belated lewisburg review

[Jeff Ream]

now that DCW has actually put it in the current issue, if you don't subscribe,

read away.

LEWISBURG PA DCA SHOW 6/26

After last year's attempt at a show marred by violent

weather, finally, DCA competition returned to Christy Mathewson Stadium on the

campus of Bucknell University on June 26th. Lewisburg, or Bucknell as the show

was called, ran from 1949 until the late 80's, and was always a well attended

event. After an absence of 16+ years, the same held true, and the crowd was not

disappointed with the results.

This year, the weather held out, and it was a truly beautiful

night for a show. The show started off with the combined Lewisburg H.S. and

Mifflinburg H.S. bands. The first selection, "America the Beautiful", led by

Mifflinburg Band Director Matt Wagner. This writer has to admit being biased,

as Mr. Wagner was a teacher of mine in High School, and he hasn't lost his

touch. The combined band then played the Star Spangled Banner, followed by an

Armed forces medley, in which veterans of each branch were invited to stand as

their hymn played. Minus a small glitch by the announcer, who confused the

Marines and the Coast Guard, the arrangement came across really strong and was

well received by the crowd.

Up next was Mighty St. Joes Alumni, numbering by my count 47 brass,

20 percussion, and 14 color guard. Powering off the line to American Salute,

the corps did an old time entry from the 40 or so yard line. A surprise was the

more modern drill St. Joes used here, with a lot of follow the leader

curvilinear forms, but the membership handled it pretty well, and it didn't

affect the music. The corps then set up in a concert formation for "Legend of

the One Eyed Sailor", with the percussion off to the side behind a long rack

with mounted toms and cymbals. Here the brass, unencumbered by drill let loose,

and showed the crowd they can play with the best of them. The percussion was

then spotlighted, and it had something for everyone: drum-to-drum, back

sticking, drum to tom and cymbal, and good rudimental drumming.

The corps then launched into their signature songs, starting

with "Big Spender" featuring a strong contra line, then the corps hit the crowd

right in the face with 'Bully", which featured a unique split snare roll during

the bull call. As the corps then began to troop the stands and one thought they

were done, the actually surrounded the Drum majors podium and let legend Kenny

"Ace" Peterson start off an excellent arrangement of "Georgia", which clearly

was the corps' favorite song to play. For 74 years old, Kenny Peterson is still

among the best soprano players in the game today. Overall, a very strong

showing from St. Joes Alumni.

Up first in competition, all the way from North Carolina came

Carolina Gold, debuting their 2004 show "Hanging With Dave", the music of the

Dave Matthews band. The corps started off with unison 16th note rhythms working

their way into "Warehouse". The opening statement worked its way to a company

front, and was strongly presented by the corps. From there, performance issues

plagued the corps off and on, but it is early in the season. Featured nicely

was the saber line, and also a very aggressive battery percussion section. The

brass seemed tired, as the corps did a parade today, and the balance issues may

have affected their score. The ballad of "Dreaming Tree" began with the pit

playing a nice melodic groove if you can call it that, with battery members

jumping in to help and add to the "drum set" feel. The new black and gray

uniforms, with a gold panel played well against the guard's purple/lavender

silks, which had green dots. The work was not done, but what was presented

showed signs of things to come, and worked well at the impact.

"Kit Kat Jam" began with a strong percussion feature, and had

some excellent rifle work. Clearly, at this stage of the season, the percussion

is their strength. "Drive By Blues was not done visually, with the drill ending

right as the percussion feature began. While moving, the tenors seemed to be a

musical and visual focal point, and when cleaned up could be a show stealer.

Ending in 3rd place with a 65.175, the corps is off to a good start, but

clearly has some work to do. When finished, this show could be one of many

fighting for a finals spot in Open Class.

