The Summer of Peanut Butter and Jelly

Current and former members of any drum & bugle corps.  I have a question for you.

Ready?

Can any of you eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich WITHOUT thinking about your summers spent in drum corps?  How about drinking Gatorade?  Or when your Aunt Sally serves Chili Mac at the annual family reunion?

I thought so.

This is the life of any kid who spends a summer touring thousands of miles around the country with a drum & bugle corps.  The typical dinner menu could include:

Chili Mac
 Pasta with Marinara
 Green Bean Casserole
 Chicken with a Mushroom Cream Sauce
 Chocolate Cake
 Jello
 Gatorade
 Tang

Peanut butter and jelly was standard at every meal. And it became the standard meal if you didn’t want to waste your time standing in line to get your food, or you didn’t like what was being served.  If you were lucky, you had snacks left over from the middle-of-the-night food raid at the Flying J truck stop.  You could sustain yourself with Fun Yuns and beef jerky and be a happy camper.

Frito Pie – a drum corps food truck staple

No matter what though, there was someone who was slaving away in that tight-quartered food truck preparing the sustenance to fuel our skinny bodies.  I didn’t realize it then, but they were the heart and soul of our drum corps.  They were the unsung heroes.

Before I even dreamed of having a career in the restaurant industry, I always thought I would be a musician.  I went to college, got my degree in Music Performance and Economics, and was all set to perform music for the rest of my life.  After all, I was in that state in life where drum corps meant everything for me.  I spent a few summers touring thousands of miles around the country with the Velvet Knights.  While we were considered a smaller drum corps in DCI (Drum Corps International), there was a sense of pride of being trail blazers (after the Bridgemen) in drum corps.

Being a part of the Velvet Knights was something that just kind of fell into my lap.  I followed my good friend Robert Martinez to try-outs in the fall of 1992, and landed a spot in the drumline under the great percussion instructors, Tom and Catherine Float.  I loved every minute of my experience with the Velvet Knights, and wouldn’t trade them for the world.  At the root of our corps was Ginger Smith.  Or more affectionately known as “Mom”.  She was our cook, and an amazing woman.  She loved us all like a mother loves all of her children.   Everyone called her ‘mom’;  from the performing members to our not-so-illustrious corps director.  She was famous amongst the other corps, because she had been with the Velvet Knights for years. When times were bad, and the spirit of the corps was suffering, she was always there to yell:

GO GET ‘EM KIDS!

Our spirits were lifted every time we heard that yell from her.  We were inspired to perform our best and to have fun while doing it.  She was our mom, and we were damn proud of the fact that she was a part of our organization.

The unsung heroes and Mom’s of Drum Corps International

Every other organization in DCI has their own version of ‘Mom’.  They are the heart and soul of every drum corps out there.  What they do for the kids out there on the road takes the kind of passion and dedication like I’ve never seen in any other operation.  Most of them are volunteers, as very few of them get paid.  Those who do get paid, do it more for the love of the activity than the little money they get in return for what they do.  They are up before anyone else, they work all day preparing anywhere from 3-5 meals a day for 150 members and staff (roughly 200 people total), and usually are the last to go to bed.  Aside from that, they do it all in the heat and humidity of the summer.  Tough work.

Of course, there were always those drum corps that ate better than everyone else.  You know who I’m talking about.  Did Star of Indiana really have a chef who served lobster and steak? Did The Cadets of Bergen County really eat the best out of everyone in DCI?  Was it true that The Cavaliers allowed their members to bring a friend for snack in the parking lot after a show?  These are the things that we pondered every day.

You can’t do this without good drum corps food!

George Hopkins is probably the most famous man in DCI.  He is the corps director for The Cadets, and gets the largest amounts of criticism for the changes that he has proposed in DCI.  What most people fail to realize is that he is a visionary when it comes to expecting the best; especially when it comes to surrounding himself with the best instructors and operators in the business.  A good friend of mine who was a member of the Cadets of Bergen County told me once that George Hopkins was the most “passionate and excellence-driven man” that he had ever known.  He told me that Mr. Hopkins expected more out of the members than anyone he had ever known, and demanded a work ethic that was unparalleled by anyone else.

Of course, Mr. Hopkins rewarded his kids by having the best people on staff, including those cooks who fed the kids. I’m sure that he couldn’t expect the best out of his kids if they didn’t have the best staff and the best food to eat.  It’s no wonder why The Cadets have won so many championships, and continue to put out shows of the highest caliber year after year.  I’m sure it’s because of The Cadets’ own “Mom”, whoever that may be.   As it is for all other drum and bugle corps, and like it was for Mom Smith with the Velvet Knights.

The original Mom

This post is dedicated to Ginger “Mom” Smith.  You are missed everyday!

Mom:  Go get ‘em kids!

Velvet Knights:  Thanks, Mom!