John H

Having played at the Dock twice on Thursday, with Minne-Brass and with MBI, the idea of doing a mini corps contest there troubles me. Minne-Brass fit on the stage with a certain amount of room left over, so it's conceivable that VERY limited drill could be accommodated. Okay, we tweak the gig expectations so the mini corps don't do a bunch of movement. More notes, louder music, cool. From the performers perspective, no sweat. The far bigger problem with doing mini corps at the Dock stage would be that the area available around the stage isn't even NEARLY big enough to accommodate the size of the crowd that shows up normally to watch the mini corps. I'm thinking about the size of the crowd that was there watching Thursday night, the various trees and obstructions that blocked off A LOT of views in that area, and comparing it to the size of the crowd at the contest Friday night. I don't see any way that that number of people can jam into the stage area and have anything like a satisfying listening or viewing spectator experience. I'm sorry to dump cold water here, but I truly don't see the Dock stage as a satisfactory performance space for the kind of crowd that typically wants to be there for mini corps. Perhaps if the parking area right next to it were cleared out and THAT space was set up? I could see that maybe working. Put up a stage on one side, and bring in a bunch of chairs?

It was me.

aw no way man, Bucs are cool.

oh jeez Scott, you're cracking me up! gonna be laughing all day! HIGHFIIIVE!

Well, they're nothing like "camp weekends" in the sense that other corps do. Particularly the last several years with our winter drumline and colorguard, we don't do any corps "camp weekends" until May. Last few years the winter "camps" have been simply hornline sectional time once a month on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon for 4 or 5 hours. The spinners and drummers in the corps that are not in the winter programs don't have weekend commitments until May. This year, we did take our Saturday afternoon time in March and learn Intro drill with horns and drums, since it's pretty physical. And freakin' sweet. Yes, we do weekly rehearsals Wednesday nights from January thru August, which is possibly unique in drum corps?

Minnesota Brass has both a winter guard and a winter drumline. These are separate selection and separate membership from the full summer corps roster, although there is overlap for sure. This past weekend Feb 18-19 both groups performed in WGI regionals. The MBI Winter Guard won first place in Independent Open at the Kansas City regional, and the Minnesota Brass Indoor Drumline won first place in Independent Open at the Indianapolis regional. Winter Guard Facebook Indoor Drumline Facebook We are very proud of these groups!

tl;dr I mean, really.

fixed it for ya, Curt.

We come from the land of the ice and snow, From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow. The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, To fight the horde, singing and crying: VALHALLA, I AM COMING!

maybe rope in a couple more to reach 60. that'd be cool.

very happy to say we heard this evening from Yui that she and Ikumi, both of whom played with us in 2009, are fine. they live down closer to Osaka, so they are several hundred miles away from the epicenter. would not expect major widespread damage that far away apparently, even with an 8.9.

running my eye across that quickly, I read: 'a trombone is a cynical instrument. bugles are comical!' I swear I'm not kidding. back to . . whatever you were doing

BWWWAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! brilliant, brassEXPERT, brilliant!! that is phenominal, one even might say artistic, trolling! you nailed it all; the snarky tone, the illogical vaguely coherent thought, the claim of inner-circle secret info, the classic "i'm smarter than you" wrap-up at the end, the hidden brand new profile info. SPOT ON in every detail. i salute you sir, for your virtuosic parody of trolling wizardry ! ! ! edit to add another because you made my day, brassEXPERT. i'll be laughing for hours!

there's the party area, the stage and the seating for the audience . . .and a big open floorspace over on the other side where nobody goes. what about using that space? I've wondered about that big un-used floorspace every year. how bout move the stage and seating over a bit into the (now) dead space so it's not 'centered' on the room? line up the edge of the stage on the doors going out to the loading dock, or something like that? (I'm sure there's some kind of access regulations involved for fire safety) that's 15-20 yards or so distance. put open floor space between the party area and audience seating. the party area stays where it is, but maybe 'contain' it some way? rope it so it doesn't spread all the way to the seating? curtain walls? people can shoot the breeze together w/out being right on top of audience. would love to keep it a free and easy party atmosphere . . and still give the serious audience a workable environment . . .

hey Trevor, you may want to rephrase; didn't come across the way I think you were thinking it. they're equating you to that . . person . . from TX who whines all the time. but I guess then it wouldn't be a joke, if you have to explain it . . ah heck, he's probably already on the way to tonight's parade . .

as I recall, Ray Vasquez put us onto Hammond because he knows and uses Karl's mpcs, and we worked with a dealer Chris Volpe based here in the Twin Cities to get samples, answer questions, and deliver the order. check out how to contact Karl directly here: Hammond contact

Donny, I'd heartily recommend the Hammonds to you for Pioneer. We noticed a lot of improvements when we started on them with MN Brass. He makes a couple different cup/rim setups I understand, so you might talk with him about which would be best for your goals.

fantastic news! looking forward to seeing you here in MN, and at DCA, this summer!

same here. (duh) loved playing that music, loved marching the drill, and I like the props in the big V followed by the brass wall followed by the low brass hocket followed by . . hmm, I really liked that show. but yeah, Red Skies was seriously cool too.

