jivey2002

If each of the winners (1st place) of DIV I, II, and III want to send me their address and their shirt size I'll make sure that something gets sent out to you.

This summer DCP had a few competitions going on in another forum called the "Olympiad Games." One of the contests involve the players to create the best drum corps name they could. Now you can help one of our players win a prize by voting for which one had the best name. Thank You.

Kosmos and Silver Crest were rival corps during FDCP Season 1

doh!

ouch :( And so hits the first dissapointment for the kids of Silver Crest. Rather than practice on a day that they thought they would be getting ready for a performance it was decided that the corps would split up for a free day. Some corps members are watching the championships, while others tour Chicago or are visiting Six Flags Great America.

Replace one of the Blue Devils with Scouts

I just changed all my scores around and used up all 8 of my caption changes and I think it worked out for the best. On the last email of scores that were sent out my corps was the highest scoring corps that day b**bs so hopefully its for the best....

I think they were going to try that with today's scores.... the recap is up :P

FROM....................TO.......................Distance (mi)....Time(hr, min) Maple Grove, MN.........Whitewater, WI...........320.5............5, 13 Whitewater, WI..........Menomonie, WI............235.8............3, 54 Menomonie, WI...........West Des Moines, IA......310.1............4, 48 West Des Moines, IA.....Sun Prairie, WI..........317.3............5, 42 Sun Prairie, WI.........Gorie, IA................316.0............6, 10 Gorie, IA...............Sioux City, IA...........122.5............3, 10 Sioux City, IA..........Rosemont, IL.............528.0............8, 7 Rosemont, IL............Oswego, IL................40.8............1, 2 Oswego, IL..............Toledo, OH...............281.4............4, 37 Toledo, OH..............Columbus, OH.............138.2............2, 39 Columbus, OH............Sandusky, OH.............129.2............2, 27 Sandusky, OH............Waukesha, WI.............394.2............6, 29 Waukesha, WI............Milwaukee, WI.............18.0............0, 27 Milwaukee, WI...........Bloomington, IL..........219.8............3, 27 Bloomington, IL.........Rockford, IL.............132.6............2, 14 Rockford, IL............St. Cloud, MN............401.9............6, 10 St. Cloud, MN...........Chicago, IL..............473.9............7, 17 Chicago, IL.............LaCrosse, WI.............283.4............4, 29 LaCrosse, WI............Mankato, MN..............157.7............3, 0 Mankato, MN.............Sauk Rapids, MN..........144.0............2, 31 Sauk Rapids, MN.........Omaha, NE................524.5............8, 4 Omaha, NE...............El Paso, TX............1,215.5...........19, 15 El Paso, TX.............Spring Valley, NV........822.7...........12, 39 Spring Valley, NV.......Santa Fe, NM.............636.0............9, 47 Santa Fe, NM............Dallas, TX...............635.7............9, 46 Dallas, TX..............Austin, TX...............195.8............3, 48 Austin, TX..............Crown Point, IN........1,192.3...........18, 20 Crown Point, IN.........Bloomington, IN..........182.3............3, 49 Bloomington, IN.........Boston, MA...............997.4...........15, 20 Total Travel Distance: 11,367.5 mi. Total Travel Time: 184 Hours and 41 Minutes

hopefully you got all of my information...

Closed... Congratulations to the winner! Congratulations to everyone who wrote a review they were all great!

ok... the activity in here is slowing down... Try and get your votes in by midnight tomorrow!

w/Stp: I only came across one bad review.... the one I wrote

btw Voting ends Dec. 13th.

ITS YOUR TURN NOW! The following reviews have been selected to be among the best. Just go through read them then come back here and vote for your favorite review! Top 10! 1. Louisville KY, 6/26/04, Show Review 2. DCA thoughts, views and funny stuff 3. TOC - San Jose Flint Center, ......Absolutely Incredible Indoor Show! 4. Phantom Regiment January Camp Review, More Beef-A-Roo and a Bite on the Bum 5. A Positive Indy Review!, and very loooong 6. Wichita Falls TX Review -- June 25, 2004, A Summer Night With Drums and Bugles 7. DCM 2004 8. Menomonie Post Show Review, Final words on tonight's show 9. Normal, IL Show 10. DCA Championship Prelim/Final Review, Better late than never....

