Void of Endings

 Corps at the Crest - San Diego
Friday, June 24, 2022
Rancho Buena Vista High School Stadium
Vista, CA

It's drum corps season!  Yay!!!!!  A REAL season, not a weird "Celebrate DCI" season.  So let's get to the football fields and march forth, shall we?

Bro got to my house and as we were talking to my dad, he looked at his phone to see our ETA.  Oof.  LOTS of traffic.  So we got going down the 5.  Rudy didn't need to be picked up because he works in San Diego now, so we went a different way than normal, and traffic slowed us while we had a view of the ocean.  I opened my window so that I could enjoy the salt air.  Bro wouldn't change lanes for me to get a better shot.

Here's a barrier and an ocean.

We were so bored that when we saw a Smurfitt Kappa truck, we wondered if it had anything to do with the Smurfs.  I said that I would see if the driver looked like Gargamel, and if so, then yes.  Alas, the guy was completely bald instead of Gargamel bald, but he WAS wearing a blue shirt!  There's no way he was a smurf, though, because they're only 3 apples high and he was clearly taller than that.  I know what you're thinking...it could have been a disguise.  Maybe!

When we finally got away from the traffic, we needed to figure out where to park.  I remembered that last time we were at this venue, we parked on the street and walked a lot to get to the stadium, and that our trek back to the car was an uphill one.  We parked in a lot thanks to a fundraiser, and Bro talked to the lady taking the money even though he said he didn't want to talk to anyone.  This lot was right next to the stadium, and we happily showed our tickets to get inside and use the restrooms.  

We wanted to look at the corps merchandise, but couldn't figure out how to get there.  Some lady was coming back via the track, so we went out the gate, onto the track, past the corps entrance, and on to the marketplace.  I got a Vanguard shirt because I really like the pattern and the purple.  We went back to the regular entrance to go back in, and we were chastised for going out onto the track.  But there weren't any signs on how to get to the marketplace!  We also didn't have hand stamps, but nobody offered them to us when we had our tickets scanned.  They scanned our tickets again and made sure we got hand stamps.  I guess the guy knew that I'd be washing my hands, so I got an arm stamp instead.

We decided to get some food, and Bro made trouble again by asking for something that wasn't on the outside menu.  He was rewarded by receiving a not-so-cold Powerade. I'm glad that they had their burgers prepared ahead of time and in warmers, even though there wasn't a line when we were there.  When Rudy arrived, he parked a long way away and he tried to wave at us from the street where we parked last time.  We saw him, but he couldn't see us because he was too far away.  He got to his seat in time for the show to start, and we were happy to be together like the old days, reminiscing about Rudy knocking over drinks while dancing like a marionette.  Good times.

Hi, Ryan Turner!  It's so good to hear your voice again!  

The Star-Spangled Banner was sung a capella by Bianca De Long.  Very nice and simple!  Thank you, Bianca.

I know it's been awhile, so here's a reminder:  I only post the entire repertoire of a corps' show on the day that I see it live for the first time.  All other posts will just have the corps name before my notes.  

VESSEL

Repertoire: "The Power of One" -- Movement 1: The Individual; Movement 2: Divided;  and Movement 3: -- For The Common Good.  All original compositions by Fred Smith.

They were lying down on the field before the show started.  They're tired already.  I started to count how many percussion players they had (28), then realized I should have just counted the horns (5).  They had 2 color guard members.

One.  One song.  That's all they played.  Also, one stick left on the field.

Ryan finally decided to introduce the judges.  We're all a little bit rusty at this.

IMPULSE

Repertoire: "Anew" -- The Jetsons (Main Theme) by J. Barbera, W. Hanna, and H. Curtin; New World Symphony by A. Dvorak; Dear Theodosia (from "Hamilton"), by L-M Miranda; Assassin's Creed Theme by L. Balfe

The drum major's hair looks like an exclamation point!  The lady sitting in the row in front of us said to me, "Once you see it, you can't unsee it."  

Now you can't unsee it either.

I thought I heard The Simpsons theme, and said, "but they don't have a saxophone".  Bro just shook his head and told me later that it was the Jetsons.  Ohhhhh.   A HA!  "A NEW World Symphony"!  That one I knew for sure.  Nice solos during "Dear Theodosia".  There is too much narration, and it's weird to have that at the end of the unfinished show.  I'm also trying to figure out the storyline, if there is one.  

GOLDEN EMPIRE

Repertoire: "The Curse of the 9th" -- Movement 1: The Work Begins: Symphony No. 9 by L. van Beethoven; Purple Haze by J. Hendrix; Movement II: From Despair to Love: Back to Black  by A. Winehouse; Symphony No. 2 by J. Sibelius; Movement III: The Final Stanza: All Along the Watchtower by J. Hendrix; Symphony No. 9 by L. van Beethoven

Pretty good horn solos.  They need to play better as an ensemble though, which will come in time.  Their uniforms had a pretty gold.  There's a stick on the ground again.

My Big Arm and the 3 of us.
It was not the one with the arm stamp.

Fun fact from Rudy:  There is a town called "Big Arm" in Montana.   And now whenever he goes to see his mother-in-law and sees the signs, he'll think of me. 

GOLD

Repertoire: "The Gift" -- Movement #1: The Sound of Silence; Movement #2: Ceremony of the Twelve; Movement #3: Hearing Beyond; Movement #4: The Escape; Movement #5: Discovering Beyond.  Original music by S. Director.

