Alphabet Fields Forever

DCI Finals

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Lucas Oil Stadium

Indianapolis, IN

We took our time getting up in the morning, and heard drums outside.  I thought that maybe I was hearing drummers on the sidelines of the Street Beat 5K, but it was more likely that folks were warming up for Sound Sport and Drumline Battle.  We didn't have any donuts left, so I ate a biscuit while blogging, then we headed out to Tastings for some yumminess.

It is usually our tradition to go to Tastings on Semifinals Day, but they changed their hours, so this might be our new day to visit.  We ordered our food before venturing around the wine pouring stations:  Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna Bistro tapa; Goat Cheese and Fig Flatbread; and Napa Valley Flatbread.  Everything was delicious.  There were no wines entitled "Vox Ervisio" or "Revolution" or anything close to that, so we went with other stuff.

Ahi Tuna

Goat cheese & Fig Flatbread

Napa Valley Flatbread

Wines we tried:

1st pour:

Bro:  2-14 Chateau Haute Surget -- Bordeaux, France

V: 2017 Donnafugata Sherazade Nero D'Avola -- Sicily, Italy

Sher: Domaine de la Frutiere Melon de Bourgogne* -- Muscadet, France

2nd pour:

Bro: Kevin Descombes "Cuvee Keke" -- Beaujolais, Burgundy, France

V:Etna Rosso from Fessina Erse

Sher: I also had the Donnafugata Sherazade* that V tried. I really like that wine.  I need to get some bottles of my own.

3rd pour:

Sher: 2014 Lyndenhurst Spotswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon* -- Napa Valley, CA

Yeah, I was the only one to have 3 wines.  Because that's how I am.  Besides, I wanted something to go with the Marquis cake, which was made with lots of chocolatey goodness, and the cab went perfectly with it.  Thanks, V, for helping me eat that decadent cake!

Marquis Cake

I enjoyed all of the wines I tried, so I don't have a favorite.  Or maybe it's the Sherazade because I want some bottles of it.  I wouldn't turn down bottles of any of the others ones, though, in case you're wondering.

Bro and V went to Bee Coffee and they got some tea for me, too.  The folks at Bee Coffee suggested something to V for me, but they don't know me so I ordered something else.  It was OK, maybe not steeped enough, because I couldn't taste any strawberry or lychee flavors, just green tea.  

After resting for a bit, it was time to make our way back to Lucas Oil for Finals!   On our way in, we passed by the Crossmen truck, where they were unloading their props.  I yelled, "Go, Crossmen!" and one of the guys said thanks.  I should have yelled, "Go, Bones!"  Or maybe I did.  I don't remember.

Valkyrie!

We were allowed to bring in small backpacks, and they didn't really check to see if we had brought food, but they weren't allowing the bottled water to be sold with the caps, and I lamented that we didn't think to bring our caps from the other two days.  We always think that if we get caps at Prelims, we'll get caps until Finals, but clearly we are wrong about that.  I had hoped that there would be special Finals shirts at the SCV booth, but there weren't because of this whole PepWear sponsorship thing, and nobody provided me with any bootlegged gear, so I didn't buy any more souvies.  You are missing out on my money, people!!!

We were early enough to sit down at a table and eat dinner before going to our seats, and V somehow was able to also get a smoothie before the show.  Our seats were in Section 237, Row 12, Seats 14-16.  We were in the middle of the section, and I was hoping that we'd be avoiding folks that were just sitting wherever instead of going to their cheap seats, but that never happens.  You know, if people would just be there at the beginning of the show to see all of the corps on Finals Night, I wouldn't have to see the riff raff.  It's only 12 corps, people, and you paid a lot of money for these seats.  Not all of the first 6 corps to perform can be your hot dog corps.

The festivities opened with the United States Marine Corps Band, "The Commandant's Own" playing their Music in Motion show, which ended with my favorite march, "Stars and Stripes Forever".  

USMC Front Ensemble

The Star-Spangled Banner was performed by the USMC, and they marched off the field to "Semper Fidelis".

I like that their Facebook page includes videos of DCI alumni now with the Commandant's Own, wishing their corps good luck. I wish they would play them in the stadium because I get really tired of seeing the same ads repeatedly over the course of 3 days.

PHREGIMENT
Oh, I hadn't seen the "J" formation before!  Or the chevron, for that matter.  Things look different from up and to the right.

Cross 

Shield

Chevron

XMEN
That drum major is a badass!  I love her!  She forms an "X" with her arms at the end of the show.  Oh, there's a "V" formation at the beginning of the show.  

Valkyrie summoning her corps

V is for Valkyrie

Yes, this blog post is brought to you by the letters J, X, and V, and the number...Oh, we'll get to that later.

MANDARINS
Ow.  Did he actually hit the cart this time? I don't think I noticed them hanging from the towers with bungee cords before.

Big Drums

Still in character on the way off of the field

CADETS
I never noticed the "X" and "Y" formations before, depicting the sex genes.  

We Can All Do Better

BLUE STARS
I never noticed that the first soloists on the field are actually playing while riding the sleds.  Ooh, they got to slide down the mountain!  They also ski, but not down the mountain.  It's nice to see BStars do all of that fun drill, now that they don't have a plethora of props all over the pfield.  (What was i supposed to write?  "Performance sPace?")  I love the sound of a unison rifle catch!  

*

Mountain and Dog Sled

BLUE KNIGHTS
Nice drill!  I love the sound of a unison saber catch, too.  Ah, the sounds of drum corps at the end of a season.  They make me feel at peace with all of the drumming and horning going surrounding me.  Yeah, I made up a word.  It wasn't the first time, not even in this one post.

On your mark...

<Intermission>
Somehow, V and I both made it to the restroom and back in the 17 minutes allotted.  We're pros.

BO CRU
So violent, this show.  Goliath died properly this time.  

GOLIATH and Goliath

Run, Goliath, Run!

CAVALIERS
This show is violent, too, but at least it's not bloody.  Or fake bloody. SPLOOOOOIEEEEE!

Inside the boundary line,
not taking any chances

I can't even do a handstand on the ground
 with my legs together

CROWN
I like the colors of this show.  I don't think they show up on the field very well, but they're pretty hues.  What a beautiful trumpet duet to start off that beautiful ballad.

Crown

SCV
Leo's hair has much more purple in it, and the other female soloist's hair has some blue.  MIKEY!!!  OMG, that's high!!!!!  I'm not sure the show was that loud because I think my ears were still suffering from Crown's show.

One more time with these big things, SCV.

BLOO
"Blackbird" was beautiful.  That's my favorite part of the show.  Great trumpet solo/duet!

I also like this uniform.

BD
That violin solo is so pretty!  I love their ballad.

Dancing to the Violin Music

Violinist and Ghostlight

Finale / Retreat
The corps came in a different way this time, from all corners of the field, while The Commandant's Own played.  That gave SCV an even shorter amount of time to do their V thing, but they did fine.  This also meant that the huge props did not come onto the field, which could have been fun for SCV, Boston, and Blue Stars.  I mean, come on, I would have loved to see them pull one of the sleds onto the field again!  

Brandt started to say "From Sacramento, California" AGAIN when introducing Vanguard.  O.M.G., Brandt, you're drunk. The Mandarins had already been announced, and their uniforms look nothing like SCV's, so no excuses.

SANTA CLARA Vanguard

Phregiment

Mandarins

Blue Stars

Cavaliers, Vanguard, BD
The 3 corps I saw perform the most this season

Finals Retreat 2019

I always like seeing the montage video that they show at Finals, especially when they show my favorite parts of the shows, like SCV's Viper move, Madison's crazy drill, and Mandarins' rifles.  I didn't really enjoy the music they used for it this year, though.

Director of the Year for World Class: Brad Furlano of the Blue Stars

Scores

12) 87.238 -- Phantom Regiment

Jim Jones Leadership Award: Claire Wilcox of Phantom Regiment

11) 87.550 -- Crossmen

10) 89.30 -- Mandarins

George Zingali Color Guard Award:  Boston Crusaders -- congrats, Bo Cru!  2 years in a row!

9) 89.838 -- Cadets

John Brazale Visual Award: Blue Devils

8) 91.225 -- Blue Stars

Jim Ott Brass Award: Carolina Crown

7) 92.050 -- Blue Knights

6) 94.488 -- Boston Crusaders

Fred Sanford Percussion Award:  SANTA CLARA VANGUARD -- 4 years in a row, kids.  AWESOME!!!!

5) 95.4 --Cavaliers

Then came a lot of pauses from Brandt, because he knew that it was really tight for the top four corps, between 3rd and 4th, and between 1st and 2nd.  I'm surprised nobody passed out near us from all of the crazy tension.  Bro was nervous, V told me.  I told her that I was really nervous, too.  Our entire SCV section was very quiet.

4) 96.563 -- Carolina Crown

Donald Angelica General Effect Award -- Bluecoats

So just a little bit of a recap: unlike last year's Finals when SCV received every award but Color Guard, this year's caption awards were spread evenly, which made sense, given the miniscule gaps between the scores.  For instance:

3) 96.600 -- Santa Clara Vanguard

Even though we knew that our corps had received the bronze medal once Crown's name was announced, we still didn't really breathe well until after the score and name were announced.  At least I didn't, because I screamed a lot at that moment, and had to remember to breathe so I wouldn't pass out and miss the last two scores.

Brandt announced the penultimate score and only said the first syllable of the corps' name: "Blue".  I'm surprised he didn't cut to a commercial.

2) 98.238 -- Bluecoats

1) 98.325 -- Blue Devils 

WOW!!! What a teeny tiny gap!  The BD folks went crazy.  The SCV fans went crazy with them.  You gave them a good run for their money, Bloo.

Much celebrating happened.  The Cadets left the field before everyone else as usual, but then they came back when they heard the drumlines from the other top 12 corps jamming at the 50-yard line.  It was loud.  It was crazy.

Not to be outdone, the tubas did their own thang, as tubas do.

So it took a while before everyone finally left, and now I'm thinking that all the time they saved coming in for retreat just went to heck with the extra stuff they did.  Doesn't matter. We were all happy because this season was incredible. 

I love that phenom Brandon is their picture.

Encore
Blue Devils performed their "Ghostlight" show again, this time with Go Pros and medals (from previous years, too).  

Congratulations to the Blue Devils on their 19th win!  #19inNineteen  

There you go, folks.  This post is also brought to you by the number 19. 

I said to Bro, "The most important fact of this is that a violinist just won a gold medal at DCI."  Bro said that after last year, and knowing they could have a magic 19 in 2019, the staff was determined to win.  They even had shirts made with the hashtag above.  It was super close, but they did it, and I'm very happy for them.  They performed a show that I liked end-to-end, and they kept the Founders Trophy in California.  Thank you, BD!

Afterward, we walked to the SCV trailer to say bye for the year.  

Until next year, pretty trailer!

I finished packing when we got back to the hotel, because I had an early flight.  

In the morning, a few minutes after I got into the car I called for Lyft, I received a message from Southwest that my flight would be delayed a couple of hours.  The driver offered to take me back to the hotel, but I decided to see if I could get a different flight.  When I checked in my bag, they told me that they couldn't see one that was available, but it was good that I came for the original time because it was an FAA delay, not the airline, and those delays could get canceled at any moment.  As I patiently waited for my 2.5 hour delayed flight, I was called to the gate agent, whom offered me to take a different route and I'd be home a couple of hours earlier than the original one for which I had woken up early.  OKAY!  So I boarded a plane with a bunch of happy Blue Devils.  The flight attendant congratulated them on the PA system just as I was trying to talk to Bro on the phone about something, so I couldn't hear anything he was saying.  When I arrived at LAX and got my bag, I waited for a while for my Flyaway bus before realizing that Bro and V had probably landed from their flight just recently, too.  I called them and they had just arrived at their parking lot, but agreed to go back to the airport to take me to my car at the Flyaway station. They told me about going back to nada for brunch, and meeting a Bass  drummer for Mandarins, whom V had to tell that he left his drumhead on the seat, so she got to take a picture with him. Then when we got to the Flyaway station, I just took my purse because they were going to my house to pick up the kids.  It wasn't until after I paid for my parking and got on the elevator when I realized that my car key was in my other carry-on bag, so they had to get back off of the freeway to bring it to me.  By the time I got home, they had just arrived and were trying to make their dog remember who they were.  They told me that they also almost forgot to take my suitcase out of their car.  It was crazy, but we all got home safely, Presto remembered me, and everybody could be in their own beds and rest for the night.

Thanks for a great 2019, DCI!  May the Ghostlight be ever glowing on your stage...er, field.

Do you think they'll give us a ride?