MidCal Champions Showcase
Friday, June 22, 2018
Veteran's Memorial Stadium - Buchanan High School
Clovis, CA
On Thursday night, I attended Drum Corps at the Cinemas in Downtown LA, and saw Blue Stars, Phregiment, Boston Crusaders, Cavaliers, Bluecoats, and Carolina Crown perform at the new home for the Detroit Tigers, Ford Field. My favorite of the evening was Cavaliers' show, which was based on Ravel's "Bolero". It was a great start to the drum corps season, and now it's the West Coast's turn to show their stuff.
I drove to Bro's house and said hi to V and the kids, then we went to the Carl's Jr drive thru for some lunch before heading out to Fresno. Ah, Fresno, where it is over 100 degrees. Bro said that he might get gas on the way, and I said, "You're going to open the car door?!" He laughed and we had enough gas to wait, so we drove straight to the hotel. This Hampton Inn and Suites is different from the one in which we stayed last year, so we're not by the railroad tracks. Our room is bigger, too, and has a pull-out bed in addition to the double beds, and a little kitchenette, so that's nice!
We rested for a little while before going to what we think will be our traditional Fresno dinner place, Limon. Bro wants to eventually try everything on the menu, so we had different items, and none of them disappointed us. Mmmm....everything was delicious! We noticed a certain seasoning on the french fries in our Saltada dish, and I asked the server, but she said that they signed a non-disclosure agreement about what they saw in the kitchen because their recipes are secret. She did tell me that the base of the sauce was soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and garlic, which were not any of the ingredients that we were trying to pinpoint, so whatevs. The dishes, along with our Mango Sour and Maracuya Sour, made us happy and I was kinda tipsy. I remembered to drink water before leaving because I had read my trip report from last year and didn't want to be dehydrated again.
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| Passion Fruit and Mango Sours for the win! |
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| Delicious Sirloin Saltado with secret ingredients |
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| Me and my new journal |
Our seats were in section CC, row 31, seats 8 & 9, right on the 50 yard line. There was one row in back of us, so I didn't get to have a desk, but we were happy with our seats. As we sat down, we could hear the judges behind us, getting their instructions.
The Star-Spangled Banner was a recording, and we could barely hear it. I wondered if this indicated that there would be sound issues all night long, but Bro said that all of the corps had their own sound systems, so it shouldn't be a problem. He was right. I realized that I didn't get a program, so I had to ask Bro what was going on with the corps order and their repertoire, unless I had remembered it myself.
BLUE DEVILS C
Repertoire: "Candyland, Part Blue" -- I Want Candy by The Strangeloves; Sugar Sugar by The Archies; Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland; Sugar, We're Goin' Down by Fall Out Boy
I wanted them to have the flat game pieces like in the board game, but no such luck. I mean, wouldn't that be cute? Their color guard uniforms were still cute, though. They do like their songs from "Grease", which I heard in transition somewhere in there. The littlest trumpet player didn't know where he was going and once I noticed him I got completely distracted by him and didn't know what else was going on in the show. So cute.
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| Mmmm....lollipops! |
VANGUARD CADETS
Repertoire: "Off The Wall" -- Bicycle Race by F. Mercury; Sounding Board by F. E. Smith & R. Adamsons; Fly to Paradise by E. Whitacre; Rebound by F. E. Smith & R. Adamsons
They were wearing red tunics and black pants, very plain.
Sher: "So those are the 'We're-gonna-just-wear-these-for-now" uniforms?"
Bro: "Some people call them 'temporary', but I can go with that."
I'm still giggling.
Nice opening hit, opening piece itself is really nice. Interesting tech part, but they need to work on the transition into the ballad. Nice horn sound, though. I do like this show, and am looking forward to how it develops.
BLUE DEVILS B
Repertoire: "The Other Side" -- Danse Macabre by C. Saint-Saens; The Carnival of the Animals by C. Saint-Saens; Dead Man's Party by D. Elfman; Hello by Adele; Come Together by The Beatles; The Ecstasy of Gold by E. Marricone; A Time For Us by N. Rota
Because I didn't have a program, I asked Bro if they were doing a "Coco" show because of the sugar skulls. Apparently not. I did like their music, and I also like their color guard uniforms. I do not remember hearing "Danse Macabre", so I'll have to listen for that next time. Nice job, horns!
<Intermission>
I couldn't find people selling programs, nor did they just have a table selling water this year. Bro said that all of the one thousand volunteers must have been dedicated to the ticket takers. Maybe next year they'll get it right. Lucky for me, I still had my water, but I wanted to get some for Bro if it had been readily available.
