DrumCorpsRadio

Just wait until you see today's post where I can't figure out why I struggled at the next day's rehearsal!

July 21, 2002, 9:51pm CT - Tour Day 59 San Antonio, TX → Wichita Falls, TX Today was our one completely free day of the summer. We got up and did laundry. Then we went to San Antonio’s Riverwalk from 2-6pm. I hung out with Curt (trumpet), Courtney (baritone), and Steve (baritone and seat partner). We headed straight for Steers and Beers. I had a great meal, although I probably spent too much money. I had the surf and turf, which was an 8oz filet mignon wrapped in bacon, three large shrimp, a baked potato, and these different carrots in some kind of honey sauce. I topped it all off with a (detail removed to protect the guilty). It set me back $35, but I think it was worth it. After we ate, we spent some time in the mall and then headed to the Alamo. I learned a bit about the battle for future use (I was studying to become a history teacher) and was glad to gain some historical knowledge this summer. It was a much needed free day, but it would have been even better had it been a few hours longer. San Antonio, TX The Cavaliers - 92.45 - All captions The Cadets - 90.5 Blue Devils - 90.35 Santa Clara Vanguard - 89.3 Glassmen - 86.15 Phantom Regiment - 85.8 Boston Crusaders - 84.55 Bluecoats - 84.2 Crossmen - 83.8 Seattle Cascades - 79.95 Spirit of Atlanta - 79.95 Blue Knights - 78.5 (Next post is July 22.)

My seat partner made a video of the summer and there's definitely a scene where I'm making that point...I had a really early version of a smartphone device that just accessed AOL Instant Messenger so I got score updates that we kept in a notebook. Hard to remember that we generally didn't know what was going on around the country back then, but we definitely were aware of this crazy stall.

July 19, 2002, 12:24am CT - Tour Day 57 Dallas, TX → Houston, TX We started the Texas run tonight at a high school stadium in Dallas. It was probably our largest crowd so far. The stadium was as large as some small colleges since Texas takes its football so seriously. It was fun to perform for a huge crowd and tonight was just a preview of the major shows to come. There were some interesting placements tonight as Madison lost to Spirit and Crown, we tied Boston, and BD closed the gap to tenths behind The Cadets. Things are really shaping up for a tight 1-4 race, a tighter 5-9, and a battle to claim the last three finals spots. Hopefully that’ll lake things more interesting for the fans. Even though we are right in the midst of it all, I’m not really all that concerned. Our show is getting better every day and we’re happier with our performance level. So long as the fans keep cheering, I’m happy. Dallas The Cadets - 89.1 - General Effect, Music Blue Devils - 88.55 - Visual Crossmen - 83.1 Boston Crusaders - 83.1 Bluecoats - 82.6 Carolina Crown - 78.05 Spirit of Atlanta - 77.6 Madison Scouts - 77.35 Southwind - 70.05 Pioneer - 63.65 July 19, 2002, 11:58pm CT - Tour Day 57 Houston, TX → San Antonio, TX The first matchup with Phantom and Glassmen didn’t exactly work out in our favor as we lost to both of them. We felt, as did the staff, that we had a good show, but I guess the judges didn’t agree. Morale is still high as we aren’t really worrying about scores and placements right now. We realize that our show is still pretty dirty. While that is true, we are running out of time. With major shows every weekend and only two weeks of shows left, there isn’t really that much rehearsing left to clean everything up. Hopefully the corps will really start to click and things will take care of themselves. Houston, TX The Cavaliers - 91.55 - General Effect, Music The Cadets - 90.4 Blue Devils - 89.7 - Visual Glassmen - 84.95 Phantom Regiment - 84.5 Crossmen - 83.85 (Next post is July 21.)

