Walter Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 I was looking at that sentence last night and trying to figure out just what he meant. Dillon is correect. Metzger was the horn instructor in 78. Both weren't with us at the same time, at least that's the way I remember it. Dillon was the horn instructor in 80. Regards, John <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Wayne was our horn instructor with Northstars in 1978, I was in my last year marching !!! B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Sue, can you fill me in more on your wonderful corps! I think everyone else has answered your questions, and done it better than I could have. The thing about Oakland was that we tended to focus on music first, visual second. We all know about the awesome drum line, but the horn line wasn't any slouch, either. But that back-seat status of the visual program was what held us back. If the corps had been able to march as well as it played, there's no question in my mind that at its height, Oakland would have been a serious contender for the DCI title. I always used to wonder what would happen if we took the best elements of Oakland and Seneca--Oakland's horn and drum lines, Seneca's superb M&M and guard--and combined them. Definitely a potential DCI champion there! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 I think everyone else has answered your questions, and done it better than I could have. The thing about Oakland was that we tended to focus on music first, visual second. We all know about the awesome drum line, but the horn line wasn't any slouch, either. But that back-seat status of the visual program was what held us back. If the corps had been able to march as well as it played, there's no question in my mind that at its height, Oakland would have been a serious contender for the DCI title.I always used to wonder what would happen if we took the best elements of Oakland and Seneca--Oakland's horn and drum lines, Seneca's superb M&M and guard--and combined them. Definitely a potential DCI champion there! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hey Sue, did you march in Oakies when they came to Kitchener the first year of Northstars, in '77 and we came within 2 points of you in mid July ????? What was the mood of the corps that night ??? Were you scared of us??? You should have been !!!! If it hadn't of been for "THE INCIDENT", we would have beaten you in Denver !!! (ok, maybe) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted June 28, 2005 Share Posted June 28, 2005 Hey Sue, did you march in Oakies when they came to Kitchener the first year of Northstars, in '77 LOL, take a look at the years in my sig line, and you'll have your answer! :P John marched Oakland that year, so he's better qualified to respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 LOL, take a look at the years in my sig line, and you'll have your answer! :P John marched Oakland that year, so he's better qualified to respond. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hey John: How about it !!! I heard through the grapevine that your corps director read the riot act to you guys !!! :sshh: :sshh: :sshh: Is that true !! remember, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine!!" b**bs b**bs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommytimp Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 (edited) In 1977, Oakland finished in 15th place, yet had the highest-scoring drumline in prelims--extraordinary. (A guy I marched with in the 80s had seen them and said they scored so high because "they had Exposure {I assume he meant Exposure to Error, but maybe they marched nude from the waist down...}out the ###.") The "back-seat visual" concept pops up with two other top drumlines-Spirit and Bridgemen. It finally sunk the Bridgemen, but didn't keep Spirit from anything but winning DCI. Hmmm...... ETA: I guess we can unfortuantely put the 27th Lancers in there as well-but it seems like they had their visual program going better by 1986, at least to me... Edited June 29, 2005 by tommytimp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Clav Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 http://www.corpsreps.com/search.cfm Malaga was first done in '73 by the Rebels and Blue Stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 (edited) The "back-seat visual" concept pops up with two other top drumlines-Spirit and Bridgemen. It finally sunk the Bridgemen, but didn't keep Spirit from anything but winning DCI. Hmmm...... Understood, but I also think that from the late '70s through 1980, both Bridgemen and Spirit were generally at least equal to, if not better than, Oakland in all the other captions. (1977 would be the obvious exception, in terms of the drum line.) So having a less-than-stellar visual program didn't hold them back as much as it did Oakland. Remember, Bridgemen had amazing GE, along with a fantastic horn line and yes, a superb drum line. Spirit also had amazing GE, generated in great part by that fantastic horn line, and they also had an awesome drum line (which tended to get overlooked because of the horn line). It's hard for me to imagine 27th Lancers being considered as having a substandard visual program. Yes, they lost a lot of their design innovation when Zingali left them to go to Garfield, but I don't recall them ever being slouches in the marching department. If anything, their horn line was often considered that corps' weak link . . . and I say that with a grain of salt, because they had some pretty nice horn lines, too; 1981 immediately comes to mind. Edited June 29, 2005 by byline Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryM Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 I always used to wonder what would happen if we took the best elements of Oakland and Seneca--Oakland's horn and drum lines, Seneca's superb M&M and guard--and combined them. Definitely a potential DCI champion there! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Good point Sue. There was certainly enough talent around Toronto in the mid-70's to create a super-corps. Still, I think it's pretty impressive that TO produced two finalists in '76. Those corps were actually the product of four very good organizations and produced some people that are still prominent in the activity today (Wayne Dillon and John Phillips come to mind)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancerlady Posted June 29, 2005 Author Share Posted June 29, 2005 (edited) In 1977, Oakland finished in 15th place, yet had the highest-scoring drumline in prelims--extraordinary. (A guy I marched with in the 80s had seen them and said they scored so high because "they had Exposure {I assume he meant Exposure to Error, but maybe they marched nude from the waist down...}out the ###.")The "back-seat visual" concept pops up with two other top drumlines-Spirit and Bridgemen. It finally sunk the Bridgemen, but didn't keep Spirit from anything but winning DCI. Hmmm...... ETA: I guess we can unfortuantely put the 27th Lancers in there as well-but it seems like they had their visual program going better by 1986, at least to me... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Interesting they would get top drums and not make finals. I remember in 1984 27 had 1/10th from beating BD in top drums and that's one of the reasons we were in finals. :) Oh and thanks for the comment about 1986, Zingali was back with us then. Some don't know that. :) He was back and forth between us, Star and Cadets. Edited June 29, 2005 by Lancerlady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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