FYWW

Sam, Ryan's entire wardrobe is The Shirt!

Are you done yet? :P

Don't forget SCV's visual caption head Ron Hardin, who was with BD from 1994 til 2001 or so. I got a chance to see SCV do their visual warm up and was like "hey, I've seen these exercises somewhere before!" In 1994 Todd Ryan brought a proven technique to the Blue Devils (a technique he also gave to the Star of Indiana in the late 80's til their final DCI year) which I've seen a lot more corps emulate over recent years. Ironically, and not surprisingly, those corps who have switched over to the straighter leg technique have visual staff members who were students of the School of Todd. I think it's cool that SCV's staff are mostly alums of BD (either as a member or staffer, or both). Part of me thinks it's that "I want to beat my mentor" attitude. Gino Cipriani did just that when he went to Cadets and snatched the Jim Ott trophy out of Wayne's hands a few years back. More power to 'em! SCV's hornline sounds great this year. Powerful low brass. Can't wait to see them again at TOC!

Sounds like you got a few Jr. Corps years left in you. Either that or you're just a real procrastinator. :P We'll see you post 21!

By the way, VERY proud of Mystikal! Although I haven't had the chance to see their full show in uniform since they've gone on right after Dream, I have had the opportunity to see our little brothers and sisters during rehersals and those kids are just great. Hard working and gung ho. Shout out to the baritone girl with the evil Pirate tattoo! ^0^

Very nice review! Ryan, you got your work cut out for you if you plan on gunning for the Best Review title! :P Lots of stuff I agree with. First of all, after having run up and down that stadium 5 or 6 times throughout the night, I'm BEAT! And the 4th of July parade the next morning didn't help matters much. I don't do reviews, but here's what I thought of the corps that I saw tonight. Guess that makes it a review, huh? lol Dream - I can review my own corps, can't I? Sure I can. Watch me. Much improved performance over the night before, but that's to be expected since at Riverside, with it being a Friday night show, and our first of the season, we had zero rehearsal time and no run through. Waaah.. boo hoo... so what. We sucked. We know it. Cool. After a nice 4-hour block on Saturday, the Mt. Sac performance was overall much better and confident. I don't look at scores typically, but I felt our Saturday show, in comparison to our Friday show, was by far better than just a half point jump. But who cares. We had a blast and that's what matters! Didn't see Mystikal, Impulse, or Academy, though I did see Academy the night before and HOLY #### they blew me away! Saw SCVC from the end zone and from what I could see they resemble the 'A' corps quite a bit, as far as the visual program goes. Best of luck to them in Denver! Esperanza..... Wish I could remember their program, but for the life of me I can't. Sorry. I do remember not being totally impressed, however, but then again, I'm not easily impressed to begin with. PC was pretty darn good. I couldn't help but get distracted by the rehashed BD 2000 music, but the corps moves and sounds great. The interpretation of the running guard member doesn't seem to click with many spectators. We get the North-by-North West reference, however it just looks like the girl was told to "RUN" and, well, she did. You go. Nice uniforms. Really liked Cascade's show. Their drill can clean up by 5 points by simply working on body alignment and dress & cover. Most of their straight line cover sets never quite made it, but that's my only real picky negative about this corps. Oh, and I kept waiting for the big push in 'All Things Bright & Beautiful' ala Cavaliers 1990. Didn't happen, but good for them for keeping to their own interpretation and not rehashing something that's already been done (ahem, Pacific Crest :P). Very cool show and with John Freeman on visual staff, I have no doubts they will clean up nicely! I fastened my seat belt for SCV since I had heard audio recordings of them before getting to see them and was foaming at the mouth to finally get to see them live! They did not disappoint. I don't know if they reached my fullest expectations, but then again, having expectations going in to begin with might have been my downfall. I think I would have been more blown away had I known NOTHING about this year's Vanguard show. But nevertheless, their show was awesome! I've always been a big SCV fan, but ever since 93 they have performed shows that I can hardly remember. Lets see... La Mer and Not The Nutcracker... know those.... umm... Hunt For Red October... ok, I remember that one... I think they played On The Waterfront one year, but can't remember which... and... Well, my point is, since 1993 they haven't exactly chosen music selections that people remember years later. You say 1987 Vanguard, and just about anyone can tell you they played Russian Christmas Music without hesitation. 89? Phantom of the Opera. 91? Miss Saigon, baby! I think 2004 will join that list of most memorables. Guess only time will tell! BD didn’t blow me away this year like I was last year. But still a very cool show. I love complete packages and BD brings it all to the table. Great sounding hornline, INCREDIBLE colorguard, a visual design that just makes me chuckle in awe, and drums... well, they weren't grabbing my attention like I'm used to them doing. My focus strayed a little during Summertime, but the guard work during this piece was the only thing keeping me from nodding off. I was also sitting right next to their guard staff so I had to at least look interested! lol I did, however, pay a lot of attention to the pit and their use of amplification. Very tasteful, and thankfully not over done. The train sound effects at the very end of the show were a great addition to the program and I think it would not have been possible without the use of amps. Honestly I think Vanguard will take BD come Denver. Devils were technically much cleaner than Vanguard tonight, which is why they won, but in terms of total package and wow factor.... Well, rub some Brasso on it and SCV will polish up nicely. Aside from the performances, it was great to see lots of old friends. Tracy Freeman and a few other RCRers took a road trip down from Sacramento to check out the show. Very cool to see you guys there and showing your support! By the way, which one of you brought the pickle? Ryan Turner, excellent job on the PA gig, as always. Now finish up your review!!!

Great review! I got to listen to Renegades via cell phone from the front side line. Lotsa loud! Looking forward to seeing everyone down here at the SoCal shows in a couple weeks. Especially Arizona Academy!

