year1buick

Probably!-- His was one of the names that I had stuck in my head, but wasn't really sure at all.. (He did march in Sky, that much is for sure...)

Can't wait to hear Moonlight! Difficult to pull off right, I'm sure, but if so- goosebump city...(One of my favorite drum corps ballads had something to do with moonlight as well... B) )

Over at Aintitcoolnews.com, Harry Knowles posted a story with the title, "Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 3 Marches To The Beat Of A High School Drum Corps!!! Band Geeks Unite!" Needless to say, it piqued my interest. Turns out it's actually the Cheshire Marching “Ram” Band (Connecticut). Still, pretty cool for those band members (though I would've liked to have seen a DCI corps in a mega-release movie like this). As an interesting side note, the J.J. Pierce High School marching band (Texas) appeared on an episode of ****** & Friends when I was working on the ****. Several members of Phantom Regiment were alum of this program. (Maybe even J.D. Shaw-- can't remember for sure...) They were of the "serious" classical music genre (of which I'm rather fond of...), so it cracked me up to see them having to sway to the tune "She'll be comin round the mountain."

94 was the year we (the baritone/euph line) got the nickname "Buicks" (not 89). During one of the pre-show warmups, Bill Peterson (the caption head at the time) was having us play the begining of White Witch Doctor. I guess he thought we were being a little too nice with it and gave us the analogy that, if the sopranos were the Porches of the corps, then the baritones had to be the Buicks-- we took it as a complement, of course. (severely paraphrased there-- it's been a while...) The name immediately stuck. Shortly thereafter, he termed the three, long baritone notes before the Witch Doctor drum break as the Buick mating call. It got to be a hype, playing the mating call "loud as ****" before the shows. (you'd practically needed a cup standing in front of that arc...)

To be honest, I was never crazy about the way we only pieced part of it into the closer. I would rather have played the whole thing. It drove me crazy that I missed out playing it in 93. When they passed it out the following December camp, I was pretty jazzed about it. That was the whole song. Didn't last, though... (I can't remember what the vets thought of it) They changed the closer so much throughout the year (right up through August, as I recall) that it kinda felt like the staff didn't really like how those end pieces fit either, but were also not so sure about what to do with them...

Hi Nikk. I've got a bunch of pictures from 92 & 94 (and some from 91 Sky, as well) tucked away somewhere. I'd be happy to scan them and send them to you sometime. (BTW-- I sent you a PM the other day, but now I'm not sure if it went through. I just checked my Sent folder and it was empty. Anyway, I was just writing to say "Hi" and see how you were doing.)

I wouldn't be so quick to go out and buy an HD DVD. There's a format war looming (remember Beta vs VHS?). Another format, called Blue Ray DVD, is coming out this summer. Neither is compatible with the other or bears the official DVD standard label. And, to make matters worse, the studios are aligning with one format only. For example, Warner Bros. has sided with HD DVD) while Sony has sided with Blue Ray. So, if you want to watch both Harry Potter and Spiderman, you'll need two decks. The computer manufacturers are also spilt-- Dell is with the HD DVD camp, while (naturally) Sony is with Blue Ray (the Playstation 3 is supposed to support it). I'll just let them duke it out, then buy from the winner. As for high def DCI-- I'm all for it. Interestingly enough, PBS was one of the early adopters of HDTV. I've got one and would love to see it live in HD (or an anamorphic 480p transfer ). As for the 16:9 aspect ratio, it may make for aestetic framing of the football field (and look better on HDTV's--duh) but it doesn't actually show more info. You get that from using a wider angle lense, thereby increasing the field of view. Widescreen was initially used in movie theaters as a gimmick to compete against drive-in movie theaters (this was in the age of Cinerama, etc...) One film critic actually made a crack that he was going to type all of his reviews with the paper loaded sideways. It just looks cooler and makes for more dramatic framing (but, doesn't actually show more). (FYI...the picture below is actually a "cheat." I stitched about 5 pictures together to make it. It would have taken a fisheye lense to show that much.)

