From: bfhalls@vela.acs.oakland.edu (HALLS BRADLEY F)
Subject: Re: A Comment About Zingali & "Two-Seven" in 1980
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 02:53:49 GMT

In article <DRAPEAU.92Sep12234533@oglala.Stanford.EDU> drapeau@sioux.stanford.edu writes:

>>   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*.

I know exactly what you mean about the roll quality. The really amazing
thing is not only were the individual segments just about perfect, but
their sense of ensemble timing and unity was uncanny. They must have
been *psychic*. I heard that the guy that really made those lines clean
was Curt Moore. Are you familiar with that name? I have never met him.

>>   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"? :-)).

We used to talk to him after a lot of shows. Suffice it to say that I
wasn't really surprised when he left for BD in '86. I don't think he
got along with Bob Kalkaufen (sp?) very well.

>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.

Yeah, he was pretty good. Just ask him. :-)

Did you have a guy in the pit named David Polk your year? He was in
the pit at Phantom, and really took a lot of undeserved abuse there.

>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.

It was just before the Port Huron, MI show (last show before finals).
There were 2 guys in the snare line that had just been losing it all
season, and were really starting to self-destruct under the pressure.
I know it really tore up Tom to do it, but to be fair, we were all
begging him to. There is no way we would have won drums with those
guys in the line. I still feel really  bad about it, though. Was it
worth it? Ask them. So what was the reaction when you guys found out?
You must have thought we were really panicking. (Which we were. It
was right around then that the drums burned up, as if we didn't have
enough other problems. What a summer!) It really is a testiment to
the guys in the line that we came through all the adversity, though.

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

Thanks. You guys were pretty awesome yourselves. 

--Brad



-- 
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Brad Halls                                "Still looking for witty quote."
Computer Science Grad Student              -me         
Oakland University
Rochester, Michigan
bfhalls@vela.acs.oakland.edu

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