Cody Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 That shows a major misunderstanding of Cook's relationship with Star. He didn't keep throwing money at them every year, you know. From what I'm given to understand, he provided an initial investment to get the corps started but then expected them to operate within their budget like any good business. A Star staffer once told me they used the same set of 2-valve bugles from Winter 1984 to Finals 1993. The contra "cords" seen from 1990 on were both decorative and practical! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted January 3, 2007 Author Share Posted January 3, 2007 A Star staffer once told me they used the same set of 2-valve bugles from Winter 1984 to Finals 1993. The contra "cords" seen from 1990 on were both decorative and practical! :) That's correct. And for the first couple years of "Brass Theater" when they still performed a couple of tunes on G horns, too. A Star FMM I used to know in college told me that, at that point in time, the staff just never found a new set of 3-valve horns that they thought were superior to their old 2-valve Kings. Plus, they probably just didn't want to waste the money when the horns they had were perfectly satisfactory. Good for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossmenAlumni Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Does anyone have a picture of this? Here are the Crossmen horns from 1985...forgive the Hostess Cupcake uniforms... For several years throughout the early 80's, the Crossmen employed this look of silver/chrome plated horns with brass on the insides of the bells. The look lasted until 1988. And as Jon mentioned, they were never a matched set of instruments. Just a hodge podge of whatever the corps could get its hands on. Here are the white bells from 1989...not the best picture, but you can see them in the background. This was obviously from early season seeing as how the contra bells were not all white. They were white at Finals. This belongs in the "What Were They Thinking" file... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommytimp Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 So do those uniforms(and the 1985 ones too.). Seriously, Bones had some lousy uniform designs in the 80's, then in 1990 they got one of the best of all time, IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Here are the Crossmen horns from 1985...forgive the Hostess Cupcake uniforms... For several years throughout the early 80's, the Crossmen employed this look of silver/chrome plated horns with brass on the insides of the bells. The look lasted until 1988. And as Jon mentioned, they were never a matched set of instruments. Just a hodge podge of whatever the corps could get its hands on. Here are the white bells from 1989...not the best picture, but you can see them in the background. This was obviously from early season seeing as how the contra bells were not all white. They were white at Finals. This belongs in the "What Were They Thinking" file... "Bad to the Bones?": As "Bad" as you may think the "White Bells" were (And Crossmen wern not the first to use them, and old midwest senior, the "Boy's of 76" had them back in the early 1960s), try "Making Music" through an 1950's, early 1960's "Hand me down" that was brass in color, (Which required serious elbow grease and Brasso to get through a "Vets" inspection), had NO rotor, and the "Slide" was a "home made" device, created through sandpaper. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubamann Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 (edited) There is a picture in the 1997 program of a Crossmen Contra being held together by bungie cords. Spirit used P/R contras up until the late 80's. Magic's horns were a mix of all kinds of different types. I think they even had some of the original Olds two valves circa 1977. Esparanza had a mix of brass and silver colored horns for a few years. They must have found a good deal on some old band horns.Here's a good question, what was the last corps you've seen that used any P/R horns, besides contras. Spirit was not rotor-free until 1992. In the late 80's, the contras were Olds ultratones. The Mellos were a hodgepodge of degs, and kings, as were the baritones, but they also included several of the original two valve ultratones bought in 1977. The sops were ultratones (as a matter of fact, Spirit bought the last two valve olds sop ever manufactured in 1983), degs, and kings. The corps bought a set of 2 valve horns used in 1990, including the white painted belled mellos, from the Crossmen. We spent days chipping off the the paint, and later got the horns plated. Included in this purchase were the first ever two valve contras the corps played on. Edited January 3, 2007 by tubamann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Appleknocker Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Hands down,..... No contest,.... Kenosha Queensmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyboy Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 So do those uniforms(and the 1985 ones too.). Seriously, Bones had some lousy uniform designs in the 80's, then in 1990 they got one of the best of all time, IMO. More Xmen history: The uniforms were home made in 87-89 and probably some of the years before that. In the early years the corps wore doctored up "maytag repairmen" uniforms. In 1987, the corps proper was instructed to go by black "Dickies" at Sears. They gave us the produt# so we all matched. When we all had the pants they lined us up and pinned the lengths to match. Then Tim and Charlie, the color guard guys, took all the pants and hemmed them. Then they added the glitter strip to the leg. I'm not sure of details, but I think they made the tops. Gary's pics of the 89 corps shows Denis the timp player and horn line in some more home made unis. BTW, I also think the 1990 unis were the best ever. That was Carl Ruoccos first year as director and I'm sure he was instrumental in making that happen. I wonder if any corps out there is sporting home made anymore? I know Surf's were home made up until a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 More Xmen history: The uniforms were home made in 87-89 and probably some of the years before that. In the early years the corps wore doctored up "maytag repairmen" uniforms. In 1987, the corps proper was instructed to go by black "Dickies" at Sears. They gave us the produt# so we all matched. When we all had the pants they lined us up and pinned the lengths to match. Then Tim and Charlie, the color guard guys, took all the pants and hemmed them. Then they added the glitter strip to the leg. I'm not sure of details, but I think they made the tops. Gary's pics of the 89 corps shows Denis the timp player and horn line in some more home made unis.BTW, I also think the 1990 unis were the best ever. That was Carl Ruoccos first year as director and I'm sure he was instrumental in making that happen. I wonder if any corps out there is sporting home made anymore? I know Surf's were home made up until a few years ago. weren't 27th's unis kinda like that? They looked sharp when everything was put together, but the tunics looked like a khaki dress short instead if a jacket... if so, it was a good call financially...probably cost a lot less to sew onthe pants stripe and buy the accesspries than to buy a full uniforms from a uni company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scadescontra Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Also, I've heard stories about BD having to use electrical tape to cover holes in the horns so air wouldn't get out. Apparently they were using some of their original 3-Valve horns all the way up to '99.But that could be a lie. No lie.. Cascades bought a few of those horns in 2001. There were holes all over those things and a very inconvenient screw that dug into your playing hand. Far from the worse horns ever but those were pretty bad... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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