John H

Outstanding!! good luck with dad. CorpsVets look like good people and they sure put out a good show. I expect you'll have a great time. You'll be at the Indy regional right? If you can, stop by Minnesota Brass and say Hi to the mells. I'd like to shake your hand.

CorpsVets are going to be there?! SSHHWEEEET ^OO^ That's a smokin drum corps there. and Frontier, BE THERE!! I'll have to come by and talk to some fellow southerners, folks without any goofy accents, ooh yaa, dontcha know. CorpsVets Chops Frontier (BE THERE!) Govies Kilties MBI Royalaires (did I spell that right?) did I miss one? That's just a dang good show right there, I don't care who ya are

well . . . . . . . he didn't say WHICH week

check out the Announcements PAGES for Prairie Sound. looks like good people starting it up this year, for a full field show in 2007. You can help build a corps from the foundation up! MORE CORPS = A GOOD THING!

I love mellophone people. . . had to trade some people in and out to get everybody time on the horn! I only had about five minutes myself, but I got to sit out and listen as we read down some COOL charts, so OK. had a couple other vets couldn't make it due to schedule conflicts, besides all that were there, sooooooooo, dare I say it? well, actually no. No need for premature exuberance. Wouldn't want that; we are from Minnesota after all. HA! We'll see how it shakes out in January after all the folks have a chance to digest the schedule, the travel, the money, impact on work, etc. You know, all that stuff that gets in the way of drum corps. I AM pleased with the day and the possibilities! MAN IT"S GOOD TO BE BACK!

Thanks for the good word, man. It took us a while to get it together last summer; marching in 11 is pretty weird when you start out. That whole freakin 4-1/2 minute closer was just a big long brain teaser. But I think we did pull it together and August was definitely a blast. Turns out I LOVED that show. And yeah, Finals night felt pretty sweet. I'm with The Dude, I can't wait to start up again!!

mmmm, devil girl. I am intrigued.

man, I can hardly stand the wait! playing the Minne-Brass gig this weekend, which is gonna be SMOKIN, but then I have to wait HOW MANY weeks? I want to feel the power of the full hornline again! I was NOT ready for the season to be over at Scranton this year. Come on, let's go! I want to play! and no boat excursions. Not in December in MN.

Maybe next year? DO IT!

Buccaneers? Piracy? What? wish I was still playing the show . . . . .

yes, we wondered when the staff first brought up the idea; hoping and trusting they wouldn't do anything stupid. They didn't. you will find when you see us in Scranton that our show is very much a complete ensemble design, with added sparkle from the guys up front, NOT a squeal-fest with drum corps accompaniment. The arrangements are built on the field, not the ringers. in fact, the ballad, which you might think could be built on the soloists exclusively, ISN'T. There is a euph solo on the field, hornline and pit. Great stuff! Because of the way the show is designed, and because these four guys are just the best people in the world and it's great to have them around, I think this turned out to be pretty cool. that's my opinion, whatever it's worth. ENJOY!

congratulations, Bucs! You're going to love the horns. The horns Dynasty is building are very nice; we got ours delivered in December. I'm lovin my mell. Our Vis. caption head listens in on ensemble time and says the sound is gorgeous; on a completely different level from last winter.

yeah, those poor folks east of here, it's so sad . . . :(

we loved it, we were singing along. Many Bushwackers seemed to be digging it, too! a small kick line, I think? :P

yeah, we love that guy. If we see him next year we're all giving him a 'special hug' (around the neck )

we have about half-n-half Kanstul and Dynasty mells. I've played Dynasty for three years, and I almost cried when I sat down with someone else's Kanstul after a rehearsal. the pitches spoke evenly and clearly, no 'stuffy' notes. smooth, even tone from low to high register, MUCH better pitch center. and no 'bumps' between certain valve combos like my Dynasty(gawd I HATE having to deal w/ that on my mell, none of my trumpets give me that $%#&@). I will say for the Dynasty, I can make a real DARK orchestral kind of tone on it(great for our ballad feature), it doesn't get that buzzy, sizzling edge on the tone until you are really playing a god's-honest FFF or FFFF, which is where the sizzle belongs! (lemme be clear; NOT comparing that against Kanstul. i didn't play the Kanstul fullout with the whole hornline, I don't feel I personally had a varied and/or complete basis for comparing all qualities, so I'm not. I'm grabbing a Kanstul next year before they're handed out to rookies!