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What's an "indoor circuit"?? You mean you guys had drum corps shows inside? Inside what? A gym?

You mean "Blast" ISN'T the first indoor group?? :)

Yeah, and it wasn't limited to Drum & Bugle Corps. There were also a lot of Fife & Drum Corps doing indoor circuits back in the day.

Saints. Cool horn line (Bucky Swan had a girls-only mellophone line that could really play.) Never had much of a drum line to speak of ... Had mighty big aspirations in '77 with George Tuthill as Show Coordinator and drum guy ... They kind of tanked and didn't recover.

Some great sop players came out of there: Jim Brady, Al Chez, Pete Chez, Dave D'Andrea ... just to name a few.

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Yeah, and it wasn't limited to Drum & Bugle Corps. There were also a lot of Fife & Drum Corps doing indoor circuits back in the day.

Saints. Cool horn line (Bucky Swan had a girls-only mellophone line that could really play.) Never had much of a drum line to speak of ... Had mighty big aspirations in '77 with George Tuthill as Show Coordinator and drum guy ... They kind of tanked and didn't recover.

Some great sop players came out of there: Jim Brady, Al Chez, Pete Chez, Dave D'Andrea ... just to name a few.

We used to compete against the Saints too. I still remember that all-girl mello line :grouphug: . They had a great sound and seemed to be on the verge of making finals when things kind of fell apart. So many corps from NY and NJ did that in the 70's and very early 80's (mine included). Really a shame that none of them made it except Purple Lancers (and they only did it one year). Remember Watkins Glen Squires and Valley Grenadiers?

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The Solo Soprano of the Saints were:

Jim Brady, Mike Chez, Chris Trimblett, Dave D'Andrea, AL Chez, Jeff Hennen, Mark Chioccchi (Rocky), Jimmy Piccola (PIC) and a few others

Edited by Rocky Chiocchi
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What's an "indoor circuit"?? You mean you guys had drum corps shows inside? Inside what? A gym?

You mean "Blast" ISN'T the first indoor group?? :)

I marched quite a few indoor shows in my day. It was held at color guard shows. We were always on after the guards.

It was all standstill, concert formation.

It was a great way to get the corps to ensemble throughout the winter in front of crowds.

It was great fun. You played a 10 minute show (from what I remember) and it usually was a combo of last years music and this years music. We would replace our last years songs with this years songs as they were completed and a little polished. There were judges in the stands trying to make out what the corps was playing. :grouphug: Horrible accustics inside the gyms.

This was popular with the corps in the mid to late 60s through the mid 70s.

It also was a great wamup for performing at the old "Evening with the Corps" held at The Forum in Madison Square Garden, not to mention a great way to have the music down pat by the time you started drill.

Great times. Fond memories.

BTW - The Saints were an excellent corps. I competed against them many times. It really is a shame they didn't survive.

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I marched quite a few indoor shows in my day. It was held at color guard shows. We were always on after the guards.

It was all standstill, concert formation.

It was a great way to get the corps to ensemble throughout the winter in front of crowds.

It was great fun. You played a 10 minute show (from what I remember) and it usually was a combo of last years music and this years music. We would replace our last years songs with this years songs as they were completed and a little polished. There were judges in the stands trying to make out what the corps was playing. :grouphug: Horrible accustics inside the gyms.

This was popular with the corps in the mid to late 60s through the mid 70s.

It also was a great wamup for performing at the old "Evening with the Corps" held at The Forum in Madison Square Garden, not to mention a great way to have the music down pat by the time you started drill.

Great times. Fond memories.

BTW - The Saints were an excellent corps. I competed against them many times. It really is a shame they didn't survive.

What corps was you in?

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Some great sop players came out of there: Jim Brady, Al Chez, Pete Chez, Dave D'Andrea ... just to name a few.

After the Saints folded, Dave D'Andrea eventually ended up with the Sunrisers..... as did Bill and Donna Meyer and later, Patty Antol. A pal of mine from grammar school...... Ed Philpot.....played baritone for the Saints in the early 1970's. Good people there.

The junior corps I marched with (NJ Sacred Heart Crusaders) had the upper hand on the Saints (most of the time) through the 1973 season. Then, in 1974......look out! The Saints came out with a very strong corps and left us (and a lot of other local-circuit corps) in the dust. I remember them playing "Bugler's Holiday" in '74. Great tune. They had one helluva horn line for several years.

I think it was the fall of 1980.... the Saints held a reunion party on a Saturday night in Edison. A fellow Sunriser and Edison resident (Mike Clougher) and I attended. Neither of us had ever marched with the Saints, but like I've said, we had friends there.

