30 Years Ago - Bridgemen

[NoMoCorps]

For me, Steve R. said it best during one of the DCI broadcasts.

"The fans here tonight have two questions on there mind:

Who is going to win and what are the Bridgemen going to do tonight?"

The Bridgemen never received a kindly pat on the head..... truth is we had to practice our butts off for every scrap of a point we earned. And make no mistake... we earned our status as a DCI finalist.

For the drum corps purist or traditionalists out there...... ponder this....

What if the Bridgemen had produced the same level of talent on the field back then but had kept the cadet style uniform? How would they have placed?

More importantly, would people remember them with the same clarity they do now? It doesn't matter if you were fond of their style back then or not, but do you think you would remember them as well as you do today without their unique style?

The Cadets have always been a fine and top corps during their history but for someone to say keep with the same winning formula, well to me that means becoming stagnent. The Cadet staff tried something different this year.... next year they will try something else. But they continue to experiment with the activity and for this they should be applauded.

Furthermore, the kids who marched Cadets this year and every year should be applauded for pouring their hearts and soul into their performance. Their hard work and level of talent is simply amazing to this old timer.

Edited September 8, 2006 by NoMoCorps

[louielouie]

NO

[Piper]

There are three corps' that had the greatest impact on the activity to date. BD (Jazz), PR (Classical) and Bridgemen (Broadway). There were other corps' who tried those styles before them, but they were the first one's to really pull it off. JMO.

[Lancerlady]

In recent years, I find myself searching for 'the message' they're trying to convey.

I'm not trying to bash anyone or any corps. Things are just evolving too quickly. I fear it won't be too long, that it just won't be drum corps anymore.

I hear what you're saying and I agree.

Edited September 9, 2006 by Lancerlady

[Jeff Ream]

There are three corps' that had the greatest impact on the activity to date. BD (Jazz), PR (Classical) and Bridgemen (Broadway). There were other corps' who tried those styles before them, but they were the first one's to really pull it off. JMO.

i think you discount SCV a lot here

[Piper]

i think you discount SCV a lot here

Whoa.....no offense intended. Heck, I couldn't sqeeze everybody in. :)

[Bob984]

1976, 30 years ago (wow) was my first time at DCI Nationals, in Philadelphia. We were parking near Franklin Field, and I asked my friend "who are the guys in the yellow coats", and he told me. A few hours later, they came on, not "in the block" as they hadn't been at DCI in 1975. They came on and blew the house down, and I loved the show and so did the vast majority of audience. I remember thinking, "these guys are not only in, but by a mile", and they propelled their way to 6th.

I remember reading in DC News about some of the controversy....the uniforms, antics, etc. I think the biggest actually came from the marching performance judging community; their visual performance numbers were very erratic, and this lasted some years. Like any corps, they had to bust on getting ticks out, and were not always consistent, but I also know that sometimes it seemed as if they were "dumped on" in "M&M", perhaps by more traditional thinking judges who inwardly hated their style. In both 1977 and 1980, the Bridgemen were very, very good by any analysis.....I do think that they were title contenders both years, although I doubt that they would have been "allowed" to win no matter how tight the performance...it's no big secret about the lowdown after the prelim DQ and subsequent court injunction that they were dumped before they set foot on the field at finals in 77....

The bottom line is the Bridgemen broke new ground, were very fun, very entertaining, and yet competitive.......when you looked past the "fun", this corps played their tail off, especially in 77 and 80 (and I am not dissing other years, as they had many other good years, but those two were fabulous)... Larry Kerchner and Dennis Delucia were and are tremendous arrangers....Kerchner wrote arrangements that worked, yet if you analyzed them, there was alot of challenge in playing them well; if you think "Thunder and Blazes" is easy because it's "familiar", start working on playing that fast, never mind on two valves.....and Delucia wrote creative percussion that fit Larry's scores, and showcased the line in great features, plus they were deadly at execution...an 11 was no big deal for them, yet other lines would give anything to get one once. And not to overlook Hoffman.....crazy visual things, but again, very well coordinated, and perhaps the corps did not get credit when they executed well....those yellow coats amplified any visual error, so they were very exposed.

It was tremendous seeing them out there this year (the Scouts alumni were absolutely awesome, too, and extremely entertaining) , and at both shows I was at, the audience loved them (and so did I).....I hope they can keep doing it.....good luck to VK in their comeback try........

One last note....the Bridgemen's first controversy and that of the Cadets this year were very different. Even by the end of the season this year, I don't think the Cadets show won over a majority of the audience, and I think the controversy over using voice, amplification, and props/characters continues.....it will be interesting to see what they do in the future....by the end of the 1976 season, I think Bayonne had won a majority of the audience and they were usually very well received wherever they competed in all of the years following, and the way they "invented" their corps into a fun yet competitive machine was pretty amazing.

GB