GrewvyG2 Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Being the best corps to show up at the 1978 VFW Nationals. http://jd488.blogspot.com/2011/08/today-in-1978-vfw-drum-bugle-corps.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wort Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I've read a few memories of the Madison,SCV & Phantom playing together event, which was in Rockford, IL. I was there for that as a snare drummer in Madison. The drumlines didn't play, we just knelt and let the horns do the magic. And MAGIC it was in every sense of the word! So beautiful, and quite a view from my perspective. A funny memory from that was that I looked over at the Phantom snare drummer to my right and said "this is incredible! Don't you think?" ...and he didn't say a word back to me, just kept his head forward. The SCV guy on my other side said "maybe he can't speak" ...meaning he must be in awe, not being a wise guy. Then the SCV guy said to me "this IS amazing." We later went on (Madison and SCV) to jam again together in New York, on the way to Montreal. VK was there for that as well (in NY) and I remember after the show wanting to meet/talk to a girl from their guard who I made eye contact with several times during retreat (oops! my secret's out...looking around during retreat! sorry Scott Stewart). Anyway, never found the girl, but a bunch of the drumline guys from VK were asking about our walking beat (some of you may call it "street beat" or "file beat"... I heard it called everything) and how it was played. It was called "Heliopolis" by Spyro Gyra, very cool! That was great year for all my best memories in corps. But I guess my best memory would have to be making DCI the first time in 1978...Denver. I was so alive that night, and it was AMAZING for me having seen DCI a few years before both on TV and as a spectator. I was a snare drummer with the Guardsmen in '78, and finding out we had made finals, and then marching it, was so great. Being top 12 back then was, well, not unlike what it is today...I guess. But it was truly an amazing thing for a kid in corps in 1978. There weren't all the divisions there are now, so the top 12 was it. For some reason, another great memory for me was at a show in Gurnee, IL in 1976. Cavaliers came out that year with the new "Cavalier" uniform, losing the shakos and getting the cool look they still sport today. That memory of them walking by in that new uniform (at that time) is an awesome memory for me. Not sure why...probably because corps was "modernizing" itself back then...pretty funny, huh? :) If I am not mistaken (and I don't think I am) as a contra in the Guardsmen in 1976 it was in Philidelphia that we made DCI for the first time. That is one of the highest points of my life. We were all completely beat after the prelim, did a quick run through in a park somewhere, and then back to the stadium for finals. The prelim was our best show of the year, in the sun and heat even. The finals, well, not so good. Some of you may remember, 1976 was the year we made the KFC commercial. At the beginning of the finals recording you can hear someone yell "chicken sucks!" right before the first note. The next year, 1977, was my last in drum corps. Finals was in Denver that year. We struggled in prelims, and I hyperventilated starting halfway through closer for the first time in my career. Man, did that hurt. We played an awful show and didn't make the finals. I do remember the Cavaliers' new uniform. It sure was an improvement. We had a drill instructor from the Cavies in '75, but his name escapes me. 1976 was one of those times where what I thought were my limits was not even close to being right... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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