CLBass1

The most interesting drum instructor in the world...

Wish him the best of luck!

I've heard it described as "gold hammered." Typically, yes, but to my understanding the Samurai drums were an exception because of the Cavaliers' anniversary with Yamaha.

Took this shot turning Naboo's annual Memorial Day Gungan grill out. Looking good for early season!

Ha! You know, I debated that when I made this, but realized there are a few glimmers of intelligence every now and then. Granted you have to look really hard, but they're there. And most of the time they're just burning/correcting the rest of the stupid comments :p

The 06 rings (and 05, too I believe) are Jostens Fantasy Sports rings.

Jerede* actually marched bass 2* for Star '93. His "prime time" days started with Cadets 87 on cymbals and then bass 88 through 91, took 92 off and then went over to Star for his ageout in 93. He was even marching before Cadets with a smaller corps based in NYC, I want to say. He mostly does winter teching but helped out with Madison last year for a couple days in the season. He also helped out with Crown for a camp this past winter. He usually is part of the Lee Beddis team (hence the Crown, Madison, X-men work). He pops in to work with the University of Delaware drumline (Jim Ancona's program) here and there in the fall, too.

Not having a cell phone, in my opinion, allowed me to enjoy my experience marching much more than if I did have a cell phone. Why? Because I did not need one. I was around 150 or so people every day...ALL day. I would say I was never safer and more accounted for in my life since I was a little kid. Also, I can't tell you how many times Jeff would say, "Hey, so-and-so, your mom called. Call her back." And while saying that, was handing his cell phone over so the kid could call home. Communication was NEVER prohibited at the Cavaliers. Read my lips: NEVER. If you have not marched there, you can't argue this, I'm sorry. The purpose of not having cell phones was to limit excessive communication - which I believe, is exactly was this cell phone dependant society has started to do. We have become cell phone addicts. And I'll agree, while it's nice to pick up the phone and talk to someone almost immediately, it is rare that it can’t wait. Humans went from rubbing sticks together for fire to putting men on the moon before we ever had cell phones. I think we can function without them. And yes, while I can understand concerned parents arguments for having a cell phone, you have to understand that your child is around responsible people all day and they are still just a phone call away. Come to think of it, it may be easier getting a hold of your kid if you have to talk to a staff member first. How many kids don't/forget to return calls to their parents? Plenty. But if the director of the corps says you need to call home and puts a phone in your hand, you're probably going to make that call. Bottom line: If you need to talk to your kid, you will talk to your kid. So yes, sometimes I found myself looking around or waiting in line for a pay phone. That got annoying - but only a couple of times. But what I did instead of talking on a cell phone - i.e. getting to know members from other sections just a little more, work on my music just a little more, etc. far outweighed that nuisance. Having aged out now, I would give plenty to go re-experience any day from my summer. Luckily, I never had much of an opportunity to take that for granted. I was there to march, there to drum, there to get to know my corps, and most importantly, there for the experience. Not having a phone to check every night helped keep my mind on what I was there to do. The biggest point I’m trying to make is that a “no cell phone rule” does not, in ANY way prohibit communication. It simply limits excessive and unnecessary communication which can, and likely does, have a HUGE impact on the experience of one’s summer when marching.

I'd gamble that they didn't break the drumline up to make judging "more difficult." Especially with that drumline, I doubt anyone on staff ever said, "we’d better figure out some clever rouse to avoid the judges hearing our full drumline here." That drumline never had anything to hide when it came to their playing.

"Mercury, the Winged Messenger" would fit nicely with the show title.

What bothers me about that slogan is it comes across (to me) as judging other corps. "You can be a leader like the Cadets, or a follower like every other corps." I don't know, that's just how I interpreted it.

Ipods have been rated lowest in sound quality among all MP3 players for a while now. The photo was the worst, the video is a little better but still nowhere as good as say a Sony, iaudio, or iriver. The nano is the best of the apple digital audio players in terms of sound quality. The shuffle was the same story. Apple's flash drives just have a hugely noticable difference compared to their hard drives. Also, if you are playing an .avi video file or any other video file, the sound quality will not be as good as .ogg, .wav, .mp3, and maybe even an .aac audio file. When listening to music with so many different ranges like drum corps, you need a good audio player to get a lot out of it. Apple products are not going to deliver nearly as well as other players can when it comes to that (more specifically hard drive apple audio players) That or your earphones are busted...