Roger Grupp

The graciousness and good sport of the Empire Statesmen was something I'll always remember. I must have gotten 40 or 50 congratulatory handshakes from ES members. Mr Bruni would be proud.

Ron - You should have been here! I would have bought you LI Ice Teas! It's been a surreal night for MBI. We never thought this would happen. DCA has recognized the players from another planet. We hope we're helping pave the way for greater Renegades and Kilties corps and acceptance in the future.

Minne-Brass (that's how we spell it) will be performing with 9 trumpets 4 mellos 4 baritones 2 tubas 1 percussion and 1 drum major We'll play Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, My Favorite things, and Tiger of San Pedro. It's gonna be fun!

Two fine judges from St. Paul were called in at the last minute, so there was a full slate. It was raining all night. After weeks of drought and hellish heat (for Minnesota), it rained steadily all day -- about 1.5 inches -- and the temp was 60 degrees! It was a shame two corps came all the way from Detroit and Dallas for the show, got soaked, and then ended up with identical scores!

Scott directing the Kilties is one of the best pieces of drum corps news I've heard in a long time. Best of luck, Kilts for a great 2007 and recruiting for 2008!

Minne-Brass performed last night for the Stillwater show, and the crowd loved us. Brent Turner rocked with his cuica. His towel was all wet.

Since the title of this thread is Stillwater, MN, I think I can safely talk about corps other than Madison that were in the show. Pacific Crest was a great surprise to me. Their movement and sound were far beyond what I'd expected from them. I'm glad I'll see them in Long Beach in a couple of weeks. I was happy to see the improvement in Minnesota Brass's show in the past two weeks. The drum solo and the jam at the end are so cool. I hope their trumpet soloist, Tom Jones, recovers. It looked like he took a bad tumble, and was helped off the field. SCV's sound was spectacular. It's a good as Phantom's (seen in another show). The Ravel closer has always been a favorite of mine, and one I'd never dream coupld be drumcorps-ized. SCV made it sound like Ravel wrote it for drum corps. Southwind is really coming along, and they deserve the good scores they're getting. Spirit is undoubtedly good, but I expected a show with -- well, more spirit! I'll have to see them again to judge more fairly. I didn't get to hear Chops at all, and only a little of the Govies. The Govies sound is very clean and balanced from what I heard. Good luck to our Minnesota cousins! And yes, the Scouts -- I was blown away by the inventiveness of their warm-up drill. It may have been the best part of their show. (Excuse me, but it's that good.) The music wasn't the kind -- as melodic -- as you'd expect from the Scouts. I'd like to hear more of their fine soloists. You expect that from the Scouts, too. It was fabulous to see the large stands at Stillwater completely full. (And they did pack us into the seats pretty tightly.) There must have been 500 fans on the back side, too! The weather was perfect for the fans. Congratulations to the show organizers, Hall of Famer Scotty Wild (for Minnesota Brass), and Dave Eckberg, for the best Drambuie -- I mean Drum Beauty -- in years.

Capital Sound came out of the gate with lots of energy and sound. Great start to the season. Way to go. Phantom Regiment and Colts were as good as I've ever seen them this early in the season. Blue Stars have a good show and the tools to make it great.

Minne-Brass is ready.

It was TWENTY DEGREES in Dallas on January 1st, 1989, when I marched the Cotton Bowl Parade with the Drum Corps Midwest Y'all Stars. What was with that???

Actually, drumcorpsmama, Patrick's is a family bar. It just happens to be owned and operated by a drum corps family. We may talk big about the partying, but we all had to be ready for rehearsals the next morning, and from the performances on Sunday, obviously everyone was ready. Thanks for visiting the All-Age Forum.

A hug from you always helps, too!

Ketie Jones -- MBI alum, Bluecoats baritone -- did a terrific job singing the national anthem. So refreshing her version was all about the song, not the singer. She did a beautiful job!

See the Party at Patrick's thread!

Thanks for the mention, John. Patrick's is the best place ever to party! All you DCPers have to check out this true drum corps bar. That was just a slippery glass in my hand! After I dropped that full drink I had so many offers from people to stay at their place down in St. Peter. The hospitality was nearly overwhelming. Next time I'm looking for a place to stay, I'll drop a glass of beer in St. Peter! (Thanks, too, to everyone who listened to my sob story about my injured lip.) Great to talk with all the MCL, Frontier, and Lakeshoremen people, as well as the Kilties, the Minnesota corps folk, and Brother Spoon.

Hey, thanks, Pat (Goalie Guy) for the kind words. I just noticed this thread. The last duet Tina and I played in MBI was in 1999, but Hank the Wad was in on it, too. I guess that's a TRIO! But Tina and I did play up front together at the end of one of the EWF songs. I really liked doing that. And we usually kissed after the duet. At DCM finals Tina kissed Hank, too. That hussy! (Hank)

There was a time in the early '70s that I likened the Skyliners to the St. Andrew's Bridgemen. They both had some tunes with amazing multi-tonguing, and they both had some real Nu Yawk-style brashness.

Thanks for your terrific review, Barbara. For MBI, this was a better show than the night before at one of our 'home' shows. Glad you got to see the better performance.

I'm always amazed at your energy and enthusiasm for Midwest drum corps, and how you can put it into words so well. Writing is such a struggle for me. You keep pouring out the prose and keeping everyone informed. Thank you for all the great work you do for all of us. So glad you enjoyed the Showcase. ------------------ I really liked playing my opening solo up in the darkened balcony. There was a railing I could lean on for support for some of the high notes. That's a luxury I won't have for the rest of the season.

Love this discussion! I think my corps could make lots of improvements in its parade performances to make them more entertaining for both the audiences and the entertainers. But I've gone down that road before (no pun intended) and don't want to fight those battles again. Anyway, we've made loads of improvements in our parade presentation over the past several years, so that's that.

Let's call ourselves the Music Standers!

I did the solo better on the recording from last week. Oh, does that sound like a trumpet player talking? Excuse me.

Minne-Brass. Music stands. We're gonna use 'em. As weapons. We will play music no one knows, even though one piece is from West Side Story. We will have two percussionists, although they will not carry their instruments. In one song, we will have 20 percussionists, 18 of whom will carry their instruments. We will follow the rules, just like we did in 2005. We are having a great time rehearsing. I don't have much to say, but at least it was all about mini-corps. I think the rules are just fine. I like how they allow marching, and give credit for it where it's due. Thanks, everybody, for caring about mini-corps.

Hey, Frank, have you practiced today? I have. (Because I'm trying to keep up with you.) Congratulations.

Frank Ponzo! You're going!? Now I'm really torqued that I can't go! I would love to have played in a line with you! Let's keep looking for opportunities to.