Bridgemen Drum and Bugle Corps
| Type | Drum and Bugle Corps |
|---|---|
| Location | Bayonne, New Jersey |
| Division | Division 1 |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Disbanded | 1988 |
| President | Elizabeth Ascough Jessen |
| Website | http://bridgemenpa.org/ |
The Bridgemen Drum and Bugle Corps (formerly St. Andrew's Bridgemen) was a Division I competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Bayonne, New Jersey, the Bridgemen were one of the twelve finalists at the first Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships in 1972. Known for their crowd-pleasing showmanship, comedic style, and talented drumlines, the Bridgemen won the bronze medal at the 1980 Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships and Best Percussion Performance in 1980-2 (the first New England corps to do so). Although a competitive corps has not been fielded by Bridgemen Performing Arts since 1988, the organization currently sponsors an all-age "minicorps" brass ensemble.
History[1][edit]
In 1964 a Roman Catholic priest and a businessman from Bayonne, New Jersey, started tossing around an idea over dinner of an organization that could serve as both a youth activity for St. Andrew's Parish and also represent the parish at local functions. The Bayonne Bridgemen was a drum corps dedicated to innovation, excellence, and audience entertainment above all other priorities. During its twenty-year history, while the corps had a strong record of competitive accomplishments, their real legacy is the profound effect they had in breaking new ground and pioneering new directions in drum corps, of continually pushing boundaries and defying convention. During the 1970s the Bridgemen took some of the first steps at adding theatricality, dance, and costuming to drum corps, opening the door for a wave of innovations that spread throughout the activity.
The St. Andrew's Bridgemen made their first public appearance in the 1965 Bayonne Memorial Day Parade, the color guard wearing skirts and blouses and lacking equipment. This first performance capped a long winter of novice musicians learning to play horns and drums, and to spin guard equipment. The horns were G-D slide bugles, the drums an old set of wood instruments bought from the Garfield Cadets (known today as The Cadets); there were so few horns at first that members had to take turns bringing them home to practice. The first staff members of the Bridgemen were Dee Kazazian, Danny Raymond, and Bob Holton. A few months later, Gus Wikie came on board. More parades followed, and the corps made its first field appearance at a New York Jets intersquad game; that day, incidentally, also marked the first field appearance of Broadway Joe Namath. The following year saw the corps entering competition, not only during the summer but with two winter guards as well. The Bridgemen competed regularly in the Garden State Circuit, among other shows. 1966 marked their first appearance in the National Dream Contest. The corps started entering more shows in 1967 against the open class corps of that day and took their lumps in a number of competitions. That year Bobby "Mr. T" Thompson took over the percussion program, and would remain with the corps into the late 1970s, building dominating drum lines.
In 1968 St. Andrew's Bridgemen won the first of two consecutive Garden State Circuit Championships, and by the end of 1969, it was clear that the corps was ready for competition at a higher level. By 1970 they had emerged on the national scene, participating in some of the larger invitational competitions. They made finals in the seventh World Open, one of the period's most prestigious competitions. Their horn book by Hy Dreitzer helped move them ahead. St. Andrew's rose to prominence in 1972 as they earned a charter membership in the newly formed Drum Corps International, placing 11th at DCI finals in Whitewater, Wisconsin. The corps had developed an incredible talent for a brass technique called triple tonguing, which became a Bridgemen trademark, featured in "Triumphal March" and "Mr. Clown.” The Bridgemen added the World Open Championship title to their list of accomplishments in 1973, while at the same time moving up the DCI ladder to finish in ninth place. That year the corps introduced the music that was to become their theme song, Rossini's "William Tell Overture.” In 1974 the corps' fortunes began a decline as many of the members who had built the corps aged out or moved on. Burdened with a very difficult show, the corps managed only a lackluster competitive season, finishing a devastating 26th at DCI. The triple-tonguing technique that had been the horn line's featured weapon was also its undoing. The administration saw the need for a new direction and undertook some fundamental organizational changes. By the end of the 1974 season names that had been staples with the corps - Bob Holton, Gus Wilkie and Bob "Jamba" O'Connor - were all gone. The administration wanted to bring new blood into the organization, but the transfusion fell short. Membership was low and recruiting not going well. A large number of members were brought up from the Kidets, the Bridgemen's feeder corps. Even with this fresh blood, low membership and many inexperienced players combined with staff problems to add to the overall deterioration. As a result of these problems, the Bridgemen stayed primarily in the local area and did not compete at the 1975 DCI Championships. This rough season challenged both the spirit and the stamina of the corps' members.