TROOPERS
Repertoire: "The New Road West" -- Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance; Toward The Splendid City by R. Danielpour; Canyon Echoes by R.W. Smith; Both Sides Now by J. Mitchell; New Road West by R.W. Smith
Love the traditional uniform look, as well as the change into the more contemporary look. Yay, Sunburst! A Reverse Sunburst, too! I saw their symbol in one of the formations, and I thought I saw the shape of a boot, too. I love hearing pieces of the theme from "The Magnificent Seven" interspersed throughout the show. I really like this show. Bro hopes that no matter where they play, they point at the end toward Casper, Wyoming, the Troopers' home. Happy 60th Anniversary, Troop, and welcome to California!
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| Traditional Look |
THE ACADEMY
Repertoire: "Academic" -- The Imitation Game by A. Desplat; Annie Lisle by H.S. Thompson ; Academic Festival Overture by J. Brahms ; The School for Scandal (Overture) by S. Barber ; The Four Sections by S. Reich ; Keating's Triumph by M. Jarre
Why are they blue? Oh, they're dressed as the "Dead Poets Society" kids. I thought they were teachers. Nice opening sound. Those tables open? Were they opening them during the whole show, and I didn't notice until way later? I like the transparent chalkboards.
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| They write on those boards later, in white |
MANDARINS
Repertoire: "Life Rite After" -- Movement 1: String Quartet #8 In C Minor, Op. 110 - 2. Allegro Molto by D. Shostakovich; Movement 2: Spiriti by T. Doss; Movement 3: True Colors by T. Kelly & B. Steinberg; Movement 4: Spiriti by T. Doss
I love that the Mandarins are never afraid to embrace their dark side. Their costumes DO look like Zurg! Cadets tweeted a picture of Zurg to them a couple of weeks ago, and then someone tweeted a picture of Buzz Lightyear to the Cadets, saying they were hiding this as their uniform. That would be hilarious. Awesome solo dancing at the start, and very nice fire effect with the flames on the flags. I like the horn piece after the cube thing lights up. Why are those guard members on stilts? I like how they shake their heads to make their antlers wiggle.
BLUE KNIGHTS
Repertoire: "The Fall and Rise" -- Sun King by The Beatles; The Rite of Spring by I. Stravinsky; Exit Music for a Film by Radiohead; Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd; Time After Time by C. Lauper & R. Hyman
I like the uniforms with the scarab in the back and the plain purple front; it looks really cool when they turn around. Cool use of the pyramids on their sides. "Rite of Spring" was very cool. I like the formation when the pyramids are in a circle and the horns spiral out between them. Great horn sound! Wow. They're almost finished with their show? That's much more progress than they were at this time last year. I recognize that eye/brow prop from last year.
SANTA CLARA VANGUARD
Repertoire: "Babylon" -- My Body is A Cage by P. Gabriel; Journey to the Center of the Earth by P. Graham; Metropolis 1927 by P. Graham; Apology by Z. M. di la Riva; Club Sound by Gent and Jawns
I guess the reason SCV has not given any sneak previews of their uniforms on social media is that they have not received them yet. Or they will continue to wear what look like pajamas on the field: white with a V on the torso that looks like a check mark. They use big platforms that look like they are building the Tower of Babel, but they use them in an innovative way, with the shorter platforms fitting under the taller ones. All of that movement had me mesmerized I worry when the different people do the acrobatic stuff on top, because I'm afraid they'll fall. I'm a worrier. The gymnastics are impressive. Whoa...that snare ensemble solo! I hope that their actual uniforms will stay on sufficiently so that they do not have to pull up their pants after the all-corps dance segment. The horns sound great. I love this show!
BLUE DEVILS
Repertoire: "Dreams and Nighthawks" -- Including music from J. Adams, S. Dobson, P. Lovatt-Cooper, J.N. Howard, D. Glyde, C. King, D. Raksin, and Earle Hagen (BD did not list the names of the pieces)
Their set pieces look like parts of artist Edward Hopper's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which they build at the end, which looks really cool with people in the positions just like the painting. I do love the way that color guard dances. Ooh, those trumpets play high! That vocal percussion would have been more impressive if someone was doing that live along with the drummers, but I have an a capella bias, as you probably know.
While we waited for scores to be announced, Bro and I talked to the folks sitting next to him, whose son was in SCV 2011-2012, and now works with SCVC.
Scores
Open Class:
3) 36.55 -- Blue Devils C
2) 52.70 -- SCV Cadets
1) 55.85 -- Blue Devils B
World Class:
6) 58.05 -- Troopers
5) 61.55 -- Academy
4) 62.95 -- Mandarins
3) 66.65 -- Blue Knights
2) 70.70 -- Santa Clara Vanguard
1) 71.30 -- Blue Devils
The walk back to the car did not feel as long as earlier in the day because it was cooler. On our drive back to the hotel, we saw an Applebee's and thought about the days when we were younger and probably would have gone there before heading back to the hotel. Alas, we are older now and we need to play Disney Emoji Blitz before going to bed. Such excitement.
Next up: DCI West
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