1975

[LancerLegend]

No no no, do you remember that party afterwards???  B)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not really. We went over the the Pizza Hut across the street and watched George Zingali dance his Irish jig on one of the table tops. Since we didn't have Pizza Huts in the northeast yet (1973...) it was a magnet for our hungry bellies.

[LancerLegend]

oops - double post

Edited March 29, 2005 by LancerLegend

[Tansea]

Not really. We went over the the Pizza Hut across the street and watched George Zingali dance his Irish jig on one of the table tops. Since we didn't have Pizza Huts in the northeast yet (1973...) it was a magnet for our hungry bellies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

To be honest, neither do I....

[byline]

I was also amazed how much standing around was with no guard work....

It's amazing how just a few years later, all that had changed. You had little to no "dead space" in guard work. It's hard for us to imagine now. But at that time, I think a lot of drill designers felt that if there was too much going on visually, it was cluttered and actually detracted from the show. So, as Maggie explained, they spaced everything out to try to draw attention to whatever element they wanted the judges and audience to focus on. Meaning that sometimes, the guard did no work even though, to my eyes and ears, the show calls for it. Yet only a few years later, we had lots and lots of visual stuff going on simultaneously, and nobody thought it was cluttered. Change is good . . . well, usually!

Re: the flag in Oakland, I noticed that, too. I don't know how Oakland fastened their flags on in '75; by '78, we were using black electrical tape. In '79 and '80, we used Velcro. And I've had my flag come loose both ways. Tape gets wet, the sticky backing dissolves, and your flag comes loose. That's why Velcro was such a welcome innovation. But even Velcro had its drawbacks (especially the earliest versions, which were not as strong as now), because the sticky backing could degrade. Or the Velcro piece could tear off the flagpole or flag casing.

I described this in an earlier post in this thread, but in '79, one of my pieces of Velcro tore off during a show. The field was wet (this was during the thunderstorm in Atlanta which eventually stopped the show), and my flag actually turned inside-out. We had double-flags that year, two different colors (blue and white on top, yellow and red on bottom), and at various points in the show we flipped the flag to have a particular color on top. Or we pushed the yellow and red flag down so that it was a streamer, not a flag. Anyway, during this show, with all that pushing and pulling on the flag, one of my pieces of Velcro came off, so there was no way to fasten it to the pole. Eventually, because the flag was soaking wet, the spinning motion and weight of the flag caused it to slide down and then off the end of the pole, with the casing turned inside-out, and then the flag twisted into a wet ball. So, as I said in my previous post, it was basically like slinging around a cannonball. It really messed up the balance of my flagpole--especially when that flag was on top--so I had a hard time controlling the timing of my work. Needless to say, it was also a huge mental distraction. Longest show of my life; I thought it would never end. I got through it, but it definitely does not rank in my memory as one of my favorite "performances"!

Edited March 30, 2005 by byline

[St_Marys64]

see next post, will add more on other corps later

Edited March 30, 2005 by St_Marys64

[St_Marys64]

uncle Z,

"SCV, What's up with that tymp player playing on his leg, tho?"

First, let me say from the very start.

I have tremendous respect for the SCV

Organization, Staff and Members, especially

the Big Three Gail, Fred and Pete .

They not only taught every one how to tour,

But how to tour First Class.

Playing on the Leg ?

This was a common “technique/ trick”

when timpani lines started splitting sixteenth notes.

Drove G. Shellmer crazy, who would never allow His Lines

to cut corners, They would split sixteenth triplets through, up,

down, and around the Snares, Toms, Bass and Timpani, But never on the leg.

Just Listen to, BC Drum Solo Ballad for Giraffe 1970, thirty-five years later,

and still great

The 1975 27th, Pace opener to Crown was the Beginning of the Visual Revolution,

one of my all-time favorites, to this day.

Cavie's DL High sticking, I remember 1976,

They were great, Exciting, Intense and very High, sticking that is.

And yes the Crossmen, got robbed in 1979

Edited March 30, 2005 by St_Marys64

[danguernsey]

Playing on the Leg ?

This was a common “technique/ trick”

when timpani lines started splitting sixteenth notes.

Drove G. Shellmer crazy, who would never allow His Lines

to cut corners, They would split sixteenth triplets through, up,

down, and around the Snares, Toms, Bass and Timpani, But never on the leg.

Just Listen to, BC Drum Solo Ballad for Giraffe 1970, thirty-five years later,

and still great

Yes! Boston Crusader tymp lines in the late 60s and 1970 were fabulous. In addition to split 16ths in "Giraffe," you had split drags running up and down the tymp line. I always thought that Shellmer's tymp lines had influenced the great Anaheim Kingsmen tymp line of 1972--i.e., "George of the Jungle" and the similar split 16ths and drags in their second solo (can't think of the name of it off hand?). The tymp parts in those Kingsmen solos were done in much the same spirit as Shellmer's work, IMO.