Determined to reverse the corps' decline, Ed Holmes finally hired the right Garfield Cadets and Hawthorne Muchachos instructors, Bobby Hoffman to head the visual program and Dennis DeLucia to oversee the percussion. DeLucia and Hoffman, along with brass arranger Larry Kerchner, formed the team that would change the definition of drum corps and create a corps whose reputation for entertainment, innovation, quality, and complete disregard for accepted norms lives on to this day. In 1976 the next generation of Bridgemen, augmented by an influx of new members, were to make their first appearance. Separated from the church for financial reasons and now known as the Bayonne Bridgemen, the corps had a new look, a new sound, and an attitude, which, if not new, at least placed greater emphasis on public entertainment. Attitude was now part of the new act. In fact, it was all about attitude. Part of that attitude included a new uniform look. Hoffman had his ideas about that new uniform and designed a uniform around a Cossack style knee-length coat. Since Hoffman liked to paint pictures on the field with his drill forms, he thought that he could achieve greater variety with a palette, with each section of the corps wearing a different color: red, green, black and white. On the night the new uniforms were introduced, a snare drummer, a one-time member of the East Side Motorcycle Club, summed up everyone's feelings: "I ain't wearing that." Hoffman went back to the drawing board. In the new design the corps proper would wear a yellow Cossack coat with black trim, a large old English B in the middle of the coat. The guard would wear a black coat with yellow trim. The hat came a little later, an object that Hoffman happened upon during a tour of the uniform factory. Just as coming to terms with Hoffman on uniforms was not easy, getting used to Hoffman's way of doing business was a challenge too. St. Andrew's had always been a family corps. You got in, you paid your dues as a member, and you earned your stripes. Hoffman promised to take the Bridgemen to new heights, but he made it clear that performing spots were based on talent regardless of history with the organization. This approach caused considerable hurt feelings. The world found out about the new Bridgemen at the "Tournament of Stars" show on June 5, 1976. The startling uniforms were kept hidden until the moment the corps strutted into Veterans Stadium, clad in long yellow coats, with a police escort no less. Four thousand jaws fell open. If the uniforms were not shocking enough, the show was. From a jazz version of the corps' trademark "William Tell Overture” for starters to the kick-line in the closer of "What I did for Love/One" from "A Chorus Line,” the corps bombarded the audience with visuals, dance, and stunts such as never had been seen before. The Bridgemen were as much fun off the field as on. It was the Garfield Cadets who dubbed the Bridgemen "The Bananas" in 1976. The Bridgemen turned the insult around by selling felt bananas with Bridgemen hats on them, banana T-shirts, and banana stickers at their souvenir booth. The Bridgemen and the Garfield Cadets carried on a friendly rivalry for years. In 1977 Garfield had a vocal two-chord "Amen" at the end of their show. The Bridgemen put a blues version of the Amen on the end of their show, played by the hornline, that brought the house down. 1976 was a very successful year for the corps, considering its traumatic rebuilding period, as they finished sixth at DCI Finals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That night the corps also made history by doing the "Bridgemen Drop", in which the whole corps pretended to faint dead away on the ground at the end of the show. Dennis Delucia later recalled that this move was thought up the day of Finals and rehearsed only twice. Coming off a high '76 season, the Bridgemen's staff decided that to keep the momentum going through the winter, the corps would apply the Bridgemen treatment to a noncompeting winter guard. The Hoffman concept was to back up the guard with brass, percussion, electronics, strings and stage lighting. The music included Chuck Mangione's "Hill Where The Lord Hides,” "Land of Make Believe,” and "What I did for Love/One.“ The guard/ensemble made a number of appearances around the Tri-State Area.
