MiniSopGuy

Unfortunately, the prior posted agreement between SoCal Dream and Irvine Valley College(IVC) has been nullified. Due to scheduling conflicts, we will be unable to rehearse at IVC this year as they are planning a rehab of their athletics fields this spring/summer and can not guarantee that the fields will be available to us. We enjoyed performing for their men's and women's basketball games this past Wednesday and thank IVC for their efforts in attempting to provide SoCal Dream a rehearsal location. At this time, we are searching out a new location for this Sunday January 9th and future dates. Please check our website often as things are changing by the minute.

Last night we had our first performance for the IVC basketball teams. We had a lot of fun and at the end of the game, the team came over, stood in front of us and applauded. Very classy and it was nice to be appreciated in a sports venue. We are looking forward to the next game night on January 14th. These gigs are open to all musicians that would like to participate. If your interested, send me a PM and I will give you the details.

Dedication-Drive-Determination-Dream

We had a great Open House yesterday. A lot of new and young faces came out to find out about our program. We hope that everyone returns and a few more come out to our next rehearswal date on January 9th from 10am to 5 pm. We are going to start hitting the music hard so we are prepared to hit the field when the guard joins us in April. If you are thinking about joining, come out in January or go to www.socaldream.org to find out more information and let us know you would like to join us this summer. Until next time, take a look at this bari/euph line photo from open house.......

This Sunday, December 12th, SoCal Dream will be holding their 2011 Open House - Membership Day from 12:00pm til 3:00pm. After a general introduction meeting, we will have a meet and greet time to give you the opportunity to meet the caption head of the section you are interested in joining and learn what they will expect of you. Most of our staff has returned from 2010 and we have added in a few new faces. They are just waiting for you to get the season started. We will hold Open House at our rehearsal facility, Golden West College. The address is 15774 Goldenwest St. Huntington Beach, CA 92647, however you should park in lot J on the Gothard St. side of campus. We will meet in room 215 of the Recreation Education Building (#24 on the campus map) Please see map links below. If you attend, you will be the first to hear the announcement of our 2011 show. If you play brass and own a G bugle, bring it along. If not, bring a mouthpiece and we will set you up with a horn. Drummers, bring a pair of sticks and anyone interested in colorguard, bring a weapon and flag if you have one and dress as you would for a rehearsal. The Open House - Membership Day is just the beginning of our 2011 journey so come out and find out what SoCal Dream has to offer to you. If you have any questions, please email Membership@SoCalDream.org or Info@SoCalDream.org Dream Rehearsal Facility: http://tinyurl.com/SoCalDreamHome Campus Map (pdf): http://www.goldenwestcollege.edu/pdf/gwc_campusmap_0208.pdf

I am gonna have to stop by a rehearsal just to say hi to Roxanne. I haven't seen her since I worked with Scott King doing winterguard.

That was definately not the original plan. The person that played the frenchie could not/would not play the mello. It was only out of necessity that it was allowed on the field. That said though, I love the sound of a well tuned frenchie line. In quantity, they have a sound unequaled by any other instrument in the brass line.

There is an easy way to know if there is any propane left in the tank. Pour warm water on the tank. If there is still propane, it will develope a frost line on the side of the tank at the level of the and propane inside. This is an old trick to see how much propane you have left for a BBq to make sure you wont run out halfway through. Also, if the valve is frozen and you cant turn it, there should also be a small bleeder screw on the side of the valve. This is the 10% (or 90% depoending on who you ask) fill bleeder. Try unscrewing that and releasing the pressure. Even if there is a small volume of propane in the tank, you can safely bleed it our through this screw or even by loosening the valve to let it slowly excape. To be a flamable mixture in the air, you would have to have a minimum of 2.15%(maximum of 9.6%) propane to air ratio. Meaning that if you have more than 98.85% air, it will not burn. The only place you will have that percentage is right at the valve. Keep ignition source away from the valve. Also, in the air, without an ignition source, the propane would have to get up to 920 degrees before it will self ignite. If it is more than 920 degrees out, you have more problems than venting propane out of a small cylinder. Geeze the stuff I had to learn to be licensed to dispense propane has come in handy 22 years later. I actually had a valve on a motorhome let loose on me when I was filling it. It vented about 12 gallons of propane in just a few seconds. I was basically in a cloud of propane. I felt high, then got a headache, but no flame.

I found the instant replays a little annoying. I applaud attempting some thing new, but I think it could be used better as a tool. Let the show on the field finish and let it sink in rather than starting it right as the corps exits. For prelims day, I think it could have been better used to announce scores. Perhaps, rather than playing the clip right when the corps exits, a clip could be played as their prelim score is announced. Maybe the announcer says "We have a score for XYZ corps" Then a clip of XYZ is shown followed by a display of their score. After that, show the list of the current standings of prelim scores. Also, to generate more income, maybe the bottom 1/5 of the screen could be sold as advertising space something like the random banner ads on the top of the DCP pages. If this was the only way scores were announced, by displaying them, that advertising space could be a valuable resource to sell.

