bernie_VKpit
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Posts posted by bernie_VKpit
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Seems like a reasonable question for everyone:
Do you think Santa Clara Vanguard would have won in 1989 had they not performed nearly the same exact show in 1988?
I've thought about this one for a long time now, and my personal feeling is that they wouldn't have won in 1989 if it wasn't for them performing nearly the same show in 1988. Granted, I know they could have won in 1988, but I also wonder how many vets they had from '88 into the '89 season?
Also, do you guys know why SCV decided to do Phantom of the Opera again in 1989?
For the record, I thought Vanguard should have won in 1988, and Phantom Regiment in 1989. New World Symphony is one of my all-time favorite shows by Phantom.
Discuss.
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Here it is! The final part of my interview with Sal Hernandez of the Concord Blue Devils! In this part, Sal talks about the so-called controversy surrounding a certain Snapchat photo from the Cadets that went viral, what it takes to be a member of The Blue Devils, and what he thinks of the upcoming 2015 season! Thanks again everyone for reading. Hope you enjoyed reading the interview and getting to know this fine young man!
An Interview with Sal Hernandez of the World Champion Concord Blue Devils - Part IV
Let me know if you would like to see more interviews with members of other drum corps!
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Thanks everyone for the great comments! And yes Mike, I was happy to see that current MM's are just like us with our thought process. I was surprised to hear from Sal that he hopes the judging system changes.
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Thanks for the great comments guys! Here is Part III of my interview with Sal Hernandez. Today he talks about "old school vs new school" drum corps, Blue Devils shows of the past, electronics/amplification, and our very own Drum Corps Planet!
An Interview with Sal Hernandez of the World Champion Concord Blue Devils - Part III
Thanks for reading everyone! Let us know what you think!
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Hope you all enjoyed reading Part I of the of my interview with Sal Hernandez of the Concord Blue Devils. Part II is up now on the blog.
An Interview with Sal Hernandez of the World Champion Concord Blue Devils - Part II
Sal talks about his 2014 season experience with the Blue Devils, when in the season he knew they were going to win, and the so-called "controversy" of The Cadets leaving the field quickly after retreat on finals night.
Enjoy everyone!
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I'm a FMM of The Velvet Knights, having marched in the early 90's. Nowadays, I am a sommelier and restaurant professional who has a popular blog about food, wine, restaurants, and men's fashion. Every now and then, I will write about something that is not-related to theme of my blog, including topics on drum and bugle corps. I've always been a fan and loved the activity since I first saw a drum corps show in 1987. Recently though, I thought it would be fun to interview a current member of a drum corps and feature them on my blog. As it turns out, I know someone personally in The Concord Blue Devils, and he was gracious to accept my invitation and answer some questions.
An Interview with Sal Hernandez of the World Champion Concord Blue Devils - Part I
The interview is long, and will be broken up over four parts over the next four days. Sal and I talk about a wide range of topics, including the 2013 and 2014 seasons with The Blue Devils, what he thought of the Carolina Crown show from 2013, being on the field at retreat on finals night this past year, discussing some of the so-called "controversies" with The Cadets, what he thinks of Drum Corps Planet, whether they read DCP while on the road, and other fun stuff.
Have a read, make comments on the blog and here if you would like, and most of all: ENJOY! Sal is a fantastic young man and is excited to see what you all think of this interview!
Remember, there will be four parts over the next four days. I'll be posting a link in this thread for the upcoming parts each day this week.
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How is it that the Blue Devils, Garfield Cadets, & Carolina Crown can win DCI championships while allowing their members to use cell phones???
I hardly believe any of the members had cell phones back when the "Garfield Cadets" won their last championship (1987). Unless they had the Gordon Gecko mobile phone in their possession!
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And while I appreciate the sentiment that true love can't be quantified, that isn't what science is about. So now I have this show that was celebrating science, and then fires one at me that says, "But here's love, who can't be tamed by your instruments of quantification, science. Take THAT!" And yes, that isn't what most people got out of it. Pretty much everyone managed to keep the science and the love separate in their heads during the show. But just because I couldn't/refuse do that, you guys can't say I don't have the right to be offended. Yes, it's just drum corps. Yes, it pleased everyone else, so I should just get over myself. However, I will not sit here and let you guys say I can't be offended by it. This show, for me and only ME, was an assault on my beliefs, coping mechanisms, and the things I personally love. I'm not saying it's that way for everyone, and I'm not saying that I'm the one with any answers. I came here because I have none. And if people insist on attacking my word choice, and if people insist that I'm the one with something missing, then I'm going to insist that this thread be closed to commenters, if not erased altogether. I didn't utilize an ad hominem argument, and I expect everyone here to do the same.
Sounds to me like you came on here just to push your own agenda and "knowledge" of science, and why from a realistic and literal standpoint, Carolina Crown got it all wrong. In other words, you are right, and Crown and the rest of us are all wrong. <comment removed - Geoff>
In addition, you are the first Cavalier fan that I've ever met who said they were personally offended by any drum corps show. And believe me, I have met thousands of Cavalier fans in my day.
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And many, many, many others disagree with you. What makes your opinion so much more valid than mine and that of CavFan930?
I think you two need to take it out back, and duke it out!
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Does anyone else have food cook stories that they can share? Or just drum corps food stories?
I still to this day cannot drink Tang. Does it still exist? Ha ha ha!
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After a quite few years of McD's and Burger King for lunches and dinners for the parade-only corps my brother and I belonged to in the late 70's, we moved-up to the local big touring corps who had also been feeding their kids that way, and supplemented with the traditional PB&J's and cereal out of one of the parent's Winnebago's. The expense to the corps and the kids was crazy (even back then, a run for 300-400 burgers, fries, and drinks cost a bunch), so my dad bought the corps a school bus, ripped out all the seats, installed a huge propane griddle, stove top, an oven, a couple of coolers, storage racks, and a big ole double-sink with running hot/cold water (all with his own money).
He took time off to join us on tour (well, back then it was first tour and second tour) for the next 4 summers - he drove the bus, slept on gym floors, woke up early to have breakfast ready for us, made our lunches, dinners, and nighttime snacks, washed all the pots and pans after each meal, made the runs to the grocery store every other day or so, and then would hit the floor again after everything was cleaned-up, well after lights-out. He was a trained chef with an army cook background - so the meals were always great, and he knew how to make a lot of it at one time. Of course, not everyone likes everything that's served (me included, as I had been eating "his food" my entire life), so there was always a PB&J table setup off to the side.
I still run into old corps friends all these years later who ask about him, and share their memories of how well they ate and how great his food was, and how he seemed to do it ALL; he was an iron-man. I know that he loved it, but I didn't realize just how much it meant to him until a good friend of his from later in life was reading his eulogy - he told the stories of those drum corps years that my dad had shared with him (apparently quite a few times), and wanted to let us all know how fondly he looked back at those times, and that my dad loved the chance to do what he could for all of us drum corps kids; they were some of the happiest years of his life... and mine.
So, yes - PB&J, drum corps, and my dad.
Amazing story Kip. Thank's so much for adding your thoughts about your dad...a true unsung hero!
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For any high school / college students who love drum corps / band but because you view it as a hobby, wouldn't consider being a band director or a professional musician as a career, follow your passion and get paid for what you love to do. It makes life a lot simpler.
Huh?
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Not only is it a question of unending production to ready 800 meals per day, but that in ever changing venues and with little or no sleep, these volunteers produce such wonderful, nutritious and varied meals far beyond PB&J.
Add the weather conditions and personalities (carnivores, vegens, vegetarians, chunky-only, smooth-only, strawberry, grape, allergic to nuts, allergic to people) and you see why I think the food crews should all be up for canonization!
Not only that, but in addition to everything you described, in some instances they also have to go buy the food at the local Costco, Sam's Club, etc.. At least this is how it was 20 years ago. Im sure its different now days with food purveyors like Sysco delivering food to locations where drum corps are staying for a period of time (few days at least?).
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I agree. I volunteered on Boston food truck at the beginning of the year (at camp) what a work out. Unloading tractor trailer full of food. Cooking for 200 people (4times a day) and than cleaning up, breaking down box etc. They all deserve a lot credit for what they do for the kids and staff.
You deserve a lot of credit for what you do for the kids and staff! Thanks a bunch!
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On a couple New Year's Drum Corps Midwest All-Star tours, I volunteered in the food truck. I had no idea the work was that taxing. The crew is up before everyone else to prepare breakfast and is washing pots and trays long after a meal is over. They truly are the unsung heroes.
