Blue Saints heading to Sunshine State

Six young Greater Sudbury musicians have been asked to participate in one of the world’s most popular parades - one that will be broadcast to tens of millions of people around the world on Christmas day.

The six members of the Sudbury Blue Saints Drum and Bugle Corps - the oldest corps in the country - have been selected by Drum Corps International
(DCI) to participate in the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.

...

http://www.northernlife.ca/lifestyleArticle.asp?32id11-pn=&view=100297

www.bluesaints.com

Phantom Regiment faces $367K lawsuit

Phantom Regiment faces $367K lawsuit

Hopefully this is a relatively minor matter for this corps.

Internet Drum Corps Radio

I am having a lot of fun listening to a variety of corps recordings here:



Internet Drum Corps Radio



Shows from the 60s to present are being played in streaming format (MPEG Audio Layer-3). With a a late model browser you should be all set. It works with broadband and dial-up connections so don't be afraid to give it a try.



Shows are complete with no one announcing the corps name and year although often the show announcers can be heard at the beginning. I even heard a judges GE tape for Spirit of Altlanta from 1986 at one point!

Ambassadors Dec., 1978: Aurora Christmas Parade

Here are some scans of one of my first parades with a drum corps. I am the guy holding the French Horn pointed at the ground. To my left is my first role model for drum corps: Kevin Middleton.

This is probably one of the last appearances of a marching tympani line with the Ambassadors; They were grounded in 1979, my rookie year. I don't know why the one player has no tympani. The keyboards were still marched in '79, carried by the skinniest girls in the corps which apparently was an unwritten rule.



... I got better.

DeLaSalle Cardinals Reunion - October 29th, 2005

DeLaSalle Cardinals Reunion20051029.pdf (you will need Adobe Acrobat to see this)



Get tickets for ZACK NITE 2005



Sorry for the late notice about this...

Troopers - will not field a competitive corps for the 2006 season

Troopers - In Troopers News ...

Troopers not fielding in 2006 (October 2, 2005)



Following lengthy review of the current status of the corps, the Troopers Board of Directors decided today that in the best interest of the corps, they will not field a competitive corps for the 2006 season.



“This is the right thing to do, “commented interim director Mike Ottoes following the board meeting. “It’s going to be most difficult on the members, but in the long run, this is the right thing to do.”



Over the next 12 months, the organization will focus on securing the proper paperwork and filings, building a solid financial base to operate on, bolster corps management and solidify all corps operations in preparation for the corps return to full competitive status in 2007.



Troopers Name Interim Director (September 29, 2005)



Following the resignation of Mathew Krum as Executive Director, the Troopers Board of Directors met Wednesday evening and appointed Mike Ottoes as Interim Director for the organization.



Mike has a long-standing relationship with the organization and has been a successful businessman outside of the drum corps activity for quite some time. The Board and Directors and Mike will be working closely and quickly to identify the needs of the organization and to establish a progressive plan for reestablishing the Corps competitive standing.



Troopers DCI Membership Status Changes (September 26, 2005)



At a recent meeting of the Board of Directors of DCI, it was decided that the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps would be removed from Division I membership status due to the organization's lack of compliance of the requirements necessary to maintain membership within DCI.



In acknowledging this decision, the Troopers Board of Directors will be working with DCI to see that all current membership compliance requirements are met, thus enabling the Troopers to return to Division I status as quickly as possible in the future.



As a part of the Troopers organization's plan in resolving this matter, the Executive Director, Mathew Krum, has resigned from his current position. There will be a restructuring of roles within the organization to continue plans of development for the 2006 season. These decisions will ultimately help guide the organization towards its continued goals in the future.



There are challenges that lay ahead, but the immeasurable support and affection that existed for the Troopers will be the organization's greatest strength towards a vibrant future.

This is discouraging. For as long as I have known about drum corps, the Troopers have been on the field, stubbornly traditional, annoyingly popular. I remember touring through Casper with the '84 Blue Devils; we handily won on the sheets but were utterly defeated by the applause meter.



Good luck Troopers. Get back soon.

Insult to Injuries

First Forestry Students brandish chainsaws in your general direction, then the Great Falls Tribune calls you a "Drum and Brass Crops".



