SkyDog

I like the '94-'03 uniform, with the '90-'93 uniform a not-too-distant second. On the other end of the scale, the ones they used in '04-'05 were just freakin' awful.

As far as I know, none of those corps made finals in any class, so Academy likely will be the first finalist from Arizona. One slight inaccuracy on the list above... Sunset Regiment competed through the 1990 season.

Really? What about San Francisco, San Rafael, San Lorenzo, San Leandro, San Jose, Vallejo, Benicia, Solano, Sonoma, Alameda, San Ramon, Martinez, Contra Costa, Pacheco, Palo Alto, San Mateo, Santa Rosa, Los Gatos, Rio Vista, Moraga, Chico, Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, etc.? But to an extent, you're right. If you head north from the Bay Area, Spanish-influenced names become less common the further you travel. (The northernmost Spanish mission was Mission San Francisco de Solano in present-day Sonoma, which explains the lack of Spanish influence further north.) If that's true about the SoCal girls, no wonder they're more popular! :P As for Northern California girls: I was born and raised there... and I married a girl from New York.

It's usually not the locals that come up with these short nicknames. In general, we don't like 'em. At least you get a little reprieve from PA tomorrow! ;)

Just to be clear... That wasn't the number of BDB members who went from the B Corps to the A Corps between the 1990 & 1991 seasons. That was the number of 1990 BDB members who made it up to the A Corps over the next few seasons. Some made it in '91, some made it in '92, and some made it in '93. I didn't check years after that, which come to think of it, would've added another percussionist -- Camden McConnell played in the A Corps after a stint with SCV. Something else that might affect the number of members moving up to the A Corps is that 1990 happened to be a really good year for BDB. The corps didn't go to DCI, but nearly went undefeated and were regularly beating the eventual champions by a few points. There were some really talented players that year.

1990 Concord Pavilion (preseason standstill) Blue Devils Vanguard Freelancers Velvet Knights Blue Devils B Vanguard Cadets Mandarins Blue Devils C ...and I was in it.

If you count the people who are currently in the Blue Devils A corps who've come up through the B corps *and* C corps, the number's probably pretty small. But the number likely goes up when you remove the C corps from the equation. I don't know what the numbers are recently, but using the 1990 Blue Devils B Corps as an example... Out of roughly 25 brass players, 6 went on to the A corps. Out of about 16 percussionists, 4 of them went on to the A corps. Out of something like 15 guard members, 5 of them went on to the A corps. Assuming I didn't miss anyone when I counted, that's 15 out of 57 members, meaning more than a fourth of the B corps went on to march with the A corps. And that doesn't take into account that there were a few B corps members who went on to march with Open Class (D1) corps other than the Blue Devils. Offhand, I can think of BDB members from that year who went to play with the Freelancers, SCV, and Blue Knights.

Some people would need a suppository to apply directly to the forehead.

...nor do we call a certain city by the bay "Frisco". That's a city in Texas. The city in Northern California is San Francisco or simply "the City" to others in the Bay Area.

I think that's the hotel the White Sabers are staying in, too... unless they just put me there. Being a native Californian who's lived in NY for the past few years, I'll be happy to share the place with Dream.

I was shopping for new snares a few months ago and quotes for 14" Pearl Championship drums were running between $320 and $380. (Drum only, no carrier or stand.) Dynasty seems to be in the same ballpark. Woodwind & Brasswind (wwbw.com) lists the DFX14 at $361.99. If I remember correctly, Yamaha prices tended to be a little higher, but still quite a bit less than $500 for a new drum.

Funny... I just noticed the same thing with a set of old (but well-cared-for) Yamaha tenors the other day. Pinstripes were OK, but when putting on a set of Evans MXT's, the 10" rim was juuuuuust slightly bigger than the head's flesh hoop. I don't think it's a distortion issue since I could rotate the head or rim and that didn't have any effect. Keep us posted!

...unless they're a drummer, in which case the '92 Blue Devils are a bit underwhelming. There was sort of a "Dark Age" for percussion in Concord from 1991 through 1993, which is a shame since it would've been a thrill to have great drum lines behind the '91 & '93 brass books, which are some of my all-time favorites. 'When a Man Loves a Woman' was a fun tune to listen to, though nowhere near the "most amazing thing ever".

