Biff Hornmello

I only have the corps from Columbia to compare... I mentioned it in a review from Columbia, but when I went to Spirit's rehearsal Sunday, they were very loud... if I hadn't already been reclining, I think I would've fallen backwards. It was even louder than that at the show. Blue Devils and Phantom were also quite loud at Columbia, although I didn't have a rehearsal to which I could compare.

Woke myself up bright and early (well, for me at least) and headed to Fulton to catch a bit of Phantom's rehearsal before helping a fraternity sister move into her new house. Dropped off some cupcakes for a friend in the corps. I wish I'd thought to ask her to call me in the morning when she knew their schedule; I would've come earlier to give her the cupcakes myself. Had an amusing exchange at the food truck before heading toward the brass visual rehearsal. I enjoyed what I saw... eventually got tired of the bugs and left; I've had issues with bug bites the past couple weeks, and today was no exception. I wound up stopping at the Wal*Mart in Fulton to get some anti-itch stuff... alas, it isn't working so well. Once I'm finished posting I'm going to get some ice and try to numb the areas. From there I headed to Columbia to get a ticket and catch some Spirit rehearsal. I arrived at Hickman at just the right time; when I walked up to the field, Spirit was give a five minute jug refill break. Chatted with Michelle (yes, Michelle from the member journals) for a bit, took some pictures, then headed to the stands to watch. They were practicing the opener. When they hit that first chord, my mouth dropped open. Lee, a baritone with them, said he saw my expression when they were allowed to relax, and was amused at my shock. Maybe I reacted that way because I haven't had that kind of 'in your face' sound in a couple years. It was pretty amazing. I was very impressed with their rehearsal; I kept staying for more because it was just really cool. They rehearsed efficiently and seemed to be paying attention. The only nitpick I have with Spirit is the guard... they don't emote as much as they could. They go through the motions, but they're not selling it. If they don't sell it in rehearsal, how can they possibly sell it at showtime? Granted, some guard members did emote; I saw a smile here and there. One flag girl in the back of the field kept grabbing my eye; she had a very graceful, eye-catching way of moving. Anyway, I eventually tore myself away and went to the stadium to get a ticket. Was pleased to find no line- yay! Went home for a couple hours to relax before coming back to claim my seat. The weather had finally cooled off by the time the show began; it had been sweltering earlier in the day. I made it to my seat (just around the right 45, not too far up) in time to chat with a friend before Pioneer began; I love going to this show for that reason. I always see so many random people. Funny how music connects us all. At one point I was about to run into someone I marched with in 05... but saw him with the man I feared most (hahaha silly me) and flight instinct kicked in... eh. He was really awesome, really, though terrifying when I marched. I was definitely privileged to learn under his captionage. Pioneer: I actually quite enjoyed the show. No, it wasn't loud like some of the later corps, but it was very nice. I wish Irish Washerwoman would've been a bit faster/riskier. Those new uniforms look spiffy; the guard was also quite lovely and classy. The music had some definitely exciting moments. It may not have been the cleanest show, but it was pretty good all the same. I really enjoyed the soloists. There was a moment near the middle of the show, with maybe one or two soloists, and everyone else backing them, that was really lush - pretty sure I got some chills that had nothing to do with the temperature. Southwind: Teehee. Someone lost their shoe very early on in the middle of the field. The percussion judge picked it up and tossed it down by the pit. I was amused by the shoe. :P Throughout the show people around me were pointing, trying to figure out which person was shoeless. Anyway. The show was... nice. I didn't recognize any of the music, but it seemed well done The guard was nice; I liked the colors, although I wasn't too sure about the girl who wore purple. I think perhaps it was because while she seemed to be portraying being "out of the loop", she had a lot of dance-y moves as she ran onto and around the field that I didn't feel were necessary. Blue Stars: Very impressive! I enjoyed it all. My only peeve with the uniforms- and perhaps something difficult to fix. But if you're going to have double-colored uniforms, why not take care that the lines are even from jacket to pants? On some members it was fine, but skinnier ones had an extra shelf of black over the white. Didn't look so great. The drill was pretty cool; definitely some "ooooo" moments. The music... there were definitely some chills. Blue Stars have got themselves a good product here. Colts: I'm not much of a fan of the new uniform tops. I really liked the previous ones- they were more unique. Maybe I'm just biased because I marched 05 and loved my uniform. Anyway. I admit I almost cried as they were entering the stadium. Hearing the "See ya!" and such yells... just struck a chord. I was sitting near a fellow former Colt... couldn't look at him the whole show because I thought I might just go into overload. I really enjoyed the show. Loud, proud, red team. The guard was, as always, amazing. I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to cover how much I admire the Colts color guard. The year I marched, I decided I wanted to march guard with them... unfortunately that will not likely happen, but maybe I'll get lucky and age out in guard /somewhere/ next summer. Anyway. I must admit my eyes were almost always on the guard; they just... really impress me. The only thing I didn't like about the show was that there was not really, in my opinion, any slow section. No tender ballad. But maybe that was for the best. If