UM forestry students apologize to band



See Also:



Senshu Univ. Tamana High School Drum & Brass Corps

The return of the Velvet Knights?

VK Youth Arts Organization, Inc would like to announce the formation of a new youth group to Southern California.

VKYAO's purpose and goals are to provide instruction in music performance, marching, dance, as well as other performing arts by the organization's performing arts groups.

VKYAO is dedicated to bring back a fun and entertaining drum corps for fans to enjoy once again, while striving for excellence in promoting the thrill of the activity shared by thousands, either as fans or participants.

http://www.vkyao.org/

first Canadian study to research the health effects of drum corps involvement

First Canadian drum corps project shows health benefits for teens

“The preliminary results are very impressive,” said Paula Fletcher, a kinesiology professor at Laurier and the study’s principal investigator. “The kids in Dutch Boy have shown significant improvements in several areas, including noticeable reductions in body fat.”

Does Drum Corps still exist?

...



"As for the declining membership, sorry about your corps, by the way, it has more to do with the fact that the average kid can't just walk up to a corps and join any more. Used to be, before even my time, corps were made up of kids that had never even considered playing an instrument in their lives, let alone performing with them - and some of them actually became credible musicians. Used to be that every town, at least back east and in the midwest, had a drum corps and they would have their little circuit and they were proud when they came in fourth in that circuit, because they did something that they never expected they could do. Oh and society hasn't changed that much; the gangs that drum corps were started to prevent, still exist, the disinfranchised kids that drum corps were started to give a place to go to, still are there. The face of drum corps has changed. It's a hustle now. Some call it business, but where I come from it is a hustle. I have been away for a while, so I need more information about the actual business structure of DCI to make any further comments."



"Drum corps came from violence. It came from the violence of war, it came from the violence of the streets and it's uniqueness was the violence of it's music. It was loud and brash, most corps sounded like crap, even by the standards of the day, but they were loud and they made the stands rock. There were corps that eixisted knowing that they would never win a national title, not even a local title, but they were loud and they had heart. Those kids had heart. Oh and there was some guy/girl standing in front of them making marks on a sheet every time they made a mistake. But they kept coming back - some of them into their late 20's(Muchachos)."



...



link to post on Drum Corps planet forums

The Bandettes Are Back!

The Bandettes Are Back and we need Staff!, Staff Needed

The Bandettes Are Back!

We are proud to announce that we will be back for the 2006 season! The parade corps this summer was very successful. We raised a significant amount of money while giving the members experience performing. Members of the parade corps will be returning plus we have several new members as well, in total about 20 to start with. Financially the corps is stable. Our web site is experiencing an influx of activity. Our recruiting plan is in the final stages of development. Everything is on track for a prosperous year!

We are currently looking for enthusiastic and dedicated staff members. We are accepting applications for brass caption head, percussion caption head or tech, visual tech and guard caption head. More staff may be added as needed. These are paid positions. Pay depends on position and experience.

Dutch Boy Seeks Director

Dutch Boy Seeks Corps Director

The Dutch Boy Drum Corps from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, is currently taking applications for the position of Corps Director. Dutch Boy is a Division III corps and was a finalist at the 2005 DCI World Championships.

...

Drum Corps International (DCI) -- Div III prelims

Of the 20 Division III corps competing in today's prelims, 7 are Canadian and 4 are from Ontario.

It's not the good old days but drum corps in Canada isn't dead yet! Follow the link below for score being updated all day today (Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005)

(DCI Major) DCI World Championships Division II & III Prelims, Brockton, MA

A lot of Ambassadors

Ambassadors - DrumCorpsWiki

Mad Drum Corps Libs

I have read one too many fan or alumus-written corps histories I guess. They are full of hyperbole and short of facts in my experience. I was therefore inspired to give you the following. Fill in the blanks and see what you get:

Generic fan-written Drum Corps History EARLYDECADE CORPSNAME DIRECTOR ORGANIZATION HOMETOWN YEAR CORPS FOUNDED RIVAL CORPS TOWN OR CITY VERB, ACTION, PAST TENSE AFTER GOOD YEAR PROPER NOUN, MUSIC TITLE DRUM CORPS INSTRUMENT NUMBER YEAR NOUN, DESIGN CONCEPT NOUN EVEN LATER YEAR CORPS CAPTION ANOTHER CORPS CAPTION ADJECTIVE NOUN, PLACE PROPER NOUN, PLACE GEOGRAPHIC AREA THIS YEAR NOUN

Thanks to the folks at madglibs.com for facilitating this silliness.

