Box Along The Rockies

Drums Along The Rockies

Loveland High School -- Loveland, CO

Friday, July 8, 2011

I woke up early and mostly just lounged around all morning, save for a trip downstairs to the in-house Starbucks for breakfast.  It was a gorgeous morning, but the weather reporter said that there would be thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Uh-oh.  Then I heard drums.  I hurriedly put on my shoes, grabbed my camera, and went outside.  

Ooh, Taiko!  APPARENTLY, the city of Denver, in conjunction with Southwest Airlines, does a summer concert series on Fridays at noon.  Today's was just outside my hotel.  How nice for them to provide entertainment tailored just for me today!  The group's name is Mirai Daiko, which translates to "Taiko of the Future" or something like that.  Aw, that reminds me of the ice skater Mirai Nagasu.  But this is drumming we're talking here!  They integrated traditional Taiko drumming with modern beats like swing and hip hop.  It was very cool, and I only saw them drop their sticks twice, which is quite impressive, considering the choreography that they did.  Between percussion numbers, they would change the configuration while one of them played the koto (a string instrument), or sang, or played the tambourine.  These ladies kicked butt, and they get to play big drums!

Mirai Daiko

The time then came for me to pick up Bro at the airport.   His flight had left on time, and was scheduled to arrive on time, too.  But no.  When I arrived at the cell phone lot, I checked his flight, and it had been delayed 15 minutes.  15 minutes passed.  I checked again, but still no update.  His plane finally landed about 70 minutes after the originally scheduled time, because they had been in a holding pattern due to the thunderstorms.  I had only experienced a little bit of rain on the way to the airport, but I guess it's different when you're in the air.

We drove to Loveland, and were prepared to pay at the tolls, but for some reason, they were all closed, so that was cool.  I was really hungry by this time, so when we were finally outside the Denver area, we stopped at Pepper Jack's, where we had yummy sandwiches, and also ordered one to go for the ride home.  Pepper Jack's slogan is "Enter as strangers, leave as friends."  Aw, we made friends with people whose names I can't remember.  Bro wondered later if you're a stranger again when you return to the restaurant.

We arrived at Loveland HS with plenty of time to kill prior to the event, and talked to Bro's friend at the Phregiment souvie trailer.  Another one of the volunteers, whom had been sitting on a nearby curb, spied Bro's very cool 1SCVFAN shoes and whispered to his friend, "Ask him to show you his shoes!"  Oh, yes, his shoes are famous, and she was already aware of them.  :)  She told us stories of their travels since we last saw her, and then we finally went into the stadium.  Our seats were 26 rows up, just to the left of the 50.  Dark clouds loomed nearby, and I had ponchos for both of us at the ready.  We felt a few drops and put on our hats, but that was it.  We willed the clouds to go around us.  Their was a 15-month old boy next to me named Brody whom was attending his first drum corps show.  He was very cute and I was excited for him.

The Star-Spangled Banner was played by the Loveland High School Crimson Regiment, dressed in t-shirts and khaki shorts.  We heard some alumni moaning that they had to wear jeans last year.  Jeans would have looked better.  They played well.  There was no flag on the flagpole, presumably because it had been raining.  The colors were presented by Associated Veterans.

EXHIBITION:  Bishop Grandin Marching Ghosts

Repertoire:  "Pandora" (musical selections not provided)

Smoking Box

There was a huge box near the field, and it was smoking.  I didn't think it had anything to do with the show until they announced the name.  I liked the geometric flags.  At one point, the second drum major seemed to just be supervising the color guard in the middle of the field, then later he/she was spinning a flag.  Interesting.  A mellophone player was dancing with two of the CG girls at another point.  Someone from the audience yelled in the middle of the show, "OPEN THE BOX!" and it did open, but never all the way, and the only thing that came out of it was more smoke.




HIGH COUNTRY BRASS
Repertoire:  "Blood, Sweat and Tears" -- You've Made Me So Very Happy, Lacretia MacEvil, Sometime In Winter, Go Down Gambling all by Blood, Sweat and Tears

A sign that stayed upright

They had signs with day-glo paint, about which Bro remarked, "This needs to be a dark ride."  The CG was dressed as hippies.  One gal's bell bottoms looked like pizza slices.  The signs were in the way, I guess, because one got knocked over by one of the corps members.  At one point, I heard talking behind me, and turned around to give the person an evil eye, but then I realized that it was one of the judges talking into their tape.  They had a lot of jazzy solos/duets, and I liked the lower brass ones.  Not all of the non-soloists were grooving during the solos, which made the groovers look weird.  They should fix that.  I liked their peace flags, and wondered if the guy that hand paints the Blue Knights' flags also did these.  After the show was done, the drum major fell off of the stand while getting down.  He waved to the crowd and said he was OK.