there'd been any 'pretty, heartfelt' playing, I'm sure I would've cried right there in the stadium. :( In short, it was a great show. The Colts are well deserving of all the hype. Intermission: Ran out to get myself some water- ran into one of my heroes/former techs on the way, and following that just kept seeing Colts people everywhere. Crazy. Ha. Took a spin around the souvies and headed back to my seat for Spirit. Spirit: Now it was time to pull out ye olde camera and scream like a banshee- pretty sure I took the ears off the people around me. But hey, one of my best friends and another good friend are in the corps, and I rarely see them save in summer, so of course I'm going to scream like a banshee. I took dozens and dozens of pictures, hee. I was clicking and clapping and cheering away. Thank goodness I'm a fairly able multi-tasker. I don't know how people can not remember this show. The opener... wow! From the first impact to the ending move when they all shove their horns downward and stare down the crowd... amazing! "Hide and Seek" gave me chills. I think it had exactly the treatment the source music deserved. I really loved the singing part; it fit in really well and was lovely. The drill is cleaning up still; there are some really cool moves. Given some cleaning the next two weeks, they'll be great visually come finals. I also really liked the uniform; it may be iffy up close, but from a bit away it's perfect, and in motion it's perfect. Again, peeve was with the guard not emoting enough- though they had gorgeous flags! I beautiful flags. But the hornline... mmmm! Had me screaming like a banshee as often as the music allowed. Madison Scouts: I wish I'd remembered a little sooner that an acquaintance of mine is in the contra line- I was so caught up with Spirit I forgot until it was too late to shout out for him. Oh well... the show was still good! I enjoyed the screamers. The corps had some cool visuals; they were all hamming it up. The crowd seemed to really buy the ham. They weren't as loud as Spirit, but they did sound very nice. I think it was Scouts that had a cool drum feature... but honestly I can't remember. The last three corps kind of melted together; that could be because I had more time to reflect on earlier ones, whereas right after Phantom was done I dashed off to get to the buses. Blue Devils: Oo la la! I didn't recognize much of the music, but I enjoyed it all the same. Smoking! Loud! I didn't pay as much attention to the hornline/drumline... like with the Colts, my attention was on the guard. They know how to sell a show! I don't have many words for them.. but it was smoking; I was enraptured the whole time. Just.. everything was awesome. That's all I got. Phantom Regiment: It took me a little bit to realize that what I'd seen that morning had been from the opener; once I realized the moves they were making, I hooked right in and was thrilled to recognize things. Fwee. They sounded amazing, and the guard is wonderful. I really liked the uniforms; quite fitting. Even the later ones... from a distance they look amazing, although I can see where they might seem ugly up close. The chevron was pretty clear from my vantage point. The whole corps was just wonderful. The sound was big and beautiful. The flags were beautiful - as you might've guessed, I'm a sucker for cool flags and awesome guard work. I enjoyed the Flower Duet... honestly I think the tempo was just right. I think that it may have seemed faster when the whole corps was playing simply because it got so much louder. But when the duet was being played, I thought it was just right. It sounded about the same as when a couple girls from my university have sung it, so I may be biased, because I absolutely love hearing them sing together. Anyway... lovely job. I wanted to stay to hear their encore, but Michelle called me to let me know Spirit was leaving around 10:15-10:30... so I had to get the lead out. After we met up, I took her and Lee to my car. Had a good laugh at Lee along the way; one of his flipflops totally gave out today. I was worried the pair I found wouldn't fit, but I guess they'll do; hopefully Spirit will get another Wal*Mart run soon so he can get a pair that fits. After driving nearer to the buses, we unloaded- I made cupcakes for my friend in Phantom and for Michelle's bus last night. Also brought out my horn, Camilla, to show off. I'm absurdly fond of her, haha. Michelle and I met over horn stuff, so I brought my horn for her to play on. Felt rather strange walking around corps buses with a horn on my back, haha. We found a spot behind the buses to sit down and chat. Michelle played the horn and Lee ate lots of cupcakes- I hope he left enough for the bus. Took some pictures, looked at all the ones from Spirit's show, and eventually someone walked by to say that it was time to load up. So, off to the bus doors for a final picture and goodbye. :( Them loaded up, I was on my way to Phantom's buses to wait for another friend. I guess I could've stuck around Spirit, though- Colts was next door and as soon as my friend got changed she apparently ran over to chat with Colts friends. She made it back eventually, though, and after I got a picture I left her to cool down and mess around on a computer. When I got home, of course I got online to check scores and start typing... I gotta say, I do think scores were a little... low? I don't agree with'em all. I felt Spirit should've had a wider spread on Blue Stars and been a bit closer to the Colts; Colts I felt should've had a higher score. As for the spread... the Colts are apparently visually cleaner than Spirit, so there you go (I wouldn't really know- as I mentioned earlier, I was enraptured by the guard and the rest of the corps didn't get half as much attention). And that was my evening. It was pretty awesome... I haven't been around a drum corps setting since February of 2006. It was at times painful and at times glorious. It does, however, make me all the more adamant that I find some way to age out on the field, and not on a couch.