Update: Thanks to the Mad Glibs Admin for tracking me down and providing me with "fixed" code.

DCI Kitchener

August 2, 2005, Kitchener, ON

DIVISION I


1 Kiwanis Kavaliers, Kitchener, Ontario 71.750


DIVISION II

1 East Coast Jazz 88.650

2 Colt Cadets, Dubuque, Iowa 59.800


DIVISION III

1 Pride of the Lions, Regina, Saskatchewan 73.100

2 Allegiance Elite, Calgary, Alberta 72.350

3 Dutch Boy, Kitchener, Ontario 71.200

4 Les Stentors, Sherbrooke, Quebec 68.050

5 St. John's, Brantford, Ontario 61.700

6 Spirit of New Jersey, Linden, New Jersey 59.100

7 7th Regiment, Groton, Connecticut 58.950

8 H.Y.P.E., Hamilton, Ontario 51.200

Official scores can be found on the DCI site here: http://www.dci.org/scores/?event_id=57063199-f6fc-4cc8-ad26-b6d132e4b115

DCI Sudbury

August 1, 2005, Sudbury, ON

Division II



1. Colt Cadets, Dubuque, Iowa 61.45



Division III



1. Pride of the Lions, Regina, Saskatchewan 72.950

2. Dutch Boy, Kitchener, Ontario 71.650

3. Les Stentors, Sherbrooke, Quebec 67.050

4. St. John's, Brantford, Ontario 61.000

5. 7th Regiment, Groton, Connecticut 60.450

6. H.Y.P.E., Hamilton, Ontario 54.750

7. Blue Saints, Sudbury, Ontario 39.200

That's a lot of Canadian junior corps on the field. There is hope folks!

I don't know if DCI Div. II and Div. III are judged on the same sheets and tolerances. I suspect they are.

Hopefully noone has issues with me posting these scores here.

The official scores are on the DCI website here: http://www.dci.org/scores/?event_id=193b7758-0036-4752-bc98-702e96bbf171

Contribute your information

To those unfamiliar with it, the DrumCorpsWiki is an on-line encyclopedia of Drum corps all over the world, past and present. Have a look and contribute what you know about corps you have marched in, seen, supported. It doesn't cost anything and you can contribute to this drum corps history. You may have already noticed it coming up in web searches for your favourite corps.

I have been entering things about Canadian drum corps whenever I have a minute. Help me out!

DrumCorpsWiki

New Director for Dutch Boy

See the following thread on the Drum Corps Planet forums.

There is no press release on the corps site ( bleh, It's still Firefox unfriendly) as of yet. However, the DCI.org site now indicates the new directors name for Dutch Boy. The old director was Steve Miekle replaced by Sarah Teschke.



Dutch Boy, Corps Director????

D.R.U.M. [web rudiments tutorial]

For those of you who want to work on your rudiments (flash plug-in is required):

D.R.U.M.

Edmonton Strutters Drum and Bugle Corps inactive for the 2005 season

...

It saddens us, however, to inform you that even though all of the above wondeerful things are in place, due to unforeseen circumstances we, the board, have decided to postpone the 2005 Summer Tour until the summer of 2006. This heart wrenching decision was made due to the fact that grant applications did not come through, bingo revenues were substantially lower than previous years as well as 95% of the membership fees are still outstanding. It is expected that come 1 July 2005, when the no-smoking bylaw takes effect, the bingo revenue will drop even further, and with all of these negative financial factors in place, we would be incompetent if we allowed the tour to take place.

...

2005 Summer Tour Postponement Announcement

DCI on ESPN2!

The officail announcment of DCI final televised on ESPN:

Sept 6, 2005 -- DCI on ESPN2

Drum Corps International (DCI), the world leader in producing and sanctioning touring marching music competitions, today announced that its dynamic and award-winning World Championships television program will be broadcast on ESPN2 this fall. This is the first prime-time broadcast of the program on commercial television, and it will be available to more than 88 million households.

