CozyChopsCom

DCA has a plethora of screaming soloists, some in mug shots, and in the near future on Webcasts. DCA does not hide its screamers, but Internet video, alas, is not in the piggy bank for aught eight. DCA is staying in the black, a good thing.

Ed, If you can get the lyre to anyone going to Rochester, I'm in the Clarion and all around. Thanks. Now to get my "Mirage" music stand from DCK. I wrote reviews for both shows for DCWorld. Subscribe! 12 Starbucks a year will pay for a subscription. Summary: Austin Stars blew me away. Steroid stupefying 9 horns, guzzing kit man and solid guard. Brent has a phenomenal core to build on. I talked to many of them. Lots of experience and dedicated. That impressed me as much as the field display. Sun Devils -- What John and Tammy Hoekstra, John J. Johnson and others have accomplished since the Gasparilla episode of last fall is colossal. The Sun Devils are a complete package for a first-year corps. Similar to Gulf Coast, they have had losses, plug holes with thumbs in the levee and plod on. The tic buyers saw a polished show, not realizing for most the trials and tribulations. Do breathing exercises and stoke the brass. The music was satisfying other than fading at times. Liked the guard work. Solid percussion. Shenandoah Sound -- I know the pains of a growing corps. SS delivered this year. Sean Peck, Dick Pomerleau and Lisa are super soloists. Build a stronger horn line, add endurance, obviously add personnel to the percussion and guard and move up in Class A. The music choices were perfect for the size; melodic popular tunes with fan$ whistling as they drive home. Remind ya' of anyone? 2008 Colts! Gulf Coast Sound -- They have endured in a rollercoaster season. Folks, GCS had 26 in the cg the first weekend of May according to Tom Huntley, sop. Suddenly, the guard mostly vanished. Imagine that fun rock show with all those phenomenal soloists with a full complement of guard to interpret. 2008 is an entertaining year as in past years. Nikki is a captivating dm and shows her leadership off the field in a year GCS needs just that. I sincerely hope the new, younger members of Gulf Coast reenlist for 2009. So much potential.... Alliance is the shocker of the last half of the summer. They ran out of gas as in past years in Jacksonville, AL, July 27. In a miracle of six days, they shocked everyone in Hendersonville, TN, and built on that for Douglasville and Alpharetta, GA. The conQuest of the battery is the capture of the horn line and the guard; i.e., in Hendersonville, I witnessed the drum line grab the rest of the corps and carry them through the closer. Now the horn line finishes shows like in the two ATL contests and the guard is even better. The viz package is complex, another huge plus. Music City Legend -- Darn it, folks. Yep, Vinnie 'n Joe are gonna bring the house down at Paetec Park, but that horn line behind them is phenomenal, experienced, stuffed with vets who still have their chops and move quite well. Add more viz, even more than has been added. Judges need to take a long look at this skilled horn line and reward them more. If viz is an issue that contrarily means that brass can and does percolate. Alliance's horn line just now gets it; MCL's was/is already there. I wanna see some others try to sound like MCL's baris who come across as a Tommy Dorsey trombone section in the Rock closer. Hulka McCoy is bulking the snare line by jumping in. Add the DCI horn vets and look out in Rachacha. For some: Gage the execution, what is in front of you, not some preconceived notion of whatcha wanna hear. There are no clones in MCL...and that is a good thing, Virginia, as is edge-pushing polished power. CorpsVets -- They chose a new path this year and have succeeded in their direction. "Simple Gifts" is points ahead for them. Andrew Brown and RJ Scott show the talent of the magnificent mellos. Few can hang with this horn line. The percussion is solid; love the pit work. The cg is going to turn heads in Rochester. So much talent!

Dick and Tom, I'm sorry, but :14 simply does not give me enough time to deal with Cupcakes, Pomerleau, Chaffee, y'all, run out on the loading dock, ask Pomerleau if he's found Ghost Riders yet, hide under the stage, run to the back for a sound check, help some with props (Props?!), ignore the urge to grab my horn 'n play, go hug Annie.... Is OT approved? We may have a stage workers strike and go out for cupcakes 'n ale.

Vox de SoCal, I just wish for once that you would express what you really think. Once again, you have written a review that tells it like it is. I agree on most everything you state. Ya' need to make it to Rochester for DCA. I'd like to say much more, but this has just been a summer of me flying low buzzing the DCPlanet deck.