Could you imagine Díck Vitale? Nooooooo!!! My ideal stadium announcer would be Roy Steele, who's been the announcer for the Oakland A's and Raiders for years. He might be the only person I can think of with a more imposing voice than James Earl Jones. Unfortunately, he's run into some health problems and had to step away from the mic. Madden would be entertaining on the broadcast team, but only if he gets to use the telestrator to do replays. You'd have to limit his airtime and pair him with someone who knows the activity to keep him in check, though. On TV, Bob Costas would be a familiar face that might be able to draw non-DCI-fans into the broadcast and manage not to mangle it. And Jon Miller would probably do a great job, as he seems to do with every other sporting event he covers.

I thought the Bluecoats had 10 snares on the field for most of the show in '88, then added 5 and 5 again to make 20.

Got something against the Ventures? B)

Fair warning: this is how they trap you! I showed up to a White Sabers rehearsal, just planning to watch, and wound up standing behind a set of tenors. After remembering what it feels like to play, I couldn't help but keep coming back. See you GCS guys in Rochester!

It's been a looooong time since I marched a set of Pearl tenors, but Dynastys definitely feel a bit heavier than the Yamahas I've used. And you're right about the mounting system -- it's pure genius. Now if only the @#$%& j-hooks would stop bending from the weight of the drums.

The Blue Angels weren't based in Concord. There's a closed-down Naval Weapons Station in Concord, but it hasn't had any serviceable runways since the 1940s. (You can actually see what's left of them just off of East Olivera Road.)

In hindsight, my initial post obviously wasn't clear enough. I should've been more specific, particularly since some people have jumped to conclusions at the mention of San Francisco. I wasn't referring to sexuality (although I did find the feather boa comment pretty funny). I just included a location for frame of reference, meaning to point out that the mindset in an urban setting on the west coast was apparently different than a rural one in Indiana. It was 1991 and like a lot of corps, we had a number of members with different ethnic backgrounds. We happened to be housed at a school in what seemed to be a VERY rural part of Indiana. The corps staff pointed out in as politically correct a way as they could that our darker-complexioned members could experience some unfriendliness from locals at the community fair or whatever it was that was going on across the street. Well, let's just say they were right. I recall a few instances where some of our corps members were verbally harassed, particularly a couple in the corps (a white guy and black girl). I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood, in a diverse city, in a diverse region. The possibility that there were still places where racial divisiveness was so obvious was something I hadn't thought about before travelling in drum corps.

Ummm... I think that goes into the Bob Barker/Madonna category. Just check out the Youtube video of him hacking on a marching snare. Better than I would've thought given the difference in style, but NOT Blue Devils caliber or even Blue Devils B for that matter.

Tell that to my back after hauling 'em around the field all day! I don't know if Dynasty tenors are any heavier than other brands, but they seem to sit a little further from the body than other drums I've marched, which makes 'em feel a little heavier. That extra space makes it a little more comfortable to keep sticks in proper playing zones, though. The snares might be a little heavier, but it's just a snare drum! Deal with it, you wimps! :P I haven't marched a Dynasty bass, or even put one on for that matter, so I'm not the most qualified person to comment on 'em.

You can end the list right there. Having been in a west coast corps in the early 90s... Let's just say there was a lot of staring during retreat -- I mean, the scenery's there and there's nothing else to do! But we'd even watch their guard warming up in the parking lot instead of other drum lines! (I think we drew the line just short of stalking.) ...and then my brother marches with BK a few years later and we were both, umm, "disappointed" that things just weren't the same anymore. <**> There really isn't a close second, but the next best one I can remember was Sunset Regiment in 1991.

One other thing that didn't come to mind when I was half asleep replying to stuff last night... Make sure those pinstripe tenor heads are the crimplock version made for marching drums. Otherwise, there's a decent chance the heads will pull out of the flesh hoops under tension. If it's a crimplock head, it'll say right on the head under the Remo crown logo and the part number on the box will end in "-MP" instead of "-00".

The Sabian B8's are horrible, but those are their dirt-cheap model. Their higher-end cymbals are pretty nice, or at least they used to be.