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Loud Music Symposium 3


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The Loud Music Symposium 3 was a blast!!

First on was MOODFRYE, an outstanding local rock band. The have won a number of local competitions, and sound like they are ready for some serious airplay.

The debut of the River City Regiment, the new Senior corps from Sacramento, was a great success. And they played one of my alltime favorites - Fanfare for the New!!

Next up was an exhibition by three Renegades guard members - Misty, Bill and Veronica, performing to the 1982 Blue Devils playing One more Time, Chuck Corea.

LMS favorites, the Stewart Tartan Pipes and Drums, showed why they are one of the premier groups - and 9 pipers  is a very loud thing. Backed by a hand-picked ensemble from the Renegades Brass, Amazing Grace was a highlight for me. I tell you - it is tough to tune to bagpipes!

After intermission,

the Phenomenauts took over. They rocked the place. And what is not to like in a Ska-influenced Rockabilly band with a guy in a radio controlled spacesuit that plays music with his head? They were last seen launching out of the parking lot with a fresh LOUD IS GOOD bumper sticker on their van - which looks like a cross between the Death Star and the van Scooby Do rides in.

Next up, the SCV 2002 Alumni Corps brass section. When their hornline started showing up at the venue, I knew we were in for a great performance. Legendary players like Rick South, John Figuera, Mike McWilliams (and so many more), playing the delightful medleys that master arranger Scott Pierson has woven from the classic SCV repertoire. Hearing them play 'The Canyon', 'Fanfare and Allegro', 'Phantom of the Opera', etc., was such a treat. Make sure you see them at Pacific Procession or DCI - they are not to be missed.

And then, the Renegades.

After spending the day putting the show together, I grabbed my Mellophone and stepped into line. I warmed up on three C tuning sequences, and we were off, debuting Bohemian Rhapsody, which was extremely well received by the great audience.

Next, the drumline showed their chops with 'Undiscovered Lionel Richie', a genius creation fron the talented and twisted mind of Lee Rudnicki.

"We Mambo now!" Lewie Wilhelm kicked us off in our opener, which just gets better and better. By now, the adrenaline was really kicking in!! The crowd was loving it, so we played our parade tune, 'In the Stone', as arranged by the great Larry Kerchner for one of my all time favorite corps, the Bayonne Bridgemen.

To end the show, we combined the hornlines of River City Regiment, SCV Alumni and the Renegades in a stirring tribute, America the Beautiful. The audience (and the players) would not leave without more, so we played it again!! LOUDER!!!!

Thanks to everyone who helped make the Loud Music Symposium 3 a success!! The guard did a great job covering the door - selling tickets, concessions and souvenir items - even kisses?? (I got mine from Lesa and Michele - ahhhh).

And for those of you who weren't there to witness it, download a free mp3 of the massed hornlines from our website - www.renegades.org

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And how can I not mention the SCV Alumni French Horn Section!! 8 French Horns - with awesome players like Dean Bull, Randy Turner and Dan Smith.

Really make me want to add French Horns - specially if I could get players like those guys!!

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Good Job Renegades.

I brought my 3 sons, the 2 older boys (11 & 9) are marching

BD "C".

Moonfrye was their first taste of a 'rock concert'.

They were loving it!

My 7 year old can't get enough of the Bag Pipe Bands....

(must have some 'BraveHeart' in him) he wanted to stay outside in the parking lot with them.

All the Corps were fantastic!

But seeing ALL corps come together....all ages..... from the recent 'age-outs' to the senior gentleman playing the Tuba from

River City Regiment...... just hit my heart and brought tears to my eyes.

Simply Wonderful...... :)

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WHAT????????????

]:-)

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Good Job Renegades.

I brought my 3 sons, the 2 older boys (11 & 9) are marching

BD "C".

Moonfrye was their first taste of a 'rock concert'.

They were loving it!

My 7 year old can't get enough of the Bag Pipe Bands....

(must have some 'BraveHeart' in him) he wanted to stay outside in the parking lot with them.

All the Corps were fantastic!

But seeing ALL corps come together....all ages..... from the recent 'age-outs' to the senior gentleman playing the Tuba from

River City Regiment...... just hit my heart and brought tears to my eyes.

Simply Wonderful...... :)

Thanks, Trish - it was great to see you there!!

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Good to hear everyone had great performances.

When was the last time for a massed horn line performance in Cali?  1980 - Jim Ott Memorial at DVC? the .mp3 sounded wonderful except for the skid marks left by the sopranos - Larry is gonna kill me for that comment - LOL.

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The .mp3 sounded wonderful except for the skid marks left by the sopranos - Larry is gonna kill me for that comment - LOL.

I don't  know who that was - but it wasn't Larrie - too low (only a double G). Probably someone who couldn't see the release!

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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.

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What an incredible night!  Thanks to everyone for putting on such excellent performances!

RCR--Naturally, I'm biased in this regard!  ;)  Everyone in the corps was so psyched for this premiere performance!  A big congrats to everyone for a job well-done.  

SCV Alumni--Well, I have to admit that I screamed my head-off when I heard "Great Gate of Kiev" blasting out from an SCV hornline again.  Not to be overly sentimental, but as watching the '87 SCV show live was my first real exposure to drum corps, this really was beyond exciting.  What a great sound from the hornline!

Renegades--What can I say?  You guys are evil!  While the whole show was excellent, "Mambo" was probably the most exciting piece played that evening, and this comes from someone who is tired of hearing West Side Story in drum corps!  Great job and best of luck at DCA!  Play loud!

America--WOW!  I was actually disappointed that this was the only thing that we played together.  What an awesome time getting to meet and play with everyone!  I hope this happens again real soon.  (Although I agree with the "skid marks" soprano comment. ;)   )

And so the season begins to take shape.  Congrats to everyone on fine performances and I look forward to an exciting season!

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