Throwback Thursday - A Blast From My Past

Greetings to all! I don’t know about you guys, but I LOVE You Tube! Just yesterday morning I was surfing around in hopes of finding some very old footage from my High School Band days back in 1982 and 1983. Much to my delight I actually found a couple of old videos. I had been a twirler (2 baton) since I was 10 years old and I was involved in drum and marching corps up until Senior High. I was a twirler in both my Junior and Senior High School days and it was in that year that we took a High School band trip to St. Petersburg, FL and won the 1983 Festival of States National Championships! The Festival of States was indeed a National event with the catagories being judged on marching band (which included a 4 minute field show), concert band, and stage band. What a fanastic year that was! ...

I am the fourth twirler in the first row L-R.

Taken at a H.S. football game ~ me and my long-time best friend & twirling partner in various competitions, Karin. We had competed as a duo and won many trophies and ribbons throughout the years.

Sitting in the bleachers at a High School footlball game waiting to perform at half-time. GOD, how I always hated having to sit through those stupid, boring games! LOL!

The 1982 & '83 Talent Olympics competitions held at The Hotel Hershey, in Hershey , PA ...

Anyhow, I just thought that you all might get a kick out of the following clip which was taken from the last few minutes of one of our Field Show competitions. The song was “Firebird Suite” and I am the twirler up in front third in from the left on the left-hand side. You may want to only watch until we march off of the field as the rest of the video is just the awards ceremony ...

And, an old video I found on YouTube which was posted by a former bandmate of mine. The clip was originally taken with a camcorder (THAT is how old it is), burned onto a DVD, and then uploaded on the net so the quality is NOT the best, but neither was technology back then. It is of one of our many field show competitions. I remember starting out on the left side of the field, but like everyone else the twirlers were moving ALL over the place during the performance. You may also notice the judges walking all over the field. We were always told to ignore them because they watch for any distraction and IF they get in the way of your baton, flag, rifle, or other to just hit them. No worries, these guys were experienced judges and NO fools - they knew when to back off - lol! My God, how I do so miss those days. Hope you enjoy!