Donny, I heartily agree that it should be "Syne" only at this late date, and I discussed this with Pronti when I saw him at the two DCA Georgia shows last weekend. Last year I posted here and e-mailed and called folks like crazy last year that the excellent other piece did not lend itself to easy memorization with all its accidentals 'n stuff. Yep, there's a bit of "I told ya' so" in this post. It was an embarrassing moment in corpsdom. Lookin' forward to "Syne" after all the phenomenal minicorps performances. Lead sops -- Check it out. This may not be the version of "Syne" you think you know.

It's been a devilish delight to see VK the past two years. This year's corps made tremendous strides. It was a pleasure to get to know more of you at Hendersonville, TN, and Bloomington. Keep up the thrilling entertainment.

Jody is a hoot! She has lots of great stories to share. Save the earth from the shark!

Maybe I've been speaking too much Spanish lately, but I did not read "threatening to" in her original post. I read it as tongue-in-banana peel. The real reason I post: I met this family as we socialized every night at the hotel. This family is one of the friendliest one could meet. As good parents, they took time out to take the toddler to a water park. Families can't always leave the li'l ones with grandma or a babysitter. I dealt with li'l ones around me in the stands and loved it. From the mouths of babes.... Go Homewood Hooligans!

Right on, Donny!!! Those parking lot bbq guys had it down. I'm not surprised that a Rochester dude would find a bbq treasure by IU. Bring on Dinasaurs Labor Day weekend!!!!!!!!!!!

Dick, We closed down BW Wings, then stood out on the sidewalk for a bit. Woulda, coulda joined ya' if only I'd known. See ya' at your double-duty performance at I&E High Brass, and at the Minicorps stage.

I was on my way to Douglasville and Alpharetta, GA, from Bloomington, but fell asleep at the wheel. Next thing I knew I was down here in P'cola Beach. I'll wipe the key lime pie off my chin and head back to bug Colgan. Lookin' forward to seeing Sun Devils and Austin Stars...All the other corps, too!

Thanks for your kindness, Thom. What I contribute to the activity and 40 pesos will get ya' a Starbucks latte, at least it seems that way sometimes. Get your rump to Rachacha. The extra "TTtt's" are to keep reminding me it's "Willett." I loved seeing VK! I'm VK at heart even though I don't own any red Converse sneakers anymore.

Congrats to Alisha and Mike!!! Why is it that I keep seeing Vic in the vicinity of so many pregnant women this summer???

I espied GCS in Hendersonville, TN, and look forward to two more viewings this weekend in Georgia of Rock, Part Deaux. Gulf Coast, like their earlier Bayou City Blues cousins, know how to bring the house down with the numbers they have. Can't wait to wave to the rookie in the pit.

Ya' got me on that one. IU is lucky to not encounter Ohio State this year. Look out next year! Go Bucks!!!

Don (I wanna call ya' Donnie), I certainly did. From Dr. Fred Olin to Scott "Hulka" McCoy to all the other fine members, it was such a memorable night. To open with "Bully," the first song I acquired from Donny Allen to play with '95 Mirage -- That alone grabbed me. What a rush!!! Memories of '68-'69 Cavies came in crystal clear. The crowd went nuts, just as they did the next night for the USMC. Some of the all time corps memories have come when DCI has had alumni corps perform, like '94 27th, '06 Madison, '08 Kingsmen. It's a winning formula. I wish Joe would have made it. Great to hear from you.

Phansouth, thanks for your kindness!!! My Lemon comment. I even came back here to fix that as I watched Bob golf cart by again for the gazillionth time and remembering a name mixup. Thanks for correcting.

Remember folks that the deadline has been extended to Aug. 20. Ergo, today is not the end of the world. Get your entries in Pronti. I heard a rumor that I&E Partying is the newest category. I'm working on my ASSCAP 'n lie ability requirements to enter.

But, Stef, tell us what you really think. Thanks for the review. Wish ya' coulda been there. The view was fantastic from the 50 low, Corps Entry Hill, corps parking....

