bd5times Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 Some observations and impressions of the Blue Devils home show, Precision West. While getting ready to go to the show, my son kept asking me if I knew where my "...Blue Devils uniform with the America state flag is at". First off, I don't have a Blue Devils uniform, secondly, I thought he was talking about my Old Navy t-shirt. Next thing I know, he's wearing my cub scout uniform, and that's what he wants to wear to the drum corps show, a uniform (he's 5). So, I let him. We found the Renegades horn line and listened to them warm up for a few minutes before heading into the stands. It's always fun to see the guys I marched with, either in Blue Devils or at San Jose State. On to the show: Coolest Visual Effect: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blue Devils "C" corps with the burning fuse during Mission Impossible. Most Exposed Soloist: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the dude from River City Regiment. Man, that guy can wail on that horn, and with incredible tone! Ability to Incite Riots Without Playing A Note: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ River City Regiment When they started with the pledge of allegiance, boos were cast down throughout the stands, along with applause for the corps. People were yelling that it's not in the constitution, some of the older people stood up ready to yell back at the hecklers. I thought there was going to be a brawl in our section. My daughter was wide-eyed watching grown ups yell at each other. Certainly created a charged atmosphere. Loudest Drum Line Award: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While watching the Seattle Cascades, I couldn't believe how loud their snare line was. Piercing. So, I was going to give them the Loudest Drum Line Award, until Blue Devils came on. Serious volume from BD's drum line. They win the volume award. I stil Can't believe it award: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The size of the Blue DEvils B corps drum line......and the number of notes they throw down......and good, too! Most Photogenic Drum Corps: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seattle Cascades. I was blown away with Seattle last year. This year, I was floored. I loved their show. It became apparent to me this show has a lot of "moments" in it. It seems like there are tons of moments in the show which would make great close up photos for marketing materials, calendars, and such. Get the cameras out with those zoom lenses, there are points where you will have some great shots! Loudest Note Of The Night: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renegades! I thought the note at the end of Mambo was loud. Apparently, that was a warm up note. The chord at the end of the show was the loudest note of drum corps I've heard in a l o n g t i m e! Moment Of Seperation From The Drum Corps Talkers And THose That Know: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the end of the Renegades show, the cymbals make a "7" with their cymbals. People could be heard throughout the area I was sitting in...."what does 7 mean". The answers ranged from "don't know" to some mystical power that creates loud notes. I didn't hear anybody come close to the correct explanation. Perhaps Lee should stand on the track and toss "ham sandwiches" to the first person that can guess the meaning of "7". Biggest Horn Line: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renegades! Highest Note Of The Night: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seems to me, Rich Duarte won this one, hands down. I don't know what note it was, but Rich NAILED IT! Loudest High Note Of The Night: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rich is cleaning up here......goes to Rich Duarte, again. Same note, not only high, but really LOUD! Loudest Baritone Player ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Greg Gilman. My daughter Lindsay had picked him out, and there was definitely some air being pushed through that horn. Good thing the rest of the line was backing him up! Most Improved Corps: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renegades. The improvement this corps has made since Blue Devils Family Day is incredible. Obviously, the corps is working hard for their DCA appearance. First Wow Moment of the Night ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Renagedes.....Bohemian Rhapsody Hey, look, they're marching, wait, no, running! d###, I didn't think seniors could move that fast, and play! Blue Devils run, but they weren't playing, Renegades were blowing some notes. Great Job! Most Disappointing Moment: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madison Scouts grand entrance. As Madison entered the field, I was explaining to me wife and kids to watch their company front move across the field. It will be perfectly straight, blah, blah blah. The corps gets right in front of us, on the 35, and a couple of guys stop! Then run and catch up with the line. Then......it gets worse. Every 5 years after that, 2 or more guys stop, then run and catch up, then the "wave" winds it's way down the front. Throughout the stands, alumni of Blue Devils, Vanguard, and other drum corps could be heard "what in the world is going on". Definitely a sad moment......until....... Did I See What I think I Saw? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I liked Madison's show, their horn line was definitely the loudest, and the drum line was my son's favorite of the night. Near the end of the show, the horn line is bunched up around a guard member, who attempts a towering rifle toss. Not sure where it landed, but when the horn line started unraveling their form, there were horns laying on the ground. A contra, mellophone, and I think a baritone. It looked like some guy was trying to get back into the form, went to pick up the contra, missed, then picked up the mellophone. Then somebody tried to get the contra, but picked up the baritone. Then, a guy went to pick up the contra, at this point, I wasn't sure if it was his horn or not. So, this guy muscles the horn up to his shoulder, and the back end of the horn, as it's coming up, almost took out another contra. I've always enjoyed watching Madison, but something is seriously wrong. I know the corps does not care about the competition and such and advocates performing the best you can. I think this ideal is hurting the corps, particularly if this is the best that they can do. Come on guys, wake up, you're cheating yourselfs out of being a great performing drum corps! Are They Pulling My Leg? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pacific Crest. Come on! That's a weekend only drum corps? And they're beating Madison in some of the captions? Wow! Ummmmmm, okay Award.....goes too: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Santa Clara Vanguard That's pretty much what I though of the music.....ummmmmm, okay. Most Color Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Santa Clara Vanguard. I really liked the use of the colors in their show. Federal Express Packaging Award ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a toss up betweent Seattle Cascades and Santa Clara Vanguard and their use of boxes. Ah, why not. It's a tie. Weird Guard Stuff Award (sponsored by Star of Indiana, makers of BLAST!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Santa Clara Vanguard My Daughter's Favorite Corps Award: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Impulse. She really liked the Lucy girl running around. My Wife's Favorite Corps: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Madison Scouts and Renegades My Favorite Corps: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'll say Blue Devils, just because. However, I was really impressed with Seattle Cascades. I'll add more rumors and innuendo later. I've got lots of rumors. Ciao' Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf1 Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 In defense of the Scouts, there were no yard markers at the sidelines. Only orange cones. On the other hand, it should already be second nature for a junior corps that rehearses everyday. Musically, they were fantastic. Get the m&m clean, then you're talking top 8 at least. ^0^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd5times Posted July 8, 2002 Author Share Posted July 8, 2002 In defense of the Scouts, there were no yard markers at the sidelines. Only orange cones. I would accept that, except the first person to have a mental setback stopped right on the incredibly large 30 that's embedded on the astroturf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripdid Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 I have been thinking about this, and i believe the guy that stopped may have been correct. If i remember right, Saturday night when they did the pinwheels to play at the crowd, they were centered on the 50. Sunday night with the train wreck happening, they ended up centered on the 40 or 45. Either way, something was definately wrong last night. Ouch, and it was a visual ouch that lasted all performance long. To quote a friend of mine, they were so bad visually that it was "uncomfortable to watch." Especially considering we have come to expect them to be at least adequate visually. Oh well, all i can say is clean clean clean and we'll see come finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stylites Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 We almost caused a riot? Cool. I wonder what it would have done to our GE score if a riot broke out? At least no one can say that there was no audience involvement in our show! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumlaw80 Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 Moment Of Seperation From The Drum Corps Talkers And Those That Know:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the end of the Renegades show, the cymbals make a "7" with their cymbals. People could be heard throughout the area I was sitting in...."what does 7 mean". The answers ranged from "don't know" to some mystical power that creates loud notes. I didn't hear anybody come close to the correct explanation. Perhaps Lee should stand on the track and toss "ham sandwiches" to the first person that can guess the meaning of "7". Ahhhh yes ... but did you also know that Precision West was the Renegade's 7th show of the season, we were the 7th corps to take the field that night, and we we're originally scheduled to go at 7:00PM, but the show got pushed back 7 minutes, and we stepped off at EXACTLY 7:07 pm. Really. uh-oh. p.s. Did I mention that we have 7 bass drums and 7 snares? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 Moment Of Seperation From The Drum Corps Talkers And Those That Know:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the end of the Renegades show, the cymbals make a "7" with their cymbals. People could be heard throughout the area I was sitting in...."what does 7 mean". The answers ranged from "don't know" to some mystical power that creates loud notes. I didn't hear anybody come close to the correct explanation. Perhaps Lee should stand on the track and toss "ham sandwiches" to the first person that can guess the meaning of "7". Ahhhh yes ... but did you also know that Precision West was the Renegade's 7th show of the season, we were the 7th corps to take the field that night, and we we're originally scheduled to go at 7:00PM, but the show got pushed back 7 minutes, and we stepped off at EXACTLY 7:07 pm. Really. uh-oh. p.s. Did I mention that we have 7 bass drums and 7 snares? :) Lee, You forgot to mention that the date was 7/7! ^0^ Oh, I have the picture of the "7" cloud formation just before our Pacific Procession performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 Near the end of the show, the horn line is bunched up around a guard member, who attempts a towering rifle toss. Not sure where it landed, but when the horn line started unraveling their form, there were horns laying on the ground. A contra, mellophone, and I think a baritone.It looked like some guy was trying to get back into the form, went to pick up the contra, missed, then picked up the mellophone. Then somebody tried to get the contra, but picked up the baritone. Then, a guy went to pick up the contra, at this point, I wasn't sure if it was his horn or not. So, this guy muscles the horn up to his shoulder, and the back end of the horn, as it's coming up, almost took out another contra. I've always enjoyed watching Madison, but something is seriously wrong. I know the corps does not care about the competition and such and advocates performing the best you can. I think this ideal is hurting the corps, particularly if this is the best that they can do. Come on guys, wake up, you're cheating yourselfs out of being a great performing drum corps! I didn't see this from my vantage point in the stands, but heard about it on the drive back. Wow, a bad night that went even further downhill...yikes! :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenegadeDM Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 p.s. Did I mention that we have 7 bass drums and 7 snares? :) Did you forget 7 contras?(for that night) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugada Posted July 8, 2002 Share Posted July 8, 2002 Moment Of Seperation From The Drum Corps Talkers And Those That Know:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the end of the Renegades show, the cymbals make a "7" with their cymbals. People could be heard throughout the area I was sitting in...."what does 7 mean". The answers ranged from "don't know" to some mystical power that creates loud notes. I didn't hear anybody come close to the correct explanation. Perhaps Lee should stand on the track and toss "ham sandwiches" to the first person that can guess the meaning of "7". Ahhhh yes ... but did you also know that Precision West was the Renegade's 7th show of the season, we were the 7th corps to take the field that night, and we we're originally scheduled to go at 7:00PM, but the show got pushed back 7 minutes, and we stepped off at EXACTLY 7:07 pm. Really. uh-oh. p.s. Did I mention that we have 7 bass drums and 7 snares? :) Let's not forget that Jeff Helms bought a Lucky 7 Lottery ticket at the 7-11 and won 7 dollars before the show! Dugada ^0^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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