A tad delayed, but no less sincere ...

Yes, it's been awhile since I've posted out here in Scribblings. Those who have been in touch know all about what has slowed me down this year. The important thing is that we have a roof over our heads, a turkey ready to go into the oven, and a wonderful support system of family and friends to laugh, cry, and share memories with. To that end, here's a Saints version of Over The River, sent with a hug to each of you ...

Over Ford Ave and King George’s Road
To OLP Annex we go
We’ll fill up the bus with all of our stuff
And onto the contest we’ll go.

Over Ford Ave and King George’s Road
To OLP Annex we tread
When after parades, we drank the Kool-Aid
With ham and cheese slapped on white bread.

Over Ford Ave and King George’s Road
With so many friends in our ranks
The Saints family, with our memories
To all - we send blessings and thanks!

jo

Happy Holidays 2009

I've been missing, I know -

Scribblings just a tad stale.
But I'm back, on this Wednesday
To share an old tale ...

It's time for what's become our own Saints Classic: Heard a Horn Before Christmas.

Enjoy!

jo

Saints: Heard a Horn Before Christmas
by JoAnne Parente

Heard a horn before Christmas, still asleep in our house.
Then my husband yawned, and puzzled, mumbled to me, “It’s Mouse.”

“Jo, get to the Annex, with no time to spare.
They’re letting us march again, and I know that you care.

“We have lots of horns, and drums with new heads
And flags, rifles, sabres, SO GET OUT OF BED!”

My only reaction was, “Mouse, is this crap?
If you woke me as a joke, I’ll give you a slap!”

“Jo, just listen to all of us making a clatter.
The cops are here now to find out what’s the matter.

“Your uniform’s here - don’t get into a crash -
The cadet blue and gold finished off with a sash.

“It’s not black and orange, you’ll be relieve to know
Since we left that stuff behind long, long ago.

“You really must hurry to see who are here
Saints one and all, our family so dear.

“There’s Rocky, and Bluto, and Mongo, and Pic,
And Peaches, and Pebbles, and Goober, and Mick.

“You realize, of course, there’s too many to name,
But we put the word out, and by hundreds they came.

“We’re playing and twirling and marching so tall
We’ll top all the captions, and walk away with it all.

“What’s slowing us down is the buses need fixin’
Jackie’s going to paint them – 50 gallons he’s mixin’.”

I shook my head slowly, trying to recall
When it was that we aged out, once and for all.

The pain in my head – thought I’d poked out my eye.
To march again at this age? Should I give it a try?

Got down to the Annex after drinking a few
Cups of tea, of course (what, did you think I meant brew?).

Folks were outside, and inside, and up on the roof
Rifles holding their mouths ‘cause each knocked out a tooth!

Each face looked so young, an image to astound.
Was I the only one here who’s age didn’t turn around?

Wait a minute now! The trick must be in the boot!
So I struggled and struggled to stick in my foot.

Someone inside the hall yelled, “Everyone, back!
It’s time to stop practicing – we all have to pack.

“The buses aren’t dry, so we’re taking a ferry.”
I said, “Going on tour – isn’t that a bit scary?”

“Of course it makes sense, Jo, everyone knows
It’s the best way to travel when going to shows.”

My boots didn’t fit, my brain was like jelly
The jacket and skirt didn’t cover my belly.

What gives? All the rest were their same old self
As they each grabbed their shakos from up on the shelf.

Wait! Who was that there, just a bit up ahead?
“Uncle Walter, is that you? I thought you were dead!”

He stood with the drum line, his life’s love and work.
“Watch what you’re saying – they’ll think you’re a jerk!”

“I’m here to help Bucky, George Lopez, and Rose,
And Ralph, Tony, Frank, and ...” Then, I just froze.

What a dream I was having, what a wish I was making.
The time of my life was just there for the taking.

I awoke Christmas Eve, just a bit after seven.
My dream was a gift that came straight from heaven.

We still have great photos and memories too
And we talk with each other ‘til our faces turn blue.

Still, what can I get you, with Christmas tomorrow?
Lots of love, luck, happiness, and no trace of sorrow!

May your gifts include health, wealth, and absence of strife
As the New Year unfolds – wishing you a great life!

Annex gathering, September 2007

With love to you all – corpsdially yours from jo!

March Moments 2009: March 43 - Present Tense, Chapter 2

March 43 - Present Tense, Chapter 2
by JoAnne Parente

(Editor's note: March doesn't end until we all decide it does - the ultimate antithesis of aging out. As long as entries for March Moments keep coming in, March keeps going, too.)


So, what does being reconnected to all of you mean to me on this Easter Sunday, some thirty+ years after aging out?

Quite simply put - it's validation that Albert Einstein was spot-on when he said that Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous. At this time, in this place, we needed to be connected again for each other - and so, it happened.

