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Norwood Park Imperials Alumni Forum

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Norwood Park Imperials Alumni Forum
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Thanksgiving Day Parade

Just thinking how thankful I am not to have to march the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Never liked cold weather parades - especially waiting for them to start!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

What did you do in the Corps? Tenor-Snare-Ass't Instructor

What years were you a Corps member? 61-69

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

Never did Macys, as a performer, instructor, or director. Marched the 1988 Rose Parade as drum instructor of the Lassiter High School Band from Marietta, GA, which was a fantastic experience.

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

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

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

Chicago used to have a parade on Thanksgiving. Don't recall when it stopped. Now we have the Festival of Lights (tonight - 11/23) the real feel will be 5°F or lower. Too cold for an old fart like me!

California sounds like a great spot for a parade - especially in high school - nice X country trip. Did you fly or was it on the bus/off the bus?

What did you do in the Corps? Tenor-Snare-Ass't Instructor

What years were you a Corps member? 61-69

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

We flew. We had 300 kids in the band, plus staff, so we took two separate flights. There is no sight like turning that first corner and looking downhill at five miles of wall-to-wall people. Those watching the parade were as nice as could be, especially considering many of them had spent the night on the street to get their spots.

Great story from that parade: As you probably know, the Tournament of Roses gives the bands special drum heads for the event. My students had been asking if they got to keep them after the parade. Of course, we were always going to let them do that, but I had to play with them a little. I said they could only keep them if everyone was still standing at attention at the end of the parade. When we got to the end, I had forgotten all about that, and was relaxing sipping on some orange juice that they provide at the end. Then the band director told me to look at the street; the entire drum line was still standing there, waiting for me to notice! They got to keep the heads.

And speaking of the heads: they sent them about a month before the parade. Most bands didn't put them on until the day before the event. However, I didn't like the looks of what they had sent, so I put them on, and we broke almost every one of them! They must have been purchasing heads from Remo that had been on the shelves forever and just putting their stickers over the dots. They kept sending us new ones over the following month, as they continued to break. At the end of the actual parade, we were the only band there without broken heads on our drums.

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

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

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

Yes, being in a parade in a warm weather place would be fun. Heck, right now I'd love to just BE in a warm weather place.

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

63 degrees here this morning. But we're heading to South Carolina for Thanksgiving, so we'll get some cold weather.

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

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

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

Sounds like the Rose Bowl trip was a good one - 300 band members was bigger than my whole graduating class!

Was it the REMOs or the Ludwig heads that had the separation problems? Didn't the REMOs pull out from the rim?

Are you old enough to have played on the calfskin heads? They were sooooo soft when wet. It was like playing on glue. Of course when the dried, they were either nice and tight or they broke from shrinking too much.

63°F dropping to a cold 50° in SC? Enjoy!

What years were you a Corps member? 61-69

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

Yes, it was the Remos, and they were notorious for pulling. They eventually sent us Ludwig silver dots, which lasted through the parade.

My only experience with calf heads was on my Dad's drum set, and I wish I still had them!

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

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 1978-79

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

Apparently Chicago has been running a parade for 80 years. McDonald's is sponsor. Wonder why I thought it stopped.

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

My daughter rode in the Rose Parade when she was on the Cal Poly Pomona Equestrian team in 2000. Her description was 5 miles on a drugged horse as not being fun. They drug the horses so they don't spook during the parade.

I don't remember marching in the Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago during my time in Norwood. I do recollect some activities around Veteran's Day and we marched in the St Patrick's day parade my first year in the A corps. It was cold in mid-March.

Re: Thanksgiving Day Parade

I marched the St. Pat's Day Parade with Weber HS - you were so right, John, always cold!

As a youth, the only drum corps I remember seeing at the Rose Bowl parade was the Hamm's Indians. Great head dresses!!

What years were you a Corps member? 61-69