Drum and Bugle Corps

(mywebpal.com)

1946: The Hamilton American Legion Post No. 20 Senior Drum and Bugle Corps is formed and begins competing with other drum and bugle corps from up and down the East Coast on the Interstate Circuit of the American Legion.

Many of the Hamilton Post No. 20 Senior Drum and Bugle Corps’ members are former servicemen recently returned from World War II. Quite a few of these men had previously belonged to the Hamilton Squadron Junior Corps, a youth drum and bugle corps originally founded in the 1930s.

1949: The Hamilton Corps takes the name Yankee Rebels and begins flying the Confederate flag along with the stars and stripes of the United States in competitions. The name Yankee Rebels honors the Civil War forefathers of corps members, some of whom served in the Union Army during the Civil War and some of whom fought for the Confederacy.

1969: Under the direction of Truman Crawford, a former member of both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps, the Yankee Rebels win the first of three consecutive national championships. They take their first title in 1969 before a crowd of nearly 30,000 at the American Legion National, held at Grant Field, Atlanta, Ga.

1977: Faced with declining membership and retiring leaders and directors and inability to field a competitive corps, the Yankee Rebels disband.

1988: Many former members of the Yankee Rebels Senior Corps reunite to form the Yankee Rebels Alumni Corps. With an average age of about 50 and quite a few members in their seventies, the new Alumni Corps does not compete on the American Legion circuit. The alumni corps does not compete, but members practice twice a month and perform in parades, festivals and concerts in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and elsewhere.

- Bob Allen

Link: Yankee Rebels

(daily-chronicle.com)

DeKALB – The martial sounds of drum and brass that for nearly all of the last 27 summers could be heard wafting across DeKalb will be a lot rarer this year.

Milwaukee-based Drum Corps Midwest, which has been holding drum corps competitions in DeKalb since the late 1970s, suspended its operations in November.

Other than practice sessions by at least one drum and bugle corps at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium, that means people will have to go elsewhere to hear the precision marching groups.

“The organization has kind of gone dormant,” said DCM Executive Director Roman Blenski. “The membership has kind of splintered up a little bit.”

Blenski said the Division I, or larger drum corps, split from the organization two years ago, and without their participation it was difficult to make the competition work financially. The competitions had been held at Northern Illinois University’s Huskie Stadium.

“DCM can’t afford to do the shows anymore,” said Mike Embrey of FunME events in DeKalb. Embrey had worked with DCM to promote the competitions and acted as a local liaison for the group.

Drum Corps International, which, like DCM, hosts shows and competitions for member corps, had in two recent years collaborated with DCM on the DeKalb shows, but Chris Weber, DCI promotions manager, said the group has no current plans to host a show in DeKalb.

The competitions typically drew dozens of drum and bugle corps, mainly from the Midwest. Many of the corps would camp and practice on the lawns at DeKalb public schools.

DeKalb Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chuck Siebrasse said he remembers hearing them practice when he lived on Fairview Drive.

“It’s a loss to the community,” he said.

Embrey said an analysis of the impact of the three-day Drum Corps Midwest Championships in 2003 showed the competition generated about $250,000 of economic activity and brought more than 5,000 people to town.

He said that he’s hoping to lure a competition by DCI to DeKalb in 2007, but that it might take a coordinated effort by the city, chamber and other entities to do that. Other communities have started to offer the drum corps organizations things like breaks on stadium rental and housing, he said.

(toledoblade.com)

The Toledo Symphony Orchestra, directed by Chelsea Tipton II, will present “1812 Overture -The Glassmen Return!” featuring the Glassmen Drum and Bugle Corps in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, at 8 p.m. March 24 and 25 in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle, 2445 Monroe St. Works by Strauss and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, featuring violinist Karen Gomyo, also will be performed. Tickets range from $21 to $48.

Link: Glassmen

(www.madison.com)

More than 200 alumni of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, ranging in age from 23 to 80, will return to Madison in August to put on a special show at Camp Randall Stadium during the Drum Corps International semifinals.

Dubbed the Madison Scouts Alumni Reunion Project, the program will be performed the evening of Aug. 11 by alumni, including an original Scout who marched in the first corps in 1938.

Link: Madison Scouts

(pittsburghlive.com)

They once set the standard for competitive drum and bugle corps, performing songs that ranged from Harold Arlen’s “Stormy Weather” to the Frank Zappa piece “Peaches En Regalia.”

The complicated rhythms of Zappa’s lead into his 1969 solo album, “Hot Rats,” were a hit for the Pittsburgh-based Steel City Ambassadors at drum and bugle competitions up and down the East Coast.

While the group no longer plays competitively, their sound continues to reverberate through the region. The Ambassadors — many of whom are older than 60 — still perform regular gigs, and will kick off their season Saturday by marching in Pittsburgh’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The corps also will perform concerts in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Erie, and march in parades until Ligonier Days in October.

Link: Steel City Ambassadors