Michael

I love the Southwind and Cadets unis! Great job! You have to send the Cadets one to Hop. Hopefully he will trade those backs for this new design. Keep it up!

Jul. 6th, 2006 06:42 pm What are we doing? I am in the office but Marc and I had a two hour phone call on the 4th. Today he is working on completing the story line - Alice and Dani -- what is the connection??? Alice actually is Dani, dreaming of herself in a different and crazy world but ... we need to make that more clear. - As Alice walks the benches in the ballad, she will come across "stuff" from 2005. She will be handed the hardhat prop, she will he banded the umbrella, she will be reminded of the chess match, and ... and yes, this is cool ---- at one point, Alice and Dani will both be lifted on the benches, seeing each other face to face. We are also changing how the props turn around,. We are changing White Rabbitt next week to condense. We are changing the last 30 seconds of the show. And the big one ... we continue to add tons of movement to the drum feature -- Flying through the air, bench to bench ... DRAMATIC! It's wild and yes, I guess one would have to say it is definitly not drum corps.

Breakdowns On and Off the Field Thursday, June 29, 2006 A Day in the Life of the Cadets At 6:00 am on the way to Westminster, Maryland, the Cadets’ percussion bus, “9303”, blew an engine seal as it climbed a hill on the way through Maryland. The bus made it to a rest stop where the admin team moved into action: - The buses, the food truck and most of the caravan moved on to Westminster, getting the kids in at 8 am and on the floor for three hours. - Brian Toth, the transportation manager called Tim Gallagher, the transportation manager for the Crossmen, and Tim brought a bus out to the Cadets who were about 90 miles from their school. - Hopkins directed an off load of equipment from the bus to the Cadets’ equipment truck - After discussion with Hop, Brian and Tim, arrangements were made with Bernie’s in Allentown to repair the bus. - Brian arranged a tow at about $2,000 but, the bus will be somewhere, where we know the people and they have some sort of commitment and understanding to us. - Hopkins had the YEA! search down a rental bus for 2-3 days. If all goes as planned, the guess at the additional cost is $10,000.00. On the good side, the corps does not have a show this Thursday night, and the general travel pattern over the next week does not involve all too many miles. On the bad side, it is the July 4th weekend and if the repair does not get done by the 1st , it could be a difficult and expensive time. On Wednesday night in Huntington, WV a bizarre series of events caused the percussion section to “come apart at the seams” for more than 30 seconds during the percussion break. The “breakdown”, according to George Hopkins, “was the worst I have ever witnessed on a drum corps field. At one point, I thought I would have to re-start the corps”. So what happened … After the tom feature there is a 4 count hold for applause, after which the red queen says “do they always have to do that”. The vocal is on count 5. On Tuesday, Marc Sylvester changed it to count 7 and never told anyone. Now, at the Tuesday night show, with Hopkins at the audio panel, the entrance for the red queen was missed … it never happened. At rehearsal, when the corps works in ensemble, we always stop following the top feature. So … no one knew of the change. Until …. The show in Huntington. With the voice two counts late, and coming in on count seven, the snares, who face backfield, were not sure of the counting. They were expecting to enter on 1, not 3? Meanwhile the keys followed the major and came in on one. The first snare was two counts late with the voice, the second snare tried to rebound, the third followed the first, the fourth did not play etc … Unfortunately, this is a 100 count phrase so for 100 counts, it was nothing but a jumble. It was impossible to make sense at all of anything being played. In the post show meeting with the members, Hopkins referred to it as catastrophic while nothing that things happen, it was in the past, and all we could do was learn from this huge error. The students’ reactions ranged from upset, to anger to confusion. It was indeed, a night to remember. Interestingly … the corps still was judged to be the victor despite this huge gash. The percussion field guy heard it … indeed, the corps was almost a point out of first in field percussion. But other captions did not mention the debacle, whether they were not sure what they witnessed, or, they just did not know what to say about it. This will be a performance that we talk about for years much like the 1996 performance at Massillon when 30 members of the horn line fell on one move …Or the 85 finals when one half of the corps entered a count before the other side! Amazing stuff, but kids are kids and live performance is live performance. It is why we do it. And why we lose our hair. The corps is in Westminster on one piece, as of 11:00 am on Thursday. We have rehearsal from noon to 7 pm and a laundry evening. Friday features rehearsals, a 400 attendee Music is Cool clinic and the YEA! Sponsored Westminster Drum Corps Show.

By the way, from the other Columbia: 1 The Cadets 76.100 2 Phantom Regiment 74.550 3 Boston Crusaders 72.350 4 Carolina Crown 70.850 5 Spirit from JSU 68.200 6 Capital Regiment 62.750 7 The Magic 56.700

Finally a review that I can agree 100% with. Great review!!!

We have heard before that people think that West Coast scores are higher...but I haven't heard someone say New England scores are higher than southern scores...do people think its true? I don't know if I agree...

So, we all heard that season pass guy tell all of us subcribers that they 'may' be broadcasting in Columbia this weekend. Does anyone know if it is Columbia SC, or Columbia MO?

From YEA.COM: Already delivered to the corps are 16 large wood benches and 20 8 X 10 foot panel frames that will be used to mount digitally imaged fabric. The frames will pivot to reveal scenes during segments of the show. That was the easy part. The remainder of the job is more challenging, he (Jeff Hurr) admits. Prototype for a flagpole possibly never before seen in the industry are under construction. It will hold a double flag, Hurr said, not wanting to reveal anything more. The request comes from the Cadets color guard caption supervisor Jonathan Schwartz, with whom Hurr confers with on the project. Just creating the pieces and props isn't the only challenge, Hurr admits, especially in the case of the Cadets, where 37 props, many of which are large, must be transported and assembled quickly. The logistics must be taken into consideration. "This is always one of the primary issues," Hurr said. "It will take an experienced crew to assemble these large pieces in a matter of minutes." Once assembled, moving the props to the field will require a large crew, according to Hurr. In response, the Cadets' administration team is seeking applicants to work on the prop crew for the summer tour. So far, seven people will travel with the corps to assist in the process, according to Cadets Director George Hopkins. But there is still plenty to get a handle on, he adds. "What will fit in a truck? What will not? It is still a matter of concern and confusion. But, it will be figured out," said Hopkins. The 2006 show is heavier in the volume of props than that of any past Cadets' production. The 1996 show included 10 20-foot high blue, rolling screens, Hopkins said. Is it all too much as many critics might claim? Not at all, according to Hopkins, who said using props allows for another level of creativity. "Not only is the program about visual design but the interaction of the objects within the drill becomes integral to the composition," Hopkins said. In addition, paintings, digital reproductions and other visual imagery allows for a deeper level of communication."

Heres the rest of the Div I debuts... June 22nd: Cadets, Spirit June 23rd: Boston, Esperanza June 24th: Crown, Capital Regiment June 26th: Crossmen June 30th Seattle Cascades

Yes love the annoucements through the stream HAHA

Too Bad Bluecoats aren't coming up to the Boston area...I would LOVE to see that show live....its was amazing.

Just got done watching Glassmen....HOLY $^ They are great this year!!! I wish them the best of luck! And may I add, I am very happy with the Season Pass...I had it last year, and its MUCH better this year (so far)

I can't find it either...help!!

I knew that!!! Actually Southwind's 1993 show is on You Tube

According to a source within Southwind, they are going back to the Yellow/Black unis next year. This was also mentioned by a sovie worker in a review of last night's Southwind's show. Go SOUTHWIND!!