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

Fillydog · Post by **Fillydog** » Mon Nov 01, 2010 1:48 pm

Bandmaster wrote:OK, I found out some more information on the background of James E. Son. During WWI he was a member of the United States Army Band and then spent three years with the John Philip Sousa Band playing baritone saxophone. He began playing with the Long Beach Municiple Band in 1924 shortly after his fellow Sousa band mate, Herbet L. Clarke, became the band's director. In 1942 Son became the band's Assistant Director. He was appointed acting director of the band when Clarke retired for health reasons in November 1943, until a replacement could be found. He remained their assistant director under directors B.A. Rolfe (1943-45), J.J. Richards (1945-50), and Eugene LaBarre (1950-?? & another former Sousa cornetist). James also composed music and wrote arrangements for the Municiple Band. Son was invited to become the musical director of the Long Beach Junior Concert Band in 1952.

James E. Son - circa 1955

So I guess he may have been part of Souza's "civilian" band eh? Being an Army musician,etc.

Herbert Clarke too, taught Claude Gordon I believe after he moved to Long Beach,etc. Claude studied with two main teachers, Clarke and Louis Maggio and put the two systems together, Clarke being the technical facility(tonguing, phrasing,etc.) and Maggio being the chop strength doctor.(range, embouchure, endurance,etc.)

ValleyGirl · Post by **ValleyGirl** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 2:40 pm

trombonik wrote:Hey Socal band dudes+dudettes from the 60's,70's+80's!
Wow-time warp time, great to see familiar band names here in print. I was a proud member of the San Fernando Valley Youth Band (previously the Sepulveda Youth Band, Claude Lakey directing) from 1959-1966. Ended up 1st bone and right guide in 1st row-cool gig! Someone mentioned our dancing tubas-tune was a western square dance, not the can-can (watch those meds!) What a time-played in the Hollywood Bowl+ Shrine Auditorium (Massed bands with conductors like Meredith Wilson, Ferde Grofe, John Scott Trotter,+Henry Mancini) LA Coleseum (Rams and USC halftimes) Dodger and Charger Games, 1st USA/USSR track and field meet, and the 1960 Democratic National Convention (JFK nominated). Alway had lots of competition with the Robin Hood Band, Whittier Elks, West Valley Youth Band, South Gate Youth Band, Los Cabelleros, James E. Son's Long Beach Band and several others.
Don't think this kind of experience will happen again-just something else! Anybody from these bands - please reply and jog my memory some more (need all the help I can get now!)

OMB again - I stumbled on this site this afternoon and am having good happy flashbacks reading this thread. I was in Claudehoppers starting in 1963, then moved up to SFVYB. The last thing I did with SFVYB was the HellDorado Days Parade in Las Vegas in 1970. I played bells, vibes, xylophone, and once in a while was trusted with a tambourine !!

I hadn't thought about the tuba players square dancing in years. I won't say the name (although I do remember who it was) but if you were there you may also know. It was halftime at a pre-season LA Rams/Dallas Cowboys football game at the LA Coliseum - do you remember when one of the tuba players lost the bell off his horn when he did the square dance bow? Then on the second bow, he bent over and picked up the bell again? A picture of that was on the first page of the LA Times Sports Section the next day or two later.

Did you also know that Claude Lakey Mouthpieces is owned by a former co-SFVYB member? Google the company and read all about it.

Valley Girl

ovhs_sousaman · Post by **ovhs_sousaman** » Tue Dec 14, 2010 8:45 pm

I was -24 to -5 years old in the 70s/80s

trombonik · Post by **trombonik** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 6:52 am

ValleyGirl wrote:
trombonik wrote:Hey Socal band dudes+dudettes from the 60's,70's+80's!
Wow-time warp time, great to see familiar band names here in print. I was a proud member of the San Fernando Valley Youth Band (previously the Sepulveda Youth Band, Claude Lakey directing) from 1959-1966. Ended up 1st bone and right guide in 1st row-cool gig! Someone mentioned our dancing tubas-tune was a western square dance, not the can-can (watch those meds!) What a time-played in the Hollywood Bowl+ Shrine Auditorium (Massed bands with conductors like Meredith Wilson, Ferde Grofe, John Scott Trotter,+Henry Mancini) LA Coleseum (Rams and USC halftimes) Dodger and Charger Games, 1st USA/USSR track and field meet, and the 1960 Democratic National Convention (JFK nominated). Alway had lots of competition with the Robin Hood Band, Whittier Elks, West Valley Youth Band, South Gate Youth Band, Los Cabelleros, James E. Son's Long Beach Band and several others.
Don't think this kind of experience will happen again-just something else! Anybody from these bands - please reply and jog my memory some more (need all the help I can get now!)

OMB again - I stumbled on this site this afternoon and am having good happy flashbacks reading this thread. I was in Claudehoppers starting in 1963, then moved up to SFVYB. The last thing I did with SFVYB was the HellDorado Days Parade in Las Vegas in 1970. I played bells, vibes, xylophone, and once in a while was trusted with a tambourine !!

I hadn't thought about the tuba players square dancing in years. I won't say the name (although I do remember who it was) but if you were there you may also know. It was halftime at a pre-season LA Rams/Dallas Cowboys football game at the LA Coliseum - do you remember when one of the tuba players lost the bell off his horn when he did the square dance bow? Then on the second bow, he bent over and picked up the bell again? A picture of that was on the first page of the LA Times Sports Section the next day or two later.

