year1buick

What would it take I do to get Hilary Clinton to attend finals in 2008? Not a thing. Edit: never try to post while simultaneously wrangling a hyperactive 3 year old and 5 year old. There--post is fixed. Must...get...sleep...

Here's the link to Cadets: http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do...amp;npoId=50309

The Cadets are listed under Youth Education in the Arts. I didn't create a log in to see what it shows.

Heh, the quality of Sky's food certainly wasn't incentive to come back. :P I'll never forget the taste of those freshly poured PB & J's.

With my first corps (Sky Ryders) it was pretty much location--DeSoto, Texas was only about an hour and a half from my home. I was a little tentative about it at first, because I had only played trombone. Tryouts were a little stressfull because I had to work like hell to keep up with the playing (wrote the fingerings over the charts). Still, it was an exciting experience and I was pretty jazzed to be playing, even if only during a tryout camp, with a drum corps. (My high school band was pretty small--only about 65 people, total.) After my first season with Sky Ryders, I'd initially planned on not returning. (Nothing really against the corps, just didn't have that great of an experience). I think that, in the back of my mind, I probably still planned to try out for another corps year or so--probably either Regiment, SCV or The Cadets. (Regiment being my favorite) However, during the fall season of college marching band, I got to be friends with some other people that had marched DCI (Madison Scouts, Cavaliers and Regiment). I started talking to the guys who'd marched in Regiment and the drum corps fever started setting in again. The more they talked about the corps and plans for the upcoming show, the more intrigued I became. Sure enough, that November, I was on a plane to Rockford.

Personally, I'd love to see someone spike a horn. (Closest I recall seeing was Tim's Euphonium toss at the end of Bacchanal)

In the octagon!

Heh, before we went on tour, I was lucky enough to be with a group that was housed with an alumni Doctor. Besides being a cool guy, he also had a big screen TV and an outdoor hot tub. :) But yeah, once tour started, the honeymoon was over.

I've also read that official Neilson ratings don't count DVR recordings. This got a lot of play recently in the media with the cancelling of the CBS show Jericho last spring. Once CBS made the announcement, there was a huge grass roots campaign to bring it back. Eventually, CBS agreed to give it another partial try this Fall. When they counted DVR recordings, the viewer numbers increased by another 10%. Online viewings, which still had advertisements, added even more. TV execs are starting to reconsider the criteria they use for determining how successfull shows are and are considering alternate models. (I'm sure this also depends on what advertisors are looking for too, which probably plays into why DVR recordings haven't been counted so far. Advertisers probably hate DVRs...) I wonder how high the DVR numbers were for Finals were, considering so many people like to record it and watch it over and over agian.

No worries.... "Clear!" There, all better. :)

long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones breath... (lots of air) long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones long tones

Glad to see Jim Wren on a few lists. He wrote some pretty memorable stuff--definitely earned his Hall of Fame spot.

I was lucky enough to take lessons all through high school from an instructor who later went on to be the principle trombonist for the Dallas Wind Symphony. (His son was in the same grade, played trombone too. Now plays for The President's Own. Yep, second chair was a really comfy place for me... :) ) He belonged to the Church of the Immaculate Long Tone. Breathing, embouchure and tone quality were the Holy Trinity. He had me practice using a spirometer purchased from a medical supply store to measure breathing capacity; I was also using a pvc breathing tube long before I marched in Regiment. (It was a standard piece of equipment that we used there, every day.) I think the book that he had me use for warm-ups was by Remington. We ran through the same routine, religiously, every day -- the usual suspects that pretty much everyone does (in some manner): long tones > lip slurs > Clarke studies > scales. (With a metronome). We didn't forsake the technical side (meaning fast stuff) by any means, but there was a definite emphasis on tone. If you don't have that, lightning fast slide/valve work and tonguing didn't really matter much. (However, I was never very good at fast passages in corps, mainly because I was a recently converted trombonist and just couldn't quite get my fingers to work fast enough. Got the hose, once or twice. Still, I sounded good, and that seemed to go a long way with Dan Farrell and co.)

Creatine doesn't have anything to do with bulking up muscle (hypertrophy). The body produces it naturally as a way to buffer phosphate levels, so your ATP levels can be replenished during heavy muscle use. (ATP is the most basic energy currency of your body, produced by metabilism of glucose, fat, etc. It's used in everything from muscle contraction to ion channels. When used, it gets dephosphorylated from ATP > ADP, which transfers some of the bond energy.) As for the amino acids mentioned--you should get enough if you're eating meat. (Vegans might have to plan their meals a little more carefully...) I wouldn't mess with taking supplements like this. Like the previous posters have said, as long as you eat a balanced diet (and most corps--at least the better run ones-- really do think about this), then you'll be fine.

Actually, Prodical Bari didn't ask the question. And the person who originally asked it didn't do so in a smart-alec way; certainly not (as I read it) a way that suggested the corps director had "to explain himself." According to their post, it simply was out of curiosity. (The director made the all-male point rather emphatically. Made me wonder the same thing.)

Hopefully, the answer from Mephistopheles would be, "No."

Amazing Grace in 92 and 93. (Not sure if they played Fire also for retreat in 93.) In 94, we played Fire for a little while, then switched over to Claire de Lune. No idea after that... (We'd also play a parade march every once in a while too.)

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this (too ADHD to read all the way thru), but since we've got the Bud Lite announcer, there really needs to be a drum corps centric "Real Men of Genius" commercial. "Here's to you, Mr. Lawmower Pit-Towing Guy."

Or inchworm? :P

I think that, quibbling over shot lists/performance times and such aside, it's a very well made, entertaining show (won't mention the live vs memorex debate anymore--been talked about and I've offered my $.02 and then some. Moving on...) I think that the overall "story" could be enhanced by including more about how the corps travel and compete throughout the summer. The casual viewer probably had little idea as to the scope involved with putting these shows together--from winter camps through summer rehearsals and tour. Being the talented professional that Mr. Blair is, he's (wisely) said that he's interested in telling a story with each performance. Agreed. I think the other side would make an equally compelling story. I don't care if they show a segment like this every year. Seeing it always makes me miss the activity the most and it played a big part in my wanting to march in the first place. And yes, considering the small niche DCI occupies, and the fact that they're non-profit, the amount of material they offer is pretty outstanding.

Except the dead gerbils and gophers! :P

Our Rockford rehearsal site, Beyer field, was home to many a gopher. (This was 92) Two of them, unfortunately, didn't make it through the summer. (Stray drum stick and accidental march-over, as I recall...)

Pittsfield, MA, on a rain-soaked, muddy baseball field. Forget about no hash marks--there were almost no discernable lines at all. For the most part, I no idea where the sideline was. To make matters worse, the stands sloped away at a really severe angle--seemed like a mile away (it felt more like a run-thru, with the staff being closest to us, sitting on the pitcher's mound.) Having no lines, and no decent visual reference for the sideline, led to one of the most fubar performances I can recall. Marching wise, our dress rehearsal was probably cleaner. The final 360/wedge/crabwalk was a free-for-all, pray you make it out alive, mess. (Might've been Lynn. Can't remember, for sure. Definitely one of the two...)

Saw them march the opener when I went home weekend before last. Drill looked good.