dstemet

Agree wholeheartedly that these arrangements are amazing. But Drew Shanefield is the arranger this year. It is his great work we all marvel at and so appreciate.

Alas, Austin was cancelled. Something unrelated to any of the corps. But they are still performing in Southlake tomorrow night!

New tenor came in a few days ago and is hard at work learning the show! I happened to be there when he was being fitted for his uniform. From New Jersey I believe!

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I think this Blue Devils show takes drum corps to a whole new place creatively. It is wonderful.

Crowd really likes Madison. I think their use of trombones was just right. Great to hear some jazz on the field. And I really like the end of their show.

Blue Knights have a very elegant approach.

Troopers - nice solid performance. Is there a corps in America that understands their identity any better?

I was down on the track for Oregon Crusaders. Great intensity from the performers.

I am up in the press box above row 70 - great elevation and Mandarin's sound is projecting very well and is really well balanced and round.

Academy is really doing a nice job and getting a very good crowd response. The clarity in their show has improved tremendously in the last week.

The field is in perfect condition here at Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University. Blue skies and a projected showtime temperature of 77º. Tickets are now available at the gate. It is going to be a perfect night for drum corps. I will be posting pictures on our show facebook page - Drums Across Kansas.

Frustrating to have so many of the hits be a close up at field level. And manic camera changes throughout. I can't remember seeing a more poorly directed broadcast.

I am a TEP writing this on my husband's account. We just had our show here last week and ours is a little different than Garfields so thought I'd throw out how we do it. Our show is at a college stadium that we pay for the use of. None of the corps that come to our show stay at the college, so we must find housing for all of our corps elsewhere. I do not use the district that the college sits in because they want to charge us too much money. Therefore I actually use 8-10 districts around our city in neighboring towns, (none further than a 40 minute drive from the stadium) and a local private school. The band directors from these districts all host the corps and we typically use the facilities for free. The band directors get to watch the corps in rehearsal and most have their students come out and watch as well - so their principals (some of which have become fans over the years) are cool with the arrangement. If we have to pay, it is usually a small fee which really just pays for toilet paper and paper towels! Also whenever a corps has asked to stay an extra night or two, I have always been able to provide free housing at these same schools! (so far at least) I provide the directors with great tickets for them and their friends/families for the show and they all have a great time. This year so far, I've had 4 (of 6) of the corps email me or tell me in person how wonderful their accommodations and hosts were. (One even said it was their best facility on tour so far:) I decide where each corps stays after I have the appropriate number of housing sites secured. Sometimes the band directors will ask for specific corps and if so I give them to them. Corps that return for multiple years I will try and place in the same school if I can. Otherwise I try to put the corps going on first in our show the closest to the stadium and so on.

From the show- going well! Currently intermission. Boston next then Madison and BD. Spirit has the biggest applause of the night so far.