*grins* So glad it's well received- I love listening to her tell her stories. Makes me all the more determined that I /won't/ be around to type for her next summer, darnit, I'm going to be on tour! As her typist/editory-person, is there anything in particular that those of the drum corps community would like to read about? Anything mentioned you'd like follow-up for (such as the mellophone beetle who pops up now and then)?

If it's something made popular by Linda Eder... I'm personally hoping for "I Want More." Gosh, what a pretty song, and it's got some gorgeous horn parts in it. Wouldn't exactly be a ballad, but it would certainly be rockin'.

Closer of Colts 05: We actually had this whole story one of our techs created, where the baritones were this old uncle guy telling his kid about this theme/amusement park, and then the mellos chimed in with excitement about the park, then we had that building excitement when the corps flips backwards, mellos have this high thing: "we're gonna go and ride the rides we really wanna ride the rides we're gonna go and ride the rides." Then we get to the big hit, and we're like "We're here!!! To Ride the rides! And we're gonna ride them all day long, etc etc." Yeah. It was amusing, anyway.

Corpsreps tells me this many: Junior Corps: SCV 1988 Masquerade 1989 SCV 1989 Bracken Cavaliers 1999 Long Island Sounds 1999 Spectrum 2000 Les Stentors 2002 Senior/Alumni Corps: Rochester Crusaders 1989 Empire Statesmen 2000 International Corps: Blue Eagles 1995 Senators 1999 Evolutionkorps 2001 Black Knight Cadets 2002 Distant Thunder 2004 Personally, that doesn't strike me as overrated and overplayed. I really enjoy SCV 89, personally... hold up my horn to that show. I think it'd be pretty awesome if it was done by a top-tier group again. As long as it was made competitively, well performed, I'd enjoy seeing it. Only if it could top the magic of the 88/89 shows.