1977 was a year of great accomplishment and great tragedy, as the corps, within striking distance of the DCI crown, was disqualified for having two overage members. An ill-advised decision by the corps staff and administration to allow two individuals to march up until their 22nd birthday wound up costing the corps the season. The early season went well. The Bridgemen's score of 84 at the DCI East Championships was the highest in the nation, taking down not only the archrival Phantom Regiment but also Madison Scouts, The Cavaliers and others. The first stop on their western tour was Whitewater, Wisconsin, for the DCI Midwestern Championship. Prelims was a flat show, and Phantom Regiment pummeled the corps by almost three points. Coming off the field, contest officials told the corps to line up for a spot-check. Don Pesceone, the Executive Director of DCI, went straight to the two members who had been marching in violation of an age-rule clarification sent out the past fall. It seems that one of the Bridgemen's primary competitors had gotten information on these individuals and turned that information over to DCI. The corps was told that, aside from having two blanks in line, nothing else was going to happen. At the Fort Collins, Colorado, show, the last competition before DCI Prelims, the Bridgemen struggled through a show interrupted by rain but still beat Phantom Regiment by about 2.5 points. But one of those great old-time timing penalties called "Under Time In Motion,” which simply meant the corps hadn't spent the required number of minutes with their feet moving, caused the corps to lose to Phantom by a few tenths. Although the Bridgemen were performing the same show as they had all season, it seemed as if the judges had waited until a crucial competition to enforce the penalty. That night was the beginning of Hell Week for the Bridgemen. On the eve of DCI prelims, Bobby Hoffman told a stunned corps that, "Because we marched [name] and [name], we've been disqualified." While most of the corps was still absorbing the shock, a couple of staff members took off in search of a lawyer, who obtained a court order allowing the corps to participate in Prelims. Although the corps was allowed to compete, to the astonishment and delight of the crowd and judges alike, their results were withheld pending the outcome of the court order. The following day the corps rehearsed and prepared themselves mentally for Finals. Although there was some doubt, no one really believed that they wouldn't be allowed to perform. Late in the afternoon word came in that the Bridgemen had finished fourth in Prelims and would be competing in Finals that night, right after the Madison Scouts. While taking the field that night, boos could be heard from the crowd. Bayonne pulled out a performance that came from putting every bit of emotion built up during that week into their horns, drums and guard equipment. The corps left the field with the audience on their feet, clapping and shouting their approval; no boos then. The Bridgemen had redeemed themselves in the hearts of their audience. The corps’ fourth-place finish that night was tentative, contingent on the outcome of a consent judgment signed between the corps leadership and DCI a few months later. That agreement voided the Bridgemen's performance but stipulated that the other corps would not move up in placement. As far as DCI history was concerned, the Bridgemen had been erased from the 1977 Championships. Competitive standing aside, this series of events took a tremendous emotional toll on members.
The Bridgemen returned from this qualification with resolute vengeance, remaining in the top six in 1978–9. In 1980, Larry Kerchner rejoined the corps, penning such classics as "Thunder & Blazes,” "In the Stone,“ and a version of Bette Midler's "Big Noise from Winnetka”. The "Civil War Suite" was also redone with the Kerchner touch. Some other names came to the brass staff that year, such as Jamie McFarland and a young instructor named Jim Prime, Jr. There was a considerable membership turnover, but their spots were quickly filled by imports from Michigan, Massachusetts and Texas. Visually the show was a feast: circus animals, clowns, and a janitor to sweep up after them, not to mention the infamous Bayonne Chicken. Hoffman pulled out all of the stops and the corps marched better than they ever had, while the drumline took the 1980 Best Percussion Performance caption award at Finals with the solo "The Pursuit of the Lady in the Feathered Hat" that featured an extended left-hand sixteenth note passage. After a lackluster Prelims performance, the Bridgemen's 1980 Finals performance was awesome in all respects; all of the elements fell into place. Once again the "War Between the States" whipped the crowd into a frenzy, but Hoffman had one more stunt for his Alabama audience. At the end of the last note of the show, the corps scattered and suddenly a Crimson Tide football game, complete with cheerleaders, was being played in the middle of the field. Complete pandemonium erupted in the Birmingham stands. A mere 0.55 of a point separated the top three corps that night with the Bridgemen coming in third.
1980 marked the zenith of the corps; although well received, and despite taking their second consecutive high percussion crown, the 1981 corps dropped again to sixth, as they brought back the circus opener, "In the Stone," and featured music from "West Side Story" filled with dance and a reenactment of the rumble. In 1982, a strong drum line and their solo "Black Market Juggler” took the corps’ third consecutive caption trophy; while containing an extended sixteenth note passage, the snare line also wailed though one section of the solo blindfolded. Overall the corps managed to place eighth in 1982, but financial troubles were starting to catch up with it.
