Several members of the alumni have kept folders and even made scrapbooks out of write-ups on the Sunrisers. These write-ups were found everywhere, including The Eastern Review, Drum Corps News, local TV guides, and local newspapers…throughout corps history. For right now, I will present some of the love “Kancyr Quotes:”
June 17, 1970: The Sunrisers still have their girls (as color guard that is) and they are bedecked in new uniforms with fleur-de-lis on the front (and as unimpressive as usual) – it’s also divine that the girls wear orange and blue tights under it all – but really!... I did like “Norwegian Wood” and all that, but come on Sr. let’s get back to work.
June 24, 1970: The Sunrisers seem to be doing better – but those girls – whew! “Abraham, Martin and John” is in their repertoire and there were other things too, but I was kept busy watching that guard which, I’ve decided must be good for watching since it’s not good for anything else!
Shirley wrote many, many articles such as these. She also earned a lot of feedback, such as letters to the Editor, and other reporters’ comments and cleanup jobs.
Rochester, NY…The final competing corps was the Sunrisers, with 41 horns and 15 drums. Like Hawthorne, they also have 5 contras and 9 mellos. Their drum line still includes the much discussed bell lyre, or vibes, or whatever, plus 3 tymps and 2 blocks on each of 2 snares. The corps put on an outstanding performance, but (pardon me fellows) I wasn’t paying much attention to the corps for a very particular reason. In recent contest reports, written by DCN’s regular reporters, there have been repeated comments directed against the Sunrisers’ female color guard. Which have all the character of snide remarks rather than objective reporting. Remarks such as “but those girls – whew!” and “that guard…must be for watching since it’s not good for anything else,” and “as unimpressive as usual,” and “it’s also divine the girls wear orange and blue tights under it all – but really.” (So big deal – every girl guard wears tights that match or harmonize with their uniform colors). Therefore, my attention was riveted on their guard, to see if these remarks have any foundation in fact. They emphatically do not!!! Those remarks proved to be what they sounded like when I read them…just plain catty.
The Sunrisers guard is “good for” what every guard is supposed to be good for – they enhance the appearance of their corps; they add color, dimension, and GE to the show. That is their job and they do it exceptionally well. I saw a smart appearing guard that marched in a precise, military manner. Lines were straight, equipment was well handled, movements were brisk, and they know how to pick up their feet when marking time. The mere fact that they are female instead of male did not detract in any way from the quality of their performance.
After the contest, I asked one of the area’s leading guard instructors what he thought of them. He said (and I quote), “I like them. I was impressed. They are a million percent better than last year.” (Let me stress that neither this instructor nor myself have ever met any member of the Sunrisers). To top it off, and to underscore everything I have said, the judges were also impressed, so much so, that the Sunrisers won the Best Color Guard award! And that says it all right there! Congratulations Sunrisers C.G. You’ve won a sweet victory in more ways than one. The scores:
1. Hawthorne 70.35; 2. Sunrisers 69.55; 3. Skyliners 69.40; 4. Royalaires 55.85
Best Color Guard – The Sunrisers!
Dear Sir: Please publish this letter in DCN for all senior corps people to enjoy. The subject of this letter is a certain Shirley Kancyr. Just who does she think she is? Now I must get one thing straight right away. I am a member of the NY Skyliners and am writing not only to defend my corps, but my competitors too.
I’m referring to 2 of her articles, one in the June 17 issue and the other in the 24th (articles summarizing DCA shows). IN her 1st column on the Hamden show, I’m forgetting that fact that we lost that show (we had a bad day as corps do). I come to the defense of the Bucs and the Sunrisers. Personally, I like both of these corps. They are both hard working corps as we all are, and a lot of work is put into getting a fairly new song, something that probably everyone knows, into senior style, as to make for better enjoyment to the fans, and then we have to be subjected to “her remarks. Now where does she get off with a line to the Bucs like “At a DC contest, who’re they kidding?” or the Sunrisers, “common, let’s get back to work.” We’ve all worked, and hard – darn hard all winter to put our drills together. And if something is good, say it’s good, bad say it’s bad and why. Not some sly remark, I have never seen such a competitive season in DCA.
And when she doesn’t even mention the Skyliners’ drill or music, but talks about how we dress at our leisure – the people who weren’t at the show would probably like to hear how we sound or how the drill looked, not gossip. And then she goes on and raves about the Hurcs and makes them sound like some sort of unbeatable gods, and when we beat them the next week in Stratford, she makes it sound like (gee, why - but it won’t happen again). Believe me; I think the Hurcs are corps not to be taken lightly.
And then she goes in the June 24 issue to down the Sunrisers, again saying that, “I was kept busy watching that guard which I’ve decided must be for watching since it’s not good for anything else.” She decided! Now who appointed her as the person to say who is good for what?
I know a few people in other corps who are fed up with her slighted reporting, so I think I can speak for at least a few of us in senior corps: Miss Kancyr you sound like William F. Buckley with all the subtlety of an atom bomb. I don’t know how long you’ve been associated with drum corps and I’m not challenging your knowledge, but when you write like this you sound like a big-mouth child of 10 from a small standstill corps after seeing his first senior corps show. I don’t think you take the words “senior corps” seriously. I’m not saying that everything that senior corps do is valid or good. But just the word “senior” shows that the corps members have come a long way to be where they are, and good or bad, the news of any senior drum corps should be reported with fairness, truth, and respect. Not with quaff remarks that make for bad relations with the writer.
Henry “Lefty” Mayer once said, “That all drum corps have these problems, but the most common is financial and due to this, the institution The Senior Corps is going out the door.” I think Miss Kancyr is helping it along.
Yours in Drum Corps, Joe Santomauro
Dear Sir, To write or not to write? That is the question I have been asking myself for the last 2 months. Week after week, month after month, the leading drum and bugle corps publication in this country has been printing the writings and opinions of so-called columnists who profess to some great knowledge and opinions, concerning some of the leading drum and bugle corps in the nation.
These people, notably Shirley Kancyr, in her so-called newsy column, and a certain gentleman nobody seems to know at all, who wrote a letter to the editor of DCN, seem to relish the idea of building up certain corps and knocking down certain senior corps with no foresight as to the individuals or the great amount of work and effort put into these corps.
The gentleman who wrote the letter states that drum corps, especially senior corps, are on the down-grade. Their regard for discipline and authority is diminishing and the lack of respect for the judging standards is building. He says that one senior corps was completely responsible for the destruction and upheaval of the Legion Finals at Washington, DC. The man must be either blind or he wasn’t even there if he thought that. More than one corps was at fault there and he knows it. The point I’m trying to make is that, at this time in our drum corps life, senior corps needs all the boosting help they can get, not the kind of gossip and past dirt that this clown wants to dig up.
The case against Shirley Kancyr, the so-called apostle of the pen, is clearly a nonentity when it comes to plain drum corps know-how. Let’s stop kidding ourselves about the technical and complex routines that our senior corps are performing today. Let’s admit that Miss or Mrs. Kancyr doesn’t know the first thing about the proper construction of a drum line or the proper executing habits of a bugle line. Comments like, “their usually thingy thing” or “dull as usual,” just aren’t called for. Let her write her little tidbits of drill rhetoric of gossip in some slander sheet or gossip rag. It doesn’t belong in one of the most prestigious and greatest drum corps papers in the country
When corps are having their problems on the competition field, they need all the encouragement and boosting they can get, not unprofessional gossip or slander. Let’s put senior corps on top where they belong, not on the bottom with Shirley’s column.
Robert J Bond, Member – NY Skyliners Drum and Bugle Corps
The above news clippings saved by an alumni.