I had a similar experience as well. (Notice, at the bottom of the page, the years I marched in Regiment) I got into a pissing match with my mom over marching in 93. She didn't want me to miss out on school that year, and insisted we (I) couldn't afford the cost. This was all "decided" prior to the November camp. However, I still went up for the banquet. Seeing everyone again and being in the middle of it all, I just about went crazy. I told Dan Farrell my situation and asked if I could come back on an interim basis (or something silly like that). Naturally, "nope" was the answer. (As Yoda would say, "Do or do not. There is no try.") So, like any good son would do, I paid the fee, grabbed a horn and said "I'm in." For the record, I got to play the 93 show for three days. When I got home, there was "heck" to pay, and a pretty good argument ensued. In the end, I decided I had to pick my battles, and gave in. Was it the right call? Don't know for sure. In the end, probably yes. Like you, I still lived under their roof and, despite having a part time job, pretty much relied on their entire support to get by. Honestly, I couldn't complain. My parents were very supportive throughout my drum corps years. They were as enthusiastic as any, going to as many shows as they could, paying my way to fly to Rockford dozens of times, and all the other little and not so little things that go along with being a drum corps parent. I would have hated to have caused a serious rift (as this might have) and wasn't quite ready to move out and be completely on my own. So, I backed off. And called the director to apologize and say, "see ya in 94." I did my best to keep up with the corps over the summer and got to see them in Dallas. They rocked (despite a near show-ending tear during Fire--I think Nikk mentions it on his website). I watched their finals performance live, on PBS (remember the good ole days?...). It both elated and nearly killed me to see it. As you might guess, I still sometimes have a regret or two about that missing year. But, in the end, I feel I made the right call. You'll just have to ask yourself which is worth more to you-- this summer or getting along with your parents. Besides, if you're lucky like I was, you'll probably have other years where you can march (and may not be so dependant on their help).

I'm doing well, how bout you? I'm back as a full time student at UNT (probably the only person from Regiment going here for something other than music-- pre-dental). I have a wife and 2 kids (Sarah, 3 1/2 yrs old and Tommy, 1 1/2 yrs old) and (still) obsess over drum corps, of course-- when I geek out too much, my wife starts calling me Uncle Rico. I wish I could go to the home show this year (of all years...) but I'll have to settle for seeing the corps in Dallas. It's good hearing from you. (BTW.... since we're so off topic... we know the real year the "buicks" got their name.... B))

A lot of the 94 Regiment drill wasn't charted-- Tony Hall would pop in here and there to change it throughout the summer. Most of it changed drastically, time and time again. It was always on the fly, trying one thing, then another. From last summer's Drew's Diary reports, it seems like Tony has kept up the tradition.

No kidding... You'd probably be asked to turn it up. Once, last semester, I saw 4 cars in a row with Regiment stickers. I usually see someone once a week with a corps jacket or t-shirt. But, I don't remember it being like that when I marched. (I came back to school this past year). I just knew a few other people back then who were also marching. (I used to ride with a guy from Madison to the airport-- more often than not, we had the same flight into Chicago.)

I had a similiar twilight zone-ish experience. A while back (around 98/99) I was in a model train store in Dallas (I worked for the prop dept of a TV show and was shopping them out) when a car full of guys dressed in suits pulled up and started to browse around. One of them looked very familiar, but I thought it was almost impossible for him to be who I thought he was. But, I had to ask..."um, excuse me, ... did you ever march in a drum corps?" "Yes, Phantom Regiment." I was right-- it was J.D. Shaw. He'd aged out the year before I joined and had worked some on the brass staff in '94. Apparently, Boston Brass was in town for a concert, they had a break that afternoon, and were out driving around. They saw the train store and decided to check it out. Small world...

Ditto. Partly because of the music (we played Ave Maria during warm ups-- can't wait to hear it in a show...) and partly because they'll finally be back in Dallas this summer!

My memory is kinda fuzzy on this, but when they were in the original planning stages for us playing this in the 94 Phantom Regiment show, Cesario planned on everyone having slightly different uniforms (can't remember if he told the corps this or if it was just a rumor floating around with the members...) They changed the show music in December, so it became a moot point.

Phantom Regiment almost played Rite in 94. We played it during the November audition camp, but when we returned in December, they gave us El Amor Brujo, Clair de Lune, White Witch Doctor, and Death Hunt. (no North by Northwest yet, as I recall... and the full version of Death Hunt). The arrangemnt of Rite left some people scratching their heads. One vet said something to the effect of, "Oh no, it's Carnival of the Animals again..." All of which makes me wonder if they're still tinkering with some of the musical selections for next summer.

Amen, Nickk. This has always driven me crazy-- they haven't been true "bugles" in a long time. It was mostly out of tradition and, as you correctly stated, reference to the instruments' relative voicing. I could even (begrudgingly) go along with others calling them "tubas" and "trumpets." But I've never agreed with the folks who've actually been offended by the continued use of the old terminology-- as if we were insulting them somehow. Granted, I remember reading this more around the time the, ah, BUGLES went to B-flat. I still (and will continue to) only use the terms soprano & contra. --Corey

Ahh, yes... brings back fond memories of my post age-out season marching trombone for Star of India. BTW-- How's it goin', Nikk? I don't we've talked since, like, the summer of '94...(when we marched for, ahem, Madison...)

Extremely Slow Paying Network They pay quarterly. (I worked as a production assistant for a few Mav's and Stars games a while back)