Under a Purple Colored Sky

 Rockapella in Santa Cruz

Travel Day and Sightseeing

Sunday and Monday, July 20-21, 2025

When my Facebook Friend Phil sends me a direct message, it's usually a Rockapella video that he's found somewhere which I've never seen.  This time, though, it was a video that had just been posted to Rockapella's website, announcing that they would be in Santa Cruz in a couple of weeks. WHAT?!!?  So I dropped everything I was doing and looked it up to see if it was for real.  Well, there they are on the venue's website!  And tickets were available in the front row!  So I did what I normally do for these announcements:  notify the PellaPosse.  I had lots of people to notify but it was such a last-minute thing on a Monday in the middle of summer, and we would need to drive up because flights would be hella expensive.  I also remembered that I had an engagement to attend the night before, so I would need to leave early on Monday morning, see the show, then turn right around to work the next day because I was already taking a lot of time off in July (see recent posts about drum corps).  As soon as I could get somebody to cover for me at work for concert day, I purchased my ticket front row center:  A 10.  Then I waited for the Posse to figure out if they would be joining me.

Bro thought about coming, but he decided against it, I think because he was already going to travel up north later in the week, and also because he had just come home from Europe.  He was going to keep me company anyway, but when he heard that someone else would be coming,  he felt OK about not going himself.  Aw, he was going to take care of me and keep me awake so that I wouldn't have to do that all by myself and fall asleep at the wheel.  KP said she would go.  Other friends forgot that Rockapella is supposed to be priority and that they had other things to do, but KP and I are always up for an adventure with each other, so she bought her ticket, and we waited for the day to come.  I had tons of stuff to do so I didn't have time to make goodies for the guys, which bummed me out because they were FINALLY coming to California, but I just couldn't risk being too tired to drive.  Then I realized that my plans for Sunday were for lunch, so I asked KP if she would be OK leaving a day early, and she was.  I didn't book a hotel until about a day before, but I got a good deal so it worked out.

So I went to my friend's 65th birthday party, which was very nice, and left a little bit early so I could get home.  I caught a little bit of traffic, so I got home a few minutes after KP arrived.  I waved to her roommate whom had just dropped off KP, and found KP with my dad and WonderPup.  I gave her "something geeky" from my trip to Japan, which was a little booklet with three lines on each page.  It was for writing haiku!  I mean, what better time to give her a haiku book than on a Rockapella Road Trip, right?  So you will be seeing a lot of haiku interspersed throughout these posts!   We were on the road shortly after I found the keys that were in my purse the whole time. 

Car keys went missing

but now we have hit the road

three hundred miles

Where is the grapevine?

between Santa Clarita

and hot Bakersfield

KP was a good passenger and kept me awake, not that I needed much motivation for that because ROCKAPELLA.  We stopped for gas in Lost Hills, and got dinner at the Arby's where they had spelled my brother's name in an insane way.  Yay, potato cakes!   

The potato cakes

are back forever Huzzah!

Bro said OMG

We got back on the road and I saw a sign for Dinosaur Park, but did not see anything resembling a dinosaur nearby, so I decided that they were invisible and not worth our time stopping to not see anything.  Also, it would be dark soon and then it would be even harder to see the invisible dinosaurs.  

Dinosaur park sign

but no dinosaurs in sight

lavender garden

When we got closer to the coast, I asked KP if she was seeing the same color of sky that I was: purple?  She said yes, it was purple, and we were pretty sure we weren't just sharing the same hallucination of being on a different planet.  Unfortunately, the photos she took make it look like the sky is more of a dark pink, but it was purple.  Like Deep Purple purple.  It was stunning.  It reminded me of my bestie's photos from her trip to Nigeria and the purple sunset.  

