top 5 moments in drum corps history

[geneseo_bari_87]

In no particular order:

1. SCV bottle dance 1979. What a crowd reaction.

2. End of Madison's show in 1988. Loudest I've ever heard.

3. Bridgemen's snare line bringing out the blindfolds in Cary, NC in 1983.

4. The all-night runoff in DeKalb, 1982. PR's second show that night may be the best performance I've ever seen.

5. Phantom's break from minor to major in their 96 opener. Compares favorably to the same moment in Ravel's 'Bolero.'

My own show:

Knights 1985. The hit in "Could We Start Again, Please." High point of the best small show ever done.

Wow, Tom, thanks for the major goose bumps! "I think I see .. your .. PO-OINT NOW!" :)

My top 5:

1) Hearing BD break into La Fiesta at Whitewater prelims in 84

2) Sitting literally ON the sideline at Grant Field during Garfield's encore of West Side Story

3) Touring with Garfield in 85 and seeing that show live probably 5 or 6 times. Still my favorite ... show ... ever.

4) Watching BD's snare line warm up before the show in Stillwater, MN in 83. So #### tight and intense.

5) BD 83 bari solo in Everybody Loves the Blues. I had no idea the horn could be played in that way.

[Michael Boo]

Lots of great memories. It's time for another Fanfare column on favorite moments and why. Interested?

Michael Boo

boomike@dci.org

[yabetterbelieveit]

In no particular order

BD's first title in 76

The Bridgemen

Cadets of the 80s

SCV 88/89 (what have you)

05 caption-sweeping Cadets

[siLk]

in no particular order, and there are many outside this 5 that are easily interchangeable:

1. SCV 89 from "take it home vaguard" out to the end

2. 03 PR canon reprise

3. 91 star cross to cross

4. 2000 BD last 30ish seconds and ensuing "head shakes"

5. 02 Cavies ballad

[LaSqueegee]

1) The shot of Kristy Spears trying to hold it in near the end of the 96 Phantom video

[patblamo]

Great post!

Since you said my personal top 5 moments in drum corps history:

1. The night in 1963 when my brother dragged my Dad off to a meeting of people trying to start a drum corps in our town. My Mom's famous last words to my Dad were "don't get involved". A couple of months later, he was the Executive Director and stayed there for 17 seasons.

2. Marching my last DCI in 1980.

3. Seeing my sister march in Finals in 1983 (with 27th), something I never got to experience in 16 years of marching.

4. The night my son (at age 10) said, "Dad, I want to march in drum corps".

5. December 18, 2005, at Blue Stars camp, when my son ran up to me and said, "I got a contract!!!"

I was deciding between PR ‘03, BAC ’00, SCV ’99, MS ’99, MS ’95, Star ’91, SCV ’89, Cadet ’84, SCV ’79 and MS ’75 but then I read yours and I was reminded that my #1 is yet to come. I have #2, my son announced his intentions a little later that yours(at age 11).

I hope that “contract” announcement comes this year!

[jwillis35]

I'd probably say the following moments are some of the top moments in DCI history. Drum corps history is a bit too much time for me to even consider listing the top 5, but the following are my top DCI moments to date (and I do have more than 5).

1. Santa Clara Vanguard establishing a new, very musical style of presentation in the early 70s, with 1974 being one of the paramount shows of its time. Drum corps was given one of its legendary moments at Finals with the Bottle Dance.

2. 1982 Blue Devils finish winning 5 titles in 7 years, and the 1982 corps showcased one of the best hornlines we had heard to that point. Fabulous charts, amazing performance levels, great percussion writing, and their brand of jazz on the field continued to evolve. This is a must see and listen.

3. Garfield Cadets 1983 - This show changed everything and shifted the focus eastward after years of west dominance. This show takes ideas that were first used in part by other corps, like SCV and 27th Lancers, and it adds to those ideas in a way no one could have imagined. Zingali is the pioneer, along with a whole cast of DCI Hall-of-Famers, and the modern style is born.

4. Madison Scouts 1988 - This corps goes to Europe during first tour, they come back in July and just tear it up. Everything comes to a driving and frenzied conclusion at Finals as they take the title, defeating one of the best Blue Devils corps ever. The ending of Malaguena becomes legendary...for good reason. They pretty much knocked the stadium down.

5. Santa Clara Vanguard 1988 - Theater on a football field? Sure, why not. And with this show it was taken to the next level. Although their 1989 show won, it was the 1988 show that has people salivating to see this production and hear the music. Keep in mind most people had not yet seen the Broadway production, which was sold out for years, so SCV's performance was the first listen for many of us. The definition of staging and dramatic effect to perfection.

6. 1991 Star of Indiana - Flawless, Precise, and Bold!!! Maybe their finals performance was not as tight, but no corps seriously challenged these guys. Perhaps the greatest of all the great shows and corps. The cross to the cross move at the end is electrifying, puzzling, mind boggling, and, well...Perfect! Zingali, we miss you.

7. 1996 Phantom Regiment - Great music plus great drill, plus dark and powerful = Title. Phantom showed all its fans that it could win the big won, and it did so from 4th place in quarters to 1st in Finals. They were magic on Finals night, and they did it by jumping one perennial champion (Cadets), and by tying another (BD). The crowd was loving this one big time.

8. 2002 Cavaliers - with their constant trademark innovative style in geometric field designs and brilliantly scored music that seems to perfectly characterize the visual in ways never before seen, the Cavaliers did what they had been doing for many years, but the sheer excellence was at another level. That is saying a lot for a corps with 4 titles coming into 2002, but it was the 2002 corps that perhaps marches and plays one of the greatest shows in DCI history, and their 99.15 is certainly worty of praise. Simply put...Masterful!

There are others, but that is enough for now. I know, it's not 5.

Sorry,

Jonathan

Edited November 4, 2006 by jwillis35

[BozzlyB]

1989 Phantom Regiment, the snares rocking out with the 16th note ride cymbal pattern on the front sideline BEFORE it was watered to 8th notes.

86 BD drum solo, nothing has come close since.

88 SCV company front at the end of the show, WAY better than 89

Cadets drumline playing their cadence off the field in 1989 in Ankeny IA

Blue Stars coming back to Div 1 and getting 14th

[LancerFi]

Amazingly, my own top 5 are strikingly similar:

27th Lancers Guard Sure, tosses and exchanges had been done before, but in 1975, the rifles started spinning while lying on their backs, and by 1979 EVERYTHING went up in the air amidst a kaleidoscope of color

I have more, but for now, those are the ones that come to mind.

Hi Jim, I just wanted to let you know that although the crowd did go wild in PA in 75, the rifles kneeled down and laid back without laying down.

You may remember at the end of the year (75) in the winter at Revere High's School fieldhouse Ralph Pace asked the rifles to bring black skirts & pants and our boots and black shoes. Some wore them out, some tucked in, some in skirts, then he said ok now spin, kneel down, lay back, come up then lay down.......

We had sectionals every Wednesday night so we kind of knew why we were comparing. I'm sure there had to have been other reasons for the pants, but that was one of them. I was ill at first over it!!! It was put in for the 76 show.....and there you have it

[OboeBrad]

1. Music of the Night closer in SCV 89

2. Whole Phantom show in 89

3. Canon in D Phantom

4. Bottle Dance SCV

5. Whole Phantom show in 06