GregGilman

Great review Rob! For the curious, here's a photo of Rob and his son watching the Renegades warm up (look at those identical smiles): Haha...thanks Rob. You probably heard me last park 'n bark in Bohemian Rhapsody (one of those... chops of steel kinda moments...hehe). I must say, BoRhap has really turned into a tune that can crank, even with the high-velocity drill. Us old pharts are working hard, but it's starting to pay off. Much fun!! See you on the 50. - Greg PS: I really want to remind Rob he should be marching in Renegades...but I'll resist the urge.

Hehe... I saw Blue Devils last night. Very entertaining. They most certainly got the memo! See you on the 50, - Greg

Excellent Review Rob! I'd just like to support Rob's sentiments regarding programming. I thought Blue Devils' musical book this year is great! 100% 'hummable', beautifully varied and includes some incredible high points. My impressions... Ragtime is neat. Catchy little tune with LOTS of personality. You can tell the horn line is having a blast playing this little ditty. Seemed a little dirty visually, but it's only June. The first half 'I've Got Rythmn'is great! Wide open jazz, great soloists, and some really, really meaty horn parts!! I was a little bummed the last half featured mostly percussion. However, I did enjoy the closing screaming Trumpet soloist who ended the song with a very respectable double-c. 'House of the Rising Sun' is really cool, but kinda short. Lots of multi-tempos going on (might be hard to clean). I really like that quirky little Trumpet/pedal-tone/glissando thing I'd heard on BD's web site. It's even better in person (and leads into something completely different than you'd expect). It ends with an excellent 64 count 'park and bark' (go Mellophones!). In regards to Channel One, I have to disagree with my buddy JR Marks. I rather liked the rearrangement. Okay...it does start a little weird with little snippets of the tune but I personally liked the way it builds suspense before that infamous Channel One low brass lick. And the way the hornline, out of the blue, builds a field-long company front for the first big push is simply amazing! Yes, I said company front (just like when I marched in the 80s). A massive, loud, expanding, in-your-face company front with 10 contras across the front and endzone to endzone coverage! Woo hoo! (Highpoint of the show for me). Unfortunately, they stopped doing drill shortly after, but played through the end of the show. The end of this year's Channel One's is actually the 'classic' version's beginning (surely to annoy some purists) but I liked it. Made a good lead in into this year's version of the 'Wayne Downy Ending'. Overall, I gotta say I found Blue Devils musical show exceptionally entertaining. No one can complain about this year's show being musically unapproachable. I've been humming since last night. I can hardly wait to see the rest of the visual package come together. This is going to be a great year for Blue Devils. Should be fun. See you on the 50. - Greg

Woo hoo! Congrats to DCP! Looks like I'll have to make an exception to my rule of wearing only Apple tee-shirts to Renegades rehearsal. ^_^ I've already ordered a couple of these: I'll be checking the store next week to see what's new. I'm very amused by Jeff's suggestion of an 'EVERYONE' tee shirt...hehe. See you on the 50. - Greg PS: Note to George: Weekly new tee-shirt designs is a great idea!

Woo hoo! Thanks for the great review. I'm so excited Madison is coming to California this year... I can hardly wait! Even with BD's unfortunate trek to the east coast during June, this summer is going to be an exciting one for us left-coasters! See you on the 50. - Greg

I strongly disagree with the premise that you can have LOUD or QUALITY, but not both. The two are very much related. Any horn line can play loud. And most horn lines can play with good tone quality and intonation. What makes a truly great horn line is one that can play with good quality and intonation at any volume. The results will be far more impressive, enjoyable and yes, louder. I have a feeling this thread is a result of the efforts of the Renegegades PR machine. Yes, we like to say 'Loud is Good'. But don't think for an instance that we're forgetting about good horn playing. Our horn staff has many, many DCI championships under their belt and demand the upmost attention to proper technique at all times. If the phrase Loud is Good really bugs you, think of it as a stepping stone to Good intonation, beautiful tone and full sound is great. :D See you on the 50. - Greg PS: I will say that volume is one of the most unique aspects of drum and bugle corps compared to other musical venues. To ignore this obvious difference when marketing drum corps to the masses would be a mistake, IMO.

