Jupiter One More Time

So Cal Classic

West Coast Open Class Championship

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Bellflower High School

Bellflower, CA

I decided that I needed a break from all the craziness of next week's events, so I joined Jen, her daughter Rebecca, and Rebecca's boyfriend, Colin for the afternoon.  They had an extra ticket, so I contacted Rudy to join us.  When I arrived, Jen said that she was having issue with the will call window, so we would need to bring Rudy's ticket down to him when he arrived later.  That's when I realized that I had forgotten the ticket that I printed.  Oops.  Luckily for me, Jen had yet another ticket, so I got to use that one.  Thanks, Jen!

Seating was General Admission, and we were in the better section of GA, so we were found seats on the 50-yard line, about 20 rows up from the field.  The track around the field was dry and the track dirt kept flying around because they hadn't watered it down.  I felt sorry for everyone down at field level.  I know that we're in a drought, but that couldn't have been good for people's lungs.

CALGARY STETSON SHOW BAND (Soundsport)

They are from Calgary, Canada, and they played quite well.  I'm not sure that I got the complete list of their repertoire, but I did like their music.  

Carry On My Wayward Son (Kansas) -- Love the hat tip!  I love those stetsons.

I Want You Back (Jackson 5)

Then I thought it was ballad time because they seemed to be making a standstill formation.  Nope.  It was time for the drum feature.  

Hey Baby (I Wanna Know If You'll Be My Girl) -- that was fun.  They sang.

Then they played some new song that all of the kids know.  I am old and didn't recognize it.

O Canada

The announcer said that the Freelancers Alumni Corps would perform the national anthem.  They played "America the Beautiful".  S:  "Do they know that this is not our national anthem?"  APPARENTLY, the announcer had read the long line from his script.  Oops.  Then he said, "NOW, the Star-Spangled Banner".  <giggle>

INCOGNITO

Oh, they got their uniforms!  Jen said the tuba was louder than everyone else.  I'm pretty sure this made her happy, because she's always organizing for us to go to Tuba Christmas.  His solo went well, and he got a big cheer from the lady near us.  He even had the cymbals surrounding him during the solo.  Cool.  They finished their show, but I couldn't recognize the last song.  

Incognito Guard

BLUE DEVILS C

The quartet during "Yesterday" was very nice.  I really do like the DM half-tail, and the way it flows in the wind.  A guy near me said the same thing.

We hope you have enjoyed the show

Rudy's here!

THUNDER (from Spokane, WA)

Repertoire: "Lost Generation" -- Hello by A. Lee, B. Moody and D. Hodges; Pocketful of Sunshine by N. Bedingfield; Roar by K. Perry; Poem: Lost Generation by J. Reed

It's like thunder...lightning..

Nice mello duet during "Pocketful of Sunshine".  Their lightning flags remind me of last year's BK show.  Bummer -- narration.  I guess that was inevitable given the fact that the show is based on a poem, but I would have been fine without it.  Just print the poem in the program!  It will make people buy more of them, you know.

IMPULSE

They finished their show!  There's a drum feature and everything.  Funny lead up to the contra solo.  The fugue sounded much better.  Rebecca goes to school with one of the trumpet players.

<Intermission>

I figured I'd spend $5.00 on desserts.  That went a really long way and I had too much, so I made sure that everyone with us had at least one.

WATCHMEN

J (regarding gal that all of a sudden just stood on the sidelines):  She quit.

S: She's isolated.  It's a gift.

Jen is irritated that the horns are using microphones.

"Everything else is something to be endured."  S to J:  "That's like your husband and his brother."  (We used to call them the Brothers Grimm).  

Rudy wants to know if the CG always had sparkly shins

GOLDEN EMPIRE

Great show throughout, especially that opening "Pink Panther theme" by the mello player.  Jen said that the time of day was perfect due to the shadows.  We noticed that none of the soloists were using microphones.  Yay!

Sneaking Away with the Loot

GOLD

They added something: big letters in the background spelling "POP STAR".  Why does the DM use a baton? It's not an orchestral piece at all.  

J:  Did that section just not bring their uniforms this time?  (I informed her that no, sadly, THOSE were their uniforms).  Jen is not a fan of the zebra pants.  Colin said that he would wear them.  Jen is now no longer confident in Colin's fashion sense.  I want that big pink "S" for my house.  Jen thinks we should add sparkles.  I'm just glad that the vagina tarp is gone.  They make a star formation at the end.  Did they always do that?

That S needs to be in my house!

BLUE DEVILS B

They got their uniforms.  Jen said that the orange pant leg is so bright, and some out them are out of sync, that it looks like they're limping.  The pylons are now white on one side.  Were they too shiny?  I like how theCG points up with one arm, and down with the other: it makes a cool green line with the uniform.  Good percussion feature.

Not so shiny pylons

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS

Nice uniforms!  Go, Brandon!  (He also goes to school with Rebecca).  They now have ladders, but they don't climb most of them.  If they're on Cloud 9, why would they need them?  Great brass and drums!  White flags cover the brass in sections.  I believe they removed their Aussies for this part.  They form the number 9.  The Vanguard yell is during the last song when some are high stepping to get in place.

Mellophone soloist

Encore

Impulse -- they played their show music.

A dude in the lower bleaches was sprawled out on the bleacher like George on the chaise.  I mentioned this to Jen and Rudy and was pleased when they got the reference and giggled with me.  

SCORES

9) 43.50 -- Incognito

8) 46.75 -- BD-C

7) 50.60 -- Thunder

6) 54.10 -- Impulse

5) 55.70 -- Watchmen

4) 57.40 -- Golden Empire

3) 57.70 -- Gold

2) 64.75 -- BD-B

1) 66.05 -- SCVC

Well, that's the biggest margin of a win between these 2 at the top all season!  Go, SCVC!

We waited for Rebecca and Colin to say hi to Brandon, and we met him, too.  I told him that I'd be screaming his name at Finals.

Drum corps drought again until Finals week.  I'm glad I've got a major event to keep me busy until then.  :)