Walnut Review

[saugusbandgeek]

Okay yeah it's a little late, but Turner's isn't done yet so I don't feel guilty at all.

Okay so first off the stadium: Great stadium, my mother wasn't happy sitting a the very top cause it was a lot of stairs to climb! It's surrounds by hills and the field looked pretty well maintained from where I was sitting (way at the top on the 35). On a side note, the field was well maintained but the horse stalls across the street at the college farm thingie were a mess and those horses aren't being taken care of properly at all. Some of them need their hooves (spelling?) trimmed so badly that they're rocking back and forth on them. I'm sending a letter to the Mt. SAC for sure.

Okay so it was a great night, nice California weather all night long (there was a slight breeze and we were in the shade, but it was very tolerable). It got a little chilly like from cascades on, but nothing major, just needed a light coat.

Okay so enough with waisting time, the performances is what we all really care about, but first...

*DISCLAIMER* I don't sugar coat things. I'll tell you what I didn't like about a corps and I'm not going to do the early in the season excuse ("They couldn't dress a line to save their lives, but that's okay cause it's early in the season), I know it's early in the season and don't expect any group to be amazing, but that doesn't change that there's dirt in the shows right now. When the judges see it they don't ignore the early season mistakes, they just put them where dci wants the co.....I mean they just judge them based on the performance they give each evening. My review is based on the performances that I saw out Mt. San Antonio College on July 3, 2004 and nothing else. Don't get too worried I have good things to say about all the corps. For example "Wow they really sucked big time, but they're working hard and that's what counts" See nice positive statement :P lol, just kidding nobody "sucked" at all.

Okay so here it is for real!

Dream, Sr.

Okay so not to start off sounding like a total ### or anything, but quite frankly I wasn't looking forward to seeing them. I wanted to hear Ryan screw up Signorelli, which he didn't grrrrrrrr, but other than that I was kinda like whatever. Sorry but I saw them twice last year and wasn't overly impressed. Well, within a couple the first minute or so I was telling my mom to get off her lazy ###, learn how to play flag and go join up! Big improvement from last year! They're not god's gift to drum corps, yet (they're from Cali, they'll be kicking ### eventually), but #### they're improving, they're growing, they have some sops (or are they trumpets in Dream?) that can scream like crazy, and a colorguard that definitely demands attention with those unis, lol. I thought I was at the SoCal Neon Hippies convention, lol. Seriously, Dream doesn't have the best anything, but they make up for it all in just being plain fun to listen too. It's loud, it's fun, and #### it's old people having fun, how cool is that? Seriously all you school teachers that have nothing to do with your summer, you're never to old to learn something new, go travel the country with a senior corps!

Mystikal

Okay so new corps formed in November. Let's see it's a new corps, they are tiny, the kids are all short and skinny and look like jr. high kids and high school freshmen. I was like oh god maybe this is a good time to start believing in hot dog corps. Of course I didn't leave though (20 dollars for a ticket, I'm not going to miss anything, I ate before the show started!). So I stayed and right away they struck me as a group that knew what they were doing. The opening visual with the horns was spifferific! Don't analyze my diction wrong, "spifferific" may make people think awe they must be cute. HA! No. They're not cute, they're for real, they have a good show for a young/small group. Drill is designed to represent the music well without being too much for a young group on their rehearsal schedule. The brass had some nice strong moments, great balance, lots of sound. At other times I wanted to scream at their trumpets to keep playing. The high sound kinda died a couple times. The colorguard was small and I didn't watch them much so I'm just going to assume that they weren't overly exciting since they didn't grab my attention. Overall, they have lots of work to do before denver, but with where they are now I have no doubt that they'll have the show cleaned up by then and impress a lot of people. Division III finalists, don't think so, but they definitely are off to a great start for their first season.