Rockapella songs

Sherry and I sing along

and watch the sunset

beautiful sky

it looked pink in photos

but it was purple

Actually more purple than this

It was quite dark by the time we got to the Four Points Sheraton in Scotts Valley.  SCOTT!  No, not in the hotel.  After almost getting hit by someone trying to park in front of the registration  walkway, I found their underground parking area and we parked there and registered.  We brought our stuff up to the room and started to relax, but then I realized that I had left my charger cord in my car.  KP wouldn't let me go by myself, so she graciously walked down with me while she was wearing her cute Cookie Monster jammy jams.  Thanks, KP!  I was happy to have a bed to sleep in to rest my back after the long drive.  Never mind that the people on our floor were a bit loud.  It didn't matter, as long as I didn't have to drive home in less than 12 hours.  I texted my friend June to tell her that I was in town to see Rockapella, and she bought tickets for the show!  I love spontaneous friends.  

View of our hotel lobby

The next morning, we got ready to go to breakfast.  KP came out of the bathroom and said, "I'm in love."  She really liked that shower!  It was huge.  It had a rain shower head as well as a hand held, and there were buttons that made sense to turn on whichever (or both), and it had a temperature gauge, and I sure didn't blame her for feeling that way.  I think it could have used a shelf, though, so I could put other stuff in there.  Maybe people were having too much sexy time in there to notice that.  Or maybe they were afraid it would get in the way of sexy time.  Perhaps I've written "sexy time" too much for someone who didn't get to do that on this trip.  

KP had Starbucks gift cards to use, so I located one up the street, which took me way too long to get there because Waze had me drive around a few blocks for some reason.  We almost went to the Wood Gift Shop because that's so us to just go to random places, but I decided against it.  I wondered if "Scarborough" was the one Simon & Garfunkle sing about, you know, the fair.  Although KP laments that her students haven't figured out that she doesn't actually go to Starbucks, I'm happy because I get to reap the benefits for free breakfast.  

what's a wood gift shop?

Scarborough, JT Two Doors

Scott's Valley Starbucks

Afterward, we went to a market that was in the same area, and they had some meat grilling on a big smoke grill thing.  It smelled yummy.

Mmm... Meat!

I love quaint markets in other places!  They always have interesting things that I don't see in my area, like baby watermelons and different ice cream.  I wanted to try this one, but they didn't have any smaller containers.  

Do otters enjoy Snickerdoodles?

KP found "Mary's Gone Crackers" and giggled so much about it that she bought a box for our nutritional snacks.  Oh, we had plenty of snacks, just not the healthy kind.  We tried them later and although they weren't the best tasting, they were tasty enough that we started to crave them later.  Darn those nutrients.  We also bought greeting cards for the guys because they were pretty.

Mary's gone crackers

purple cards for all five guys

but who is singing?

We went back to the hotel to relax, write out our cards, and change into the clothes we would be wearing for the concert.  We knew that John would be subbing for someone, but weren't sure who.  I got confirmation that it was Manny, which is good because KP had already written for Cal by that time.  Unfortunately, the hotel didn't allow for us to check out late because of whatever the lady saw in her "departures" list.  Shouldn't you be looking at the "arrivals"?  Or maybe she was looking at both.  I don't know.  The hotel was beautiful, by the way, and had we more time, I probably would have lounged outside while reading a book.  But no, we needed to check out at noon, which is pretty decent for checkout time.

We were thinking of just hanging out at a mall and seeing a movie so as not to get too sweaty before the show, but KP also wanted to see the ocean, so I said we should just go to the Boardwalk and do the touristy thing.  The drive is much prettier in the daytime!  I changed into my flip flops because I wanted to be on the beach for just a few moments.  We were hungry again, so I we shared a meal so that I could have a corn dog and KP could have my fries.  We also got souvenir cups because we're touristy.

Eating a corn dog at the beach

Showing off my new cup at the beach

We walked to the arcade, and I would have played video games, but the lowest amount you could put on a players card was $20 and I didn't want to pay that much.  So I got a pressed penny of a carousel horse instead.  $0.51 souvenir is good for me!  

Cup and Penny

We had seen the funnel cake booth when we arrived, so we shared one of those.  

KP the Deliverer of Funnel Gooodness

I contemplated getting a henna tattoo because the cheapest one was only $5, but didn't want to wait to get it.  It was just a really nice day to sit by the beach, so I'm glad that KP mentioned it. At one point, I got sand in my eye, and tried to wink it out of there.  This is what I look like when I wink in my selfies.

