We recently saw a posting thread about GOOD memories as an Imperial.

But, what about the "bad" memories we have? Things we could have done without?

Here are some of mine .... will think more later:

1. Long bus rides ... I HATED riding on the bus, especially when sleep was needed.

2. Hot and long parades

3. Getting back to Chicago LATE and going home very tired/ sleepy.

4. Having a good corps program, but losing because some corps members weren't working and practicing. (Probably should have "gotten in their face" more on that!)

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 - 1963

Top 10 Bad memories:

1. Endless "Box" drills in various parking lots.

2. Stepping out a count early on a company front at DCI finals.

3. Having to play Hava Nagila as part of our show. (It was so bad that I think the ADL filed a protest after a Skokie show).

4. Not having our own buses.

5. The busses pulling into the American Legion parking lot. I loved those long bus rides/tours and didn’t want them to ever end.

6. After the exhilaration of finally moving up to the A corp. from the cadets, the disappointment that almost all of the previous members and staff had bailed.

7. Don Warren rightfully dressing down his future son-in-law and I for a ridicules post duet move he saw us do at the VFW show in Elk Grove.

8. The disappointment of being assigned to the horn line instead of the drum line when I joined the cadets. Something I still feel every time I see a drum line.

9. Having my one and only opportunity to be Drum Major for a day washed away as the Hobie Day Parade was cancelled due to rain.

10. Giving up on the Imperials after a frustrating camp in Mt. Prospect and moving on to the Cavaliers where the grass looked a lot greener.

What did you do in the Corps? Baritone

BAD Memories

1. Taking the field in a downpour in Bellefontaine Ohio in 1962.

2. Traveling through New York City to a contest in Long Island the night before the Dream Contest in 1963 and losing to St Lucy's Cadets.

3. Ohio in 1964. Losing to a corps called the Emerald Cadets at a show in Marion Ohio and then not making finals at VFW Nationals in Cleveland.

4. The 1965 Worlds Fair parking lot incident with the New York street toughs and the buses being escorted to the local NYPD station where one of the kids identified a member of Norwood who had a gun. A starter's pistol was found on the bus. (In retrospect that incident could have been much more serious.)

5. The rest of the weekend after the World's Fair incident at two shows in Newark and Hackensack, New Jersey. Corps didn't place well and just seemed to be going through the motions.

6. Weekend of shows in Wisconsin (Delavan, Racine and Wilmont) in early August 1966 which started with the equipment truck being hit by a speeding motorcyclist (who was killed). Some issues at practice on Saturday in Racine when I almost quit. A strike by about half the corps members before the parade at Wilmont on Sunday.

Our quartermaster and assistant weren't hurt in the accident. We won the show on Saturday. The striking members marched in the Wilmont show and we won that contest too. After that weekend things weren't the same. We won a few more shows that year but it wasn't the as much fun for me after that weekend.

7. Getting dumped by the judges (Corky Fabrizio and Gale Royer in particular) at VFW Nationals in 1965 as payback for some corps members insulting Don Angelica earlier in the season.

What did you do in the Corps? Baritone

What years were you a Corps member? 1959-1961 Cadets 1962-1966 Imperials

John's bad memories hit home with me too.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

1. First show of the year in Kenosha and it snowed, hard to drum with hands frozen.

2 Waiting hours in boring town USA.for the bus to be fixed.

3. bus accidents

4. Toronto parade 7 miles carrying a tympani being lied to the whole way "its over around the next corner" yea and the check is in the mail.

5. Last show 73 Loves Park after New Orleans, half the corps went to the hospital, I had mono and kidney stones, thanks New Orleans ( also can't drink vodka to this day)

6. last show... end of season sad, school starts even sadder.

Yikes! Carrying a tympani at all is a dumb idea, but in a parade (and SEVEN MILES) is "cruel and unusual punishment"!

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Bad memories

Saw in another post

INSPECTIONS they sucked starring at a brick wall until it started moving, and your body seems to lock up and you want to pass out.

I forgot to add marching in the 4th of July 1963 Circus parade in Milwaukee (I think that was the first parade). The thing was five miles long. It was hot and elephants leave much larger piles than horses.

What did you do in the Corps? Baritone

What years were you a Corps member? 1959-1961 Cadets 1962-1966 Imperials

Greg is right .. Inspections were a BAD idea. A real pain! I am not sure WHY the veterans groups thought this was good. It was strictly a military thing .. maybe they wanted to ensure that the participating groups were all "presentable". After all, in the early days, there were HUNDREDS of corps in the US .. many small and from little towns.

The Circus Parade! I have to agree with John, that was a TERRIBLE experience. It wasn't just "hot" that day, it was a record setting hot day, probably near 100. And, the parade was very long ... we thought it would never end. And, he's right about elephants too.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

I'm sure the inspection came from the military, who provided the first drum corps judges. And I think they insisted on keeping it as long hair came into style and they wanted to maintain the image of the corps. I remember those May haircuts before the season started...

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

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

I remember guys literally putting their shako on upside down stuffing their hair in and then have someone trim the excess.

John, I believe that the drum line also got dumped at 1965 Nationals: we finished 10th that night with a very clean show!! Go figure.
As far as I am concerned, that was one of our best overall shows in the 5 years I marched with the Imperials.
I agree with John's and Dave's lists, but the all time low for me was not making finals at VFW for the first time ever, at Cleveland in 1964. I was just sick about it.

What did you do in the Corps? Drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 "B" Corps through 1967 "A" Corps

The Circus Parade was shortened the following year because it was too hard on the animals. If you remember that parade, then you remember the solesof your shoes sticking to the pavement and the ensuing blisters on your heels.

I agree that not making Nationals in '64 was the lowpoint. I felt like I had let down every Imperial that marched before me.

