I can honestly say that in my time of being in junior Corps (late 70's), I had never seen a senior Corps field show. I remember seeing the Chicago Connection in a few parades...but that's about it. If there were other senior Corps' in the Chicago area, I didn't follow them. Wasn't there another corps called the Spirit of '76 - or Boys of '76? I can't remember.

With such a heavy concentration of Drum Corps in this part of the Midwest (especially the Chicago area), I would have thought a Midwest senior Corps' circuit would rival what the east coast has. I wonder why that never happened?

Anyway...I'm really looking forward to Scranton and my first real exposure to the senior (or is "all ages" the p.c. term) Corps.

Who can tell me...what should I look forward to hearing/seeing?

What did you do in the Corps? 2nd Sop

What years were you a Corps member? 1979

Keith,

There were several seniors in the midwest in the 40's and 50's, but by the 60's most of them were gone. In fact, MANY Norwood instructors came from the Skokie Indians, who I believe won nationals (American Legion) 3 times in the 50's. I know Dick Snyder, George Munzer, and others marched with them.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73, 78-79

Renegades are always fun to watch. The top seniors, while not nearly as proficient as the juniors, are entertaining. The bottom seniors, well, I had to get up and leave. The tail end of finals is a little rough. I don't plan on watching prelims until Renegades come on, then dusting the place until the top six come on. That's just me tho.

Minicorps is fun. I like Renegades mini corps and Ghost Riders (MSJ's mini corps). Erie has a good mini corps too. There are a few others. You open up the show so you can watch everyone in minicorps should you choose to.

You'll get to see alot more of the Alumni classic that I have in two years since RA went on last. Cabs alumni is always a blast from the past to watch. Sky Alumni is just loud. Their snareline is very good however. Boston Alumni has a great alumni drumline.

Have fun! Don't be too shocked by seeing a lot of people drinking beer at 9am and toasted by 3pm. The first time I went to DCA since '83 was 1999. I never saw partying like that in my life. Seriously. I can't even get my son to go back after he went in 2002. He did not appreciate the senior scene at all.

-Terri

What did you do in the Corps? french horn

What years were you a Corps member? \\'72 - \\'73

about your senior corps in the midwest question. There was Boys of '76 from Racine, which became Spirit of '76 when women were admitted. There was a Chicago Vanguard senior for a while in the '80's. Kilties senior pretty much killed them. Of course, Chicago connection in the late '70's.

I think senior corps in the Chicago area doesn't have a long shelf life. I'm amazed that the Kilties have managed to stay afloat for 12 years now. It certainly hasn't been easy for them.

-Terri

What did you do in the Corps? french horn

What years were you a Corps member? \\\'72 - \\\'73

I think you'll dig the senior corps since you are still a fan of the old school drum corps. The first thing I noticed last year was that the drum lines play much louder in DCA and most of the brasslines are 50% sopranos.

Watch with an open mind because you will not see the proficiency that you see in DCI. Most corps are small, but entertaining. The GE factor is huge in DCA. For example: The Hurricanes put on a hell of a Las Vegas show last year, the Corpsvets played some old Spirit of Atlanta tunes, the Bushwackers (Mary Snyder's corps) always has a kicking guard, and the Skyliners are a crowd favorite with their traditional uniforms.

I recommend that you attend as much as possible. You will miss something cool if you only watch the top 7 or so. Mini-corps is OK, but not too visual.

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 70-75 Cadets, 76-81 A Corps

Re: why no senior corps circuit in the midwest?

I think that Terri is correct in saying that a senior corps has a short "shelf life" here.

Not sure why that is true, but it could be that junior corps members in the midwest just move on to "other things" after they age out. They go on to family, work, other activities.

Another thing is that some senior corps develop a "party" attitude, often with a lot of drinking. Many people outgrow that and just move on. Not sure how it is in the east with all their corps.

Yes, there WERE a number of midwest senior corps in the 50's and 60's ... most of them were made up of WWII and Korean War vets who marched in junior corps. It would appear that they left the corps eventually and were not replaced.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71; quartermaster 1964-66

What years were you a Corps member? member 1958- 1963

The senior corps thing in the midwest suffers because the championships are in the east. They have a circuit out there that we never were able to duplicate. The seniors in the midwest tacked themselves onto the DCM circuit that meant the ending of our season is in the second week of July (unless you want to spend all that money to go to DCA), thus causing the seniors to march parades while while the other circuits are just beginning to heat up.

Also, Dave makes a good point about the party aspect of seniors, which was the reason why the senior corps were quite weak in the late seventies and early eighties. Thankfully that has past, but some of those reputations are hard to shake.

Lastly and probably the most important reason the midwest is senior deficient is that we are all spread out here in the midwest. The corps in the northeast are pretty much all located around the New York/Philadelphia area. They might have to travel an hour or two to get to shows, where we're on a bus for seven hours to get to Milwaukee or DeKalb. Travel is expensive, therefore making it more expensive to run a show and the drum corps itself.

This will all change with the new "all-age" philosophy of DCA and the demise of DCM (assuming DCM will eventually sputter out without the Div1 corps). I foresee junior corps in the midwest that are fed up with DCI going to DCA in the future. The age limit will be eliminated for these corps and the midwest will be thick with DCA corps.

OK, I'm dreaming again.

