St. Joes Classic

[PTB MELLO]

Say Hi to Chris C. and Mike Spuck. Mike was in the Renegades (NY) when I taught there.

Chris was in a band in Rochester when I was in Power Company.

Keith...didn't you play for 1/2 the season (in Renegades) and Horn Tech the other?

What a great Drum Corps that was. I would love to have a recording of that year. Remember all the Pheonix guys that used to follow us around from show to show.....that was a fun season.

[CorpsBuff]

It'll be touch and go depending on the college schedule but I might have to make the trip up I 390 to catch this show

[AlbionNY Drum Line]

It'll be touch and go depending on the college schedule but I might have to make the trip up I 390 to catch this show

we would love to see you there

[Donny Drum Corps]

St. Joes has been practicing with a bigger hornline and some new music from the pen of Joe Pero Jr. Obviously the turn up the heat for their home show, so we can expect that. Joey most likely be performing with the Ghost Riders mini corps, always a crowd favorite.

Cru has a new show that should really open some eyes. White Sabers have been talking about a bigger and better corps than last year, and we know that Erie will be wailing with their communicative sound.

Sounds like a good show!

Donny

[Commander71]

Dave Carr hosts a radio talk show in Owen Sound, Ontario and also writes a weekly newspaper column for the town newspaper. This article appeared after last years "Classic" in Rochester NY and sort of says it all...Hope you all will think seriously about joining us for the the annual "Running of the Gantlet" and then seeing the finest indoor show in the area.

"And another thing . . . .when you wake up Sunday and realize you probably left your sunglasses in a biker bar in upstate New York, just what kind of weekend have you had, anyway? Well, O.K. not "you" so much as "me", as once again on an April weekend a time-honoured tradition was played out by a bunch of the boys -- Running the Gantlet.

Now the first thing we need to clear up is the difference between "gauntlet" and "gantlet" You can wear the gauntlet; maybe throw it if you are so inclined, and irritated enough, but you "run the gantlet". I first heard about this as a young and impressionable child, horrified at what young Iroquois braves did for fun, sport, and a kind of communal self-flagellation. Word descriptions made me shudder. I vowed then never to grow up an Iroquois brave, and so far, have been true to myself. What I should have done is promise myself never to run the gantlet, because once I started, I learned this particlar form of self-abuse can be fun and addicting. And the more things change, the more they remain the same, if you'll allow them to.

Now, this is also a tradition for a bunch of us, tied to the world of Drum & Bugle Corps. 30 years ago and more, we all marched together in the Canadian Commanders (later just Commanders). We share a passion for this unique brand of music, and the word "passion" is an understatement. At various levels, we crave it; we travel for it, and not just across town; we threaten our health for it, and our marriages with it. In the end, only our wives seem to be forgiving.

We are no longer boys, yet we continue to do a boyish thing -- running the gantlet. In Grey-Bruce, you might call it a gravel run -- a road trip with several bar stops. I can't tell you when it started, exactly; only when we were, shall we say, younger. There is only one gantlet, though I have vague recollections of others. This one is New York state highway 104 that runs from Lewiston, New York into Rochester. Our mission is only to get there on time, but not until we have made a stop at each bar along the route. We have mostly made it through the years, and mostly, pretty much, almost intact.

Lots of people don't condone this sort of thing; I don't think we plan on stopping. There is a saying about boys growing to men and putting away their boyhood toys. But there is much to say about tradition, and for a core group of us, whose fringe players change from year to year with the usual pressures of family, job, and life in general, this is tradition. We have never said more than "see you next year" at the end of it, but I think there is for the moment, an unspoken pact that for us, running the gantlet will continue. It is a thread that binds us together. Some of us see each other more than this one day, of course, but some do not. At least two good friends did not run the gantlet this year and I know I won't see them until the bars open in New York state on an April Saturday next year.