I'm reposting this on DCP from Lee Rudnicki's blog. The original can be found here. Sunday, July 11, 2004 DCM 2004 Copyright Lee Rudnicki 2004 Curtain: Open ACT 1. THURSDAY. Four groups of Renegades covertly assemble in different airports across California; Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento. The flights are synchoronized so they all arrive at Chicago O'Hara Airport within minutes of one another. After Veronica hands me a Lionel Richie photo that she tore out of the in-flight magazine, the red-eye flight is uneventful. Although the excitement is factor 11, most Renegades try to sleep. Rumi plays Nintendo Gameboy. Plane: Zzzzzzzzz. Snore snore snore. Beep (Gameboy). Lights: dim ACT 2. FRIDAY KINDA STILL THURSDAY. Ridiculously early in the morning (5:17 a.m. = 3:17 a.m. PST), the Renegades assemble in Chicago O'Hara. One tenor player is MIA. Three horns comically missed the flight from LA, and will catch up with us in Dekalb in a few hours (tying the missed flight record we set at DCA 2003). Another horn player is not here because he just became a father (congratulations Tony!) DCM guru Roman Blenski arrives at Chicago O'Hara in a convoy of three red Northern Illinois University buses and an equipment truck. The Renegades and their equipment are soon mobile and heading towards Dekalb on a Mission. First order of business on the Mission is breakfast. Then sleep. Roman gives us the keys to Pioneer staff van. Very cool. Thanks Roman. The Renegade staff is now mobile. The staff checks into the Stratford Inn in the nearby town of Sycamore. ACT 3 - DEFINITELY FRIDAY. REHEARSAL 1:00 PM. Rain. Rain. Rain. Rehearsal begins inside, with the horns in the gym, the drums in a classroom and the Reneguard rehearsing outside until they got sufficiently wet, and then inside. The Blue Stars rehearse in the school, and I spend some time checking out their horn rehearsal. They sound really good. Note to Self: Make sure to see the Blue Stars show tomorrow tonight. Brent Turner, Director of Minnesota Brass, and Brad Furlano from Blue Stars drive up in a rental truck full of Blue Stars pit equipment for the Renegades. This kind gesture quickly sets the tone between the Renegades and Minnesota Brass for the rest of the weekend. The two corps may be fierce DCA competitors, but they are also fast becoming close friends. After talking to Brent on the phone for 6 or 7 months to help plan the DCM mission, it is great to finally meet him in person. Eventually the rain, stops, and the Renegades heads out to the field. The huge fields around Dekalb High School are crowded with approximately 492 girl's soccer games in progress and a few assorted drum corps. The corps and staff alike are extremely jet-lagged and ensemble rehearsal does not go well. In the middle of production runs of Channel One Suite, it starts to rain. The rain quickly turns into a monsoon. WTF. Rehearsal continues in the monsoon. Frankly, this was not one of our better rehearsals of the year, but the final run-through pulls things together somewhat. [DINNER] ACT 4 -- THE GEORGE HOPKINS PARK CONCERT. The Renegades arrive at George Hopkins Park for the Friday Night drum corps concert, and I immediately go watch the Kilties horn warm-up. Jerry Kelsey, who arranged Russian Christmas Music for Renegades last year, is in the middle of the horn arc. The new and improved Kilties hornline has a very warm and in-tune sound. Very cool. The Reneguard gets off the bus in their new "Goodbye Blue Skies" uniforms, which immediately cause a commotion in the parking lot, even among our own corps members. At one point, Chris has to turn the entire horn line and drum line around to give them directions for the concert (they were staring at the Reneguard). Frankly, we were a little nervous how the new guard uniforms would be received, especially in the Midwest. They are definitely one step over the edge. Well, OK. Maybe 25 or 30 steps over the edge. The concert venue is perfect. Hundreds of people are in the audience, and the corps looks menacing on stage. Spotlights coming up from the ground light up the individual members faces like an old Dracula movie. Since the stage is too small for Reneguard, they take positions to the left of the stage to get a run-through to the music in their new