I wanted to make sure that both boys could see my favorite corps (The Santa Clara Vanguard) play for their first real drum corps experience. So for this years vacation (aka hanging with the California family) I made sure that it happened during the big DCI West show. I can’t wait to see their reactions (or Zoe’s reaction since it’ll be her first show also). I’m going to make sure they get some nice souvenirs as well as an up close and personal view of the parking lot experience (watching the drumlines warmup)
For those who have no idea what Drum Corps is (go see a show!) here’s a parking lot video from the 2007 season (go SCV!!)
Also a quick shoutout to my good friend (and former Cascade) Tim who’s in SCV as well as Stephanie LaRue who’s also a fellow Cascade who made the change down to SCV. Good luck this year folks!
Well that’s it for now. Time to get my butt in gear and head out to California for the holiday weekend.
So I took some video of the parking lots tonight and uploaded it all to Youtube. I’ll be uploading some of the stuff up to my own personal space for those that want a copy of it in high quality.
Anyhow there’s 5 great Cascades videos and 5-6 SCV videos. Give them a watch and then let me know what you think. If I ever get my tapes back from Jimmy Fursman I’ll go ahead and post videos from last summer as well.
So I’m still on tour and things have been moving so quickly I’m not sure how I managed to type this into my phone and email it off to be published. My initial goals of taking lots of pictures and working on a few projects has been sidelined by an amazing lack of free time.
Enough complaining though. In the 4 weeks almost since I last posted the corps has changed massive swatches of the show and cleaned technical mistakes galore. It’s really starting to come together and our success score wise is starting to gain momentum. The way that everyone is more and more of a family unit now is great. I’ve made new friends and run into old friends on tour so far which is really what this activity is all about at the end of the day.
Well that’s enough of a post for now since I’m trying to finish watching the Stargate premieres sent to me by the always amazing Amanda (thank you and you still Rock!) in a much needed care package from home. Back to doing this crazy driving thing and maybe actually taking some pictures now and again.
Well the first week of Seattle Cascades All Days are in the can and in that time the kids have done about as much work as you can possibly cram into 8 days. While they’ve dealt with rainouts and injuries (as the picture illustrates) we’re all hungry for success this year. It always surprises me that everyone always seems to work harder today than they ever have before. Ah the magical infinite energy of youth lol.
So far I personally have driven from beautiful rustic Mt. Angel, (which is home to the best Octoberfest in the country) up to Seattle and back in one day while picking up the souvie truck and switching vans. Also have done quite a few hospital runs in addition to driving all over the place collecting last minute props and supplies to ready the corps for the big tour. Only 2 days remain before we start out on the road. Next stop will be a quick one two punch to the northern California cities of Stockton and San Jose. After that some relaxing fun in the sun in Ashland Oregon and then back to our home stomping ground of the Pacific Northwest.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the art of the show performed for a big audience since the interaction between members and the audience always seems to result in a massive upswing in the confidence and performance energy. Nothing sounds quite as sweet as the screams of happy corps fans (note: the unhappy screams are usually due to unforseen circumstances like earthquakes and the walking dead; The walking dead thankfully are a very rare occurence) Also looking forward to seeing how we’re going to stack up against the competition since we already know we’re winners, for some reason DCI likes to tell us whether or not we’re right about it ;)
My brain has been overwhelmed a bit with new ideas for designs and much photographic goodness. When I have a chance I’ll be putting up a wallpaper based on the drumline and maybe brassline shortly thereafter. Regardless of all of that it’s been great fun so far and I’m looking forward to writing more as internet time becomes available.
The MOMocrats extend a warm welcome to our special guest contributor, Michelle Obama, the woman we hope will be the next First Lady of the United States. A few days ago, I headed to Tallahassee with Jill Biden, my friend...
Well the first week of 
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