Friday night may be all about downtown Rochester, but Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights..... Doubletree, is the place to be!

Ahh yes.....Darla you do spend too much time with high school guards!!!

Another thread with all that info (and a little extra) can be found HERE

Boy I guess I shouldn't "scan read" the forums when I am in a hurry. I thought this was starting to talk about Champs. I guess I missed the word Scranton and am just excited about getting back to DCA Champs. Ah well, I suppose I am just ahead of the game for the annual post asking where everyone is staying and rehearsing for Champs. Although, I just found out the rehearsal site I posted has been cancelled and we are going to be somewhere else. I really hope it is still very close to our hotel! Everyone in Scranton this weekend, Have a great show and we will see you all in a couple weeks!

SoCal Dream: Rehearsal site: Veterans Memorial Park 595 Calkins Rd. Henrietta, NY 14467 Hotel: DoubleTree Hotel Rochester 1111 Jefferson Road, ROCHESTER NY 14623 Supposedly just a few miles apart.

Oh yeah....lovin' our 6 weeks off to finish and clean. 2 more weeks to refine, then head out to Rochester.

Hey everyone, with the donations that came in the mail today, it appears that we are about 50 miles from Rochester. Thanks everyone for your help. I hate to keep asking, but if there is anyone else that would like to help out, we appreciate every amount received. You are making our trip possible.

With the donations we have received so far, we will be able to get the equipment truck to about Ashland Ohio. We have just a few hundred miles to get there then get our equipment and people(me!) home. Thank you everyone that has made a donation so far. When you see us on the field, know that it is because of your generosity that we were able to be there. Everyone that donates is "on the field" with us because we know YOU are making our trip possible. Anyone else want to be with us?

Since you have already replaced the brace once and it has failed, I woudl definately search out a repair shop that would do some custom work. Demonstrate the dynamics of force put on the horn and have them engineer a different bracing system that would be beefed up from the stock. I would say that it is quite obviously a major stress point, since two braces have broken, and that a brace there is necessary. Just needs to be better designed.

Thank you to everyone sending in money. Each and every donation is going directly to help the corps get to Rochester. If you don't like PayPal, and want to mail a check that is absolutely fine. Here is the address again: Dream Association of CA 17870 Newhope St Suite 104-443 Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Thank you everyone that is helping get us back on the field with the greatest corps in the country! As a side note, Sam Signorrelli (84BDSop), was a founding member of SoCal Dream and is an alumni of the corps. As such we thank him for his past contributions. However, he is no long affiliated with SoCal Dream and does not speak in any sort of official capacity for the corps. From a few posts above it appears that there may have been some sort of confusion regarding this issue. Now back to the real situation at hand......

We are getting $2 here and $10 there. Thank you everyone. Even small donations, when pooled together, will help get us to Rochester. Every little bit helps. Remember, anything you give may be tax deductible.

The drum corps community never ceases to amaze me. Already we have had an offer of mailing and a generous donation through our paypal account! Thank you!

Currently the way we are restructuring our budget for the rest of the season, mailed in checks would be wonderful also. Even donations 2 weeks from now will help. Those later donations would end up being put towards our equipment transportation fund. That is one of the big portions of our travel budget. Thank you to anyone considering a donation. We really want to be in Rochester with everyone, but we will not risk destroying the foundation that has been built up over the past 9 years just to go.

As we are fast approaching deadlines for our travel to Rochester for Championships, SoCal Dream is looking for people who might be able to make our return to DCA Championships a reality. Due to various reasons, we have lost a couple people which means we lose the final income expected from them. With the size of our corps, and to keep the cost as low as possible, our budget is planned very tight as membership fees pay all of our expenses. Losing income from any member unfortunately throws off our budget. We have had members dig real deep to make the trip possible, but are seeking additional support. If you would like to make a donation, no matter what size, you can do so by going to our website, www.socaldream.org and clicking on the "Donation" button on the bottom right. If we do not get any donations, that does not mean we won't make it to Rochester. It just means it is going to be very difficult to make the trip possible. We thank you for your consideration in donating to our travel budget.

The only factual answer si that they were cut at the decision of the corps "Director". The reasons behind that decision have not been stated publicly. The only person that can definitively state why they were cut is the corps "Director". Anyone else stating a specific reason why, especially a legal accusation, could open themselves up to libel and slander liability and that should probably be avoided.

After 3 straight weekends of shows that comprised our entire "California season", SoCal Dream took a much needed weekend off last weekend. This weekend, we get back on the field for "season 2.0" and will make some tweaks based on feedback we received over the last month, and finish our show. We never really had the opportunity to put the complete closer on the field for the "California season", so we are looking forward to having it all done and cleaned for Labor day weekend and for our fans in the Northeast.