SAA Newsletter, December 2008

Surfer’s

Drum & Bugle Corps Alumni Association Southeastern Connecticut

Volume 5 – Number 1

December 2008

The 7th Regiment set new records for scoring and reached the milestone of making it to their first semi finals at the DCI Nationals this year.

Such success can only result from the hard work and talent by the membership and the dedication of their great instructional staff.

Congratulations go out to all involved for such a memorable 2008, 7th Regiment season!!!

Photo’s by CorpsReps

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Your 2008. . . 7 Regiment

Drum Corps - – - Be in it for Life…

Surfer’s Alumni Association P.O. Box 64 New London, CT 06320 Phone: 860-442-DRUM

Board of Directors Chairman: Edgar Frazelle President: Birse Timmons Vice President: Phae Pearsall Secretary: Daisy Johnson Treasurer: Dawn Aguiar Fundraising: Heather Roberts Media/Technology: Barbara DeLillo 7th Regiment Director: Tim Rall Asst. Director/Members: Jim O’Neil Quartermaster: Jimmy Smith At-Large-Members: Jeff Dozier Lizz Adams

Editorial…

Growing the Corps, Invite a Friend…

Yeah, I know, sounds a lot easier than it is! And I am probably not the expert on this subject. After a few years with the Surfers back in 1967, I invited a few neighborhood friends to come to a practice – I laid out all the thrills and excitement that I had experienced – but it wasn’t enough to get them back to a second practice session.

The fact that I had tried was important, and today it is no different. The current members of the 7th Regiment are the best bet with growing the corps.

The SAA and 7th Regiment staff will do everything they can to attract new members. They will hit the band show circuit and promote the 7th Regiment everywhere they can, but it is you, the 7th members that will make the difference.

Later in life, having been involved with a few civic clubs, I took on the task to bolster the club membership. Getting someone to a meeting (camp) and then letting the organization speak for itself was usually the trick. And from what I have heard, the 7th Regiment camps rock – with the excitement and discipline showing in everything you do!

Newsletter Editor: Carl Burnett Letters to the Editor eMail: stampbiz@cfl.rr.com or mail to: P.O. Box 1987 Melbourne, FL 32902

Making it a priority to be the best, means to do so in every aspect of corps life. Bringing a friend to a camp or practice session is the first step – and then let the fever take over… everyone wants to be part of a winning organization and the 7th is just that!

Newsletter Staff: Lizz Adams Barb DeLillo

So what do you say? Can you commit to bringing in just one friend to a camp or practice over the next month or so?

Visit your Web Site…

The staff works hard to provide you the tools necessary to succeed, the instructors provide the mentoring required to bring you all together as a unit. Even parents and patrons get in on the act – one corps, one goal – to be the best you can be.

www.7thregiment.org This site has all the news and activities going on with the Surfer’s Alumni Association and th the 7 Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps. Also, plenty of photos and links to other favorite Drum & Bugle Corps sites. Visit the guest book register and look up old friends – and don’t forget to sign your name!

Sitting here in Florida, I follow every step of your summer journey – and then some. It would be a thrill to see the 7th grow in numbers as they have grown in talent and pride. The future is yours – use a light sell on your friends and let the corps speak for itself… you’ve all earned that right!

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For the Record…. Official 2008 Corps Scoreboard…

The 7th Regiment competed in 11 competitions in June through August of 2008. This included the DCI National Championships held in Michigan City and Indianapolis, Indiana. As a 5th year corps, the 7th continued to climb the ladder and presented themselves proudly making it to the Semi Finals, in the new “Open” class which was the combined Class II & III corps from the previous year.

