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does anyone remember the Royal Commodores?


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Yup, dats dem.......we were a Corps that was comprised of members from the Stockton Commodores and the San Leandro Royalaires.

[sarcasm]Quite a year 1974 was for Royal Commodores. [/sarcasm]

Of eight years I spent in Drum Corps from age 13 to 21, this one had to be the MOST DRAMATIC, there was drama from the 1st practice we all finally came together at, to the last time we would be together as a Corps.

I can remember when I was first heard at a rehearsal that we (Royalaires) were going to merge with a "DCI corps" to form one large Corps, I was perty #### excited........ to think that I was goin to be at DCI Finals (Commodores placed 12th at finals the previous year, and I thought it was a shoe-in to get there again.....ummmm....WRONG!) competing against the Corps that I used to stand in TOTAL awe of at SCV's Pacific Procession...... Blue Stars, Kingmen, Troopers, SCV to name a few....... and myself being a member of the Commodores, a Corps that I REALLY liked, this was as good as it gets for a 15 year old :huh:

Although MANY friendships were started during that season, and ALOT of them still continue today...... it was the individuals in each respective Corps that couldn't find it in themselves to welcome in their new "brothers/sisters", that made 1974 a .........ummmmmmm.....well...........un-fun year for me.

There was constant turmoil around the Corps, people that really didn't like each other, and it caused quite a bit of bad blood throughout the ranks. It was a "marriage" that should have never happened.

Horn Line members not getting along an ioda with fellow Horns, Drums not getting along with fellow Drums, Guard not getting along with Guard, Staff not getting along with Staff.....yada yada yada.

We had the bomb diggity show (mucho excitement, and an AWESOME Horn Line):

Russian Sailors Dance

Naval Hymn

a Glenn Miller melody (concert)

Masterpiece Theatre

and the beloved ( how the #### could I have forgotten this tune that made women cry when it was performed in the "I say the greatest Closer of all time is...........)

My Way

but in the end, at DCI Prelims in Ithaca,NY, when our illustrious Drum Major, Tony Gentile uttered these 5 infamous words to the Corps on the starting line........."Come down from your hype" (ummm.....huh?....wtf?), and then proceded to count off the beginning of the performance at what seemed to be a Funeral March tempo, which led to a VERY dull performance and a very nice spot in the stands for DCI Finals, "the Royal Commodores from Stockton AND San Leandro, Calif got exactly what any 'team" who can't pull it together.

Anywhos, aside from that, the Corps was always a crowd pleaser.

I was just wondering if anyone here remembers the year that was the "Royal Commodores" either a member or a fan, or both......holla.

Edited by Blue Devil Legend
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Yup, dats dem.......we were a Corps that was comprised of members from the Stockton Commodores and the San Leandro Royalaires.

[sarcasm]Quite a year 1974 was for Royal Commodores. [/sarcasm]

Of eight years I spent in Drum Corps from age 13 to 21, this one had to be the MOST DRAMATIC, there was drama from the 1st practice we all finally came together at, to the last time we would be together as a Corps.

I can remember when I was first heard at a rehearsal that we (Royalaires) were going to merge with a "DCI corps" to form one large Corps, I was perty #### excited........ to think that I was goin to be at DCI Finals (Commodores placed 12th at finals the previous year, and I thought it was a shoe-in to get there again.....ummmm....WRONG!) competing against the Corps that I used to stand in TOTAL awe of at SCV's Pacific Procession...... Blue Stars, Kingmen, Troopers, SCV to name a few....... and myself being a member of the Commodores, a Corps that I REALLY liked, this was as good as it gets for a 15 year old :huh:

Although MANY friendships were started during that season, and ALOT of them still continue today...... it was the individuals in each respective Corps that couldn't find it in themselves to welcome in their new "brothers/sisters", that made 1974 a .........ummmmmmm.....well...........un-fun year for me.

There was constant turmoil around the Corps, people that really didn't like each other, and it caused quite a bit of bad blood throughout the ranks. It was a "marriage" that should have never happened.

Horn Line members not getting along an ioda with fellow Horns, Drums not getting along with fellow Horns Drums, Guard not getting along with Guard, Staff not getting along with Staff.....yada yada yada.

We had the bomb diggity show (mucho excitement, and an AWESOME Horn Line):

Russian Sailors Dance

Naval Hymn

a Glenn Miller melody (concert)

Masterpiece Theatre

and the beloved ( how the #### could I have forgotten this tune that made women cry when it was performed in the "I say the greatest Closer of all time is...........)

