CALIFORNIA MARCHING YOUTH BANDS FROM THE 70'S AND 80'S

Topics and polls that cover the overall marching band activity

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Post by bari_benzo » Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:45 am

I guess I was lucky to get the tail-end of the game. Marched California Knights in 1995 and 1996. Awesome summers. I was only 14 at the time and had really never marched before. 95 I marched clarinet... 96 marched tenor sax.
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Post by CrystalMage » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:04 am

Hi, If you're Dave, you wrote the drill for the Torrance Area Youth Band in 1979. Jack Trifenbach ( sp ) wrote our drill in 1978 - that was the year my brother went on tour with the Kingsmen. You were also covering for us as Drum Major at the Shrine show in 1979. That was the year we had a Kingsmen drill writer, an ex-Kingsmen arranger, and also an ex-Kingsmen drum instructor. Like you and the others, being in a youth band was great. I joined TAYB in January or Feb of 1971, marching with the Jr. band until 1974..then on the the senior band. I quit around May of 1979 and joined the Los Caballeros... aging out with them. I enjoyed marching with them, but my roots were really with Torrance. I mean, even as far as parties and other growing up stuff that happens between 10 years old and 19, the social part aspect was huge for me. Wow, California Calvary. I remember them!

Take care,
Michael

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Post by CrystalMage » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:44 pm

1000 Charts. Sorry, I should have addressed who I was talking to in my last post! LOL
In 1978, I worked and wrote drill for the Torrance Youth Band, before leaving on tour. In 1979 (I think that was the year?) I also got to write drill for the Commodores Youth Band. It may have only been the opener, if my member serves me right.
If you're Dave W., then I remember you writing our drill in 1979 - for TAYB.

Michael

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Post by CrystalMage » Mon Feb 12, 2007 4:25 pm

Hey all,

I also remember Reseda Senior and Jr. youth band. I believe we competed with the Jr. band when I was on TAYB's jr. band. There used to be West Valley Senior and Jr. Band. I remember that Reseda Sr. Band always seemed to play "The Klaxton" for their competition march - I think I spelled that right. I also remember the Whittier Cavaliers - always liked their uniforms. And i saw a lot of Florence - the Florence Teen Post youth band. There used to be, I believe, a San Fernando Valley youth band. I think I remember them playing "The can-can" or something where their color guard danced around - maybe even their sousaphone players. Or maybe I had too many Rico Royal magic mushrooms back then and it was alla dream. LOL I also remember the LAPD youth band as well. When I first joined Torrance, I remember the Cabbies played "The Patton Theme" a lot and they had maraca (sp) girls. I used to like xmas time because we'd have the mass band concerts. One concert was at El Camino College in Torrance. And the other one was at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion on Xmas eve - had to practice "Sleigh Ride" a lot. I also like the 4th of July, doing the Hunington Beach parade and the Pacific Palisades parade in one day. And of course, a few bands always made the effort to do the Lompoc Flower Festival parade too, sometime in the summer.

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Post by 1000 Charts » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:56 pm

Hi Mike,

Wow, what a small World we live in! It's always good to hear from people that you have not spoken or seen in years. I believe that you are correct. It was in 1979 that I worked with the Torrance Youth Band. I also remember the Drum Major role I was able to play with the group.
There were so many talented people in that band, if my memory serves me correctly.

Fortunately I get to be one of the Drum Majors for the Kingsmen Alumni Corps, besides writing their drill too.

I hope life has treated you well and you are welcome to PM anytime.

Thanks

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"so let it be written, so let it be done"

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Torrance Area Youth Band

Post by LBRSR » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:23 pm

Didn't Torrance Youth band have a syncopated drum section back in those days, before going rudimental? Did you know a Mickey Flanagan? He used to play drums there before going over to LBJCB.

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Post by CrystalMage » Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:03 pm

Hey Dave,

I heard that you were doing the drill and being drum major the the Kingsmen Alumni. I'm glad to see you've been keeping up with all the creative drill writing all these years.

Yes, you were our Drum Major for our 1979 Shrine show. In fact, if you want to see taht show, I just started messing around with this website type stuff, and so, if you go to blackboxbuster.com ( my site ), I have a section for TAYB. Click on the images, for the most part. If you keep going to the Torrance Senior Youth Band page, there's a link to a few clips, one being that shrine show with you as Drum Major.

I haven't figured out the particulars, so it takes time for yahoo to load the clip to your browser, apparently. So, if you do want to see the clip, it will create a new browser window, and leave it for about 10 or 15 minutes! LOL And then come back to it. It has sound, of course.

I will be looking for better ways to provide clips, though. Hey, I'm learning...

I also have a Drum Corp section, but it's mostly links, a few pics I grabbed off of the xkingsmen website, and some other pics I took back in 1978 of the kingsmen. Also, there'sa clip of the Kingsmen in a parade, that my dad took back in 71, I believe.

Take care!

Mike

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Post by Ryan H. Turner » Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:10 pm

WAIT A FREAKIN' SECOND!!!! HOLD THE DOOR!!!
This means...I'm actually laughing out loud...how do you computer nerds put it??....ROFLMAO!!??....this means that Dave Weinberg and I, who I would go on to "officially" meet in 1985, go to school with in 1986 and 1987, and be his roommate for a year in 1988, WAS IN THE SHRINE AUDITORIUM AT THE SAME TIME I WAS!?!?!?!?!

I need a defibrillator!!

This activity amazes me more everyday!!!

