silvertrombone

Yeah, I know--gotta be careful with the written language--especially me! Real easy to offend. That's why I'm usually adding the "uh-oh" comments. And if I wasn't a geezer when I first visited DCP, yeah, I realized that I'm now ancient history with the "historical archives" designation. Dang! And the 300 figure is just a number, but I do know that its in the hundreds. Nuts, huh? And yes, the Alamodome beats out the Cotton Bowl based strictly on a/c--makes the drive worth it.

I don't know, the RR crossing thing in the post after yours is pretty good! Still kind of partial to the Sky tornado thing and Nikk's '92 "almost" fireworks, though. I definitely missed out on the Bridgemen, though! Love to see a show with all the great "fun" corps--Bridgemen, VK, etc. I think it would be the best workout (ie, laughing) a lot of people in the stands ever got!

Never mind--chose to edit down to zero. SUTA

The little-discussed fact of life is that Football may be King in Texas, but the marching bands have greater participation by about 5-to-1!! So you kind of have to question who those wonderful stadiums are really being built for... GOD I love the Texas swing--about a week before everybody starts griping about the humidity, the fire ants, and "why do you guys have such great stadiums?" Dallas Cowboys, baby!! Everybody wants their baby to grow up to be Troy Aikman and you don't do that playin' in Oklahoma. Oh, wait a minute... Did I mention that Smiley Jones is building himself a new B-B-Billion $$$ stadium in Arlington? Sure would be nice watching DCI finals from THOSE luxury sweets...er, suites! Retractable roof, a/c, etc. Puts the Alamodome to shame!

Yeah, with a name like Spartacus, you must be a REAL geezer! (hee-hee--I deserve to die for that, I know!) SUTA PR '94

Wow, all this hullaballoo (sp?) and I didn't start any of it! Amazing. OK, first, I like girls. Second, I think the guy who started this thread probably left a long time ago, so most of what is being posted now looks pretty funny to me, IMHO. I'm a conservative, a Christian, the whole "Right Wing 9 yards," but remember my earlier post--it doesn't matter! Show up, sweat, and you know what? If I found out tomorrow that my PR seat partner is gay, it wouldn't phase me a bit. Are there gays in drum corps? Yes. There are gays in the priesthood, there are gays in the Southern Baptist Convention, there are gays in the rest of society, and there are gays in DCI/DCA, and probably somewhere within 2 blocks of your house. End of discussion. Now let's see if we can take over this post entirely and turn it towards something really fun. Who's game? Betcha I can suggest something that will work really well. Ann Coulter (ugh--please ignore me!!)

Oh, I'm gonna get in trouble for this... Ever seen the movie version of Wayne's World? "Delaware...Delaware...what's in Delaware??" Indy? 10 years?? That's an awful long time not to be in Madison. Glad they didn't work out that deal for Orlando a few years ago--we'd be back to marching parades! And I've noticed an interesting trend towards Texas in, oh, every top 6 auditioning here...and one corps moving here...and about 300 people from here in the top 6 every year...long time passing on having finals in Jerry Jones new digs set to open in Arlington at the price tag of a B-B-Billion big ones! Houston, Austin and San Antonio have nice facilities, too! Not blasting you, Ducky--you're just the messenger--but if DCI wants to boo-hoo about the time and expense of planning finals, I'm not volunteering my hankie! Lots of great venues being passed on just to be in the same town as four other loosely-affiliated organizations.

Wow! I think my junior high stadium away side was bigger than that. Man, rent portable bleachers, you know? Fish, was Sky at that show with you guys in '92? I kind of remember that place but it may have been from PR rehearsal in '94.

"Gee, do you think we should go to Jackson, Mississippi or Kansas City, Missouri next year?" Conversation heard around Addison, Illinois in 1992.

OK, I know this isn't original, but since the Internet was still in diapers and on soy back then, I'll go ahead and say it. Who in their right mind moves Finals to Mississippi?? Good God, have it in Austin and sell out the stadium, but Mississippi?? That being said, pretty good sight lines for a one-level. And what a Finals it was!!

