Erie Thunderbirds

Arrangements to be performed include:

"Tribute to Armed Forces" arranged by Jeff Gibbens and Joe Salorino
"Stars and Stripes Forever" arranged by Gibbens and Salorino
"The Star Spangled Banner" arranged by H. Dreitzer (thanks Larry G.)
"America O Canada"
"You'll Never Walk Alone" with the courtesy and permission of

Please come join us for a day of Drum Corps Unity if you can.

Email us, and we will email your parts to you.

Gary

The Erie Thunderbirds are teaming up with the local American Legion and VFW Posts for a Memorial Service to be held on Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11, 2001, at the World War II Memorial at 26th and State Streets in Erie. We will be performing patriotic pieces for a tribute to our armed services of the past and present. We are inviting all buglers and drummers interested. We have had a positive response from postings on RAMD for people from other corps, from Erie to Toledo to Pittsburgh to Buffalo. We would like to invite all Erie Thunderbirds, active members and Alumni, Lake Erie Regiment members past and present, along with any and all musicians having interest to join us in this fitting tribute during these times of trouble. To date we have two of Jeff Gibbens and Joe Salorino's charts that we will be playing. We also have received special permission, and subsequently received the arrangements of Madison's "You'll Never Walk Alone", along with a great arrangement of the "Star Spangled Banner" by H. Dreitzer, and the famous DCI "America O Canada" as performed at the close of every DCI show. We will be holding some special rehearsals (see below) and there will be a mass rehearsal Saturday the 10th for people from out of town who want to come the day before. We will be e-mailing and faxing out parts to all interested and would be happy to include you!

Member News… Congratulations go out to Fred Beckwith for being nominated to Associate Membership of the Drum Corps Hall of Fame for 2001. Fred's life commitment to the drum corps activity was recognized in Syracuse, New York, DCA weekend, as he was inducted at the Hall of Fame Banquet held Saturday evening. Fred's Drum Corps experience is rooted in Erie, beginning in the early seventies, while his dad took care of day to day operations of the Thunderbirds. Fred's history in the corps not only includes the T-Birds, but also "27th Lancers" and "The Empire Statesmen", where he is now one of the longest standing veterans in their ranks today. Fred started playing drums in Erie, xylophone for 27th, and has found his place in the last 10 years or so dedicating his talents to the more difficult middle voice of melophone. Fred is a youngster compared to other associate members, and is sure to find his place some day on the Wall of Fame.

Corps Uniforms, Equipment & Apparel Available…
We have recently updated the website; soon it will include online ordering for corps shirts, hats, tapes, etc. All of these are also available by calling The Quartermaster, Fred Nicklas at 814-456-7628. Also, brass musicians should direct any instrument inquiries to Fred. If you do not plan on active participation, please turn in your uniform and equipment or make arrangement to have them picked up so that others can use them.

About fundraising…Jay Pius, Treasurer… The DCA Weekend fundraiser was a tremendous success, where members who sold tickets received back a total of more than

Join us for the

Thunderbird Alumni Association

Tenth Annual Banquet

Saturday 17 November 2001

CYS Club

1602 East 38th Street

Erie, PA 16504

6:00 P.M. - Cocktails

7:00 P.M. - Dinner

For reservations call: Stacy @ 836-9595 (Days) 825-9333 (Evenings) $15.00 Per person includes: Prime Rib & Baked Chicken Buffet Dinner, Coffee, Pop, and Beer

Door Prizes ~ Music ~ 50/50 ~ Cash Bar

$1200.00 towards rooms, meals, etc. Some members donated their personal returns back to the Corps for beverages and snacks for the hospitality suite. Thanks for all the good work. We have had success selling drum corps memorabilia on ebay. Items taking bids include: records, tapes, CD's, old show programs, old Drum Corps News, old Drum Corps World, Marching Musician Magazine, pins, patches, etc. We are asking all alumni to donate items like these to the Corps so we can run auctions as a fundraiser. If you have one, ten or many of these types of things and would like to donate them, please call Jay Pius at 814-833-3089 or Gary Matczak at 814-836-8500.