Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: '79 rememberances--oldtimers
From: R.Vincent.Lamb@um.cc.umich.edu
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 11:38:06 EDT
Return-Receipt-To: R.Vincent.Lamb@um.cc.umich.edu
To: fath1@husc, ck10322@china.medtronic.com
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Originator: fath1@husc8.harvard.edu

ck10322@china.medtronic.com (Cameron Kaszas) wrote:
 
Subject: '79 remembrances (oldtimers ...)
 
>  Vince
 
>I knew there was an old North Star out there somewhere, to remind
>me of '79 CYO!  I guess that I didn't mention it because it
>didn't happen at finals - the only placing that people remember
>13 YEARS LATER :)  Did you really faint?  Please 
>tell me that you guys did an AWESOME
>show, and I won't feel so bad.  I really can't remember how
>our show was - it didn't seem to matter in '79.  When we thought
>we'd done well was usually when the scores hurt the worst!  I'm
>trying desperately to remember some details of that show.  The 
>stadium was nice if I remember - astro turf, well lit, no? (it
>was my only CYO).  We had to warm up facing a huge wall with train
>tracks on the other side.  We used to end our warm-up with
>the fanfare from "Slaughter On 10th Avenue" (ala 1975), and there was
>a train going by at the time, and the drummers were passing by
>telling us to play louder they couldn't hear us.
> 
>'79 was a strange year for Madison.  We did beat Phantom and 
>27th all 1st half, and were not too far behind SCV and Spirit 
>out West.   We were 5th at DCI East which had the top 8 or so 
>two weeks before finals.  And the judges were still saying 
>there was hope of moving up.  Then, we were shocked at 6th
>in Prelims, and needless to say very shocked at 8th in 
>Finals.  I mean, Madison had gone 2,2,1,2,4?,4, since 1973 - 
>this was quite slide for such a powerhouse.
 
<snip!>
>corps who wanted to march their last with Madison.  The 
>judges didn't like our attempt at more "finesse", and less "beat 
>and blast" if I can remember the commonly used terms used by 
>the DCW writers.  I don't think it was so much that we were any
>less "Madison" sounding, but that we just had a hard show that
we didn't get credit for.  Our repertoire was "Sorceror and the Latin"
>(Les Brown Band, off the same album as "Ballet In Brass"), "Bohemian 
>Rhaphsody" (Queen), "Granada Smoothie" (Kenton), and "Pieces Of Dreams" 
>(Buddy Rich played it, Michael Legrand composed it?)
 
>Hey, I just remembered a corps we toured with in '79: Memphis Blues
>Brass Band!  They were also known as MB3 (MB^3)?  Anyone remember?
>They weren't too bad - I think they made Top-25.
 
>Other remembrances from 1979:  1st year for 2-valve instruments other
>than sopranos (these came in 1978), Phantom should have won DCI 
(this was their 3rd straight 2nd place finish, but that's not why they
should have won - they had a great closer by Wagner, "Elsa's something
>or other ... "), I thought Birmingham was a good finals site, but didn't
>like it as much as Denver, Maynard Ferguson did the color commentary
>on the PBS telecast - at one point he played a bugle to compare to
his trumpet, he had some good points to add, it just took him too long
>to say them!  Spirit of Atlanta had a great year, Crossmen did "Superman"
<snip>
 
>Regards,
 
> Cam "Hey, I can finally post - look out..." Kaszas
 
 
Did I really faint?  Well, I couldn't stand up, but I never lost
consciousness.  I remember saying "I don't believe it!"
Was it an AWESOME show?  Yes, it was the best performance in the corps
history--alumni still talk about it.  It was our high score of the year
at DCI shows--84.95.  I think DCI prelims was 84.55 or 84.45.
The stadium (Boston College) was nice and it did have astroturf
(made your heels spread apart while you were standing at attention).
 
Yeah, I thought Madison could have been louder that year, too.  Our
horn instructors told us at the beginning of the season that we were
louder than Madison, just not better :-) !  Wasn't 1979 the year that
Madison used the "Tromboniphone" bugles during Granada Smoothie?
They had an interesting sound.  The only other corps to use them
was San Jose Raiders in 1982.  The soloist during exit played one.
 
You're getting your dates mixed up.  MB^3 started up in 1980, not 1979.
*Suncoast* began touring in 1979 (and really sucked, too!)
 
Yes, Maynard Ferguson did the color with Reliable Rondo (his first year
calling "play by play" :-).  Jerry Noonan, North Star's soloist was really
hyped, because he was playing Maynard's solo from Ole to Maynard himself.
Maynard called Jerry "brave".
 
Birmingham was OK.  It helped that DCI was held during a cold snap, so the
weather was tolerable.  Of course, I caught a nasty cold and really did
faint coming off the field after our prelims performance :-b.
 
Type at you later,
 
Vince

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