Acts of Kindness in Drum Corps we've seen ?

[kadune]

I had passed out last summer at the Division II Finals Retreat. I was in the Memphis Sound souvie stand and some ladies (assumed mothers) from Jersey Serf offered to bring some bottles of Gatorade. That was definately a high point of the day (after blacking out and falling down, a lot of things seem high ) and I was deeply touched by their kindness; I wish I knew who they were so I could write them a proper thank you that I never did before.

[OrlandoContraAlum]

I will add this one, although it has been posted here before...

Many folks know that there was a heated rivalry between Suncoast and Spirit during the 80's. With the exception of 1985, the corps finished alongside each other every year from 1982 to 1988. Some years Spirit was on top, other years found the Florida Corps ahead. A great Southern drum corps rivalry!

In 1989, Spirit tried something VERY different for them. Unfortunately, they did not make finals. Although the competitive juices always flowed between these two Southern drum corps giants, there was just something missing on the field that Saturday night in August, 1989. As a token of respect, Suncoast made a Delta out of our horns at finals retreat, while the drumline made one of drumsticks. Ageouts left their socks in the Delta as well, so that we could let our Atlanta friends "take the field" on Saturday.

Of course, the bitter irony was that that particular night was the last Finals performance ever for Suncoast, while Spirit has made a Phoenix-like comeback. It was pretty cool to be involved with that.

Some pictures (since the image problem is still here, you will have to click, but you SHOULD!!!)

Horn Delta

Drumstick Delta

Edited July 18, 2006 by OrlandoContraAlum

[X DM]

That was a nice gesture by Suncoast Sound. There have been other examples of Corps acknowledging other Corps at DCI Finals retreat. I seem to recall some Corps that lost to another Corps at Finals one year, then marched by that rival Corps , stopped, and then somehow payed that other Corps tribute with some classy gesture. Raised their flags and saluted them or played them a song, or something like that.- I forget the details though. Someone with a better memory might recall the details. The Drum Major and Color Guard Captain of the winning Corps saluted the Corps giving them the tribute and really appreciated the gesture and said so publically afterwards too ...... Anyone recall this and who the Corps involved were ? and what the circumstances were ?

Edited July 18, 2006 by X DM

[cccmommy]

In '88 BD's guard age outs gave our roses to Madison's guard age outs as we left the field.

[MAV]

Good morning,

Great thread! My husband actually marched with Crossmen in '79. (It's a bittersweet tale aging-out in 13th place.)

As for acts of kindness, there are compassionate people, generous souls who donate (sacrifice?) their time, energy, and resources every day of the year. Here are just a few examples I've come across:

1. Al & Linda Hammond are a couple who raised several boys (their own) and many others in the drum corps activity. Each year you could see their smiling faces at the Allentown ticket booth. Generous to a fault - they still enjoy the activity and donate their time long after their sons and corps-sons aged-out.

2. Stuart Miyasato never marched junior corps, but has been a great friend to SCV Cadets donating tour goodies (home-made baked cookies!) as they left for tour each year.

3. Personally, there have been an amazing collection of friends who have documented my daughter's journey through corps. Munson Chan (and Stuart!), Francesca, and many more would take photos and email them to me while I was sequestered in NYC. In the years before digital and streaming, this was a God-send for any parent!

4. Then there are folks like Bob & Terry Fields who donate time to do stuff most people would cringe, taking care of a parking lot and never really seeing shows. Talk about sacrifice!

5. Finally, because I tend to like the 'behind the scenes' stuff myself, I see these acts of kindness all the time. The Magic kid who looked completely spent, dripping after a full out performance at the Battle Creek show, asking for water. Not for himself - but his buddy who wasn't doing so well. The hovering friends of one girl near fainting. The kind words, generous speeches of drum sections to each other.

Because I see it quite a lot, let me wrack my brain for more!

MAV

[RLamb]

Not so much an act of "kindness", but certainly an act of class and taking care of their fans. I posted this before, but deserves repeating in this thread.

I was taking my high school band to see a show. For many it was their first show. We had made arrangements for the busses to stop at the school the Madison Scouts were rehearsing at. I had gone ahead in a car. The busses had made a wrong turn and were 30 minutes or more behind schedule. Just as the corps was finishing their final run through, the busses pulled into the school.

I mentioned to one of the staff members that the kids had just arrived from over 100 miles away and had come to see the rehearsal. I knew it was asking a lot, but I asked if there was any way the corps could just stand at play Malaga (was '04). Even though I'm sure the corps was hot and tired and had a schedule to stick to he said "The Scouts always take care of our fans". Without hesitation the corps not only played "Malaga", but went back out on the field and did another run through for a very excited group of kids.

Just one of the many reasons the Scouts will always be THE CORPS for me.

[X DM]

Good morning,

Great thread! My husband actually marched with Crossmen in '79. (It's a bittersweet tale aging-out in 13th place.)

As for acts of kindness, there are compassionate people, generous souls who donate (sacrifice?) their time, energy, and resources every day of the year. Here are just a few examples I've come across:

1. Al & Linda Hammond are a couple who raised several boys (their own) and many others in the drum corps activity. Each year you could see their smiling faces at the Allentown ticket booth. Generous to a fault - they still enjoy the activity and donate their time long after their sons and corps-sons aged-out.

2. Stuart Miyasato never marched junior corps, but has been a great friend to SCV Cadets donating tour goodies (home-made baked cookies!) as they left for tour each year.

3. Personally, there have been an amazing collection of friends who have documented my daughter's journey through corps. Munson Chan (and Stuart!), Francesca, and many more would take photos and email them to me while I was sequestered in NYC. In the years before digital and streaming, this was a God-send for any parent!

4. Then there are folks like Bob & Terry Fields who donate time to do stuff most people would cringe, taking care of a parking lot and never really seeing shows. Talk about sacrifice!

5. Finally, because I tend to like the 'behind the scenes' stuff myself, I see these acts of kindness all the time. The Magic kid who looked completely spent, dripping after a full out performance at the Battle Creek show, asking for water. Not for himself - but his buddy who wasn't doing so well. The hovering friends of one girl near fainting. The kind words, generous speeches of drum sections to each other.

Because I see it quite a lot, let me wrack my brain for more!

MAV

Arn't these Corps volunteers just incredible people, MAV ? Every Corps has them. They give of their time, energy, etc without asking for much of anything in return. I won't forget these people. I recall an older volunteer who refused to take the bus in back of us in hot summer parades. He'd be there in the parade with his towels, and water bucket, going at a brisk pace the entire length of the parade, so that when the parade ahead would stop, he'd be immediately available to go up and down the line quickly with his towel and water bucket to help make us kids cool off with the water and his wet, cool towels.......... We had a lady that was the fastest seemstress I'd ever seen. She could precisely and quickly sew a button back on, or fix a ripped uniform , etc under enormous time pressures. They'd be this frenetic activity all around her, with the Corps getting ready to move, but her hands would be as steady, and nimble as could be, and she'd calmly thread her needle to save the day..... and do it with aplomb and a ready smile. Just amazing, these folks were...... and I'm sure still are with today's Corps too.

Edited July 18, 2006 by X DM

[SkyRyder_FMM]

In 1987, the bus problems we experienced in Sky Ryders were almost of epic proportions. It seems like we never rehersed that summer, since we were constantly broken down somewhere. After DATR, we lost all of our busses for several days, and missed several shows. We had a death camp in Boulder, which helped us clean 14 points out of the show. We would not have made finals if not for this turn of events. After we got our busses back, we had to make the cross country journey to Allentown for DCI East. We continued to experience problems on this trip. Star of Indiana allowed us to use their home base facilities so that we could eat, reherse, and the drivers could get some much needed rest. We lost another bus after leaving Star's facilities, and their bus company arranged a loaner for us to help us get to Allentown.

As it relates to 87 as a whole, many thanks to the countless number of corps that had to go on early and miss out on some of their warm-up time due to our late arrival to the shows.

In 88, our equipment truck broke down on the way to Cheyenne, WY. The Troopers loaned us their horns, and VK loaned us their percussion equipment. We marched in our show t-shirts, dark shorts, corps jackets, performance shoes and socks, and gloves. The color guard did "air guard" that night. Certainly not our best performance by any stretch of the imagination, but we could not have performed that night were it not for the generosity of Troopers and VK.

During my years with Sky Ryders (85-88), there was a small town in western Kansas that would host us for a day while we were on tour. They would feed us a nice meal, let us swim in the community pool for free, and we would perform our show for them in uniform at the local high school stadium that night. For me, that was one of the highlights of the summer. The town really loved us, and showed it through all of their generosity and kindness on that day on tour.

[jsualumnus]

In 1990, my wallet was stolen from the high school in Hornell, NY. I had roughly $75 in it.....

A year later, someone sent my wallet to me in Atlanta with all my cards, license, soc sec card, etc. No, the money was gone. I found out that it was a maintenance person at the school who found my wallet in some bushes. Nice guy to send it to me.....