laurasop Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 In 1977 we were living in Gloversville, NY right next to Johntown, NY. There was a Senior show in Johnstown and my sister wanted to go see it and bugged our parents until they decided to take us. The show included, The Caballeros, The Buccaneers, The Westshoremen and the Skyliners. I can't remember if there were any other corps there but those are the ones I remember. We were in awe of it all and in 1978, joined the little B class corps in town called the Johnstown Patriots. My parents were involved all througout my junior corps years with my dad eventually driving the tractor trailer for Suncoast Sound. Thank goodness my sister was so persistent. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 (edited) In 1977 we were living in Gloversville, NY right next to Johntown, NY. There was a Senior show in Johnstown and my sister wanted to go see it and bugged our parents until they decided to take us. The show included, The Caballeros, The Buccaneers, The Westshoremen and the Skyliners. I can't remember if there were any other corps there but those are the ones I remember. We were in awe of it all and in 1978, joined the little B class corps in town called the Johnstown Patriots. My parents were involved all througout my junior corps years with my dad eventually driving the tractor trailer for Suncoast Sound. Thank goodness my sister was so persistent. :) Hey you're welcome.... :P Gee wonder who came in last that show in 1977 I joined when a guy in my HS asked if I wanted to join a "Drum Corps". My response (really)was "Why I don't play drums". End of DCA Prelims my first season the Westshoremen board of directors had everyone come on one by one to say if we were coming back. (Background: the corps was rebuilding and came in last at Prelims.) When it was my turn I walked in the room and conversation was: BoD Member #1 - Jim, #### yeah he's coming back. BoD Member #2 (some guy named Larry Hershman) - Jim coming back (places check mark of piece of paper) BoD Member #3 - Thanks Jim (as he shoves my 17 yr old ### out the door) First thing out of my mouth was WTF, after I was back in the hallway of the motel. I should thank these guys for keeping my butt IN Drum Corps. And all three BoD members are still involved with Drum Corps via Five Star Brass. Edited October 23, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabssopprof Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Well Mike, you may know my story. The bad part of telling the story is that it shows how old I am. Nevertheless, it's fun to talk a little drum corps history. Unfortunately, I don't remember exact dates since it was over 40 years ago that I started. I started when drum corps were all over North Jersey. I grew up in Upper Saddle River, NJ. A small start-up corps known as the Imperial Knights began there in the early sixties ('61 or '62?). I just went to a meeting with some friends and it seemed like it may be fun. I chose to play soprano, and I had the good fortune of having some great instructors (eg, Frank Puscillo of the Cabs). I got to play solos and I competed in a few I&E and did OK. After a year or two, I had the bug. The corps moved to Midland Park, NJ, and soon afterwards, several of us (AL and Jack Hopper, and myself) went on to the Fair Lawn Police Cadets for a year. Then the same group moved onto to the Hawthorne Muchachos. I left drum corps in '67 because I couldn't keep up with it and school and work. Up to my exit however I had great times, competing locally, in the National Dream in Roosevelt Stadium, and at the New Jersey championships at Maxwell Field in Wildwood, and in nationals. Even played exhibitions at the first or second Grand Prix in Clifton. At a ripe old age, I came back to drum corps in 2003 with the Cabs and I've been having a lot of fun ever since. CAN'T WAIT TO TOUR EUROPE IN 07 WITH THE CABS. Anyway, based on some of the responses on this thread, I probably competed with a number of the readers of this forum. Hey Wayne, if you're out there reading this thread, a big Howdy to you in Florida. Mike Risley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Time Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 I credit my high school band director for showing me DCI videos from 1979 and 1980. He never took our entire band to DCI shows in the summer but he did let us know about them if we wanted to go on our own. I went to my first live show in Austin, Tx. in 1985 and was hooked ever since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMStar85 Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Well, I credit my band director as well...but in a different way. I had been watching DCI Championships on PBS for several years and KNEW that's what I wanted to to. Senior year rolls around and a few of us decide to go audition for Phantom, but we're only half-serious really. My band director tells me straight out "You have NO chance of making the line." Jerk! When somebody tells me I can't do something, I'm sure as HECK gonna do it! And I did. I ended up at Star because my sister sent me their full-page ad from the Indy Star, Fall of '84. It was closer than Rockford to me by an hour. :) All in all, I've done DCI Div I, II, AND III and now I'm charging head first into the DCA fray! Looking forward to meeting and competing against all y'all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piper Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 (edited) I was a "Drum Corps baby". I might have been conceived on a bus for all I know. :) Edited October 25, 2006 by Piper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 i was :P i can name the city and stadium if need be :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morganhill Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 I was in the 7th grade. There was this girl in one of my classes whom I really liked and chumed around with. She belonged to the feeder corps of a nationally ranked west coast corps. She talked me into coming down to one of their rehearsals. The rest is, to me anyway, drum corps history. Thank you Judy Lawrence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Ellis Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 High school buddies dragged me in.......I never saw a drum corps show until after I had joined a corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniSopGuy Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 (edited) NO family connection for me. IN fact other than my dad playing guitar and me, the rest of my close family plays a heck of a stereo. I dont remember who specifically got me into corps, it might have been Dan Zeilinger or Mike Lopez. I do know it started out by seeing a flyer in my high school bandroom for VK. I went to a rehearsal and continued to go over the winter and early spring. However when it came time to ramp up and start drill and setting the line, I couldnt keep the required schedule. So I quit going other than the occasional rehearsal because I was so hooked. I did this a couple years with VK (80-81) and I tried the Kingsmen one year after that also. I could just never work out the schedule with all the other groups I was with and their schedules. Then in 2004 I got invited to come fill out the line at SoCal Dream for DCA champs. So with three weeks to go til Scranton, I joined and am still there. Edited October 25, 2006 by MiniSopGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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