Sharing Seats at Stanford

DCI West

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Stanford Stadium

Palo Alto, CA 

Hello, Drum Corps Fans and Sherry's Blog Fans!  It's summertime, and it's time to watch a bunch of people run around a football field and play music and dance and stuff.  Welcome to DCI 2025!

This year is going to be a bit strange for me because a) Bro isn't here for most of the shows in So Cal, and secondly, we might not be going to Finals.  At least as of the day I write this, we don't have tickets because they did the ticketing system a bit differently this year, and Bro didn't want to spend so much money on crappy seats for all 3 days.  We'll still be traveling, but maybe not to Indianapolis.  Maybe.

Bro was actually able to go to a show in Oxnard to see the corps play their shows and warmups for each other in exhibition.  I'm glad he was able to see some of the major corps that will be here in So Cal this season, even if none of them was Vanguard.  But that's why we have Flo Marching and YouTube, which is really not ideal, but it's better than No Vanguard, which was 2023, and let's not talk about that.  So maybe he's watching drum corps in Switzerland.  

Because Bro isn't in town, I wasn't going to make the trip up north either, but then my friend Rudy moved up there and I saw it was a perfect opportunity for him to use Bro's ticket and join me at DCI West.  Bro also thought it was a great idea because we had always talked about this show and Rudy had lamented that he couldn't go.  So we were about to change things!  I made plans to fly up to San Jose because I didn't think it would be fun for me to drive my car for that long without anyone else in the car, especially if I happen to hit traffic on the Independence Day weekend.  I drove to the Burbank airport, thinking that maybe the website was wrong and there would actually be parking spots when I got there.  NOPE.  Thankfully, there was non-airport parking across the street at the VSP lot, because otherwise I would have had to cancel my flight and drive, or go home and change it and take a lyft to the airport.

My flight was nice and short, and when I arrived in San Jose, I took a lyft to my friend Brian's place, and we chatted and chilled until Rudy arrived.  We went to dinner at Fibbar McGee's, and I tasted the Curry Fries.  Well, wouldn't you know it, but that dish was tasty!  So was my salmon, which came with veggies and rice.  I loved that we were in an Irish pub, and our server had an Irish brogue.  Afterward, we went outside where they had closed off the street to vehicles.   I got to hear the saxophone player that Rudy had told me about, and agreed with his assessment of the guy's lazy notes.  

The next day, Rudy needed to work, so I slept in and read my book, "Not For The Faint of Heart: My Journey to Manhood in the Santa Clara Vanguard" by Jeremy "Spike" Van Wert. I'm enjoying the book and will probably finish reading it this week.  Brian and I went out to brunch and I asked if we could go to Hobee's, as they have one in Sunnyvale.  When we got there, he realized that it was the place he was going to recommend because he had been there with his sister.  :)  So I had my cinnamon orange tea and we both had different flavors of coffeecake so that we could share.  He got the blueberry, and I got the banana toffee.  I still prefer the OG blueberry, but the other one was tasty, too.  I also ordered Scramble Florentine and some bacon, and I was a happy girl.

Mmmm....Hobee's....

Then we visited the place where Rudy has his new job, and I met co-worker Mark and got to see the mortuary while I wasn't grieving, which is a better experience when you're just visiting your friends.  Did you know that you can get a miniature urn so that you can take a little bit of your loved one around with you?  They even match the full-size ones, which were very nice, and maybe I should stop talking about this if it's freaking y'all out.  Brian and I then went back to rest and I toggled between watching "Jaws" and "Jurassic World".  Because I guess I was just kind of in the mood to see people battle things with huge teeth.

When Rudy got home, we made our way to Palo Alto.  We parked on the dirt lot, and made note that we were three rows away from the tree shaped like a tuning fork.  We made it to the stands just in time for Impulse, but not to our seats as they had just started.  So we watched from the vomitory.  The usher told us all to move to our seats, but we all insisted that we needed to wait until the corps was done.  The lady next to me said, "This isn't a football game!  We need to wait!"  He finally relented and later gave the instruction to latecomers that they needed to wait until the corps was done playing.  

