Plymouth Rocks! (Part 1)

[J.C.]

My lovely wife Lisa and I took in the sights and sounds of “America’s Hometown” and absolutely had the time of our lives! We arrived late Tuesday evening and spent a few days exploring Plymouth before most of the drum corps folks arrived for the weekend. For us Midwesterners, immersing ourselves in Plymouth’s wonderful people and historic attractions would have been reason enough to count this vacation among our all time favorites. The week climaxed with the Thanksgiving parade and “National Senior Drum and Bugle Corps Concert” which made our visit all the more special!

The Kilties traveled to Plymouth for the first four “America’s Hometown” Thanksgiving celebrations (1996-1999), but between the parade, pre-show rehearsals and the show itself, there was never any time left over to actually see any of the cool stuff that Plymouth has to offer. This trip was different and we took full advantage. Our ocean-side view of the Plymouth harbor at the Governor Bradford hotel was spectacular. It was a great central location from which to explore the town. Highlights for me included Plymouth Plantation, the Mayflower, the Plymouth Hall Museum, the Jenny Grist Mill tour, Burial Hill and the seafood. I ate some of the best seafood on the planet 3 times a day for 4 days. (“Lobster Fantasy” at Isaac’s was quite possibly the best meal I’ve ever eaten). It was as if I had died and gone to seafood heaven! On Thursday, the Budweiser Clydesdales came to town and set up a touring set of horse stalls open to the public. The Thursday night Clydesdale party next door at the “Cabby Shack” was wild, complete with free Budweiser, and cool Bud paraphernalia. Lisa and I took full advantage :-)

OK here's where posting this review gets tricky. I'm only allowed to post a cople pictures each post, so I'm going to break up the review into multiple posts. Stay tuned for more.

Here's a few pictures from early in the week:

Jenny's Grist Mill:

Burial Hill:

Lisa and I on the Mayflower:

[J.C.]

The invasion of drum corps people began in earnest on Friday. That’s when our neighbors moved into room 306 next door. Gil McDonald (Boston Crusaders and Air Force Academy), Spike Ruggells (Miami Vanguard and Air Force Academy), Pat Farrante (Blessed Sac and Air Force Academy) and Fran Burke (Vinny’s) were in town as spectators just like us, and we had a great time trading war stories and discovering mutual friends in the activity. We seemed to run into these four great guys all weekend everywhere we went. Our hotel also played host to an endless stream of Park City Pride members, and St. Kevin’s folks, many of whom we got to chat with. Friday evening found Lisa and I at the John Carver Inn, headquarters for the Hawthorne Alumni Corps. We met lots of old and new friends. Special shout outs to Ralph in the soprano line, and Lydia Plante who us the Assistant Director of Excelsior Drum and Bugle Corps from Troy, NY when she’s not marching Cabs Alumni.

Saturday morning greeted us with great weather for a parade, mid 50s and sunny. Lisa and I got up and headed a couple of blocks south on Water Street to the reviewing stand area. We strategically located ourselves directly across from the reviewing stand at the top of historic “Coles Hill” where a huge crowd was gathering. This spot afforded us a fabulous bird’s eye view of everything and allowed us to see a full 4 blocks down the parade rout. It also gave us the best seats in the house for the incredible pre-parade show. We were directly across from the temporary stage set up for “The Tops in Blue”, a 35 piece all-active duty US Air Force special unit made up of singers, dancers and musicians. The group’s main mission is to perform for military personnel but they occasionally do other gigs and we were lucky enough to see one of them. They absolutely blew Lisa and I away. They were followed by a local singer who was also very good. The highlight of his show was his impeccable timing. Before his last number, a stirring rendition of “God Bless America”, he told us to make sure and be watching the skies to the south while he hit the last high note of the song, as there was going to be an F-15 fly by happening, and sure enough, he held the last high note for about 10 seconds, and the F-15s came roaring by. The crowd went berserk, and the event was punctuated with a 21 gun salute from the Mayflower canons just to the north-east of us.

Here's a few Pre parade pictures.

View of Plymouth Rock from our seats on Coles Hill:

Tops in Blue (talk about great seats for the show!!!):

[J.C.]