iniforms. Please allow me to get right to the point. This was not an ordinary drum corps concert for me. This was an EXPERIENCE ... one that made the entire DCM trip worth it for me. This was the best I've ever heard the Renegades in concert, and the best fan reaction I have ever seen for the corps in concert, bar none. The corp was on fire, and the acoustics of the band shell turned the first 20 rows or so of the audience into a nuclear blast zone. Hiroshima x 6. The fans seated around me went completely BERSERK!! Standing on their seats, pointing, cheering, crying, jumping, hopping, yelling, ... you name it, they we're doing it. It felt like Beatlemania ... freaking incredible, and I was in tears by the closer. Dear DCM corps and Dekalb fans: thank you, thank you, thank you for this concert. You were UNBELIEVABLE, and you gave the 128+ people in our corps an experience that we will never forget. Hopefully, the Renegades did the same for you. *** ACT 5 -- FRIDAY NIGHT, POST CONCERT FESTIVITIES After the concert, many Govenaires and Renegades assemble in a bus for a night time bar hopping bus trip reminiscent of the Merry Pranksters bus trips of the 1960s. The majority of the staff assembles at the bar in the Stratford Inn for a strategy session. Horn instructor Larrie Dastrup orders two drinks called "Grateful Deads." After the second Grateful Dead, he immediately announces his impending retirement from consciousness, and heads back to his room. ACT 6 -- SATURDAY MORNING, HUSKIE STADIUM We assemble the corps outside Huskie Stadium for warm-up, as the Royal Airs rehearse inside. At 12:00 PM, the corps marches out onto the field, and launch into a run-through. The Royal Airs cheer and scream at the end of each tune. The Renegades hype off the Royal Airs applause, and the run-through is the best of the entire season. Awesome. After the run-through, we do production runs of various parts of the show. Playing on completely new instruments for the first time (Blue Stars pit), the pit is having a little difficulty locking in, but overall, things are going well. After the stadium rehearsal, the corps has 2 hours for lunch, and then 2 hours of sectionals back at Dekalb High School. [DINNER] ACT 7 -- DCM CHAMPIONSHIPS The Renegades arrive at NIU at 8:00 p.m. for warm-up. Rumi and I immediately go into the stadium to catch some of the Marines and Blue Stars. What can you say about the Marines drum and bugle corps except that they are great, and their presence adds something very special to a drum corps show, especially these days. Blue Stars did not disappoint me. If I had to pick one corps that I think is headed for the top 12 in the next few years, I would go with the Blue Stars. They also had my favorite uniforms of the night. Simple, but very cool, and they don't look like any other corps. As the Renegades go to the gate, I go inside to watch Kilties. Although there is work yet to be done, the Kilties are good this year, and they will make a serious run at Finals on Labor Day Weekend. Dear Micheal Cesario -- the new Kilties uniforms are very cool. Nice job. At exactly 10:10 PM, the Renegades took the field. The show definitely went over well with the fans. We had the first of 5 or 6 standing ovations in the first minute of the show! The guard uniforms did not create the riot we had feared, but instead the crowd started cheering for the individual characters in the guard. Which means that the new visual program theory works. Woo-hoo! All in all, the show was good, and the excitement level was an "11." Interestingly enough, I heard different reactions from fans about the Reneguard, including that they looked liked the Cirque du Soliel cast, characters from The Crow, Madonna's dancers etc. You name it, I heard it. My favorite was a guy from Blue Stars who told me "I couldn't stop looking at them ... but I had to ... I had to look away ... they were freaking me out, man!!" Truth be told, although the corps was good and the crowd went nuts, from a technical execution standpoint, our show was not as good as I had expected it to be. Sorry if that is not p.c. or whatever, but I gotta call it as I saw it ... I am incredibly proud of our corps, but I was a little bit disappointed in our performance. We were better in the morning run-through, and tonight