All the way from Orlando FL came Heatwave. DM Vic Kulinski was

quick to thank the crowd for having them back and to take credit for bringing

the weather with them. This year's show takes place in Carnival in Rio, and

while not done, shows a lot of early season promise. In their old uniforms, as

the new ones have not arrived yet, the 23 brass, 15 percussion and 12 guard

showed that this will be a fun show come Scranton. Starting with a mix of

Brazilian tunes, including Brazil, Rio and Carnival, the corps produced a sound

bigger than their size at the outset. Musically, the opener was strong, and

with time the visual should catch up nicely. "The Girl From Ipanema" was a nice

change of pace, featuring the sopranos early both musically and visually. Of

musical note was the bass drums adding melodic and rhythmic support while the

snares and tenors entered the pit to enhance the mood. The brass is covering a

lot of field for it's size, and the guard helps out visually with aqua, blue,

green and gold silks. While not present tonight, DM Vic Kulinski informed me

that in time, we would actually see the "Girl" herself.

"Esta Noche featured the percussion. Especially the snares

that moved up front to play on mounted toms. Some nice brass percussion trade

offs, but the brass seemed to tire at the big re-entry. The song ends with the

full corps charging the front sideline in a company front. Closing the show was

Pais Tropical. The crowd began to clap along and get into the song. The guard

work was not done, as at the big hit the guard stood in place, and did no work

as the corps again charged forward in a block form to powerfully end the show.

In speaking to Kulinski, I am told a lot more is to come to enhance the visual

product…I won't give away any surprises, but I wouldn't be surprised come

finals if a kitchen sink is in there. 4Th place, 62.388, and a strong showing

for the long drive and a full day, which also included a parade.

As the huge backdrops started rolling in, the Lewisburg crowd was

quick to notice that the Empire Statesmen were bringing a big show with them.

Featuring 52 brass, 32 percussion, 32 guard and 2 DM, this year's show is "City

of Angels", Statesmen Style. Starting with a slow feel, the corps faces

backfield while dueling sopranos are staged up front, each soloist surrounded

by guard members dancing. As the corps builds to hit the hit and the tempo

picks up, one can feel the tension as the corps turns and hits you between the

eyes before taking off into the 'Overture of City of Angels." The corps is clad

in black and white tuxedos, and the guard is in gray and black, using white and

gray flags. The visual represents the black and white era of movies and is well

done. The backdrop to the lower right is an Indiana Jones type of character as

this is the "adventure" song, and the Dm podium lets us know it's the action

sequence. Featured is the percussion section whose features are both meaty and

musical. Color guard integration is evident throughout the song, and the corps

performs relatively well at the up-tempo for this early in the season. The

Ballad of "every breath I Take" is the Romance section, and the backdrop in

back features Casablanca. Here the guard adds color for the first time, with

teal being the color used. The staging at the hit section is well done, and

every voice is heard clearly. The corps has power, yet they can show it and not

be overbearing. Strong solo baritone work in the beginning and Joey Pero, 70

pounds lighter is great at the end up the octave of course. The song also

features a solo dancer, who, like many guard members came over from Patriots

when they folded for the year.

"Murder Mystery" is set to the song "Funny" with the backdrop showing a face

covered with red. This song has the potential to be the talked about moment of

the show. With a slow mysterious build led by the pit, the brass comes in and

builds to a swing section then into a full out in your face hit. This is

followed by a percussion feature that is more musical than ramming in nature,

and is done on the fly. The corps again lets loose building to a big stand

still hit with even more movement afterwards. The guard here adds red to their

uniforms to add to the mystery and uses some very high tosses for impact, as

well as a male rifle catching both his female counterpoint and the rifle at the

same time.

