Jeff DeMello

Last night at the first Blue Devils camp I was able to play the new SB30 King System Blue Euphonium Hybrid for about 5 minutes. In the last almost 40 years I've played a number of different baritones and euphoniums, the nicest being a $7,000 Willson 2900 series Euph. I've got to say, that this new horn is the *closest* horn I've ever played to match the Willson. Plus, the construction is fantastic, and superbly balanced to hold. Congrats to John Meehan and the System Blue team on producing such an amazing instrument, which WILL revolutionize the lower marching brass sound.

RIP buddy.

When I went to Europe with BD 5 years ago we saw them in Kerkrade. I have a video of them on the Blue Devils Mediabox. These guys ROCK!

Hammer. Nail. Head. If Frank says anything about audio ... you better STOP whatever it is you're doing and LISTEN. I guarantee you will learn something!

I believe Dave Tuttle (French Horn, BD) has 4 rings as well.

Congrats to the Bucs! THANK YOU to the DCP team! Todd ... have a drink on me (I'll pay you back later)! ;-)

It sucks to be waiting here in California for the results. (On the OTHER hand, I do have a nice Single Malt Scotch in my hand!)

One REALLY COOL thing about Senior Corps (among many cool things!) ... a LOT of the people know the names (as well as personally know!) the soloists! Great camaraderie!

I just blog because I like to see me in a BD uniform! <-------

If I was still marching Renegades, I'd still be "above average" ;-)

That's MY line!

John, Did you buy the new Mint Moon Pies?!?!?! Save one for me!!!!

I'm still getting caught up and just read this and LAUGHED OUT LOUD! Todd, you crack me up!

I just got online and have some catching up to do! Fran, if you're reading this ... I wore a bright hawaiian shirt out here in California today, in honor of you (and DCA!).

BTW, nice DCP banner under Yamaha!

Hi Kevin, et. al. Looking forward to interesting information (as always)! I wish I was there with you all!

To all of our drum corps buddies in Rah-cha-cha, Francesca and I wish you all the best, have fun, and "have a couple" for us!

Also, congratulation to the Peterson family, the latest family in the "Blue Devils Family Tree" to have 'multi-generational' champions! The other Blue Devils families with multi-generational champions are the Odello family (of course!), and the Bender family.

Very true. The Blue Devils are 1 year away from a possible 3peat ... 2008 was Phantoms year with a GREAT show. I agree with skajerk ... there's nothing to see here, move along!

YES! Congratulations to both BDB and BDA for the 15th and 16th DCI Championship titles for the Blue Devils family. Both corps had amazing shows, and performed them to the most amazing level ... thank you! And to the staff ... I'm always in awe of how you guys can keep producing an amazing show year after year. Thank you as well!

Garry, the FYWW attitude seemed prevalent in the heavy ego driven attitudes of some (too many!) BD members of the early 80's. I haven't seen that attitude (excluding the ever always exceptions) in BD in decades. And that has NEVER been "institutionalized" / taught in BD ... Jerry taught us that early on! If someone in our staff did that, they would not last for long!

From what I have gathered, ticket sales are doing well ... it's going to be an awesome show!

As you saw in this thread there was a lot of drama with respect to another bingo operator trying to open a "big box (for profit?!) bingo hall" in Concord. They rammed their way through the system, but were stopped last night at the Concord City Council meeting where the City Council voted 4-1 to accept the Blue Devils appeal, and sending "Pops Bingo" back to the planning commission to ensure the proper legal process for permits and environmental studies are to be done. This is a BIG victory for BD, probably more so than all of our DCI victories, as this means we can keep all of our programs going for now. It does NOT mean that we've "won the war", as "Pops Bingo" is opening a hall just over the hill in Richmond, CA ... TOMORROW ... and they are trying to open one just across the bridge in Fairfield. This Virginia based (FOR PROFIT?) company is trying to muscle into California bingo in a BIG way, so we are still very nervous. THANK YOU to everyone who supported BD throughout this process. The Concord City Council received many hundreds of letters / e-mails from all around the world showing their support for this appeal. It just goes to show that you can make a difference ... THANKS AGAIN!

And THAT is EXACTLY how the original Stan Kenton "City of Glass"music sounds!!!!! I think a lot of pele who "hate" BDs show this year don't understand it because they don't understand Stan Kenton's original music. If you have bothered to listen to the original Kenton music, you will truly see what a fantastic job that BD has done in bringing the feel and intent of the original music to the drum corps genre ... along with an amazing visual program which complements the avant-guard music of Kenton. And I don't believe I'm being "high brow" when I'm saying this ... It's just that Kenton has a certain style that many people couldn't grok. And that directly translates into why some don't like BDs music.

I just drove past the stadium today ... It is BEAUTIFUL!!!! I've been assured that the acoustics are on par with, if not better than, Stanford (which IMO is one of the best drum corps stadium ever). This will be THE show of the year!!!