The Academy

I was like YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Emma's been telling me about this group forever (okay so not forever, but like since a couple months ago) and I was like w00t w00t it's an emma corps. And then I was like ####, what if they suck and they're just winning cause everyone else sucks even more?!?!?!?! (Not that I think Vanguard Cadets, BDB, Fever, and Impulse suck, but it was the first thought cause I was worried since it's Emma's corps) Then they started playing and I was like WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW, the hype is true! They're amazing. I will say that they could be louder. The brass sound is very well balanced, much more in tune than most groups at the show, and very controlled, maybe a little too controlled, I never really felt like they just let it rip, on the other hand they didn't have a problem with overblowing like a lot of groups did. Visually they had a strong marching style from what I could tell, but quite frankly I was looking more at the writing which had it moments, but could have been much more difficult. That's not to say that it was easy, however, it seemed to me from how well the group marched for this point in the season and how incredibly confident they looked that they probably could have tackled harder drill this season. So let's see, the music could have been bigger and bolder (okay by that I just mean overly loud) and the drill could have been more challenging, but keeping in mind that they aren't going to Denver I think that their staff did an incredible job with designing this show to keep them ahead of everyone this year, and still end the season with a very clean show both musically and visually. If they go to champs next year I'd be willing to be that their music and drill is harder and they're not this clean until the end of the season. Oh and I'd be willing to be they kick big ### next year.

If you noticed that I didn't mention the colorguard or percussion, well the colorguard seemed pretty weak to this bando, and the percussion never really played overly loud they were just kinda in the background keeping the groove going (hmmm I can think of some groups that could adopt this idea). So yeah if you want to know more about guards and percussion ask someone else.

Vanguard Cadets

Okay so hmmmmmmmmmmm, yeah I liked them. They have lots and lots and lots of work to do, but they'll make the vanguard family proud this year. The opener and closer of the show were pretty strong, lots of sound, seemed top heavy to me though. The middle ummmmmm, I can't remember, but guessing from the fact that I don't remember I'd have to say it was kinda blah. I remember thinking, wow this drill reminds me of the A corps, but easier, but I don't remember much of the music. The colorguard did keep me entertained, much stronger guard than Academy, IMO. I think the A corps will be looking forward to picking up these some of these members in a couple years. Anyways back to what I care about, the drill was well coordinated with the music, but it wasn't overly challenging, then again they still have plenty to clean in it, so it is design at pretty much the right level for the corps. I actually saw a lot of their members in the parking lot later, and wow I think they're quite a bit younger this year and usual, maybe I'm wrong, but I mean most of the ones I saw looked to me to be maybe sophomores in high school at most. Maybe they're just really skinny from all the aerobic activity? Back on topic, they do have strong technique throughout the corps, I'd say that they'll probably be making some of the drill more impressive throughout the season, but for now they're in the right spot, and they'll have a strong showing in Denver. Percussion, eh whatever, they were there, they hit things :P

Impulse

Yay it's Impulse, w00t w00t w00t, YAY YAY YAY, impulse is fun. Cool opening, spiffiness, yeah oh big hit coming, it's coming, almost there, and here it is, AND omg they got some work to do. Don't get me wrong it's impulse, and they're fun like always, but I think they need to use some more time learning to play in tune Yes I know impulse is all about having fun and being fun for the audience, but that doesn't mean they can't play in tune. I mean okay, they have a good show design, a pretty talented guard, they're a decent size, and it's obvious that their members can play. They just aren't playing well; I don't know how hard they work, but I'd imagine it's pretty hard, I'd say they probably just aren't rehearsing smart. Again I know it's about entertaining the audience, and having fun on the field, but it's just sad that they have a show that has the potential to be incredibly entertaining musically but they just aren't there yet. The tempos need to picked up in a lot of the sections, the horns need to play in tune and with better balance. I'd say the drill needs to be rewritten, if they want to do well at in Denver, but quite frankly they need to spend a lot of time in a basics block solidifying a marching style throughout the entire corps and getting their members much more comfortable with marching and playing before they try anything harder. Don't get me wrong a lot of these kids march incredibly well, but they're not all using the same style, very few of them are actually marching with confidence while they're playing (they don't seem to have that problem as much during drum breaks, so I personally would say spend time scales and other exercises in a block, but that's something that should have been done way earlier in the season, now they just need to be getting as many runs of the different sections of the show as they can in at every rehearsal, IMO, oh and that doesn't mean that they stop doing basics block, circle drill warm-ups, and other exercises, just by this point I believe that groups should be spending less time learning to march, and more time learning to march the drill) and some of them really aren't marching that well.