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Post by CrystalMage » Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:18 pm

Hey LBRSR!
Didn't Torrance Youth band have a syncopated drum section back in those days, before going rudimental? Did you know a Mickey Flanagan? He used to play drums there before going over to LBJCB.
Yes. We called it whaling. The cadence they used to use was called, "Hendrix" if I'm not mistaken. I remember Mickey. He played the tenor drum when we were stil with that style. And when we went to rudimental, he played bass drum, but if I remember right, really preferred playing the tenor drum. I do remember Mickey going over to LBJCB now.. that's right! He really preferred the whaling style.

It was actually a bit of a battle to make the switch. Some of us wanted to take what we felt were innovative ideas from the drum and bugle corps while others wanted to stick to tradition. In fact, then director, Norman Bailey, prefered the whaling style.

I forgot the particulars. But I do know that Coby Martinez was very instrumental to help us make the switch, although he went on to other things soon afterwards. There was someone else who instructed drums for a while or lead the section as a member, but I forget his name, unless I'm mistaken. Later, Jim Whobrey became drum instructor. It was great when he got our drum section to play "Yellow Submarine" for the drum section solo in our 1977 Shrine show. I think later that year, we bought brand new Premier drums that were more geared to the rudimental style.

Great talking to you!

Mike

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Post by LBRSR » Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:24 pm

CrystalMage wrote:Hey LBRSR!
Didn't Torrance Youth band have a syncopated drum section back in those days, before going rudimental? Did you know a Mickey Flanagan? He used to play drums there before going over to LBJCB.
Yes. We called it whaling. The cadence they used to use was called, "Hendrix" if I'm not mistaken. I remember Mickey. He played the tenor drum when we were stil with that style. And when we went to rudimental, he played bass drum, but if I remember right, really preferred playing the tenor drum. I do remember Mickey going over to LBJCB now.. that's right! He really preferred the whaling style.

It was actually a bit of a battle to make the switch. Some of us wanted to take what we felt were innovative ideas from the drum and bugle corps while others wanted to stick to tradition. In fact, then director, Norman Bailey, prefered the whaling style.

I forgot the particulars. But I do know that Coby Martinez was very instrumental to help us make the switch, although he went on to other things soon afterwards. There was someone else who instructed drums for a while or lead the section as a member, but I forget his name, unless I'm mistaken. Later, Jim Whobrey became drum instructor. It was great when he got our drum section to play "Yellow Submarine" for the drum section solo in our 1977 Shrine show. I think later that year, we bought brand new Premier drums that were more geared to the rudimental style.

Great talking to you!

Mike
Thanks for sharing that Mike. I, too, was in LBJCB in 1977 and Mickey had just passed his try out, when I came in as a trainee. I played bass drum, although I originally wanted to play tenor. We also played Hendricks, which was an awesome cadence. I stared my marching career at Warren High in Downey, then played with the California Cavalry Youth Band, South Gate and Downey Youth bands and then with LBJCB, which was, of course my favorite band to participate with. After I aged out, a group of drummers stared another independent drum corps called LBRSR and had it going for almost 20 years. I still prefer the Wailing cadences over rudimental. I feel it really gets the blood pumping, especially at a football or in an echo chamber on a parade route. I sure miss those days.
Oh yes, I played one semester in the Big Brown Music Machine at CSULB as well. Good talking to you too.

Glenn

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Post by Chaporch » Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:40 pm

Ryan H. Turner wrote:WAIT A FREAKIN' SECOND!!!! HOLD THE DOOR!!!
This means...I'm actually laughing out loud...how do you computer nerds put it??....ROFLMAO!!??....this means that Dave Weinberg and I, who I would go on to "officially" meet in 1985, go to school with in 1986 and 1987, and be his roommate for a year in 1988, WAS IN THE SHRINE AUDITORIUM AT THE SAME TIME I WAS!?!?!?!?!

I need a defibrillator!!

This activity amazes me more everyday!!!
. . . and I, too, was in this show . . .

chaporch

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Post by Ryan H. Turner » Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:30 pm

YOU TOO!?!?!?

Oh my...I was surrounded. :lol:

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Post by Bandmaster » Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:36 pm

Chaporch wrote:
Ryan H. Turner wrote:WAIT A FREAKIN' SECOND!!!! HOLD THE DOOR!!!
This means...I'm actually laughing out loud...how do you computer nerds put it??....ROFLMAO!!??....this means that Dave Weinberg and I, who I would go on to "officially" meet in 1985, go to school with in 1986 and 1987, and be his roommate for a year in 1988, WAS IN THE SHRINE AUDITORIUM AT THE SAME TIME I WAS!?!?!?!?!

I need a defibrillator!!

This activity amazes me more everyday!!!
. . . and I, too, was in this show . . .

chaporch
Gee... and I was at the Shrine too! :shock: Only I first met Dave W. in 1977.
Dave Schaafsma
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Post by thom » Tue Feb 13, 2007 8:33 pm

Come on Ryan even I remember being at the Shrine shows!!( although I was pretty young at the time)
And all those Xmas eves at the Dorthy Chandler (yeah Dave I know you have the tape!!)
I do miss having all these groups around.
I was involved with Burbank Police, Burbank Lancers, Los Cabs and the Royal Cavaliers. Then worked with the Lancers, TAYB, and Spirit of Santa Fe.
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Post by Ryan H. Turner » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:57 pm

No no...it's not a question of remembering--I'm just amazed that Weinberg was there too! I figured you would have been. And of course Schaafsma!!

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