November 14, 1999
I was just knocking some dust off the old place and I realised that I haven't done anything since August! Things will be a bit slow around here until the New Year as I am taking some night courses that are taking up my spare time. I have added one new thing: a link to the new ODCA web site at: http://www.odca.org. Now I can't complain about anything! :)
So much for the great DCI finals controversy.... thems the breaks. Ah well it was a happier result for the Blue Devils than in '84 when I was marching... [insert old-timer story here]... but that was when there were _real_ corps. None of this sissy three valve stuff.
Sam the (crochety old) man
August 14, 1999
I have updated some corps lists a bit and fixed some links in the link page. I went to the Canadian Open in Kitchener, ON on August 4. It was a fun show. It was all Division II and III corps. Looking at the DCI Championship finals results it looks like it the Canadian Open was a preview for this show.
It seems that the division I finals had its share of controversy as the Blue Devils (my other corps) and the Santa Clara Vanguard tied for first after B.D. had been leading handily in the quarter and semi-finals. Of course I have a completely objective outlook on this... B.D. wuz robbed!
As you can see from the links above, the sCorpsBoard is back in business!
Sam
July 4, 1999
I have fixed a few links and some info in the '83 and '84 corps lists. Thanks to Jan (Bower) Bassett, Kathy (Tugwell) Jolivet and Kelley Mitchell-Tugwell for the corrections! Wheew! It's a hot one today in T.O.!
Sam
June 15, 1999
I have posted a new ODCA schedule today. Note that the August 2nd show in Scarborough has been cancelled. Thanks to Betty Schmidt at ODCA for the continued updates!
Sam
May 16, 1999
There is now an update to the first list of ODCA shows I posted earlier. There are going to be quite a few this summer. There is no excuse not to get out to a few!
Sam
April 29, 1999
I have added a bunch of new links to the link page. I have also discovered that DCI has made some significant rule changes for the 1999 season, including allowing the use of brass instruments in any key (except for trombones and sousaphones). This means that corps can use regular Bb trumpets in competition if they wish. The Division II and III corps have decided to stay with the old rules for now and Betty Schmidt of ODCA informs me that most ODCA corps fall under division II and III rules. The Kiwanis Kavaliers are division I (open class) but apparently are not making any changes to their brass line at this time. I have set up a section in the links area in regards to the rule changes.
Betty responded within hours of my e-mail message so I must eat my words about the ODCA moving slowly on the net. :/
Betty has also sent me a list of the ODCA shows coming up this summer which I have listed on a separate page. This is still open to change so contact the ODCA if you are planning to attend any of these.
Sam
April 12, 1999
I'm back cleaning up some deadlinks from the drum corps link pages. I discovered that there is now a web site set up to archive the repertoire of drum corps alive and dead at http://www.corpsreps.com. You can search their database and find the Ambassadors and a list of repertoire for the various years. You will then see that they are a commercial site as they have a link from certain works to CDs that they are selling. For example in 1979 the Ambassadors played a "Chicago" medley so there is a link to a "Chicago" CD they sell. At first I was annoyed as they obviously took their info about the Ambassadors from this site, but I've decided that "information wants to be free" and since they are not charging for it, they are welcome to it.
The Kavies web site (http://www.kavaliers.com) says that the ODCA individuals championships are on April 24. No word on where. Don't bother checking the ODCA site to find out either. ( Sorry ODCA people, but there's really no excuse; a whole year has passed and there isn't even an up-to-date list of ODCA corps. )
Dan Fallows, you have been added to the '79 corps list and updated in the '80 list. Thanks for the info!
Corps season is coming folks. Can't you smell the diesel fumes?
- Sam
March 6, 1999
I have succumbed to the temptation to add bells and whistles to the site. I have added two features to the page: a quiz and a discussion board. Both these neato features require that you have a java script capable browser and that you have this option turned on. For those less inclined to tinker with your software this means that Netscape 4.0 and higher and Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher will let you use them. My research indicates that most of you use such a browser. I believe version 3 or either of the main browsers will work as well but more research is required on my part. Both of these new features are courtesy of beseen.com. They are free for me to add to anyone's pages however they do contain advertising. I hope the adds don't annoy anyone and I'll try to keep the quiz questions fairly current.
Enjoy!
Sam
February 6, 1999
It's a new year! How did that much time pass by without me adding anything to my favourite web project? I don't have much to announce here: I have cleaned up the links page but I have no new material for you at the moment. I'll see what I can dig up this week. As you can seen in the guestbook, even more Ambassadors have found their way here. I will be adding frames to the site to make it easier to navigate. Don't worry, there will be a no-frames version as well. You can now click on the page counter to see detailed statistics about how often the page is downloaded.
