Making A Difference in Your Community : Bugle Corps Seeks Drums, Volunteers

Jeff Davis seems to have given himself an impossible task--running a drum and bugle corps without any drums.

“If the money were there, we would buy them,” Davis said.

As the head of Sundowner Youth Programs in North Hollywood, he has found that getting the help and financial assistance needed has not always been easy, but it has taught the 37-year-old risk management specialist a few lessons.

“One main lesson is that you don’t give up, no matter how many times the phone gets hung up on you and the door gets slammed in your face,” Davis said.

His persistence has led to the creation of the Nightfire Drum and Bugle Corps, which held its first major practice recently at the Van Nuys Air National Guard Base.

About 20 high school students from around the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County were on hand for the rehearsal, which focused mainly on teaching the students how to play a two-valve bugle when they may have been more familiar with a three-valve instrument. Drummers in the group have to either bring their own drums or use practice pads.

To make things even more complicated, Davis learned recently that National Guard officials will no longer let him use the facility.

Another problem Davis has encountered is explaining to potential donors why he believes a drum and bugle corps can achieve so much in helping today’s youths stay out of trouble.

“If it wasn’t for drum and bugle corps, I probably wouldn’t be here today,” Davis said.

In the late 1960s, Davis belonged to a drum and bugle corps in Sharpsburg, Pa., near Pittsburgh. It folded, and it was then that Davis learned what the world was like without a corps to occupy his time.

“There are things I did I wouldn’t even want my parents to know,” Davis said, explaining that he fell in with the wrong crowd and the rising drug culture of the 1960s. He considers himself lucky never to have gotten into serious trouble, and he moved to Illinois to get into a different drum and bugle corps.

“I was lucky because I knew what was happening to me and I knew what to do to get away from it,” Davis said. He started Sundowner Youth Programs in mid-1993, with the idea of creating more activities for young people so they would have an alternative to the streets.

A drum and bugle corps has a special appeal for him because once youths get into it, he said, they can catch an enthusiasm that is very much like the runner’s high.

“The drum corps, in a way, is its own drug and its own cure,” Davis said. “It’s such a physical activity that it’s virtually impossible to do it if you are on some sort of a drug.”

The corps was able to get bugles with the help of the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and the Air Force Academy in Colorado. But the drums have been more difficult. Drums available from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., cost about $4,000.

The group had just one small practice last January, before the Northridge earthquake disrupted the organization. The highlight performance so far has been at an Irish Festival, Davis said.

The group’s repertoire includes rock, pop, new age, jazz and even classical music, Davis said.

The drum and bugle corps is open to individuals 14 to 22 years old. Volunteers are sought to help with administration, uniforms, fund raising and in tracking down used drums. To help the Sundowner group, call Davis at (805) 257-3123 or his vice president, Sam Signorelli, at (818) 761-5227.

The Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. is seeking volunteers to work on its 1995 parade float, “Reach for the Wind.” The float is taking shape at the city Public Services Yard, 320 N. Lake St., and workers are needed evenings and weekends. For information, call (818) 840-0060.

Getting Involved is a weekly listing of volunteering opportunities. Please address prospective listings to Getting Involved, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338.