Thank you so much for the history of the Garfield Cadets I was fortunate to compete against them in 1960 and 1961, Garfield was one of the greatest drum and bugle Corps in the history of the activity it's unfortunate but I believe in my opinion DCI is can't responsible for the demise of what was one of the greatest activities in North America. They priced themselves out of business
I played, snare drum, with the Floyd Bennett golden eagles in 1960 and 1961. We were invited to the Garfield Invitational competition, it was our second contest appearance and we came in second to last beating St Lucy's Cadets. It was an honor just to be invited over many other choices they had our brass quartet that very same year prior to the start of the Season beat the, St Kevin's Emerald Knights brass quartet who just won the National Championship we beat them by 10 with our brass quartet . Just a little background information. It was an honor for me to compete against the Garfield Cadets, in 1960 and 1961, we also competed against the golden knights, Saint Kevin's and many other top known and drum and bugle Corps in the country at that time the best we did was, fourth place, have Point behind Garfield, first place I believe with the golden knights we were two and a half points behind them, and St Kevin's came in second behind us five points was Saint Rocco's Cadets, from Brooklyn. I had to leave the golden eagles due to work right hand and arm injury at the end of the 1961 season. However in, in 1964 I joined a Long Island sunrises from 64 through 1968. I had to play symbols, we where will recognized in the activity, as a photograph of us in volume two of the drum corps world history book, in the sunrise section. Moe Knox, came up with the nickname, dynamic duo, we would imitated but never duplicated comment for at least 5 years of the course try to emulate what we did. In 1968 we won the state and National championship, and we also led the Macy Day Parade in 1968, and we were right after our Color Guard we were in front of, our Drum Corps. It was a great honor to have all that recognition ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
The Garfield Cadets forever changed my life. My years in the corps were filled with memories that will be with me to the last breath I take. When I watch drum corps, I mostly watch the Golden Years as my love of traditional drill and uniforms thrill me the most from that era. Garfield 1987 will always live in my heart as signature "Cadets." I dreamed of being a Garfield Cadet but knew it was just a crazy dream like being an astronaut. Then in 1988 my dream came true. Meeting George Zingali face to face was... priceless! Some stories can't be told, but they make me smile and make me laugh. George was the closest thing to Mozart I have ever known. Every year now, I miss my summer gym floor family. I hope to see many of you in heaven some day soon.
Thanks for sharing! I too miss my summer gym floor family. It's funny you mention about "some stories can't be told" ... I completely get it, a lot of additional stories were told in this discussion, but had to be left on the cutting room floor, lol .... too controversial in today's world.
A little drum score analysis from 1983. Total drums (Field Percussion plus GE Percussion) 1st BD: 28.5, 2nd Phantom: 27.4, 3rd-tie Cadets 27.3, 3rd-tie Vanguard 27.3, 5th Bombers: 25.7, 6th Spirit 25.5, 7th Cadets were 4th in execution, 5th in exposure, 1st in excellence, and 1st in GE. It was an honor to be part of that percussion staff. I disagree that they were "not very good". Thom's parts were excellent, the drill was nuts, and the musicianship and effect were off the charts. More importantly, we reset the bar as to what a percussion section could achieve both musically and visually. They were very good and I was so proud for every one of them, as I am for every Cadet who ever wore the uniform.
Wow! What a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the 1983 Cadets! I’ve been a Cadets “Super Fan“ since 1982 and had the privilege of volunteering at the office after the move to Erie. Being around so much rich drum corps history and volunteering for the corps I’ve loved since high school is something that I will always cherish.
Hi all. Thanks for taking me down Memory Lane. I just wanted to add some extra thoughts on some of the topics discussed. The "Death Camp" between first and second tour was at Tallman State Park in Rockland Co. and near the Dominican Center where most of the "Out of Town" kids stayed. Why we were late to Key to the Sea: In 82 we performed at the US Open in Marion, OH which was held in a Baseball stadium. The staff pulled the tarp over the infield before we performed and the owner of the stadium was not very pleased with us. In 83 the US Open Prelims was in a different stadium than the baseball stadium for finals which we were banned from. To make up the prize money we were losing Hoppi decided to have us go up to Key to the Sea show. The equipment truck ran out of gas and I remember that only Tony Rickie had his horn. Most of the fans had already left and only Spirit and a few others were actually in the stadium for Prelims. After finals that night after leaving the field we marched over to Spirits busses and played our show for them. A few shows later we got to play "Georgia on my mind" together with Spirits hornline. Thanks again for the memories. FHNSAB. Bob Mayer Euphonium 82 - 83.
