Selden Cadets

   Golden Lancers Drum and Bugle Corps

Selden, Long Island, New York

Memory Lane

    A few of the highlights of Selden’s history include the great beach party and staying over in Atlantic City after competing at the Convention Center in '57, the offer from the US State Department to perform in France for Bastille Day in July, 1960…which led to the infamous ”But, Joe,  I don’t want to go to Paris…….Shut up and keep swimming” joke, the fire hose "incident" in the barracks at Syracuse in ’59 along with a large bull who somehow escaped from his pen late one night and stared down a certain drill instructor in his small foreign car, and in 1960 - playing for JFK's rally at the Commack Arena.

    Delores Caliguiri yelling “Swing ‘em!!” captured forever on our '59 Dream record, our initial [ 30 seconds ] of “stage fright” seeing 28,000 people at our first Dream Contest, scoffing free hot dogs and soda’s at the Grumman picnic, Al Fenoy scaring drivers into giving us a donation as they stopped at the only traffic light in Selden, the infamous “poem” about Humpty Dumpty and the Queensmen, putting lipstick and a scarf on Bobby Ilacqua in the back of the bus so he could wave at the truck drivers doing 75 while five feet from the back of our bus on the Jersey Turnpike,  Flo Caliguiri’s pillowcase filled with booze even before we left the Bicycle Path school for Syracuse, always stopping at the Parkway Diner [Billy Joel must have missed the Carvels !], and Joe Calisto's whistle that could be heard over in Bridgeport. 

    The Hawthorne Caballeros cheering us on for “The Cisco Kid”, getting our hands on a new set of Getzen horns in ’61 [first dent – Robby Auster’s French horn at our first rehearsal], and new military jackets in ’63, the ’61 Fireman’s parade in Mastic Beach, waking up Eddie Scavelli on the bus ride to the Dream with a water-filled condom on his ear which he then threw out the window into some guys convertible, singing “Tarantella” to make the school bus go faster, the snare drum line showing up for the bus to a major show – all with their hands in bandages and slings scaring the crap out of us, competing against great corps like our friends in Our Lady of Loretto, also St. Vincent's Cadets, Blessed Sacrament, St. Kevin's, the Garfield Cadets, St. Catherine's Queensmen, Audubon Bon-Bon’s, Bridgeport PAL, and St. Rocco’s, easily raiding all the LI corps of all their best people because we were all so charming,,,,,,,,, the bus dropping off Delores at Nursing School in the middle of the Bowery on our way home and every practice meeting before a show ending with Russ Manninos famous question, "What if it rains?"  

   Recording “Brass by Night” in a shopping center parking lot about ten feet from Jericho Turnpike, the beach party held jointly with the Loretto Knights at Smith’s Point beach after the corps’ competition in Patchogue in 1962 with the two corps under the direction of Pepe Nataro marching directly into the ocean in a perfect company front, hamburgers & coffee at the Centereach dinner, Bob Bunce loosing it and smashing his sunglasses at Harrow’s when the heavy horns laid out on the chord to “Milk and Honey” so Robbie Auster could play his duck call solo, the night the cop drove the patrol car into a light pole while watching the guard too closely in Harrow's parking lot

   Finally beating “St. Vinnies”, and the many hours spent trying to sleep [?] on the old buses [“Lights on..…hands in the air”], Marie Biondi’s secret parade command to the color guard so they would show off their best assets to the reviewing stand, the entire corps running off the contest field  after our performance on a super-hot NJ summer day when other corps were passing out, marching a NJ show soaking wet during a mosquito alert covered with bug spray, always rehearsing at the Bicycle Path School in Selden using car headlights, the first trip to New England using actual coaches instead of school buses– and of course, one broke down and we “marched” up a long, dark hill carrying our equipment, and Paul Auster missing the bus at the New Haven winter show and taking the train home.  

  The Cadets alumni have had many successful careers in all walks of life from lessons learned in the drum corps. As parents, we have all tried to explain the great feeling of being a corps member to our children. We are all very grateful to that small group of adults that made it all possible - for the great times we had and the accomplishments a small corps from Long Island were able to achieve despite many obstacles. 

  We are always collecting pictures to post on the website. If you have any of the corps or former members, please send us a copy to post here. We have also made a “Through the Years” CD available.     

Click to read names.....1960 Program

Our Competition

St. Kevin's Emerald Knights

Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights

                            Audubon Bon-Bon's

Garfield Cadets (Holy Name Cadets)

St. Vincent's Cadets

And last but, not least our friends from Brooklyn;

the Loretto Knights - 1960                                  and 1961        X Carmen Cluna

And...who can forget all the rat burgers we consumed at the McDonald's in Centereach ??

               We are offering Selden’s full performances from 1957 to 1965 on a two CD set. 
          The 2 CD set is available for $10 for Alumni and $15 for non-alumni.

     Just send a check and your full mailing address to:

Selden Cadets Alumni Association

13 Thomas St.

   The money will cover the cost of the CD's, postage and the hosting fees for this website with all profits  going towards the Reunion or other Alumni activities.  

Selden Cadets Golden Lancers Drum and  Bugle Corps