[Late update below -- Updates will occur when I'm not busy watching, hearing or trading tall tales about corpsdom. Take it or come buy tics to view the DCInternational Championships yourself. I do wish y'all were here.] "Welcome Drum Corps International" is plastered all over Indiana University's hometown. The local 24-hour news talks it up along with the marching band contest at the ongoing Indiana State Fair. DCI CEO Dan Acheson has been a common sight while channel surfing. Wednesday's local paper had photos of Colts and Pioneer, while the article dealt more about what a financial boon "Plan B" is to Bloomington, "expecting 35,000 to 40,000 visitors." DCI Individuals & Ensembles was taking place in downtown Indianapolis. Sorry, I only know currently that a Blue Stars tuba won solo. This scribe was Caddyed into town Wednesday, Vogue Tyre happy with 100% nitrogen, which is spoiling me as my past corps travels have included school buses, blown engines, another blown tire, questioning the bus driver about the "S" following "I-95" when I thought we were trying to get to a northern contest... ...Arriving at IU's Memorial Stadium early Wednesday excited to the point of a near nitrogen embolism, we encountered Bob Lendman, DCI golf cart maestro and a local, and DCI's Laura. The TV crew was bustling around the sidelines while an IU kicker was practicing the DCI kickoff on the field. I waited, not breaking ranks, as the seemingly small IU football team sauntered by. (Oh heck, they are scrawny. Even John Donovan's Boilermakers can handle these guys.) Bob and Laura were extremely friendly, and I enjoyed a relaxing time to explore the layout as a lady gave the finishing paint brush touches to the stadium wall. Trust me, the venue will result in a memorable week. Steve Vickers, DCWorld publisher, drove up after picking up Jeff Collins, ad sales man, and his daughter, Jody, at the airport. Vickers and staff will be busy handing out free issues of the new August edition of DCW. Subscribe, www.drumcorpsworld.com . Lendman reminisced about how his wife used to run Star of Indiana shows in Memorial Stadium. Those were some fantastic times. We had seen numerous Star of America buses at drum corps shows and saw many more rolling along I-65 in Indiana. The scuttlebutt in the hotel lobby was all about "Where is Phantom rehearsing?...Oh, their rehearsals will be closed...What's their ending?...Hey, you, with the Cadets shirt...Corps have been known to rise up from 4th or 5th...I was in Atlanta, too...'96 Phantom was good, but most of the earlier 90s PR shows were stronger...I want PR to win, really win.... Hotel room mini-party should be an I&E category, especially in DCAssociates. A gaggle of us were ignoring two wide screen televisions last night to squint at a laptop, taking in multitudes of YouTube.com videos of '80, '84 Spirit, '82 27th, '08 Caballeros Alumni, even finding a funk band called Spirit of Atlanta performing "Freddy Is Alive and Well." Hotel rooms will swell as the week progresses, with scattered bodies crashing on floors as Bloomington, gracious as a Dixie grandma, simply doesn't have the rooms to handle all of us. Never fear, corps nuts will prevail. Dr. Whitney Eure, '86-'88 Spirit brass, "The anticipation is palpable. Decibels are our friends. If you can hear the voice-over, it's not loud enough." Jody Knight, '85-'87 VK, '88 SCV French horn, "I haven't been this excited about nationals in years, since I marched. Bob Sullivan, super fan, Atlanta via Ontario, "The anticipation of this year's Finals is tempered only by the advent of next year's rule changes, un-drumcorpslike rules changes." Annie Sullivan, toughing it through her health issues, is here once again to enjoy her umpteenth championships. Stay tuned for more rumors, gossip...Oh yeah, journalistic veracity!... ... ... ... ... ...Welllll, now it's Monday, after one of the all-time best DCI Championships EVER! I simply was swamped in Bloomington in my typical style of wearing too many hats. Hence, others have posted wonderful stuff about one of the finest venues for a major corpsdom event while I just got into better shape going up 'n down Corps Entry Hill wondering why my clipboard was getting heavier 'n thicker, ignoring the worst press box I've ever encountered for the championships other than the 2000 Redskins' -- Wait, moved to U. of Maryland that was "built" on the wrong side of a corps field. About the only folks who used the press box were the dedicated Blue Devils crew who post their Internet whatchamacallits using those laptops that have a bite out of a a piece of fruit. (Greg Gilman, Dugada, a fit Crown Point man and a renegade crew owe me a drink for free advertising; yep, that's Gilman's Job.) The press box was bad only because it had plate glass, where each massive window was the size of a minicorps stage and thick as judges' comments with no option to open to truly hear an alfresco event. Hence, the most boring IU staff job was to police a ghost town press box. The Friends of DCI level had windows that opened fortunately. Ed Dempsey did a phenomenal job with his Jumbotron magic while wife Christina "Mav" interviewed exactly a gazillion performers at the top of Corps Entry Hill. Another friendly press box area was being Auditored. The Tie!!! I was there in '96 at the Citrus Bowl as were so many dedicated fan$, where I also had a happy reunion with a childhood buddy, Steve Auditore. I used to write that Phantom was the best corps never to win...then, the best corps to never have won outright...Gotta love it no matter who you root for -- Phantom won! I'm happy for them and congratulate all the other corps for the shows with the most precision ever. For not posting during Qtrs., Semis, and the finalest Finals of DCI's history (Translation: What a Finals!!!), I blame all the Open Class and World Class corps for being so entertaining, the DCI Staff for being so accommodating (I can't thank the poor DCI staff who spend most of their time cooped up in the drabgraywejustrenteditforthisweekmodular"building" enough, Diane, Dayton et al., also Dan, Sue, Laura, Gene and Carol O'brien, Steve Anderman, Brandt Crocker, Joe Courtney, all the red shirts which confusingly includes the IU staff (Gawd, the IU staff alone earns a shot at DCI returning to this Big Ten university where jazz is wunnerful), Lindsey Smith retired Army with security, and that DCI guy who speaks with an accent proudly toking his nub during rare breaks...Harry Heidelmark, Francesca and Jeff DeMello, Hans Kloppert, Mike Ferlazzo, Jag Anthony, High Octane Super Fan from Cincy, friendly Al Chez, a li'l Natalie nurse shark which saved the earth by chasing off El Diablo, Mayra 'n Troy, Thom WilleTTtttt, Jeff Mitchell, John Phillips, Gene M., Dr. Dave K...I also had little time due to encountering so many fantastic folks in the souvie area, answering questions about spectacles, selling DCWorld subscriptions and history books, Beatrix, SOME of the bestest guys I've ever met from California to Dunkirk and Jamestown, NY -- Bob, Tim, Carl, Mike, Rick, Moffett, -- all hot dogs but no Pop, smiling faces in the corps parking area including a still working hard Paul Collins and the Horn Doc, lingering at the Star of Indiana and Cadets tents, FJM's Marlene Miller, Dynasty's Al Murray, Bob 'n Annie, Whitney 'n Jody, Jerald 'n Dan, Dan 'n Beth Landbo and Madison Scout Joe Madden, Oregon Crusaders bari Lukas, failing to interview Teal's pit star Anna Pitman, failing to interview SCVC's pit ham guy with the long ponytail, Steve Vickers, Jeff and Jody Collins, Dr. Fred Olin, Roman and Sue Blenski, Donny and Timmy Allen, the Martin bros, Mac and JoEllen McEntire, the beaming fan$ who sat around me, and the Homewood Hooligans who kidnapped me late every night preventing me from hiding out on a puter. Also, how can one think of posting when taking in the spectacles of the patriotic displays of national flags at the retreats?! I also lost time chasing my kidnapped backpack which went off on a trek, always knowing exactly where it was. Sorry, for the Lemon entry. An old memory crept in. Bob Lendman was everywhere working outside the stadium. It would suit me just fine if Bob had to toil once again at another DCI contest at one of the top five jazz universities in the good ol' U.S. of A.

