mello_laurel

Los Endos is a really fun piece, we played it in marching band last year... They had some pretty sweet licks in there, not taking an easy route for a lot of it (e.g. trumpets playing at the beginning, rather than just making it 1 or 2...sweet deal)

i went home yesterday to pick mine up and i love it!! i couldn't stop squealing with excitement when taipei did the fan thing. SOOOO COOOL!!!!!

yeah, i agree with tony. i remember thinking that when we passed them in manchester...

woooow, i can't believe how incredibly defensive people are getting in here. "gaaahd, how could you possibly say that YOUR corps would win?!" 1. i don't see anything wrong with that, though those who would honestly say that would be incredibly self-important. don't get angry, let them prove themselves on the field 2. sarcasm. don't take everything as a personal dig. if you do, you'll have a very sad life. i wish everyone the best of luck this year. i'm sure all of the corps will continue to improve, and academy will provide a strong new competitor! rock on. (edit: spelling error. oopsie)

Taking over the reigns as brass caption head is Peter Twiraga. Peter was a member of the ECJ brass staff in 2002, serving as a the high brass tech.Peter is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied Music Education. He studied trumpet privately with Charles Lewis and Tiger Okoshi.Since the spring of 2001 Peter has been the on the Marching Band Music Staff at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, MA. During that time the band has been a five time MICCA Finals Gold Medalist, a two time BOA Regional Champion, a one time BOA Grand Nationals Semi-Finalist, a one time USSBA Mid-Atlantic Champion and this past fall became the USSBA Group IV Open Champion. In addition to Marching Band, Peter has been the Pit Band Director for the Oliver Ames H.S. Show Choir. Since 1999 he has led the band, made up of 10 members, to many Best Instrumental Ensemble awards. This past fall he became the Co-Director of the Jazz Choir at Oliver Ames. Taken from the news section of www.eastcoastjazz.org

East Coast Jazz's Camp was this past weekend. I'm not really sure how many kids were there, but there were quite a few new faces, as far as both members and staff are concerned! Not only were there lots of new faces, but those that were there were incredibly qualified and talented. All in all, it looks like it will be a very successful and fun season for the East Coast Jazz. From what I heard the hornline sounds very strong (take that with a grain of salt though, as I was standing in it), the drumline was pretty rockin', and the pit sounded sweet. There wasn't much of a guard turnout, but that's to be expected with winterguard going on right now. Anyway, hope you all had a great weekend!! *just needed to make a quick fix...

ohhh chappy..... mmmmm.... just kidding.

living with the ct people... watching bobby be horrified of my dog (he is tiny and completely harmless) watching nick GAS all of the time staying up til 5am with vince and bobby :) :) good times

My favorite moment was when we finished the show at Manchester, and just listening to the crowd eat up our energy like it was candy. I also liked in Canada when we got yelled at by a soccer mom :) And playing Duck-Duck-Goose on laundry day

That just made me giggle a lot. Last time you told me that, I told my dad and he was like "Laurel, don't have his babies." And I was like "No dad, he's having mine." And he got really confused. And concerned. /off topic

(I know this is off topic, but... I just googled for "ballet competitions," and I found multiple competitions: http://www.nyibc.org/ http://www.usaibc.com/ http://www.balletrussian.org/rpusayouthballetcomp.htm http://www.yagp.org/index.asp sorry.... and now back to your regularly scheduled argument...) edit: Orpheus, I feel like we're tag-teaming a bit :)

*Nota bene: Just to clarify, I am NOT AT ALL saying that drum corps is not physical, this past season I lost close to 30 pounds, and was in the best physical shape of my life by finals week. I'm just saying that it is not a sport due to the fact that (at least in my opinion), its overwhelmingly large purpose is to entertain.

I did the same thing and then I was like "oooohhh.... I'm wicked dumb." But me being kinda dumb is nothing new... (**Bobby, I miss you!)

Was it created in order to entertain or so that you can have a ring? I like to win, I like to compete, but I am well aware that without entertaining an audience, drum corps would not exist.

As I said in the post, "though it may entertain through competition.." I meant that the one playing the sport would not think of entertaining the crowd, they are focusing on their game and their personal athletic performance, not their entertainment value. I don't think Wakefield of the Red Sox would be thinking "what pitch can I throw next to really entertain this crowd, how much energy will it take to really rile these guys up??" I'm pretty sure he's just thinking "What can I do to make us not lose any more this series?" edit: sorry, I was proofreading and noticed a spelling error.

I would have to agree with the other people on here who have said "no." In my opinion, a sport is to be played mainly for the competition, not for entertainment purposes (though through its competition it may entertain). Though involving athletic ability, engendering a very competitive nature, and involving much physical activity, the primary function of drum corps is to entertain, which in my mind, reders it a non-sport. In a sport, one would not think of the audience's entertainment, as opposed to drum corps, where we place a very large importance on entertainment value.

I am waiting with baited breath for my dvd! I'll let you know my opinion when I get it.

Congrats, Blue Stars!!!!

are the titles officially changed back? if so, i will almost miss saying "super mega grand industrial strength finals." almost.

I don't nor will I ever have the money to march with a Div. I corps. Nor do I even have the desire to march Div I. I love my drum corps and the experience I gained there. Why take away an experience that some people want, just to make everything more clear and concise? The end.

i heard in 04 that bob barker died, i think i cried. legit. now all i can think of is the dane cook think when he talks about how bob barker really is dead, he's just on strings like a puppet.

Go for it, dude. Go into it with all of your heart. Push yourself to beyond your previous capabilities. You'll have a great time, and it'll be one of the best experiences of your life. It doesn't matter if you're not amazing, if you work your butt off, you'll get recognized for it, and you'll feel great about yourself. But if it doesn't work out for whatever reason don't forget what your band director said about Div II. And I'm not just saying this because I marched Div II. If you don't make it for whatever reason, don't just give up and be like "oh, I'll take this summer off and try again next year." March SOMEWHERE. It doesn't matter where you march, it's what you make of the experience. You'll learn so much, and then when you go back to audition again, you'll blow their socks off. Rock on.

We ate fairly well this summer, especially considering an incident with Canada that caused us to lose our food truck at the end of July. For breakfast, it was cereal most days, unless we had a kitchen to use, then we would have pancakes or french toast. There was always fruit available, and usually some sort of entemann's donuts or something (yeah, not so healthy). lunch was usually something hot, or sandwiches. pb&j was always there. there's usally something for the vegetarians too (there were 5 of us this year). dinner was usually good, some sort of pasta or something. we usually had a snack at night too...popsicles or pb&j or pudding. i have no complaints, even as a vegetarian on tour :)

I told all of my high schoolers to watch it, hopefully to get more of them to at least look into the activity (though most of them would have watched it anyway, Crossmen stayed at the school for finals week, and now many of them are die-hard fans). And I kind of wanted the show to be for "me" a little more, as I'm far too poor to pay $98 + S&H for the DVD. The $53 for Div 2&3 is as much as I can afford.

What would it have said? "Enjoying the show?? Have too much time on your hands?? Come discuss drum corps and its inner-workings and spend every extra minute on Drum Corps Planet!" Just kidding :P