At some period during the late 80’s, (I want to say 1986) a bunch of us would continue to spend our weekends together weeks after DCA’s and go to sporting events or parties now that we had some time to kill until the 1st rehearsal of the new year. Similar to the type of pictures that Tony White has been restoring, that's the way the corps was.
One particular party that was popular was the “AL Hammond Clam Bake” (Al Hammond, is also known for the “Al’s Pants” song). If Fran Haring gets on board here, I'm sure he will be able to elaborate a bit more than me.
Anyway, I have a bad habit of … let see, “falling a sleep in a car” especially if I wasn't driving. “THIS WAS QUITE UNACCEPTABLE TO YOUR FELLOW CAR POOL BUDDIES”, so on occasion Fran would “FAKE” crashing into something which scare the heck out of you (waking me from a sleep!). Believing we were going to crash, this would tend to make a person jittery, so in turn you would now stay awake!
To a person like myself, this is “Torture”, plain and simple. Anyway coming home from this party, Fran, Ray Yenshaw and I get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic right around the Easton, Pa area (where there is always construction) and that's when the “Torture” began. I was trapped!
Tired, from the previous night, and stuck in traffic I was the perfect victim. Fran and Ray were really playing it up too, by putting on the “Classical Music” radio stations, or “Church Music” (it was Sunday morning). The real killer was turning the heat on! I am now fighting to stay wake because… as soon as I would nod off “LOOK-OUT!!!” I was so jittery, that I was jumping out of my seat every time he touched the brakes. To quote Charleston Heston, “It was like being in a Mad House”.
Traffic really didn't breakup until we made it into Jersey but by then the damage was done. Pretty much for the rest of the ride home I was out of it.
The real reason why Beer and Rolls became so popular is simply this: In 1982, Bubba “Harold” Evans came up with an idea that would help make money for the corps and get the Old Veterans acquainted with the “New Guys” like me. The plan was to have a formal Dinner/Dance at the “Old-Fashion Fellow” restaurant out on Long Island. Once there, serve food and let people get to know each other, etc.
Well, the get together started about 8 pm. People from the corps actually did get there reasonably on time. Probably something Bubba wasn’t expecting. Several people from the Jersey Crew were already waiting about an hour for appetizers. The crew from my car got seated next to“Veteran Jersey Crew Members” already fired up.
The waitress came out with baskets of rolls, which were gone before she could set them on the table. We all figured great, the appetizers will be out next (ha, ha). Well, a few minutes went by and the waitress came out with more rolls. And we waited again, for appetizers or real food.
Finally somebody decided “We needed something to go with these rolls. How about beer!!??!!” So, for what seemed like years, all we had to eat was: BEER AND ROLLS!
Yes the great snack food/appetizers of the Sunrisers! PS. Food finally came out about 10PM (2 hour wait)! But hey, we were already toasted and just didn’t care anymore!
One year, again during the late 80’s, (I want to say 1987, or 1988) for one weekend I got recruited again to help with “The Truck” (keep in mind this is only one of the many “Truck Stories”). In fact, you could probably start a category and call it: “Tales of the Sunrisers Truck Stories”.
Anyway, the ensemble consisted of, Fran Haring, Jimmy Calogianes, & myself.
We were going to one of the upstate shows, around Albany NY and we all decided, since I lived in North Jersey at the time, it would be easier to leave from my house, instead of Edison which is where the corps was from during the 1987 &1988 seasons.
After a couple hours of much needed rest we started on our way, listening to one of Fran’s enhanced versions of corps stories, or reminiscing about other things that have happened in the past to kill time on the way to rehearsal. During this trip we came up with the now famous “Be like Stan” song (sung to the tune of “Met the Mets”).
The highlight of the trip occurred while we were composing the words… not really paying attention to the road it seems that out of the blue, this “Deer” miraculously appeared in front of us! Thank God I just happened to look up and shouted “DEER”!
Fran immediately stopped the truck, (one of the few times the truck actually stopped).
We were inches from the deer. Funny how most animals run from vehicles, but deer seem to get hypnotized, will stay in one spot, and will be killed before thinking about moving. Anyway, we get out of the truck, do a quick inspection to make sure the truck was O.K. and to make sure there was no major damage to the equipment, and got back on our way.
Afterwards it seemed all we could think about was what would have happened if we really did hit that deer. Fran will tell you we came up with a bunch of scenarios including one, where all we thought about was we would definitely win “Animal of the Year” for killing and deer, loading it into the truck and bringing it with us to rehearsal.
Milton "The Bug" Fitzgerald: Contrabass
