Lone Star

From DrumCorpsWiki

Lone Star was a DCI Junior Corps from various locations throughout Texas that existed through most of the 1990's.

1 History
2 Repertoire
3 Trivia
4 External Links

[edit] History

1991 - The Lone Star Drum and Bugle Corps had its beginnings in the mind of a businessman and father from Wichita Falls, Texas. Jeff Ashlock had been exposed to the drum corps activity through his two children, Adam and Amanda, as well as through being responsible for the DCI show that took place in Wichita Falls. With the help of his son-in-law, Robert Poulin, the dream of a texas drum corps was put in place in late 1990. The corps was founded both as a youth activity and as a BSA Explorer Post.

The original idea was to use Lone Star as a parade corps only. Instruments were borrowed from various sources. A small, yet functional parade corps of 22 members successfully performed on the 4th of July Parade in Wichita Falls.

With the DCI World Championships taking place in nearby Dallas, it was decided to take the parade music and create a field show with it. In a limited amount of time (about 3-4 short camps), a show of patriotic music was conceived and put on the field in time to perform as the very first drum corps for the DCI World Championships in Dallas. Uniforms were borrowed from Wichita Falls High School. In spite of a rainy Monday morning, they placed 14th and scored a 56. They were surprisingly within a few points of corps that had been touring the whole summer.

1992 - With the results of the previous summer, hopes were high for both a strong and surprising second season. There was already a large waiting list of potential members. Plans were to march a corps of at least 60 members and perform music from Disney’s The Jungle Book with a show that would be a literal retelling of the story, using costumes and props.

One of the most important things that came from this meeting was the development of the Lone Star's philosophy. Because of Robert Poulin's background with the Madison Scouts, Lone Star's philopshy reflected much of the same as Madison's.

The goal of corps participation was to give corpsmen a positive, educational, and fun experience, and to entertain audiences. Leadership wanted to challenge the corps members to be the best they could be, as performers and as people, and not to worry so much about scores. Efforts rewarded by a great score were icing on the cake.

Unfortunately, Jeff and the Board of Directors discovered that the corps funds were insufficient to field a competitive corps. Attempting to perform that summer could immediately doom the fledging drum corps. With a heavy heart, it was determined that it would be better for the corps to go inactive so that the board would have a chance to raise both capital and sponsorships. The fund raising was spearheaded by Bill Carter and it was his hard work and dedication to the cause that would allow Lone Star to thrive. Enough capital was raised to allow for a fully-equiped corps.

1993 - One of the keys to this new direction was the hiring of John Carollo. The corps uniform that he designed would be a unique concept within drum corps. Every year, overlays and accents for the uniforms would be specially created to enhance both the uniform and the show. Three colors would be chosen that would be used throughout the show as a way of tying the various elements of the show together. From there, an icon would be created to represent the show concept. This icon would find its way on the uniform and throughout other parts of the show.

The show chosen for this breakout year was the soundtrack of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It was determined by the staff that the approach of the show would not be a literal one. Instead, the drill, the colors, and the music would tell the story of Belle and the Beast in a different approach. A multi panelled stained glass window was used both as a symbol of the show and as part of the uniform.

After a productive winter program, a 32 member corps came out to perform on tour. This corps was noted for its large drumline (6 snares, 2 tenors, 5 basses) and contra line (5). A successful Drum Corps South tour, an interesting freeday at the NASA base in Alabama, and Drum Corps International tour led to the DCI World Championships at Jackson, MS. The corps placed ninth at the DCI Division III Prelims with a score of 72.4. The hornline took second place in brass performance and 4th in brass overall.

1994 - This year brought good things to the drum corps. The corps had a solid winter program. The show choosen for the DCI tour was the music from the cult movie "Little Shop of Horror." Again, the same design approach used the previous year was used again, with even greater success. The colors to be used were green, white, and red. The emblem used to represent the show as a logo and on the various parts of the uniform was a stylized leaf.

The corps doubled both its membership (50) and its touring schedule. Experienced college students and All-State caliber players joined the corps and added a level of maturity in both leadership and in performance. The corps performed with a drumline (6S/3T/5B/4P) and a contraline (6) that rivalled the size of some Division I corps. The design staff continued to create a program that was both entertaining and increased in difficulty.

Lone Star also moved its location to San Antonio with the promise of finacial support. Camps were held at Cornerstone Christian School. The corps performed at various standstills and parades, including at the Riverwalk (which was the prototype of the Drum Corps Preview now done in Austin) and San Antonio's famous Fiesta parade.

The corps on tour continued to perfect the show. The judging community continued to be amazed at the show design and how well all the concepts fit together. The drumline was actually outscoring many division one drumlines. Both the corps and the show were huge crowd-favorites of the DCI tour. This was also the first year that members of Lone Star competed at DCI's I & E.

The corps ended the season at the DCI World Championships held near Boston, MA. For the first time in the corps' short history, it made the Division III Finals. The corps ended up taking 5th with a score of 84.8 and sharing the High Percussion trophy with the Mandarins from Sacramento, CA.

1995 - This year found the corps moving locations, this time to the Dallas suburb of Seagoville, where they found a warm welcome with the band director and his band boosters. A totally different direction was picked for the show concept. The music selected was from Texas composer David Holsinger. The music in question was "On The Grand Prarie Texas." With it's intricate rhythms, numerous time changes, and extreme range, this would be one of the most difficult pieces ever attempted by the corps.