July 17, 2002, 10:00pm CT - Tour Day 55 Hennessey, OK → Dallas, TX Today was a rehearsal day in Oklahoma after shows in Alton, Illinois and Enid, Oklahoma the past two nights. We got away from some of our regular competitors and met up with some of the Midwest corps yesterday. We’ve been making good improvement on our show daily although our score has hit a bit of a wall the past few shows. We lost to Boston again in Alton, but I’m pretty confident that we can reverse that. This weekend begins the toughest competition as we start seeing all of the top corps daily. It’s an exciting change of pace that should help us make the next push. I’ve been focusing on my impressions of the Midwest for my online webmoirs (YEA blogging thing I did that I can’t find in the Wayback Machine) so I won’t go into too much detail on it here. I’m enjoying the opportunity to see some different parts of the country. I’m not used to the totally flat landscape like there is here in Oklahoma. I’ve also noticed that people around here almost exclusively drive American cars. It was funny (perhaps not the right choice of words) to see tornado evacuation signs in our housing site right next to the fire exit information. We’re heading to Texas for a good run now. Alton, Illinois The Cavaliers - 90.0 - All captions Boston Crusaders - 84.3 Crossmen - 83.9 Bluecoats - 82.3 Magic of Orlando - 84.5 Enid, Oklahoma The Cavaliers - 89.5 - All captions Crossmen - 84.05 Bluecoats - 83.2 Madison Scouts - 76.85 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 65.8 Pioneer - 64.7 Americanos - 69.45 (Next post is July 19.)

Yes...here it comes.

July 14, 2002, 9:58pm ET - Tour Day 52 Cincinnati, OH → Alton, IL We lost to Boston for the first time last night at the Fairfield, Ohio show. Granted it was only by .05 points, but it was a loss nonetheless. We’re not overly concerned as we still have plenty of room to grow as a corps. We had an excellent (grueling) rehearsal day today where we worked solely on the end of the show. It was rough but needed. I’m looking forward to this next leg of tour as we head to places I’ve never been to. We also get to see corps that we’ve yet to see as we join up with the corps that just finished the DCM tour. I’ll see Mike with the Madison Scouts in two days in Oklahoma. He was a fellow soprano player in the Caballeros. I’m going to enjoy a movie for a little while before getting some bus sleep. Fairfield The Cadets - 88.25 - All captions Boston Crusaders - 83.05 Crossmen - 83.00 Spirit of Atlanta - 76.75 Carolina Crown - 76.1 Magic of Orlando - 82.4 (Next post is July 17.)

July 13, 2002, 12:20am ET - Tour Day 51 Buffalo, NY → Cincinnati, OH We had a few days of rehearsal after Ogdensburg where we began putting in music and visual changes. Some of the new visual additions are pretty intense, especially for me. While it is pretty hard, it makes performing all the more fun. We’ve been off our performance level for the last two shows, although our scores are rapidly increasing again. The pace of scores in DCI this year seems to be leading to a record score. [Editor's note - The Cavaliers did set a high score record at the end of the year.] I feel like the corps and myself personally are at a mid-season crossroads. Frustration occurs regularly, the work on the field is tedious, and it’s now when we find out exactly where we are going this summer. Only time will tell… Hornell The Cadets - 88.85 - All captions Crossmen - 83.4 Boston Crusaders - 82.3 Spirit of Atlanta - 76.3 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 67.25 Magic of Orlando - 83.8 Patriots - 73.3 Buffalo The Cadets - 89.45 - All captions Crossmen - 84.8 Boston Crusaders - 83.3 Spirit of Atlanta - 78.5 Carolina Crown - 77.3 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 67.95 Magic of Orlando - 85.15 Patriots - 73.2 (Next post is July 14.)

July 9, 2002, 12:30am ET - Tour Day 47 Ogdensburg, NY → Allentown, PA We had a long day of rehearsal, 8 hours in total today, because we were housed at the show site and performed last in the show. The show was delayed due to rain. As we started our show, it really started to come down and by our ballad, it was absolutely pouring. The harder it rained, the more into the show I became. The crowd also showed their appreciation for the performance we gave under such adverse conditions. It was a fun show and we impressed some people, too. Ogdensburg Crossmen - 82.6 - General Effect, Music Boston Crusaders - 80.3 - Visual Carolina Crown - 75.0 Spirit of Atlanta - 73.8 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 67.45 Magic of Orlando - 83.0 Patriots - 69.65 (Next post is July 13.)