The parade itself was the best I’ve ever seen (but I haven’t actually seen that many parades, because I’m usually marching). The first drum corps was the Park City Pride, and they were fabulous! They also garnered the largest crowd reaction from the huge audience on Coles Hill. Why? Because they did everything right! Like most of the appearing corps, they stopped in front of the reviewing stand and aimed their horns and drums at the local dignitaries, but half way through their performance, they turned around and faced the huge crowd on the hill, unfurled a HUGE American Flag that filled the street sidewalk to sidewalk, and blew the faces off the REAL audience on the hill. Genius move! And it didn’t hurt that they had one of the largest and best appearing units in the parade! Kudos to Park City Pride, one of my new favorite corps!

[J.C.]

They were followed by the largest collection of fife and drum corps that I’ve ever seen in one location. They were intermixed with a bunch of Revolutionary war reenactment and Civil war reenactment groups, all of which were highly popular. I was also impressed with the crowd itself. Everyone watching from Coles Hill stood and saluted as each American Flag section passed. I thought that was extremely cool and appropriate.

Here's a couple pictures of some other cool stuff in the parade.

1/4 scale replica of the Mayflower:

Budweiser Clydesdales:

A cool floating entry:

[J.C.]

Saint Kevin’s was the next drum corps to pass, and I was immediately struck by the classic street beat and how cool and together their arm swing looked from a block away. Lisa and I also love the green, red and white cadet style uniforms. Classy! They, too, sounded great when they stopped and played for the reviewing stand and garnered a very nice ovation.

[J.C.]

The Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights were next, highlighted by their distinctive black and gold uniforms. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Blessed Sac many times in the past 10 years, but they’ve never looked more impressive to me as they did in the parade From the time they turned the corner 4 blocks away, all eyes were drawn to the bumble bee colored block approaching. Their performance at the reviewing stand was indeed worthy of their high standards, and the wonderful ovation was well earned.

[J.C.]

The Boston Crusader Senior Corps was next to stop at the reviewing stand and what impressed me most was the shear power that the 26 person horn line was producing. They sounded like 45, but it sounded effortless and in tune. We weren’t the only ones in the audience to notice. Everybody around us was looking at each other and saying wow. No leakers in that line! We cheered extra loud for Mickey Quarleno in the contra line as he passed. After all, Mickey is a life member of the Kilties :-)

[J.C.]

Connecticut Alumni was next up and looked sharp in their “Men in Black” parade uniforms. Very classy. They were about the same size as Boston Crusaders, and like Boston, they sounded much bigger. I guess that’s the beauty of a good alumni corps. Lots of experienced players make for a big full sound. Kudos Connecticut!

[J.C.]

Light Brigade absolutely melted me with their classic rendition of Danny Boy with the Holtz March ending. What else need be said? They were fantastic! They garnered one of the largest ovations of the day!

[J.C.]

Capping the parade was Hawthorne Caballero Alumni. Lisa and I, who were doing everything right all weekend, decided it would be easier to make a quick get away from the bottom of the hill, so we temporarily planted ourselves next to the reviewing stand at ground level for Hawthorne. Much to our delight, they arced up the horn line, and blew our faces off with Larry Kerchner’s arrangement of MacArthur’s Park. WOW! Then we ran up ahead of them and listened to them rump their way by us again. I even got a salute from Frank Ponzo on his way by. How about that for making a guy feel special :-) Thanks Cabs! As usual you were fantastic!

Like I said before, Lisa and I were doing everything right and we followed the Cabs to the end of the parade and we ducked into Isaac’s for a late lunch before the post parade mob stood in line for an hour for a table. Then I headed over to Memorial Hall to catch a little pre-show rehearsal. I got there right about the time that Light Brigade was going to rehearse, and I got to plant a big kiss on the lips of my favorite Light Brigader, Smitty. Who loves you baby?! And speaking of Smitty, special kudos go out for performing a mere 2 weeks after she had a total knee replacement. Amazing! Light Brigade had a great rehearsal, as did the New York Skyliners Alumni Percussion Duet (more on them later).

Stay tuned for part 2 with more pictures from the show.