Initially the program took time to develop, due to its complexity and maturity. By the time the corps reached DCI Finals in Buffalo, the show came together as hoped. Unfortunately, the show did not score (79.4) well enough to make Division III finals. The corps ended up 12th, but did make top ten in Brass and Visual Performance.

1996 - Once again, Lone Star found itself moving, this time to the campus of Texas A&M Commerce. The corps also decided to take the risk and move up to Division II. It was also decided that a more crowd pleasing show was needed. The creative change chosen was doing a jazz show based on the music of Buddy Rich.

In some ways it was a very difficult season for the corps. Many staff changes and a few member problems put the corps initially off-balance and clouded what many would confirm was a very successful year. The corps came out with it's largest and most talented group yet. And despite the obstacles, the corps performed their program very well. The corps found itself again a crowd favorite. They ended taking 11th at Division II prelims and scored a 79.6, far higher than was expected at the beginning of the season.

1997 - The show concept for 1997 the music of composer Michael Camillo. Everything began very well for the corps. The percussion section grew to it's largest size ever at 26 members, larger than the entire corps from 1991. The brass line improved greatly over past years and looked to contend for high brass honors with its 21 members strong. The color guard, at an even dozen, looked to improve upon their past successes.

Things went smoothly through the winter and spring, until the pretour camp. Bad luck struck the corps hard. Lone Star lost 1/3 of the hornline, 1/2 of the guard, and 1/4 of the drumline due to various problems. Suddenly, the instrumentation changed, drill had to be modified, and music rearranged.

Usually, situations like this have killed off drum corps. But the staff and members perservered once again through the obstacles. Tour improved things greatly as the corps rallied around itself. The corps ended up scoring its highest score at that time (85.8) and placed 10th, 1/10th behind rival Delta Brigade.

1998 - This was a time for another change with the corps. Co-founder of Lone Star and it's executive director, Robert Poulin, stepped down, due to increasing commitments with his family and with his job as a band director. Mickey Hartzog stepped in. The corps also moved to a more centralized location with Killeen.

For their show, the staff chose to do the music from musician and Entertainment Tonight Host John Tesh. The music picked was music that had been done at a concert at the Red Rocks in Colorado. The show was entitled "Night of 1000 Summers."

While things initially looked strong for the corps, problems led to a much smaller than expected corps for tour. The corps performed with a small horn line (14) and color guard (3), yet ended up with one of the largest and most talented drumlines in Division III. It was this drumline that carried the corps through its initial tour.

In spite of the corps small size, they were one of the strongest and popular corps in Division III. At Prelims, the corps scored a 87.9. The corps final performance found the corps at 7th with a score of 83.4. The corps took 3rd in percussion performance, 5th in ensemble music, and 5th in the overall performance caption. The corps also had a signifigant number of members compete at I & E.

The following year came a change in the administrative and teaching staff of the corps. This also coincided with the corps' final move to the Houston suburb of Deer Park, under the direction of Alan Mimmsat. With the move, the corps had decided to take a different direction with programming.

The 1999 show was to be entitiled "A Celebration of Youth". The pieces included Children's Dance (from Merry Mount Suite), Sorcerer's Apprentice, and a Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Unfortunately, due to a combination of poor winter camp attendance (at least one camp was attempted at the University of Houston) and a lack of secure finances forced the corps to go permanently inactive.

1994 Corps in Competition

[edit] Repertoire

1991 - A PATRIOTIC SALUTE
Stars and Stripes
Yankee Doodle
America The Beautiful
56.9 - 14th

1993 - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Prologue
Belle
The Mob Song
Transformation
72.4 - 9th

1994 - LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Prologue
Don't Feed The Plants
Suddenly, Seymour
Mean Green Mother From Outerspace
84.8 - 5th

1995 - ON THE GRAND PRARIE TEXAS
79.4 - 12th

1996 - HOT SOUNDS OF COOL JAZZ (the music of Buddy Rich)
Backwoods Sideman
Mercy Mercy Mercy
Storm at Sun-Up
Love for Sale (from Night and Day)
79.6 - 11th

1997 - THE MUSIC OF MICHAEL CAMILLO
En Fuego (On Fire)
Romanza
Hands and Feet
Rio Bravo
Caribe (from One More Once)
85.5 - 10th

1998 - NIGHT OF 1000 SUMMERS (the music of John Tesh)
Day One
Barcelona
A Thousand Summers
PS 491
In A Child's Eyes
83.4 - 7th

[edit] Trivia

For the longest time, Lone Star's mascot was a bone that had been dubbed UBU. It was not uncommon to see the corps gather before a performance and chant. One member always carried UBU on the field in performance.

Lone Star was one of the first groups to carry out the concept of using uniform overlays to convey the theme concept of a show.

Lone Star was probably one of the most travelled corps when it came to hometowns. Two of the running jokes includined "Ladies and Gentlemen, DCI's first homeless corps..." and "From I-35 Texas..." Home bases included Wichita Falls, Waco, Lorena, San Antonio, Seagoville, Commerce, Killeen, and Deer Park.

Lone Star was one of the founding corps of Drum Corps South. This was one of the last of the old style regional circuits before DCI revamped the entire competitive season.