1983 was that last year the Bridgemen would ever appear in a DCI Finals competition, placing 11th. It was not that the corps’ production values were waning; the 1983 corps compared favorably with some of the best corps that Bayonne ever fielded, but other corps were moving ahead. The corps was in decline and was also starting to have recruitment problems; the local base of kids from Bayonne had been eroded or displaced. The imports from all over the country that had flocked to the corps in earlier seasons were moving to corps that were doing better competitively. Commuter membership is driven by competitive success. Even the Kidets broke away from the Bridgemen in an attempt to make it on their own. Not only did the corps lose a source of membership, it lost the income the Kidets generated doing parades. In 1984, facing financial, leadership, and membership turmoil, the Bridgemen placed 14th. Not even bringing back the old favorite "Civil War Suite" could help the corps win back the judges’ favor. At the end of the season Dennis DeLucia left the corps. Bobby Hoffman, replacing Dave Bandy as director, was surrounded with a mountain of debt, no staff, very few members, and no solid management skills. The booster organization that ran the bingo operations and other fundraising efforts was in chaos, unable to produce a cash flow to sustain the corps. With fewer corps members from Bayonne, getting support and participation from the Bayonne community was becoming more difficult.
1985 was the year of the infamous "Christmas in July" show; the Bridgemen came in 23rd in Prelims, scoring lower than they had since 1975: 59.5. The corps limped through the winter bleeding red ink. It wasn't a question of membership, there was just no financial infrastructure to support them. Despite the best efforts of many, the Bayonne Bridgemen Drum & Bugle Corps closed its doors during the winter of 1986. An era appeared to have ended. In 1987 Brian Law, a former baritone player, and David Simons, a fan of great business acumen, managed to restart the corps. With almost no money and no cooperation from the town of Bayonne, they put a corps together and got that corps to DCI. The Bridgemen came in dead last in Prelims, but they were there. Law, Simons, and the Bridgemen overcame long odds every time by getting to another show. But the following winter, financial and administrative realities took their inevitable toll, and the Bridgemen took their storied place in drum corps history. The Bridgemen's last appearance was in the West Orange St. Patrick's Day Parade in 1988. Fittingly, a couple of members from the 1965 corps filled blanks in the horn line.
The formation of a Bridgemen Alumni Association was announced in February, 2003, and plans for an alumnus drum corps got under way in 2004.
Show Summary (1968-88)[edit]
Pale blue background indicates DCI Class Finalist; pale green background indicates DCI semifinalist.[2]
| Year | Theme | Repertoire | Score | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Step to the Rear (from How Now, Dow Jones) by Elmer Bernstein & Carolyn Leigh / Yankee Doodle (Traditional) / You're a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan / Little Brown Jug by Joseph Eastburn Winner / The Birth of the Blues by Ray Henderson, Buddy De Sylva, & Lew Brown / What Now My Love by Gilbert Becaud & Pierre Delanoe | |||
| 1969 | Step to the Rear (from How Now, Dow Jones) by Elmer Bernstein & Carolyn Leigh / Theme from The Bible: In the Beginning by Toshiro Mayuzumi / Little Brown Jug by Joseph Eastburn Winner / Piano Concerto / Bless This House by H. Taylor & M. Morgan | |||
| 1970 | Triumphant March / God Bless America (from This Is the Army) by Irving Berlin / A Time for Love by Johnny Mandel / Proud Mary by John Fogerty / Mister Clown / Kiss Me Goodbye by Les Reed & Berry Mason | |||
| 1971 | Freakin / Triumphant March / God Bless America (from This Is the Army) by Irving Berlin / Free by Robert Lamm / Big Band Medley / Mr. Clown / Kiss Me Goodbye by Les Reed & Berry Mason | |||
| 1972 | Freakout / Triumphant March / Battle Hymn of the Republic by William Steffe & Julia Ward Howe / Mister Clown / The Yard Went On Forever by Jimmy Webb / Free by Robert Lamm / The Summer of '42 by Michel Legrand | 75.40 | 11th | |
| 1973 | William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini / Unsquare Dance by Dave Brubeck / Mister Clown / My Favorite Things (from The Sound of Music) by Richard Rogers / Free by Robert Lamm / The Summer of '42 by Michel Legrand | 78.65 | 9th | |
