Now That Was Entertainment!

Fellow graduate and frequent West Point Forum contributor Darren runs his own BLOG (I’ve omitted Darren’s last name because he does so on his BLOG and he doesn’t know I’m writing about him - yet). In a recent post he does a succinct job of explaining the expression, “The Corps Has…”. It seems The Dave Matthews Band will be performing at West Point and Darren laments, “Dave Matthews never played when I was there.”

My time as a cadet preceded Darren’s by more than a decade and when I was there we had a number of notable acts breeze through. We had marquee headliners such as Bill Cosby and Bob Hope. My roommate, Eugene Shaw, escorted Stevie Wonder during his gig at Michie Stadium and Jesse McCorvey provided the same service for Mary Travers of the group Peter, Paul and Mary. Due to my ongoing battles with the Tactical Department I spent an inordinate amount of time on confinement and couldn’t see most of these acts but I did manage to catch Gordon Lightfoot in South Auditorium. The group America performed with one of the band members wearing a cadet’s full dress coat.

We were told that these acts were arranged by the Dialectic Society. I didn’t (and still don’t) know what this society was but it obviously had a lot of pull and was well connected. I had a vision of an underground group of individuals whose identities were kept secret. As a cover for classified activities they provided entertainment for the corps. The stature of the acts they were able to book spoke to the power and reach of the society. I made it a point to never cross anyone who I thought might be a member and I never asked questions.

We had a tough Beast Barracks and Plebe Year was hell, even for those of us in Fourth Regiment (known at the time as “Frat Four” for its relatively relaxed atmosphere [a myth]), but for what little leisure time we had we did manage to attract some top shelf entertainment. So, depending on your perspective, I guess you could say The Corps Has. Or Was. Or Would.

We never could get Clint Eastwood to speak at graduation, though.

 ~ Dempsey