REVOLUTION
Repertoire: "Ride" -- Windsprints by R. Saucedo, Nitro  by F. Ticheli, The Heart Asks Pleasure First by M. Nyman and C. Botello, Original Work by M. Peterson, Ride by S. Hazo


I saw the CG bring on tires while wearing aviator caps, and guessed that they were building a plane.  I like the scarves that they wear.  Ooh, the lightning flags are pretty!  I hoped that they weren't foreshadowing for the rest of the night.  The plane flags, which kind of looked like sharks,  were cool, and I liked the way that they wove them so that the nose of the plane was always pointing in the direction that the flag was going.  They also had flags with the names of the cities where they've been or are going to on the tour.  The narration wasn't too bad, because it was sparse.  


GOLD

Gold Drumline

Bro guessed correctly, and we were told that this was Gold's first show outside of California.  Today, they were from San Diego.  There was even more narration than in Riverside, and I was highly annoyed.  I also didn't really like the applauding of themselves at the end.  I forgot to take a picture of the tenors when the narrator said to get the tenors in the shot.  I also didn't get a picture of the drumline kneeling, which was cool.  The percussion feature was very strong and well-done. 






CASCADES
Repertoire: "Pandora -- A Dark Gift" -- Pandora -- A Dark Gift by J. Hinkel and C. Grant, My Immortal by D. Hodges, A. Leo and B. Moody 

So as the Cascades arrive, I see that they have huge PVC flourescent yellow cubes, as well as a big orange cube made of stretchy fabric in a basket weave design.  I told Bro that they were going to build a big fluorescent house.  I'm now convinced that everyone is building houses this year.  The corps uniforms are a lighter green than I'm used to, and the plumes on their shakos are almost fluorescent.  I miss their old, classier uniforms.  The CG looked like sexy bumblebees with skirts, because their breasts were accentuated and they were wearing yellow with black accents.  At one point, the lead CG was also holding a smaller purple box.  I wasn't sure which one was supposed to be the real box, but people were trying to get out of the big orange box, coming in and out of the same box, and sticking their hands through to the outside of the box.  I liked the effect of all of the PVC boxes being tilted.  I liked the last ballad.  It was pretty, and I kept trying to think of the lyrics.  I eventually looked it up at intermission.  At the end, the people in the box were sticking their horns out through the weave.  I liked it more than the other Pandora show, but how weird is it that 2 corps have the theme of Pandora?  At least they're not in the same division.


INTERMISSION
The announcer here should not be an announcer.  He was having a lot of difficulty with several words.  The best goof was with the word "certificates".  He was saying "certificatesis".  He tried to say the word about 5 times, and never got it right.  He also told us to "come on down here and see the chicken."  There was a guy in a chicken suit giving out gift certificates to some restaurant or something.  


ACADEMY

Fuschia now

O.M.G., THAT's your GE!  Their general effect score should go way up, now that they have their complete guard costumes.  I now even like the shiny pants.  The wings are now an actual blouse, and they are fuschia.  Toward the end of the show, they don bright green vinyl-looking coats with tails and a cool green hat with stripes that match their final flags.  NICE.  Now everything makes visual sense to me.  They received a great crowd reaction, and Bro heard one of the judges say that he likes the sound.  They added a new section, and it was just all done very well.  I wasn't sure about the intonation of the soloist and the opening number at the beginning, though.  Ooh, they make a formation of an exclamation point!  I saw it on the right side of the field, and Bro has seen it before on the left side.  I wonder if it changed or if there are 2 of them.  


PHREGIMENT


Beautiful music, Phantom!  Although it seemed a little bit soft.  Are they still trying to adjust to the altitude?  The emotion still felt a little bit flat, and Bro wonders if it's because the music is so familiar and he's just not really feeling it anymore.  

Phregiment with the Capulet Flags

SCV

Bro told me to get a picture of the horns in their weird leg position, which I hadn't noticed before, but I got a picture that was kind of fuzzy.  I apologize for the pictures for tonight, by the way, as many of them came out blurry.  The CG had several drops of their big batons, so it was either really windy on the field, or they were anticipating wind and it didn't happen when they actually threw their batons.  A couple of them came down nowhere near the CG that threw them up.  I said "Vanguard" very quietly.  Bro forgot to say it because he was too busy watching the cymbal line.  Their sound was also subdued.

