In my opinion, the greatest drum line I ever had the privilege to either hear or march with was NOT the 1975 Hawthorne Muchachoes but the 1983 Long Island Sunrisers. I've tried to get Delucca to admit it but I guess it's like trying to choose a favorite child. The drum line was just SO GOOD. The Drum Solo was just SOOOO GOOD. I haven't heard the recording for years but I know that the crowd started to explode as soon as the snares turned in for the final push. Stick work Tenor work faster.faster.FASTER. Crowd noise building murmuring starting to break on the field a frenzy of excellence begins turning every partisan spectator into the true drum corps fan they really are.
No ticks no mistakes. Hours days years of work and practice, every beat turning into a breath, into a heart beat.
This is why you're here!!!! Building .. building, then almost as a relief Finale!! A split second and then EXPLOSION!!!!! Cheering whistling screaming pandemonium. It's not for me. I'm standing on the field sweat streaming down my face watching ten thousand people going berserkers knowing that every other drum corps is turning away because they know they CAN'T BEAT THAT. Hell I couldn't beat That!
It's nice to hear people praise the 1983 Baritone line and I can say that everyone in it took pride in our contribution to the corps. But I gotta tell ya. I will never in any incarnation of a horn player *EVER* rise to the level that those people in the drum line did that year. The good thing was they never realized how good they were and always treated the rest of the corps as the solid equals that we really were.
John Scarzenski