What did you do in the Corps? Drum

What years were you a Corps member? 60-69

Very interesting comment, John! That feeling of "owing" something to the people that went before was lost somehow by the 70s. Other corps had it (Cavaliers, Garfield) and it got them through some tough times. There was very little talk of the "image" or history of Norwood when I marched. I got most of it from reading old magazines and spending nights at your house, listening to old records and old stories.

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

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

John and Bob, good point. Unfortunately, for some reason, that is another aspect of Imperials management that was lacking.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

I don't think we can blame that solely on management. At least in the Cavaliers, that came from the guys themselves, making returning alumni feel welcome all the time and having regular alumni functions.

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

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

Bob you are right. My perception as an outsider is that the the Cavalier Alumni are one of the main reasons the corps exists and continues to be as strong as it is. Think of a fraternity - that bond continues and extends well after you leave college. It becomes a network that in Drum Corps is the connection you may need for sponsorship or fundraising or whatever. Management strength and continuity was a bid issue with Norwood but if there was a strong extended "staff" or "alumni association" those problems would have had a better chance of being overcome.

What did you do in the Corps? Drum

What years were you a Corps member? 60-69

All corps had different "eras", with different expectations and different degrees of competitive success. But Norwood seemed to build a wall between each of them, with no doors in between.

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

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

Bob and John raise great points. I'd say the BIGGEST problem was that alumni were not encouraged to participate. (The 1960s under Rick Maass were different!)

The Parent Group was fairly hostile to alumni participation and there was NO alumni group at all. So, corps alumni tended to drift away.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Pete I'd have to include some of yours on my list as well.

"6. After the exhilaration of finally moving up to the A corp. from the cadets, the disappointment that almost all of the previous members and staff had bailed."

That winter before the 1976 season was a major bummer. I can remember coming home from practices on Monday nights and being so ticked that things were falling apart. I think we felt that we had some good talent coming in from the cadet corps, but most of the existing members felt like they were being taken over so they moved on. It's too bad because we could have been so much better if more older members stuck it out.

"10. Giving up on the Imperials after a frustrating camp in Mt. Prospect and moving on to the Cavaliers where the grass looked a lot greener."

I stayed in the corps and it was frustrating to see some of my friends leave at that point. I remember some disgruntled members at that camp complaining about our show. One comment was that we were playing Superman, which was like an upside down Star Wars. (?)

- Although going to New Orleans was great fun, practicing in that oppressive humidity was brutal.

- Being taught our horn flag routine as we were warming up for prelims at DCI in 1981. This was the only time I had gone to DCI Nationals as an Imperial, and we were trying to add this in literally right before going on. It was a fiasco.

- Having to be in an endless front leaning rest position while on tour with Madison somewhere in Ohio in 1980. There was some very bad weather going on so we were instructed to stay inside the school. Because 3 guys hung out by the doorway the whole corps had to do this while we got yelled at.

- While on tour with Madison in 1983 getting into a fight with some drunk locals behind the school we were staying at somewhere around Dallas. I got a huge cut over one of my eyes and needed stitches. It turned into a huge brawl and was a very ugly scene.

- Practices that accomplished nothing.

- Bobbo freaking out. Perhaps not a truly bad memory, but it's certainly a weird and wild one.

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 1974-1979, 1981

One of the only bad memories I have was when we went to New Orleans and the day before we were going down to Bourbon street A couple of us (Myself,Duke and Paul F)went to a store down the street and missed our curfew. Mr. Foo made us stay at the hotel instead of going with the rest to Bourbon Street. But the day after we all went and I was able to experience the whole thing.

What did you do in the Corps? Drums

What years were you a Corps member? 74-76 Cadets, 77-84 A Corp

Jim:

Bobbo loosing it was tough to watch. Had never seen anything like that before nor since. Any idea whatever became of Bobbo?

Pete - I've never heard anything about Bobbo, and I don't know his full name to ask anyone on this site who might know. Do you recall what his name was?

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 1974-1979, 1981

I wasn't there to see that, but having marched with him in 73 when he and Steve came over from the Colonels, it was sad to hear the story.

And for some reason "Walensa" comes to my mind as his last name, though I don't know why and it could be completely wrong.

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

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

The name sounds right Bob - Bob Walensa. I can't help but wonder what became of him.

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 1974-1979, 1981

Bob:

I vaguely remember the Colonels. Would you remind refreshing my memory on where they were from oh Rainman of all things Drum Corp?

Peter

The Colonels were from Franklin Park, a western suburb near O'Hare.
The corps existed from the mid 1960s into the early 1970s.

See the previous thread on "Off The Subject" or look for "Colonels" (use search to find) for a discussion of the corps. John Tomaszek was an instructor there for a while.

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Thanks for the compliment, Pete (I think). Obviously Dave beat me to it. We had several members in 72-73 from there, particularly in the drum line.

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

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

Bobbo's name came up at the picnic last summer, and no one knew his where abouts either.

What did you do in the Corps? Color Guard

What years were you a Corps member? 1971-75

Here is a "memory" .. not sure if I'd class it as BAD (like the others), but it sure sticks in the mind ... RICK MAASS as drill instructor.

Rick was a great personal friend, as well as my FIRST (and, almost, ONLY) drill instructor while I was in the corps. He was a great drill arranger and totally dedicated to the Imperials (see other threads about him.)

But, the first time I met him on the drill field, he scared the HELL out of me! He was VERY imposing (BIG and loud!) He was very good at getting your attention when you made a mistake!

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Hey Vince ! Whats up. Heard you saw my folks about 10 years ago-Iwas pretty banged up back then -bad accident-
Ifeel better now.
I got in touch with the Duke and George H!
Post again and lets get in touch.

Paul,

You need to keep posting, and get Duke and George out here as well!

Bob Shreffler

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

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