kevingamin

Join me and a great line up of drum corps in Orrville, Ohio, on Sunday, July 28, for Drums in the Heartland! I will be providing live coverage of the show on Drum Corps Planet, as well as a full show review for Drum Corps World. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/07/21/2024-drum-corps-season-drums-in-the-heartland-dcp-dcw-coverage/

Join me and a great line up of drum corps in Orrville, Ohio, on Sunday, July 28, for Drums in the Heartland! I will be providing live coverage of the show on Drum Corps Planet, as well as a full show review for Drum Corps World. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/07/21/2024-drum-corps-season-drums-in-the-heartland-dcp-dcw-coverage/

In 2008, San Francisco Renegades put out a call to anybody in Rochester for DCA to do their honor guard. I'd never done that before, so I volunteered and ended up on the field for Prelims and Finals. That was the year that Bonnie Ott Thompson joined the Renegades as a mellophone soloist and played Buddy Rich's Space Shuttle. Her brother Jim arranged Space Shuttle for Blue Devils in 1975, which made this doubly appropriate. Bonnie also played with JOBE in 2015 and reprised her Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor solo during that performance.

44 years ago today, the drum corps activity lost one of it’s greats. Jim Ott, an amazing brass arranger for the Stockton Commodores, Concord Blue Devils, and Spirit of Atlanta, was killed in an auto accident while on tour with Spirit in 1980. The corps dedicated that season to his memory and their inspired performance at DCI Finals in Birmingham, Alabama, is one of many highlights of the 1980 drum corps season. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/07/08/paying-tribute-to-jim-ott/

As this extended 4th of July weekend comes to a close, we’ve probably heard and/or played the classic John Philip Sousa march Stars & Stripes Forever more times than we care to admit. Well, I’m going to make you listen to it a few more times, but with a little twist that you may appreciate. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/07/07/stars-stripes-foreverwith-a-percussive-twist/

An appropriate Throwback Thursday for the Fourth of July. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/07/04/throwback-thursday-the-bluecoats-watch-fireworks/

It would fit the theme, and it wouldn't be the first time they've done that, either.

The show is essentially entropy in action, going from order to disorder. See how the show starts with the props all center stage, along with the horn line on top in one fluid form, then things start breaking apart. Again, the props depict this as they break into smaller pieces and become "jumbled" on the field. The uniforms also depict this. The musicians are in very orderly and structured uniforms with clear lines that shrink from top to bottom, while the guard are in disorderly and unique designs. The show concept will become more and more clear as the design team fine tunes things and the performers get even closer to perfection. Ironically, the reverse of entropy, but still changing throughout the season.

All music from decades ending in 4, too. We had a blast playing it.

Finishing an incredible weekend with the Bluecoats Legacy Arc ensemble. Of course, I had to immortalize the experience with stickers! https://medi-nerd.com/2024/06/30/my-weekend-in-a-nutshell/

Taking it back to 2008 and my first experience with the San Francisco Renegades, as well as my only honor guard performance. I think it’s ironic that they had the Ohio guy carry the California state flag. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/06/20/throwback-thursday-june-20-2024/

The Independent World division has no age limit.

It worked for Thank You Scientist, though they had a little extra motivation in 2017.

I recently found out that The Wolf HunterZ are a band based out of Cleveland, so they could conceivably go to the Bluecoats home show.

And if drum corps gains an audience as a result, GOOD.