included one major but brief ensemble tear in the Appalacian Morning drum break. New pit equipment, jet-lag, blown chops, first time under lights this year ... whatever. As a corps, we need to take our best run-through into the competition ... that is the Mission for the remaining two months or so of the season. Having said that, this is the Renegades ... We'll be there. *** So then came Minnesota Brass. Minnesota Brass was very good tonight, especially their fantastic drum line. Some solid show design ideas, and the corps is marching cleanly for this time of year. After their performance, I told Rumi that Minnesota Brass was cleaner than Renegades, and that I thought that we lost tonight. I went down to talk to our drum line, they told me that they did not have a good show. Ug. [insert brief moment of drum instructor stress] Royal Airs took the field, and I had an opportunity to check them out from the side. I like their music a great deal. Whoever pulled this corps out of retirement a few years ago did a great thing for drum corps, and I hope they keep the Royal Airs tradition going strong for years to come. Then came the scores. So, there I was, standing outside of the stadium during retreat talking to most of the Renegades staff, and they announced my name on retreat as a "corps manager." I didn't know this was going to happen, but even if I did, the person out there should be Chris Nalls, the corps director. Chris raised much of the money for the corps to take this trip to DCM, and his genius contribution towards running the corps and coordinating housing and rehearsals is second to none. So, I defer to Chris as the "corps manager." BUT ... I was outside the stadium, and they had just randomly announced my name over the PA System to the entire crowd. Humored, I raised my arms, tipped my hat and waved to the crowd like Cal Ripken Jr. Of course, no one in the crowd actually saw this, since the fans were all in the stadium, and I was amused and outside in the parking lot jumping around like an idiot. LOL. Then came the scores. When they announced Renegades in second place by eight tenths of a point, I was bummed. Who wouldn't be. But, the better corps won tonight, and all the corps all put on a fantastic DCM show for the fans. It's early season for DCA, and it's all good. I walked back into the stadium and over to Minnesota Brass to congratulate the corps. They welcomed me with open arms, and I got to hear them sing their corps song, which was cool. Brent gave me some Minnesota Brass t-shirts, and we planned to meet at the after-show party. I went back to our souvie booth to grab an armload of Renegades schwag for our Midwest pals (Brent got the new Renegades fleece and Kilties drum guru Chris Thompson is the proud new owner of a Drum Corps is Evil shirt). [iNTERMISSION] DCM 2004 CONCLUSIONS. 1. Success. Even with another major drum corps show scheduled for the same night in the area, I understand that DCM hit their target paid fan numbers, and the show was a success. Hopefully, DCI and DCM can work together closer next year, and make more great drum corps shows for everyone. If DCM continues in this format, it would be great to see the Empire Statesmen AND Renegades AND Minnsota Brass at DCM next year. The crowd would double. 2. Goodbye Blue Skies works. We have a fantastic show on our hands, but now we need to clean it and max out the musicality (the loud we got, lol). For me, Goodbye Blue Skies is the best drum corps show I've ever worked on, and it has the potential to become epic by DCA. After next weekend, Renegades go into the traditional "death camp", where the corps drops out of sight and cleans the show for 6 weeks before DCA. Look out. 3. Math. The judges got the Minnesota Brass/Renegades placement right at DCM, and the best corps won the night. But for the record, (since I broke my usual practice and actually looked at a recap), I respectfully but strongly disagree with one judge's point spread. Dude... [END INTERMISSION] So then came chaos. Things got really, really fun when a huge drum corps party broke out on the grounds of the Best Western Hotel. Hundreds of Renegades, Kilties, Governaires, Chops and Minessota Brass running amok. The "Kilites choir" broke into song, many beverages were seen, as the party chaos factor