For those that don’t know Chris Bauer, he’s usually a quiet man and doesn’t get mad. However, in his 5 years with the Sunrisers he was nominated for the N.B. (Nervous Breakdown) Award twice. The first (and I believe he won) was for going after Mickey Petrone in 1994.
The second time it was 1997 and we were at Flood Jr. High School in CT. It was the day of the Bridgeport before DCA show.
As we were running thru the show, we kept going over these couple of spots. Rich Guillen had a bull-horn telling the hornline what to do and Carl Boos was working some drill sets out with the same bullhorn as well. I wanted to work something with the drums for a minute, but every time I would start to, Rich would ask to reset and try again. Finally, I’d had enough. As the corps started again, I yelled at the drum major to “f***ing stop the corps!” Rich asked over the PA what was going on. I started yelling that I have been trying to fix something and didn’t have a f***ing PA.
All the while, Larry Visconti was mumbling loud enough for me to hear “you tell him. Just tell him” or something like that. I continued “All I want to do is work with the drumline for a f***ing minute. The entire corps was silent …I did what I had to do. When I finished, I calmly looked at the drum major and said, “okay, continue.”
It was 1994; Sun was back on the field and starting to do very well. The show was in West Chester – at the University. Earlier in the day we did a stand-still exhibition for some veterans. The corps did a great show!! It helped the corps confidence going into the show. Since Sun didn’t go out the year before, they were on I think 2nd that year, after the Lehigh Valley Chieftains; with Sun being followed by Bush.
The corps was on the field and I was watching from my usual spot, the 40-yard line. They were having a great show! It’s August, and as always, Sun kicks into high gear and becomes the annoying little fly for other corps. The 3rd song is finished and the Announcer says, “The Sunrisers” or something like that, making it sound as if the corps was done.
Bobby Burke is about to start his solo leading into the closer when all of a sudden you hear drums under the stands. Bush is starting its beat to come onto the field while Sun is still on the field playing.
I can’t believe what I’m hearing and IMMEDIATELY run over to Mickey Petrone and start telling him to stop Bush. He tells me “don’t worry about it…your corps is doing a great job.” I reminded him to make sure the numbers showed that. He then asked me if I knew who I was talking to. Rich Guillen had to step in between Mickey and myself.
1994 – DCA in Scranton and the weather was a little chilly for Labor Day. The corps is getting ready to go on the field with the rest of the corps for retreat. As they were getting ready, Stan offered his jacket to me. Since the jacket has all 6 championship patches, I thought I would have some fun while wearing it.
While the corps were on the field waiting for scores, I took a walk over to see some of my fellow alumni in Hawthorne. One of the first ones I ran into was Mike Ryan. He couldn’t believe I had that jacket on, let alone wear it around Hawthorne. I quietly said back to him – “What, Mike!? You don’t like the jacket? It has all of our 2nd place patches!” Needless to say, Mike was not the happiest to hear my response.
After marching with Cabs, in 1987 I was on their drum staff. The Cabs performance was very good that night and were undefeated to that point in the season. I watched both Sun and Cabs from the same vantage point.
Sun had an outstanding show that night and as they finished, I saw Mike Longdo coming down from the stands and I shook his hand and said “congratulations champ” – meaning not just that show but DCA the following week. Sun wins that show.
While Hawthorne’s staff was in the tunnel before retreat and the judges’ critique, we were all talking about the show. I looked at the rest of the Cabs staff and asked a simple question, “Am I the only one thought that Sun won this show?” I didn’t get such a good response to that question.
I was marching in the snare line with the Hawthorne Caballeros, and standing with Coz watching finals.
After Sun had finished their show, Coz turned to me and said, “There’s your winner.”
Very simple. I sat in Stans hotel room with Stan splitting a case of beer on Friday night of DCA weekend. After 10 beers, I felt like I was actually communicating with him on some level…and I understood him. Patty came in and out of the room a couple of times and shook her head…
To this day, I forget the entire conversation but have this frightening thought that Stan and I actually were on the same plane…
Chris Bauer
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