That was kinda lond so here's the Reader's Digest version:

Okay so is the show designed to win? No. Musically the show could get them into Div II/III finals if it's tight by the end of the season, IMO of course, visually it's decent writing, but if they want to make it to finals they need to march with a unique techniqu, way more confidence, much more cleanly (sp?), and the difficulty of the drill needs to go up a couple notches before the end of the season. Colorguard, seemed pretty strong, I think they not only do they need to give this guard some more difficult work, the guard will have no problem handling it. Overall despite how negative this whole thing may seem, I did enjoy impulse's show specifically because it's impulse and they're cool. This may not sound overly nice, but I told a friend this quote exactly "I really hate losing, but if I was going to willingly march in a losing corps it'd be impulse because at least they're cool and their shows rock even if they aren't clean!" And they do rock, like some groups kinda make me want to go get food when they're dirty, but impulse manages to draw me in regardless.

Intermission

Hmmmm I went and found Emma, but first a complaint about the show. So you come into the show and of course they don't stamp you at the entrance cause that would hold up the line, makes sense to me. So I go down to the exit by the parking lot that the corps are in cause I want to go see emma, and I asked the lady to stamp my hand so I could get back in and she told me I couldn't get a stamp there I had to do it on the other side of the stadium. So I was like omg how stupid! Oh well, so I go get my stamp on the other side and it's not even like a fancy custom stamp, it was a cork from a wine bottle that they smashed into an ink pad and then stamped you with. How hard would it have been to have a cork and a green ink pad at both exits instead of one?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I mean really? Okay so I saw emma, yay blah blah blah. Then I left cause I wasn't going to miss Esperanza at 8:30 over emma! I love you emma :) So yeah 8:25 I'm back at the staium entrance and Esperanza is on ad I was like what kind of garbage is this, shows aren't suppose to be on early! So I pull out my program and oh I was sooo mad at myself I want to rip out all my leg hair (that hurts more than head hair just for you that haven't experienced both) Esperanza went on at 8:20. So yeah that became my hot dog corps, but then I realized I didn't have any money because I left my wallet in the car since my mommy was paying for the tickets and I wasn't planning on buying anything. So I had a hot dog corps which I hate having, and no hot dog, wow I felt lame.

Esperanza

THEY SUCKED BIG TIME!!!!!!!!! Okay if you actually believe that read the whole long Intermission part you dweeb!

Mandarins

Oh wow, they are small this year. Smaller than last year for sure. Don't even think about letting that full you! These are the Mandarins we're talking about here, when has size ever hindered them? Nope they were incredible. The show was packed with GE. The opening with the Taiko drums (that's right isn't it?) big loud in your face hornline. Great drill! NO AMPS!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Actually none of the corps so far had amps :) . A colorguard that I loved even though the judges apparently didn't like as much. It was just wow! Or not. I loved the group because they really do amaze me with what they can do regardless of size. However, they had a great intro, lots of power, great GE, the audience was loving it, and then they started singing. Not only that, they were standing still while singing. Now I don't mind singing when done right, but that wasn't the time for it, I mean the opener had lots of power great velocity in the music and drill and then they're singing a ballad and standing still. I'm all for highs and lows, but I don't really like having them back to back unless you go from laaaaaa la la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa to BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BA BA BA BA BA *DRUM BREAK AVEC AWESOME DRILL AND INCREDIBLE GUARD INTEGRATION* BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA cause then it's like ahh how pretty....HOLY #### THAT'S LOUD AND FAST AND WOW THAT'S DRUM CORPS as opposed to HOLY #### THAT WAS SO ####### COOL! to ummmmmm where's the power? IMO if the opener is as powerful as this one is, then the ballad needs to be later in the show so you have time to let the audience (and judges) down easy instead of getting them way up and then just dropping them. The drill wasn't clean, some of it was, but they still had lots more to do. Unfortunately I think they're going to need harder drill in most of the show if they want to get into semis this year, and I don't see them making those changes and having it clean by the end of the season with where they are with their current drill. The colorguard was the first one of the night to really grab me during the show. They made me want to throw down my flute (yes I'm a woodwind please don't hurt me) and learn to play flag.

Reader's Digest Says

One of my favorite shows of the night, lots of power, but they're relying a little too much on the GE score right now. Clean up the brass sound in the middle of the show, enhance the drill and clean it, and then they'll be looking at making semis.

Pacific Crest

Okay first things first, NO SILVER BOXES YAY, NO AMPS MORE YAY! Okay now there's a dead person, and then the murderer running away several times in the show, I got that part. However, the dead person at the beginning has no murderer, and then she gets up and does the murderer run, quoi? I mean I know she has to get up and do guard work, but she does the same run that the murderer person does later, hmmmm didn't quite get that. Then at the end two colorguard people are duking it out and one dies and you know who the murderer person is cause you seem the murder happen, and then a random colorguard person does the murderer run while the actual murderer is still by the body. I was like ummmmm, okay? Anyways they seemed smaller this year than last year. Way way way way way smaller. Then again sometimes they seemed just as big as last year. Yes that makes perfect sense, the drill writing is kinda like hmmmmmmm, not sure about it this year. I didn't love it last year, but it was better IMO. The drill this year at times made the corps looking really small sometimes and really big other times, but they'd be on a big power chord and make themselves look small. I was like ummm make yourself look bigger for the big chords. Make yourself look small like at the end of the ballad, or when you're doing a fade away ending to a piece, but don't get into some weird little form (I think it was suppose to be a box, but it looked more like an amoeba to me) make yourself looked tiny, and then hit a huge chord! That's my opinion anyways, I know not everyone agrees. Wow this is already long, okay I'll try to speed it up. They're marching better this year than last year (the drill looked fairly simplistic from my seat though) they did clean up the feet a lot this year though. Last year by this time they were still having major major major phasing problems, not as much this year. What they gained in visual, they lost in music, they're not as impressive musically this year. Good sound, yeah, on the chords. A lot of the parts where they were actually moving and playing multiple notes they were having trouble keeping the groups together, phasing in the hornline! They had a pretty good guard, I saw their winterguard and wasn't overly impressed, but the guard at the show surprised me, lots of talent and good work. Overall, they were pretty good, I thought that mandarins should have been ahead of them, but I'm not a dci judge.

Seattle Cascades

This was my first time ever seeing this group live and I was thrilled to finally get to see them. Visually they also need to do some redesigning, but as of now they have a better visual design, marching technique, and are cleaner than either Mandarins or PC, IMO. I felt that the drill was engaging through the entire performance, the music was beautiful, well designed (didn't have the huge drop like Mandarins) and definitely capable of surprising a lot of people when they start meeting up with other groups and get it cleaned up some more. Quite frankly I though they should have been further ahead of PC (and not quite as far ahead of the Mandarins, but still ahead of them). They don't have as much stuff specifically designed to boost GE like mandarins, but they make up for it in a show that I felt was designed better, and executed better. They're going to move up in the ranks this season, right now the scores make it look like they'll be struggling to get ahead of the Colts (whom I adore) but by the end of the season I think the crossmen are going to be fighting these guys off. Great Show!

Vanguard

They marched out and my mom said oh look it's Santa's little helpers. I glared at her, and felt way way way way way way way way way way way way way embarrassed! I was grrr I am so not going to the Rose Bowl avec my family! Anyways, I will personally say that as a classical musician this show makes me think of the typical marching band taking great music and ruining it by play loud and fast and nothing else and completely using all aspects of musicianship and emotion that are portrayed in the "real" piece. As a corps fan, I have to say that this show is incredibly well designed. Absolutely amazing improvement for SCV from last year's show! It's exciting, it never lets the audience watch anything else (except for the police cars pulling into the stadium with their lights on :P )! The drill, left me wanting more. It was way better than any of the the other corps up to that point (nothing wrong with the other corps, vanguard's just better) but the music was so exciting that I wish the drill had been bigger and faster in a lot of spots. However, the drill was well coordinated to the show, and definitely challenging enough to get them into the top 4 (duh this is vanguard we're talking about, lol). Last years show seemed like it was designed to keep them in the top 4, this years is definitely designed to win the title. Not saying that it will because they're not the only corps that has a chance at that, but if someone other than BD/SCV/Cadets/Cavaliers makes the top 4 I highly doubt that SCV will be the corps out of finals. It was a great show.

The Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue Devils

Ummmmm yeah the guys in that guard are flexible. More importantly the guys in that guard are hot!!! OMG they can spin my flag anyday, *drool*. Okay yeah back to the important stuff the guard was great. The show was, well it was a BD show. It was loud, fast, in your face, yeah it was drum corps! Ummm did I like the show, yeah I had fun watching it. However, I found myself much more interested in the guard (the guard work, geez get your minds out of the gutter) than the corps which isn't me at all. Lots of times during the show I'd all of a sudden be grabbed by loud hits but other than that the drill wasn't all that excting, the music was whatever, and the entire guard could do the splits, and did at the end of the show. Was it well executed, yep, did it deserve to win, yep, is it a contender for the title this year, absolutely, wouldn't I want to listen to a recording of it, not a chance. Oh and the new unis, I hated, absolutely hated with a passion these uniforms, hideous disgusting uniforms, why on earth would somebody buy those #### things they look like ####, type of hated these uniforms from the pictures, but then I saw them on the field and they're way cool I love them, I'm sooooooo glad they don't have BDB's uniforms (no offense) these are a much better look for them.

My placements for the corps:

Blue Devils

SCV

Seatle

Mandarins

PC

E!

Academy

Vanguard Cadets

Impulse

Mystikal

Dream

The real deal, just switch PC and Manarins cause I don't feel like typing a list agan :P

Hope you enjoyed the review, it took 2 hours of my overly valuable time to write it (okay my time isn't worth anything because there's lots and lots and lots of supply and not much demand)!

If you didn't like it, that's your fault. If you think I'm too hard on some of the groups (yes I know I was very negative with Impulse and Pacific Crest compared to the other corps) well 1) READ THE DISCLAIMER! and 2) It was a great night for drum corps, I loved all the groups, if I had kids I'd be proud to tell everyone that my kid was marching with any of those corps and pay money to see a show even if it just had one of those corps at it cause they were all that good overall.

[84BDsop]

Dream, Sr.

Okay so not to start off sounding like a total ### or anything, but quite frankly I wasn't looking forward to seeing them. I wanted to hear Ryan screw up Signorelli, which he didn't grrrrrrrr, but other than that I was kinda like whatever.

That's 'cause I told him how to pronouce it last year!! Why do you think he over-emphasised it?

  Sorry but I saw them twice last year and wasn't overly impressed. Well, within a couple the first minute or so I was telling my mom to get off her lazy ###, learn how to play flag and go join up! Big improvement from last year!

Thanks...I think we ALL realize it, particularly in percussion.

They're not god's gift to drum corps, yet (they're from Cali, they'll be kicking ### eventually), but #### they're improving, they're growing, they have some sops (or are they trumpets in Dream?) that can scream like crazy,

All G bugles except Phil Norris in the pit -- the Living Disco Ball. he's on a trumpet

  and a colorguard that definitely demands attention with those unis, lol. I thought I was at the SoCal Neon Hippies convention, lol.

Jeez, try being up close like I am! I'm actually glad I'm leading the march off behind the honor guard instead of trailing behind the guard this year...my shades can only take so much!