Vanguard Flags A-Spinning

BLUE KNIGHTS

Repertoire: "An English Folk Song Suite" -- First Suite in Eflat for Military Band (Op.98, No. 1) by G. Holst, English Folk Song Suite Suite by R. V. Williams, Sheperd's Hey/Molly on the Shore by P. Grainger, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus by R. V. Williams

Orange drums.  Really?  Of course, Bro loves it.  He wants to own the entire drumline.  No problem with sound here!  They're used to this altitude.  I like that percussion feature and all of the stuff that happens in the background.  I especially liked when the snares change to the soft mallets like the English corps and spin their mallets.  Too cool.  The lines, though: sigh.  My advice:  if you are supposed to be in a straight line ON the marked yard line, USE IT.  I noticed that the mello players had something attached to their backs: it turned out to be sheaths for the CG sabers.  Great guard work.

ENCORE:  Blue Knights

Bro:  "Please sing!"  I tried to remember what he was so excited about.

They did a piece from their show, then Bro's wish came true.  They sang!  "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" was sung and played and Bro was very, very happy. Then I remembered the video that he showed me of their encore when they were in AZ 2 years ago.  It was way cool.

BK singing

SCORES

All-Age

50.75 -- High Country Brass

Open

70.95 -- Gold

71.25 -- Revolution

World

5) 65.15 -- Cascades

4) 73.55 -- Academy

3) 78.10 -- Blue Knights

2) 79.15 -- SCV

Then Bro guessed what Phregiment's score would be, and he was right. on. the. nose!

1) 80.70 -- Phregiment

Bro was in rare form tonight.  He had seen a judge before the show started, and wondered aloud if it was a certain guy.  Then they announced the judges, and Bro was right.  It was crazy.

Brody was mainly paying attention throughout the show, only missing 2 corps.  I told him to be in a drum corps when he grows up so that we could come and watch him.  He was adorable.

We drove back to the hotel while eating our Monte Cristo sandwiches from Pepper Jack's.  There was a lot of lightning on the horizon, but we were thankful that none of it had come our way, and we were able to watch the entire show.  We hope for the same luck for the show at INVESCO.

Up Next:  Drums Along The Rockies -- Denver

A Rocky Trip to the Rockies

This year in our planning for Drum Corps season, Bro decided that he was tired of just going to Indianapolis, so I asked him where he'd like to go.  He decided on Denver.  I agreed, remembering what a great time we had in 2004 for Finals.  So I proceeded to book a hotel via priceline.com, and inadvertently booked for an extra day.  Oops.  Yes, I got the hotel I wanted for a good price, but it's non-refundable, so I kinda screwed myself over.  So then I had to ask for an extra day off, bummer.  ;)


Flash forward (ha!) to today, and I checked the weather.  Uh-oh: thunderstorms for tonight, isolated showers for tomorrow and Saturday.  May I remind you that drum corps is largely an OUTDOOR activity?  Oh, well, we'll see what happens.  We've been through that before, in Orlando, and, actually, in Denver.  


I drove to ONT and got my bag checked, noticing that my flight was delayed 35 minutes.  Well, that's not too bad.  Then we got up in the air, and as we were approaching DEN, the pilot announced that we were in a holding pattern because the airport was closed due to thunderstorms.  When somebody tells me that something is closed, I figure that they'll just open the next day, so that worried me.  But we were only in the holding pattern for about 10-15 minutes (I don't really know, because I forgot my watch at home).  Then we landed on the tarmac, we had to sit tight for awhile before a gate became available.  


We finally were able to get off of the plane, and I took the train to the main terminal to get my bag.  When I saw the signs, I thought, "Uh-oh.  I wasn't listening when they told us which baggage carousel number I was supposed to look for.  Wait.  Did they tell us the number?"  Luckily for me, I know how to read.  I found the screen that showed the baggage carousel for my flight, which was number 8.  Lots and lots of bags were going around, and none of them were mine.  I heard an announcement that I could have sworn said #8, and then said that oversize baggage like crates and lightning rods and golf clubs could be found across from Carousel 8.  Wait.  Lightning rods?!  Do people actually transport those, or was the guy just making a joke about golf clubs and I missed the sarcasm?  Anyway, my bag never showed up, and I kept seeing the same lonely bags go around, waiting for their owners.  The screens above the carousels were not helpful at all, just notifying what planes had arrived.   Since Southwest also uses Carousel 7, I checked there briefly, but didn't see it.  I went back to #8:  no new bags.  So I decided to really look at what was at #7, and finally saw my bag.  I started to chase it until I realized it would come around again eventually, and I wasn't in any hurry.  


