oaklandcrusader Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 I didn't march in '77; I joined the corps in '78, so I really can't answer that question. I heard a lot about it, of course, because it had happened the previous year, but I wasn't there during that season. John was, though. Paging John. . . .Here's a story John wrote which is posted on the Del/Oakland alumni site: 1977 Crusaders <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oaklandcrusader Posted November 24, 2004 Author Share Posted November 24, 2004 Sue, I've always been curious, how was the corps' unity that summer? With such a dominant section, I could see the possibility of friction between them and members of the horn line. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As member of the drumline and the person who posted this topic originally, i can assure you that the unity was great...we were like a family...the rest of the corps were really proud of us and pulling for us all the way as we were for them...not to blow our own horn (no pun intended), you have to remember that this wasn't anything really new for everyone as we were always one of the top 2 or 3 drumlines from "75 -78... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancerFi Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 More importantly they became legends. These are the people who marched in the line, taught the line, and wrote the music. They were unique. Repertoire Bacchanale from Sampson & Delilah Drum Solo School Daze (Stanley Clark) Sing, Sing, Sing Celebration Suite El Gato Triste Book By Harry Clark Ralph Hardiman Educators Tom Float Bob Cook Mike Bruni Phil Huntley Cymbals 1 Janet Butler 2 Bob McCormick (2nd Tour) 3-6 ( Still looking for Names) Tympani 1st Tour 1 Greg Mellnick 2 Al Taylor 3 Brian Mason 4 Bob McCormick 5 Kevin Dunne 2nd Tour 1 Greg Mellnick 2 Collin Brooks 3 Jimmy Wickstrom 4 Bob NcCormick 5 Kevin Dunne Keyboards 1 Vince Cicchine 2 Carol Munro Tenors 1 Cliff Blundell 2 Doug Darwin 3 Chris Taylor 4 Ron Huckstep 5 Larry Lerch Basses 1 Mark Blanford 2 Joan Butler 3 Jeff McKay 4 Dwayne Dumont 5 John "Sarnia Sam" Swartz Note: Murray Stan subbed for two shows on 2nd tour Snares 1 Randy Wickstrom 2 Mike Robinson 3 Tim Kowalski 4 Bruce Thomas 5 Doug Bass 6 Wayne Saunders 7 Dave Morton 8 Peter Boyle 9 Mark Doering Information compiled by: John "Sarnia Sam" Swartz I know how badly we as a competing corps felt, and how sad our drum line was about this. I believe it put a big damper not only on prelims day, but finals as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St_Marys64 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> CADETS BRASS, + OAKLANDS DRUMS, WOULD BE GREAT Lets take it one step further Cadet’s Brass, Oakland’s Drum line, and Boston’s Visual and Rifle Line. Boston did take top GE visual two nights later in the same stadium as DCI at the A.L. by almost two points That would have been a masterpiece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarnia sam Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 I didn't march in '77; I joined the corps in '78, so I really can't answer that question. I heard a lot about it, of course, because it had happened the previous year, but I wasn't there during that season. John was, though. Paging John. . . .Here's a story John wrote which is posted on the Del/Oakland alumni site: 1977 Crusaders <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hello? Zdatchew? I have to agree with OaklandCrusader. Our horn line didn't suck and neither did the guard. We were just way behind in marching since we scrapped the first drill midway through first tour and never got the new one cleaned up well enough. Personally, I really don't think we were that far out of it in marching judging by the symetry and uniformity in the still pictures I have and have seen - I mean if we were that bad at marching you'd have seen some of the two and four count form discrepencies side to side like I routinely saw in many of the sets from Kilts in 78 (I just watched it last night and couldn't believe how off some of those forms were for a 12th place corps). I can recall how hard the whole corps worked in the last couple of weeks to get the drill cleaned up. I especially remember some of the horn players urging others in the line to work harder so we didn't miss finals. To be honest, I think a lot of the horn players were more bummed than we were about missing finals and the drum line losing out on the trophy. Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarnia sam Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Upon reading John's article, I realize that the Oakland Crusaders were the springboard for the notable arranging career of Ralph Hardimon, DCI Hall of Famer and recent Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. He is also my best friend, former roommate and "Best Man". Drum corps is truly a small world that connects us all.(Ralph and Float anchored Anaheim's snare line in the early '70s, as you probably know.) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ralph wrote the drum solo, Clark did the rest. I remember our March camp at the Armoury. We were on a break and I sat at a cafeteria type table with Ralph at the other end, score sheets spread out, writing the ending of the solo, or maybe it was some changes. He had rings on every finger even then. Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarnia sam Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 CADETS BRASS, + OAKLANDS DRUMS, WOULD BE GREATLets take it one step further Cadet’s Brass, Oakland’s Drum line, and Boston’s Visual and Rifle Line. Boston did take top GE visual two nights later in the same stadium as DCI at the A.L. by almost two points That would have been a masterpiece. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, we would have been happy with Optimists' marching and GE. Or, they would have been happy with our drum line, take your pick. Regards, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Actually, we would have been happy with Optimists' marching and GE. Or, they would have been happy with our drum line, take your pick. Yup, I always believed that if Seneca and Oakland had been able to combine their strengths, that would've been a DCI champion corps . . . or pretty darned close to it. They had the drill design and execution, along with an amazing guard. Oakland had a pretty darned nice horn line, in addition to a fine drum line. I'll never forget starting out in '78, and how excited everyone was, because the talent level was so high. And then I remember how the optimism faded into . . . well, something else as the season progressed. Actually, though, that horn line got pretty decent scores in prelims, along with the drum line. M&M was what killed us . . . as usual. 1978 recaps Still, I'm proud of that corps. It was my introduction to drum corps, and I have lots of fun memories of so many good people. So there's only so much I'm going to complain about the scores and placements. That's part of it, and yes, I'm competitive, so some of that hurt. But it's not the be-all and end-all of my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Our horn line didn't suck and neither did the guard. We were just way behind in marching since we scrapped the first drill midway through first tour and never got the new one cleaned up well enough. Many of the comments I remember from fellow guard members is that the '77 guard book was excellent, much better than what we had in '78. Of course, I wasn't really in a position to judge since I never saw the '77 show. But I do remember a basic feeling that M&M was the big hurdle. As I recall, the revised drill was vastly superior to the old one, but the corps just didn't have enough time to really clean up the execution. I wish I could see a video of this show. *sigh* And I wish there were some physical evidence of the snare line (I think it was) spinning rifles during first tour that year! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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