| 1974 | Triumphant March / Oye Mama by Arcelio Garcia / Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better (from Annie Get Your Gun by Irving Berlin / My Favorite Things (from The Sound of Music) by Richard Rogers / Free by Robert Lamm / William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini | 69.40 | 26th | |
| 1975 | Enter The Dragon by Lalo Schifrin / Land of Milk and Honey / Call on Me by Lee Loughnane / English Grog / Theme from Police Story by Jerry Goldsmith / Ease on Down the Road from (The Wiz) by Charlie Smalls | |||
| 1976 | William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini / St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins / Land of Make Believe by Chuck Mangione / Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa / What I Did For Love & One (from A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch & Edward Kleban / Farandole (from L'Arlesienne) by Georges Bizet | 84.90 | 6th | |
| 1977 | Yes, We Have no Bananas by Frank Silver & Irving Cohn / Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Land of Make Believe by Chuck Mangione / New York, New York (from On the Town) by Leonard Bernstein / Lullaby of Broadway (from 42nd Street) by Harry Warren & Al Dubin / Give My Regards to Broadway by George M. Cohan / What I Did For Love (from A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch & Edward Kleban / William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini | 87.85 | Disqualified | |
| 1978 | Ritual Fire Dance (from El Amor Brujo) by Manuel de Falla / Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturian / Salute to Mayor Koch and the Big Apple / New York, New York (from On the Town) by Leonard Bernstein / 42nd Street (from 42nd Street) by Harry Warren & Al Dubin / Harlem Nocturne by Earle Hagen & Dick Rogers / Cachaça by Patrick Moraz / Spanish Dreams by Phil Kelly / To the Last Whale by David Crosby & Graham Nash / William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini | 87.65 | 5th | |
| 1979 | Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Spanish Dreams by Phil Kelly / Cachaça by Patrick Moraz / Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy by Don Raye & Hughie Prince / Civil War Medley | 86.20 | 6th | |
| 1980 | Thunder and Blazers by Julius Fucik / The Pursuit of the Lady by Josef Zawinul / In the Stone by Allee Willis, David Foster, & Maurice White / Big Noise from Winnetka (from Reveille with Beverly) by Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc / War Between the States | 90.05 | 3rd | |
| 1981 | Thunder and Blazers by Julius Fucik / In the Stone by Allee Willis, David Foster, & Maurice White / The Pursuit of the Lady by Josef Zawinul / Something's Coming, America, Tonight, Mambo, & Somewhere (all from West Side Story) by Leonard Bernstein | 90.80 | 6th | |
| 1982 | Shaft by Isaac Hayes / Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington / It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing by Duke Ellington & Irving Mills / Black Market Juggler by Josef Zawinul / On Broadway by Barry Mann, Cynthia Well, Jerry Leiber, & Mike Stoller / Lullaby of Broadway (from 42nd Street) by Harry Warren & Al Dubin / New York, New York (from On the Town) by Leonard Bernstein | 86.15 | 8th | |
| 1983 | Duke Ellington Suite by Duke Ellington / Waiting for Godo by Bob Meyer / Black Market Juggler by Josef Zawinul / I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) by Duke Ellington & Paul Webster / C. Jam Blues by Duke Ellington | 77.70 | 11th | |
| 1984 | Overture (from Merrily We Roll Along) by Stephen Sondheim / Boogie Down by Al Jarreau & Michael Omartian / Aw Quitcher Moanin (really the Chicken) by Alfred Ellis / Civil War Suite | 84.8 | 14th | |
| 1985 | Christmas in July / Come on Baby Dance with Me / Imagination | 63.6 | 26th | |
| 1987 | The Dream (Bridgemen's Greatest Hits) by Lee Romano / High Crime by Al Jarreau, Jay Graydon, & Bobby Lyle / Mozaik / My Girl by Smokey Robinson & Ronald White / I Want You Back by Berry Gordy, Alphonso Mizell, Freddie Perren, & Deke Richards / I'll Be There by Berry Gordy, Hal Davis, & Willie Hutch / Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson | 59.5 | 35th | |
| 1988 | Manhattan Street Scenes | Why Not by Steve Allen / Manhattan Street Scenes / Chinatown by Bob Viti / Hey Mambo by Barry Manilow, Bruce Sussman, Jack Feldman, & Tom Kelly / Spanish Harlem by Jerry Leiber & Phil Spector |
References[edit]
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