IMPULSE

Repertoire: "Look Up" -- The Dark Knight by H. Zimmer; Romantic Flight (From "How To Train Your Dragon") by J. Powell; Focus Hiccup (From "How To Train Your Dragon") by J. Powell; Married Life (From "Up") by M. Giacchino; End Credits (From "How To Train Your Dragon") by J. Powell

Impulse seems a lot stronger than last year.  Frisbees!  There are pictures of balloons on their flags, which were on bent poles for the "Up" portion.  I don't know what to call those rocking things they were standing on.  You know, like the bottom of a rocking chair, but big and just one piece.  So just "rocker"?  

It was time to go to our seats, so I told Rudy to go up to the top of the stairs for seats 1 and 2.  Uh Oh.  The man sitting in seat 3 only had one other seat next to him: seat 2.  There was no seat #1.  We checked our tickets again.  He had seats 3 and 4, and I had seats 1 and 2.  

I mean, it's not even enough room for 1/2 a seat.

We went down to talk to the usher, (yes, the one that I had to tell that I wasn't going into the stadium during a performance) and showed him the seats and tickets.  He got on his walkie talkie to talk to his supervisor, whom told him to let us sit in 2 seats together in the section.  There were a couple on the aisle in row X, so he told us to sit there, and he would "take care of it".  I told him we would go find him once the actual seat holders arrived, and he said OK.  

GOLDEN EMPIRE

Repertoire: "Mind to Matter" -- Run to the Light by I. Trevino; You Are Variations by S. Reich; Embryo by J. Patton; Hyperprism by E. Varese; With Soul Serene by J. M. David; Hypercube by O. Waespi

I don't like the colors of the playground prop things.  Some intonation issues.  Their hats kind of look like Carolina Crown's.

GOLD

Repertoire: "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" --  Sweeney Todd, No Place Like London, The Worst Pies in London, My Friends, Not While I'm Around, Johanna (Parts I & II), and Epiphany, all by S. Sondheim

Before we realized the name of this show, we saw the screens, and Rudy said, "Spooky!"  They look like a city at night.  That red chair looks ominous.  Oh, Sweeney Todd!  OK, so I guess that's London!  The straight blade prop is kind of hard to fold / close, so a couple of the guard members just kind of threw them to the side lines while they were still open.  I sure hope they fix that.  That's a lot of notes in the pie song!  Oh, the flags with yellow hues are for Joanna's yellow hair!  Sounding good, Gold!

The actual ticketholders for the seats arrived, and we went to look for the usher, who was rapidly walking away.  I saw an Event Lead, and told him what was going on.  He said, "Oh, that's a tough one."  So I guess this wasn't the guy our usher was talking to.  He told us to go to the ticket office, and when I asked another person near the ticket office if there was a window inside, I told her our issue, too.  She told us to get our hands stamped and talk to the person at the outside ticket window.  Morgan was very nice, and saw that there was no seat #1.  She asked where I got my tickets.  I told her that my brother got them through DCI.  She said that she could seat us elsewhere, but couldn't find any tickets in the same section.  Our seats were on the 50-yard line, and the best ones she could find were on the 20. She said that since we had premium seats, since there is a little space at the top row, she recommended that we stay up there.  She said that she couldn't reimburse me because the tickets were transferred to me, but advised that Bro should go to their website and write to DCI about what happened so that they could provide some compensation.  I asked her what to do if the usher had a problem with the extra person there, and she said to tell them that "DCI said it was OK."  

That whole ordeal must have taken about 15 minutes, because we totally missed seeing Blue Devils B.  We picked up Caesar Salad wraps and drinks at the Grab 'n' Go, and got back to our seat and told the folks around us what happened.  The usher was back and recognized us, but I don't think he realized we were the ones with 1 seat because he didn't ask about it.  The seat in front of us was still empty, so Rudy sat there until the ticket holder arrived.  

BLUE DEVILS B

Repertoire: "Lethologica" -- Talk Over Each Other by J. Mehan, C. Tantavirojn, and S. Clark; Get To The Point by F. Strurm; Sit In Silence by M. Gore; Can't Find the Right Words by C. Tantavirojn and S. Clark ; That's How I Like It! by B. Daly, R. Medlocke, G. Rossington, H. Thomasson, and J. Van Zant  

Hope I get to see this at the next couple of shows.

BLUE DEVILS C

Repertoire: "Back In Time" -- Back to the Future Overture by Al Silvestri ; Overture (From “Tommy”) by P. Townshend; Power of Love by H. Lewis, C. Hayes, & J. Colla; As Time Goes By by H. Hupfeld; Back in Time by H. Lewis, C. Hayes, & S. Hopper

Yay!  We get to see the babies!  Oh, cool!  They're using small versions of the old props from the A corps shows, like the Casablanca fan, the Ghostlight, and the carousel horse for the part of the field that is The Past.  Nice soprano solo on "Power of Love".  Our row mates told us that the average age of the corps membership is 12 years old, with the youngest being 7. 

Ghost Light; Closet with old jacket;
Carousel horse; Torch?

<Intermission>

I talked to our row mate, Eve.  Their son played euphonium in BD from 2017 to 2021 and is now on the visual staff.  She left, and when her husband came back, I asked if his name was Adam, because I knew his wife's name.  He laughed, and said, no, it's "Christmas".  He drove for the corps for several years, but now that he's getting older, doesn't do that anymore.  He had me take a screenshot of his email address so that I would have a witness to contact if DCI gave Bro any trouble when asking for compensation for the ticket fiasco.  The actual ticket holder for the seat in front of us came, so Rudy and I stood for the rest of the show, me against our seat, and him on the step of the row in front of me.  

Selfie 1

Selfie 2

ACADEMY

Repertoire: "London Fog" -- Can't Fight City Halloween by M. Giacchino & N. Holt; Enigma Variations by E. Elgar; We Could Form an Attachment by K. Bowers; Made of Water by T. Bergersen

We had seen the color guard walk by us earlier when we went to the ticket booth, and I told Rudy that they were the Illuminati Color Guard.  Because hooded robes.  The people doing security out there called them "Obi-Wan Kenobis".  I told Rudy that they were more like "Luke Skywalkers" because their robes were black.  Lots of white umbrellas.  Bro's gonna want those.  Christmas said, "Good luck when it's windy."  Their cymbals form an "A" after their first song.  Ooh, "Big Ben" chimes!  

Illuminati with Lanterns

This shot reminds me of Phregiment 2008

CASCADES

Repertoire:  "Primary" -- Yellow by Coldplay; Butterfly by BTS; Love You like a Love Song by S. Gomez; A Million Miles Away (from "Belle") by M. Hosoda, K. Nakamura & T. Iwasaki; Original music by J. Chambers & E. Yahrmarkt; Usseewa by Ado; Shikabane no Odori by Kikuo; My Universe by Coldplay & BTS

They have big props.  There was a big "OOH!" from the crowd when they changed the color to blue.  They had issues with them during the last song because they were not all staying on the color as the new layer would come off and show the previous one.  Pretty yellow/white double flags!

Back of Props

BLUE KNIGHTS

Repertoire: "DRiP" -- Flying 101 by Ms Bronx; DRiP by L. Gilreath, J. Ausdemore & T. Leonardo; Main Title from "Cast Away" by A. Silvestri; Water by Tyla

Do you know what happens when Sherry doesn't have a program to look at?  She assumes she hears Brandt Crocker correctly, and thinks it's an entirely different show called "Drift",  with the blue as the water, and the guard as driftwood.  I did not know until after the show when I saw the merchandise with the actual title.  Rudy gave me a look when I told him what I thought it was.  I mean, it made sense to me with the blue being the water!  

Is that...an...oboe?!?  I already didn't like the color combination when they marched onto the field, so maybe that was my first clue that they were not driftwood.  Maybe they were dressed in orangey brown.  Maybe it was rust.  I don't know because I didn't take pictures.  So I looked at Instagram just now, and I can't decide.  The moral of the story is...get Sherry a program before the show starts.  I think they might have been digital, but I don't remember seeing any QR code or anything to obtain it.  I was kinda busy trying to find out where seat number 1 was.  You know, if Brandt had a Filipino accent, I'd have an excuse about my error.  But no.

Nice blue and white flags!  I also like the effect of the big blue fabric making it look like they're all under water.  Very nice sound.  I like that battery feature. 

MANDARINS

Repertoire: "If I Must Fall" --  Music inspired by W. Healy, L. Cole, and F. B. O’Connell

They have big cylindrical shiny props.  I really like the pearlescent quality of the props and the drums.  Great battery feature!  Wait...so they're supposed to fall down?  I thought that the first person fell on accident.  <Sherry sees title of show 3 days later> Ohhhhhhh.  Great sound, Mandarins!

Rudy asked if I wanted to switch places, because he was obstructing my view a little.  I told him that he needed to see this corps, so we could switch afterward.

BOSTON CRUSADERS

Repertoire: "BOOM" -- The Kingdom by T. Hamasyan; Red, White, and Black Worlds by T. Hamasyan; Whatchamacallit by J. G. Esquivel; Malambo No. 1 by Y. Sumac; The Commuter by L. Baxter; Shooting Star by L. Baxter; Once Upon Another Time by S. Bareilles; No Time For Caution by H. Zimmer; Now, Then, and Beyond by R. George, C. McNutt, I. Moyer, & M. Zellers

Nice opening drill!  Atoms.  Splitting atoms.  Hmmm...contra butts.  I like the humor of this show.  Great job!  Welcome to California, Bo Cru!!

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD

Repertoire: "The aVANt GUARD" -- Fratres by A. Pärt; 3 Hallucinations: No. 3: Ritual by J. Corigliano; String Quartet No. 4 Mvmt IV by B. Bartók; Epitaph for Moonlight by R. M. Schafer; Home With You by FKA Twigs; View From Olympus No. 3: Maenads by J. Psathas; Send In the Clowns (from "A Little Night Music") by S. Sondheim

Lots of people commenting on how many corps are wearing white this year.  I'm getting watermelon vibes from the colors in the guard.  It's cool because the pink and yellow-green are hues of SCV's red and green.  Ooh, pink sleeves! I like the way they play with their rally towels.  They're going to make Vs out of those long pipe things, right?  Because they're like an extension of their arms, and it's not like it's hard to just make a V.  Wow, that soprano section solo!   I am loving this arrangement of Clowns.  

BLUE DEVILS

Repertoire: "Variations on a Gathering" -- Uninvited by A. Morissette; Atoms & Molecules by D. Glyde; Kashmir by J. Bonham, J. Page & R. Plant; Quantum Energy Entanglement by D. Glyde; Fuse by W. Omiccioli; True Love by H. Zimmer; Terraforming by D. Glyde; Detach by H. Zimmer

Are those big chairs?  Oh, they're sitting on them, so yes.  They've gone back to their big white props, I see.  "Uninvited" is just WOW.  I love that song anyway, but yes, thanks for doing it justice, BD.  I like this show!  Nice flag feature in the middle of the circle.

SCORES

Open Class

5) 52.450 -- Blue Devils C

4) 58.950 -- Golden Empire

3) 59.400 -- Impulse

2) 63.650 -- Gold

1) 68.000 -- Blue Devils B

World Class

7) 66.650 -- Seattle Cascades

6) 69.450 -- The Academy

5) 73.700 -- Blue Knights

4) 77.700 -- Mandarins

3) 81.000 -- Santa Clara Vanguard

2) 81.800 -- Blue Devils

1) 82.800 -- Boston Crusaders

Will you look at that?  Boston beat BD on their home turf!  SCV won percussion, so I'm very pleased about that.  I'm also happy that it looks like everybody finished their shows early this year.  

After the show, we perused the merch booths so that I could realize that BK's show is called "DRiP", and I made note of what to buy when they come to So Cal.  We found the car easily because of the tuning fork tree!  I flew home the next afternoon, happy that it's Drum Corps time again.

Rode the SWA California plane home!

Next up:  Western Corps Connection