June 28, 2008 New London, CT Open Class Score 1. Jersey Surf 73.35 2. Citations 66.65 3. Spartans 59.35 4. 7th Regiment 57.65 5. Raiders 56.35 6. Targets 45.85 July 12th, 2008 Springfield, MA Open Class Score 1. Citations 70.40 2. Dutch Boy 63.50 3. 7th Regiment 62.65 4. Spartans 61.65 5. Les Stentors 53.10 6. Targets 49.35 7. Spirit of NJ 44.40 July 13th, 2008 Manchester NH Open Class Score 1. Citations 72.50 2. Dutch Boy 65.30 3. Spartans 63.20 4. 7th Regiment 63.15 5. Les Stentors 53.10 6. Targets 50.85 July 18th, 2008 Wildwood NJ Open Class Score 1. Jerysey Surf 79.65 2. Citations 77.05 3. Raiders 71.45 4. Spartans 68.85 5. 7th Regiment 67.10 6. Racine Scouts 63.80 7. Les Stentors 58.70 8. Targets 57.90 9. Spirit of NJ 52.85

July 20th, 2008 West Mildford NJ Open Class Score 1. Raiders 73.80 2. Spartans 71.05 3. 7th Regiment 68.65 4. Racine Scouts 65.70 5. Les Stentors 56.30 6. Targets 55.95 7. Spirit of NJ 53.40

July 30th, 2008 Rome, New York Open Class Score 1. Jersey Surf 86.40 2. Spartans 75.20 3. 7th Regiment 71.00

July 31st, 2008 Hornell, NY Open Class Score 1. Beatrix 79.70 2. 7th Regiment 73.35

August 2nd, 2008 Madison, WI Open Class Score 1. Blue Devils B 91.20 2. Spokane Thunder 86.27 3. Citations 85.45 4. Raiders 84.15 5. Dutch Boy 81.75 6. Impulse 77.27 7. Legends 76.67 8. 7th Regiment 76.27 9. Colt Cadets 76.10 10. Racine Scouts 72.27 11. Les Stentors 65.45 12. Spirit of NJ 64.37

August 3rd, 2008 Whitewater, WI Open Class Score 1. Citations 86.65 2. Spokane Thunder 86.00 3. Dutch Boy 81.25 4. Legends 80.60 5. Raiders 80.05 6. 7th Regiment 78.40 7. Impulse 75.85 8. Colt Cadets 74.25 9. Racine Scouts 70.85 10. Les Stentors 67.30 11. Spirit of NJ 64.40 August 5th, 2008 Michigan City DCI Quarter Finals Open Class Score 1. Blue Devils B 95.15 2. Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets 93.80 3. Jersey Surf 93.55 4. Teal Sound 92.40 5. Oregon Crusaders 92.02 6. Spokane Thunder 89.40 7. Citations 89.30 8. Revolution 86.22 9. Raiders 84.95 10. Dutch Boy 84.75 11. Memphis Sound 84.20 12. Yamato 83.60 13. Velvet Knights 81.70 14. Spartans 81.62 15. Legends 81.57 16. 7th Regiment 78.02 17. Impulse 77.50 18. Colt Cadets 76.12 19. Racine Scouts 74.30 20. Strangnas 71.05 21. Les Stentors 68.27 22. Spirit of NJ 67.45 Continued on next page…

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2008 Scores Continued August 8th, 2008 Indianapolis, IN DCI Open Class Semi Finals Open Class

7th Regiment Home Show…

Drum Corps on the Thames July 11, 2009

Score

1. Blue Devils B 95.85 2. Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets 95.60 3. Jersey Surf 95.42 4. Oregon Crusaders 93.32 5. Teal Sound 92.90 6. Citations 91.52 7. Spokane Thunder 90.75 8. Revolution 88.37 9. Raiders 86.60 10. Dutch Boy 86.52 11. Beatrix 85.52 12. Memphis Sound 85.47 13. Yamato 85.25 14. Spartans 82.70 15. Legends 82.00 16. Velvet Knights 81.57 17. 7th Regiment 78.37 18. Impulse 77.30

Corps in competition will be: Citations – Burlington, MA Les Stentors – Sherbrooke, Quebec Raiders – Wayne, NJ Spartans – Nashua, NH Spirit of NJ – Newark, NJ th 7 Regiment – New London, CT For any alumni planning a trip back home this summer, Keep July 11th on your calendar!

