BigW Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Practice was absolutely fantastic for me- a great musical experience interacting with the guys in the trio for an hour. Just mind-blowing. If we can get this down tight and really make it happen, we just might knock the place out at Profiles. :) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Oh, and for Fisher and Mike regarding my over enthusiastic pulldowns yesterday, watch the 1995 Madison Scouts Halloween Screamers video on YouTube, I was using the left hand correctly in the pull-downs. It's just that pesky heating grate was in my way, man! :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Stopped by Westshoremen Alumni rehearsal today... as usual, the corps is in good shape with the show coming up April 11. The ensemble run focused on "One More Time"... a couple of timing/tempo issues, but nothing that can't be ironed out by showtime. Good to see my pit aux percussion partner of recent years... Paul Geiger... in the cymbal line this year!!! I'm gonna suit up with John Kelley in the corps' honor guard at the show. Easiest gig of the night. LOL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Also had dinner with W and a few others from the corps at the Brewhouse Grill in Camp Hill. Good food, brews, and conversation, as always!!! We solved a lot of the world's problems. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 had hoped to get by, but attended the birthday party of an alum's son...and when toddlers party look out! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Looking forward to the gig Saturday. Found the 1996 Finals Run on the FB site, and junkied out on it, which is something I generally do not do unless I see something very special, which it was. Usually I watch it once, and think "okay, that's nice", but good stuff, I'll dissect like a maniac. Lookin' at it, the run was a perfect storm- literally. The one thing that had me with a bug up in '92 to '94 was that the corps struggled to project to the stands with a unified voice- and in '96, they DID, and it was scary good. The horns were right in there- period. Exceptionally clean, and there was no room for error with that book- all of the gambles paid out in that run. Frankly- the show was about as high-energy and up as DCA has gotten, and the last thing I saw that really drove things home like that in DCA was the last time Kidsgrove came over. The Brothers and Chris really fronted the corps beautifully, the whole ska "incite man" thing rolling like a juggernaut. Unsung heroes of the show? The Mallets are VERY good- the battery maybe got all the attention and the glory, but ####, the mallets PLAYED! Questions- that's John Arietano doing some of the solos? And what exactly is Chris doing with a stick on the podium? WHOA! SWEET BABY JESUS, was he STOKED! Tell you what. The show gives me feelings I can't quite describe. Satisfaction, pride, vindication, validation.... a bit of all of that and something else I can't get my finger on. All I know is Larry was right when he talked to the corps in Florida- I do know there were a few folks out there with the corps that night that no one could "see", but I know they were there after watching that run. Youth group later today, have to get moving, but yeah- WOW. Gonna get that playing again while I get my stuff taken care of before I pull out for today's stuff to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 7, 2015 Author Share Posted April 7, 2015 that was Screech. As for Chris....he doesn't even know. Florida...Larry's speech came a great time, especially after the drama Friday. it helped pull the corps back together. But....the true unsung hearoes of that show was the guard. Without them, we don't hang visually Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 True, the Guard was also very understated but excellent. And in terms of unifying the program visually- YES. The show is extremely... hmm... No props, it's very pure in its essence. I think in some ways it adds to the punches to the head. There's nothing to take your mind off the program and get distracted that you're getting smacked down hard with this show from the start. Which I like. Definitely all meat, no filler, Drum Corps Fogo de Chao. More Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon, please, and yes, more Lamb and Sirloin cooked perfectly. Forget the garnish and the green beans, man. The second percussion feature in Carnival-- Thurston wrote that, didn't he? The starting snare groove is right out of the '91 Crossmen book from "Third Wind"... isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 Carnival is all Dan. The "suite" part of Smoothie was Mark, as was large chunks of the Explosion stuff. The rest of Smoothie and All The Things was Dan. Marching Season, Carnival, the "ending" and Blues all Dan. The feel is similar, in both the source material and the drum corps parts. and we had a motto that year: "hit them til you see snot bubbles". I remember the feeling at Barnum...that crowd ate us up, and boom, we snuck by Cabs. Added to it at Hershey, and as Cabs retooled, we kept cleaning, no major changes after Hershey weekend. Cabs started closing the gap, and then in Syracuse the week before finals we had 11 holes thanks to WCU band camp and we #### the joint up....Empire tied us. They got really cocky on the field at retreat too, but we stayed cool. Believe it or not, the best run the corps did all year was before prelims. It showed at prelims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 That '96 Westshore guard... one of the most underrated guards in many years. They were great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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