Kiwanis Kavaliers Unveil New Uniforms - DCP News

DCP News - Kiwanis Kavaliers Unveil New Uniforms

The Kiwanis Kavaliers have unveiled their new look for 2005. The uniforms - the first new design for the corps in almost ten years - combines the most recent all-black uniforms with the "classic" Kavaliers look previous in a 21st-century fashion.

Bandettes inactive for the 2005 season

Bandettes Online Community -> Summer 2005 Update

After many struggles and despite all the hard work from all of the members and staff the Bandettes are heartbroken to announce that the competitive corps will be inactive for the summer 2005 season.

The Bandettes Feeder Corps will remain active along with a parade corps. The Parade Corps will perform in several parades throughout the summer on weekends. The parade fees will help to maintain the bills. Also, we have formed a partnership with Marion Glory Cadets, who have also been struggling recently. Many of the older members will be performing with them this summer season. We are going to continue our fundraising efforts and recruiting throughout the summer. Bandettes are currently pursuing the possibility of a winter program that could help to maintain and build our membership as well as our finances for the future success of the organization.

We are looking for anyone interested in working with our brass and color guard sections this summer on parade weekends with the possibility of them continuing in the winter program as well. We are currently accepting members in all sections for membership in the parade corps as well as the feeder corps.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me at vibeplayer@hotmail.com or post a message in our forums.

Love in Corps,
Shara Barlow, Bandettes Staff

DCI and ESPN to Announce Deal In June - DCP News

DCP News - DCI and ESPN to Announce Deal In June

For those you who only get to watch drum corps on T.V. this is good news. For people like me who don't have cable this is a a (small) disappointment. Perhaps we can put together some DCI get-togethers at a sports bar in August?

ODCA Championship?

Have I missed the ODCA championships? If so, what were the placements/scores? Was this an indoor event?

ODCA Championships
Date: Saturday April 16 2005 Location: Sherwood 25 High Street Hamilton, Ontario L8T 3Z4 Hosted By: Steel City Sound www.steelcitysound.com CONTEST SCHEDULE Opening Ceremonies 6:00 PM Hamilton Fire Fighters Drum Corps (Exhibition) 6:05 PM ENSEMBLES Steel City Sound (Percussion) 6:30 PM HYPE 6:38 PM Dutch Boy 6:46 PM St John’s 6:54 PM CADET St. John’s 7:02 PM Rhapsody 7:07 PM Dutch Boy 7:12 PM Ventures Jr. (Exhibition)7:17 PM 713 Thunderband (Exhibition)7:22 PM INTERMISSION (30 Minutes)7:45 PM REGIONAL “A” St. John’s 8:10 PM Steel City Sound 8:18 PM Rhapsody 8:26 PM Dutch Boy 8:34 PM Venturers (Exhibition) 8:42 PM GAS Ensemble 8:50 PM RETREAT 9:00 PM

Announcements

UPDATE:

Susan Gadsby, director of St. John's Drum and Bugle Corps responded to my question in the Drum Corps Planet forums:

This show really did happen, however, it was an indoor show for winter guards and entertainment ensembles. It was a judged show and from my memory here are some of the results.

Entertainment Ensembles

Dutch Boy Silver
St. John's Silver
HYPE Bronze

Cadet Guard

Dutch Boy Jr 1st
Rhapsody Jr 2nd
St. John's Jr 3rd

Regional A

St. John's 1st
Steel City 2nd

Ind A

Dutch Boy 1st
Rhapsody 2nd

There was also some exhibition performances from Ventures and some of the area Alumni Corps.

All in all it was a good night. Everybody was to be congratulated on their efforts.


--------------------

Susan Gadsby
Corps Director
St. John's

Real Stone Buglers

I received the following via e-mail today:

Dear Drum Corps Friends,

Here is an interesting event we think you will be interested in. Feel free to distribute to your network !!

The Buglers Hall of Fame Announced

Bridgeport, CT, April 28, 2005/Barnum Festival/ the Buglers Hall of Fame was recently released by the Champions on Parade committee. Kenton Clarke, Grand Marshal of this year's event and a past National Individual Soprano Bugle Champion felt that paying homage to the great players of the past was long overdue.