The Internet (or more specifically, the Saints website, Guest Book, Scribblings, and now Facebook) has created a virtual Annex for us to hang out at, once again. We've come back together to share our joys and sorrows, to celebrate and commiserate, to tell tales and to listen with the heart.

There's a hymn by Marty Haugen that says it all ...

Let us build a house where love can dwell
And all can safely live,
A place where SAINTS and children tell
How hearts learn to forgive.
~~~
Built of tears and cries and laughter,
Prayers of faith and songs of grace,
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
All are welcome, all are welcome,

ALL ARE WELCOME IN THIS PLACE!

Comments or questions about our March Moments series? Click here to submit, or if that doesn't work, send them to joparente DOT saintsdrumcorps AT gmail DOT com.

March Moments 2009: March 21 - Recurring Dreams, Chapter 1

March 21 - Recurring Dreams, Chapter 1
by Jack Bodzas


(Editor's Note: You know you have them. There's even a group out on Facebook about drum corps recurring dreams. Send yours in.)

I have a recurring drum corps dream, and it gets scarier every time I have it - but I love it just the same.

Goes like this:

My dream always starts where I am in the kitchen / drum room of the OLP Annex, learning new drum parts for the new season. I come to realize that at the end of April I will age out, and I should tell somebody.

But I really don’t want to turn myself in. I still want to play on. It was the good ol’ days and I knew it. Pete, Joey, Eric, Mike, Brad, Danny, Gary, Gary, Gary, and Gary . . .they are all there and all are still kids (even Peaches playing cymbals!).

It all seems so real except for the fact that I am fifty-something, have a lot less hair and the uniform doesn’t even come close to fitting.

Then I wake up.



Interested in submitting your own favorite memories for March Moments? Click here to submit, or if that doesn't work, send them to joparente DOT saintsdrumcorps AT gmail DOT com.

March Moments 2009: March 7 - Show Me the Way to Go Home

March 7 - Show Me the Way to Go Home
by Jack Bodzas

(Editor's Note: This came along with no added narrative, so I'm adding it).

Especially for those of you out there who haven't been in the area for awhile, here's a link for you:
http://tinyurl.com/OLPAnnex

If your browser has TinyUrl suppressed, here's a link to get to the full link:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/OLPAnnex

I have tested both myself and can assure you they're virus-free (the origin for the link was created by Jackie on Google Maps).



Interested in submitting your own favorite memories for March Moments? Click here to submit, or if that doesn't work, send them to joparente DOT saintsdrumcorps AT gmail DOT com.

All for now - corpsdially yours from jo!

March Moments 2009: March 6 - El Khobar Lives

March 6 - El Khobar Lives
by jo

Desert Song and El Khobar are among my favorite memories of what happened OFF the field in 1974.

The winter before, we were all told to report to the Annex to see a movie. No one was excused, and no one was told what it was all about. A couple hours later, we walked out of the Annex with a clear vision of what Desert Song really meant.

For the first time, we were asked to keep a secret about our summer repertoire, and keep it we did. It was the year we really turned the corner as a competitive corps, and I'm still sad about missing half that summer season (again, apologies to those who had to get shots after I got sick!).

At every guard show that winter, Karen and I hung the bright green El Khobar Lives! banner somewhere prominent on the gym wall. Didn't matter who asked about it, we always answered the same way - come see us this summer and find out for yourself. Worth Ake was close to bribing me for the lead on the story, and I wouldn't budge.

Another part of the memory, of course, was the standup recruiting soldier cutout that we -ehem- borrowed from the Armory where we practiced summer drill. He fulfilled his duties admirably at the NJA championships in Wildwood that May, fully dressed for the occasion.

I'll leave the summer season memories for that year to those who were active participants in pulling it off. Looking at what DCIs have become, we were YEARS ahead of the game.

left to right: JoAnne Parente, Soldier Boy El Khobar, Terry Gyorfy

Interested in submitting your own favorite memories for March Moments? Click here to submit, or if that doesn't work, send them to joparente DOT saintsdrumcorps AT gmail DOT com.

All for now - corpsdially yours from jo!

March Moments 2009: March 4 - Days of the Week, Saints-Style

March 4 - Days of the Week, Saints-Style
(by Pete Chesnovitz)

(Editor's note: This March Moment was submitted as part of last week's Tuesday Trivia bonus question)

All winter season weekends were the same back then:

• Saturday - horn practice at the Annex, then board the bus for a color guard show
• Sunday - another show
• Monday - a day off (we all hung out at the Annex anyway)
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - color guard practices that we hung out at
• Friday - was horn rehearsal