It was a great party, to say the least. I remember at one point my buddy Ed Philpot.... uhhhhh....."forcing" me to drink beer directly from the pitcher.....LOL. I think we walked (crawled?) out of the place when the sun was coming up on that Sunday morning!

Fran

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Just a follow-up. Since I wrote the original post I was able to find a teriffic mp3 of the 1976 Saints. IMHO the horn line was even better than in 1975. What a shame they didn't survive. In another time and another place, this corps could have been one of the top contenders, but unfortunatly look at all the great corps we had in that era (75-76).

Here's the show description from '76:

"The Saints D & B Corps from Woodbridge/Edison, New Jersey were formed as a parade corps in 1968 and in 1970 went into field competition. They are sponsored by the Saints Booster Club, American Legion Post #471 of Iselin, N.J., V.F.W. Post #1352 of Hopelawn, N.J., Our Lady Of Peace Church, Fords, N.J., and P.B.A. Local #38 of Woodbridge, N.J. Their staff for '76 is made up of: Horns: Tom Swan & Gus Wilke; Drums: Robert Peterson, George Tuthill & Walter Kelly; M&M: Frank Kubinak & Ralph Fair. Under the direction of Drum Majors Sue Brady and Sue Hickey, the 1976 repertoire consists of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Medley of Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits, Massa's In The Cold, Cold Ground, When The Saints Come Marching In and My Way. The Saints were Garden State Champions in 1974. In 1975--DCI Associates, Finalist at U.S. Open and American International. The Executive Director of the corps is Ralph Fair."

:blink:

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Here's the show description from '76:

"The Saints D & B Corps from Woodbridge/Edison, New Jersey were formed as a parade corps in 1968 and in 1970 went into field competition. They are sponsored by the Saints Booster Club, American Legion Post #471 of Iselin, N.J., V.F.W. Post #1352 of Hopelawn, N.J., Our Lady Of Peace Church, Fords, N.J., and P.B.A. Local #38 of Woodbridge, N.J. Their staff for '76 is made up of: Horns: Tom Swan & Gus Wilke; Drums: Robert Peterson, George Tuthill & Walter Kelly; M&M: Frank Kubinak & Ralph Fair. Under the direction of Drum Majors Sue Brady and Sue Hickey, the 1976 repertoire consists of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, Medley of Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits, Massa's In The Cold, Cold Ground, When The Saints Come Marching In and My Way. The Saints were Garden State Champions in 1974. In 1975--DCI Associates, Finalist at U.S. Open and American International. The Executive Director of the corps is Ralph Fair."

:blink:

Yes quite true but you are in the past years, When I first was in the Saints I remember George Lopez was the Drum Line instructor and I do Remember Gus working with Tommy Swan, and Bob Metelsky if I am spelling it right as the Drum Major. I use to date Sue Hickey's sister Carol Hickey and lived 1 block from them. Drum Majors Sue Brady and Sue Hickey came in the later years.

Rocky Chiocchi

Edited by Rocky Chiocchi
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After the Saints folded, Dave D'Andrea eventually ended up with the Sunrisers..... as did Bill and Donna Meyer and later, Patty Antol. A pal of mine from grammar school...... Ed Philpot.....played baritone for the Saints in the early 1970's. Good people there.

The junior corps I marched with (NJ Sacred Heart Crusaders) had the upper hand on the Saints (most of the time) through the 1973 season. Then, in 1974......look out! The Saints came out with a very strong corps and left us (and a lot of other local-circuit corps) in the dust. I remember them playing "Bugler's Holiday" in '74. Great tune. They had one helluva horn line for several years.

I think it was the fall of 1980.... the Saints held a reunion party on a Saturday night in Edison. A fellow Sunriser and Edison resident (Mike Clougher) and I attended. Neither of us had ever marched with the Saints, but like I've said, we had friends there.

It was a great party, to say the least. I remember at one point my buddy Ed Philpot.... uhhhhh....."forcing" me to drink beer directly from the pitcher.....LOL. I think we walked (crawled?) out of the place when the sun was coming up on that Sunday morning!

Fran

LOL I was at that party with my brother Gary Chiocchi we went together and got pist jrunk. And I remember Ed Philpot he was cool.

Rocky Chiocchi

Edited by Rocky Chiocchi
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What corps was you in?

For most of the time I was in Bracken Cavaliers then in 75, when Bracken folded, I joined a lot of my friends in Crossmen. Aged out in 76.

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