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In Memory of Jim Bradley

In high school, I was the drumline section leader and line captain in the R. L.. Osborne High School Red Regiment Marching Band. I played bass drum as a freshman, quads as a sophomore (during which we placed first in the state), and snare my junior and senior years. Playing quads was the most fun I ever had in high school. The story goes like this ...

In the Fall of 1985, the Osborne High School Red Regiment Drumline participated in the most prestigious high school drumline competition in Georgia: the Villa Rica Drum Duel. Underdogs within the unit, the Quadline, consisting of Mike Duke, Andrew Doss and Todd Beaver, dedicated themselves to excellence and won First Place in the Quadruple Toms category, the only trophy attained by the entire drumline that year.

Mike Duke hadn't even been a drummer the previous year, and rose to the occasion by pushing himself to become one of the finest (and fastest) Quad players in recent memory. Andrew Doss secured his position as future Line Captain following this event, and spent the next two years leading the Drumline to many other competitions. It was at Villa Rica, however, that lightning struck, and history was made.

Now, for the first time since that cold November night 23 years ago, you can hear the performance that won the award as well as the hearts and joyous enthusiasm of the capacity audience ...

Click here for a recording of our award-winning performance back in 1985! (4MB MP3)

Mike Duke / Andrew Doss / Todd Beaver 'Best Quads' Villa Rica Drum Duel November 1985

First Row - Andrew Doss, Todd Beaver, Scott Sellers, Kent Brown, Dean Lovello, Michelle Kuter, Staci Dean. Second Row - John Estes, Jeff Powell, Michael Holbrook, Ron Avery, Mike Duke, Herb Valdez, Bubba Eidam, Ronnie Gestler, Scott Morris.

Here are some images of the show itself. These were taken at a competition in Heflin, Alabama just prior to the Villa Rica show. (Note the yellow-suited drumline from another school seated at the back, looking on in envy!) The show itself consisted of a medley of two percussion pieces, Cappricioso Español and Bacchus, both having been performed as 'drum breaks' during the previous two years' marching band shows.

Part 1: Cappricioso Español Mike Duke and Andrew Doss are featured on Quads, performing the longer of the two Quad solos. Todd Beaver performed in the Pit.
Part 2: Bacchus Todd quickly straps on his gear to join Mike and Andrew for the second half of the performance.

Thoughts and Memories ... ah, the 80s!

• The Heflin competition was really a warm-up for Villa Rica, thank goodness.
  
  
• At the Heflin show, it was the second snare player's job to provide a 'click' to which we all marched onto and off of the stage area. He was in front, and apparently forgot which was the way to the exit. He gave us the click, but upon reaching the sideline, turned the wrong way, and, despite the desperate whispers of the line captain, clicked himself out the wrong side of the gymnasium while the rest of us filed out the exit. Apparently, the door he reached was locked, and finding no other exit, he promptly clicked himself back across the front of the stage, at a more rapid pace, and out to the parking lot, where we were all waiting! I think he got a laugh from the audience for that.
  
  
• Also featured at the Heflin show, was the MIRROR IMAGE concept. During the Cappricioso Español solo, during which there were only two Quad players, the Band Director Jim Bradley, ever the innovator, came up with the idea to have us play a 'mirror image' of each other, with one guy playing the right pattern, and the other guy (I think it was me), playing a visually opposite pattern. As we leaned over to show off our skills, it may have looked cool, but the resulting sound gave the impression that one of us didn't know what he was doing, and was behind or something. I think one of the judges actually made a comment in his notes about being somewhat disturbed by it. We didn't place at all at that competition, and we always blamed MIRROR IMAGE, but it certainly was different!
  
  
• I wish I could find some information on the famed Villa Rica Drum Duel. They had cool t-shirts and everything! It would be great to come across some records of the event, and maybe even obtain some new pictures of the performance! If you have any information, please send email to DOSSWERKS at YAHOO DOT COM.
  
• Bottom line: 1985 was the most significant year of my growing-up life, and the Drumline was a major part of it. I thank them all for the experience, and hope to eventually hear from them all as a result of this web page.

Jim Bradley, 71, school band and orchestra director

Jim Bradley taught music at metro Atlanta area grade schools for nearly 40 years. He never regarded his long career as a band and orchestra director as work.

"Daddy would tell people, 'I never worked a day in my life, because I love my job so much,' " said his daughter Kathy Kirby of LaGrange.

"Jim was fantastic, a great motivator," said Greg Williams of Acworth, now band director at North Cobb High School. "I played trumpet my junior and senior years at Osborne High School under him. He pushed you beyond what you thought you could do. He gave me a trumpet solo I thought there was no way I could play. He kept encouraging me, and I did it. When I saw how much Jim loved music and enjoyed teaching, I decided I wanted to do that as a career, too, and I've never regretted it."

James Albert Bradley, 71, of LaGrange died Saturday, June 11, 2005 of heart disease at West Georgia Medical Center. The body was cremated. The memorial service was at 2 p.m. on June 16 at First Presbyterian Church of LaGrange. Striffler-Hamby Mortuary was in charge of arrangements.

The Atlanta native's father, Charles Bradley, was a band director at the Lovett School. It never occurred to him that his son might enter a different profession. At age 6, Jim Bradley played his first tune on the soprano saxophone. He started oboe at 10 and as a teenager played with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra and Theater of the Stars. At 18 he joined the Army, playing oboe and saxophone with the Army Band at Fort McPherson.

Andrew remembers: Mr. B and I rarely saw eye-to-eye, and my immaturity got in the way of his authority on more than one occasion, as this yearbook photo perfectly illustrates. Just look at my face! I'm sure I was arguing with him about something at this moment!

During his teaching career, he led bands and orchestras at Therrell High School (1960-70), the Westminster Schools (1970-80) and Osborne High School in Smyrna, from which he retired in 1999. During the 1960s, he also served as director of the Southwest Atlanta Elementary Band and the Georgia Tech marching band.

His halftime shows were known for their spectacular effects.

"Dad would use fire extinguishers on the field to create smoke effects, as when we formed a train with smoke coming out of the smokestack," said his daughter Karen Blinkhorn of Ocala, Fla. Mrs. Blinkhorn played oboe and saxophone under her father in middle and high school at Westminster.

"There was always a theme to the show," she added. "One that stands out was a magic show. Dad had the band marching around, then dividing in half. One half formed a tight circle with a little girl in a bunny suit inside the circle, dancing. Then the circle closed and the girl disappeared. The other half of the band then opened into a circle and there the girl was. The secret was two little girls, identically dressed, who were hidden in two bass drums he had rigged."

Mr. Bradley never turned down someone who wanted to play in his bands, regardless of physical or mental disabilities, Mrs. Blinkhorn said. "He had a blind girl who marched and he had a boy who could only play the cymbals and only on a certain cue. He made sure everyone had a part and felt important."

"Jim could work miracles with kids," said Joey Morgan of Dallas, band director at Chapel Hill High School in Douglas County and a former assistant to Mr. Bradley at Osborne High. "He would never quit on a kid. For a lot of kids, he was probably the only father figure they ever had."

To be close to his grandchildren, Mr. Bradley retired to LaGrange in 2001. He and his wife, Constance Burch Bradley, became local celebrities, appearing on WCAG-TV as restaurant reviewers. "Their show was called 'What's Cookin' With Meemaw and Pawpaw,' " said Mrs. Kirby. "It only lasted a few months, because they ran out of restaurants to review."

Survivors also include his wife; a sister, Patricia Steele of Roswell; and three grandchildren.

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