The inaugural list of 27 players listed below, are just that PLAYERS! The melodic sounds they provided through the years on all those Stetson D. Richmond and Fleetwood records are thoroughly engrained in our minds  scratches and all! Their contributions to their craft, superior playing ability and longevity in the activity warrant them the distinction of being the first Buglers HOF inductees.

They will be honored this year at the 2005 Barnum Festival's Champions on Parade in Bridgeport, CT on June 25^th - a place where virtually all of the inductees thrilled fans in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond at Longbrook Park, Hedges Stadium or, Kennedy Stadium.

The Barnum seemed a fitting venue for a HOF setting. As an added bonus at this year's 'all Alumni' show, the HOF inductees will be playing some selections along with the famous Maynard Ferguson and his band.

The inductees enthusiasm is spectacular. Jim Centorino is thankful for the honor of being included in the HOF. "Baby" John Chalmus states that "it's an honor to be mentioned with such great horn players". Ritchee Price "can't wait to stand in line with this great group of excellent soloists", while Dick Burns of Blessed Sacrament fame "considers it flattering to be included with such a stellar roster of great players".

And excellent they were - and still are!. Who can forget listening to Tommy Martin, Bucky Swan and John Simpson on the Skyliners Portrait in Brass album or, Ken Petersen's fabulous solo work with the Appleknockers? How about Joe De Figlia's opening solo with Lorreto, Riggie Laus serenading his Rockets fans or, Ray Eyler leading Archie's ever so sweet sopranos.

What would Elks Parade be like with out John Grass or George (Sidemouth) Richardson belting out that famed solo? And let's not forget about Arietano and Dorritie teaming up while with the Sunrisers. Of course, what would an all-star cast be without Hawthornes own Jimmy DD'Amicone Marotta and Frank Ponzo?

The 2005 Barnum Festival transcends drum corps at its finest. An exhibition of superb talent with only one purpose in mind  entertainment!

Be sure to mark down June 25^th on you calendar to be a part of this extravaganza. You do not want to miss it! Think Maynard knows what he's in for?

Source: Barnum Festival Champions on Parade Committee

Heres the complete inaugural list for the Buglers Hall of Fame:

www.div2000.com/bhof/concert.asp

Buglers Hall of Fame - Drum and Bugle Corps

Passports required at American/Canadian border

Touring American drum corps just received one more reason not to visit Canada and Canadian drum corps have another expense to their members:

U.S. will demand passports from Canadians - cbc.ca

U.S. to demand passports of all travellers [sic] - ctv.ca

O' Canada, New Homeland Security regs could impact - DCP Forums

On the other hand it might make the process of crossing the border a little more clear and consistent for drum corps. I remember when I marched that crossing the border was always a high-anxiety thing for corps staff as any "funny stuff" or confusion could cause the border guards to delay our trip for hours.

Roll call!

I am trying to establish who looks at this thing I have created.

Update: oops! I didn't close that tag! Now only this post is centred. Why can't HTML understand Canadian spelling? :/

Not-great photos of Pete and Kurt

Here are some photos of the fabulous Bredows that I currently have on the Ambassadors site.

(This is in response to an e-mail I received from Pete today and promptly deleted by mistake. Yes, I was working as a system administrator up until a year and a half ago; what's your point? :/ )

Sorry about the quality of these. The problem is a combination of scan quality and the condition of the originals. The captioned photo I can scan again but I know that the original is pretty poor in the first place. I may be able to do better with the '78 corps photo but I think it is from a show program.

If there are any Ambassadors Alum out there... [sound of crickets chirping] who have pictures of the Bredows please send them to me to post here until Pete contacts me again and then I can send them to him directly.

Pete Bredow please e-mail me.

Pete Bredow please e-mail me.

I have managed to delete the e-mail you sent me today.

Will post some pictures of you and Kurt here that I already have on the Ambassadors site.

:P

A dampening of spirits

I don't think the site is insured for this.

A whole new take on drum heads

mnk::drum|head::video

Bandettes in Danger!