The "Big Hollywood Ending" is the music of "I'm Nothing Without

You". It has no backdrop, at least as of now, and starts with a nice build to a

swing feel hit. The drill is a series of big exposed rotating blocks and builds

to a big standstill hit…then after Pero goes for the sky, the tempo kicks up

a notch or 4, the visual is a lot of counter motion between percussion and

brass, ending in a powering standstill hit, with the guard going Technicolor

with several shades of neon colors in the silks. The crowd rose to it's feet in

support of this strong performance, and it's clear Empire is in their best

shape in many years. Speaking to Dm David Bruni and perc staffer Joey Gaudino

at rehearsal, the staff knows the corps is strong, but admit they are far from

done, and more is to come to enhance the storyline. A convincing 1st place,

winning all captions, score of 76.263

Last in competition was the Reading Buccaneers. This corps also came

to the plate fully loaded for their show featuring the music of Dimitri

Shostakovich. Featuring 44 brass, 35 percussion and 28 guard, the corps powered

off with a strong unison statement of "Festive Overture", showing their strong

low brass. Also eye catching was the color guard equipment holders/props, which

start up in the upper left hand corner and go diagonally across the field to

the lower right corner. As the percussion enters, it's apparent the corps needs

more upper brass yet to balance the sound, and some holes were evident. The

corps moves well, especially the percussion who covered the most ground of any

percussion section all night. Also visible was an active guard, here featuring

rifles and sabers quite well. Finishing strong, the corps gave all sections a

chance to shine in their opener. The ballad, "Novorossiysk Chimes", more

commonly known as "Fire of Eternal Glory" started with the low brass with

well-staged guard dance and adds voices to the hit, which the guard enhances

with purple flags on a curved pole for a nice effect. Flowing from the hit, the

song died out to a very expressive pit ending the song.

Shostakovich's 10th featured driving percussion at a fast tempo. The percussion

section balances "meat" and "Musicality" well, and visually the guard uses the

props/holders to form a file down the 50 for a toss evocative of the old

"Rockford Files" that had the crowd oohing and ahhing. The 5th symphony begins

backfield and the corps turns and hits the crowd hard. Some unique staging is

seen here percussion to brass, which when clean, should help the corps

tremendously upstairs as the listening positions the sections are placed in can

be challenging to say the least. The percussion is again featured, with the

crowd enjoying the stick toss visual by the snares. The guard here uses orange

and gold to support the corps proper and adds to the feel of the moment leading

to the hard charging fast paced ending. Do not let the score fool you. This

corps is good, and with bodies added in and cleaning done, the Bucs are again a

force to contend with come Labor Day.

A surprise exhibition was the Lehigh Valley knights, PA's Division 3

entry into the junior world. Performing their Show "Patterns of Knight", the

corps had a surprise visual bonus behind them: fireworks. Apparently due to

rain the night before, the town of Lewisburg moved their fireworks back a

night, and they came during LVK's show, but were no distraction. Small in size,

17 brass, 19 percussion and 12 guard kept the audience fully entranced. New

uniforms of a white tunic with black accents and a red triangle, the corps

showed even at their size, they have power and finesse. The pit starts the show

to Phillip Sparke's "Dance Movements". The field percussion joins in with some

tasty playing, followed by the brass, who sound bigger than their size. The

corps moved well here and covered a lot of field for their size. The guard,

well staged in orange and black uniforms, made excellent use of neon green

flags to highlight the visual.

The ballad, "Lento from Dance Movements" featured muted sopranos and

strong pit playing, with battery members added in. The guard danced well here,

especially during the mello solo and built to a nice hit which had the guard

using a wood pole with purple flags. From here, the corps went into

"Bacchanale" from Samson and Delilah. The percussion was featured nicely here,

especially the basses who were accented by strong rifle work. The music aspect

led to a strong finish, though at this time the corps is not done with the

drill. The corps is clearly off to it's best start ever, and will contend when

they hit Denver in August.

Last to perform were the Caballeros Alumni, from Hawthorne NJ. In

the past, Bucknell was a Cabs crowd, and tonight was no different. From the

Bull Call to announce the corps, through the corps entrance to their legendary

street beat, until the last note, this was the crowd favorite. Coming off the

(5) yard line to "Espana Cani", featuring the ever-popular Rumps, the corps had

the crowd in their hands. Old style drill led the corps through the tune,

ending in a company front on the sideline. The percussion then powered through

their first feature, leading into the next selection from the 70's, "When Ted

Meets Johnny" during which the corps worked their way into concert formation.

From here, the corps launched into "Echano" an old Cabs classic. Featuring many

fine soprano solos, one didn't realize that perennial soloist Frank Ponzo was

not in attendance…the horn line is that stacked with talent.

A short percussion solo led into "Flamenco Cha Cha" which saw the corps

work their way backfield, turning and building into a huge company front.

Another percussion solo, featuring back sticking and drum-to-drum work of

exceptional quality led to the Finale, known to any Cabs fan. When done, the

crowd roared their appreciation. Clearly, even in alumni form, the Cabs still

own Bucknell.

Many thanks to the show hosts and DCA VP Dan Rippon for their well

run show and hospitality. Here is hoping this show is back in place firmly on

the DCA schedule for many years to come.