Food and Appliances

 MidCal Showcase

Thursday, July 2, 2026

Adolfo Camarillo High School - Carl Thomps on Field

Camarillo, CA

We interrupt all of the non-posting of Sherry's overseas adventures to bring you Drum Corps Season!  There is entirely too much going on, but I figured I should really post before Finals comes around.

MidCal Showcase this year was nowhere near the middle of California, either lengthwise or widthwise.  For those of you unfamiliar with our beautiful state, Camarillo is 51 miles northwest of Los Angeles, kind of near the coast.  But whatever.  It's "mid" somewhere, I guess.

Why are the "s" and "o" so far apart?

Bro decided about a week before the show that he was going, and asked me if I wanted to join him and the niece.  Sure!  I had to move my 1 day/week telework day to do it, which was a new thing for me because we just went back to work 4 days/week as of July 1st.  Fortunately, my boss is just as irritated as me with this new mandate, so he was OK with it, and laughed when I told him.   The show was supposed to start at 7:30 pm, so we had time to get a quick dinner from Subway before heading out to Camarillo.  When we arrived near the place, we wondered why we saw people walking to the campus when we didn't seem to be near the school yet.  It turns out that people probably didn't want to lose their parking spaces when they walked to the nearby grocery store, because there wasn't any parking available in the lot, nor on the street next to the school.  So, like many others, we ended up parking in a nearby residential area.  I wonder if the neighbors get really irritated when there are events at the school.  I was especially irritated because of the incline of the driveway to get to the campus entrance.  You know how I love hills!  Not.  We followed other people who seemed to know where they were going, and arrived at the spectator entrance to the stadium.  The person with the wristbands asked Bro how many tickets we had, and he said 3.  They gave us the wristbands, but never actually checked his tickets.  So...did we even need to pay?  

They didn't really have much of anything ready for concessions, so I was glad we ate beforehand.  We checked out the souvenir stands, and I contemplated what to get from the Bluecoats to support them for coming out to California this year.  I'm not really fond of their color schemes, so I didn't get their California Tour shirt, and decided to think some more.  I had more shows to see on the schedule, so I had time.  The Academy had a dress and xylophone vest from their "Drum Corps Bride" show on display.  Display only, not for buying, otherwise the niece might have acquired a new color guard dress tonight.

How has it been 10 years since this show?!

We went inside the stadium, which was bleacher seating.  I don't know why they put seats directly behind huge light poles, but we did not sit there.  We wanted to sit near the corps because this was an exhibition performance, and we knew they would get to watch each others' shows, which is cool.  We ended up sitting across the aisle from the Blues:  Bluecoats and Blue Devils.  They were very friendly with each other, and very appreciative of all the corps.  Later, Bro heard them say that they needed a picture of the Mandarins.  Mandarins is not performing this year (sadness!), but many of their corps members joined the other corps, probably mostly Vanguard and Blue Devils if they're from Northern California.  Bro called our area the "Bluecoats / Blue Devils Reunion stairs" because people kept seeing each other and hugging in the aisle next to us.  

So glad that guy didn't drop his ice cream on us.

Bloo / BD Reunion Stairs

For those unfamiliar with my methods, I post repertoire of the corps I see for the first time, and do not do so when I see the show again.   So y'all just need to memorize.  

The announcer welcomed us to "Caro Mio".  Does he not know how to pronounce the name of this place?   Or is he Italian and really loves it here?

The Star-Spangled Banner was performed by a French horn duet from the Bluecoats.

GOLDEN EMPIRE

Repertoire:  "Set in Motion" - Newton's Cradle by L. Einaudi, Free Running by R. Buckley, Movement by Hozier; Windsprints by R. L. Saucedo

They needed to inflate the big silver balls before the show for them to stay smooth and shiny, and their device is near the pit.  Nice, full sound throughout.  Big balls, small balls.  I like the pendulum part.  I thought those hanging small balls would do something, or they were speed bags for boxing, but they nope.  They all die at the end.  Or something.  I know this show isn't finished, but will they wake up and play again?

Prop Inflation

Nice Extension!

Shiny, inflated balls

Between shows, the niece and I tried to figure out the props that we saw on the side of the track.  At one point, I thought there were bicycles in a show, then Bro informed me that what I was looking at was tenor drums on their side.  Duh, Sher.  Like you've never seen that before.  This is what marching withdrawal does to me.