Great post Clint! Nice to see RCR already getting local exposure in the Sacramento area. I'm really looking forward your on-field premier of River City Regiment at the Renegades' Loudest Show on Earth in Cupertino on June 22nd. We'll have to celebrate with a couple of beers after the show! See you on the 50. - Greg

Woo hoo! Yet another Renegade Baritone player finds his way to DrumCorpsPlanet. You'd think there was some guy in the corps telling everyone to come here or something. :p Welcome to the planet Ryan! See you on the 50. - Greg

Other things I'd like to add to Chris's excellent review... - River City Regiment: I've never seen the birth of a drum corps before. Boy was I impressed. What RCR lacked in numbers, they made up for in class and musicality. Nice horn line with great solo work and a good drum line featuring a rock'n quad line (yes... this horn player noticed the quad line). It was great fun talking to them afterwards. They all had that "I haven't been able to do this for years and I'm so happy." kinda glow (we've been seeing that a lot in California lately). Note: And yes... I told them all about DrumCorpsPlanet...hehe. - Santa Clara Vanguard Alumni: Wow. Great hornline playing with some of the crispest horn manuals of the night. In true Vanguard style, they showed extreme class while playing beautifully. Scott Pierson did a great job combining dozens of SCV classics together. Chris is right. This is a MUST SEE at PP and DCI! - Renegades: This was our debut performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. This tune is so fun to play, it's scary. Chris is being modest when he says it was well received. The audience went absolutely ga ga over his arrangement!!! Just wait until we get this puppy under our fingers. As for Mambo, I think the new-improved ending will go down in history as a drum corps top 10. Seriously. People bolting back in their chairs. Babies became airborne. It scares people! The Baritone song...um.. I mean In the Stone, was also well received. You'd think these west coasters had never heard the tune live before.<grin> I heard a rumor SCV Alumni liked it so much they were considering learning it in time for the big Renegades field show in June. Wouldn't that be cool? - America The highlight of the evening was the mass playing of America with combined horn lines. It was such a rush to play with dozens of SCV legends (including my old pal Rick South playing the same duct-taped, piston-rotor Ultratone Baritone he's been using for decades), my Renegades buddies, my new RCR friends from Sacramento and even a guy named Mike from Cabs Alumni. Wow...talk about FUN! And very, very loud. Note: You should've seen Chris's face while he was conducting. He looked like a kid in front of the world's biggest candy shop! It was a really fun night will be remembered for a long, long time. Congrats to everyone. See you on the 50. - Greg PS: I wonder how many DCI rings had been won by the people on that stage? Surely a couple hundred.

Haha! Yes... I can attest to Pooh's double C. There is no louder sound on the planet. Seriously. Don't stand too close or you'll need dental work. :o) This festival of decibels will rock. I hereby volunteer to create a web page to document the event! Note: Any way we can get Dave Tuttle there? He was always bragging about being the loudest French Horn in BD when they tested everyone in 1979. Hear you on the 50. - Greg

Hi Trish, It should be a good show. Thursday's brass sectional was really great. The corps is going to put on a fantastic performance. Looking forward to meeting you and your sons. I'm the Baritone player with the beer belly. Hmmm... that describes almost all of us. <grin> We'll find each other. See you on the 50. - Greg

Well...maybe he wasn't 4 strides off. More like 2... but we were SO CLEAN back then it really shows. :D See you on the 50. - Greg

Hey Doug, I couldn't agree more. We'll never see ourselves at DCI finals in Montreal. <sigh> My pet peeve about the midwest show in distribution is the fact that Dave Carrico (my field opposite) was at least 4 strides off of his set during the opening Baritone feature of Johnny One Note (with the double-G). We're right on the 50 so it makes us both look bad. Dave was a great player (and a real nice guy) but not that great of a marcher. See you on the 50. - Greg