Cathie Wiener Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) Alumni Spectacular Freelancers Alumni – We had a blast performing this show. The announcer had it right when he said he hadn’t seen a corps this eager to play before. He has no idea! We felt honored to play the national anthems and may have had an additional chorale or two up our sleeves aside from the two we played for pre-show. 8o) But the announcer officially introduced us so off we went into our show. I think we did pretty darn well, but I’m also pretty darn biased. We played Breaking Up is Hard to Do, Lover Come Back to Me, Genji and I Get Crazy. We also played America the Beautiful and Ave Maria for pre-show. For those that are interested about our conductor’s horn, my euph got delayed in transportation and didn’t make it to Rochester in time for the show, so our wonderful conductor, Carl Allison, let me play on his bari for the show thus the reason I handed it back to him for his beautiful solo and duet in I Get Crazy. And for the other positive comments I’ve seen regarding our drummer, Kenyon. Yup, he rocks. Simple as that. Thanks to DCA for the chance to perform and hopefully they invite us back to the Spectacular next year. Optimists – Unfortunately, we were getting our pictures taken so we couldn’t see much of the show, but what we heard, we liked and I was able to sneak a peek at the end through the back stands and the crowd seemed to eat it up. Reilly Raiders – Just getting back to the stand after our performance during your show, so didn’t get to see you guys but what I heard I liked and the crowd went crazy for you. Bridgemen – How can you not love these guys? Fun, fun, fun. Loud, loud, loud. That’s basically all anyone needs to know about this group. The NY city traffic moment by the brass was my favorite moment of the entire DCA weekend. It grabbed you visually and was just plain cool. The guard was also a lot of fun. Last year Just realized it was two years ago, I got to fly with a bunch of these guys back to Newark and to say I was completely entertained would be an understatement. To the member who sliced his hand open on the plane on that trip, I hope he completely recovered. You guys rock. Boston Crusaders Senior – It’s very hard for me to override my Freelancer genetics and admit I like anything from Boston but I love these guys. 8o) I love them every year. How can you not? And if I’m not mistaken, they’re still on G’s as well, so that’s an automatic boost right there. I really enjoyed the saber work the guard did. Very effective with the theme. I also greatly appreciate the weapons line uniforms. If you’re not going to go old-school, this is definitely the way to go. Nicely done. Mighty St. Joe’s – Love the percussion in this corps. You guys always kill it. Saw you do a snare ensemble four or five years ago at I&E and it’s still my favorite I&E performance I’ve seen in the five years I’ve been here. And then there’s Georgia. Ahh… Georgia. That is all. Carry on. Park City Pride – I enjoy the heck out of this group and I relish in the story of how this group was created. This is what drum corps is all about. We did something we loved for years, let’s just go back and do it some more. Heck yeah! As Time Goes By gave me chills and the soloist… just wow. Great show this year as always. Scout House – Okay so this is my favorite alumni group. Has been since the first time I saw them. I’m completely enamored with the drum major and I just love the vibe of this corps. I really like this arrangement of Sing, Sing, Sing and I’m always riveted by the glockenspiel players marching and not missing a note. How do you do that? Your toy soldier march was my second favorite moment of the weekend. It was so great. This year Freelancers were staying at the same hotel with Scout House and they were a blast. I was lucky enough to meet and talk with the Scout House drum major Monday morning at the hotel and he was a gem and, I’ll admit it, I was a little star struck. Add all this to the fact that this group is just a bunch of cool cats that really know how to have fun and I’ll be a fan of theirs forever. Plus, I bought their 2012 calendar so I can have a reminder of them daily until Annapolis next year. I can’t wait. NY Skyliners – I’m ignorant to the majority of the history of drum corps having only marched in early 90s and only joining DCA five years ago, but even I have heard a ton of things about this group and their history and I love them. This show was pure Skyliners and I’m in love with it. There’s not much more to say. They just bring the house down. It’s amazing. On a side note, one of my greatest wishes is to get this group back to mini corps in the style of show they played back in 2007. That’s still one of my favorite mini corps performances ever. To the powers that be, make it happen! Hawthorne Caballeros – Exactly how much of your show time do you have to give up just to get you guys on the field? Holy moly! I don’t even know what to say about this show. I think the crowd’s applause and repeated standing O’s pretty much say it for me. There are just no words for the impact, literally and figuratively, this group has on the