Maybe those who came up with this show entertained themselves, but they sure didn't entertain anyone else. One of the worse shows in modern drum corps history.

Ha ha. The Cavaliers at their best! (Snark).

Actually, sorry to hear that they were sooooo bad. Hopefully, some cooler heads will prevail for the future.

The corps was very young, so it's hard to tell if it was just the show. Next year will be interesting for them. It will also be interesting for Carolina Crown, who keep knocking on the door of a championship but can't quite seem to get there (kind of like the Phantom Regiment of the 70's). Also SCV, Madison, and Spirit, who seem to be stuck. The plot line of DCI has gotten boring, with the same three winning every year, but the Cavaliers' drop this year changed that a little bit, anyway.

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

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

an interesting discussion. here are some comments;

1. I think that the 'old man' (Don Warren) has more knowledge about drum corps in his little finger than most of the 'gurus' have together. (Except- maybe- the Blue Devils director)

2. Re: the corps was very young. Nope, their corps was like all the others .. recruited and auditioned. Maybe it was just a terrible show.

3. Yes, DCI has become very boring.... on many levels. MAYBE, they will now 'program' Carolina to win next year? (Sarcasm)

I think I've figured out a better description for where drum corps has gone. What we called 'drum corps' became (in the late 80's and 90's) something that was still 'drum corps', but it wasn't always entertaining. Now, it is entertaining again, but not necessarily 'drum corps' by our definition (with the electronics, pit, etc.). But after seeing a show in Orlando this summer, I can finally speak with some recent experience that it is entertaining, and the kids work hard like we did - it's just different.

As for the Cavaliers being young, that was true. Only 8 age-outs this year, which is very unusual in a modern drum corps.

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:

Well stated. Thanks for the background and perspective.

Peter

Pete,

It's called getting older and wiser...

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

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

Hi everyone,
Hope everyone is fine.As for Don Warren,never liked him when I was in
Norwood and I still don't to this day,sometimes your feelings don't change
with certain things.

What did you do in the Corps? French Horn

What years were you a Corps member? 1957 thru 1963

That's a shame Rich, He speaks highly of you.

He also speaks well of the Imperials, when the name comes up. He is also proud of the fact that his daughter was drum major of Norwood.

Having marched in both corps, I've become numb to the constant Cavalier-bashing here on the Norwood site. I understand where it comes from, don't like it, can't figure out why it all still matters a thousand years later, but just ignore it. In fact, when I saw the Cavaliers here in Orlando this summer, I was talking to one of their truck drivers - who marched in the drum line from 1966 through 1974 (including the snare line with me that last year), and he was aware of the comments and was dumbfounded as to why it still goes on after all these years.

I never had a problem with Don Warren. And I was able to march drum major along with his daughter Jan in 1978. We got along great, and I really liked her. We were both loyal to the corps we were with at the time and did everything we could to help Norwood during that time. We also felt hurt when the Cavaliers didn't make DCI finals that year - me as a former member and her as Don Warren's daughter. She had the respect of the corps, and the fact that she was thet daughter of the Cavaliers' founder didn't bother anybody. And, by the way, nobody seemed bothered that I had left Norwood to march with the green, then returned to help my original corps. Luckily, we had let all that stuff go years before.

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 alluded to 'the constant Cavalier-bashing here on the Norwood site.'

Actually, I haven't seen ANY 'bashing' at all! Like many others, however, I have a certain ambivalence or disdain for the corps. The Cavaliers approached drum corps in their way .... from program design, recruiting, training, management and attitude. Some of it I appreciate and some of it I don't.

As for Don Warren .. I respect his management ability and foresight in managing the corps. Don has also been proven to be a very generous and likeable man. I disagree with the concept and execution of DCI ... which he helped to found.

No Cavies bashing on this website over the years?! Bob must be imagining things! (I too must be.)

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, just for the heck of it... I saw my first corps parades and shows as an 11 year old boy, as a Norwood fan; I'm now 70. I always loved it all, and the Imperials, especially. I'll take today's drum corps shows many times over compared to the way it used to be. I'm talking only about the shows, now, not any philosophies and so on... just the music and the visuals. Today's shows are so much more entertaining, to me. To each his own. I just hate to see what we do have fold up, like the Racine Scouts and another corps did this summer. If Racine doesn't return, we lose America's oldest corps, founded in 1927.