Bag in hand, I headed to the Hertz shuttle to get to the rental cars.  I noticed that the driver's name was Troy, and the manager's name was Tim Burton.  This made me a little scared, wondering what kind of creepy adventure I had just begun.  When we arrived at Hertz, I followed a lady out the front door of the bus, which was not sheltered from the rain, unlike the exit that I should have taken, which had shelter.  Then I went inside and saw that there were self-service kiosks, but wasn't sure if I should use them because I had reserved through AAA.  I got in line to talk to an agent, but one of the employees was advising us all that self-service was available, so I tried that.  The kiosk available was one with a phone, not the computer-only kind.  I sat on hold for awhile without even talking to anyone, then a regular express kiosk opened, so I went to that one instead.  Things were going fine until the very end, wherein the screen told me that they couldn't give me a car, and that I needed to talk to an agent.  Oy.  So I went back to the original line.  The lady that had been directing us was surprised to see me, because she had been there with me until it looked like I was good to go with the express kiosk.  I figured that technology was not happy with me today, so it was no big deal.  I checked in with the agent and walked to the space where the car was parked.  I don't know why I couldn't go down the correct aisle in the first place, so I walked around a bit before finding the car.  When I got to the car, I was about to open the trunk, and realized that I didn't have my luggage.  I walked back to the rental building and didn't see it anywhere, then realized that when I had walked out the front door of the shuttle, I didn't reach over to get my bag.  AUGH!  I waited for a shuttle to arrive, but it wasn't the same driver.  Luckily for me, I had remembered Troy's name, and told this driver, whose name is Mesfin.  He said that Troy was on a break, but he would check his bus.  Nope, not there.  Again, luckily for me, Troy was in the rental building taking his break, and he said that he had brought it to the Lost and Found in the same building.  He nicely retrieved it for me, and I thanked them both very much.  


I went back to the car, and looked at the directions that I had printed.  When I'm going somewhere unfamiliar, I try to get more than one set of directions because different sites give different instructions.  I realized that I had 3 sets of directions that gave me 3 different exits to use to get to the hotel.  Yikes!  Technology again was being mean to me, and I couldn't get to the hotel site directions on my phone, so I picked the simplest instructions.  Mind you, it was dark and rainy, so I was anxious about the drive to Downtown Denver.  I made it just fine, though.


I handed the car keys over to the valet because now Jenn has spoiled me for all Starwood hotels, and I didn't feel like parking it myself.  I checked in, ordered room service (a yummy broiled green tea-infused salmon on pan-roasted sweet potatoes and spinach), and now I have time to relax before going to sleep, because I've eaten way late and can't go to sleep quite yet.


Wow.  I wasn't planning on blogging about tonight, but how could I not?  It all started because I was such a doofus about the dates when I booked this very nice hotel.  I hope that the weather does get better, because Bro flies in tomorrow afternoon, and we want to be able to actually watch the shows for which we have tickets, you know?  Wish us luck!

DLR LotD 07/04/11

Disneyland Resort
Line of the Day


Monday, July 4, 2011


"If I didn't flick it, I wouldn't have known." -- Ryan, at Catal

REpeat the Ridiculous in Riverside

Western Corps Connection

Riverside City College -- Wheelock Stadium

Sunday, July 3, 2011

I went to my parents' house after church today to hang out with the family before Rudy and Jeff arrived so that we could carpool to RCC.  Thanks to Bro for driving so that we could catch up with each other on the way there.  We arrived at RCC and got in different lines for different food items, since all the lines were getting long.  I asked Bro to find out why the woman in the Phregiment booth was there again, and not with SCV, so he did.  It turns out that she's working the trailer as a personal favor to the corps director, whom used to be the director for Vanguard.  She also used to march for Phregiment.  Well, now it all makes sense, thank you.

We missed the Star-Spangled Banner because we were busy getting our food.  The announcer was already being not-my-favorite announcer before we even sat down.  

SO CAL DREAM

Repertoire: "Dream Riffs: Something Borrowed, Something Blues" -- I. Baroque Samba by D. Meader, II. Autumn Leaves by J. Kosma, III. Nutville by H. Silver

The drum major was getting all into the jazziness of the show, which was fun to watch.  I like Autumn Leaves, especially the mello quintet and solo.  That soloist looked like he was about 8 years old.  You go with that screaming soprano solo!  Three color guard members dropped their flags simultaneously.  It was breezy at that time, so that must have been giving them trouble.

CITY SOUND

Repertoire: "The Sounds of Our City" -- City of Angels by Ozomatli, Saturday Night by Ozomatli, La Pistola y el Corazon by Los Lobos, At Last by E. James,  Sunless Saturday by Fishbone

Where is their color guard?  They have a CG staff, so what is going on?  The DM was wearing a very short, sheer skirt, and, APPARENTLY, she was also much more tan than she was last night.  Her salute was lackluster, which puzzles me, because her conducting is very sharp, unlike her limp salute.  I like the Los Lobos number, which made me say that they were "drum corps mariachi".  They had intonation problems, but I like the soloists, and I with that they were all that talented.  I like the mello solo for At Last.