[St_Marys64]

Yes! Boston Crusader tymp lines in the late 60s and 1970 were fabulous. In addition to split 16ths in "Giraffe," you had split drags running up and down the tymp line. I always thought that Shellmer's tymp lines had influenced the great Anaheim Kingsmen tymp line of 1972--i.e., "George of the Jungle" and the similar split 16ths and drags in their second solo (can't think of the name of it off hand?). The tymp parts in those Kingsmen solos were done in much the same spirit as Shellmer's work, IMO.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dan,

Yes, but the "corps of the year" in 1975, was your, Madison

AMAZING, Showmanship, Excitement, and just maybe the

best Individual marchers ever.

Have a nice day, and Thanks for the Memories

[Malibu]

Re: the flag in Oakland, I noticed that, too. I don't know how Oakland fastened their flags on in '75; by '78, we were using black electrical tape. In '79 and '80, we used Velcro. And I've had my flag come loose both ways. Tape gets wet, the sticky backing dissolves, and your flag comes loose. That's why Velcro was such a welcome innovation. But even Velcro had its drawbacks (especially the earliest versions, which were not as strong as now), because the sticky backing could degrade. Or the Velcro piece could tear off the flagpole or flag casing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, we had velcro too but in '81, we used black electrical tape. Yes, it will come off if you don't put enough on. The key I have found is to make sure you pull it tight. Most of the time when flags slip down or when the tape comes off, is because it's loose on the pole. I have tape on my pole from this past summer and I have yet had any problems with it......and we are well into our winter guard season.

At the beginning of each guard tryouts, I give my guard a lecture on "how to tape your poles correctly."

OK.....getting off topic a little. Umm....'75 Madison Scouts was on fire! b**bs

[MsBusDriver]

It's amazing how just a few years later, all that had changed. You had little to no "dead space" in guard work. It's hard for us to imagine now. But at that time, I think a lot of drill designers felt that if there was too much going on visually, it was cluttered and actually detracted from the show. So, as Maggie explained, they spaced everything out to try to draw attention to whatever element they wanted the judges and audience to focus on. Meaning that sometimes, the guard did no work even though, to my eyes and ears, the show calls for it. Yet only a few years later, we had lots and lots of visual stuff going on simultaneously, and nobody thought it was cluttered. Change is good . . . well, usually!

Yes, exactly Sue. It wasn't just SCV. I've watched the tape now a few times and ALL the Guards had moments of not doing flag work and just marking time in one place. This usually happened when they were busy being "set ups" which was very common practice then (left over from having no yard markers in the early years) or when the drill designer wanted the drill movement itself to be the focal point, not the equipment movement.

As for SCV being "Safe". Again I have to disagree. I'm not sure what the definition of "safe" is actually. Look closely at SCVs "concert". There was movement throughout the entire song with some of it being new and innovative. And again keep in mind that the camera cut away at times when flag work was going on and as is typical with the camera work of the era, caught the flags in down times, just like everyone else had! Doing lots of spins and presents and slams and other movements that I'm not sure what to call from the get go and throughout the show, well, I wouldn't call what we did "safe". 27th did lots of presents, slams and "body" movements but not a lot of spins until the end of the show with the double flags. During concert, they did no flag work until halfway through the song. They were clean and did alot of work outside of concert, but without as many spins as we did. Would I call that "safe"? No, just a different style that was distinctly 2-7. BTW, 27th tied with us with a 10 in visual. Neither one of us was "safe" that night.

Re: the flag in Oakland, I noticed that, too. I don't know how Oakland fastened their flags on in '75; by '78, we were using black electrical tape. In '79 and '80, we used Velcro. And I've had my flag come loose both ways. Tape gets wet, the sticky backing dissolves, and your flag comes loose. That's why Velcro was such a welcome innovation. But even Velcro had its drawbacks (especially the earliest versions, which were not as strong as now), because the sticky backing could degrade. Or the Velcro piece could tear off the flagpole or flag casing.

Heh, we used "Duct Tape" and thank goodness I never had that problem. You do know that duct tape and a hug can fix anything, right? .

I described this in an earlier post in this thread, but in '79, one of my pieces of Velcro tore off during a show.... Needless to say, it was also a huge mental distraction. Longest show of my life; I thought it would never end. I got through it, but it definitely does not rank in my memory as one of my favorite "performances"!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isn't that one of the best lessons that we learn with Drum Corps? Get through it no matter what, keep going no matter the adversity or whatever stands in your way. Gotta love it! :D