crescendoed. Besides my Renegades pals, I hung out with Brent Turner (MBI), Mike Phillips, Chris Thompson and Jerry Kelsey (Kilties), evil Gabe Kangas(Kilties and Crunchy Frog) and Stefanie K. (Kilties) and about 777 other people I met whose names were probably permanently erased from my memory bank by the evil beverages the Kilties gave me. The chaos continued, and in some circles, the chaos factor greatly exceeded all expectations. Meanwhile... the Kilties choir was still happily singing. At around 2:00 AM, law enforcement arrived, but they miraculously did not shut the chaotic party down. They just moved it a block to the West. Dear Scranton Cops: Imagine that. Being nice to the groups that pour millions of dollars into your economy. At around 4:30 AM, the party had diminished somewhat, as there were only 200 drum corps people left standing. (!) Before I ended up back at my hotel, I have vague memories of hanging my two Renegades staff passes around the necks of two absolutely gorgeous blonde women who I randomly saw kiss one another. I have no explanation for how or why that brief intense scene occurred right in front of me, but if these two mysterious women don't deserve staff passes, I don't know who does. The day ended at 5:00 AM. when I climbed into bed at the Stratford Inn (one of the coolest hotels in the world, BTW). Our first-ever DCM trip was a success, and I went to sleep with a smile on my face. And now ... some thank yous -- Disclaimer: Please note, there are some sincere "thank-yous" in here, and I reserve the right to amend any of them if I leave someone out, because I almost always do. Got it? OK? Good. Here we go. 1. Drum Corps Midwest. Thank you to our friends Brent Turner and Roman Blenski for going above and beyond the call of duty for making the Renegades feel welcome, and for solving our logistical issues. I cannot believe how smoothly things ran. Special thank you to the Blue Stars for the use of their pit equipment, and Pioneer for their staff van. 2. Minnesota Brass. Much like the early days of the SCV-BD West Coast rivalry, the early season DCM competition made both Minnesota Brass and Renegades both a much better drum corps this year. With so many great corps this year from all over the country (World), DCA 2004 is gonna ROCK! 3. Movers and Shakers. Moving an entire drum corps and its equipment across the country by airplane is a logistical operation second only to things like getting the Army to Iraq. We are getting better at this every year, but the Renegades pulled the logistics part of the DCM trip only through the heroic efforts of Johanna Miller (people), Matt Heckmann (equipment), Robin Kino####a (souvies, hotels etc) and Chris Nalls (everything). United and Southwest airlines also were pretty cool about the whole thing as well, but we still plan on getting our own black jet with shark's teeth someday. One step at a time. 4. Our Financial Donors. Renegades trip was made possible in a large part because we have had numerous financial donors step forward from within and outside of the organization. In fact, the level of support is incredible, and I cannot believe how many people truly believe in the Renegades enough to go the distance to get whatever needs to get done, done. Thank you to everyone who donated to make this trip possible. Also, thank you Renegades Souvie Team X, who kept the Renegades merchandise flying off the shelves. 5. Blue Stars. I am officially a fan. Very cool anime-inspired t-shirts, by the way. I want one~! 6. The fans. Thank you x 1,000. 7. Seven. the end. Curtain: Close Thanks for reading Blog 7, Lee Rudnicki p.s. Crazy flight back to CA story coming soon.

I have enough to go through. I'll set up the poll by the end of the week for voting.

I'm doing this now. I'm finishing up selecting the reviews I have the poll up for voting by this weekend.

Official Statement from Silver Crest FDCI holy mother of monkey we made semi's.... Thank you.

people complained that Pioneer wasn't playing its Irish music. Now people complain cause they do... I've learned theres no pleasing everyone :P Thanks for the review though!

mine went up a full point :)

so then... next weekend?

btw...whats up with the scores being in the thousandths place... (both here and DCI)

its ok have a beer :mmm: