Aggie Dan

Based on the recent announcement about Vigilantes Drum and Bugle Corps, I hope that there is enough time to change things such as the flier for the event, once Vigilante has designed their new logo.

Rich, It's been great having you join us this year. Though, it would have been great having both Skare brothers on the low end. But, after hearing your solo on mello at the last camp... Yeah, I think you're in the spot you need to be. And if you think it's hot NOW... Just wait for summer to really kick in. We'll save you a spot in the shade, though.

Okay. I'm gonna brag on my wife a little more. Not only does she carve some great pumpkins... But, she is also a great trombone player. Everyone in Frontier keeps trying to recruit her to the baritone line. But... She can't do that because of her main artistic pursuit. Lisa's other deviant art page

Nope, not an art major, just an obsessive compulsive business analyst. Thank you for the compliments everyone.

Hi, I'm Lisa using my husband's account because something screwy is going on with my ID. So, I decided to carve 2 pumpkins for the contest. One of them is the 2008 DCI logo. The other one was a tough decision. Here was my criteria for what I picked. I needed a decent resolution picture and with not too much going on in the picture. White uniforms are tough because white = gigantic hole in the pumpkin. It doesn't leave much room for detail. So I needed a dark uniform. Then I thought.... oooh, since the Crossmen are now in TX and this is for Halloween, Bones would be an awesome carving! But, I couldn't find any pictures with good enough resolution to be carvable. So, I decided since my husband is a contra player with Frontier in Dallas (DCA), I would find a good generic contra player in a dark uniform. So here are my 2 submissions: (I Can't decide if I like with or without flash better on this one): A Blue Coat Contra player

Well, that's something that I know Frontier and Masquerade have been working on. The idea for having the Brass Hysteria shows (Texas and Louisiana) on the same weekend was to make it worth making the trek all the way down to the Texas/Louisiana area. Much like the Minnesota weekend of St. Paul and St. Peter makes it really beneficial for us to get two shows in a short timeframe. I know we'd LOVE to have people from BOTH coasts in Texas and Louisiana for a big drum corps weekend.

HAHAHAHA Frontier just had our end of year banquet. And the "road crew" were all presented shirts in recognition of the driving of the vans hauling equipment and people. We logged over 4500 miles between the Minnesota weekend and then a few weeks later the trip to Rochester. And... It's amazing what some of you yankees consider "south." Dallas is the farthest NORTH I've ever lived, having grown up in the Corpus Christi area. It's an 8 hour drive (6.5 if you ignore the speed limit) to get from my home to my mom's home. Though, you know I loved the "quick" in state trips to Houston (4 hours) and Austin (3.5 hours)

Dangit. I'll only be able to make the Saturday party. My wife's hobby has gotten quite expensive lately. So, I'm saving $$$ by taking the Frontier provided van to MN as opposed to flying. So, after the Sunday performance, we're packing up to head right back to Dallas. I should make it back in time to be at work Monday morning. Yes, Drum Corps is a special kind of crazy.

Thanks, Mark. Had a great time in Houston.

The Masquerade contra player is playing an unconverted two-valve K-90 that I understand he recently purchased from Frontier... With slight duct tape modifications to dampen some rattles.

It was definitely a fun night. It was also great to get on the field with the Houston Shrine Corps, Teal Sound and Revolution. I loved hanging out afterwards after the show as well. GREAT night. The only downside for me was having a blowout on my way home this morning. Luckily, or unluckily, I have a lot of experience changing tires on the side of the road. So, 15 minutes later I was back on my way to Frisco.

Frontier and Masquerade are all in G.

Thanks for the great reviews. You definitely did get out and see some drum corps this year, didn't you? Denton did feel like an off night for the Crossmen as I'd seen them a few days prior in Dallas. But, yeah, the first time you see the capes in action it's a definite "Oooh... Ahhh..." moment. The second time around I was closer to the field and lower. So, I could see the guard members' red leggings showing at the bottom. Which broke things up for me a little. But, from a higher vantage point it works GREAT since you can't see that and are just left to wonder, "Who is gonna do what?"

With my experience with Revolution, I didn't see any kind of in-fighting within the staff or members. Everyone was there to have fun. There was a general mood of camraderie and of family. So, I'd trust anything that came FROM a member of Revolution before I'd even think to listen to a rumor. And I'll be looking for you guys in Houston. I think you go on right before us, so I miss ANOTHER performance. But, I'll try to swing by earlier in the evening as you're warming up.

OUCH! I hope they are able to find the parties responsible. It's not like tubas are easy to unload.

I'm sorry I missed Revo's performance in Denton, too. I was really hoping to get a chance to see y'all. Missed you guys in Austin, too. Revo has a special place in my heart not only for being a Texas Drum Corps but also because I got to play with you guys at the bowl game. The way I figure it... It's kind of like our scores from DCI... They can be a bit of a demotivator if you look at it just as a number. But, when you realize the subjective nature of the scores and how you would be compared to those in your division, then you just take the scores with a grain of salt. I hope you guys the best of luck in the rest of the season.

