The Knights Drum and Bugle Corps

It’s hard for me to write this but, immediately after posting the previous update, I checked the Caringbridge website and saw this:

“To all who knew and loved Tony:

The end has come. Our family made the difficult decision this evening to cease the aggressive measures that were supporting Tony’s life systems. Tony, beloved son, brother, cousin and nephew, went to his eternal rest at 9:27 p.m. this evening. Please know that he loved all of you and that his family, friends and his fellow Knights were the most important things in his life. He will be deeply missed.

We ask that you now send your thoughts and prayers with him that he may join his father and grandparents in the warm embrace of the Lord.

We would like to thank all of you, once again, from the bottom of our hearts for all of the loving support we have received. We could not have made it through this trying time without you.

Please check this site again for a final update on arrangements for Tony’s funeral.

All our love,

Charlotte, Matt, Dan and Joanne Chamberlain”

As previously mentioned, Dan Potter replayed his DCI Fieldpass Podcast from after the big reunion a few years ago. I’m listening to it right now, and it features a little section of interview with Tony and a couple of his siblings. Go….Listen…..Never Forget.

Two things:

1. The Chamberlain family has been posting frequent updates on Tony’s status at the Caringbridge website: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tonychamberlain, and you can sign up for free email updates whenever a new item is posted, so if you’d like to do that, or just check up on Tony and send your messages to his family, please visit that website.

2. In the most recent DCI Fieldpass podcast, Dan Potter relives his time with the Knights. You can download and listen to the podcast here: http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=d5cf353e-6545-48f4-b0f9-5be7542495b4

Just read this in the guestbook, it’s from Joanne (Chamberlain) Krakora.

“I need your prayers. My brother, Tony Chamberlain, who has been a Knight pretty much since he was potty trained, was found unresponsive Friday (May 23) evening. He was airlifted to Peoria’s Methodist Medical Center where he is currently undergoing tests to determine what has caused this situation. He’s had some heart troubles over the past few years, so the doctors are focusing on that now.

I’ve posted a web page to keep everyone up to date on the situation: www.caringbridge.org/visit/tonychamberlain. Until then, I – and my Knight brothers Matt and Dan – greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Please see the web site for updates.

Always a Knight,
Joanne”

So, keep Tony and his family in your thoughts and prayers. I’ll be sure to post anything else that I hear as soon as possible. I also encourage you to take a look at that caringbridge website link too, you can sign up for email updates whenever information is posted there.

Ok, so I’m working on ways of displaying photos on the site in new and better ways. I’m working with a plugin that pulls certain albums from flickr and shows them on the page. To see how it’s going, click here: http://www.knightscorps.org/wordpress/scannedslides/
Just a little bit of explanation about the page: you can click on the album name to show the photos from the flickr album; clicking on slideshow will pop up a flickr slideshow of the images (nice to just sit back and watch); and the flickr page link takes you to the actual page for the album on flickr. Also, if you are so inclined, feel free to head over to the flickr page, sign in with your flickr or yahoo login, and post comments on the photos (specifically, information about who’s in the photos, where the photos were taken, what was special about the photo, etc.)
Enjoy.

So, I’ve started adding photos from the website to flickr (photo hosting/sharing site). Hopefully this will make tagging, names, etc. easier, since there’s no way I can figure out who everyone is and where each photo was taken. So, if you get a chance, especially if you marched the years of the photos that I’m putting up (currently just 1984, but quite a bit more later, hopefully soon), I’d appreciate it if you’d take a look at the photos, sign up or sign in to flickr (it’s owned by Yahoo, so if you have a Yahoo ID, you can use that, or just sign up for free) and add tags and comments to the photos to help figure out who, what, and where each photo is showing. Ideally, this will also allow me to display photos more easily on this website. So, if you’re interested in helping, or just looking, you can take a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lawsonphotos/collections/72157604790693585/
This is a link to the whole group of Knights photos, so as I post more, they’ll show up at the same link.
Thanks in advance for your help.

So, some of you may have noticed a posting earlier (see Jan 15th) about new things with the website. Well, just so you know, they are still on the way. Lots of things have been going on recently: 1. I have a five month old daughter. 2. I started a new job on March 3rd. I am now a …..wait for it…..webmaster. Seriously, I get paid to do this stuff now. Specifically, I’m now the Webmaster for the Administrative Services Division at Western Illinois University.

Anyway, long story short, I’ve learned a great heaping pile about web design over the last few weeks, and I can pretty much do everything I’ve ever wanted to do with the site now. Problem is, I have to find time to do it. So, here’s the deal. One of the big changes I’ve been working on is converting over to WordPress (blogging/website content management system). If you want to see it in it’s current state, you can check it out here: http://www.knightscorps.org/wordpress/. It’s not finished, I’ve still got a lot of data to move over, and probably do some changes to the theme (colors and general look). But once it’s done, it’ll be a lot easier to sort through postings and get new ones (think RSS).

In addition to this, we’ll have a sortable, searchable database of members that will display what you want it to. Want to see everyone who was in the guard in 1982, want to find everyone named Neuleib, want to just see everyone who ever played baritone. A few clicks, and you’ll have it (I learned how to do that yesterday, I’m so excited). Want to play around with the roughest of rough versions, you can see it here: http://www.wiu.edu/users/mustl/php_test/dbasetest/today.php

So anyway, feel free to check out the wordpress version at the link above, I’m going to double post everything on this page and the wordpress one until I get the entire site converted over. Let me know what you think, you can post in the comments section, or email me at scott@knightscorps.org. Enjoy.

I just received this from Daryl McCain:

A Heartfelt Thank YOU…

To everyone who has taken the time to send an e-mail, write a letter, send flowers, make a phone call, say a prayer, send condolences, and/or remember Brian in any way, my mother and I deeply appreciate the support. I am certain the news of Brian’s passing came as a complete shock to all of you. Given its unexpectedness and timing, you can imagine the shock we felt and quite honestly still feel. Were it not for the support of friends and family, including the Knights family, I just don’t know how we would make it through this tremendously difficult time.
I know that Brian’s drum corps experience was a true highlight for him and it played a pivotal role in his maturation into the man he became. Though the drum corps activity in general provided many positive experiences, it was Brian’s experience as a Knight that he truly cherished.
Once a Knight…Always a Knight

Daryl McCain
Brother and Fellow Knight ’89-91

Cool new things are afoot with this website. I have finally figured out how to do some of the things that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Many exciting changes are coming. Soon I’ll post a link to the newly designed knightscorps.org, so you can check out the nearly finished product and let me know what you think.

I know I haven’t been doing great with updates lately, but my wife and I had our first child in early October, and it’s been a little nuts around here. Anyway, I just received an email from the Neuleibs with this attachment:

OBITUARY

We all loved Brian dearly but God saw a need to call him home. Although he left us way too soon, we humbly give thanks to the Almighty God for his life among us and the gentle nature that endeared him to all the lives he touched. How “Special” he must be – to be called home on the Day that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Please keep the McCain family in your thoughts and prayers during this holiday season.

I completely forgot to mention on here (but was reminded by three drum corps friends) that this year’s DCI championships will be on ESPN2 this evening at 10 PM Eastern / 9 PM Central / 7 PM Pacific. For more info, you can go here: http://www.dci.org/tv/