Fran Haring Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Jim,We were "threatened" with a "Delay of Show" penalty because I turned our Corps around and we left the starting line till Walter Kelly was done "shooting" them all. (we moved just off the field) I wish I had a few photos of Walter with his starters pistol chasing them all over the end zone. A lot funnier now... ;-) Yeah.... how bass-ackwards was that? We were forced to wait, had nothing to do with the incident, and WE were the ones threatened with a penalty. But am I bitter? No. Whatever..... as it turned out, it didn't end up mattering one way or the other for us. We were either coming in 5th or 6th that night, regardless of what happened. The best news of the entire night...... it was our last show wearing those wacky-### rainbow capes. Yikes, those things were weird. Fran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusankusho Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Ben hit that tymp too many times. It was 1980 at Hershey and my first year out. Westshoremen trying to break into the top 5 for the first time in corps history and they hold up Finals for about 15 minutes with the feathered rats. Think everyone in the stands but me was laughing. I've got my hands over my mouth 'cause I'm muttering "C'mon you ###holes, get them off the field before you take a penalty. C'mon don't #### up 5th place. #### #### ##### ####". Yeah - we were sitting in the backfield stands and laughing our ##### off as the Westshore guys tried to get the birds in the air while the show was running. I think it was Cabs waiting to go on while half the corps was on the field trying to catch the birds. I hadn't thought about that in a while - it was a classic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTux Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Yeah.... how bass-ackwards was that? We were forced to wait, had nothing to do with the incident, and WE were the ones threatened with a penalty. But am I bitter? No. Whatever..... as it turned out, it didn't end up mattering one way or the other for us. We were either coming in 5th or 6th that night, regardless of what happened. The best news of the entire night...... it was our last show wearing those wacky-### rainbow capes. Yikes, those things were weird. Fran hehe... "1980 - Sunrisers - Capes" = "weird" Not the word I would have used....LOL Thank God cooler minds prevailed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TennTux Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Yeah - we were sitting in the backfield stands and laughing our ##### off as the Westshore guys tried to get the birds in the air while the show was running. I think it was Cabs waiting to go on while half the corps was on the field trying to catch the birds. I hadn't thought about that in a while - it was a classic! It was the Sunrisers that was to go on after the Westshoremen that night.... I too was there and now have a few feathers as well as a reminder. I removed our Corps from the starting line while Walter Kelly did a little "hunting" with his blank pistol. (Thank you, to the two SunAlum, one who picked up some of the feathers and the other who gave them to me. They shall remain nameless unless they wish to share their names ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 LOL, and at retreat Westshorem DM Mark Plotz (RIP ) walks out with a dove on each shoulder. Crowd laughs and I want him to turn around to see if they crapped on his back. Whadda way to hit Top 5 in DCA for the first time. Weird part was after Prelims I ran into a few members and Howie one of Westshore bus drivers. Howie was as nuts as the rest of the corps and he had bunch of crates in his pickup. Asked him what the crates were for and the answer was: "If I tell you, I have to kill you. Just make sure you're here tonight". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairbear Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 LOL, and at retreat Westshorem DM Mark Plotz (RIP ) walks out with a dove on each shoulder. Crowd laughs and I want him to turn around to see if they crapped on his back. Whadda way to hit Top 5 in DCA for the first time.Weird part was after Prelims I ran into a few members and Howie one of Westshore bus drivers. Howie was as nuts as the rest of the corps and he had bunch of crates in his pickup. Asked him what the crates were for and the answer was: "If I tell you, I have to kill you. Just make sure you're here tonight". ALL IN ALL,IT HAS TO BE THE COOLEST "IDEA",EVER............THAT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG! IF THERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OUT THERE,I CANT THINK OF ONE....................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil50 Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 ALL IN ALL,IT HAS TO BE THE COOLEST "IDEA",EVER............THAT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG! IF THERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OUT THERE,I CANT THINK OF ONE....................... OK I got one.....early 90's prelims, Empire Statesmen, huge american flag........GO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hairbear Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 OK I got one.....early 90's prelims, Empire Statesmen, huge american flag........GO! OH YEAH..................REMEMBER THAT ONE!.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomPeashey Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 I'll take this opportunity to tell another Walter Kelly Story that was equally funny... the man was amazing... Early to mid 80's... I've forgotten the year... Walter is chief judge... I'm on the panel doing visual whatever... place: Scranton's old stadium... the big stone ediface ... After a "tough" show, there are the normal malcontents milling outside the small judges room in the bowels of the stadium... Walter is determined to keep control of the situation and still hold a critique... At this time, the corps came in at the same time and went to one judge at a time for the face to face meeting... with the chief judge telling the corps when to move on to the next judge (every few minutes)... judges were told to stop talking when he said time was up... critical to the story is knowing that Walter had just recently had throat cancer and had his voice box removed. He spoke by holding an electronic voice simulator to his throat. His voice - no matter how firm - came out sounding a bit more like a duck than tough old Walter... but this didn't stop him from doing his drum corps duties he so loved... To Start things off, Walter explains to all that he won't take any bull.... if there's anything out of line he will stop the critique... and when he says to change judges... we will all stop and change judges immediately OR ELSE... The critique begins... immediately gets fairly loud... you have to envision that we are in what I believe was the referees changing room - room for 5 guys... not 50... and concrete walls and ceilings... as staff gets heated and judges try and give input... the noise in the room quickly rose to ear shattering levels... At the end of the 8 minutes or whatever it is... Walter holds his voice box to his throat and says "Time is up..." nothing... no way anyone could hear him... He repeats: "Time is up..." in his frog like low rasp... he must have done this several times... but to no avail... Finally, BOOM... an unbelievably loud explosion occurs... tape recorders fly... sheets fly... people dive to the floor - ears ringing - something that wouldn't stop for hours... as we regained our composure and checked for blood... in a sudden silence, there in the middle of the room was Walter with a wide grin on his face and a smoking gun still pointed in the air... With his other hand he raises the voice box to his throat and with visible glee proclaims: chuckling out loud.... "I told you time was up" The rest of the critique was quiet, uneventful as we all had ear trouble and just wanted to get through it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 OK I got one.....early 90's prelims, Empire Statesmen, huge american flag........GO! 1992. We were sitting at field level, watching the whole thing unfold.... or should I say, collapse. The looks on some of the Statesmen horn player's faces.... classic "WTF???????" looks as they fought their way through the cloth enveloping them. I give those guys a lot of credit for somehow still being able to play their instruments while they dealt with that situation. Fran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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