FAMOUS QUOTES
I'm glad we're not touring this year, we aren't quite ready. RJO 1966
We were the first to do the machine gun salute and the first to put music to a guard show. DH 2002
Play your highs high and your lows low. DPj 1974
There's no way that's your correct birthdate on your licence! BH to RJO 1974
Do you guys remember headchoppers? DH 1992
You keep that uniform Earl, no one else will ever wear it. DP to ED 1971
I'll pay you some money each month for all the teaching you're doing. (answer) "It's not necessary". DP to ME 1971
He's like the mythical phoenix, he always rebuilds the corps. ME to the staff re RJO 1976
If DP only new about RO's parties it would make his hair curl. DF 2002
I think we are either going to win 3 national titles or 0. (answer) "exactly!" This quote was made to maintain focus after winning 2 titles but with DCI remaining. KK to ME & SB 1972
Wow, I did a perfect show , no tics! (answer) "So did we!" MB to ME & JV 1972
Congratulations! (answer) "Thank you Mr. P." On the drum bus in the rain, DP & BP shook everyone's hand. (After all, this was still DPj's drum line). This same night Mr. P.'s picture was on the cover of DC News announcing his retirement from the Kingsmen. 1972
To this day I still try to emulate your relaxed, (attitude adjusting), style of teaching. ME to DPj 2002

I love drum corps! RJO to BH 1974

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For those who have seen the DCI Brass Roots Video, or any other interested parties, read on!

A comment was made by a famous Santa Clara drum instructor about how the Vanguard absolutely dominated as a drum line & corps in the early '70s. This was specifically noted to be the era before mallet keyboards were allowed. Now I happen to be a big fan of this man's work and also of the Santa Clara Vanguard, but I don't believe in revisionist history. The only year that Santa Clara dominated was '73. We are talking pre-mallets so '74 is out. Thus I now want to discuss '70-'72. These are the 3 years up for discussion. I was lucky enough to be the drum section leader of the Kingsmen for these 3 years, (coincidentally Wayne Downey was brass section leader of the Vanguard for the same 3 years). Santa Clara and Anaheim met together in major national championships 6 times during this era. Anaheim beat Santa Clara 3 of those 6 times as a corps. Anaheim's drum line beat Santa Clara's 4 of those 6 times. Both corps' beat every other corps to take home 2 of those 6 corps titles. Anaheim took home 3 of the drum titles and Santa Clara took home zero of those drum titles. Not exactly dominating to me!! In all fairness '73 was different, they were it. Anaheim was rebuilding and no real threat. But back to those 6 titles. I loved Santa Clara and I loved beating them at 3 of those championships. I loved their drum line and I loved beating them at 4 of those national championships. It was a great rivalry and both corps' won other titles too. But the best of the best was the fight for the west coast's finest corps'.

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All eras are welcome at the reunions! We all have friends who overlapped into these different eras by marching or teaching. The more the merrier.

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Hi guys,
I hope you enjoyed the DCI Classic Countdown Show as much as I enjoyed it. I thought the Kingsmen sounded great! Having all those Kingsmen & VK in the Irvine crowd was fantastic. Not to mention a contingent of SCV, Pacific Crest, Impulse, etc. If you weren't there you missed a real show with lots of loud ovations for the Kingsmen, VK, SCV etc. I loved the announcing of the voting results at the end, just like a real DCI show. 12th VK, 8th Anaheim, 2nd Madison, 1st Santa Clara.(I'm sure they will post all the results on dci.org) For a minute there, Dale Lofgren thought he was going to lose to Madison again! Dale marched snare in Anaheim & Santa Clara.
I thought the only tic on the broadcast was Cesario saying he thought the '74 show was better than the '72 show. I know why he said that, it was a fantastic show, and it gets greater credibility if viewed as better than the DCI Championship '72 show. But they were both fantastic shows. Don Hertel in '72 did just as great a job as Bobby Hoffman in '74, (if not better!). Plus the brass, percussion & guard were fantastic in '72. I arranged the snare book in '72, with Ralph doing timpani work, and Donnie doing the rest. I co-wrote the drum book in '74, plus I was on the creative design staff with Donnie, Bobby, & RJO. So I love both shows! I could never put '74 on top, but it was very, very, close!
DCI is selling the complete Classic Countdown Show on dvd for 39.95. Although with shipping etc., it will cost close to $50. I anticipated this sale, but still sharing the experience on the big screen is the way to go. I hope everyone can go next year.
See you June 24th at the luncheon & Long Beach corps show.
-- Your buddy,
Michael

