DoubleHighEZ

I couldn't disagree with you more. He's the right choice. Look at what he has done with the Renegades.

I'm in! B)

I hope I can make the rehearsals! B)

Oh, I can't forget about my fav alto sound of all time, the small ensemble in '82 BD's exit. French horns with 2 sops, sweet! B)

Trying not to be biased but: '79-'80 BD(the alto parts are insane!) '91 star '83 Cadets

Hey Russell, I sure didn't miss them in '79. I remember hearing them play before the show @ UOP and they were awesome! They also beat in horns that day! Most of your picks are my favs as well. But I'll also add: '76 Oakland Crusaders '94 Phantom '91 Star '92-'93 Freelancers '93 SCV(Send in the Clowns in the parking lot!WOW!!) '00 Cadets '02 Cavies '86 Dutch Boy(Jetson's intro!) And probably more that I will think of later! BTW, are you marching Renegades this year? There are rumors of some well known mellophoners coming out! ^0^

Thats more like it! ^0^

Well, 10 years of instructing & performing at the same time . anyways, and I guess it has been 25 years of instructing. I wondered where that gray hair came from! B) Oh and thanks for the compliment on my marching. That's a first! :P

In my case, the reason why I am sometimes "hiding" in the pit is because it allows me to be both an instructor and a performer at the same time. As is the case with my fellow soloists, Chris Nalls and Rich Duarte. And, I have been doing it this way for about ten years now. Besides, you wouldn't want me on the field marching anyways! :P

Much like the oft criticized field percussion judges of the past, this years field brass judge spent the majority of the time on the front sideline (as he did in 2003) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes, I'm still trying to figure out how we can take 5th on the field and 2nd in ensemble. To the trained ear, I don't believe that "a lot of dirt gets lost on the way to the press box". And. we only had 48 horns on the field for most of the show. Field brass is a VERY subjective caption. You can find the same amount of errors on the field in ANY hornline, in my opinion. A look at the recaps shows that the rankings in field brass matched exactly with the order of appearance, coincidence?

Eventually, corps will realize that the better sounding hornlines in the circuit are using Bb horns, and they're getting the credit for it. Look at the top 2 hornlines in DCA this year. Both Bb. As more corps switch to Bb, the ones that are still on bugles will be getting lower brass scores in terms of quality and excellence of sound/blending/tone quality, and they too will have to make the switch if they want to be competitive. Just my $.02, I may be wrong. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I respectfully disagree with that statement. Take a look at the recaps and you'll see a that a "G bugle hornline" placed 2nd in ensemble brass. ^0^

Start with Invitation to a River, then Edgar Winters' Frankenstein(perc. feature w/horn acc.), followed by Boys and Girls Together, and end with Weird Song #1/Run back to Mama. I've been trying to "sell" this show to Chris & Lee for a couple of years now. B)

Ah yes. Al DiCroce's first year with the corps. I was on the brass staff that year. They went up 12 points and 12 places from 1985. We had Tony Gambaro from Avant Garde as one of our sop soloists. What a player! I wrote a few solos for him, and he nailed them all! The opener was a medley of: Jetsons, Magilla Gorilla & Top Cat. After the loud chord in the intro to the Jetsons, Tony held out a Double C by himself, and nailed it everytime! It gives me goosebumps everytime I think about it! B)

Hard to decide, since I've either taught or marched in half of the ones listed. But, I went with the first corps that I was in, the Knight Raiders. I'm curious, who was the other person who voted for them? :)

I finally got to meet Ritchee this year(something I waited 30 years to do!). One of my favorite soloists of all time! And one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

I'll add : 1975? Argonauts(Chris, help me out) and '80s Madison Scouts Ice Castles. Two great solos!

Whoops, sorry I screwed up Nick's quote.

I really doubt that any corps would decide not to use their battery and use a trap instead. Unless circumstances arose causing the corps to be w/o a battery. I certainly can understand that. In the case of the Renegades, that's exactly what we decided to do. We wanted as many horns as possible(20) + a set drummer.

Thanks my BD brotha'! B) I just wanted to add my congrats to Minne-Brass. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard you guys running through your show in the parking lot! I was thinking "it sounds like those soloists are improvising!". What a fresh and wonderful approach to minicorps. I love it!

Mike, I've heard a lot of good things about the Laskey mouthpieces but have never personally played on one.

As I've mentioned before, I play on a Monette Prana MFII. It has allowed me to do things that I have never done before! Not even on my regular MFII. If you haven't played on a Monette before, I wouldn't recommend this mouthpiece. But, once you get acclimated to a Monette, the Prana series is the way to go IMHO. Yes, I know that shelling out $315.00 for a mouthpiece is not an easy thing to do, but it is worth every penny! B) I've tried or played on just about every brand of mouthpiece out there, and this one is LIGHT YEARS ahead of them all! Again, IMHO. ^0^

Chris , Have you ever played on a Monette mouthpiece before? They are extraordinary, and can be used on a mellophone whether you play trumpet or french horn. The flumpet v-cup takes the edge off of the mellophone. And that's exactly what they need. I use one on my cornet and the results are incredible!

Clint, Any Monette trumpet mouthpiece with a Flumpet V-cup will do nicely! B)

His name is Jeff Lynn. Last year he aged-out, unfortunately.

Dan, I'm curious as to how long you had been on the Wild Thing when you played it in a sectional setting? It took me a while to get used to the intonation of the horn, and the most noticeably different way the horn played. But once I did, I had no problem playing in a section.