Moonlight Classic
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Sacramento City College - Hughes Stadium
Sacramento, CA
After breakfast at the hotel and my attempt to blog about the previous night's drum corps competition, Bro and I got our stuff together to make our way to Sacramento. As we packed up the car, Bro saw the BATTKRU vehicle! They were in our hotel! Someday, folks. Someday we'll meet each other outside of our cars.
I had previously scoped out places for us to eat during my business trips to Sacramento in the last several months, so we were on a mission for tacos. On the way, we saw a truck that had what looked like a cotton candy machine on top of it. We had no idea what that was. We also saw people falling from the sky. Yes, they had parachutes, but they landed really close to the freeway and it was kind of nerve-wracking.
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| Cotton Candy? Soup? What is this for? |
Lunch was at Chando's Tacos. Chando's is a taco stand so you order through a window in the little building, pick up from another window, and eat outside. It was a hot Sacramento day, so waiting to take our order seemed like it took a long time because we were in the sun for part of the time. Thankfully, they had an umbrella on the sidewalk to provide some relief. Bro and I ordered our tacos and sat down in the covered patio behind the building. I pointed out that they had a bag of water hanging from the ceiling. These APPARENTLY keep flies away, especially if you put pennies in the bag. I know this is a myth to some people, but I didn't see any flies there. Maybe all of the flies were too hot. Or they were all hanging out on the mirror at Bravo Farms. Anyway, our food was yummy. I had an asada taco and a carnitas taco, both with just cilantro because I can't have acidic food. Bro had asada taco, carnitas taco and chicken taco, all with everything on top. YAY! He liked it! I've never eaten radish slices with my tacos before. I guess they're to offset spiciness. I liked them even though I didn't eat anything spicy.
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| Mmmmm....Tacos |
We had both eaten just enough to leave room for dessert, because I was NOT going to leave Sacramento without bringing Bro to Vampire Penguin. We were not located close to the VP where I went before, so we tried to go to the one in Downtown Sac. We couldn't find parking right away, so we went to the one in Natomas instead, since the parking would be free, and we had plenty of time before checking in to the hotel. This VP is nice and roomy with pretty decor. Frank Sinatra music was playing. Such nice ambience! Bro saw "mango" and ordered a Mexican Candy off of the Not-So-Secret menu. I ordered a Halo Halo because he didn't and I wanted him to try it. Mmmmmm....they were both yummy and refreshing! I love this place too much.
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| Halo halo |
We went to the hotel, which is a place we previously stayed, which was good for us because Waze told us we had arrived when we weren't quite there yet. We had some time to relax and I finished my blog post before going to the show. It's good that we were relying on Waze at this point because I would have taken us to the wrong college. I thought that we were going to Sacarmento State, but it was Sacramento City College. Uh oh. I had told someone that we would be at the other place. I hope that if they bought a ticket for themselves, they figured it out. We parked in the structure but couldn't find our freeway friends' car.
Whoo, it was HOT! We went into the stadium and bought some water and a mix of kettlecorn and caramel corn, shopped the souvenir stands, and went to our seats. Thankfully, our seats were in the shade, on the left 45 (row 24, seats 16-17). We were in the top row, right up against the wall, so we didn't have any room in back of us. I mean, NONE. We were also concerned that the people in front of us would have our knees right next to their backs because we didn't have very much leg room. Bro decided to get seats a few rows forward from now on.
Ryan Turner told us to stand for "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner", played by the Freelancers Alumni Corps. I don't know why we were asked to stand for the first song.
GOLDEN EMPIRE
The rose design on the flags is faint, so I had a little trouble making sure that's what it was. Good trumpet ensemble feature. The sound balance was much better today.
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| Shiny Tympani |
BLUE DEVILS C
Oh! There are the black/white drums! I thought that Bro meant that some tenors had black drums, and some had white ones, but they each have two of each, arranged to look like a police car when you're looking at it head-on. The littlest trumpeters are too cute. At the end of the show, the DM presented the corps quickly and in a lackluster way. I think it was just too hot up there for him to be excited.
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| Cop Car Snares |
It's weird for me to see BD Corps back-to-back. Yet here we are.
BLUE DEVILS B
Much better entrance by the brass after the duet today. The brass all-around sounded great today. That last flag looks to be a film strip with a silhouette of a man. Bro thinks it's leftover from BD's Fellini show. Is it supposed to be Jim Lovell from "Apollo 13"?
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| Adagio / Apollo 13 duet |
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS
As they took the field, Bro realized what this show was. I stared at him. He said something about some girl in a movie until his brain finally worked and told me that it was the Hunger Games. He had been watching videos before the season started, but I guess he forgot yesterday when we watched their show, and it only clicked when he heard someone do the mockingjay whistle, or at least something that sounded like it. Well, there it is! All of a sudden, I noticed a lot of movement from everyone on the field that was like someone using a bow and arrow. That airplane that I thought I saw yesterday? Yup. A BOW. Ohhhhhh...... We giggled every time we saw that imagery. The electronics were still too loud, even though I do like the Taiko. There is also still some hesitation after the solo.