Sexy, right?
I may have had a little bit of sugar.

We drove around to get gas so I wouldn't have to find it after the show, and drove to Natural Bridges State Beach, where we didn't see any bridges, but we did see a LOT of birds, including a couple that were having their own brand of sexy time near us.  I do not have photos of that.  Anyway, it was a bit windy there, as you can see from my hair.  

Birds On A Rock

We weren't very far from the venue, so we found a nearby Starbucks to rest and use up the remainder of KP's gift cards.  They're so fancy there with their plates and in-house cups!  They also had these at the one near our hotel.  Is it always like this everywhere inside?  I'm so used to getting drive-thru or pickup that I haven't sat inside a Starbucks in quite a while.  As we were sipping our iced tea, we saw that people were beginning to congregate outside.  Oh, yay!  A protest!  It was a relatively small one, but by the time we left, I was heartened to see about 20 people there, including a kid that looked to be the age of a pre-teen at the most.  I love seeing parents teaching their kids good civil rights.  I made sure to thank them for their actions before we left.

Let's go to the show!

Next up:  Rockapella on a Shakespearean Stage

I Like The Shimmery Everything

 Corps at the Crest 

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Rose Bowl

Pasadena, CA

Dodie and Glenn met at my house so we could carpool to the Rose Bowl.  I followed directions today and drove past our usual parking lot entrance because the guy told us to keep going.  So we still ended up in lot K, but closer to the golf course...but not that much closer than we usually park, which didn't matter because we get there early enough not to have to walk very far anyway.  We got in a long line, and we were told that they were opening up Gate F, so we could go farther to a shorter line, or stay in the long line.  We opted for the former.  Dodie couldn't get through security because she had a Hydro Flask and they only allow empty plastic bottles, or sealed plastic bottles of water.  Glenn pointed out the family in front of me put the mom's not-clear backpack into the dad's clear backpack and thought they would be fine.  The bag did get manually searched, unlike my only-clear bag, which was fine because I told myself not to bring my camera or anything else they would scrutinize.  Don't tell me I don't learn from the past.  So Dodie needed to go check her flask in with the other bags to be checked (not checked for security, but like a coat check where you don't get it back until you leave).  You know what they had for us when we got into the gate?  QR codes for programs.  What a freaking concept.  I, of course, thought it was just an ad for something and promptly put in my bag without looking at it and didn't realize it had the performance order and the QR code for the program.  Glenn showed me later when we sat down, and then I never took my own out of the bag and just consulted him the rest of the night.  I mean, he was looking at it anyway, so thanks, Double N!

So Glenn and I shopped, and I bought a teal Pacific Crest bucket hat that I had seen in their online store.  I contemplated getting the Sweeney Todd shirt for Gold, and the lady at the booth took off her sunglasses to reveal a nasty bruise around her eye, taking up a quarter of her face.  She told us what happened and we wished her well.  Glenn saw that Blue Knights had a new tech polo shirt, but they didn't have his size.  So I asked about it, and they said they had some in the trailer, and they could go get it later.  He said he would come back after the show and they said they'd have it by then.  We found Dodie and I went to the Boston booth to get a whale tank top from their 2023 show.  The guy at the cashier said it was really hot but he was glad to be in California, as they hadn't been here for a really long time.  He wasn't talking about DCI Championships in 2007, but a time before that which I don't remember at all.  Maybe he meant him personally, and not the corps.  We also went to the Academy booth so that Dodie could get her A-CAT-emy shirt, and I got a London Fog Latte shirt and a pretty pen, which I used for today's show notes.

We went to the entrance to our seats, and only the elevators were functioning, so no escalators this time.  We got our wristbands and were also told to go to the opposite side from which we are accustomed to sitting.  Our seats were in Section 104, row B, seats 5-7, on the right 30-yard line.  We got our food, which this time was cheeseburger sliders, mac and cheese, fried dumplings with chicken inside, and veggies standing in ranch dressing in a cute little shot-glass sized cup.   Everything was yummy, much better than last year.  

My plate.
I don't know why we have to pay for water.

When I got to the dessert later, they had cookies and brownies.  I stared for a while.  A man came up next to me and said that the brownies looked really complicated.  I agreed, as they kind of looked like cake with a bunch of stuff on top.  So I opted for 2 different kinds of cookies instead.  

The Star-Spangled Banner was sung live by soprano vocalist Brianna.  She can still sing that high note!  Thanks for a beautiful rendition again, Brianna!  I listened to it while I was still inside, having just picked up my cookies.

Hi, Ryan Turner!  Good to hear your voice announcing the show!

FREELANCERS

Repertoire:  "The Magic of the Moment" -- Give It One  by M. Ferguson; Believe in You  by A. Marshall; Momento Magico by (not listed in program)

This year's show was a tribute to the 2002 Freelancers mini-corps, so you'd think I'd be able to look up the composer of the last song that way, but no.  They didn't play any of these songs that year.  Or at least I don't think so.  I guess the tribute was that they were playing on G bugles, which was cool.

Nice that they have chairs to sit on.

Then this blue helicopter hovered over the Rose Bowl for several minutes.  I wondered if someone from the BD organization was in it.  They didn't do anything but hover for a while and it was weird because it didn't look like any of our law enforcement choppers.  I mean, you could be less intrusive and just use a drone, buddy.

BLUE DEVILS C

I like seeing them do what the big corps do.  It's kind of difficult to describe, but they do look like mini BD.  Good job on the "As Time Goes By" duet!  

Casablanca Fans

GOLDEN EMPIRE

Music was better today.  I like that contra feature, as well as the bass drums.

Love these colors

Basses!

Full Corps

IMPULSE

Oh!  We're supposed to look up to see dragons!  This is the 3rd time I've watched the show, and I just got that because Dodie told me they were doing music from "How To Train Your Dragon".  I'm a little slow.  So the rockers are the viking ships?  Or are we in the clouds?  They caught the frisbee!  Yay!  The show needs more dragons, though.  Maybe then I would have gotten the theme quicker without reading, you know, a PROGRAM.  I'm not bitter.  Dodie was excited to see the show again, but was disappointed when two guys sat in front of us because she had to kind of contort herself to get unobscured pictures.  Then they left!  So they were there just for that corps, and to annoy her.  UGH.

Looking Up

Yellow Rifles

BLUE DEVILS B

They did a different song for their sound check, and didn't need extra time to fix their electronics.  Six is a lot of cymbals, right?  Toss the rifle really high, catch it, then let it drop to between your legs so that you can catch it with your lower leg.  Fancy.  Dance Break!  Dude behind us said they sounded better today. I agree.

Showing off the Zoom on my camera

GOLD

Oh, there is another side to those big screens with different pictures.  I didn't notice the other couple of times.  The other screens were of a pie shop and an attic room.  They need to clean up their music as it is still muddy.

S:  I like this show.  People die and stuff.

Pie Shop Screens

Straight Razor Dancing  

People Dying

Sweeney

Pie Filling

<Intermission>

I ate more mac and chees and veggies.  The offerings at the bar were boring, so I didn't get any kind of cocktail this time.

CASCADES

They still didn't use the colors on their props,  I didn't think it was that windy, but I don't know what it's like at field level.  Their music was much better, and they had very nice solos.  Glenn pointed out that the guy on the cymbal rack on the left side was really getting into it during "Love Song" and his hair was bouncing.  Cute!

ACADEMY

Very nice euphonium (baritone?) / mello duet.  Great percussion feature with front ensemble and battery.  Nice reacton from the crowd when the umbrellas opened up.  At the end of the show, the flags and the uniform change magically turn the fog to a clear sunrise.

Fog is coming in

I love double flags

Duet

BLUE KNIGHTS

Hmmm... I don't remember any talking during this show before.  Maybe I heard the drips yesterday?  Their music was a little muddy today, but the oboe solo was really pretty.  Dodie doesn't understand why they would use so much of that color.  I will not tell you what she said it looked like, but the description was not flattering.

Drip

Pretty Blue Flags

MANDARINS

G:  I like the shimmery drums.

S:  I like the shimmery everything.