IMPULSE

Repertoire:  "Tribute" -- Symphony No. 3, Mvt. 4 by V. Giannini, Variations on a Korean Folk Song by J. B. Chance, Corral Nocturne (from Rodeo) by A. Copland, Hoe-Down (from Rodeo) by A. Copland, Copland Finale (The Red Pony, Fanfare for the Common Man) by A. Copland

Go, Justin!  (He's a mellophone player in the corps whom is my friend's daughter's friend.  No, I've never met him).  Arirang!  Rudy and I learned to sing that Korean folk song when we were on a choir tour to Seoul.  That was my favorite song of their show, and it segued well between the pieces that surrounded it.  They need to clean up the Copland, because it's such a well-known piece.  Cool drum feature.

GOLD

Repertoire:  "Reel to Real" -- Lights, Camera, Action all by S. Director (Brass section designer for the corps)

I like their uniforms.  They don't know where they come from, though, because they're listed as hailing from 3 different places in the same program.  The CG was pretending to take pictures of each other during the pre-show.  I was annoyed by the narration, because they didn't really need it.  Good sound.  Go, Tenors!  The gold horns work well with the Hollywood theme.  They applaud themselves politely at the end of the show.  Oh, I get it!  The ticking sound I'm hearing is the sound of a film reel on the projector!

VELVET KNIGHTS

Repertoire:  "Play Ball!" -- The Final Game (from A League of Their Own) by H. Zimmer, The Final Game (from The Natural) by R. Newman, Drum Feature by J. Iraheta and A. Mendoza, Take Me Out to the Ballgame by J. Norworth, Training Playoffs (from A League of Their Own) by H. Zimmer

I like the baseball uniforms, and they still get to wear their Converse sneakers.  The DM salute starts with a pitch -- that's cool.  I like the flags with the baseball stitching.  Cool percussion feature with CG giving coaching signals, and the drummers handed baseballs to the CG.  This is what happens when you let baseball players do contemporary dance.  We were told to stand up and sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game, which pretty much guarantees a standing ovation when done at the end.  However, I see that this was not the last song listed in the program, so maybe they're not yet done with the show.

INTERMISSION INCOGNITO

PACIFIC CREST

Fruit Stripe Gum Flag Toss

This will now be called "Be-bop It!" thanks to V, because it reminds us of that game where you have to push, pull, twist and turn.  Great sound!  Oh, so the twisting of the flag around the pole is actually on purpose.  OK.  And now my ears hurt.  In a good way.  Jeff and Rudy were very impressed with the improvement of the corps.  I have really grown to like the music since I heard it in the previous night's encore.  

MANDARINS

CG was much better tonight, but they really need to work on their unison.  Nice section solos, especially by the contras.  Their flags are definitely practice flags, because the poles are old and banged up.  I hope that they have their new flags when we see them later this week.  Then maybe I can take pictures of them.

ACADEMY

Soprano Soloist at start

So the announcer is doing the Airgram thing, and one of them says, "To the Academy Contras:  Tuba or Not Tuba.  That is the question."  He said it, like, 3 times, then said that we not only get drum corps here, we also get Shakespeare.  The CG pants are too shiny for me.  I really like the color of the drums.  BTW, Josh Duhamel's younger self is still playing the marimba for The Academy.  I now understand those green flags during the percussion feature:  they're repeat signs!  This is such a kickass show.  Rudy was so amazed that all he could say was "Ridiculous."  He later said that he was blown away by the music.  Jeff was digging the uniforms.

!!!! Flag Toss

SCV

SCV Start

Awesome SCV Drums

Marimbas were kicking BUTT!  This is now my favorite show for this year.  I really like those green drums.  So that mello player that was dancing with the CG -- does he actually play the horn, too?  Did the Vanguard yell and Bro did it, too, along with some other people in another section.  Maybe there will be more than 10 of us by Finals night.  ;)

PHREGIMENT

Double Purple Flags

Juliet is Alive at the End...For Now

"SUTA!" from, like, 3 voices in the stands.  It's so different from Finals week.  I love this music, but why didn't I feel the same emotion that I did last night?  Strange.  The horns didn't feel as powerful tonight.  Rudy did not cry, so my prediction was wrong.  He also did not sing the Mozart Requiem after it was done, so my prediction was wrong about that, too.  I've lost my touch.  Anyway, Bro and I are predicting that on Finals night, Juliet is going to kill herself on the DM stand.  She'll probably use a saber.