LA is a dessert-literally! Unfortunately the people with the most pull there are high school graduates and college dropouts (Hollywood). Pretty much speaks for itself. Now the mountains are cool! The ability to surf and ski in the same day take the cake. Back on topic... LOVE Madison--finals should be there every year. Better to have 40,000 in a college stadium than 15,000 in Disney-ville (Orlando hosted 3 years in a row??). Rich was good--only been there once. DCEast '92. First time in a HUGE stadium. Glad it was summer! Big to perform in, great view from the upper level. Old Foxboro, you can keep it. Field had to be worse than Green Bay in winter--I hear they buried the field under a parking lot and the spot the guy kicked the game-winning FG that sent the Pats to the SB is marked somewhere. I thought about using that sometime as a reference point and marking my spots on the lot from the '94 show! San Antonio, for a dome, is pretty good. Big space which allows the sound not to echo for 3 years-a little closer to what it is supposed to sound like outside, but the convenience of not sweating your .... off in our wonderful Texas summer heat/humidity. Only problem was the seats--crane yer neck to see from the 20's. I kind of like Kalamazoo--got to get blasted by the BD victory arc after the regional in '94--wow! Warhawk--is that UW Whitewater? Fun to be at the "site" of the original finals. Great facilities (fields, lockers, etc). About 6 corps had their rehearsals there the first show day of '94. Squeegee--what's wrong with the Cotton Bowl? I'm 6'5" and had a blast at finals in '91! Of course, there's no leg room, no a/c, and the place is about a million years old! Don't worry, we're trying to get it renovated. Of course, the Cowboys passed on moving into it and built a B-B-BILLION $ stadium in Arlington. Billion-with a B! Supposed to be real small. Austin, TX, UofTexas Royal-Memorial Stadium--pretty cool place! Box is about a mile high, seats about a million, nice facilities (UT football, and all!). Too bad DCI doesn't do something there, but its kind of close to San Antone. Any comments on the new Denton stadium where Cavies hosted their show last year? Pretty nice facility. Another one of those amazing Texas HS stadiums that makes most elsewhere look like pee-wee. Been in it once--interested to hear how it hosts DCI.

Yeah, too bad--saw CR at Show of Shows and was particularly impressed with the drums. Boy, the lower corps have really taken a step up since the early 90's. Very impressed. First time to see CR ever, I believe. Here's hoping for a quick return. On a side note, was there ever and consideration on the part of Bluecoats, Glassmen or another of taking CR on for a year to keep the corps on the field? Just a thought.

So, there was a thread a few weeks ago about the whole "Finals prediction." Not many gave Cavies their top spot due to, primarily (according to reader comments), their European tour. So...now that they have cancelled that little distraction, anybody care to change predictions? If I remember, they were a pretty solid 2-3 in most predictions. Just curious.

Well, it says Alumni Corps, so I'll post here. I'm in the Dallas area and doing the Anaheim Kingsmen alumni corps for the Semis performance at DCI. Anybody remotely close to here going out there? I'm looking for potential travel companions so as to possibly cut down on travel expenses. I don't know that I can drive 24 hours then march for 12, so flying out the several times may be the only option, but I thought I'd see.

Boy, it's hard to type, get a point across, and not barf and not cause everyone to hate you! 1.) I'm not a fan of DCI becoming BOA--it's out there, too. Go watch it if you want. 2.) Realistically speaking, though, DCI is not DCA either. Not a slam, just a fact. OK, I'm going to stop there and see if I've totally offended both sides yet... One side note: Please be careful with the whole "old school / new school" thing--it sounds suspiciously similar to an adult version of "vets vs. rookies," and I've already been on the receiving end of two years of that.

Didn't you know?? Folding or "going inactive" is part of the activity. Bush's fault I'm sure--everything else seems to be. RIP SkyRyders, Freelancers, Magic, on, and on, and on...

This is David Smith and I'm looking for all my friends from Sky '92, Brigadoon. Clans Anderson, Mcgillicutty, etc or whatever they were! Since our 'baby' doesn't exist any more, and since Finals won't be in Dallas or KC anytime soon, nixing the possibility of a DCI Alumni corps opportunity, I figured I'd see what everybody has been up to. We had quite a corps, didn't we? Shawn Murphy, Steve Smith and Jason Williams all went on to win I&E, there were a couple DCI champions I believe, and I tallied at one point that we had like 10 of the top 12 covered in '94. Did I miss anything? Anyone in Blast, Cyberjam, etc? What are you guys up to these days? Me, I wimped out--got the bachelors in MuEd and decided not to go teach. Went back a few years later and got an MBA in Finance, both from UNT, and am now a Finance and Accounting professional. Going for the CPA next--yikes! Long way from tooting the horn. I played trombone in the Metropolitan Winds in Dallas from '98 to '02 and still play occassionally. GREAT band! If you ever need a place to play, go audition! Randy Bass is the conductor and is a very good composer and arranger. You'll love the repertoire. I am still single, live in Denton, TX, am taking classes towards CPA requirements, and am trying to launch any number of a couple different ventures in business/real estate, etc. Stay tuned, all you corps nuts--one, if it launches, will interest you all! Rusty emailed me already--saw me post some obnoxious thing somewhere and wrote to say hi. I look forward to hearing from any of the rest of you who do the same! Toodles!

1.) Yes. 2.) Old-school drum corps type circuit. Lots of local groups (I'm sure HS kids in Texas would flock to the things), local circuit. Maybe a feeder system for drum corps--do brass in the summer while in HS, the drum corps when you graduate, etc. Probably not a national tour in that format, but if you want it I think it would be easy to organize. 3.) There's a video of Blast doing Malaguena on google or youtube--check out their floor. Stage size would allow you to do some really cool venues (Carnegie, Meyerson, Bass, etc). Arena/court size allows you to do every major college/pro arena in the country with extra volume to disperse volume. Probably need rhythm--sounds kind of boring without. Although I like the idea of a full battery also. Maybe not 9 snares, 5 tenors, and 5 basses, but more than just a 4-5 member rhythm. 4.) Adds logistical nightmares, but I like the idea of DCI doing this. Post age-out summer competitions, etc. Again, if its local its easy for all you band-O directors to do a couple weeks of rehearsals then a 4-week circuit in your region. Maybe a weekend or one-week national tour in central US? Good way for DC"International" to become more than 16-21 year old USA activity. (take that last statement in context-not dissin') Good idea/thread! Stay tuned...