Loved that you shared this! Also, I listened to the 92 Crossmen on the ride to every single show during the 02 season.

July 7, 2002, 10:37pm ET - Tour Day 45 Cortland, NY The weather has cooled down now that we are in New York. We’re back to working hard and making progress on the show. Corps alliances and rivalries are starting to take shape. We had an interesting night with the Boston Crusaders. [Section removed to protect the guilty.] We march retreat next to them at almost every show for the rest of the season so it should be fun. Hershey The Cadets - 84.9 - all captions Crossmen - 79.4 Bluecoats - 77.4 Boston Crusaders - 76.7 Spirit of Atlanta - 72.8 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 79.75 Magic of Orlando - 79.75 Syracuse Brigadiers - 78.05 Hawthorne Caballeros - 73.4 Reading Buccaneers - 71.4 Bushwackers - 69.1 Cortland The Cadets - 85.85 - all captions Crossmen - 81.9 Boston Crusaders - 79.8 Carolina Crown - 74.5 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 65.3 Magic of Orlando - 82.05 (Next post is July 9.)

July 5, 2002, 10:13pm ET - Tour Day 43 Allentown, PA → Hanover, PA Well, it turned out that we got a free day after all. Instead of going to Hersheypark, we did a performance and then had free time at Dorney Park. I, for one, appreciated the time off. I got to spend a few hours with my family and Megan. The parades yesterday were pretty rough due to the extreme heat conditions, but the corps took care of us as best they could and we made it through pretty well. About 20 minutes into the ride from Bristol, Rhode Island to Wakefield, Massachusetts, our bus shut down because it was overheating. We dispersed onto the rest of the buses, but it was very crowded and uncomfortable. I was actually one of the lucky ones because I got a seat while others had to stand for over an hour. So all in all, we’re working towards erasing our last show in Bristol with a strong showing in Hershey tomorrow night. (Next post is July 7.)

Maybe an epilogue!

Haha. The hotel room was not for me. It was for them to be there for the show and free time in the park.

Thanks for sharing that. For some reason, I feel like it might have been Kris that taught at Scenic City although he lived in NJ so I'm not sure. I can post the trumpet pages from the yearbook to help figure it out!

July 4, 2002, 12:07am ET - Tour Day 42 Portsmouth, RI The past two days have been, by far, the hottest of the summer so far. It got to over 100 with the heat index and we were out working in it. Last night it paid off with a great performance in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but tonight we had a weak showing in Bristol, Rhode Island. Our show last night was good enough to win percussion and general effect visual and put us within two points of the Blue Devils. My focus is on Friday night when we were supposed to have a free night at Hersheypark. I made plans to meet Megan (girlfriend) there to spend the night at the park together. My mother even went to the trouble of getting a hotel room and setting everything up, but now we are no longer taking the free night in Hersey. So I can’t even tell Megan about the change until tomorrow night because she’s not back from her cruise yet. I’m pretty disappointed about the change, but we’ll work through it. Bridgeport Blue Devils - 82.0 - all captions Crossmen - 80.05 Boston Crusaders - 77.45 Spirit of Atlanta - 74.25 Carolina Crown - 72.35 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 64.85 Magic of Orlando - 77.8 Bristol The Cadets - 84.5 - all captions Blue Devils - 82.1 Crossmen - 78.15 Boston Crusaders - 76.4 Bluecoats - 75.55 Carolina Crown - 73.6 Spirit of Atlanta - 72.4 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 61.75 (Next post is July 5.)