BD

Soprano Soloist

I told Rudy that the 5 lines on the BD uniform signify the lines of a music staff.  He responded with "Every Good Boy Does Fine."  If you do not understand this, you probably never learned how to read music.  Didn't your mothers ever tell you not to throw the rifle in the house?  The people behind me do not like this show, nor did the lady like the fact that the horn line bowed at one point.  Bro and V have decided that the asterisks they are carrying are for a bunch of footnotes.  Hey -- foot (marching) and notes (music)!  Clearly, it's late as I type this and I've gone loony.  I didn't feel this show tonight, either.  Weird.  Jeff said, "This is supposed to be a competition, right?  It seemed like, with those poles in different spots, they'd be able to make their lines better."  He elaborated more on it later when the scores were given, saying that they got help from the poles.

House with Rifle Toss

For some reason, the encore was not so instant.

SCORES

All-Age

50.75 -- So Cal Dream

The announcer gave the name of the corps before the score, then gave some lame excuse.  Dude.  You have been doing this for many years, and you still can't get it right?!  AUGH!

Open Class

4) 48.25 -- City Sound

3) 59.55 -- VK

2) 66.15 -- Impulse

1) 69.00 -- Gold

World Class

6) 65.70 -- Mandarins

5) 66.85 -- PC

4) 72.30 -- Academy

3) 77.75 -- SCV

2) 77.85 -- Phregiment

1) 80.45 -- BD

ENCORE:  Blue Devils

They did their drumline warm-up, then the horns did the F-tuning.  Then they did a couple of songs from their show, during which the soprano trio did not need their microphone.  No special stuff added.  Lame.

So none of us really liked BD's show tonight, mostly due to the choice of music.  It's going to be interesting to see these corps go back to head-to-head battle with the other top 8 that played on Premiere night.  

Stairs Outta Hell, Into Home

Corps at the Crest

Mt. San Antonio College Hillmer Lodge Stadium

Walnut, CA

Saturday, July 2, 2011

I drove to Mt. SAC after church, and there was no parking left in the regular lot, except for one space that people were saving during their tailgating party, which annoyed everyone who arrived late.  I parked on the street at a meter before I realized that there were a few spaces in what used to be the VIP parking for the show.  Oh, well.  I put as many quarters I had available in the meter, which wasn't labeled for the times/days it was effective.  

When I got to the stadium, I saw a fire truck and an ambulance at one of the gates.  Uh-oh.  I didn't know if it was precautionary due to the heat, or if it was actually needed.  It turns out that someone from City Sound had fainted or whatever on the field, and according to my friends' reports, the gal went down with such a perfect line that many people thought that it was part of the show.  It was intermission, so I waited to get into the stadium while the throngs of people were leaving it.  In the throng, I saw Glenn and said hi.  He had a rifle in his hand (the color guard kind).  He waved to me and walked in the other direction.  Okayyyy....APPARENTLY, he was going back to his car to change his glasses.  So I called Bro to tell him that I had arrived, and I went to his seat and chatted a bit.  Glenn came back while I was still there and showed us a disco ball key chain that he had received from one of the souvie booths.  I told him that he could have used it when he saw "Mamma Mia".  It was getting near the end of intermission, so I went to the VIP courtesy area for the Pacific Crest donors, where I got snacks and some vitamin drink I had never seen before.  As I was leaving the area, I saw someone familiar.  He didn't seem to recognize me, so I didn't say anything.  Then I realized that he might have been Bro's friend, Kenji (he as in SCV during championship year 1999), but I was too shy to say anything.  Yeah, I know.  I DO get shy sometimes.  

I went to my seat, which had my seat neighbor's dishes on it until he moved them.  There were ants on the ground, so I guess they didn't want to put their stuff down there.  The seat to my right was still empty.  My seat was on the left 45-yard line, 21 rows up from the field.  I was pleased to hear the announcer's voice: my favorite West Coast DCI announcer and my drum major from the Tournament of Roses Honor Band, Ryan T was doing his thang.  Yay!  He likes to read stuff from the program after the corps plays.  

MANDARINS

Repertoire: "The Forty Thieves" -- Octobones and Spices, Perfumes, Toxins by PercaDu

I wonder what their real flags will look like, because these are clearly not them: too plain and too solid.  One of the color guard (CG) guys kept dropping his rifle and even almost tripped someone.  Dude, take off your glasses or get new ones!  I was going to hope for scimitars, but maybe they shouldn't risk the lives of the other people on the field if this dude keeps dropping everything.  I like the drum beat for the percussion feature, and they have a nice sound, especially in their ballad.

THE ACADEMY

Repertoire: "(RE)" -- REact: Little Fugue in G Minor by J.S. Bach; REverb: Lux Aurumque by E. Whitacre, Fly by L. Einaudi; REpeat: Lollapalooza by J. Adams

They have new uniforms, all black, more military-looking than before, but with tux tails.  Dude behind me said that they now actually look like an academy.  All I could think of was how fricking hot it must be for them to wear those in their hometown of Tempe, AZ.  They also look kinda scary, in an intimidating way, which is cool.  Awesome sop solo opening into the full corps opening number, which is outstanding.  I so, so love that The Academy focuses on their music more than anything.  Those !!!!! flags are cool.  It's like the flags are saying, "Look!  We have new uniforms!!!"  Very pretty wings used by the CG.  They don't need no stinkin' flag poles!  I wonder, though, if they have a lot of trouble with those in windy conditions.  Those green flags and the last ones they use would do a couple of Diamond Bar HS moms proud if they saw them.  I love those solo high-tosses!  Great show.

PACIFIC CREST

Repertoire:  "Push, Pull, Twist, Turn" -- Lauds (Praise High Day) by R. Nelson, Push by R. Smith, Adagietto (from Symphony No. 5) by G. Mahler, Pianos (from Serenade Schizophrenia) by D. Elfman, AirLink by J. Stamp

Their lines are driving me crazy in their not-straight-iness.  Those purple/pink/orange/yellow flags remind me of Fruit Stripe gum.  I like those huge white and gold flags, although I can't tell if the lead CG was having trouble with displaying hers at the end of her solo, or if the flag is supposed to stay wound around the pole at that point.  I like the hornline bodywork during the percussion feature, and I like the sound coming from the contras as they lead the last piece and go across the field in circle formation.  The dude behind me said that their drum feature was like Blue Devils.

The guy that had the seat next to me finally showed up.

PHREGIMENT

I love those purple and gold flags even more in person than I did in the theater.  Beautiful mello duet to open, which I don't remember from before.  Is this what they added?  Or was it "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet"?   I can't tell.  Dude on my right and I were rockin' out to the Mozart Requiem.  I like the hearbeat that plays when Juliet meets Romeo.  I also like seeing the Romeo corps dancing with the Juliets.  The contra intro to one of the pieces was awesome.  (I seem to be focusing a lot on the contras tonight).  I don't remember hearing much of the Prokofiev.  Ooh, Juliet is on the drum major stand at the end with Romeo's helmet!  Is she going to die up there, too, like the drum major in 2008?  I had goosebumps at the end of Elsa.  I'm sure they were musical goosebumps, because it was too warm for chilliness.

SCV

Those black flags remind me of Hell on Grand Cayman.  So, the CG play the demons?  Those drums are SICK, man.  I just wish that the horns were loud enough to match them.  I like all of the tension in the last piece, which is the basis of the show.  I could feel it leading to the Vanguard Yell that nobody did near me (I did, but not loudly, since I wasn't sure).  The cymbals' V and the Viper are at the end of the show -- love it.  Oh, I get it!  The guy keeps trying to get out of hell, but every time he gets close to the top of the stairs, the demons bring him back down.  I like this show, and am looking forward to seeing them develop it through the season.

BD

The big bass drum in the pit is sparkly.  Is it the reflection from the stadium lights?  I like to see BD much better in the night time, because their uniforms look much snazzier with the lights bouncing off of them.  I wasn't as annoyed with the CG unis in person as I was in the theater, but my theory is this:  if you put all of the CG together, they form a QR code with all of that black and white.  OMG, those horns!  Remember when a sop soloist didn't need a mic?  They probably need them with that hornline backing them up...but here's an idea:  use your natural dynamics and make the hornline play softer while the soloists play.  Just a suggestion, because the mic sound is kind of distracting.  The house at the end is kind of cool, although I don't like HUGE props on the field.  I also was annoyed by the recorded singing, even if it was Dionne Warwick and Chris Colfer.  I mean, if they were actually there, maybe I'd be happier.  SCV should use those stairs to get out of hell.

As I was looking around the stands, I saw that guy again and deduced that it was definitely Kenji, but did not yell his name as Bro instructed me to.  I told you that I was shy.  