Hey, considering the topic, maybe there's someone out there who knows a friend of mine. Guy's name is Jeremy, marched BD '94 in their AWESOME colorguard. Of all things, we met working at Wal Mart in Dallas spring '94. I say I'm marching PR that year. He says, "no way--I'm doin' BD!" How random is that? Anyways, tell him I want my rifle back. He borrowed a rifle of mine I had from winterguard a couple years previously. And no, I'm not gay--just have a gay friend *from* another corps and wanted to say hi. Anyone help???

Haven't been around the activity long, huh? Nobody take this bad, I'm not hatin'. But, yes, Novice--the gay crowd in DCI is quite apparent. Nobody seems to mind--same case back in the early/mid 90's when I was in. We made jokes, of course, but there is no difference in talent level or work ethic--that's the important thing on the field. Although sharing the showers with Cavies after a day of rehearsal at UW-Whitewater was an experience. Are there any Cavies from that corps who remember showering with PR that day? Perhaps you could share your memories--we'll never forget the experience! (Like I said, not hatin'--we were a bunch of semi-innocent 20's--if there is such a thing in DCI!)

Been there, done that! '92 Sky did Lerner and Loew's (sp?) musical 'Brigadoon.' Nice music. I don't know if it was DCEast or just a Boston show, but we're warming up for a show at (I think?) Boston University stadium and our first build up and hit in the opener is absolutely SMOKIN! I mean, if the biggest/loudest we had done in rehearsal or performance thus far were a 6 (early in season, 15th place corps, a bunch of rookies), that was about a 12! Needless to say, we went out on the field, having scared ourselves to death, and did about a 3! It didn't really seem like we ever approached that raw emotion again on that. May have been the reverb from all the buildings!

O-M-G!! Here, here--I second Nikk. '94 was my only year with PR and I have been disappointed that it wasn't an "odd year" show. Those who know PR from '89 to '97 know it was kind of an every-other year thing. '94 was an even year despite the final placement. But SHAZAM--fast forward to today and I am amazed with the comments about our show that year. OK, it still isn't '93, but hearing people (6+?) mention Clair de Lune in their top 5 means a lot! Then hearing about Ms. Williams sentiments? :angel: Wow! Thanks Mike. And thank YOU, Ms. Williams!

Ha-ha!! Leave it to my other corps to thrill me with such a thing! We had a tornado warning in '92 somewhere (pun)--don't remember if it was midwest or out east. I just remember getting out of retreat on that one (yes!). Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo! (witch's theme from 'Oz') Great story, Tim! Hey, you're one of the Hutch alum--check out my post about the '92 corps in a minute. We didn't have much contact with the Hutch corps--you may get a kick out of some of the stories people relive!!

Still available? I may be doing the VK alumni corps thing at semis in LA--need an axe if I do. I hear they'll have about every horn ever built there--this will probably be one of the more common ones, but the piston valves may take the cake! PM me if it is still available.

B corps from organizations like BD, SCV, and Colts seem to be more local in nature. I DO know that if you want to get into THAT corps, if you have a couple years to spare, and ONLY THAT corps (pick one) will do, going through the B corps route accomplishes a lot of things. First, you are IN the organization. Maybe not the A corps, but they know your name. Say you just graduated HS and were cut from BD A. They offer you a spot in B, you take it, march it, love it, live it, and show up in November to audition again. Now say you're tied with someone else for the last spot in the trumpet line that year--who do you think they'll take? Rookie or BD B vet?? Hmmm...I'd take the vet, just about hands-down. Let's not get into that discussion again, OK--its the last spot in the section and its hypothetical. Now, if you're like a lot of 18 year olds (was I the only one like this???), maybe the B corps route smacks of unworthy of your time and attention. What else are you going to do--go to college marching band and audition again next year? C'mon--get in there, work you behind off, show them you want in the A corps next year, and have a blast! Something tells me many of the people in B move up with you next year--how cool is that? Good questions, drumcat! I like the idea of later auditions for non-top 6 and D2/3--simply for logistics issues. I think that we had holes in Sky until mid-season--not an issue at Rockford. Maybe later auditions gets more attending fewer camps all in the spring. March-May then move-in. Less organizational stuff necessary, easier to recruit staff (gear up after UIL, etc competitions are over), etc. Only problem is, how many of you go nuts about three days after finishing one season and think nothing but auditions until they arrive? Then Dec camp? etc until move-in? This excitement drives things, too. Just a thought.