DCI Week

[randomnoise]

Let me start by saying that I have the second best gig at DCI.

As a member of the Blue Devils' web team, I get to attend DCI with my video camera, an event badge, a seat in the press box and use of a golf cart. Many thanks to Dan Acheson and Ricky Fritzsching from DCI, they are very supportive of our efforts and have helped us in a big way over the years.

Got in late Tuesday and got myself settled in in my rented Condo (cheaper than a hotel with a kitchen and room for friends).

Wednesday I checked out the town - I really like Providence. Cool neighborhood vibe, and nice folks. In the afternoon I went to I and E to shoot a bit of footage. Saw some great solos - Casey Brohard (snare) and Tim Jackson (tenors) of the Blue Devils were both great. So was Ryan Darke on Trumpet, although he did not seem too thrilled with his performance.

You can watch videos of their performances here..

Also spent some good time with Southwind's Bass ensemble and their instructor Doug Bush. Great guys, and a really fun performance. Afterwards, SCV Bass instructor Kent Cater and I went out to dinner, then I had to head up to watch BD rehearsal.

A lot of us say "it's all about the kids" and watching the rehearsal on Wednesday, I have to agree. They work so hard and put so much into their performance that I feel driven to do anything I can to support their efforts. They had a great runthrough, followed by a hilarious night of Karaoke. John Meehan and Dave Glyde singing country western. Genius.

Rehearsal footage and Karaoke movie.

Thursday was semis. Spent the majority of my time in the Parking Lot filming warmups. Got to hang a bit with the Mandarins guard, where three of my students march (I am Director of Bands at Leigh High School in San Jose). I am so proud of Laura, Ethan and Tyler - they are great performers, and did a magnificent job on Thursday.

Having a golf cart was a HUGE blessing, as this is the longest walk to the stadium in the history of the activity. I did an informal survey over the weekend, and got 100% agreement. It took 20 minutes for the corps to walk from warm ups to the stadium. Every trip I took to or from the parking lot, I gave rides to people - and they were all very appreciative.

Parking lot highlights:

SCV Drumline - the Hippest Show in the Lot. Noone writes better exercises than Murray Gusseck. They had the largest crowd every night. Doublebeat is always a favorite.

BD Brass - Space Music. John Meehan plays his hornline like a pipe organ. After the Semis warmup, he turned to Steve Bentley and me and said, "that's the best they have sounded all year!" Another great hornline for the Blue team.

I noticed that on both Friday night and Saturday night, Phantom's hornline set up really close to BD. I mean really close. Not sure why. When I taught, I would take me lines far away to avoid the noise. (Ask anyone who marched SCV 85-88) Made for some interesting sounds!

Spirit, SCV, BD and Phantom warmups.

My random impressions of some of the corps

Mandarins have a great guard. Greg Mar is doing amazing work with the corps. It was awesome to see them advance to Friday night. Their show, "Loves Me, Loves Me Not..." is a great vehicle, showing the ups and downs of love and relationships. Drumline had a great show on Friday.

Cascades tied with them for 17th - both nights. Well, that's one way to get more West Coast corps in the show! Loved the music, but thought the narration got in the way. I am not one of the anti-amp folks, just like to see it used well. As a side note, the best use of narration that I have seen was Kennesaw Mountain at BOA in 2004 - check it out).

Crossmen - I freakin' loved them. The fact that they used music that was very different from anyone else was part of it. Radar/Tainted Love was one of my favorite productions. It really sucks to miss finals, but they were really enjoyable.

Spirit. Some good stuff - I had always wanted to hear Wicked on the field.

Blue Kinights. Much improved, although if I was a horn player in that line, I would have been a major attitude problem. They dance all the time!!! And I am a TERRIBLE dancer. Great job, BK.

Boston - I really liked their sound. Couldn't quite figure out how the Gordon Goodwin tune fit in, though. They did a nice job with music that SCV had played in the past. There were two corps that played Tenderland this weekend. Having had the great pleasure of teaching that tune with SCV, I was a bit critical of it. But was nice to hear again.

SCV!!! - Loudest crowd response of the weekend (except for Phantom). They really kicked it in for Finals. During the rain delay, they treated the crowd with warmups in the tunnel.

Blue Devils. The show did not get a lot of respect, but I thought they were amazing. The brass section was on fire (as always). As a brass guy, I heard more stickouts and sonic distortion in the other lines. But, I don't judge - I just enjoy.

Cavies. Their James Bond show from last year is my all time favorite drum corps show. This year's was almost as good. As a Mello player, the ladders looked like a fun way to have a feature.

Cadets. I told Marc Sylvester, "that was the weirdest thing I have ever seen." His response was a big smile and thank you. Got a chance to talk with the suitcase girl while driving into the stadium with BD staffer Steve Bentley. She was great - and a real testament to the Cadets organization. I didn't edit the footage - maybe if I get time later.

Everyone agreed that they won, although...

Phantom was easily the most popular corps of the weekend. A great package - they look like they are on their way up. Design may have been a bit on the conservative side compared to the others in the top 4, but that is probably why they were so beloved by the crowd. Watching from the back on Saturday, the applause they got after their score was announced was enormous.

Didn't get to see Bluecoats, but they sounded darn good from the back.

Other random comments...

Nice stadium to watch and listen to Drum Corps. The Club seats were the best place to watch drum corps EVER. It was a who's who of Drum Corps up there. Padded leather seating and an air conditioned lobby just steps away. Private entrace to the stadium as well. I would be surprised if anyone of them had a complaint.

Providence was a great place to stay.

Most of the "insiders" (staff and former staff, judges, etc) liked Cadets to win. Fans liked Phantom.

Dan Acheson and the DCI staff work their buns off to put on a great show for everyone. They deserve huge thanks from us all.

Big thanks to my partners in crime, Brian Haslanger (BoxCast Blogmeister) and Hans Kloppert (Picture Man). A pleasure working with you. It was also fun to share a box with the SCV guys. Brian Marsalli did a great job with their event coverage. And many thanks to Dave Gibbs for the opportunity to help the corps.

PS The best gig at DCI is teaching or marching!

Edited August 16, 2005 by randomnoise

[kmarnl]

Hey I met Hans in Indy! Great guy!

[Vacaville gal]

Chris,

Thanks for the review of the week from someone that had other plans for the weekend. It sounds like the level of excellence just stays at such a high level!

I agree with you; what a sweet gig you have O Man with a golf cart :-)

See you preparing to make history with Renegades by hitting it hard again at rehearsal this weekend...what a show the staff has given us to perform. Good to have you filling both spots - instructor and performer.

Diane

[In2drums]

Chris, just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated the coverage of Championship week on the Blue Devils site. I sent an email to Dave Gibbs Todd Tanji (didn't see your contact info on the site), so I wanted to convey the same message to you. Durring finals, many people on DCP were saying how much better the Bluedevils coverage was then the DCI Season Pass.

I also appreciated how much attention and enthusiasm was conveyed for the other corps. Something I really didn't expect from the website of a competing unit.

Excellent job to you and everyone on the web team!!!

~Jason