Seriously, Dream doesn't have the best anything, but they make up for it all in just being plain fun to listen too. It's loud, it's fun, and #### it's old people having fun, how cool is that? Seriously all you school teachers that have nothing to do with your summer, you're never to old to learn something new, go travel the country with a senior corps!

Thank you very much, I know the rest of the corps will appreciate that.

It occurs to me that Saugus isn't all that far away...I live in Pacoima, we've got one of the sops coming from Simi Valley, the tymp guy, the white girl in the pit, her parents (both sop players), the sabre in the honor guard, and one of the baris come from San Diego (in fact, the bari is the pit girl's band director!), one of the guard comes from Fresno, and the tall skinny black dude in the sop line comes from Arizona every week.

We're goin' to DCA and could use some more baris and sops....come on down and join the fun! Besides, I need more people to wave my arms at!

[FYWW]

Very nice review! Ryan, you got your work cut out for you if you plan on gunning for the Best Review title! :P

Lots of stuff I agree with.

First of all, after having run up and down that stadium 5 or 6 times throughout the night, I'm BEAT! And the 4th of July parade the next morning didn't help matters much.

I don't do reviews, but here's what I thought of the corps that I saw tonight. Guess that makes it a review, huh? lol

Dream - I can review my own corps, can't I? Sure I can. Watch me.

Much improved performance over the night before, but that's to be expected since at Riverside, with it being a Friday night show, and our first of the season, we had zero rehearsal time and no run through. Waaah.. boo hoo... so what. We sucked. We know it. Cool. After a nice 4-hour block on Saturday, the Mt. Sac performance was overall much better and confident. I don't look at scores typically, but I felt our Saturday show, in comparison to our Friday show, was by far better than just a half point jump. But who cares. We had a blast and that's what matters!

Didn't see Mystikal, Impulse, or Academy, though I did see Academy the night before and HOLY #### they blew me away! Saw SCVC from the end zone and from what I could see they resemble the 'A' corps quite a bit, as far as the visual program goes. Best of luck to them in Denver!

Esperanza..... Wish I could remember their program, but for the life of me I can't. Sorry. I do remember not being totally impressed, however, but then again, I'm not easily impressed to begin with.

PC was pretty darn good. I couldn't help but get distracted by the rehashed BD 2000 music, but the corps moves and sounds great. The interpretation of the running guard member doesn't seem to click with many spectators. We get the North-by-North West reference, however it just looks like the girl was told to "RUN" and, well, she did. You go. Nice uniforms.

Really liked Cascade's show. Their drill can clean up by 5 points by simply working on body alignment and dress & cover. Most of their straight line cover sets never quite made it, but that's my only real picky negative about this corps. Oh, and I kept waiting for the big push in 'All Things Bright & Beautiful' ala Cavaliers 1990. Didn't happen, but good for them for keeping to their own interpretation and not rehashing something that's already been done (ahem, Pacific Crest :P). Very cool show and with John Freeman on visual staff, I have no doubts they will clean up nicely!

I fastened my seat belt for SCV since I had heard audio recordings of them before getting to see them and was foaming at the mouth to finally get to see them live! They did not disappoint. I don't know if they reached my fullest expectations, but then again, having expectations going in to begin with might have been my downfall. I think I would have been more blown away had I known NOTHING about this year's Vanguard show. But nevertheless, their show was awesome! I've always been a big SCV fan, but ever since 93 they have performed shows that I can hardly remember. Lets see... La Mer and Not The Nutcracker... know those.... umm... Hunt For Red October... ok, I remember that one... I think they played On The Waterfront one year, but can't remember which... and... Well, my point is, since 1993 they haven't exactly chosen music selections that people remember years later. You say 1987 Vanguard, and just about anyone can tell you they played Russian Christmas Music without hesitation. 89? Phantom of the Opera. 91? Miss Saigon, baby! I think 2004 will join that list of most memorables. Guess only time will tell!