July 1, 2002, 11:05pm ET - Tour Day 39 Beverly, MA → Stratford, CT Today was a full rehearsal day in Beverly, Massachusetts. It was good because we needed the rehearsal time and we didn’t travel last night so we were able to get a full night’s sleep. It was not so good because I am fully and completely out of the long, full day of rehearsing schedule. I don’t even know how I did that every day during spring training. It seems like such a long time ago. We started working on a musical and visual revamp of “Candle in the Window” today, but it won’t be ready for a few days. Like every other time we’ve tried to rework the ballad, practice went very slowly as the staff played around with different ideas. In the end, I hope this change pays off though because I’d much rather spend rehearsal time cleaning what we’ve already got rather than putting in a whole new tune. As for as the competition world goes, we dropped below Santa Clara Vanguard and Phantom Regiment over the weekend, but we won’t see either corps for direct competition for a few more weeks so it’s really hard to say where we stand. Beverly The Cadets - 83.50 - all captions Blue Devils - 81.85 Crossmen - 78.55 Boston Crusaders - 76.85 Spirit of Atlanta - 72.10 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 63.30 Exh. Boston Crusaders Senior Exh. East Coast Jazz (Next post is July 4.)

June 29, 2002, 11:58pm ET - Tour Day 37 Clifton, NJ → Beverly, MA After a little bit of a disappointment last night in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, we came back strong tonight. It was the first time we really emoted our show and executed it all at the same time. We’re still running about three points behind the Blue Devils, which is still exciting. I don’t even care that much about beating them for the season, but it would be fun to beat them at some point. We still hold on to our position in the #4 spot. I enjoyed the past few days because I’ve had the opportunity to perform in front of people I know. Megan (girlfriend at the time) was at the show last night, which was a bit flat, but still pretty good. Only about another week until we leave the east coast. Lansdale The Cadets - 82.00 - all captions Blue Devils - 79.60 Crossmen - 76.25 Spirit of Atlanta - 71.20 Carolina Crown - 70.60 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 62.45 Jersey Surf - 62.55 Lehigh Valley Knights - 55.55 Clifton The Cadets - 82.35 - all captions Blue Devils - 80.70 Crossmen - 77.70 Spirit of Atlanta - 73.45 Carolina Crown - 70.50 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 63.40 Jersey Surf - 61.75 (Next post is July 1.)

We were in love with our show that year and the early season competitive success was exciting too. That will fade once Blue Devils go away for a week and turn their show into a monster!

June 27, 2002, 12:09am ET - Tour Day 35 Herndon, VA → Pennsville, NJ First of all, the results from the 6/25 show in Winston-Salem: The Cadets - 80.60 - Music, General Effect, Visual (tie) Blue Devils - 78.75 - Visual (tie) Crossmen - 76.20 Spirit of Atlanta - 68.25 Carolina Crown - 67.85 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 58.45 Magic of Orlando - 76.90 It’s hard to believe that we’re only 2 ½ points behind the Blue Devils. We’re off to an extraordinary start and we’re still very dirty. If you compare scores from other shows, we’re actually 4th in the country right ahead of Santa Clara. Ironic, eh? Tonight we had a show in Herndon, Virginia. It rained a few hours before the show started so the show wasn’t our greatest because the field wasn’t in great shape. The yard lines and hashes were pretty much invisible too, but we did the best we could and our score still managed to improve. Tomorrow we have a show in Lansdale, Pennsylvania and Saturday is Clifton, New Jersey. I’m looking forward to performing for people I know. The Cadets - 81.50 - all captions Crossmen - 77.40 Carolina Crown - 70.65 Spirit of Atlanta - 69.30 Kiwanis Kavaliers - 59.65 Magic of Orlando - 77.60 Lehigh Valley Knights - 55.45 (Next post is June 29.)

