Dear Aunt Mildred,
I’ve missed you and your family, except for Uncle Phineas. He’s a bore. It’s great to have MMA back and I wish you lots of luck with your new web site. I think it’s going to be great.
My questions are how have been dealing with the pandemic and who was your favorite MA drum corps, instructors, judges etc. in what I feel were the greatest years in the activity, the ‘40s through the ‘70s?
Sincerely,
Martha La’Rouche
Salem, MA
Many years ago I became friendly with a lady at Mission Drums whose name was Mildred. She was at the show with her two sisters, Phoebe and Henrietta and her brother, Phineas. I found Mildred to be an astute drum corps fan who fell in love with the Princemen and their legendary drum major, Scotty Chappell in 1946 at the VFW Nationals.
As she was much older than me, I started calling her Aunt Mildred which she got a kick out of and her sisters also became aunts and her brother an uncle. The only problem came when someone referred to me as her nephew. She became very agitated and stated that “Richard, (she never called me Rick), is not my nephew.” It was the only time I ever heard her raise her voice.
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Dear Aunt Mildred:
When I first met Jim Wedge he only drank milk and coffee. Now he drinks beer. I just don’t know when he’s kidding me now. He claims that the Alumni Corps of Revere has an age limit of 90. I know that seems pretty old, but I was at the show in Plymouth in November. It seemed like most of the corps had 90 year olds in their ranks and I think they were playing OK. Afterwards, there was a party. Jim had a few beers and said the reason for the 90 year old age limit was that he heard Jack Whelan wanted to join Revere. Could this possibly be true?
Yours truly,
Spartacus
Dear Aunt Mildred:
I just got one question for you. A lot of people seem to think you have all the answers.
The jury’s still out in my book and I don’t refer to the O.J. trial.
I’ve been in drum corps for fifty or sixty years and everyone’s always talking about this “Scotty” Chappell guy. I know his real name was Arthur. Why the heck did everyone call him “Scotty”?
Sincerely,
Frenchy
Dear Aunt Mildred,
You’re probably wondering why I sent this letter to you care of Masters of the Marching Arts. I happen to be a personal friend of your nephew, R.C., and he gave me the inside track on this new gig of yours and told me that you don’t get paid if there are no letters in an issue. Whereas this is the first issue, how could you be expected to have letters? He sure is one smart dude.
Anyway, my question is this: What is the story on the 27th Lancer Alumni Corps? I think they’re the greatest! I was a little disappointed this year to see them at the Lynn and Beverly shows and then to find out later that there was some kind of a rift – the drummers were mad at the buglers or vice versa? What gives?
Sincerely,
Brownie
Dear Aunt Mildred,
My favorite corps was the Cambridge Caballeros and it seems that they broke up when they were at their peak. Why?
Also, they had a short tenor drummer, who really looked old, and a chaperone who both had the same name, but with the drummer it was his first name and with the chaperone it was her last name. I believe their names were Cisco Palomino and Ma Cisco. Were they related somehow?
Archie