BD didn’t blow me away this year like I was last year. But still a very cool show. I love complete packages and BD brings it all to the table. Great sounding hornline, INCREDIBLE colorguard, a visual design that just makes me chuckle in awe, and drums... well, they weren't grabbing my attention like I'm used to them doing. My focus strayed a little during Summertime, but the guard work during this piece was the only thing keeping me from nodding off. I was also sitting right next to their guard staff so I had to at least look interested! lol I did, however, pay a lot of attention to the pit and their use of amplification. Very tasteful, and thankfully not over done. The train sound effects at the very end of the show were a great addition to the program and I think it would not have been possible without the use of amps.

Honestly I think Vanguard will take BD come Denver. Devils were technically much cleaner than Vanguard tonight, which is why they won, but in terms of total package and wow factor.... Well, rub some Brasso on it and SCV will polish up nicely.

Aside from the performances, it was great to see lots of old friends. Tracy Freeman and a few other RCRers took a road trip down from Sacramento to check out the show. Very cool to see you guys there and showing your support! By the way, which one of you brought the pickle?

Ryan Turner, excellent job on the PA gig, as always. Now finish up your review!!!

Edited July 5, 2004 by FYWW

[84BDsop]

Tracy Freeman and a few other RCRers took a road trip down from Sacramento to check out the show. Very cool to see you guys there and showing your support!

Ahhh....a little industrial epsionage.....glad they caught Walnut and not Riverside!

[FYWW]

By the way, VERY proud of Mystikal! Although I haven't had the chance to see their full show in uniform since they've gone on right after Dream, I have had the opportunity to see our little brothers and sisters during rehersals and those kids are just great. Hard working and gung ho. Shout out to the baritone girl with the evil Pirate tattoo! ^0^

[ravedodger]

Mystikal rocks!

[saugusbandgeek]

It occurs to me that Saugus isn't all that far away...I live in Pacoima, we've got one of the sops coming from Simi Valley, the tymp guy, the white girl in the pit, her parents (both sop players), the sabre in the honor guard, and one of the baris come from San Diego (in fact, the bari is the pit girl's band director!), one of the guard comes from Fresno, and the tall skinny black dude in the sop line comes from Arizona every week.

We're goin' to DCA and could use some more baris and sops....come on down and join the fun! Besides, I need more people to wave my arms at!

My mother's excuse, she's "too old" bah, she's 42! That's not old! My excuse, I have to get my driver's license this summer, register for classes, and start practicing again since I haven't played in 2 months and the school year is starting to creap up on me :devin:

[84BDsop]

It occurs to me that Saugus isn't all that far away...I live in Pacoima, we've got one of the sops coming from Simi Valley, the tymp guy, the white girl in the pit, her parents (both sop players), the sabre in the honor guard, and one of the baris come from San Diego (in fact, the bari is the pit girl's band director!), one of the guard comes from Fresno, and the tall skinny black dude in the sop line comes from Arizona every week.

We're goin' to DCA and could use some more baris and sops....come on down and join the fun!  Besides, I need more people to wave my arms at!

My mother's excuse, she's "too old" bah, she's 42! That's not old! My excuse, I have to get my driver's license this summer, register for classes, and start practicing again since I haven't played in 2 months and the school year is starting to creap up on me :devin:

42??? Tell her one of our mellos marched with the Kingsmen in 1972...he's older than she is, and I'm only 1 year younger than her...as for you....there;s always '05!!

[socalcontra]

Wow-makes my post seem a bit tame in comparison. I was going to "vent" like that, but I really made an attempt to be positive. Glad you put some details into yours.

[One of the Sops]

My mother's excuse, she's "too old" bah, she's 42!  That's not old!

42??? Tell her one of our mellos marched with the Kingsmen in 1972...he's older than she is, and I'm only 1 year younger than her...as for you....there;s always '05!!

Tell your mom youth is restored by the Senior Corps Cocktail: Ibuprofen, Tiger Balm and a luxurious, hot bubble bath.

Some have been known to resort to "other" cocktails if the above doesn't do the job.

BTW, you'd have to join us too, unless you wanted to be a drum corps orphan all summer. :P