Pretty sure I did not see this mentioned. Something for immediate relief of sunburn, and able to be applied as generously as desired - Noxema - there are pots of this deep skin cleanser, and it's just excellent - goes on cool and stays there for awhile. Of course, it does dry up, gets messy on straps of clothes, etc. But for corps, I expect it would be fine, considering guys go without shirts and girls tie up the bras and such.

Well, that was the boat I was in this past summer. My band director here was most helpful, getting me set up and sending information to me and my parents. It definitely required communication between myself, my mom, the school, my BD... lots of explanations about what on earth drum & bugle corps is and why it made it difficult for me to communicate personally. Also, I know with my corps, if it was conveniently nearby, we could leave for a day to go register, if we absolutely had to... otherwise, I know Greg Orwell has talked to colleges himself, making it possible to corps members to miss "mandatory" registration/orientation. So like Carl a few posts up.. just communicate early, make sure things are settled before you leave, and if you need help from a director, you can get it.

There are several Colts from KC area, including, I believe, some staff... so you'd be able to hook up if you desired to carpool. Eh... something to look forward to, though: in the next few seasons, St. Louis will hopefully be gaining a corps or two. I go to school out here, and I know of two groups that want to do it, and as I recall, they're not associating together. There's my dilemma, lol. If it happens before I ageout (08), I'd totally feel like, gosh, it'd be great to help jumpstart a corps. On the other hand, I'm absolutely gaga over Colts.

http://colts.org/news/news.cfm?news_id=75 Although this has been leaking as a rumor for a couple weeks, it has been confirmed that Jason Buckingham is the new caption head. Tom Lizotte has been confirmed as returning to the Colts in 2006 as well (yay!). Thoughts on how this might work out? I have heard rumors that we're doing a "darker" themed show this year - although almost anything could be darker than 2005, eh? I'm hyped about it, at least. I enjoyed the mean, GRR part of the show in 05.

A little late in replying, but wow! I remember that so well. The guard girl who came on late sat across from me on the bus.. boy how I miss her now! There was something about her seat partner grabbing her shoes for her, and he didn't, or some such. So we get to changing into uniform 10 minutes to the stadium, she freaks out, so we freak out - at least the girls around us. Got my own stuff together, rush off to find a guard person - I think Jenny? Well, our bus driver Damien ended up pretty much racing back to the housing site, gets her shoes, and flew back to Gillette to give her her shoes. So she had them, but we didn't know if she could go on - since Ben had already saluted that the corps was ready.. took until Landworkers to be sure she could go on... I'm so glad she could march her final show. Myself and all who knew about it were praying hard all through warmup that she'd be able to march, somehow. Dunno if she still dreams about it... ahh, can't wait until banquet! As for my own drum corps dreams... I have many, oh man. Constantly had them during the summer. Post summer, though, I think it's been every so often - usually when I watched corps or talked corps at some point the day before. I'll dream about being late, or getting cut this winter after completely bombing my audition piece.

Whatever else they do, I want to hear Ghost Riders in the Sky once again, whether it's in 07 or 08 on their 50th.

I agree with Cadets 2000 - it's my favorite video, and now the music is some of my favorite music. It looks like such fun. Also 1992 SCV looks and sounds fun - maybe I'm a little biased, loving Fiddler on the Roof quite significantly, but it does seem like fun to perform - especially for the guard.

I agree with this - that's one reason I just loved my ballad this summer- our sop soloist has the cutest (not sure that's the right word) close-up on the quarterfinals movie - I had no idea they did anything - all I knew was judges liked their "interaction", seeing bits of it on thhe DVD was pretty cool.

I recall at least one show this summer when a corps played themselves off the field - Pioneer, actually. I thought that was so cool. I would like to do that.