twillms73

Here is my "short" list, in chronological order: Dennis Dewey & Ron Frech (Sound of LI) Laurie Kunzle & Laurie Hall (Bushwackers) Tony Cataneo, Rich Guillen & Joe Vala (Sunrisers) Tommy Martin (Golden Eagles)

What an odd night! No sign of rain all day long, 7pm hits and BAM! Downpour! Oh well. It was tough. The storm essentially surrounded the area. Every time they tried to bring the Bushwackers on, another lightning strike would be seen. The DCA folks had no choice but to cancel. Even an hour after the cancellation, there was lightning seen. It's just not worth taking a chance. Quick review: This is probably the best White Sabers corps I've seen. Visually the best of the 3 that performed. Musically, right there with Sun. The Donny Allen influence is already being seen. Excelsior is very spirited for a tiny corps. I think they are right at the 35 minimum. The soprano/trumpet soloist is being asked to do a lot, and gets it done most of the time but sometimes seems exhausted. One note, if you're going to have 2 knights fight, get some swords. Sunrisers had some fine impacts throughout the show and the crowd seemed to really respond to them. I believe they have the potential to win brass in Class A this year. It will be very tight for the 4th spot come Annapolis. Bushwackers decided to do a stand-still performance under an awning by the school. It was an absolute hype. The kind of moment that will motivate them all the way to Labor Day weekend and beyond. They then invited the alumni in attendance to sing the corps song with the corps. A perfect way to cap off a somewhat imperfect night.

They are on the right track. Keep up the fun, entertainment and comedy. Step up the difficulty and execution, and, in a few years, we may be talking about their first trip to finals.

As long as I've been involved, the corps' names were like this. It's only a recent trend that they were announced as such. Obviously not a big deal, just a curiosity.

Forgive me if this has been covered before but, in the past few seasons, I've noticed Brandt and the other announcers leaving off the "The" from corps names. For example, when introducing the corps, they say "Colts" instead "The Colts" or "Blue Devils" instead of "The Blue Devils". Obviously for corps like Carolina Crown, Phantom Regiment or Jersey Surf, it makes sense. With corps with the "S" on the end, it sounds odd. Just curious.

I would agree if there was only one size classification. Either way, best of skill to everyone!!

Quick question. Cadets 2 are first, then Sunrisers? That doesn't seem to make sense since C2 is Open and Sun is class A.

It seems like they adjusted the audio issue, or maybe it was me. Forgive me. It's late. Enjoy the show!

As of 940 EDT, the links are up. Sound quality when I rewound to Freelancer Alumni was awful. Hopefully, it's fixed for the competition. All with "LIVE" subscription and above should not have to pay $20.

Have a great open house, Sun. IYM.

I think I may have to move to Atlanta. Good luck CV!

I watched prelims this past Monday. Except for a couple "skips" (I'm assuming these were due to technical issues), it was great. PA announcer was too loud compared to the rest of the broadcast but again, it sure beats not seeing the shows at all. Thanks so much to everyone involved in putting it together.

The Hall of Fame is calling Jay! Congrats on an amazing run!! Thank you for all you've done for the Bushwackers and for DCA. It was an honor to be a small part of it.

RIP Barb. Our thoughts are with you.

1990 is still one of the special years in my drum corps life. 18 horns, 7 battery, 9 guard, and 6 pit, average age of the corps was 19, and we came so close to making the night show. Along the way, we surprised, and possibly angered, a few of the bigger corps with some brass sub-caption scoring. The Sound of LI was such a tight knit unit too. We had that "us against the world" mentality that pushed us to max out the program as much as possible. What an amazing summer!!

How about St. Ignatius going co-ed to form "New Image" from the 80's? What would have happened if they lasted into today. "25 year old Image" doesn't quite have a ring to it. Good thing they switched to Sound of Long Island. Another related corps name, albeit short-lived, was Free Delivery. They were to be a junior corps based out of Long Island in 1991. I believe that the corps founders were hanging out one night and ordered pizza to come up with the name. They merged with the Sound of Long Island, who had already merged with Nightbeat out of New Jersey. They used the color guard from the Erie Excalibur late in the season to form, "Free Delivery of the Nightbeat Sound of Long Island Excalibur".

My wife is a Spirit of Atlanta alumnus and she seriously got goose bumps when I told her of the name change. I think that's a pretty good endorsement.

I'll play: 1989- 14th 1990- 13th 1991- 11th 1992- 12th 1993- 1st 1994- 3rd 1995- 9th 1996- 6th 1997- 4th 1998- 6th 2003- 2nd (Class A) 2004- 8th Mini: 2001- 5th 2002- 4th 2004- 1st 2007- 3rd 2008- 3rd 2009- 5th I never made top 10 as a horn player. Probably why I was made DM. As a previous poster said, what matters is pleasing the crowd. :)

That is the question right now. I'm not a fan of electronics and amplification in drum corps but, it's here and I'm over it. The question I've had is, Is it being judged properly? If a horn player ignores the balance of the rest of the corps, it should be noted in the score. Is that happening when the electronics exceed the balance the rest of the ensemble? I sure don't think so because, in my opinion, no corps should even hit a 90 yet. All are guilty. No, I'm not talking about solo or feature passages. I'm talking about in general. Also, I've noticed that it's usually a staff member working the board. Shouldn't it be a corps member? Isn't that like a staff member working the valves for a brass player? Just my opinion. Back to the review, excellent work.

1980 Spirit 1984 Garfield 1988 Star 1995 Madison

I started in DCA as a 15 year old. I went to a number of Crossmen camps over the years but, for a number of reasons, it just never worked out. Not a bad thing. The last 20+ years in DCA has worked out just fine for me.

Can't forget Pepe as "Reginald Van Gleason III" with the 1989 Fitchburg Kingsmen.

First parade, May 1989- Hicksville, NY First Show, June 1989- Chicago, IL (3rd place)

Sadly, the US networks usually prefer to show people babbling about the game than the pre-game festivities. Hopefully our friends in Canada got to see them on CBC or RDS. You could hear the intro in the backround but that was about it.

4 years on the field. 8 years as DM. 6 years as mini-corps DM.