Hope everyone had a good holiday season.
cheers,
Sam
September 9, 1998
I have cleaned up the links page a bit. There is a new heading for other bands with the name Ambassadors. Included is a page on the Drum Corps Legends site for the Marching Ambassadors, which I believe was the inspiration for the creation of the Aurora/Newmarket Ambassadors.
cheers,
Sam
August 30, 1998
I wasn't able to attend the Ypsilanti, MI DCI show but my father and I were able to get to the Canadian Open in Kitchener on July 29. You can find the scores and a review here on the sCORPSboard. It has been a while since I had a chance to see a show and it was not a disapointment. My only question is about all the guards using sabres. Is this a new rule? :) I did think I would see a few more Canadian corps but that late in the season a lot corps were touring. Unfortunately I was leaving for Alberta on August 1 so I couldn't get to Canadian Nationals. That must have been a real show!
Ambassadors have been popping out everywhere lately and as you can seen from the guestbook a few have left their comments and email addresses. Thanks for your encouragement everyone, I'll keep up the good work.
July 2, 1998
I have caught the bug again! There is new stuff, mostly new pictures, in the 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983 scrapbooks. Check out the pictures of the '79 Ambassadors playing on ice at a junior 'A' hockey game. "Yes, we are a Canadian drum corps.... what's your point?"
Sam
June 30, 1998
I am back! You'll find another newspaper article on the 1984 scrapbook page. The photos are awful I'm afraid. I had to go to the Toronto Reference Library microfilm collection to dig the full article up ( I only had a piece of it ) and I'm afraid the films they let the public use are pretty scratched up.
After typing out so many newspaper articles for these pages I think could probably write one myself with only a corps name to begin with. Let's see....
Look at <corps name here>! Aren't they a cute little band, playing on their little instrument things? They won every possible award every year of their existence (non-corps people never check on this stuff). [Insert mildly accurate description of what drum corps here]. The fine staff are keeping these young people off our streets otherwise they would obviously be robbing and pillaging. Some people think they make too much noise. Aren't they cute?
I guess I have typed too many of these. ;)
Sorry Doug. I didn't make the Kavies home show. You guys are touring all over the place! Some of you out there may see me at the Ypsilanti, MI DCI show if I can work my schedule out.
The Ambassadors Alumni page is a year old! That's 25 years in web page years.
Happy Canada Day! (or Happy Dominion Day! to you monarchist holdouts.)
Sam
April 5, 1998
It has been awhile since I have added to this site but I have not forgotten it. I have cleaned up some dead links of the links page. I have quite a bit of stuff waiting to go up, it is just a matter of finding the time to get it there. Any of you out there with Ambassador pics send me a scan or a copy that I can scan myself. I think the photos really make the site.
Take care,
Ambassadors contacted via cyberspace: 4. That's a 33% increase over last year. :)
December 13, 1997
I have slowed down quite a bit since the summer, but I am still adding things to the site now and then. The Guestbook seems to be functioning well now, although there aren't many guests to prove it.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Sam
October 5, 1997
I have slowed down a bit but I continue to add things and tune up the design of these pages when something suddenly occurs to me. 1979 is the most filled out year so far, but there is still a lot of stuff left in my scrapbooks so I have a lot to add to 1980 to 1983 still. I have also added quite a bit to the links section for your surfing pleasure. If anyone has any suitable links they would like to contribute please do.
On the Drum Corps World site is an article describing the Canadian Nationals in Brantford, Ontario this year.
Sam
I have been adding quite a bit over the last few weeks. I have finally put up the 1979 yearbook by Dan Brooks and Garry Summers. I will re-scan those photos if I can get better copy or the originals. The "Ambassa-Bear News" is a little newsletter I had forgotten about. I decided to add it to the site for some fun. What's the point of being in a drum corps if you can't make jokes that nobody else understands? If I should ever find Stirling Munro again, I'll ask him if he still has the master of that newsletter. Andrew Styrmo has provided me with a copy of the 1984 corps photo to scan and even a list of almost all the members in it, as well as a few newspaper photos from '84. Thanks Andrew.
Happy September all,
Sam
August 15, 1997
I have finished wrestling with the CGI script and now there is a guestbook. Please feel free to add you own entries. It seems to work for me, but if you have any trouble please let me know. The scores from DCI worlds will be in soon. Check out the sCORPSboard in the links section.