The 7th Regiment unveils their new Corps logo.

Designed by 7th Regiment Director, Tim Rall. A sharp modern design to go along with a corps moving up the ranks in DCI!

7th Regiment Makes the Transition to B-Flat Horns With the vision of providing an exceptional Junior Drum and Bugle Corps experience in Southeastern CT , Surfers Alumni Association (SAA), the parent organization of 7th Regiment, has made a significant investment into the corps' future.

Building on the success of the last two seasons, and as part of the corps' development plan, the SAA is proud to announce the purchase of King Ultimate Marching Brass horns. The horns arrived the beginning of December in time for 7th Regiment’s first camp.

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* * * S.A.A. MEMBER SPOTLIGHT * * * This newsletter we feature SAA Alumni member Birse Timmons. Birse was born in New London on Dec. 19, 1961 and grew up in Montville. A 1979 graduate of Montville High School, Birse was a 4-year member of the Montville High School Marching Band (1st trumpet for all four years, 1st chair senior year).

Birse also graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. He is now employed as a Project Manager for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

SAA President Birse Timmons and Family. . .

Wife Leslie and daughters Janelle and Rachel

Birse has been married for 19 years to Leslie (Kydd) Timmons, who is a past member of the Sword Excalibur. They have two daughters, Rachel – sophomore at the University of Massachusetts, and Janelle – a freshman at East Lyme High School.

Birse was also an assistant director of the 7th Regiment (2006-2007) and will now take over the reigns of the outgoing SAA President, Lizz (Fritz) Adams (2005-2007), who had served honorably for the past three years. We also welcome new Treasurer, Dawn Aguiar, and Fundraiser, Heather Roberts. Most of the staff is staying on and we hope all will support Birse as you have the past staff, which has helped make the 7 th Regiment the ongoing success in the drum corps world.

The 2009 7th Regiment Musical Score….

IN 2009 THE 7TH REGIMENT PROUDLY PRESENTS…

EXCALIBUR HOLSINGER

LITURGUCAL DANCES

DiLORENZO

OF

SPARKE

DANCE MOVEMENTS MVT II

SCHWANTER

… AND THE MOUNTAINS RISING NOWHERE

KINGDOMS AND GLORY MVYS II AND V

MITSUDA/UEMATSA LAVOS BATTLE

Graphic by Steve Lyons

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2008 Annual 7th Regiment Banquet Another year of growth and success saw 137 attendees at the annual banquet. Invited Guests were the Mayor of New London, Kevin J. Cavanaugh, City Councilor, Peg Curtain and Guest Speaker, Derrick Williams, along with his wife and two daughters.

Derrick gave a very emotional, and at times, funny speech on how drum and bugle corps had shaped his life, providing the essentials needed in the “real” world, and the making of friendships that last a lifetime. He took the listener from his beginnings with the Whalers, and onto the Sword Excalibur corps – with little quips of the corps mother “Daisy” - whom everyone who knows her, can relate too! He later noted his membership with the Crossmen, and his desire to play for the Santa Clara Vanguard, but things didn’t work out quite right, and Derrick ended up playing for the Cadets – and oh yeah – capturing a World Championship along the way!

Guest Speaker – Derrick Williams

His speech was very moving in that he stressed the corps values of commitment, strive for perfection, and exceed expectations that are required to be a champion at any level. He acknowledged a few of the current 7th members: Tyler Adams, Erica Dozier, Rachel Timmons and Atig “Bubba” Braggs, as showing a great deal of commitment.

Derrick received a standing ovation (pre-planned by his cunning direction to have everyone standing when he ended his speech). Everyone in attendance was motivated and enjoyed his life story with drum corps.

Donate to the 7th Regiment through your United Way Campaign If you contribute to the United Way at your job, then you have the opportunity to help out the 7 Regiment! th

When filling out the paper work for your donation, you can check off “Other” and write in the Surfers Alumni Association. Your contributions would then go directly to helping out the corps.

There are several people doing this and what a thrill it is to know that your monies would be going to such a worthwhile cause.

