Arthur's Blog 2012-02

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Published on Wednesday, 08 February 2012 12:49

Lot’s of things flood my mind as I get ready to leave for Florida next week. I’m looking forward to my second and last Crusader practice of this winter, and I am excited about hearing our rendition of “Unchained Melody” as we get geared up for 2012.

I hear there is a “football game” next week, and you probably wonder what connection this has to drum corps. Well, before there was the New England (Boston) Patriots, I, and most other local football enthusiasts, were New York Giants fans. Although we hated the Yankees, the Football Giants were our home team. The exploits of Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, and Y.A. Title filled our T.V. screens every Sunday, and we loved the boys in blue. I can still name almost every starter from the Giants teams of the late 1950’s. Frank Gifford’s autograph is still my most treasured signature in my childhood autograph collection. (And that includes Bill Russell, Ted Williams, and Bobby Orr.)

In 1960, the Boston Patriots played their first game. (They lost 13-10 to Denver) and that was also my first year in drum corps as a Peabody Musketeer. Just as many Giant fans began to embrace the Patriots as “their home team” with new loyalties and traditions, we drum corps folk, while never forgetting our experiences in our earlier drum corps or band, have found our “new home team” in the Boston Crusaders Senior Drum and Bugle corps.

We have our own traditions and ways of doing things. Our past has made us richer, but as Coach Belichick might say about today, “It is what it is.” We are what we are, and we will be what we make it.

Do you recall an earlier time when the half time show consisted of the appearance of a drum corps or marching band? This is before the huge spectaculars featuring egotistical, off key rock stars that attempt to make the game second nature. Back then, a wardrobe malfunction was someone’s zipper getting stuck. I’ve been told that the Cambridge Caballeros performed as the Patriots very first home half time show. At another game, the Patriots’ management made the unfortunate choice of featuring remote control planes circling the field doing their loop the loops. One crashed into the stands injuring a fan. I don’t recall any spectators ever getting maimed by an errant trombone!

Watching the games on T.V. was especially exciting for me when I could catch a corps like Hawthorne performing amid the commercials and announcers recapping the game. I can remember yelling at the broadcaster to “shut up!” so I could hear the drum corps.

As a member of “Prince” in 1966, I performed at half time at Fenway Park when the Patriots played the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers had the huge Ernie Ladd on the team, and he looked like a giant as he ran past me to the lockers at half time.

Since my Majestic Knight corps also performed at Fenway at a baseball game in 1965, I guess I can truthfully say that I “played” for both the Red Sox and the Patriots.