audience. You guys are amazing. By the way, some of my corps members and I were curious if any members do both the Alumni group and competitive group? Overall, the Alumni Spectacular has slowly become my favorite event of the weekend. Edited September 7, 2011 by Cathie Wiener 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cathie Wiener Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 (edited) Holy moly, I can’t believe I forgot to write about Bugles Across America. It was very impressive and incredibly well done for the short amount of time that it was put together. It was a pleasure to hear those horns play and another great opportunity for anyone at DCA to play and honor current and former service members. I thought the echo Taps was very moving and didn’t realize how emotional the other pieces would be. I liked having the members of each of the services stand up so they could be recognized. To the DCA powers that be, this is a performance that must continue and be done every year. It’s too powerful an experience to drop to the wayside. Huge thanks to all the people who coordinated and participated in this performance. Edited September 6, 2011 by Cathie Wiener Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 more good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraber Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 (edited) Cathie - Thanks for your review of the Alumni Show. All comments are greatly appreciated. In answer to your question about doing double duty (Alumni and competing corps in the Cabs - not really). It takes much to much time and effort, not to mention not being able to be in two places at the same time, to do both. Currently, Frank Ponzo, one of the Cabs soloists, retired from the Cabs competing corps and joined the Alumni. After several years, he again retired, for a year or two. As you heard , he is back and in full form, still able to "bring it home." He is the closest we have to a "double duty" member. I am a past member of the Cabs competing corps and temporarily retired from the Alumni Edited September 7, 2011 by fraber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyroo Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Cathie - Thanks for your review of the Alumni Show. All comments are greatly appreciated. In answer to your question about doing double duty (Alumni and competing corps in the Cabs - not really). It takes much to much time and effort, not to mention not being able to be in two places at the same time, to do both. Currently, Frank Ponzo, one of the Cabs soloists, retired from the Cabs competing corps and joined the Alumni. After several years, he again retired, for a year or two. As you heard , he is back and in full form, still able to "bring it home." He is the closest we have to a "double duty" member. I am a past member of the Cabs competing corps and temporarily retired from the Alumni Just a minor point, but the Alumni's American Section did double duty for about five years, appearing with both corps at shows in which both corps were in the lineup. I only recall doing one show specifically for the competing corps - Scranton five or so years ago. But to answer Cathie's question more directly, the requirements of the two corps in terms of time, travel, scheduling, etc. are such that it would be practically impossible to do both in the same year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FPonzo Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 (edited) Cathie - Thanks for your review of the Alumni Show. All comments are greatly appreciated. In answer to your question about doing double duty (Alumni and competing corps in the Cabs - not really). It takes much to much time and effort, not to mention not being able to be in two places at the same time, to do both. Currently, Frank Ponzo, one of the Cabs soloists, retired from the Cabs competing corps and joined the Alumni. After several years, he again retired, for a year or two. As you heard , he is back and in full form, still able to "bring it home." He is the closest we have to a "double duty" member. I am a past member of the Cabs competing corps and temporarily retired from the Alumni Hey Frank.... Your statements are not quite clear, and I think Cathy might be a bit confused. I know I had to read it twice!! Anyway....after the 2000 season, I retired from the Competing Caballeros, and joined the Alumni full time. After the 2008 season, I retired from the Alumni Corps. All the while, I had aspirations of marching with the Competing corps, one more time....for the 65th anniversary. I accomplished this, this year. While I had a blast, I am still on the fence about going back, but I am strongly leaning in that dirction. As far as me doing double duty, the only time I did that, was back when the Alumni Corps first started, in 1994. I, along with Tim Campell, were the only ones that were given permission by Jim Costello himself to "help" with the alumni corps, while actively performing with the competing corps. As for anyone else doing double duty, I do not recall anyone currently doing that, except for maybe a few members of the Honor Guard, who just happened to be at a few of