Because The Wind Is High

Moonlight Classic

Sacramento City College -- Hughes Stadium

Sacramento, CA

June 21, 2015

Bro and I needed to solve the puzzle of what the heck BD was playing that sounded like "Pikachu met".  So I looked up the GOT7 "I Like You" song, and they're not saying that.  But it was fun to watch the video and see the moves that the wolves were doing in last night's show.  We then had family movie time and watched "The Box Trolls" with the kids before heading out to Sacramento.

When we arrived, we saw that there was some kind of event at a nearby park, and they had food trucks.  We hoped that we wouldn't have to walk over there for the food trucks that were a part of our event.  The Moonlight Classic had its own Food Truck fest going on.  I guess Sacramento has a lot of food trucks.  We entered the stadium and walked over to the area where they had the food trucks and the souvenir trailers.  I wonder if anyone heard us talk like we didn't know what was going on.  "What's a Blue Knight?  Why is it with a K?"  "Because it's chess.  This must be some kind of chess food.  I wonder what you eat while you play chess."  "What's that green thing?"  "It has horns."  "A toreador, then.  A green toreador."  We're silly.  We ordered food from New Bite food truck: Angus Sliders and Wild Fries.  The food was tasty, and we ate in the shade of the marquee.  We did not sit in the shade of the vehicle because that was going to go somewhere, which it did.  The restrooms were kind of far from the food trucks, near the entrance to the stadium.  At least there were a lot of stalls in the women's room.  I heard one gal say, "Whoa.  I feel like I'm in a taxicab!"  Her friend didn't understand.  I guess it was the checkered tiles, although they weren't exactly taxi colors.

Our seats were on the 50-yard line, row 22, seats 6 & 7, 3rd row from the top.  It was bench seating, and there wasn't much room for people to walk by to get to their seats.  

The Freelancers Alumni Corps provided entertainment by playiing "America the Beautiful" and their signature "Bellevia".  They also played the "Star-Spangled Banner".  Thank you, Freelancers!

BD - C

"Yesterday" sounded much better than the previous night.  Good percussion feature, too.  The lady in front of Bro thought they weren't very good, because she thinks they were usually much better at this time in previous years.  I disagree with that.  She also tended to use Bro's legs as a backrest for much of the show.  I'm telling you, these stands are not people-friendly.

GOLDEN EMPIRE

Good solos throughout, beginning with the opening "Pink Panther theme.  I like how the CG hides behind the corps at the beginning, and when the corps moves, the CG is exposed.  It was windy out on the field: screens fell down before the show and during the show, the DM's shako fell off of the stand, one of the corps members dropped their shako, and the diamond was rolling all over the place.   I figured out that their mask was face paint, because I saw one of them later on after the show.  One of the CG members had a pink streak in her hair, and it looked really cool for the show.  I think that all of them should have a pink streak.   The color of crime is pink.

SCVC

Someone lost their Aussie.  The percussion feature was very well done, as was the music.  Go, marimbas!  I don't remember the CG uniforms from yesterday, but I may not have been paying attention. The woman sitting in front of us had a clown horn text alert which kept going off during the show, and I kept thinking, "I don't remember that from yesterday either."  People, please put your phones on vibrate.  How hard is that?

Vanguard Cadets Color Guard pose

BD-B

Sparkly!  Bro said that it was more noticeable because the sun was hitting them: their drums, their uniforms, everything.  I like how the brass maneuvers through the prisms during the drum feature.  Good equipment work, color guard!

Sparkly Drums

<INTERMISSION>

7-year old girl in front of us:  "This is the best birthday ever...I got to see drum corps, I got to eat ice cream (shave ice) and I got a new shirt (Phregiment)!"  That's my kind of kid.

PC

Hi, Seth!  I don't know if the brass caption head remembers me, so Bro tried to embarrass me by calling his name really loudly when the staff was in the stands.  The solos seemed flat tonight.  I know that they were having problems with the wind, but I do like seeing their rally towels flapping in the breeze.  So what was that big box-shaped frame that they brought out into the end zone?  They didn't use it during the show, then they wheeled it out.  They didn't even go near it.  I guess they're practicing their prop-moving.  

MANDARINS

That big geodesic ball / jungle gym thing wasn't in yesterday's show.  Neither was it in today's show, but they brought it out and had it sit in the corner.  They still haven't used those doll things.  Bro thinks that people are just picking up whatever they see outside and taking them home with them.  Oh, they use those big round props as fake bass drums.  Great brass, but they need to work on that trumpet quintet.  The color guard still does not have their uniforms, and this is their home show.

Pacific Crest horns

BD

The CG pants have letters, like the drums.  The corps' sleeves are more sparkly up close.  I saw the rifle thing this time:  some guys were up on the ladders, and others on the ground.  They spin and trade off rifles up and down.  Pretty cool.  Oh, different women are the different lead characters, not the same one as I thought yesterday.  Oh, there's the golden egg!  The GOT7 portion is even more fun when you've seen the video.  Hey, was the whole corps doing that dance yesterday?  I don't remember that.  Nice saber work during "Children Will Listen".  Bass drum = steps of the giant.  

Blue Devils break it down

SCV

You can really hear the electric effects now, although I did not appreciate the sound of the passing motorcycle.  The Mello solo with the corps during "Pure Imagination" is very nice.  They have pigeons on their flags during this song.  I don't think that the flags at the end were there yesterday.  

Here, hold my drum with your feet

PHREGIMENT

Bro pointed out the Notre Dame arches that I missed yesterday.  The gold is sparkly and pretty.  I think those black screens are going to change later in the season.  Nice horn sound as usual, especially the trumpets.  

Can Can Kick Line

BK

Their show is still not done.  Perhaps they're waiting for the drums, which are stuck at some dock, so they played them with the covers.  "Because the world is round...because the wind is high..."  I can't remember the rest of that poem.  A ha!  It's from the Beatles song!  We have not yet heard the singing of "Because the sky is blue".  The horns are doing an amazing job.  Loud little girl behind us:  "LOOK!  SNAKES!!!"  Somebody lost their plume.

Beginning of "Because"

Encore

Phregiment played the Biebl "Ave Maria", and their signature "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral".  I could tell from the DM's intro that it was going to be Elsa.  It's so nice to hear this out west.  :)

Corps Leaders

Scores

OPEN CLASS

4) 38.85 -- Blue Devils C

3) 49.05 -- Golden Empire

2) 56.65 -- Vanguard Cadets

1) 57.15 -- Blue Devils B

WORLD CLASS

6) 58.20 -- Mandarins

5) 59.55 -- Pacific Crest

4) 66.85 -- Blue Knights

3) 68.30 -- Phantom Regiment

2) 73.35 -- Santa Clara Vanguard

1) 75.15 -- Blue Devils

Most corps scored fewer points than yesterday, and BDB and SCVC switched positions.  It's going to be an interesting season in open class again!

Next up:  Pacific Procession