ENCORE:  PACIFIC CREST

They did their show music, as well as their theme, "Ave Maria", which always warms my heart.  :)

Pacific Crest Encore

SCORES:

All-Age Corps

63.85 -- So Cal Dream

Open Class

4) 46.15 -- City Sound

3) 56.35 -- Velvet Knights

2) 65.3 -- Impulse

1) 67.0 -- Gold

World Class

6) 64.35 -- Mandarins

5) 65.6 -- Pacific Crest

4) 71.4 -- The Academy

3) 76.0 -- Phantom Regiment

2) 77.1 -- Santa Clara Vanguard

1) 78.55 -- Blue Devils

We went to the souvie stands and I bought a Juliet tour shirt from the Phregiment booth, and the lady that usually works the SCV booth was in there.  That was weird.  I also bought shorts and a zip pull from SCV.  Bro, Glenn, Glenn's friend Sam and I chatted for awhile with Tim and his friend Nicole.  It was a great night, and I'm glad that my car was still there for me after the show.  :)

Next up:  Western Corps Connection

Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down

Rockapella Cruise

Day 9 -- Miami 

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Liz was conscientious enough to order room service for breakfast last night after I had gone to sleep.  Thanks, Liz!  Do you see why I love my roomie so much?  :)

We docked in Miami and we sat around, waiting for our number (5) to be called.  They went from "1 through 3" to "6 and 7".   Hello, what happened to 4 and 5?  We went to Jenn's room to wait with her.  Still, our number was not called.  Jeff and Wendy called us on the phone to tell us where they were waiting, so we decided to join them.  As we walked down the hallway, we passed Sandra and Geo's room and said hi.  Sandra told us to come in, but I said that I didn't think George wanted us to do so.  So she came out into the hallway for a few minutes to chat.  She's so friendly!

Miami

We then went to Red Sail to wait with Jeff and Wendy for our numbers to be called.  Weird:  Wendy's favorite number is 5, which was Liz and my group number, and my favorite number is 19, which was Jeff and Wendy's number.  Our numbers got called at the same time, then we somehow got separated from each other because the elevator was full.  We ended up wandering the hallways to try to get to the correct exit.


Since we used luggage express, we only had to deal with our carry-ons until getting to our final destinations, which was very convenient and well worth the $20.00.  I got through customs very easily since I hadn't purchased much of anything.  As I looked around for Jeff and Wendy, I saw that Geo and Sandra were only a few feet behind us, which startled me.  


We got on the bus to the aiport, whereon the driver kept telling us not to leave anything on his bus.  I'm pretty sure that he threatened bodily harm or something like that.  We arrived at the airport, and Fred was outside, waiting for JT.  I asked him to sign my poster as he waited.  He told us that we could check in downstairs, but Security told us to go upstairs, which ended up being a very long walk.  We said goodbye to Jenn, since she had taken another airline.  After Jeff and Wendy checked their bags, we had a few hours to wait for our plane.  We were all tired and wobbly.  I kept trying to find an outlet to charge my phone, which I finally found not close to my friends because the one near us was broken.  I thought that I saw Tim at one of the gates and Liz confirmed it later when she saw Jeff and Fred over there, too.  We kindly left them alone, since they already had to deal with us for a whole week.  ;)


Our flight to Houston-Bush Int'l was a little turbulent due to rain.  We said bye to Liz, as she was flying to a different airport.  Jeff, Wendy and I had a very long wait in Houston because Continental had changed their flight schedule since the time that we had originally booked it, plus our plane was coming from New Orleans and was delayed.  I ate BBQ for dinner, because I figured, "Hey, I'm in Texas!"  


We finally arrived at Ontario a little bit before midnight, and were happy to see our luggage had made it, too (Yay--Luggage Express worked!).  The taxi driver had to use a bungee cord to keep our luggage with us because the natural gas engine took up a lot of trunk space.  We even had one of our big bags inside the car.  We arrived at Jeff & Wendy's place, and a dog that lives nearby kept poking around us as we unloaded the taxi, which agitated their own dogs.  I hugged Jeff and Wendy goodbye and drove home.


It was nice to be home, although, when did my house turn into a boat?!  I was still really woozy on non-moving surfaces for about a week after we got off of the Glory, but it gradually subsided.  I also regained my full eyesight and didn't have to use my reading glasses for about a month, but now I'm back to looking at computer and phone screens, and have to use them occasionally again...but nobody has to read a full menu to me yet.  ;)


What a great trip this was!  I had a fantastic time, and I hope that we get to do this again, maybe to Alaska or the Eastern Caribbean, or the Mediterranean.  That would be cooool.  


Thank you to Galaxsea Travel for organizing our trip.  Thank you to Carnival Cruise Lines for the fun adventures. Thank you to Rockapella for the great shows and for spending personal time with your adoring fans.  Thank you to the Pella Posse, for your friendship and our experience together is the reason that this trip will be so incredibly memorable.  I love you guys!  A special thanks goes to my roomie, Liz, who decided to be fancy with me and get a balcony room before it was fashionable.  I'm really, really happy that you joined me, my awesome friend.  And now I have proof that you do, indeed, exist!  :)

Pella Posse (minus Stacey) in Miami