Reading Buccaneers skimmed through the Independence Day weekend with the wind in their sails, taking a second straight win over Rochester’s Empire Statesmen, at the 3rd annual Vince Bruni Preview of Champions on July 1. Bucs scored 80.525. Statesmen were about a point behind, at 79.563.

The power and pageantry of World Class Drum and Bugle Corps will be on display again this summer in the Southern Tier. The Sounds on the Susquehanna celebrates its 17th year with a spectacular show on Saturday, July 29th at Union-Endicott High School. The gates open at 6:30 and the first performance is scheduled to begin at 8:00PM.

The 2006 Minnesota Brass is becoming one of the most enjoyed corps’ of the summer. Feedback from members, fans and the judging community have been positive to our new FANTASY production. MBI continues to build all three sections into a balanced and powerful entertainment package. This year we will be fielding 50 Brass, 31 Percussion, a very large guard at 27 members and 3 drum majors (111 marching members). Joel Matuzak and the design team have really created a performance vehicle that is fun for all involved.

First a bit of history- For quite some time, CorpsVets, was an “over 18 club”. It was, for a longer time, filled exclusively with folks 21 and older. We’d made exceptions over the years but they were few and far between. The 2001 Member shirt proudly displayed, “Not your children’s drum and bugle corps!” emblazoned across the front. How times have changed; are changing still.

Beginning with the 2005 season the corps began welcoming talented young adults under the age of 18. I don’t recall how many we had but they turned out to be a talented lot. They fit in, worked hard, and helped to improve the overall level of performance of our corps. Several of these fine folks have since gone on to march in top 12 DCI corps and we wish them Godspeed. Some have returned for another year of the great All-Age drum corps experience.