Contrajefe

How could I forget? Timo, if you see this, I'm sorry!

We had an all-rookie contra line at SCV in 1999. Several vets took a year off for various reasons, there were three SCVC alums, one who'd marched Mandarins, and one who'd marched in Europe (with Jubal, I think Beatrix), but no returning A-corps members. ***EDITED, with thanks to danieltenor***

Not sure whether it's an issue with iTunes or the RSS feed. I access it through a third-party iPhone app that updates from the RSS feed whenever it's posted, and I've had no problems getting the new episodes lately. There were some issues right around the end of the season, but it's been better since, including with the latest episode (Sage, 8-man snare line, Hopkins).

This! Glad to see ti fixed.

This also makes sense geographically: Arizona is closer to and easier to get to from El Paso, where Feagin is the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at UTEP, than was the Bay Area. Glad to see him get back into drum corps after a brief time away, and looking forward to hearing his Academy hornline.

Rondo announced during the QF theater broadcast that Finals retreat would be offered as a free stream on the Fan Network.

Regal Cinemas Virginia Center Stadium 20 in Glen Allen (Richmond area), VA. Was there for the season-opening show--pretty good crowd and decent volume.

Americas, Bel Air, Coronado, and J.M. Hanks would be the best of the bunch, I believe. "State 5A contenders" might be generous. I think the highest finish by an EP band was 8th, by EP Coronado in 1998. Also one in El Paso. Yep, typically referred to as "Lubbock Coronado" and "EP Coronado" in statewide circles. I believe there are also Coronado High Schools in Arizona, Nevada, and California (at least). On the larger point, one hopes that having Andre Feagin (SCV brass caption head) on staff at UTEP will help drum corp's long-term prospects in El Paso, though if he's touring with SCV, he's not exactly around to take care of all the logistics.

I know this is all speculative at this point, but when people are talking about "Top 7," which corps are people talking about? Because last year's top 7 isn't necessarily what most people think of when they think of the top 7.

Out of fairness, I feel obliged to point out that SCV is participating in this fundraiser as well.

1999, 2000, 2002

korsakovisjesus3, check your private message inbox.

2nd at I&E twice? Jesse, you're like the mid-80s Santa Clara Vanguard.

Virginia Center Commons, near Richmond. Hoping to use my voucher from last year, after a massive electrical storm killed the satellite feed in the middle of Crown.

Maybe...she could start the pose to the side, and then bring it around to the front? And SCV, if there are any other parts of the 2009 show that I can micromanage for you, just let me know.

Ugh. "Fatty-D." And amen on the VC: Although, to be fair, I think the two groups had pretty different approaches to the VC. BD's was more celebratory (i.e., not as serious), while I think SCV's was more about one last chance to do the show "just like we have all season." How many times have I wished that someone had the VC on tape/CD/DVD?

6'6" here. My seat partners each of my three seasons were all lucky, because I was that guy who hit the aisle five minutes into the ride and made everyone climb over me. Pretty boring response for the topic, but it worked. Oh, and riding '70s vintage buses well into the 2000s was awesome.

Should read "her," as noted on about a bajillion threads, though admittedly impossible to tell from high-cam.

I agree. Whenever I watch Star '93, I'm always struck by how few "drum corps impacts" there are. The design didn't conform to the usual standards of drum corps arranging in terms of flow and impacts, and I think this year's Vanguard production is the same way. Obviously, as you note, there are a lot of differences. The motivations for designing it that way may be different, but the end result is the same. When SCV gets to the first potential "park and blow" and lets loose (at around 5:19 of the Stanford VOD) you see a couple of fans stand up and start to cheer...and then the music diminuendos into the euph solo that then leads into Simple Gifts. It's in the same vein as the false hits in Star '93, and I thought that the first time I saw it.

Back to the off-topic topic: http://popvssoda.com:2998/countystats/total-county.html

WHOA! Bluecoats Stanford photo 22... I know this sort of thing is de rigeur for guard folks, but I'm still impressed every time I see it.

I think, and this is just me eyeballing it, that the cut is a lot better in the Stanbury version--less baggy on top and bottom. SCV, like Cavies, already has a hurdle to surmount in terms of "looking tall" because of the Aussie (vs. shako or helmet). Cavies overcome it by really sharp tailoring, and I think this is a step in that direction, which is a good thing. (And of course, feathers up doesn't hurt either.)

Here's a catalog of recent SCV uniforms: 02-04: 05: 06: 07: 08: Love the new ones...