And... there would no longer be ANY drum corps if we didn't have the corps that we still do have. Drum corps, along with boy scout troops, and many other phenomena of yesteryear, dried up, for a number of reasons.

I was always interested in what was (I thought) the friendly competition between the Imperials and the local rivals, the Cavaliers. They were my two favorite corps. I was a Chicagoan and those two were Chicago based corps. I always thought the Cavaliers were a great corps to watch and I always admired them. With the Imperials gone from the circuit, I switched over to be a fan of the only remaining Chicago corps, the Cavaliers.

Yes, I know that the corps, nowdays, are made up of kids from all over. However, when I go to a Cavies picnic, it's in the Chicago area, as are most of their home shows, especially the Cavalcade of Brass (in Lisle) each year. They have pre-season camp in Illinois and their office is in IL. They are an IL corps, a Chicago corps, and I still connect with the '50's when I first saw them, in their green satin shirts and silver horns and so on. They just plain looked cool, and as a boy, I liked that. Plus, they were good.

There's hardly a Chicago kid on the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Black Hawks, etc., and yet, they are my favorite pro sports teams. In the same way, The Cavaliers are my favorite drum corps.

Lastly, if Don Warren is less than a nice man who converses freely WITH anybody (including my grandkids) and everybody, he is doing a heck of a good job of hiding it. He seems to not be cocky or arrogant at all, just down to earth and friendly, over these last half dozen years or so, when I've gotten to know him a bit. He seems to be interested in people, period. He's a bit awed by the notoriety and attention often put upon him, and I have heard him say, several times, that this is kinda crazy, that all he ever intended this to be was drum corps shows, parades, and competition, not all the hoopla that sometimes comes his way. He goes with the flow nicely and still loves his "boys," and the corps.

I have hesitated to enter my thoughts concerning Don Warren and the Cavaliers since I am a late comer to drum corps, but I could not resist the opportunity to do so any longer. My feelings toward the Cavies are ambivalent. They struck me as being a corps, more talented than the Imps in the 70's, but in most ways no different and at that time still comprised of local talent. If I had any misgivings about them it was their boosters since they had little respect for the effort made by other corps even if they were superior or inferior to them.

I am in complete agreement with Bill concerning Don Warren. He is every bit the gentleman that Bill so aptly describes. Since I was a complete drum corps novice, when I took the managership of the Imps, I was more than happy to take advice from those with drum corps experience I badly lacked. Many individuals were invaluable in supplying that knowledge, mostly within the
Imperial family, and to name them all would be impossible. No one was more willing to share his advice and experience than Don Warren. He told me that he would help in any way he could with one single exception. The exception was that he would not tell me who his financial backers were. He pointed out that when he first founded the Cavaliers that he used Norwood as his example and went so far as to ride their buses to get knowledge. Certain elements of their organizational setup he chose not to follow. I think those who really know Don would agree that though the Cavies are most important to him, that the drum corps activity would be a very close second. Their is little doubt, without Don's advice and expertise, that Norwood would have ceased to exist ten years earlier than it did. I will always be greatful to Don and though I understand why some may not agree I think they would feel differently if they knew him as a man instead of an adversary.


As for the Cavalier bashing anyone who said it doesn't exist has not read very carefully some of the various threads on this site and to say it doesn't is erroneous and hypocritical. Whether it is deserved or not is a another question entirely. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Right on, Jim. Xactly.

Sometimes it is hard for people to separate a PERSON from his creation .. as with Don Warren and the Cavaliers. I think that most people who have met and/ or worked with Don Warren respect him as a person and as an extremely competent manager. He was, and is, a very fair, honest and likeable man.

As for Cavalier 'bashing'.. I still maintain that I have seen very little of that on our alumni website. Expressing dislike or pointing out a problem isn't 'bashing'. There was an extensive discussion of the Cavaliers on our site in 2010 .. search for the "Cavaliers- Reflections and Opinions' thread. There is NO unfair 'bashing' of the corps there .. but a good review of many opinions.

Good point, Dave, about the man and his creation. With Don, he talks about his wife as much as his corps. The activity is not as big a thing as his corps, it seems to me, as it does to Jim too. He still does bleed green. He is deeply concerned about his wife (nice lady!) with her very bad back. He said they ran out of insurance money to cover her treatments and now she's in a bad way. He's worried. Then, there's his own health, about which he doesn't say much. He said that the corps has always been a wonderful avocation for him and is still a great escape (in a good way) for him. The boys, the boys, the boys. That's Don.