April 17, '04

I just read that Jerry Seawright passed away yesterday. He was the founder and long time director of the Blue Devils in the 70's and early 80's. I didn't know him personally but all the stories I heard about him reminded me so much of Mr. Don Porter, our founder and long time director. Mr. Seawright was always there not only for his own corps kids but for any other corps kids. He always taught his corps class and sportsmanship and comraderie. He went out of his way to help new members and to answer fan letters.
I remember when he founded the Blue Devils he openly admitted his feelings for the look and class of the Anaheim Kingsmen. He patterned the Blue Devil uniforms to look like ours. To the drum corps audience, he started with just a color guard at the Northern California shows. The drum & baton corps & drum & bell corps were already successfully running. The drum & bugle corps was started in '70 with their first performance in '71. Mr. Seawright took the corps on a Pacific Northwest tour in '72. He led the Blue Devils to 24th place at DCI in '73. In '74 they moved up to 9th. In '75 they took our vacant place in 3rd at DCI. Of course in '76 they won everything. (Now we were in 19th place working our way back up the ladder they had just climbed).
It's funny, just last week I was reading about Mr. Seawright singing on stage with Dick Van Dyke. They graduated from Danville HS together. Another one of my childhood favorite stars has a drum corps connection, just like us performing for Bob Hope. I know it's a bit of a stretch, but still Jerry Seawright was a man of many talents.
I keep thinking that Mr. Porter, Mr. Royer and Mr. Seawright have probably shared a salutation together about the good old days of California drum corps.

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Michael Ellerby’s following response is in regards to the Fanfare column of May 13, 2005, “The First Pit Performer and the Birth of the Pit.”
I joined the Kingsmen during the summer of 1969 and stayed with the corps until the fall of 1978. I played snare 1970-1972 and taught and wrote from 1973-1978 and was involved with writing/arranging the “Tubular Bells” solo in the 1974 Kingsmen show.
Tom Scheffler, the author of the article about the birth of the pit, made a comment about the 1974 Kingsmen timpani line using gauges to tune. We actually always had gauges on our timpani. We used masking tape and would mark the pitches before every show, as the letters that were provided with the timpani would move around too much.
In 1969, we marched two timpani and a set of marching orchestra bells, except for the VFW show where bells were illegal. So, we marched three timpani there. In 1970 and 1971 we went with four timpani. We moved up to five timpani in 1972 and continued at that number through 1978.
We played a lot of complex parts with a lot of crucial tuning. The players would rely on the pitches being played by the brass players to do the fine-tuning. If there were temperature or humidity changes, they would have to really listen. Also, the cranking process would move the needle on the gauge slightly out of adjustment.
It wasn’t a perfect system. But I am very proud of the playing and tuning of the timpani parts during my run in the Kingsmen, especially some of the breakthrough melodic lines during 1972-1974. I wrote the entire book in 1973 and shared the responsibility with Donnie Porter in 1974. 1972 was an interesting amalgam of arrangers. I did the snare book and visuals and Ralph Hardimon did the timpani book. Donnie Porter did all the rest of the parts.
Of course, we shared and borrowed ideas from each other. It was a fantastic year for the corps and they went on to win the first DCI World Championship ever held.

Interesting story about this Senior (all-age corps). They did this in one year! Amazing!
Average age = 54. 70-80 horns, 36-40 drums, 24-30 flags, 10 rifles, nationals etc. One big weekend rehearsal per month. Non-mandatory weekly sectionals for the locals. 6-10 shows in the summer. No touring. Open to anyone, not just alumni from the old Royal-airs. Members flying in from all over the country for the rehearsal weekend & summer gigs. One fee for annual dues $350. Onetime fee for a new uniform $250. Their first year they played an old fashioned fun show. The crowd & show sponsors love them!
Of course we all remember the '65 Royal-Airs and their great winning season. Sounds just like '72 for the Kingsmen, doesn't it?

Check out this web site.

<http://www.chicagoroyalairs.com/>

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Hi guys,
Thought you might like this. This is from an interview with the Cavaliers director at DCI.org

DCI.org: What has been your favorite corps performance ever?
Fiedler: Wow -- that's tough -- I'll have to list a few I've viewed, as well as performed.

Viewed:
Anaheim Kingsmen Finals 1974
The Cavaliers’ prelim performance 1974
Argonne Rebels 1972 finals
SCV 1973 finals
The Cavaliers Wheeling, Ill., performance, 1971
The Cavaliers’ 1995 finals
The Cavaliers 2002 finals
Madison Scouts 1988 prelims
The Cavaliers 1988 finals
Garfield Cadets’ West Side Story 1984 finals
Blue Devils 1976 finals
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Hi Scott,
Allan Murray sent me some stuff for DAC. (You judged a DAC show in Feb. of '86.)
I was playing through your Blue Devil Book of Drumming and I saw your reference to Hero Sandwich.
I arranged this solo for the Anaheim Kingsmen in '71. I was the drum captain/section leader '70-'72 and taught '73-'78. I don't know if anyone showed you this very tough solo, but it has an interesting story:

Gerry Kearby had a snare buddy in the Marine Corps who wrote the first 4 measures. The last 4 measures was an east coast corps solo. I wrote all the hero rudiments I knew into the middle section, (flam drags, flam rats, flam 6's, flam rolls & 16th note flams). I turned to the best tri-tom player (Dennis Minium) and I said, "Make up a 4 bar tenor solo with lots of rolls." I then wrote out a tough timp intro and the lead sheet was done. I wrote out all of the underlying
bass/tenor/timp/cymbal parts for the whole solo and voila, it was done.

Kearby came back to visit a corps rehearsal and said, "You've got every hero rudiment ever written in that solo. Sheesh it's a "Hero Sandwich". It was instantly named.
-- Your buddy,
Michael
http://members.cox.net/msellerby/kingsmen.html

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