As someone who was the right age to march during this era (desperately wanted to…never got the chance), videos like these are a bittersweet reminder of everything I missed. It’s nice to hear all the background stories of those shows that I found so awe-inspiring.
Thanks for your comment. Your feedback is the precise reason why I launched and created this series - to help remind Cadets alumni/Drum Corps community and share stories before they're long forgotten to the past.
I marched in the Blue Devils (81-85) and really enjoyed your 82 show (and the following years). This was a fantastic video to sit through. Great job putting it together and fun perspectives to see. At that time, regardless of the corps, we all had our struggles. But we all learned to work through the challenges and do the best we could. All of your experiences, we could say the same thing in the Blue Devils. Except, I'll throw out, our drumline had some serious drummers. But we had folks in the hornline who had to be told which button to push (not many, but we had them).
Regarding the Whitewater incident and the Blue Devils. That did happen. It was so out of character for us. From our side --- what happened was (not making any excuses). Our horn line is warming up. Garfield comes walking by to go on to prelims and one of our staff members says "go let them know you're here". That was it. We had never done that before, or after, during my tenure with the Blue Devils. It was tacky, uncalled for, and should have never happened. Now -- having said that. Our staff knew what Garfield was doing was special. So much so that the Blue Devils changed tour such that we went to Rockford to watch Garfield perform in Phantom's home show. During my 5 years in the Blue Devils, that was the only time we ever went to a show as a spectator. And it was awesome to see as a spectator!!! We got to see Garfield, Bridgemen, Phantom, Spirit, and other corps. We had seats, didn't have to sneak in, didn't have people saying "that's my seat". We all had a great time enjoying drum corps at its finest and not competing. And Garfield was great to see!!
Rick...didn't you almost march 84 BD anyway?? We could've marched together! Kathy...BD didn't worry about that, re the height duff...Preston Howard (La Fiesta Frenchie solo) is over 6 ft and was usually next to Lisa Glaeser, who was around 5' 3"!
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Thank you so much for the history of the Garfield Cadets I was fortunate to compete against them in 1960 and 1961, Garfield was one of the greatest drum and bugle Corps in the history of the activity it's unfortunate but I believe in my opinion DCI is can't responsible for the demise of what was one of the greatest activities in North America. They priced themselves out of business
I played, snare drum, with the Floyd Bennett golden eagles in 1960 and 1961. We were invited to the Garfield Invitational competition, it was our second contest appearance and we came in second to last beating St Lucy's Cadets. It was an honor just to be invited over many other choices they had our brass quartet that very same year prior to the start of the Season beat the, St Kevin's Emerald Knights brass quartet who just won the National Championship we beat them by 10 with our brass quartet . Just a little background information. It was an honor for me to compete against the Garfield Cadets, in 1960 and 1961, we also competed against the golden knights, Saint Kevin's and many other top known and drum and bugle Corps in the country at that time the best we did was, fourth place, have Point behind Garfield, first place I believe with the golden knights we were two and a half points behind them, and St Kevin's came in second behind us five points was Saint Rocco's Cadets, from Brooklyn. I had to leave the golden eagles due to work right hand and arm injury at the end of the 1961 season. However in, in 1964 I joined a Long Island sunrises from 64 through 1968. I had to play symbols, we where will recognized in the activity, as a photograph of us in volume two of the drum corps world history book, in the sunrise section. Moe Knox, came up with the nickname, dynamic duo, we would imitated but never duplicated comment for at least 5 years of the course try to emulate what we did. In 1968 we won the state and National championship, and we also led the Macy Day Parade in 1968, and we were right after our Color Guard we were in front of, our Drum Corps. It was a great honor to have all that recognition ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I became a Garfield ADDICT in 1984 and have never swayed. Thank you for these behind the scenes commentaries. ❤
Thanks for doing this! I marched with you in 1989-1990 and aged out in 1991.
Thanks Jeff! I remember you, crazy we marched together 35 years ago! Where has the time gone, hope you are doing well!
Hi Eric. Great show.
The Garfield Cadets forever changed my life. My years in the corps were filled with memories that will be with me to the last breath I take. When I watch drum corps, I mostly watch the Golden Years as my love of traditional drill and uniforms thrill me the most from that era. Garfield 1987 will always live in my heart as signature "Cadets." I dreamed of being a Garfield Cadet but knew it was just a crazy dream like being an astronaut. Then in 1988 my dream came true. Meeting George Zingali face to face was... priceless! Some stories can't be told, but they make me smile and make me laugh. George was the closest thing to Mozart I have ever known. Every year now, I miss my summer gym floor family. I hope to see many of you in heaven some day soon.