Minnesota Brass is proud to announce our 2010 program: Caravan Night and stars above that shine so bright. The mystery of their fading light. That shines upon our Caravan -Duke Ellington An odyssey through the desert is in store for MBI fans this year. The story of our voyage will be told in five acts: Camp, Mirage, Sandstorm, Oasis, and Caravan. Musical selections for the production include: "Bangkok" (from Chess) "Danse Bacchanale" (Camille Saint-Saens) "Nefud Mirage" (from Lawrence of Arabia) "Kashmir" (Led Zepplin) "Scheherazade" (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) "Caravan" (Duke Ellington) "This is going to be a fantastic vehicle for our Corps," said Joel Matuzak-MBI Program Coordinator, "The music and concept allows us to continue to innovate in the all-age Drum Corps activity while maintaining a program that audiences will love. I couldn't be more excited!" We are so excited to begin the 2010 season! We invite everyone to join Minnesota Brass at our Open House Saturday January 2 at 2:00PM to launch the new year. Registration will open at 1:30 p.m. with the Open House program kicking off promptly at 2. Prospective members for the 2010 edition of Minnesota Brass will have a chance to make new friends, meet the staff, and do some marching and performing. Please visit our website for maps and address information. We ask anyone who is interested in attending the Open House to RSVP as soon as possible. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email the membership team. We look forward to a great 2010 season, and we invite you to be a part of it!

Music to fill TCF Bank Stadium July 14-17, 2010 MINNEAPOLIS — Marching bands members and world-class drum corps will converge at the TCF Bank Stadium in July for the largest drum corps competition ever held in Minnesota. Drum Corps International (DCI) will present DCI Minnesota Saturday July 17, featuring twenty-four drum corps from across the United States. The high energy music and marching units will compete at TCF Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota. The top ten corps from the 2009 DCI World Championships including the defending World Champion Blue Devils of Concord, California will all perform. “This is an amazing line up of drum corps!” comments Minnesota Brass Development Manager, Brent Turner, who is working with DCI, System Blue, and the University of Minnesota, to bring this event to the Upper Midwest. "With the combination of a venue like the new TCF Bank Stadium, an incredible line up of corps, the always enthusiastic fans in the area, and a significant effort by the Minnesota Brass volunteers, DCI Minnesota is the must attend event of the 2010 DCI Tour,” said Dan Acheson, Executive Director of DCI. Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps of Saint Paul will serve as the local Tour Event Partner for the events. Tickets for DCI Minnesota are available exclusively through www.dci.org Leading up to DCI Minnesota from Wednesday July 14 through Saturday July 17, the Blue Devils and Santa Clara Vanquard of Santa Clara, California will be artists in residence during the System Blue Marching Band Skills Camp. High school and college band students, directors and staff are invited to work with these world class drum and bugle Corps. Together the Blue Devils and Santa Clara Vanguard have won 19 DCI World Championship titles since 1972. “System Blue events are designed to create unparalleled interaction with our outstanding performers, instructors and designers in person,” said Blue Devils Executive Director David Gibbs. Students and marching band staff will work directly with design staff and performing members of both the Blue Devils and Santa Clara Vanguard. The camp will take place in the TCF Bank Stadium and The University of Minnesota Marching Band facilities prior to the DCI Minneapolis competition. Additional details and registration materials will be available on www.bluedevils.org. Local support for both the DCI Minnesota competition and the System Blue Marching Band Skills Camp will be provided by Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps, based in Saint Paul. Minnesota Brass is the premiere all-ages drum corps in the Midwest and will perform at the DCI Minnesota show. The new DCI Minnesota and System Blue camp join existing drum corps events sponsored by Minnesota Brass including Drum Beauty in Stillwater, Minnesota on June 27, 2010 (www.lumberjackdays.com) and Sounds of Minnesota in South St. Paul on August 22, 2010 (www.soundsofminnesota.com). Contact: Brent Turner, 612-743-8760 brent@youthinmusic.org, info@mnbrassinc.org, www.dci.org, www.bluedevils.org

1:43 - 2:00 and you thought learning blind pass-throughs with guard and perc was demanding . . .

fantastic and your new uniform is total win Renegades know how to do things right

Hi Alan, we had a member of the hornline this past summer who came up from Cedar Rapids. He's a White Sox fan, but otherwise he's a good guy, and did a good job with us. That kind of commute and commitment can potentially work, and we would love to talk to you more about Minnesota Brass. Shoot me an email at membership@mnbrassinc.org and let's talk! John Horst