Did you also know that Claude Lakey Mouthpieces is owned by a former co-SFVYB member? Google the company and read all about it.

Valley Girl

Wow-another SFVYB member-too cool! I don't remember the tuba bell thing (I went off to college in "66, or might have been in front of the tubas and didn't see) There's another SFVYB tuba story tho' (Lakey musta have had a thing about tubas!) At another Ram's game (earlier?) we wore "western" summer band uniforms (blue shirts/levis/bandana) and Claude rode out on a horse! While we were playing a song, one of the tubas began chasing a pom pom lady around the field (kinda like on the bus!) Claude ran out onto the field, pulled out his trusty six shooter and blasted the unfortunate tuba dude, who went down hard with his junk tuba! We then finished out the show and marched off the field with the carcass still out there. A stretcher crew ran out, threw the guy on, and carried him off, where he stood up and got quite a bit of applause! I do now about Nick taking over Lakey mouthpieces-he provided some to the sax players in the HS band I direct. They are dizzy for a while until they learn how to move enough air to get the Lakey sound!

Teever · Post by **Teever** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 12:47 am

Dave, that's a great chunk of video! I think though, that it's Stan Freese (another Disney great) who is conducting the massed bands.

GalaxyGoddess · Post by **GalaxyGoddess** » Sat Sep 21, 2013 2:38 pm

Make that 3 of us.

I was in both Claudehoppers and SFVYB for years. I was the only female trumpet player for years then Marty came along then there were two of us.

I left SFVYB and went to the Royal Cavaliers for a couple years... remember them? But they never did get me to play, I was in the Flag Corps.

... and I know where there is another long time member of the band.

De

Nonny-mus · Post by **Nonny-mus** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 5:44 pm

Just found this but it looks like it hasn't been used for a while.

I was in three different Youth Bands Downey, Whittier Cavaliers and South Gate but it was in the South Gate Youth band the longest. Our cross-town rival was Huntington Park. I really don't have a lot to say except it was a great experience and I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything.

I checked and South Gate still seems to be there and performing. I'm glad.

Thanks for giving me a smile. There are some great memories in these few words.

Zoheret · Post by **Zoheret** » Mon Jul 29, 2019 4:32 pm

I too was in Cabbies. I was in the color guard then became guard captain. This was when Steve Issacs was the director. I miss those days. The bus driver (Gardena) could never find the gear he wanted and was always grinding them. He would also stop the bus so I could steal a No Parking sign from each city we marched in.

I was a tenor drummer at Phineas Banning High. Whaling was my specialty. Loved the Hendrix and Lucy cadences.

Merry Barr

RagingSmirk · Post by **RagingSmirk** » Mon Aug 05, 2024 10:47 pm

I was an active participant in the Merced Marching 100 Band in Central California with director Michael K. Selleck. We marched in street parades in Northern (Santa Cruz), Central (Selma) and Southern (Santa Ana) California. Every time the M100 returned from a street parade, we received a police escort back into town. Citizens would stand on the streets and cheer for our return. It was a great experience working with these musical friends for 4 years. I played alto clarinet (Year 1), then bass clarinet (Years 2-4). Played in the CA All-State Honor Band my Junior & Senior years on Bass Clarinet with directors Vaclav Nelhybel and Harold Arnoldi. Horror stories of that first All-State year under VN's direction. He yelled at practically everyone, including myself, and even made a male percussion player cry. All-State Honor Band was so thrilling because it was the first group I played in with a depth of excellent players, including an English Horn and a dozen French Horns.

California HS marching bands in the 1970's were all about street marching. We learned one basic half-time show for the entire football season. We were marching in a Central California summer parade (circa 1975) and marching behind us was The Blue Devils Drum Corp. We were so intrigued with how loud they were. It was so foreign to us. We were at the Santa Ana Band Review at Thanksgiving and were introduced to The Santa Ana Winds Drum Corp, who was sponsoring the event.

Our competitors when marching in Northern California were the Armijo Super Band (Fairfield) and when marching in Southern California it was the Poway HS Band.

1975 at the Santa Ana Band Review was so memorable. We had Thanksgiving dinner the night before at our hotel. Several members of the M100 were food-poisoned by that Thanksgiving dinner. We are marching down a street in Santa Ana, and suddenly we have about a dozen sick members. Our Band Supporters started ringing the doorbells of the houses along the street (not in a great neighborhood even back in 1975). Layers of uniforms on the front yards. Those people were so gracious to open us their homes to a dozen sick kids. This all took about 30-45 minutes. A Band Booster went ahead and alerted the judges to what was occurring. They allowed bands to go around us until our members were able to get back in their complete uniforms and march again. All of them were able to march through the competition area. It was amazing that we did great in the competition and won awards. The Orange County Restaurant Division drove up to Merced a week later to interview the band members to determine what food poisoned us. Who ate rolls, butter, turkey, dressing, veggies, dessert, etc? The culprit: The dressing. The cooks put the hot dressing into the cold turkey. That's a NO-NO.

Forward to my college days in Southern California. Discovered that my future husband played tuba in The Santa Ana Winds the summer of 1976 or 1977. He only participated one summer. He was the first Drum Major for the Whittier Christian HS band for the 1976-1977 year.

World of Pageantry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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