the same shows during the course of the year. I hope this answers your question Cathy!!! Sorry I missed you this year in Rochester!!! Edited September 7, 2011 by FPonzo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fecontra Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 (edited) Hey Frank.... Your statements are not quite clear, and I think Cathy might be a bit confused. I know I had to read it twice!! Anyway....after the 2000 season, I retired from the Competing Caballeros, and joined the Alumni full time. After the 2008 season, I retired from the Alumni Corps. All the while, I had aspirations of marching with the Competing corps, one more time....for the 65th anniversary. I accomplished this, this year. While I had a blast, I am still on the fence about going back, but I am strongly leaning in that dirction. As far as me doing double duty, the only time I did that, was back when the Alumni Corps first started, in 1994. I, along with Tim Campell, were the only ones that were given permission by Jim Costello himself to "help" with the alumni corps, while actively performing with the competing corps. As for anyone else doing double duty, I do not recall anyone currently doing that, except for maybe a few members of the Honor Guard, who just happened to be at a few of the same shows during the course of the year. I hope this answers your question Cathy!!! Sorry I missed you this year in Rochester!!! Screaming Eagle! wherever you end up it will be a fortunate corps! ( i think the youngins being led by example is a really big deal ) Cathie - thanks for the kind words - after nearly 45 years of inactivity i returned to the activity with Skyliners alumni ( contra bass ) For myself I have to say what a great actvity it is - especially the alumni " esprit de corps " - cheering all corps on - at all times! ( for me it was an incredible moment when Scout House exited the field - Sky Alumni and Cabs alumni lined the route through and cheered them on ) my glass is raised to all current marching members and alumni folks who are making " Living History"! and to my Sky Brothers and Sisters - YOU ARE THE BEST! frankiE Edited September 7, 2011 by fecontra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geneva Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Cathie, thanks for the kind words about Boston and your review in general. To answer your question, yes, we are on G bugles and enjoy the difference. I was so glad to see an alumni corps make it all the way from California (where I once lived). I enjoyed your mini-corps as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmanbay41 Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Bridgemen – How can you not love these guys? Fun, fun, fun. Loud, loud, loud. That’s basically all anyone needs to know about this group. The NY city traffic moment by the brass was my favorite moment of the entire DCA weekend. It grabbed you visually and was just plain cool. The guard was also a lot of fun. Last year Just realized it was two years ago, I got to fly with a bunch of these guys back to Newark and to say I was completely entertained would be an understatement. To the member who sliced his hand open on the plane on that trip, I hope he completely recovered. You guys rock. Cathie, Thanks for all the positive comments. As far as last year I was one of those people on the plane and yes that is how we are all the time entertaing and the guy who cut his hand is good andrecovered . This year he drove up so he didn't cut his hand trying to put the seatbelt on again! Hype! george Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabalumnidrummer Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 Alumni Spectacular Hawthorne Caballeros – Exactly how much of your show time do you have to give up just to get you guys on the field? Holy moly! I don't even know what to say about this show. I think the crowd's applause and repeated standing O's pretty much say it for me. There are just no words for the impact, literally and figuratively, this group has on the audience. You guys are amazing. By the way, some of my corps members and I were curious if any members do both the Alumni group and competitive group? Thank You for your comments, Cathie! As with all the alumni corps, we love to play for the audience, and feedback such as yours makes us feel like we have accomplished our goal. We also always want to put the best possible performance on the field, as befits the Caballero name and tradition. I think we accomplish that most of the time as well. As the two Franks and Andy have said, there is almost no way anyone could march both Hawthorne corps on a full-time basis. Occasionally, some competing corps members (usually horn players) will sit-in with us at rehearsals during the 'off-season,' and a few have even played some of the stage shows with us from time to time, most notably in Plymouth in November. Other than that, we are two separate corps. We currently have approximately 125 marching members on our roster. Thanks again, on behalf of the Caballeros Alumni Corps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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