From: drapeau@oglala.Stanford.EDU (George Drapeau)
Subject: Re: A Comment About Zingali & "Two-Seven" in 1980
Reply-To: drapeau@sioux.stanford.edu
Organization: Libraries and Information Resources, Stanford University
	<DRAPEAU.92Sep11003305@oglala.Stanford.EDU>
	<1992Sep13.045538.5548@vela.acs.oakland.edu>
Date: 12 Sep 92 23:45:33

In article <1992Sep13.045538.5548@vela.acs.oakland.edu> bfhalls@vela.acs.oakland.edu (HALLS BRADLEY F) writes:

   I'm afraid that everything that I have heard pretty much backs up your
   story (and I have heard similar versions from many well respected
   sources, including Fred Sanford, to some extent...he was understandably
   reluctant to go into much detail about it).

Wow, bummer.  Damn.

   I, too have alot of respect
   for Gail Royer, and it's hard for me to believe that all of this actually
   happened. I think a large portion of the staff after that year was fired,
   and that Gail actually campained for the corps to be dumped, to make the
   house cleaning seem justified. The only conclusion that I can make is 
   that Gail is *very* sensative about maintaining creative control of the
   corps. (Shades of Ralph Hardimon, Gordon Henderson, Tim Salzman...the
   list goes on.)

Yeah, I hear that noise.  I was shocked when Ralph left in the middle
of the '90 season.  I personally think that his departure was more
than a little responsible for their poor placement, although nothing
Ralph could do would help the drill design (I mean c'mon, spelling
"SCV" on the field?  What does that have to do with Carmen?  SCV this
year: *maybe*.  But for Carmen?  Ack.).  When I saw the '90 drum line
at Concord Pavilion, they were pretty scary.

   As for the 1980 Vanguard percussion placement, I'm almost certain that
   they got seventh. What a crime. As you say, Stone Ground Seven was one
   of the all time great drum solo's, and was *unbelievably* clean. To think
   that they were beaten by so many other lines that year (in particular,
   Phantom...AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!) is almost to much to bear, but then
   for Fred to have been fired is simply beyond belief.

Yeah, clean is right.  You know what says clean for me?  There's a
long roll where just the battery is playing; I know that snares and
tenors are playing the roll, but I'm not sure about basses.  Anyway,
the tenors roll among several drums (from low to high, I think), and
it sounds like somebody is winding up the players.  It's so clean that
*every* *single* *note* is felt like a single-stroke attack, so each
note resonates.  Am I making sense?  I'm sure you know what part of
the music I'm talking about, but I'm not sure I'm getting the feeling
across okay.  And I never saw that show live, I've only heard the
tape, but if it's that good on tape, it must have been unbelievable
live.  Those players were *strong*.

   BTW, I was in Dev's snare line in '85...we must have met a few times,
   but I never got to know the pit guys as well as the battery guys...
   remember the Giants game and the SCV/BD cruise?

Hey, cool!  Yeah, I was a "rookie age-out" so I didn't get a chance to
meet as many folks in the corps or in others as I would like.  I think
that to get the full experience out of drum corps, you gotta do it
three years or more.  My friends from Vanguard who were in for a few
years started to build some nice friendships with folks from other
corps.  Others liked them so much that they actually joined the other
corps (can you say "Dave DiLullo"? :-)).

Wow, I had forgotten about the Giants game; hey, thanks for reminding
me!  And I missed the cruise, but I can't remember why.

I really didn't meet any battery dudes that season, but talked some
with the pit folks.  They were pretty cool.  You remember Dave Brown?
(didn't he take individuals in marimba three years straight?)  Wow,
what a great player.  It cracked me up how much he intimidated a
couple of the others in the Vanguard pit (the younger ones).  They
called him "Julliard Joe" (sp?) because of his Julliard schooling.
All I remember was that he was a pretty laid-back guy and a great
player.

By the way, your posting the other day about dropping the two snares
before Finals week was great.  I remember when that happened; wasn't
it the Phantom show, last show before Finals week, when it was raining
afterward?  It was around then, definitely.

I loved your show in '85.  I thought it was a bold move to go with
that material.

Later,

	George
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______________________________________________________________________________
George D. Drapeau			Internet: drapeau@sioux.stanford.edu
Libraries and Information Resources
Stanford University
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps