Zurg Takes Center Stage

Moonlight Classic

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Hughes Stadium - Sacramento City College

Sacramento, CA

Bro was good to me and decided to go to Hobee's for breakfast.  YAY!  I realized that I'd been to this Hobee's before, and he said he had not, so I guess I came here with the Posse.  I forewent my usual scramble dish because I wanted to try the Nutella Stack, which ended up being too rich for me to finish, and made me miss my traditional scramble.  I was happy to have my favorite tea (orange and cinnamon), and ordered a slice of banana toffee coffeecake to go.  

Mmmmm.....Hobee's

We rested for a little bit in the hotel before going to Elk Grove, where Bro had seen on the internet a place called Todo los Pocos.  They were still serving brunch, and since I had been missing my egg since the morning, I decided to get paella, which had a fried egg on top.  I had asked the server if there was any octopus in the seafood, and he said no, but I'm not sure if he heard me ask if there was any calamari.  Bro said that whatever I thought might be calamari actually wasn't, but I didn't like the texture of whatever it was.  I did enjoy the rest of the dish, especially the grilled fish, grilled shrimp, and carnitas.  I'd never had paella with carnitas before, but it was yum.  

Yes, I had sangria.
Yes, I was tipsy after brunch.

The restaurant had really interesting decor, which reminded me of Blue Devils B's show this year with the Dia De Los Muertos theme.

By the time we were done eating, it was about time to check in to the hotel.  Hampton Inn always provides water in the lobby for the guests, and they had a bonus here of Mrs. Helen's Watermelon Juice and Mrs. Helen's Grape Juice.  The hotel rep said that the watermelon was...and I said, "the bomb?"  and he said, "Yeah, it's bomb watermelon juice."  Bro said that I showed my age when I said "the".  So embarrassing, but I AM old, so whatevs.  I did correct myself, but it was too late.  The watermelon juice, was, indeed, bomb, pretty much an agua fresca.  If I see Mrs. Helen (she works in the kitchen here at the hotel), I will tell her that her watermelon juice is wonderful, and stay away from "bomb" conversation.

After settling in to the hotel room, I took a little nap.  It's that sangria, I'm thinking, that made me all sleepy.  We then drove to Sacramento Community College for the Moonlight Classic.  We didn't see anyone taking money at the lot, and were about to go into the stadium when we saw someone posting signs that read, "Moonlight Classic.  Did you pay for your parking?" or something like that.   We asked the guy how to pay, and he said he didn't know, he had just gotten the call an hour ago.  So we had to walk back to the structure, locate the kiosk that was NOT in the structure, but in an adjacent lot where The Academy buses were located, paid $2.00, and Bro went back to the car to put the receipt on the windshield.  I don't think I mentioned that this was all done in the heat.  I think it was in the 90s.  It was irritating.  Why don't they have a kiosk on every floor of the structure? Why don't they have ANY in the structure?  So dumb.  I think maybe it's a ploy for them to collect $ on parking tickets.  I'm on to you, SCC parking meanies!

We finally got into the stadium.  Thank goodness our seats were in the shade, section C, row 24, seats 19-20, between the left 40 and 50 yard lines.  This was the top row, so we had a wall for our backs, and at least my stuff wouldn't fall to its death below when I put it under my seat, but it is bench seating and kind of precarious for folks to walk around because there isn't much leg room.  Bro said several times throughout the evening that we weren't coming back here, so I think he's pretty much made up his mind.  

The Star-Spangled Banner was performed by the Freelancers Alumni Corps.  Nice.

Exhibition

• Freelancers Alumni Corps
• Alisal

Freelancers

Alisal

I saw this huge, circular prop on the track in the back, and pointed in that direction to Bro, asking him what it was.  He told me that it was a bridge to go over the railroad tracks.  I was puzzled.  He repeated himself.  I still didn't understand why they would use the circular thing for the railroad tracks, as it had wheels.  I just wasn't sure why it was there.  Was it something for the school?  Or a prop that we just hadn't seen yet?  It was really big.  Finally, I told Bro, "So, I'm looking at the circular thing over there.  What are you talking about?"  He thought I was talking about a bridge, which you could see the top portion located outside the stadium.  Communication is key.  

Competition

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS

So, are those their uniforms?  Because the "A" corps has theirs...but the color guard is still wearing their all black, non-matching things.  I don't know.  They took off the black screens from their props due to the wind.  Much better transition to the ballad.  Issues with drops, partly due to the wind.  

SCVC Battery Feature

BLUE DEVILS B

When the hornline has choreography during the battery feature, are they fighting and then they make up at the end?  What's that about?  Uh-oh, one of the color guard guys had to leave during the performance to go the first aid station.  Why is that so far away, anyway?  What if someone couldn't walk?  Nobody from the first aid station walked out to meet them, and an SCVC advisor had to ask somebody where to take the kid.  They need to work on this emergency services thing.

Skull Flags

I love those guard uniforms

Lift during fight(?)

BLUE DEVILS C

We saw the lollipops outside the stadium when we were coming in, and Bro realized that they were made up of pool noodles, wrapped in colored tape.  I think he should make some and put them in front of the house on Hallowe'en.  My little guy didn't fall this time, but I did see a few of them have balance issues when they were on one knee.  I'm thinking the shakos/plumes are so tall that the wind throws them off...or they just lack the strength to stay upright.  

Pool Noodle Lollipops

<Intermission>

I kinda fell down on people while trying to get to the stairs.  I told you these stands were precarious.  Our intermission was a long one.  Why do they have long intermissions in the small stadiums, and short intermissions in the larger ones?  Do they not know that more people need to use the restroom and go to concessions when there are bigger crowds?

TROOPERS

I like the way the horn players change into their contemporary uniforms by walking in a circle around the compass props by putting down their instruments, taking off their jackets, and picking up their instruments one at a time.  Nice trumpet solo on the ballad.

Troopers Drum Major

Pretty compass flag and pretty color guard

She's saying bye because she's going west

THE ACADEMY

They took out the recorded narration of the Fibonacci sequence, only stating the last, big number.  Bro was happy about that, and is hoping it was not an accident.  I forgot to write yesterday that I noticed them opening the tables earlier in the program and throughout the show.  I love the way the different corps try to hide their equipment so as not to distract from the aesthetics of the show.  

Table Percussion

Table Dance

I just noticed that they have stripes on their uniforms

MANDARINS

During Academy's show, I told Bro to look at the Mandarins, whom were standing around the perimeter of the circular thing, with one of them (the drum major?), standing on top, presumably giving directions.  Whoa.  It took about 30 of them to push it on to the field, with that person still on top of it, and this became the stage on which the girl dances to her death.   It rotates, too!  It is amazing to me how one prop (albeit a huge one) can change the look of a show.  The elevation of the guard as well as the corps members made certain parts of the show stand out, and the crowd loved it.  I now get the "True Colors" part, as the demon accepts the cheesy glowing cube and raises it for everyone to see, and eventually they go from the dissonance of the "True Colors" merging with the "Doxology" into a harmonious chord.  It's really, really cool.  I still don't understand why there are people on stilts.  And why are there three at first, but then there are only two?  I also like the heart beat from the bass drum at the end.  I guess there's more to come, but so far, I love this show.  I also now realize why I like that hornline portion of the show: the trombones complete the effect with the slides, and I love it.  So did the crowd. Yes, this is the Mandarins' home show, but how could you not like it?  WOW.

Rifle Toss

Pas De Deux

Drums on Stage

BLUE KNIGHTS

I'm guessing that this static is intentional now, because it happened again and nobody in the corps (staff or sound people) looked concerned.   Bro said that he thinks the static is supposed to be a communication from the pillar.  I was like, "What pillar?"  It's like, "Oh, that's an "i"!!!" from last year.  OK, I just noticed that the pyramids are gray on one side and gold on the other.  I guess I was too busy looking at the uniforms.  For the change, the color guard takes off their horizontal striped pants, then puts on the shimmery mesh overlay, which goes up to their chests.  I am obsessed with this outfit and want to wear one, or something similar.  If you see me looking like a beetle, you'll know where that came from.  Horns....just...wow.

View of front and back of corps uniform

Just sitting on a pyramid, playing my trumpet
I like that the leg position looks like a scarab's legs

It's almost as if she posed just for my camera

BLUE DEVILS

When they clean up the sync of the flags with the vocal percussion, that is going to be awesome.  I like that shoulder action by the color guard guys.  I asked Bro about the circles on the field yesterday after "Natural Woman", and he said he thinks that's a placeholder for something else later.  Makes sense.

Dancing Like Guys

Looking Pretty Like Dolls

Hair Dancing

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD

#checkmarkband.  Bro and I were laughing at twitter earlier, because the Cadets were calling themselves the zebra cake band because of their uniforms, and people are calling SCV by the aforementioned hashtag.  That girl leaped off of the platform and was caught by the other corps members.  This show gets more amazing every day.  It also gets more dangerous, and I'm glad that DCI's current campaign on the health and safety of its performers not only includes their psychological health, but also their physical health due to the increasing number of props and gymnastics in the shows.

SCV Drum Major Carl

Hold on, we're spinning!

Dancing Together

Encore

Blue Devils performed a standstill of most of their show.  Bro said that he didn't really like "Natural Woman" because maybe it's too pedestrian of an arrangement.  I actually think it might be my favorite musical part of the show now, which is odd for me, because I don't usually like BD's ballads, especially if they're jazzy.  I reserve the right to change my mind, though.  

Brandon O is back with BD!

Scores

Open Class:

3) 39.20 -- Blue Devils C

2) 55.20 -- Vanguard Cadets

1) 57.65 -- Blue Devils B

World Class:

6) 60.75 -- Troopers

5) 63.35 -- Academy

4) 66.20 -- Mandarins

3) 66.80 -- Blue Knights

2) 72.45 -- SCV

1) 72.70 -- Blue Devils

This year is going to be interesting between SCV and BD.  Mandarins look promising to make finals.  It's gonna be a fun season, folks!  I'm looking forward to what Pacific Crest brings when they get into the mix of competition next week.

Next up:  Pacific Procession