There are differences. We are older. None of us acknowledge that, of course, but afterwards, in the recovery phase, it is true. We have a designated driver now. We never used to, you know; no one did. We were young and thought we'd live forever and did "I'm gonna live forever" things. They are often things that guarantee you will not live forever. Now, we think we're young again, and try to hang on to forever, mostly by having a designated driver. We don't hit all the bars anymore; we don't start as early as we used to. It takes us longer to have that single beer in each bar than it used to; we sip it; don't chug it. It used to be a beer and a peppermint schnapps in each place. Now, the schnapps happen at the first stop, and the one after lunch, and you swagger back to the van feeling good that you can still handle it, man . . . .and you laugh.

And now we know we can't make every single bar, not even the one with the girl who showed us her tattoos last year, and we all felt bad about that this year. I think we missed her bar by accident. But we did make Boyers, home of the Road Vultures Motorcycle Club. We're never quite sure, you know, why we stop there, but we do, and it is a highlight. Lunch at the Seebreeze; that one is kind of an added tradition. First beer at the Coyote . . . . well, we didn't even see the Coyote this year and will all check your optical prescriptions before next April, wondering how that happened . . . . .

I think we are proud of running the gantlet every year, and I think we sense not everyone shares our boyish enthusiasm at getting together every year in this particular manner. But this is tradition; manly companionship not easily surrendered. We are safer now, I think, than we were in the glory days but then, aren't we all? But, are we having any less fun?

Not on your life!!! And we know, next April, on a spring Saturday, amidst the garage sales and blooming trees and flowers and the blue of Lake Ontario off to the left somewhere . . . . the gantlet is waiting for us. And we will run again. "

Above courtesy of Dave "The Bomber" Carr.

This years Gauntlet run leaves St. Catharines ON on Saturday, April 29. Join the Gauntleteers Alumni Corps along the way....Is it time to get on the bus?

Bruce.

[KeithHall]

Keith...didn't you play for 1/2 the season (in Renegades) and Horn Tech the other?

What a great Drum Corps that was. I would love to have a recording of that year. Remember all the Pheonix guys that used to follow us around from show to show.....that was a fun season.

I actually marched the first show in Warren and then had turned 22 so I was asked to M&M tech but it turned out I did more brass line stuff because the instructor at the time didn't show up.

[MING THE MERCILESS]

Nice linup..but why so many Bands? Is $$$ the reason? How about importing a Corps from the Midwest, or further West? Since we've seen Kilties out there in the 90's, how bout Chops, or Royal Airs?

Ming the Merciless

[KeithHall]

Dave Carr hosts a radio talk show in Owen Sound, Ontario and also writes a weekly newspaper column for the town newspaper. This article appeared after last years "Classic" in Rochester NY and sort of says it all...Hope you all will think seriously about joining us for the the annual "Running of the Gantlet" and then seeing the finest indoor show in the area.

"And another thing . . . .when you wake up Sunday and realize you probably left your sunglasses in a biker bar in upstate New York, just what kind of weekend have you had, anyway? Well, O.K. not "you" so much as "me", as once again on an April weekend a time-honoured tradition was played out by a bunch of the boys -- Running the Gantlet.

Now the first thing we need to clear up is the difference between "gauntlet" and "gantlet" You can wear the gauntlet; maybe throw it if you are so inclined, and irritated enough, but you "run the gantlet". I first heard about this as a young and impressionable child, horrified at what young Iroquois braves did for fun, sport, and a kind of communal self-flagellation. Word descriptions made me shudder. I vowed then never to grow up an Iroquois brave, and so far, have been true to myself. What I should have done is promise myself never to run the gantlet, because once I started, I learned this particlar form of self-abuse can be fun and addicting. And the more things change, the more they remain the same, if you'll allow them to.

Now, this is also a tradition for a bunch of us, tied to the world of Drum & Bugle Corps. 30 years ago and more, we all marched together in the Canadian Commanders (later just Commanders). We share a passion for this unique brand of music, and the word "passion" is an understatement. At various levels, we crave it; we travel for it, and not just across town; we threaten our health for it, and our marriages with it. In the end, only our wives seem to be forgiving.