Thanks for sharing! I too miss my summer gym floor family. It's funny you mention about "some stories can't be told" ... I completely get it, a lot of additional stories were told in this discussion, but had to be left on the cutting room floor, lol .... too controversial in today's world.
A little drum score analysis from 1983. Total drums (Field Percussion plus GE Percussion) 1st BD: 28.5, 2nd Phantom: 27.4, 3rd-tie Cadets 27.3, 3rd-tie Vanguard 27.3, 5th Bombers: 25.7, 6th Spirit 25.5, 7th Cadets were 4th in execution, 5th in exposure, 1st in excellence, and 1st in GE. It was an honor to be part of that percussion staff. I disagree that they were "not very good". Thom's parts were excellent, the drill was nuts, and the musicianship and effect were off the charts. More importantly, we reset the bar as to what a percussion section could achieve both musically and visually. They were very good and I was so proud for every one of them, as I am for every Cadet who ever wore the uniform.
Wow! What a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the 1983 Cadets! I’ve been a Cadets “Super Fan“ since 1982 and had the privilege of volunteering at the office after the move to Erie. Being around so much rich drum corps history and volunteering for the corps I’ve loved since high school is something that I will always cherish.
Hi all. Thanks for taking me down Memory Lane. I just wanted to add some extra thoughts on some of the topics discussed. The "Death Camp" between first and second tour was at Tallman State Park in Rockland Co. and near the Dominican Center where most of the "Out of Town" kids stayed.
Why we were late to Key to the Sea: In 82 we performed at the US Open in Marion, OH which was held in a Baseball stadium. The staff pulled the tarp over the infield before we performed and the owner of the stadium was not very pleased with us. In 83 the US Open Prelims was in a different stadium than the baseball stadium for finals which we were banned from. To make up the prize money we were losing Hoppi decided to have us go up to Key to the Sea show. The equipment truck ran out of gas and I remember that only Tony Rickie had his horn. Most of the fans had already left and only Spirit and a few others were actually in the stadium for Prelims. After finals that night after leaving the field we marched over to Spirits busses and played our show for them. A few shows later we got to play "Georgia on my mind" together with Spirits hornline.
Thanks again for the memories. FHNSAB.
Bob Mayer Euphonium 82 - 83.
RIP Cadets
As someone who was the right age to march during this era (desperately wanted to…never got the chance), videos like these are a bittersweet reminder of everything I missed. It’s nice to hear all the background stories of those shows that I found so awe-inspiring.
Thanks for your comment. Your feedback is the precise reason why I launched and created this series - to help remind Cadets alumni/Drum Corps community and share stories before they're long forgotten to the past.
I marched in the Blue Devils (81-85) and really enjoyed your 82 show (and the following years). This was a fantastic video to sit through. Great job putting it together and fun perspectives to see. At that time, regardless of the corps, we all had our struggles. But we all learned to work through the challenges and do the best we could. All of your experiences, we could say the same thing in the Blue Devils. Except, I'll throw out, our drumline had some serious drummers. But we had folks in the hornline who had to be told which button to push (not many, but we had them).
Regarding the Whitewater incident and the Blue Devils. That did happen. It was so out of character for us. From our side --- what happened was (not making any excuses). Our horn line is warming up. Garfield comes walking by to go on to prelims and one of our staff members says "go let them know you're here". That was it. We had never done that before, or after, during my tenure with the Blue Devils. It was tacky, uncalled for, and should have never happened.
Now -- having said that. Our staff knew what Garfield was doing was special. So much so that the Blue Devils changed tour such that we went to Rockford to watch Garfield perform in Phantom's home show. During my 5 years in the Blue Devils, that was the only time we ever went to a show as a spectator. And it was awesome to see as a spectator!!! We got to see Garfield, Bridgemen, Phantom, Spirit, and other corps. We had seats, didn't have to sneak in, didn't have people saying "that's my seat". We all had a great time enjoying drum corps at its finest and not competing. And Garfield was great to see!!
Rick...didn't you almost march 84 BD anyway?? We could've marched together!
Kathy...BD didn't worry about that, re the height duff...Preston Howard (La Fiesta Frenchie solo) is over 6 ft and was usually next to Lisa Glaeser, who was around 5' 3"!