June 25, 2002, 9:21am ET - Tour Day 33 Ledford, NC We had our first show last night in Columbia, South Carolina. We worked extremely hard for the last few days leading into the debut and it paid off. Even though we lost some rehearsal time and our preshow run-through due to a thunderstorm, we turned it on at the stadium. We placed 4th with a score of 74.15 last night. The Cavaliers - 81.45 - all captions The Cadets - 79.55 Blue Devils - 78.00 Crossmen - 74.15 Carolina Crown - 68.45 Spirit of Atlanta - 66.90 Magic of Orlando - 70.25 We watched a video of the performance on the bus and I really was impressed to see how much improvement we’ve made. The drill is rapidly increasing in clarity. It was a great first show and start to the season. (Next post is June 27.)

June 20, 2002, 10:21pm ET - Tour Day 28 Pennsville, NJ → Colonial Heights, VA Today was a pretty good day. It was really hot and we worked a little slow in the afternoon, but we really turned it on tonight. We did a lot of cleaning and our first full run-through of the entire show. We finished learning the drill last night in Stamford, Connecticut. We’ve also been doing clinics all week, which I’ve enjoyed. It gives us a chance to perform our show in front of an appreciative audience. The kids have been hanging out with the corps for the day too. Yesterday’s clinic was the best because there were probably 50 kids participating. It also breaks up the monotony of rehearsal days. The corps is making a lot of progress these last couple of days before the shows begin. We have one more clinic and then two rehearsal days until our first competition. I’m looking forward to shorter rehearsal days and the thrill of competition. Our drill is pretty incredible and I think it could rank up there with the top corps in DCI as far as demand goes. Things are coming along, but we still have lots of work to do. (Next post is June 25.)

June 18, 2002, 11:03pm ET - Tour Day 26 Cheshire, CT → Stamford, CT We’re into the final week before judged competition begins. Today was our first of four days of clinics. I enjoyed doing the clinic and having the high school kids look up to us. I also enjoy having the extra opportunity to perform. We had some rough issues with housing the last few days that caused us to stay with The Cadets on Sunday night and we had to share rehearsal facilities all day Monday. Then we drove an hour and a half to a housing site only to sleep 5 ½ hours to turn around and drive back across the state this morning. We are currently driving to the same area we housed in last night. As far as show progress goes, it’s slow. Yesterday we made some changes and learned a few new pages to “Strawberry Soup.” Today we spent most of the day adjusting sets at the end of the opener (for color guard staging). Then, tonight, we made some major changes to “Candle in the Window.” I’m getting nervous about whether or not we’ll be adequately prepared for Monday’s show. We see The Cavaliers who are already competing and the Blue Devils and The Cadets. If we come out weak, it’s going to set us up for a long summer of trying to play catch up and that’s no fun. I’m sure we’ll make some major progress this week and over the weekend though. (Next post is June 20.)

June 15, 2002, 9:34pm ET - Tour Day 23 Gettysburg, PA → Boston, MA We had our first performance of our 2002 field show tonight in Gettysburg. Most of our rehearsal time during the past two days included rain, but we worked through it as best we could. For tonight’s show we marched right up to the fast tempo ending in “Strawberry Soup” where we stood still to finish. The show went pretty well for our first performance. There were plenty of problems with tempo and Aussies falling off people’s heads, but all in all I’d say it was a success. Our show generates excitement, which will make it a fun summer for us. I found it really interesting rehearsing so close to the main battlefield of Gettysburg. Even the area we practiced in had monuments and markers to brigades and fallen soldiers. I wish we had a little more time here to explore some of the historical sites, but I guess our focus this summer is drum corps, not history anyway. We have a little more than a week before our first judged show. (Next post is June 18.)

June 13, 2002, 11:31pm ET - Tour Day 21 Allentown, PA Tomorrow morning we pack and load for our first exhibition in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I’m really excited to get out on the road and into the heart of the season. We made some good progress on our show today during an extended ensemble block at a local high school stadium. We won’t have our entire show ready for Saturday night, but I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal. After Saturday we have a parade and then our clinics leading into our first judged performance in about 10 days. I expect that things will begin to move quickly now. The DCI season is just about upon us! (Next post is June 15.)