We are no longer boys, yet we continue to do a boyish thing -- running the gantlet. In Grey-Bruce, you might call it a gravel run -- a road trip with several bar stops. I can't tell you when it started, exactly; only when we were, shall we say, younger. There is only one gantlet, though I have vague recollections of others. This one is New York state highway 104 that runs from Lewiston, New York into Rochester. Our mission is only to get there on time, but not until we have made a stop at each bar along the route. We have mostly made it through the years, and mostly, pretty much, almost intact.

Lots of people don't condone this sort of thing; I don't think we plan on stopping. There is a saying about boys growing to men and putting away their boyhood toys. But there is much to say about tradition, and for a core group of us, whose fringe players change from year to year with the usual pressures of family, job, and life in general, this is tradition. We have never said more than "see you next year" at the end of it, but I think there is for the moment, an unspoken pact that for us, running the gantlet will continue. It is a thread that binds us together. Some of us see each other more than this one day, of course, but some do not. At least two good friends did not run the gantlet this year and I know I won't see them until the bars open in New York state on an April Saturday next year.

There are differences. We are older. None of us acknowledge that, of course, but afterwards, in the recovery phase, it is true. We have a designated driver now. We never used to, you know; no one did. We were young and thought we'd live forever and did "I'm gonna live forever" things. They are often things that guarantee you will not live forever. Now, we think we're young again, and try to hang on to forever, mostly by having a designated driver. We don't hit all the bars anymore; we don't start as early as we used to. It takes us longer to have that single beer in each bar than it used to; we sip it; don't chug it. It used to be a beer and a peppermint schnapps in each place. Now, the schnapps happen at the first stop, and the one after lunch, and you swagger back to the van feeling good that you can still handle it, man . . . .and you laugh.

And now we know we can't make every single bar, not even the one with the girl who showed us her tattoos last year, and we all felt bad about that this year. I think we missed her bar by accident. But we did make Boyers, home of the Road Vultures Motorcycle Club. We're never quite sure, you know, why we stop there, but we do, and it is a highlight. Lunch at the Seebreeze; that one is kind of an added tradition. First beer at the Coyote . . . . well, we didn't even see the Coyote this year and will all check your optical prescriptions before next April, wondering how that happened . . . . .

I think we are proud of running the gantlet every year, and I think we sense not everyone shares our boyish enthusiasm at getting together every year in this particular manner. But this is tradition; manly companionship not easily surrendered. We are safer now, I think, than we were in the glory days but then, aren't we all? But, are we having any less fun?

Not on your life!!! And we know, next April, on a spring Saturday, amidst the garage sales and blooming trees and flowers and the blue of Lake Ontario off to the left somewhere . . . . the gantlet is waiting for us. And we will run again. "

Above courtesy of Dave "The Bomber" Carr.

This years Gauntlet run leaves St. Catharines ON on Saturday, April 29. Join the Gauntleteers Alumni Corps along the way....Is it time to get on the bus?

Bruce.

I knew this was Bruce!!!! How's the one time Royal Coachmen drum major?

[Commander71]

I knew this was Bruce!!!! How's the one time Royal Coachmen drum major?

Hiya Keith...where are you parking your horn case now-a-days? I still tell the Royal Coachmen story at St. Joe's rehearsals and nobody believes it. You'll have to come out and back me up on this one!!

[SoloSop420]

Cru has a new show that should really open some eyes. White Sabers have been talking about a bigger and better corps than last year, and we know that Erie will be wailing with their communicative sound.

Sounds like a good show!

Donny

That's right Donny! The THUNDERBIRDS will be communicatin' a medley comprised with 50 years of vociferous Drum Corps. I would like to personally thank Donny Allen for the 2nd loudest chart in our show.

"ARTISTRY IN RYTHYM" proves to be an ideal "openner" for our extremely well-balanced hornline. The openning statement will "rip your head off." The audience will go nuts when they hear our LOUDEST chart. (and it ain't "FLAMENCO CHA CHA") Our "closer" will close any idea that any other Drum Corps will win the show. We ain't messin' around this year! We're looking forward to St. Joe's Classic. In fact, we're looking forward to any, and all, performances.