You're exactly right Mr. Boo! I can remember Mom Smith being the first one up, and probably the last to go to bed on any given day on tour. And she did this every camp and summer for who knows how many years. I calculated that an average day for her was somewhere between 12-14 hours.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog as well. It's an honor to have you read my blog post and comment on my thread here. I've always wanted to write something for DCI! This is pretty close!
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Thanks for that. Though my son got into his corps right before they left on tour and I didn't volunteer in the cook truck this year, I have in the past three years, and it is very hard work. Some parents devote their entire springs and summers to the activity. Big kudos to them and especially the volunteers who go on tour. The kids must eat to be successful out on that field!
It's amazing how many parents devoted their entire summer to cook in the food truck. I never realized how significant that was until I did it for a weeks time a few years back. There is so much work involved to make it happen every meal for the corps! Thank you to you for your hard work in volunteering!
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As a former marching member of the Velvet Knights, I thought I would write a blog post about the drum corps food cook. You know, the volunteers who spent their summers feeding us and making sure we had everything we needed when it came to food. They are the heart and soul of DCI, and this is a tribute to them.
The Summer of Peanut Butter and Jelly
Enjoy and feel free to leave any comments here, and on my blog about your drum corps food team and experiences!
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Will be Star of Indiana returning to the field, sticking it to the Cadets by beating them by .1 to win the 2014 Championship.
I can dream, right?
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BTW - it is completely inevitable that a corps will come out there soon without any tubas... a completely fluid concept of percussion (mix of stationary and moving... different points in the show)... and will absolutely kill it.
Right now the rigid format for instrumentation is not really messed with because of the system in place where the manufacturers support top corps with gear and the staff of those corps endorse the manufacturers to create clinics, workshops, write for bands, etc. which perpetuates this sort of inertia in terms of instrumentation.
This fixed concept of instrumentation is a financial barrier, particularly for Open Class corps. As a result, I think there is much greater opportunity for OC corps to truly innovate in terms of the structure of the medium. People are too focused on this sort of competitive inertia in terms of structure and format of shows... once someone breaks through that... we could see some really fascinating stuff. I think OC actually has more opportunity to innovate here and will be the ones to break through this, because they are less plugged into the Matrix, so to speak.
Great example of the theory of Dan Brown's Hammer. Be careful, this is a big tree that you are barking up, kind sir.
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My purpose was to hear some information about other Corps Directors. Since I have been here 95% of the information I have seen has been about George Hopkins. I am well aware that being a Director is a thankless job which requires 24 hour a day attention and would not want that position for a million dollars. I am just perplexed as to why so much time has been spent on Hopkins. Granted he needs a publicity director to comb through his comments before they are published, but not knowing him,and going by what most say here, he is the worst thing to happen to drum corps. It just amuses me that so much time and effort goes into basically trashing a man who seems to have nothing but the activities best interests at heart even if you dislike the cadets. I am sure there are other directors who put their foot in their months so why is most of the time spent on George?? Oh wait this is the internet right??
And why does it matter to you to hear info on other corps directors? You mean you want to initiate a conversation that opens up the firing line on other corps directors? Why? What's the point? How's does this help any situation?
Secondly, you're right: this is the Internet. Spend some time reading around the boards to see why George Hopkins seems to get the brunt of the controversy here. Personally, I think this is a moot thread topic
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My ideal finals weekend is going to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, WI to enjoy OPEN AIRED drum corps finals performances, where I can hear everything CLEARLY and not feel like the bass frequencies from the synths are going to pop my ear drums.
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That said: For the original question, why not 2003???? I love Regiment and love the shows you pick, but 2003 for music and overall Regiment, this is a must watch and listen to show. Also, if you reall want Spartacus and want to see and hear it in a powerfull way, go back to 81 or 82 for the true Regiment style. This is when they first introduced it and it was on. No comparison to todays style and yesterdays, but for the day, it was unreal. No one did theme shows back then, so it was way ahead of its time.
They didn't win a championship in 2003. My original was which CHAMPIONSHIP show do you like better, 2008 or 1996.
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He's been the arranger, but not the caption head, to clarify things.
Correct. Just the arranger and designer.
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Cavaliers are reporting that Mike McIntosh is the new percussion caption head for the 2014 season.
Great news for the Green Machine?
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Would Santa Clara Vanguard have won in 1989 if.....
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Let me clarify: Did SCV doing Phantom of the Opera in 1988 help them to win the championship in 1989 with nearly the same show? If they hadn't done Phantom of the Opera in 1988, would they have still won in 1989?