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 70-75 Cadets, 76-81 A Corps

I hope you guys can take a little honesty from me here. When I aged out of Guardsmen, I wouldn't even have considered a senior corps. I have friends in RA who march Connection but quite frankly, we in my junior corps just laughed at them and thought they were a bunch of drunks. It sort of influenced my view on seniors and when I got some calls in the '80's to do some marching and playing with the Chicago Vanguard, I said "no thanks".

Well over the years I have definitely softened up believe it or not and in '99, with my son marching in Cap Sound, an empty nest and me with not alot to do besides work, I joined the Kilties. It was not a good experience or a bad experience. It was an experience. I loved playing again. I almost weeped sometimes playing my horn again. My experience in the Royal-Airs was as close to heaven as I could ever have gotten without dying. It made up for my mistake of not marching '79 Guardsmen. Standing on the starting line at Camp Randall in 2002 was a life changing experience for me. and those who doubt that don't know much about me.

So that's my take on the senior experience. I've loved some of it and loved some of it less. How's that for diplomacy from a very opinionated woman?

-Terri

What did you do in the Corps? french horn

What years were you a Corps member? \\\'72 - \\\'73

The "all age" DCA corps idea stated by Jim Snyder sounds pretty interesting. If that allows real drum corps to survive in the midwest, I'd say it is worth a try!

It is clear trhat DCI isn't the answer .. they will end up with about 10 "super units" (NOT drum corps) who travel around being professionals. Forget local youth who need drum corps!

What did you do in the Corps? drummer 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71; quartermaster 1964-66

What years were you a Corps member? member 1958- 1963

Keith,

So what did you think? I took a look at the website and it looks like the center of power for DCA is in upstate New York--Empire Statesmen and Syracuse.

I haven't seen a senior contest since I lived in the Washington D.C. area. I saw a show at Old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore hosted by the Yankee Rebels. I think the top corps then were Hawthorne, Syracuse, Reading, and the Rochester Crusaders. It was a pretty entertaining show and Memorial Stadium was a good venue for a corps show.

John

What years were you a Corps member? 1959-66 (Cadets 59-61 Imperials 62-66)

John,

First things first. I’m going to list a few short notes I wish to say:

We missed you Rose. I hope everything is going well. I want you to know that we were thinking of you and wish you a fast recovery.

To the rest of the Norwood Park/RA family. Thanks for a great season. Everyone made me feel “at home”. You’re the best.

There was a formal picture taken of all of the Norwood Park members who marched with the RA in Scranton. The same folks who took the RA Corps photo did the Norwood picture. Expect something soon!!

Tom Walter and the RA guard did a fantastic job marching the American Flag section for other Corps in finals. Tom led the American Flag section for the Govenaires and Minnesota Brass wearing his RA uniform. He and the RA guard made us very proud.

Now the show,

I was very surprised at several things. First I need to congratulate Jim “Smoothy” Snyder for the unbelievable job he did with the Govenaires. You would have to see it to believe it. Working with such a small horn line and still making the night show is something Smoothy should be very proud of. Fantastic job!!

The alumni show didn’t do much for me. I wasn’t really able to see all the Corps' I wanted to see. However there were exceptions. Skyliners left a great memory and the Caballeros Alumni were very impressive and fun to watch. The Cab Alum horn line and soloists were strong and what drill they did do was done with authority.

Finals were interesting. I found that Corps’ are following the Jr. Corps style with a lot of fast moving continuous movement. As a matter of fact, I think it was the Brigadiers (may have been the Hurricanes) that flat out lifted whole pieces of drill from the 2003 Cavi “Spin Cycle” show. The CorpsVets gave me goosebumps when they did the 1980 Sprit of Atlanta version of Sweet Georgia Brown as their warm-up. While not as loud as Spirit was, I never thought I would hear that exact same arrangement again. WOW!!

I liked the Renegades show. This was the first time I was able to see their show other from being at ground level. Some “East Coast traditionalists” that sat around me didn’t quite know what to make of the Renegades. I remember the same things being said about the Bridgemen years ago. Some folks need to loosen up a little.

The other show I enjoyed very much was Minnesota Brass. I loved their “Moonlight” theme and they have great soloists. I can see this Corps making the top three with just a little more work.

The Caballeros were disappointing. I’m not sure if it’s because I wanted them to “rock my world” and really show me an over the top performance. They didn’t. As a matter of fact, following the Renegades and Minnesota Brass really showed the weakness of the B-flat horns. While not a huge difference in sound it was noticeable.

It was very entertaining and fun night. I may end up buying the DVD of the night performances to add to my collection.

What did you do in the Corps? 2nd Sop

What years were you a Corps member? 1979

Keith,
Thanks for the hat. It's nice to go home with cool stuff. I'm glad you dug the Govies. We went to gain some new fans and I think we did that well.

Next week we play a concert at Harvestfest at Harmony Park in southern MN and do a parade in Amboy, MN to pay for the trip. Then it's a concert at an ex-contras wedding in SD the following week. And finally Tremendous Blast in LaCrosse (Check out www.tremendousblast.com , we need RA to represent) the next week. So this year is not over yet for the green corps.

Be sure to thank your crew that marched American Flag Squad with us. It was a tremendous gesture and marching on the same field with Art Green is an honor (tell him I said that).

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 70-75 Cadets, 76-81 A Corps