[skyguy79]

Posted on Facebook this morning was a video of a Drum & Bugle Corps out of Northern New Jersey called the New York Skyliners. The video was from 1977 and I joined this corps shortly after the in the spring of 1978, and played a baritone bugle with them for two seasons.

Many of those in the video are friends and acquaintances I made in those years. Even the drum major in the video as well as myself grew up in the same small village in New York State. I still communicate with a few of those friends today but unfortunately a number of them have passed away since including the drum major in 1993.

If you haven't figured it out yet, it is because of my association with this musical organization that I chose the user name of Skyguy79 with the 79 representing my last year of marching in a drum and bugle corps, something I did since I was in high school in the mid 1960's.

http://youtu.be/OABQufdnvMc

The video and sound are a little rough, but videos from that time were rare (especially colored) and I was very pleased when I found it even if it wasn't from my years. Hope you enjoy it!

[angiefox10]

This is very good.... Made me smile!

Thanks for posting!

[faithfulfrank]

Cool!
Back in the 70's I was involved a bit with Mighty St. Joe's from my hometown of Batavia, N.Y..........played in their peanut corps as I was not old enough the the senior corps, but spent hours just loving the music and going to the competitions.....

Frank

[quirky3]

Very impressive Skyguy.... and that coming from a long-time marching band geek!

[jebartle]

Back to the good ole days....

[Chief X]

Very cool Skyguy, you're definitely not a shyguy and hopefully you're still a pretty spryguy. Thanks for sharing. Music and playing instruments rocks!

[LittleDog]

You former musicians should join some of the music groups here. I used to play in the New Horizons band which has many former musicians that have started playing again. I now play in the villages concert band.

John

[quirky3]

Yes, I definitely plan to play with the TV musical groups when I get there, but it will be another 2 years.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Interesting to know, skyguy - thanks for sharing!

Bill

[pooh]

Thank you for sharing, Joe....nice to see who you got to play with.

[skyguy79]

Originally Posted by faithfulfrank

Cool!
Back in the 70's I was involved a bit with Mighty St. Joe's from my hometown of Batavia, N.Y..........played in their peanut corps as I was not old enough the the senior corps, but spent hours just loving the music and going to the competitions.....

Frank

I remember St. Joe's but don't believe I ever actually saw them perform. They were fairly well known in drum corps circles. BTW, the peanut corps you refer to is actually called a feeder corps. Besides providing an activity for the younger youth, it is generally intended to attract and prepare them for Junior corps.

Originally Posted by jrheydt

You former musicians should join some of the music groups here. I used to play in the New Horizons band which has many former musicians that have started playing again. I now play in the villages concert band.

John

I actually gave that consideration as a possibility for the future. However, I got out the instruments I played, and in trying them out I learned that I couldn't do it anymore. It's been 33 years or more since I played any of them and don't have the physical ability to play them anymore.

My accordion was my first instrument which I got when I was in 5th grade. It was hit with mold from some of the flooding in our basement from about a year before moving and wasn't worth having it restored to sell it. I also played the tenor sax all through high school. I found I couldn't play it at all anymore except for the fingering that I never forgot. I traded it with a service that we arrange to clear out our home of furniture and other stuff we weren't keeping when moving down here instead of garage selling them. My last instrument was a soprano 3 valve bugle and didn't have the wind to play anymore. I gave that to a good friend, that runa a few musical groups in the Albany NY area, when we out for our last dinner together before our moving.

Today I do dabble a little with a Casio keyboard, but don't expect to see me performing at any of the squares soon!

Originally Posted by Chief X

Very cool Skyguy, you're definitely not a shyguy and hopefully you're still a pretty spryguy. Thanks for sharing. Music and playing instruments rocks!

I'm a bit shyer than you might think, but as for spry? Pardon me while I laugh! I haven't been spry for years!

Here's a picture I uploaded of me while on the field of competition with the corps back in '79. I didn't put on the broader shot so you couldn't see how out of step I was!

[Pturner]

Skyguy! Thanks for sharing.

[Pturner]

Originally Posted by faithfulfrank

Cool!
Back in the 70's I was involved a bit with Mighty St. Joe's from my hometown of Batavia, N.Y..........played in their peanut corps as I was not old enough the the senior corps, but spent hours just loving the music and going to the competitions.....

Frank

Frank, that's cool too!

I sat in the peanut gallery once.

[2BNTV]

Thanks for sharing Joe.

Joe