My Way

but in the end, at DCI Prelims in Ithaca,NY, when our illustrious Drum Major, Tony Gentile uttered these 5 infamous words to the Corps on the starting line........."Come down from your hype" (ummm.....huh?....wtf?), and then proceded to count off the beginning of the performance at what seemed to be a Funeral March tempo, which led to a VERY dull performance and a very nice spot in the stands for DCI Finals, "the Royal Commodores from Stockton AND San Leandro, Calif got exactly what any 'team" who can't pull it together.

Anywhos, aside from that, the Corps was always a crowd pleaser.

I was just wondering if anyone here remembers the year that was the "Royal Commodores" either a member or a fan, or both......holla.

Ron Allard played that show on Diceman radio about a week ago. I know because I happened to be listening at the time. You can make requests to him to play shows for you. I do it all the time.

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Ron Allard played that show on Diceman radio about a week ago. I know because I happened to be listening at the time. You can make requests to him to play shows for you. I do it all the time.

yea....I have listened to it a few times in the last week, I bought a Kenwood turntable on Ebay, and broke out all the old school stuff I had......... :P

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My memory is a little different than yours, legend. I remember the kids having some problems sure enough. We were a very "Emotional" bunch, but I feel that the real problem that caused the merger to fail ultimately was with the "Adults" who could not seem to work together.

I also believe that we were a top twelve calibre drum corps that just did not get enough exposure,( i.e. shows) that summer. I can still not believe we went almost a month on second tour and only did a Chicago Fire(World Football League) halftime show (One of the highlights. It was at Soldier field and we actually got them to pay attention. We had em clapping like a drum corps crowd!) an exhibition at a senior show in Cumberland Maryland, DCI North in Montreal where I believe we placed 4th, CYO, and then prelims at Nats where had we not gone on at 3pm in sweltering heat we might still have made the night show. ( I may have forgotten a show or two, maybe someone can check me on that). I remember that after our prelim performance there was a rain delay and several corps that got into finals benefitted from much cooler conditions than we had to suffer through. I also remember those 5 fateful words but I think the heat coming up from that astroturf (easily 115 to 120 degrees) is what really did us in.

People can listen to the recording and decide whether we were worthy or not that year.

Edited by Russellrks
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I was wondering when you were gonna' come out of "lurk" mode and hit on this thread, Russell. I talked with David LaFontaine about a week ago. He's gonna' do the Rose Bowl Parade with SCV Alumni.

Hey, BD Legend. Wassup? Gonna' try Renegades this year?

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My memory is a little different than yours, legend. I remember the kids having some problems sure enough. We were a very "Emotional" bunch, but I feel that the real problem that caused the merger to fail ultimately rests with the "Adults" who could not seem to work together.

I also believe that we were a top twelve drum corps that just did not get enough exposure,( i.e. shows) that summer. I can still not believe we toured almost a month and only did DCI Boise, a Chicago Fire halftime show, an exhibition at a senior show in Cumberland Maryland, CYO, DCI North in Montreal where I believe we placed 4th and Prelims at Nats where had we not gone on at 3pm in sweltering heat we might still have made the night show. ( I may have forgotten a show or two, maybe someone can check me on that). I remember that after our prelim performance there was a rain delay and several corps that got into finals benefitted from much cooler conditions than we had to suffer through.

People can listen to the recording and decide whether we were worthy or not that year.

I hear ya Russell, our exposure in a word.........SUCKED........but our prelim performance was dull, tempos were WAY to slow.

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Hey, BD Legend. Wassup? Gonna' try Renegades this year?

hey Paul.........find my rental car yet?......... :P

thats a negative on the Renegades.......I am goin to keep my marching memories to my career in Junior Corps.......when it really came down to it, I realized that I really did not need to march again, but it was fun for the 2 camps I attended last season.

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As far as the merger being something that never should have happened, I would disagree. Because of the merger my eyes became wide open to what it meant to be in a "Big" corps on a DCI national tour.

After that experience, none of us wanted to go back to being in a little 'B' corps again so when the merger broke up we either went to the Vanguard or the Blue Devils. I honestly believe that without the merger all of us Royalaires would have probably aged out in the Royalaires. You know back then even though we were in awe of certain corps, we were loyal to our own corps. Admit it legend, when you were a Royalaire you hated the Blue Devils as much as we all did. Having to travel all the way to Stockton to practice opened up our little world and made us realize things were possible that we didn't even think about before.

Think about it legend, you might not have any of your rings if that merger never took place.

And I most certainly would not have gone on to have the drum corps career that I had either.

Edited by Russellrks
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dunno know about that bud.........the "togetherness" amongst the Drumline was non-existent........and FYI, I actually always enjoyed the Devils, and was very anxious to get '74 over so I could join them, which I did promptly whether or not the Royal Commodores existed or not.

:;'

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