A little history. Naturally, I was not privy to this little escapade until a recent post by Mike Clougher on the Forum. By 1981 - when this happened - I was long removed from the Sunriser scene. Mike's post aroused my curiosity to the extent that I asked for more info and background about it. In typical Sunriser fashion, Mike related pieces of the incident and was joined by Fran Haring. I will add to this story as it develops (hopefully) and more of those involved contribute. For sure I will get more into this at the Crazy Eights racket/ Sun HoF inductions in October!
For now, I will simply paste pieces of the conversation from the Forum. Hope ya'll enjoy it as much as I have been!
Without going into too much detail, The Ski Mask Cadets (or Le Cadet de Ski Mask) was a dream that started with the Jersey crew on one of those long rides to and from practice. The idea was to put a corps together to compete against Cabs at the NJ Americam Legion show in Wildwood every Sept. The Cabs had always won and there were no other competitors which ment that second and third place prize money was never collected. We were going to wear jeans, white tee shirt and ski masks as a uniform and just go out and have fun.
We never did make it to Wildwood but, Ski Mask did do one performance at an indoor show in Bayonne before the 81 season. We never really got to wear the ski masks either. Instead we went with whatever you could find laying around the house. We had people dressed in everything from hockey goalie uniform (matty Balls) (complete with one skate) to a bathing suit and snorkel equipment (Stan) (including flippers) and everything in between. Needless to say, we were a hit with the Bayonne crowed. We "warmed up" for about two-three hours in the lot without ever touching our horns then "marched" on stage while humming the theme song to My Three Sons. What a blast.
Mike Clougher
Mike,a bunch of us definitely did wear ski masks that day/night. Plus, like you said, whatever else we could find. My uni was a dress shirt, vest, suit jacket, tie, ski mask... and a towel for pants.
Three tunes on stage......."Tah-Rah-Rah-Boom-De-Ay"....."Carnival of Errors" (a medley of "Carnival of Venice", "Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone", and "Mexican Hat Dance"....one of Screech's finest moments...LOL)... and our final tune was "Beer Belly Polka"....including singing "Roll Out Your Mother".....what a freakin' riot.
Our trap-set drummer that day was Doug and Steve Grunn's brother Ernie.... who literally did not see the corps until a couple of hours before we went on. Despite that, he did a great job.
A month or two before the show, when we had finally decided to give it a go, John Clougher and I headed off to Bayonne to visit Dave Holmes with the Bridgemen..... he was running the I&E show at which we would appear. Our job was to "convince" him to let us perform. We did, after numerous beers. LOL.
Remember that we also opened the show as a legit group... the Sunriser Jazz Ensemble, using Dennis Dewey's jazz-improv warmup piece, with several folks improvising solos. Then we all got changed into our "alternate" uniforms and performed as Ski Mask after the intermission.
Now, at this I&E show, there were performers from some of the top junior corps in the country...... Phantom Regiment, Vanguard, Bridgemen, 27th Lancers, others.
Now at the time, the guys from Phantom Regiment in particular were all business.... no screwing around at all. So here we (Ski Mask) were, "warming up" in the basement of tbe hall where the show was held, in our "uniforms"....and here was a snare drummer from Phantom Regiment looking at us, and really not "getting" it at all. He had kind of a "this does not compute" look on his face. I thought the guy's damn circuits were gonna fry....LOL
That was of the craziest nights I can remember from my time with Sun, no doubt about it.
I kinda laugh now, when I see guys from the Renegades saying they were "pushing the envelope" with their Crunchy Frog mini-corps a few years ago...it was basically a freak show with instruments.
I actually e-mailed one guy to remind him that we....Ski Mask..... were a freak show with instruments nearly 20 years before the Renegades even came on the scene. We were on the cutting edge, even when it came to freak shows......LOL
I remember your brother John being the "audience plant"..... he was sitting in the audience for several groups before Ski Mask came out... wearing baggy clothes, unshaven, holding a beer can, basically looking like a stumblebum.....and yelling at us and insulting us as we came on stage. The folks sitting near him were like, "WTF is with THIS guy????" Then two guys from Ski Mask ran out into the audience, grabbed John, hauled him up on stage and handed him a soprano and a ski mask and told him to get in line.....LOL
Fran Haring
I didn't mean that no one wore a ski mask, just it was not a "uniform" thing as originaly intended. I wore a bathrobe, jean shorts, a white tee shirt, clip on tie & Bing Crosby type hat (you know, the kind you get with a bowl of soup). Dave DeAndrea was in his monks robe, Mattie with the golie pads, mask & one skate, Stan ready to go discover the coral reef, Gary (our "conductor" ready.....ready....ready...go....that was how we started the show) wearing the huge cowboy hat (I think it stood like 4 feet tall), we weren't limited to ski masks that night. As for pictures, maybe someone in Bridgemen got some but I don't remember anyone taking them.
My Aunt & Uncle were there and they made the tape of the show. I have the casset somewhere but I haven't been able to find it since the late 80's and I've moved like 12 times since then. I'll keep looking.
Like Fran said, it was one of the wildest and funniest nights I ever had in drum corps. I remember I stuck a beer in each pocket of my robe and opened them up on stage during Screech's "solo" and past them down the line. The crowed really got into the fun also. And, like Fran said, watching the junior corps people trying to figure out just what the hell we were. Like I said, what a blast!!!!!!!!!!!
When we got up on stage that night, the music was on the stand upside down. I went to change it and Jimmy C. said leave it alone. Now remember, we never really practiced this so we were going with the music. I looked at Jimmy and all he said was "do you think turning it right will make a difference"? I had to agree with him so we left it that way. I think it was Jimmy! Who knows, that was too many years and too many beers ago. LOL
Mike Clougher
I'm not sure what I had on???? I think I wore camos with ski mask.
I do remember a keyboard players face from SCV as Mattie Balls walked by in full goalie regalia, minus a skate/plus ski mask. Also, Frank Malley and I on baritone in Mex hat dance, we were sitting and stood when we played the bop-bop, we just picked notes and then looked in the end of our horns.
Ray Yenshaw
