Pacific Crest Sneak Peak Show

[PSeidling]

Lot's of "Family Day/Dress Rehearsal" shows starting this week, and my wife and I were at Pacific Crest's "Sneak Peak 2010" show at Irvine HS in Irvine, Ca last evening (Sat, June 12).

We are boosters of the corps, hosted an international member last year, and my employer (Stanbury Uniforms) is a partner with Pacific Crest. That, plus we consider ourselves friends of many of the folks there, including director/founder Stuart Pompel, so I guess we are "homers", of sorts.

That said, Pacific Crest is a very well managed organization and always does things with class, and no less this event. They ask for a $15 donation at the door, and a very well-done Tex-Mex meal is part of the event, plus of course, souvenirs are for sale. The corps lets everyone know at every turn that they appreciate that you attended the event, and that your support really helps the corps. It's a very laid-back, classy affair that attracts nearly 1,000 parents, alumni, friends and drum corps nuts.

We got to chat with our good friend Gene Monterastelli (now a PC staffer/advisor), long-time SoCal drum corps personality Charlie Groh, DCP guy and drum corps nut extra-ordinaire John Donovan, Eddie Martin (Yamato director and PC mgt team member) and a good number of SoCal band directors, plus a few parents we know from our years in corps. PC does a great job of engaging the support of SoCal bands, both college and HS. They even gave the audience a hand-out of who's in the corps and lists from what cities, schools and colleges they come from. Well-done.

The corps right now has 133 members, looking for a snare, tuba and perhaps a guard. Otherwise (as they have been for many years now) they are in essence "full". Every member but 1 is from California, by the way.

They do not have their guard costumes done yet, and their new set of Dynasty drums won't arrive until next week. They do have all their corps uniforms in and fitted - same look as last season. By the way, their new 53-foot equipment trailer is done and being used. It's very nice; bought and rigged out all by booster contributions.

Up until this weekend they have only done weekend rehearsals/camps - they start "everydays" this week. That said, we were impressed that they marched 3 of the 4 tunes and played the whole show. Again, everydays haven't started yet, and 3/4 of the show is on the field. I'm impressed. Anyway, they feel they are a good bit ahead of last season at this time, and they have added much more rehearsal time between now and tour than they have done in past years, so they feel good about having a show come out of the gate in solid shape.

The show is called "Maze" and is just that...a maze concept. Gordon Henderson (SCV and Cavie fame and UCLA band director) has had a big hand in developing the show this season, and the show is paced much faster than recent offerings (Gordon also had a big hand in developing Troopers programming maturity from 2007-2009).

We really liked "Ashalt Cocktail" and the ballad as well. The ballad is actually quite emotional already. The closer too has a lot of potential. I think the opening has some deveolpment work still in progress, and the guard is not fully incorporated yet...again, they start "all days" this week.

They have a much larger guard than the past few years and Angela Tousley is back and put together a solid guard and staff, I heard nothing but praise for the guard members and guard staff.

The drum line has some serious notes this year and play with inspiring aggressiveness. Caption head Matt Altmire and his team have created a nice drum program over that past year or two (Matt was a stand-out player in SCV in the early 90's), their drum scores last summer were knocking on top 12, and I think this season will be as successful.

The brass line is at 69 members, looking for #70 (a tuba spot). They have a nice rich sound and though they say the trumpets are the most experienced section this year, I was very impressed with the low brass blend and balance.

They did a full field run of the show and then arced up and did the full music book again. Again, we really liked the pacing of the show and there are some great "GE" moments already. The drill is being done by PC and Cavalier alum Steven Estudillo, and though young, is doing a great job. He's spending a lot of time with the corps and the coordination really is noticable.

Pacific Crest has been a great ambassador for the activity in SoCal since 1993 and a solid addition to DCI since they began touring in 2003. Spending a cool, dry southern California evening with friends old and new, seeing a great corps with much promise start its season and watching a whole lot of wonderful young people having the time of their lives sure is a nice way to spend a Saturday night. Thanks, Pacific Crest, and here's to a wonderful 2010!

We'll be at SCV and BD's Family Day next weekend (we're big fans of both corps, and most importantly, our son is a tuba player in the Blue Devils C corps!!) Probably no time to send a review, but we look forward to seeing friends and the corps.

Patrick and Tamee Seidling

Santa Clarita, Ca

Edited June 13, 2010 by PSeidling

[Lightness]

Thank you so much for your detailed review. My son marched with PC in 2008.

I do believe PC will continue to grow, and with extended rehearsal hours this year, they are on there way up!

My son is marching with SCV this year and I hope you have time to do a review!

[GABA]

I saw them on Sneak Preview night and was a little put off on the performance level of the Corps. The guard looks like the section that will be holding this Corps back this year. The Drill was not finished and they are using a new marching style that not all the members could grasp. Maybe that is why 2 Tuba's were laid out flat during the show's opener. But to their credit, these guys got up so fast that if you blinked, you missed it. Great job! Horn line was over playing at some times and out of tune on many other parts. That being said, I just saw them again yesterday after a week of their first all days.

WOW!!!! WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES!!!

The horn line sounds better then last years line and you can tell that these kids want to be there and perform. The line is articulating their parts more uniformly and the intonation improved immensely. Ashalt Cocktail The ballad is nice and rich sounding, but I am having a problem with it fitting into this show theme. The Closer, once cleaned will get you up and standing! I take back on what I said about the Guard. They are starting to really gel into a World Class Guard. I saw a sample of one of the flags during their final run through of the night and it looks great with the finished flag work. A lot more drill and work was completed for the Guard as well. Can't wait to see the guard in uniform with the new flags. Oh, did I mention that it was a complete run through with horns and percussion? Now it is clean clean clean for the Corps. New Drums too!

I think everyone is going to be surprised this weekend.

Go PC!!!

-G