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| Rifle Toss and lots of yellow accents |
Bro saw someone tweet about the show not including Neo from "The Matrix". See?
<Intermission>
The people next to us left. Those were not their seats. I saw that Ryan T was talking to someone on the track and asked Bro for confirmation: yes, that was Brandt Crocker. I saw them taking video of themselves, but was too slow to get a picture of them doing so. The actual ticketholders took their seats. Then the friends of the people in front of us tried to squeeze into their seats and couldn't figure out why there wasn't enough room for all of them. This maybe wouldn't have been so irritating if the show wasn't about to start again. The lady next to me sarcastically commented on it and it made me laugh. She marched in a couple of corps back East, both now defunct.
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| Paparazzi shot |
MANDARINS
Seems like the siren had costume issues because the white covering started to come off of her too soon. Ah, that's how Bro lost her yesterday: she was more stealthy in taking off the white part and joining the rest of the CG. Good brass sound, especially during the low brass feature. Go, Contras! They sounded better tonight.
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| Siren |
THE ACADEMY
Bro and I discussed the movie earlier in the day because it had been a long time since I saw "Corpse Bride". We saw that there were 2 weddings, but it wasn't the same as in the movie. Bro forgot to look for butterflies, but we figured there weren't any because of the difference. I'm going to listen for the cool crescendo/decrescendo that Bro is talking about, although I did hear the end of the decrescendo down to one snare drum. There are wedding rings on the flags. They move really fast to get to a kneeling position at one point. I'm glad I get to see this show several more times.
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| Chest Xylophones |
PACIFIC CREST
The tracks didn't move today. I like the blue/silver/white striped flags. I also like the yellow lining in their waist scarves/rally towels when they fly in the wind at the same time that the yellow flags are spinning.
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| Railroad Crossing |
MADISON SCOUTS
Judas sings (recording) about Thursday, which would have been The Last Supper. BK's voice talks about Thursday. What the? Bro noticed the cup (chalice) formation today. The flags have a motif of leather straps. I liked the show much more today, especially the steps from the brass players during "Jesus Christ Superstar".
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| Judas |
BLUE DEVILS
"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." That line from Shakespeare's "The Tempest" is perfect for BD. Yellow! A lot of corps have accents of yellow this year, and we haven't even seen half of them yet. Beautiful ballad up to the company front. I think those short white ribbons look like sperm. I really enjoy this show! Except for those sperm things.
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| The Wave |
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD
I don't know how they're going to get that tree through the tunnels at Lucas Oil. Go, Tenors!!! Very cool dynamics during the segment when the guard is putting on their monarch butterfly skirts. Oh, the flags on the branch poles are leaves! The corps also does a leaf formation. I watched the cymbals during the last piece so I don't know what else I've missed. I heart the SCV Cymbal Line.
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| Napping by our tree |
BLUE KNIGHTS
OK, it seems that they're done with more of the show, or at least it was more cohesive tonight. One of the CG girls is thrown in the air behind the center mirror. The woman's voice says that on Thursday night "I will play the 'Moonlight Sonata' backwards..." and then THEY DID! We were amazed when we figured it out. It sounds gorgeous, too. As I type this, Bro is researching the idea of this show, and sees that is partly based on the fact that the Beatles' "Because" was written by John Lennon when Yoko asked if he could play the "Moonlight Sonata" backwards. Last year's BK show? "Because". Whoa <in Keanu voice>. I'm getting chills, and it's not just because it's cold in this here hotel room.
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| Mirror Mirror Tell Me True What to Expect from the Knights in Blue? |
Ryan T then announced that we had a special treat: Blue Knights would play for the encore.
ENCORE
Blue Knights
- Pit feature
- Brass feature (I'm not sure if these two pieces are part of the show, as it is still unfinished).
Then they started playing and I hit Bro because he said that if they played this, the unfinished show would be forgiven.
- Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You (with a capella singing)
- I love this. Love, love, love it! Thank you, BK!
The scores took a while to be announced because RT's microphone issues. Then when he started talking, it was reverb-heavy.
SCORES
Open Class
4) 37.95 BD - C
3) 45.15 Golden Empire
2) 50.30 BD - B
1) 50.35 SCV Cadets
World Class
7) 54.05 Pac Crest
6) 54.70 Mandarins
5) 58.00 Academy
4) 62.05 Blue Knights
3) 63.55 Madison
2) 67.15 SCV
1) 69.20 BD
We stopped at McD's on the way home because Bro wanted to try the build-a-burger thing. That was not available. I don't know if they don't have that up here, or it's because we were there during late-night menu time.
Great food and drum corps day!
Next up: DCI West
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