Then, it was back to do it all over again. I spent more time at the Annex than anywhere else growing up, more than school anyway. Maybe that's why I work for the post office and can tell you where most high school football fields are.


Interested in submitting your own favorite memories for March Moments? Click here to submit, or if that doesn't work, send them to joparente DOT saintsdrumcorps AT gmail DOT com.

All for now - corpsdially yours from jo!

Weekend Wonderings: Favorite Saints Christmas Memory

remember this holiday card?

We spent a lot of Christmas holidays together ... parades in Metuchen and Woodbridge, our annual parties in the Annex (including receiving our 5-year medals), singing Christmas carols on the way to color guard / ensemble shows (Althea, still remember the alto parts?), Mrs. Antol's Saints cakes, visiting each other's houses, and the like.

My favorite memory? Hands-down, it has to be the warm-to-the-touch Christmas tree procured each year under questionable circumstances ... and then donated to the nuns in the convent when we were finished with it. If there's anyone out there NOT in the witness protection program who's able to fill in more details, I'd love to run the full story.

So, what's your favorite Saints family holiday memory? Send it along to joparente.saintsdrumcorps@gmail.com.

All for now - corpsdially yours from jo!

PS - Jackie and Peaches, thanks for sending in those trivia questions. We'll pick up Tuesday Trivia again after the holidays.

Tuesday Trivia - October 2, 2007

Last week, Goober asked you to name all the rooms in the Annex. Here's the "official" answer in clockwise order entering through the front doors on Walsh Avenue:

• (1) the foyer (area with the telephone)
• (2) the gym (including the open area at the far end leading to the other exit doors)
• (3) coat room (used multiple ways over the years, including storage of the pantihose we used to sell)
• (4) boys bathroom
• (5) boys bathroom
• (6) the room that held the equipment used to address the parish collection envelopes (was originally a classroom)
• (7) the kitchen (used by the drummers)
• (8) the boiler room (used by the drummers on rare occasions)
• (9) classroom (used by the horn line originally, then by the drum line)
• (10) the stage (also was originally used as a classroom)
• (11) the stage storage room (to the right of the stage on floor level)
• (12) classroom
• (13) classroom
• (14) classroom (yes, there are 3 classrooms on that side!)
• (15) girls bathroom
• (16) girls bathroom
• (17) the left coat room (otherwise known as our equipment room)

In addition, there is a storage area above the equipment room, and the "bingo ledge" (they used to call the bingo numbers from there at one time) above the entry doors. Neither is technically a room, but part of the architecture.

Here were the replies (in the order in which I received them):

• Priscilla French Lyons:
  OK, lets try, As you walk in the entrance, to your right you have the equipment room, then 2 girls bathrooms, around the corner is 2 classrooms that we were never allowed to touch then there was the stage on the other wall (my favorite spot!) then around the next corner is the horn room (or the one horrible memory I have of all the color guard having to go in one by one to try out for drum major into that room) then the next room was the drum room then I think there might be a small kitchen that way the first room used for the drum room then turn the corner and you have 2 boys bathrooms, then the room where we paid dues and kept uniforms the back out the doors???
• Karen DeAndrea Aldiero
  Okay, This is how I remember those rooms...
  1st: "side room where drumline paracticed" or "the room where it took me 3 months to play any other note beside low "c"
  2nd: "kitchen" or the room where Mr. Wilke taught the mellophones to "tooey ooey oo"
  3rd: "girls bathroom" or the place where me, cathy, mary & carol would hide out(practice)
  4th " the main room" or the room where Swan would make your knees quake while standing in a pool of your own spit.
  lastly: "the holy classroom" which was usually kept locked against the Saints...
  Hoped you liked my versions...
• Jackie Bodzas
  I might not be too good at this anyway seeing as how I still think I went to “Kidneygarden” in the annex. But to name the rooms is a tough one. Over the years I believe we all played in every room in the building. If the door was unlocked that meant that your section could “hang” in there. I even remember the cymbals practicing in the boys bathroom.
  Three things were for certain: (I think)
  1-the equipment room was the little room to the right of the door as you first walk into the main room.
  2- drumline practiced in the kitchen (which is why I am hard of hearing to this day) till the horn line moved out of the big room on the left(last 2 doors).
  3-horn line moved to the main room after the CG went somewhere else (other building-different night?)

Thanks to Goober for submitting the question and to Priscilla, Karen, and Jackie, for sharing your Annex memories with us!

Our latest Tuesday Trivia question comes from Jackie Bodzas: What were the names of the buses?