Harpeth!! Wow, totally forgot about that school. Ok, that's it, I'm going straight home after work and watching the video again. No better show to march in your first year of drum corps than that one! Greg, Kitchen-man, Denovi, Bill, Kivet, Flores... All those guys made it a great corps to march. Everytime I hear "Baby Got Back" I find myself doing the Electric Slide. Is it just me?

Close, but off by a few years. 95 was his true age out year. He was 22 when he showed up at BD in 96 <**> . We always joked that he really aged out in 69 then went to Nam, came back and continued marching. :P Not so sure about the facts there Dave.... :P The Randy stories I have could be a bestseller. Well I hear he's now marching in some Div III corps in Jersey somewhere. ^0^

Close, but off by a few years. 95 was his true age out year. He was 22 when he showed up at BD in 96 <**> . We always joked that he really aged out in 69 then went to Nam, came back and continued marching. :P

Yeah, that was unfortunate. We were really pulling for you guys. :(

Loudest crowd response in DCI history. Says so in the history books. :P Correct. We were rehearsing at Severville High School in TN when the shark made it's self known to us. On Finals night, instead of hauling our food truck to the show site, they mounted the shark to the rig, covered it with tarps, and there you have it. We had no food to eat following Finals retreat, but Vanguard was more than gracious enough to help us with that problem. B)

Rumors have it, and I've heard this from pretty reliable sources, the crowd mic on the number 1 side of the field blew out as a result of the shark eating the fat lady. No joke. But makes you wonder, why do they mic the crowd? For video purposes, I suppose. Dunno. But yeah, fun show to march.

If you've got a recording of '74 DCI, listen to the Muchachoes. Some of my fellow Blue Devils may give me some grief here, but I've never been as impressed as by Jeff. The crowd treated this DCI finals as if it were the Muchachoe's home show. Controlled pandemonium. OT: He is also on the cast album of the show "Ragtime", as he played trumpet in the pit. Mike Jeff Kivet is incredible!! If anyone here marched in or attended Finals in 1992, you would remember it being the 20th anniversay of DCI. As a tribute to all the corps who ever made finals, they had one person from each corps wear the uniform of their corps' first year in DCI Finals. Example, a member of the 1984 Velvet Knights was there wearing the 84 uniform. Anyway, Kivet was chosen as the Muchacho's representative. During retreat, he was strolling around the back part of Camp Randall Stadium wearing his old Muchacho uniform when he decided to grab the nearest soprano he could find and without any warm up at all, proceeded to walk up the tunnel and play his solo from 197? (not sure what year exactly). He didn't get past three notes before the crowd of over 35,000 people erupted and flew to their feet. Next to 27's performance at the 1994 Finals in Boston, that was definitely the best DCI moment I have ever experienced. Jeff was also on VK's brass staff in 92. Sat across from me on the bus back from Finals heading back to the school. I was lucky enough to have him sign my white VK uniform hat, which I keep sealed in a zip lock bag to this day. He's got my vote for best sop player!

Yeah! That was, as I'm told (I don't know him), Mike Collins. He gets my vote, especially for his work with the ballad. He threw-off that liptrill like it was nothing. My question is: was he really only 21? I've also heard that he's a band director somewhere in northern Cali. So why isn't he marching with the Renegades? I think he's a member of DCP, also, as I've seen a screen name "MikeCollins86". last i heard he was at Upland HS i believe. he worked with RCC for one of the years that i was there also. Correct, Upland High School in SoCal. Played with the Disney Magic Kingdom Corps for a while as well.

VK 92. The audience never knew what hit em. ^0^

Can you reach? b**bs Only if I shove you off the top of the tower. :P

Hey, I kinda like the sound of that. Has T-SHIRT written all over it! :P

Let me help you out, Rich... ^0^ ^0^ ^0^ ^0^ ^0^ ^0^ ^0^

Reminder that auditions are THIS Sunday! See you there!

I have my 1992 pair. They still have green turf fuzz on them from Camp Randall Stadium... I'll sell em to you. $1,000,000.00 ^0^

me too! :P

achoo! uh.. scuse me *sniffle*

Dream Drum & Bugle Corps will be holding their colorguard auditions on Sunday, May 9th, at Loara High School from Noon to 4pm! Don't miss your chance to be a part of Southern California's history making first Senior Corps appearance at the DCA World Championships in Scranton, PA! Loara H.S. - Anaheim,CA 1765 W. Cerritos Ave. (corner of Euclid and Cerritos) Anaheim, CA Directions from Los Angeles 1. Merge onto US-101 S. 2. Merge onto I-5 S via the exit- on the left- toward SANTA ANA. 3. Take the EUCLID ST exit. 4. Turn RIGHT onto N EUCLID ST. 5. Turn RIGHT onto W CERRITOS AVE. Directions from San Diego 1. Merge onto I-805 N toward LOS ANGELES. 2. I-805 N becomes I-5 N. 3. Take the HARBOR BLVD exit toward BALL RD. 4. Turn RIGHT onto S HARBOR BLVD. 5. Turn LEFT onto W BALL RD. 6. Turn LEFT onto S EUCLID ST. 7. Turn RIGHT onto W CERRITOS AVE. Directions from Barstow 1. Merge onto I-15 S toward LOS ANGELES. 2. Merge onto CA-91 W toward BEACH CITIES. 3. Take the EUCLID ST exit. 4. Turn LEFT onto S EUCLID ST. 5. Turn RIGHT onto W CERRITOS AVE. For more information contact Dream at guard@socaldream.org

Dream is in need of one good lead soprano to replace one of our family members who had to quit suddenly due to work conflicts. We are also looking to round out our baritone line with 2 or 3 more bodies. If you've got chops and want to go to DCA Finals with us, shoot me an email! :)