But...they're wearing silver.   There is a piano and a bike on the field.  I thought I heard "True Colors", then "Sound of Silence", then I heard the creepy whisper, and thought, well, maybe it's a tribute to the Mandarins.  So he's riding the bike, but doesn't play the piano?  Not even pretend?  I hope the bike doesn't mess up the field. "Welcome to your lifetime assignment."  Nice solos.  

<Intermission>

THE ACADEMY

Repertoire: "A World of Creation" -- Prelude by S. Vento; Alice's Theme by D. Elfman; Barber of Seville by G. Rossini; Oompa-Loompa-Doopa-Dee-Do by A Newley & L. Bricuse; Anthem by B. K. Ulvaeus, B. Goran, B. Andersson, & T. Rice; Metropolitan Theme by L. R. Fast; Pure Imagination by A Newley & L. Bricuse

I love all of that purple.  Is that ramp left over from their Bridges show?  Nice Art Deco lamps.  It's a gate.  It's the Great Gate of Kiev, and it looks like a big Metal Earth model, which come in a really big kit.  Very cool drum wrpas that match their awesome purple uniforms.  The uniforms with the tails are back!  YAY!  I thought that this could be a tribute show, because the hat reminded me of the "By A Hare" show, the flags reminded me of the (RE) show, and the uniforms were there, too.  It wasn't until I heard the little bits of "Pure Imagination" that I figured out, "Oh, it's Willy Wonka!"  That's an awesome arrangement of Oompa Loompa!   Chess' "Anthem"!  Oh, I love that show.  One of the guard members fell down.  

Rudy:  "That was some kick ass brass, man!"

MANDARINS

Repertoire: "The Otherside" -- 1. The Wall: Another Brick in the Wall by R. Waters; The Wall by K. Poulan, B. Harmsen, B. Pyles, & A. Filipiak; 2. The Revolution by K. Poulan, B. Harmsen, B. Pyles, & A. Filipiak; Another Brick in the Wall by R. Waters; 3. The Disintegration by K. Poulan, B. Harmsen, B. Pyles, & A. Filipiak; 4. The Otherside: Otherside by A. Kapland & J. Lardieri; 5. The Triumph: Triumphant (Brass Feature) by K. Poulan; The Triumph by K. Poulan, B. Harmsen, B. Pyles, & A. Filipiak

Their props can stop tanks.  WHAT IS HAPPENING?!  That rotating prop was awesome!   Then it went faster! I was worried that the corps members would get hit by it.  I'll probably be worrying until the middle of August.  

Rudy: "That one guard girl is having a rough night."

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD

Repertoire: "Finding Nirvana" -- String Quartet No. 1 (Metamorphoses Nocturnes) - Presto by G. Ligeti; Breakfast in Baghdad by U. Wakenius; Mata Hari by A. DiMeola; Smells Like Teen Spirit by K. Cobain, D. Grohl, C. Novoselic, arr. by E. VanDoren, P. Rennick, S. Rennick

They're wearing white all over.  I don't think those are the final uniforms.  Or are they?  Because later on I saw them from a closer view, and the collar has silver adornment like on Indian outfits.  The color guard is wearing a pretty purple and they look to be the official ones, so maybe so.  That's a LOT of white.  Oh, that snare feature!  My goodness!   Then all 3 of those sopranos doing those high notes.  Wow.  Very nice solos.  I wonder if they're going to use those tall props more when they finish the last part of the show.  

Bro: "They sure can march!"

Poor Rudy can't get the resolve to all that dissonance because they didn't play their whole show, and he knows it won't be ready by Sunday.  

PACIFIC CREST

Repertoire: "Welcome to the Void" -- Finale (from "Swiss Army Man") by A. Hull & R. McDowell; The Void by B. Green, E. Lanser, & J. Zuniga; Enjoy the Silence by M. Gore; Intruder by P. Gabriel; Where Is My Mind by B. Francis

The props from other corps' shows are so cool!  Half the SCV Ouroboros circle; Ladders from Cavaliers' Chicago show(?); PC's Everglow triangle; PC's cube; SCV's Phantom mask; Bluecoats' huge chair from 2018; the Cadets' door from 2005, and Academy's tombstone from Drum Corpse Bride. The color guard doesn't have their uniforms or flags yet.

Bro: "Did they spell 'VOID'?"

Sher: "I think they will, eventually."

Lots of silent laughter ensued.  

What is wrong with their lines??!!?!!  ACK!  Show is not done yet.

Scores

Vessel was not scored.

Open Class:

3) 33.95 -- Impulse

2) 46.75 -- Golden Empire

1) 53.00 -- Gold

World Class:

4) 57.75 -- Pacific Crest

3) 61.45 -- The Academy

2) 65.30 -- Mandarins

1) 69.95 -- Santa Clara Vanguard

Afterward, I went to the restroom and when I exited, Bro said he needed to show me something.  OMG, they added a makeshift barrier consisting of a twisted trash bag, and a sign at the gate to the track saying No Entry.  Maybe they should have put those there before we rebels went through the gate so we wouldn't have gotten in trouble!

Rudy said it was nice of Bro to offer him a ride to his car.  I don't remember that happening.  Neither did Bro.  But he did anyway.  While trying to get out of the parking lot, we saw PC moving their props.  Ouroboros!  I tried to get Rudy to take a pic of the Phantom mask in back of us, but he ignored me.  Sigh.

Can I have that, please?

Whoa, he parked REALLY far.  We bid our farewells until Sunday, and it took a much shorter time for Bro to drive us back to my house.  He still needed to load some tiles into his car, but it didn't take long for him to finish and go home.

That was a fun day.  Drum corps is BACK!

Next up:  Corps at the Crest - Rose Bowl