Visit the 7th Regiment Website and click on the link “SUPPORT” on the left side and you will see other opportunities to help out with the corps… Thanking you in advance…!!!

Raise money for the 7th Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps just by searching the Internet GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo! Just type 7th Regiment in as your cause & verify.

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7th Regiment 2009 Camp, Rehearsals and Competitions Schedules Camps: January 9-11 February 6-8 March 6-8 March 27-29 April 17-19 May 1-3 May 22-25 June 5-7

Rehearsals: June 13-14 June 20-21

A Walk Down Memory Lane . . .

World Open Prelims – Aug 1974 Edit. – Once in a while I scan through eBay for Drum Corps items, and I recently found an item that was new info to me on the Surfers… a seller posted some kind of show cover for the 1974 World Open and had the scores of the prelims on it… and I had to look twice because there ahead of the NY Warriors and the Boston Crusaders were the Surfers from New London… after talking with a few ex Surfers who marched that year, they said there was an error in the drill that got them a 1 point penalty and if that hadn’t happened, they would have made the finals as the top 12 corps from the prelims advanced!!!

This was amazing as it was only 1971 when the Surfers won the Class B division at the World Open, and to move up to the Open Class and perform so well… well, hats off to all you old timers!!! The top twenty corps in the prelims are listed below.

1 Muchachos 85.850 2 Anaheim Kingsmen 84.550 3 Pembroke Implerials 82.500 4 Kilties 81.200 5 Blue Stars 79.500 6 Bridgemen 78.400 7 Garfield Cadets 77.850 8 Purple Lancers 77.300 9 Beverly Cardinals 77.050 10 Phantom Regiment 75.750 11 27th Lancers 75.050 12 Valley Grenadiers 73.550 13 Emerald Cadets 73.300 14 Surfers 72.600 15 CMCC Warriors 70.800 16 Boston Crusaders 70.150 17 I.C. Reveries 69.300 18 507 Hornets 68.900 19 St. Francis Sancians 68.750 20 St. George's Olympians 64.700

Competitions: June 27 – Brockton, MA June 30 – Rome, NY July 1 – Glen Falls, NY July 3 – Bristol, RI July 11 – New London, CT July 12 – Manchester, NH July 18 – Winslow Township, NJ July 25 – Buffalo, NY August 2 – Dayton, OH August 4 Michigan City, IN Note: Additional dates for parades and other activities may be added – check the 7th Website, “Schedule” tab at the top of the home page for further information.

Another fun website for all you alumni and other Drum Corps supporters:

The Great Connecticut Drum & Bugle Corps Alumni Network Paste the following link into your browser… http://ctcorpsalumni.ning.com/ 7

Surfer’s Alumni Association P.O. Box 64 New London, CT 06320

7th Regiment - 2009 Instructors DRILL

BRASS

Drill Designer/Program Coordinator: Steve Lyons

Arranger/Caption Head: Steve Wolf

Visual Caption Head: Daniel Wyman

Brass Instructors: Ray Fallon Steve Gangi

Visual Instructors: John Ambrose Andrew Gerke

PERCUSSION Arranger/Caption Head: Bob Burt Battery Instructors: Rich Lake Andy Mastronunzio Lloyd Topping Evan Girouard

COLOR GUARD Designer/Caption Head: Dana Saccomano Guard Instructors: Fawn Hodgdon Dori Miller Barb Bauer

Front Ensemble Arranger/Caption Head: Bob Rush Pit Instructor: Tom Sulzicki

The 2009 SAA Membership Dues are Due Yearly membership costs are $20 per individual Life membership is $100 – make payments to: “Surfers Alumni Association” and remit to: P.O. Box 64, New London, CT 06320 Your continued support is MOST appreciated

7th Regiment Corps Merchandise for Sale Order your 7th Regiment T-Shirts, cinch bags, hoodies, and hats today!!! Contact Heather Roberts at Camps, Rehearsals, and DCI Competitions or email Heather at fuzzypenguin82@aol.com