Dunno...yet. I was at the stadium yesterday, but I forgot to ask. I was checking out wheel chair access and other issues. I'll find out in a couple of hours. The Georgia Dome forbade backpacks, but I got around it as I had a Media pass. I'm not sure when you're going. I'll try to get back to this post later with news. Come and enjoy y'all!

Have journalism I owe, I owe. Quickly: I've been to the Georgia Dome, Jax State U. for Spirit's show and to Music City Legend's DCA South "MCL Metal II." The show in Hendersonville, TN, was stunning. CorpsVets were so clean. Music City Legend has one of the most energetic shows I've ever witnessed. Adding visual tweaks, look out for MCL. Alliance was the most amazing 6-day improvement I can recall. If Alliance can keep that synergy going, look out for "the other Atlanta corps." Again, the battle for 10th is the most intense I can remember. Other corps like Empire are creeping up on Bucs. 'Tis fun to watch that battle. Kilties remain hot. Trust me, Renegades pulling off their typical August magic.

Has been discussed. Not feasible...yet.

The good news is that the I&E/Minicorps deadline has been graciously extended by Dick Pronti and Barb Haring to Aug. 20. The bad news is that some of y'all will continue procrastinating. Get those entries in.

"DCP Rookie" for DCA South; i.e., Vic??? Methinks this is the first time ever that I've seen Vic listed as a rookie. See y'all at all these upcoming Dixie events! Can't wait.