getting into the later season very strong, if a little inconsistent.

I have a lot of friends that love the 89 Devils as (I think) a kind of last hurrah for a certain era. But for me, as a big fan of the 88 show, the 89 program felt like a fallback. Almost apologetic for "grey pants and modern footwear" in 88. 😲 They were executing but it felt stale.

Bluecoats were now getting things fleshed out. The full show had so much more maturity to it. That hokey Johnny One note would still be a bit of an albatross but look for cleaning and finessing the rest of the show to pay off.

As someone that came to drums corps just after the first Florida Suite, I just adored the Suncoast show. I didn't have 1985 as a reference. I get everyone's issues with it now. But I will always be glad that I at least got to experience the 1989 rendition before they dissolved.
 
--Cut to a week and a half later--

August 10, 1989
Dayton OH
1 Santa Clara Vanguard 95.000
2 Cadets of Bergen County 94.000
3 Star of Indiana 93.000
4 Freelancers 87.900
5 Suncoast Sound 87.000
6 Glassmen 68.100
7 Limited Edition 65.800
8 Quad City Knights 62.600

I hustled with some friends in a not-so-safe three hour drive to Centerville because I wanted to see SCV live so badly. 87 SCV sparked my passion for the activity. I had missed 88 SCV live and I WAS NOT going to miss a chance to see their newest rendition of Phantom of The Opera up close and personal.  We made this great little show with plenty of time. I was in love with the SCV show and was not disappointed.

I didn't know what to think of Cadets from up close. The battery was shockingly full of notes and pleasing to this young drummer. The Aungst transition was now in full effect. But I had zero read for what was going on visually. The section of 2 simultaneous songs being played against each other already stood out to me.  Suncoast, Freelancers, Star of Indiana. Also two of the best front ensembles that year in SCV and Star ... man, what a great show! I miss the suspense of not knowing how things were exactly turning out night to night. I understand why it isn't that way so much now. But I miss that feeling.

--Cut to another hustle 9 days later--

August 19, 1989
DCI World Championships
Kansas City MO
1 Santa Clara Vanguard 98.800
2 Phantom Regiment 98.400
3 Cavaliers 97.200
4 Blue Devils 95.900
5 Cadets of Bergen County 95.600
6 Star of Indiana 95.300
7 Madison Scouts 93.600
8 Bluecoats 90.300
9 Suncoast Sound 88.000
10 Freelancers 87.300
11 Velvet Knights 87.000
12 Crossmen 84.000

Our 6-day off-site band camp was done on Friday afternoon. I went with a friend and his parents on a 10 hour drive straight to Kansas City to catch the final night. Beautiful balmy midwest summer weather. The stadium had a fantastic drum corps sound from even the cheap seats. And we were defenitely in the cheap seats. We had already gotten the dispatch that our friends at Star had won field percussion. Hype.

I loved just about everything that night. Win, lose, or draw.

I was thrilled SCV won but would have been happy for Phantom to have won.

Cavaliers were an uplifiting view from the nosebleeds.

BD didn't know they were also saying farewell to an era. That solo frack is etched into my brain. The sensation of a silent stadium of roughly 30K people gasping in uni son. Silently looking to their neighbors, followed by hushed whispers was unreal and something that doesn't leave you.

Seeing Cadets from high that night, it all clicked. A helluva underdog show. A lot has been said here regarding "What about *this* ending or *that* ending." But the way I saw it, the ending worked. Most of my friends, especially Cadets friends, wonder ... "What if they had another week, or two." which is probably accurate. Could have done more cleaning and finessing of the show and not had to water the brass so much. Also, the best battery meat on the field. Attack on Rue Plumet sheet music made the rounds like wildfire the next couple of years. Crazy fun notes.

This Star show will always hold a special place. And as much as it was a setup to the next Star of Indiana, they aged out a ton of talented folks. They had the I&E champs in Timpani, Snare and Contra aging out. A lot of those tubas from epic 1986 Close Encounters theme were at their end.

Madison was fun and loud and reliable.

Bluecoats arrangements after Johnny One Note were intoxicating. Funny Valentine was touching. Sing, Sing, Sing was rollicking fun. The beautiful reprise of MFV at the end was a masterstroke. Also, God bless the mylar.

Farewell Suncoast

The Freelancers practically stole the night. As happy as people were for the Crossmen, the Freelancers' story was obviously a crowd favorite. And they were certainly ecstatic. We felt like we heard them play the ET Adventures on Earth 120 times in the parking lot. Like they did not want the night to end. Can't say that I blame them.

I feel like 89 VK gets overshadowed by 87 and 88. I loved the more jazzy feel of this one and they had some crazy soloists in this show. Some classic Matt Savage tribal funky beats. Even if head choice was suspect. I appreciate going with mylar but the Premier Marathons were in a class all their own. Would have been a big difference.

When dusting off the cobwebs for this post I realized something. This finals was the first time I ever saw the Crossmen. More jazz. How much jazz was there in drum corps in 89? Wow. Pleasant. A nice way to break back into finals.

This show was my swan song as a fan. Finally marching drum corps would change me in many ways. One of the very few downsides is that I instantly lost my naive fan view and watch everything (not just the performances ... everything) with a much more critical, and sometimes jaded, eye. I would say goodbye to my childlike enjoyment of the activity. I still have plenty of drum corps joys, but it isn't the same thing. For any of you that are "just a fan," don't feel slighted. You've got it great.

Edited April 28, 2020 by mingusmonk

[MikeN]

13 hours ago, mingusmonk said:

Attack on Rue Plumet sheet music made the rounds like wildfire the next couple of years. Crazy fun notes.

I'd pay cash money if you still have a copy somewhere.

Mike

[mingusmonk]

10 hours ago, MikeN said:

I'd pay cash money if you still have a copy somewhere.

Mike

I went through some things. Found some 88 and 89 Phantom and Star things but not that Caders piece. There is a notorious pack-rat in my school corporation that marched quad city and glassman of that era. I know he had it when we went to college too. Let me see what I can come up with.

[Jeff Ream]

11 hours ago, MikeN said:

I'd pay cash money if you still have a copy somewhere.

Mike

i know a tenor player from that line...lemme check

[mingusmonk]

 

[N.E. Brigand]

it's neat how you can hear "Are the judges ready?" in the background at 4:13. I can't make out what corps is being announced, though.

[N.E. Brigand]

Checking the recaps, I was suprised to see that even with the infamous frack, BD's brass performance was in third place and only two tenths behind first.  Their brass performance had been fifth in Semis at nine tenths behind first place.

[jwillis35]

10 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Checking the recaps, I was suprised to see that even with the infamous frack, BD's brass performance was in third place and only two tenths behind first.  Their brass performance had been fifth in Semis at nine tenths behind first place.

I thought the Blue Devils performed very well on Finals night in 1989. I felt bad for the kid who missed the note in the solo but he was a great player. I don't think that miss had much of an effect on their brass score. 

[Ghost]

46 minutes ago, jwillis35 said:

  I felt bad for the kid who missed the note in the solo but he was a great player.  

Notes.

[Continental]

Recently posted on YouTube.