Jurassic Lancer Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) They are 5s,6s and maybe a 7 - definitely not more than that. No one throws higher than that outside (well maybe the odd soloist tries to!) I will definitely take your word for it. Like I said, I live in a world of hyperbole. It just sure seemed like those sabers were in the stratosphere to me. Mia culpa, even though I have been in drum corps since the beginning of time, when it comes to guards, I am still pretty much a "Look at the pretty flag" sort of guy. Edited July 28, 2015 by Jurassic Lancer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Congratulation, garfield! I don't think it was quite a full house (there seemed to be some empty seats yet in the middle on the house right side), but it was so much more crowded than last year that I missed the first three corps. And the taco food truck stopped taking orders for ten minutes right after me so that they could catch up. And the pizza / cotton candy / water vending station was completely out of pizza and water during intermission. But the crowd seemed to take the long lines in stride, and your volunteers were friendly and helpful. One named Ron in particular made a point of chatting up people who got stuck waiting to enter the stands while both Colts and Troopers played. I've been to this show many times and will echo these sentiments. Great setup, good volunteers, and one of the nicer shows to attend every year. Sadly I couldn't be there last night since I had to call bingo for Bluecoats here in North Canton. Duty calls sometimes, but I imagine Blooo has a great group of fans down there, and looking at that score they must have performed amazingly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurassic Lancer Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I've been to this show many times and will echo these sentiments. Great setup, good volunteers, and one of the nicer shows to attend every year. Sadly I couldn't be there last night since I had to call bingo for Bluecoats here in North Canton. Duty calls sometimes, but I imagine Blooo has a great group of fans down there, and looking at that score they must have performed amazingly well. There was a great group of Bluecoats fans atthe show ... an a lot of love was given to Willie too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Hey N.E. we had some comments about the amount of traffic. Did you choose to miss the opening three or were you caught in traffic? Although I got out of work in Cleveland as soon as I could, and as a musician might say, stayed on the leading edge of the I-71 tempo, I figured there was a good chance I'd miss Pioneer. It is more than two hours' drive, after all. So I was very pleased to find myself (having exited I-270 at Sawmill and then taken Bright to the traffic circle) at 6:51 p.m. on Emerald with the school and stadium to my right and the intersection with Coffman visible ahead. But from that point it was more than 20 minutes until I was parked. Had I anticipated that problem just a few seconds before I found myself stuck in traffic, probably I could have turned left into one of the businesses on the south side of Emerald, but I had just missed the median cut-through. So it was more than 10 minutes to get to Coffman, and nearly another 10 minutes getting past the school. All your parking was full, but there was no clear indication of that, particularly for people who don't know the school layout. There had been signs at the "DCI Buses Only" entrance to the school grounds indicating that patron parking was ahead, but the next three entrances were simply blocked with no signage saying, "Sorry, patron parking full, please find street parking" or something like that, and after passing what turned out to be the last entrance to the school grounds, I didn't know if there was yet some additional official parking just a little further ahead, so I drove a few more minutes on Coffman before turning around and finding a spot, along with quite a few other people, on Forest Run, a residential street. From there it was a brisk five-minute walk to the stadium, where I arrived as Pioneer was exiting. Thinking that intermission would be shorter than proved to be the case (and that the food lines then would be horribly long),I decided to grab dinner first and miss Colts, so I went straight to the Mojo TaGO truck. As I had indicated, they were no more prepared for the high attendance than anyone else was: there were a dozen people waiting for their orders to be processed, and just after I ordered, they announced that they would take no more orders for ten minutes while they caught up. I nonetheless had my food about two minutes before Colts finished and went right into the line for my section. For myself, I don't mind what happened next, because I'll get to see Pioneer, Colts, and Troopers tonight at Erie. That said, it is a bit frustrating, and in my view unprofessional, that DCI shows (not just yours) make little or no allowance for long lines. Last year at Massillon, I was in the will-call line for 45 minutes, and it was only after a bunch of patrons begged a passing staff member to plead our case to the show coordinators that the start was delayed 15 minutes. If that hadn't happened, probably a thousand people who had purchased their tickets in advance and arrived well ahead of the show start time would have missed the opening corps. Likewise the ability of show staff to enact a couple minutes' hold at each break between corps, as needed, just seems like common sense. In the theater, when the house manager sees a long line in the lobby, she tells the stage manager, who holds the show until those people are seated. (For that matter, the house manager is also in communication with parking staff.) Just in the line for my section last night, there were thirty people in front of me, and twenty people behind me, all of whom were in line before the Colts finished, who were not let into the stands in time to see Troopers show. Multiply that by four entrances, and that's 200 people waiting for at least 15 extra minutes. If drum corps shows were run professionally, event staff would tell the on-field coordinator to make Troopers wait for a few minutes, because that's what real entertainers would have to do. Nonetheless, as I said, that's DCI's policy, not yours, and your volunteers did come around to speak to people in line, and they were very pleasant as they thanked folks for their patience and made sure they knew where they were going. And with just some quiet grumbling, those waiting audience members mostly took it in stride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 You had lots of school buses there last night, I noticed. The only district whose name I caught as they passed by was Marion, and that's nearly an hour away from you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevingamin Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Kevin, you da' man. Thanks for the updates!Good seeing you again, even if it was for only 10 seconds. Someday we'll meet when you're not in the middle of running a show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevingamin Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 As to parking, I had learned my lesson over the past few years as I've always had to book down from NE Ohio after work to cover this show. I went around and came at the school from the opposite direction. No traffic at all until I got to the parking area. The only issue there was that I had to wait until somebody was nice enough to let me into the line turning into the parking area, but still much quicker than following the leader. The only down side for me was that I didn't have time to hit any of the food trucks. I just may have to give in and take a half day next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 One further good thing about the Dublin show as compared to many others (including Erie tonight): not once did I hear another corps warming up in the distance during a quiet moment by the corps on the field. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms.L Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 The only down side for me was that I didn't have time to hit any of the food trucks. I just may have to give in and take a half day next year. We got there a bit before 5:30. Went in and 'shopped' the souvie tents, took our purchases back to the car and then waited for food. By the time I got my food we had to wait in the tunnel during the playing of the national anthem. There was barely enough time to shop and get food before the event started. But wow, the food was awesome, the workers for the event very courteous and of course the corps were phenomenal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 29, 2015 Author Share Posted July 29, 2015 One further good thing about the Dublin show as compared to many others (including Erie tonight): not once did I hear another corps warming up in the distance during a quiet moment by the corps on the field. We're fortunate that The Lot is on the other side of the the school and horns are usually facing away from the school and stadium when they play. Glad that planning was noticeable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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