Send your answers to joparente.saintsdrumcorps@gmail.com by Monday, October 8th, with Trivia in the subject line so I don't miss your submission. Remember, prizes, prizes, we have no prizes!

Have ideas for future Tuesday Trivia editions? Send those in as well!

All for now -- corpsdially yours from jo!

A Night at the Annex

What a blast!

Whoever said you can't go home again?

A total of 29 of us gathered in the Annex last evening to do some reunion planning and catching up with each other -- 30 if you count Bob Matelski who happened to call Joyce Skibo while we were gathered. [Private note to Bobby -- see, I called you Bob, just like you asked!]

First -- for those in the greater New Jersey metropolitan area (or can be here) ... KEEP NOVEMBER 2ND (OR 3RD) OPEN!!!

In a nutshell, here's the plan ... full meeting minutes will be posted out on the Alumni Page of www.saintsdrumcorps.com later this weekend.

A suggestion was made and accepted to plan 2 reunion events -- regional mini-reunions this year, and a big bash reunion weekend in 2008 (yes, that's next year already!).

We chose the weekend closest to All Saints Day since it seemed appropriate (for those of you lacking access to a liturgical calendar, All Saints Day is November 1st). Main squeezes are invited (spouses optional!). Line up babysitters now -- while children will be welcome at the reunion weekend next year, the dinner in November is, by request of all present, just for the adults.

The reunion committee will be gathering in the Food Court at Menlo Park Mall on Friday, September 28 from 7 pm until they evict us. All are welcome -- come prepared to work! As they secure a site for the November festivities, more details (as well as a confirmation of the date) will be shared.

Pictures from last evening, as well as some treasures from Mike Wargo's collection, will be out on the site soon, so keep watching.

BTW, we checked out every unlocked nook and cranny of the Annex for any leftover Saints stuff -- the only thing we found, believe it or not, were all 9 of our flag line stanchions ...

Here's who joined us:

• Patty Antol
• Jackie Bodzas
• Linda Burke Andel
• Stoney Comprido
• Goober Chez
• Pete Chez
• Pete Crafts
• Gary Ragu Chiocchi (and wife, Lisa)
• Pebbles Chiocchi
• Rocky Chiocchi (birthday boy!)
• Karen DeAndrea Aldiero
• Terry Gyorfy Wooding
• Priscilla French Lyons
• Bobby Matelski (by phone)
• Billy Meyer
• Rene Meyer DeLucia
• Denise Normandia Dube
• JoAnne Parente
• Karen Parente
• Jimmy Piccolo
• Ferd Ponik
• Kathy Ponik Donnelly
• Debbie Reybert Bartlett
• Mark Peanuts Scotto
• Tom Seeland
• Joyce Skibo Andrechick
• Darlene Stover Dziowgo
• Red Wardlow
• Mike Wargo

From left to right ...
Standing: Wargo, Peaches, Kathy Ponik, Denise, Goober, Priscilla, Rene, Patty, Red, Karen DeAndrea,
Pebbles, Joyce, Terry, Karen Parente, JoAnne, Linda, Debbie
Sitting / Kneeling: Stoney, Mongo, Ferd, Tom, Ragu, Pete Crafts, Darlene, Peanuts, Rocky, Pic, Jackie

A larger version of this picture can be found out on www.saintsdrumcorps.com, Photo Gallery 8, page 8

All for now -- corpsdially yours from jo!

Weekend Wonderings: Going Home

The Annex was -- is -- a place filled with many significant memories from my teens and early twenties. A few of us can actually claim to have attended school there -- my seventh grade classroom (which became the kindergarten once the New School opened) was one of the few places in the building to which we DIDN'T have access while practicing there with the Saints.

Our growth as a corps was measured by how much room we needed to rehearse. In the earliest days, the cafeteria served us well -- twirlers on the stage, drummers in the Ice Cream Room, big guard in the back, horn line in the center, guide-ons in the side aisle. Soon, we graduated to the Annex, and even spilled over into the New School gym on Friday nights for a lot of years. I still find it a bit amusing that the name of the Annex was changed during those days to the Parish Center -- given that we had sole use for three weeknights during the winter season, and parts of the weekend the entire year, I don't think many in the parish really "centered" there like we did.

While we might have had a vague sense of it back then, having access to the parish buildings was a true gift. In particular, having the Annex as a regular place to gather, rehearse, store equipment, and everything else -- free but for the yearly donations made by the corps back to the parish -- made it easier for us to grow and succeed at what we did for those ten years we were together.

Since our reunion in October 1980, very few of us have had the chance to go back and spend real time in the Annex. The notable exception? Any of the guys who are members of the Knights of Columbus Council associated with Our Lady of Peace Parish -- and I know of at least one!

As I'm preparing for our reunion meeting this evening, my mind keeps wandering, leaving me to wonder ... Will it still look the same? What room will we meet in? Who will show up tonight who wasn't with us at Menlo? Will we get any planning done???

Expect a postscript sometime later this weekend, as well as some additions to the Photo Gallery on www.saintsdrumcorps.com ...

All for now -- corpsdially yours from jo!