THE ACADEMY

Repertoire:  "In the Center of the Ring" -- Scene 1: The Greatest Show by B. Pasek & J. Paul; Scene 2: Millionaire by A.R. Rahman; Scene 3: Never Enough by B. Pasek & J. Paul; Scene 4: The Greatest Show on Earth: Ghost Love Score by T. Holopainen & M. Hietala

Ooh, "The Greatest Showman"!  Dodie is going to like this show.  She was very excited to share the music with me after she saw the movie.  Wait.  Your opener has a contra feature?  YEAH!!  I think they're going to build a circus tent over those poles.  The color guard has these props that are some rings stuck together.  Fun stuff with the tenors playing from behind a black cloth wall, as the color guard holds their drums.  The trumpets did their thing, too, but it wasn't as cool.  I wish the sound effects weren't so much, though.  Also for Golden Empire.  Bloo and BD folks were singing along to "Never Enough".  Pretty pink sparkly flags during this song.  The show isn't done yet.  Well, none of these shows will really be done until finals, but there was definitely a song missing.

That wall has arms!

That guy is upside down!

Who is in the center of that ring?

PACIFIC CREST

Repertoire:  "Irresistible" -- The Great Refusal  by C.M. Self; Moth by V. Cuong; Moonlight Sonata by L.van Beethoven; Goodnight Moon by E. Whitacre; Everything In Its Right Place by Radiohead; Heaven (Butterflies) by J. Collier

They have capes!  They also have some orange thing in the front of their blue uniform where a tie would go, which I didn't really like.  It turned out to be the fastener for the cape, which looked like wings when they did certain poses.  What is that flower bud-looking prop?  Is it going to open someday?  There are also big leaf props.  Very nice use of dynamics.  Aw, it's a lot like old school drum corps without the crazy synthesizer sounds.  They did have birds tweeting at the beginning, but it wasn't overbearing, and reminded me of the SCV show "Force of Nature".  The show isn't done yet, so I'm thinking the soloist will be playing from that leaf on which they're positioned.

That better open up someday.

Just hangin' out on my leaf.

BLUECOATS

Repertoire: "Gravity and Grace" -- Familiarity by Punch Brothers; The Wheel Has Come Full Circle by E. Galperine; Don't Look Down by C. Cerrone; fullmoon by R. Sakamoto; Ritual Being by P. Le Boeuf; God Only Knows by The Beach Boys; Inhale Exhale by A. Meredith; Hot Saturn by Sungazer; I've Seen All Good People by Yes

Ah, yes.  This show has the props we saw on the sidelines that I thought looked like salmon sushi.  The niece figured it was bacon.  It was neither.  At least I don't think so.  Bro thought something was air conditioners.  They were not.  So, what is this show, if it's not about food and appliances?!  

I like those drums!

I like the effects of their pants as they run across the field.  Mind you, the uniforms are a bit dizzying to me, but they're better than the last couple of years.  Bro got a bucket hat with that pattern sometime between shows.  He thought that he saw another bucket hat, too, but it turned out to be reversible, so two hats in one!  Nice!  

I like the pretty teal/white flags.  Oh, those are teeter totters, not food.  Oops, someone almost fell on his ramp.

Play Time

Cool effect of the spinning amplifier thing, but I could have done without the other sound enhancements.   Bass drum ensemble: YES!!

BLUE DEVILS

Repertoire: "Zei" -- Mishima by P. Glass; Turbine by J. Mackey; I Just Had to Hear Your Voice by A. Rich & J.J. Friedman; Nevesk by T. Reedy;  Assembly by D. Glyde; By Three They Come by R. Amon; Escape by H. Zimmer; Posterity by L. Goransson; Triumph of Time by P. Graham

Wings.  Bro asked me if I thought their wings would be the same size by Finals.  Nope.  They'll be bigger.  Very nice show.  I like the teal of their sleeves, and I really like the flash of teal that shows at the lower legs as they walk.  I also like the pink drums.

I really like the color scheme.

There was a kid in front of us, about 4 years old, conducting when BD was on the field.  He had a mini BD rifle, and I overheard his parents telling him that whomever he wanted to see would be busy with their corps duties, so they might not see them tonight.  Aw, I hope he got to see his older sibling or whomever it was.  He was so excited to be there!  

Future BD Drum Major

I feel like he's being sacrificed.
Oh, yeah, Icarus.

No scores because this was an exhibition show, but there were judges present to offer their critique to the corps.  I wish that it could have been like the show we went to in Oxnard (?) when each corps also performed their encores.  Alas, that was not to be this evening. 

We walked back to the car and there seemed to be a bottleneck of some sort in the parking lot.  Somebody didn't know that they needed to get close to the gate in order for it to open so they could drive out.  Good there was some student there to tell them to move forward.  

I thought Bluecoats performed the best show tonight, but my favorite show was probably Academy's show because I liked the singing from the people in the corps next to us.  :)

Next up:  Gold Showcase