The Kiwanis Kavaliers have a shot at the top twelve. It's hard for me to believe I'm typing that. No offense to any K.K. members reading this but the corps I competed with in the eigthies was very different. Doug Darwin has done a great job as director and now the Kavaliers are the top corps in Canada. They won Canadian Nationals. Thanks to Betty Schmidt of the O.D.C.A who was kind enough to send the score to me by e-mail. Just for fun, here are the results of Canadian Nationals:
CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - BRANTFORD - AUGUST 3RD, 1997
Division I (once upon a time was "open class")
Kiwanis Kavaliers 81.3
Division II ("A" class)
Allegiance Elite 82.0
Division III ("A-60" class)
3rd Regiment 85.9
St. John's 85.1
General Butler Vagabonds 77.5
Emerald Knights 71.6
Conqueror II 67.6
Ridge Raiders 52.0
Division IV (short show)
Dutch Boy 57.6
Blue Saints 49.4
Squires 49.4
Sam
August 5, 1997
I am shocked. I was looking through my less-than-meticulously-organized corps records when I found evidence that the Ambassadors existed in '85 and '86 (sort of). It was a programme from "Impact '86 " and some pictures of Ambassadors at '85 Nationals. I have to assume that I was the one who went to both of these events. It seems old age is catching up with me. Memory is the second thing to go...
On a personal note, I have managed to miss the Canadian Nationals again. Apparently they were last Sunday(!), August 3. I guess the DCI tour down to Orlando dictates when Ontario shows are but I thought they would still be after DCI worlds. I'll have to have a word with Mickey about this.
cheers,
Sam
July 25, 1997
Some of the yearbook pages are becoming quite lengthy. This may make for long download times. I plan to make them into several pages for easier reading but as I still have lots of stuff to enter into them, I am going to wait until they are "done" before I chamnge anything. I did add another corps list as I promised, 1980. I have managed to find some info for the 1978 page and I recently found some scores from the '77 season, but I could still use some help if anyone who marched those years or earlier happens to surf by here. Thanks to Andrew Styrmo and Duane Morris for their help with some corrections in the other corps lists. Please keep these coming!
Sam
I haven't added anything new yet but I have managed to add a mail form page. This should help me deal with the voluminous mail pouring from this site. :) I plan to add more to the corps lists next as the little feedback I have received let me know that people like finding their names on the lists, so I will oblige them. If anyone reading this has any info about the Ambassadors pre-1979 Iwould greatly appreciate seeing it as my yearbooks only go back as far as my first year, 1979.
cheers,
Sam
June 25, 1997
Things have slowed down a bit. I have submitted this site to the various search engines. So far, Infoseek and Webcrawler are the only two who have registered it. Hopefully more former Ambassadors will be by to add some info to this informal archive. I would like scores in particular. The other drum corps sites don't seem to have any scores going back more than a year or two. I don't expect to find the ODCA scores but the Blue were in a few DCI contests over the years and I had hoped to find something about it online. Hopefully I can find some of my old drum corps newsletters in the basement back in Aurora :) If you are having problems reading any of the pages in a particular browser, please let me know. So far I have tried Nescape 3.01 (Macintosh) and Lynx 2.x (text browser) and everything seems readable.
June 19, 1997
This little project is turning into a digitization of my old Ambassadors scrapbooks. So far I have stuck to newspaper articles in an effort to be impartial (and somewhat inaccurate). Hopefully one of the former members/staff who surf by will feel inclined to add things of their own. Scores and corps lists, especially for the early years and 1984 would be much appreciated. If you think something is wrong, let me know. it probably is. :)
Sam
June 16, 1997
I am Sam King(jr.). I was a member of the Ambassdors from the Fall of 1978 to the Fall of 1983 in the horn line and in those five years I learned to love music, performing and a bunch of other kids who were into doing the same thing. It wasn't cool and it wasn't mainstream either. It was wierd. We didn't care. We were having too much fun. I put this up to get the attention of anyone who marched and managed to find this page through a web crawler or word of mouth. I would like to hear from you guys! I have some great memories from the Ambassadors and I think this is a good way to keep some of them alive.
This site is not affiliated with the Ambassadors Alumni Association. I'm not sure if it still exists as I haven't heard anything from or about it in more than five years. If it does exist and it has a web page, I would be happy to make a link to it.
On the hompage are my ideas for things to put up here. Please send in any ideas of info you might have. I'll try to indicate what information I need to fill things out. I have started putting some things up already. If I can get permission from Dan (I don't have a shako) Brooks and Garry (Flip) Summers, I'll put up their 1979 yearbook that never made it to the printing press. I have access to a colour scanner and I have started to get some corps shots up here. If I'm really ambitious I'll try some samples of recordings. Psycho hornplayers unite!
- Sam D. King(jr.),