Special kudos to Kevin for REALLY stepping up. He sight-read the music... Without benefit of the music... For Sunday's show. If ever there was a time to NOT listen to the drum line, Sunday was it. Though, I can't really think of anything that he did that was not much different. But, then the entire performance was a blur.

I guess it's a good thing that this is the year I started going to DCI shows so I could see so many great corps. Better late than never, right? Well, so long as it's not in reference to a step-off.

Thanks for the review. Frontier did definitely do some changes between Thursday and Sunday. The tapes from Mesquite gave lots of constructive advice. Between that, having more of our members (a large number live in Austin) make it to the show, a rewrite of the drill in Spinning Wheel, almost completely NEW guard work learned in the last few days, AND the kind of fire that gets ignited when reading some rather positive reviews here on DCP and we could ONLY have a better show on Sunday than Thursday. Special props go out to the guard for working their tails off to get the rewritten guard show on the field, Kevin for playing snare at the show with only hours notice and Chris Green for conducting. I didn't get to see all of the show. I missed Revolution and only saw the tail end of Academy since I was getting food and drink. My tickets were six seats to the left of the drum majors. So, I had a GREAT view of the pit. Speaking of pits... The pit for the Crossmen was the only one having fun that I could tell. For me... My favourite show of the night was Bluecoats. And not simply because that one guard member had a costume malfunction. It was just a fun show. Followed by Pioneer. Maybe I just liked their music since my quintet and I have been working on "Rakes of Mallow" as one of the pieces of our book. But there is somehting to be said for people recognizing the songs you're playing.

I agree with the fact that this year some corps are definitely using amped vocals better than others. Oddly enough, this is my first year to actually attend ANY DCI shows. The fact that this is my second year as a DCA corps member... Well, it gives me a unique perspective. One, I can appreciate the level of excellence and work that is required to put on a DCI show. Two, since DCA is less about running from 35 to 35 backwards while playing sixteenth notes and more about crowd response, I have more of a focus on showmanship and having fun. We may not move fast, but you're definitely gonna have moments where you go, "Dang, they're having FUN! Sign me up!" In fact... I was at the Denton show last night... We were performing first then I watched the rest of the corps that I could. I'm bummed that I didn't get to see my friends in Revolution play, though. But, my wife got us tickets in the lower section. So, I was only about 8 rows back from the field and got a GOOD look at everyone's pit section. I think the Crossmen had the only pit that was having fun. Everyone else was so serious. But, the fact was that they were having fun and it got me back into their show. Likewise, the vocals are about entertaining the crowd. They are part of the showmanship aspect. And Cadets are getting it wrong in my opinion. Who is your audience? The Cadets have a GREAT show for an audience that is still losing their baby teeth. The Bluecoats have a great show that is aimed more at the audience that is going to be at a DCI show and they look like they are having fun.

Detriment? Not from where I'm sitting. It has been my honor to play with you guys. I only wish I could have done it more often.

More corps! YAY!

I hope you guys don't get too beat down by the score. Over here in Dallas we're dealing with the same kind of "But... But... But... What do you mean the score went DOWN?" kind of reaction. We all just did our first DCI shows EVER. And it wasn't a train wreck that will make the organizers say, "Ummm... About next year... I think we'll pass." Both our corps (and DCA in general) got a shot in the arm from these shows. We're doing a DCI show in Denton on Sunday. You know we're gonna bring it. I just wish I could actually SEE your show. Never seems to work out that way since we typically go on in such a way that I've yet to see a GCS performance.

I'm proud of our drumline. Sure, they are a little beat up right now. That's something I didn't want to talk about until Chris could say something official since I have a tendency to open mouth and insert foot. I could almost envision hanging a placard saying "Help Wanted" on the sideline to draw drummers in. Hell, brass and guard for that matter. We have a good show. John wrote some AMAZING drill. Mike, Chris, Mickey, etc. came up with some GREAT arrangements. It's great having such talented people on staff. But, we're calling up some reinforcements (not MUCH arm twisting involved) and more help is always welcome. There is ALWAYS room to add people to a drum corps show. You might be like me and stuck on a different instrument initially, but I was just happy to get on the field at that point. So, if you know ANY drummers that want to play some COOL music... We didn't write for 5 percussion. So, there's a chance for them to march this year.

We know we put a better show on the field than we had at Brass Hysteria. Granted, our numbers were a little smaller. Sure, Mesquite is in the Dallas area, so it's a "home show." But, when you have a lot of members that drive from 4 hours away and often have to carpool on the weekends to rehearsal... I headed home after the last perfomrnace. I was pooped. So, my wife told me the score since she stayed. I was initially devastated to hear the score. But, then took it all into consideration and just about everyone is thinking, "DCI judges don't know how to score DCA." Perhaps I'm just delusional in that way of thinking. But, looking at this corps... Heck, ANY corps and it's impossible for me to believe that with as much work as we all put into the show that it's possible that any corps would regress that badly. But, it's good to get beaten up a bit. Makes you mad and wanna say, "You think it's so bad, you get out here and show us how it's done. I'll show YOU." and you pour that much more into into prep for the next show. I expect to get beaten up Sunday as well. Brass on the Bayou will be a good chance for us to realign since we'll have other DCA corps around. Then the Minnesota weekend.