Great music tonight!  Hey!  Did that thing light up before?  I don't remember seeing that (when one of the props is vertical and the soloist pops up).

Shimmery Everything

Shimmery Drums

See the person hanging from the pole?

Is that lit up?

PACIFIC CREST

Even though I prefer the live announcer, I do like that a woman starts to introduce the corps, and it ends up with a demonic voice saying "PACIFIC CREST".  There's an apple in the tree now.  Oh, they have two cross formations.  Um, but they didn't have crosses in Eden, did they?  Is this a Paradise Lost thing that I don't know about, because I didn't read it?  They're beating up those snakes.  The more I see this show, the more I like it!  Great show, PC!  I like that drill!  

Eek!  There's also a snake now.

Mellophone Soloist

Half Star

Logo

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD

Wow.  That's a drum corps!  I was on the edge of my seat trying to capture all of the drill formations and the musical riffs.  The horns, the spinning, the drums, the corps-reography, everything!  Wow, that front ensemble -- the marimbas!  I was overwhelmed.  I loved hearing the crowd "ooh" and "aah" and "whoa" at the quiet moments as well as the big ones.  

I love the absence of big props

We'll just build our own prop right here

Guys, help me get these things off my arms!

V

Ah, that feels so much better!

Company Front

Ending formation

BOSTON CRUSADERS

They spelled "BOOM"!  I love those rifles.  OK, let's throw them over the drum line, then!  The twirlers were juggling 3 batons.  I love the dynamic contrasts in the horns.  The guys in front of us were taken aback many times.  At one point a lady in back of us just yelled, "WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!"  We laughed, as there is just so much to see and hear and it's all just crazy good.  The guy hit the huge bass drum with a huge mallet toward the end.

D:  Oh!  It exploded!  

Contra Front

Contra Butts

Look up!  Are there dragons?

I just like this formation.

BLUE DEVILS

I know this isn't the same violinist from their "Ghostlight" show, but they sure know how to find them.  Go, Guard!  Glenn said that the drum major was the one playing the soprano sax solo.  I really love their rendition of "Uninvited".  

Show Start

Google Photos made this for me.

Encore
Pacific Crest played the Shostakovich piece from their show, as well as their corps song, "Ave Maria".

I don't know why the color guard turned around to face the crowd after the Ave Maria.  Were they trying to tell us to clap?  Or they just wanted to make sure we were seeing their faces and not just their backs?  Because the drummers didn't turn around like that.  

SCORES

Open Class

5) 56.90 -- Blue Devils C

4) 63.40 -- Golden Empire

3) 65.05 -- Impulse

2) 68.20 -- Gold

1) 73.45 -- Blue Devils B

World Class

8) 69.25 -- Cascades

7) 73.25 -- Academy

6) 74.55 -- Pacific Crest

5) 78.05 -- Blue Knights

4) 81.05 -- Mandarins

3) 85.00 -- Santa Clara Vanguard

2) 85.25 -- Blue Devils B

1) 86.75 -- Boston Crusaders

Congrats, Boston!!  I'm so glad that they came out to California this year so that my friends could see them.  

Since Glenn needed to go back to the Blue Knights booth, I decided to buy the Gold shirt while I waited.  It's the straight razor!  By the time I went to the Blue Knights booth, the guy still needed to get Glenn's shirt.  As we waited for him, I bought some stickers.  The guy was going to give them to me for free as a thank you for waiting, but I told him that I couldn't take money from the corps.  We both said our thank yous in Tagalog and after Glenn finally bought his shirt, we went to the car.  We sat there for a while because traffic was at a stand still.  One driver tried to back out of his space even though the cars had moved maybe one foot, and then got so mad at the other driver for not letting him in that he parked his car, got out of the car, and stormed over to the other car to yell at the driver.  Dude, calm down.  We just saw a cool show and Boston was so good.  You don't need to ruin the evening with your impatience.  I just wanted to get away from that mess, so I was glad that the cars parked behind me had left so I could back up and go to another exit.  

So that's it for the So Cal drum corps shows for me this year.  My next posts about drum corps will be from back East.  Until then, I'll probably have "Uninvited" in my head at least once a day.