I am a fan and I hope they can put a corps on the field this year. Alternatively, if they can't get enough kids I hope they will hang in there and come back next year. One year off is rough but it doesn't have to mean the end of your corps.

DCP News - Bandettes in Danger!

Bandettes.org

The 2005 Alumni Drum Corps & Band Spectacular

Here are two links to information about the Royalaires' show on Saturday, August 20, 2005 at University Stadium (formerly Seagram's Stadium; isn't corporate sponsorship wonderful?). I can't find a web site for the Royalaires yet but I will update if I do. These two links go to postings on some drum corps forum sites so they are not, in my opinion authoritative. However, you can contact the people who posted these bits via e-mail to confirm if you like. I don't know where the newspaper article came from perhaps the K-W Record ( http://www.therecord.com ) but I can't see any articles without paying for a subscription.

As a reminder it is probably not a good idea to re-post an article in it's entirety like that, as doing that is almost certainly an infringement of copyright.

Hawthorne Alumni Coming to Canada

2005 Alumni Drum Corps & Band Spectacular

Preston Scout House - Cambridge Hall of Fame

This is the entry for Scout House in the City of Cambridge Archives Hall of Fame. I don't see an entry for Wilf Blum yet.

City of Cambridge

Another Stone Bugle (Testing a picture hosting service) 

Wilf Blum Inducted into City of Cambridge Hall of Fame

Wilf Blum Inducted into City of Cambridge Hall of Fame
By Nancy Weiler, Press Release
Feb 26, 2005, 08:30

Preston Scout House Band founder Wilf Blum was named to the City of Cambridge, Ontario Hall of Fame this week, as part of the city’s annual induction ceremony honouring outstanding contributions to the community. The Band itself was named to the city’s Hall of Fame in 1997.



Blum, who passed away about 10 years ago, is also a member of the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, and was honoured with a founder’s award from the Canadian Drum Corps Association. The original town of Preston, which was founded by Mennonite pioneers who emigrated from southern Pennsylvania more than 200 years ago, is now part of the city of Cambridge, which was created when the neighbouring towns of Preston, Galt and Hespeler were combined into one new municipality.

Blum organized a marching band to help attract local boys to the 1st Preston Scout Troop, which he also founded. The combination of discipline and team work fostered by Scouting activities combined with Blum’s amazing flair for theatrical effect and publicity resulted in a musical unit that astounded audiences at contests, concerts and parades across eastern North America.

...

DCP News - Wilf Blum Inducted into City of Cambridge Hall of Fame

Dutch Boy's Executive Director John Robins, Passes Away

Dutch Boy's Executive Director John Robins, Passes Away After Heart Surgery

So how about those...

If you ask David Hill what he thinks of this years corps he will give you something impressive:

the field&floor grid: 2005

Button, Button...

The Spirit of '69 web site has a collection of scanned buttons from 1969 as part of their history timeline.

The above button is from the namesake of the Newmarket/Aurora, ON Ambassadors, the Port Credt Marching Ambassadors. That symbol consisting of three tophat-wearing persons striding together shows up in Ambassadors (the later junior corps) publications as well, see:



This is a scan from the Ambassa-Bear News, a short-lived member publication of the Ambassadors(Newmarket/Aurora)

Presenting... Drum Corps Idol!

Coming to a theater near you on April 21: DCI’s 2005 Classic Countdown

This sounds like a lot of fun. It's too bad we can't get it up here in Canada.

Alas poor cor. I knew him Horatio.

Here's an article after my own heart:

A Lost art: The Blue Devils’ French horn lines

The writer marched french horn with Blue Devils just a few years before me so I never met her. It sounds like the line was quite a powerhouse then. Since about 1987 they have been eliminated from BD's horn line however.

There's a discussion about this article in the Drum Corps Planet forums here:

A Lost Art: The Blue Devils French Horn Lines, (New Fanfare column on www.dci.org)

"Yes, this 'goofy looking thing' is a French Horn!" (from a drum corps button available from souvie trucks back in my day)

How to pronounce it.

The Word Corps - DrumCorpsWiki

I wasn't familiar with the way they spelled things phonetically. Here's some links to the IPA system:

International Phonetic Association: Reproduction of The International Phonetic Alphabet

Wikipedia article ( A more useful overview ) )