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August 12, 2007
Blue Devils Win the 2007 DCI World Championships
In a very tight race all week, the Blue Devils stretched out a convincing win over The Cadets for the title of 2007 DCI World Champion. Backed by a strong percussion section, the Blue Devil's "Winged Victory" became a favorite with the crowd.
Congrats to the Top 12 and to all the groups involved in this year's Championship Week in Pasadena, California. Here are the DCI World Championships 2007 Finals placements and scores:
- Blue Devils - 98.000
- Cadets - 97.025
- Cavaliers - 96.350
- Phantom Regiment - 94.850
- Santa Clara Vanguard - 94.175
- Carolina Crown - 94.150
- Bluecoats - 94.050
- Blue Knights - 90.275
- Boston Crusaders - 89.100
- Colts - 86.150
- Glassmen - 85.750
- Spirit from JSU - 84.500
* The Fred Sanford Drum Trophy went to the Blue Devils as well.
Posted by Ryan on 01:24 AM
August 09, 2007
DCI QuarterFinals TONIGHT!
The DCI QuarterFinals are already here! They start tonight at 7 PM ET out in Pasadena, CA. If you aren't in California already, your chances of seeing QuarterFinals would normally be slim to none. BUT, you might want to check out the DCI.org site as they have over 100+ movie theaters across the country that are showing the event LIVE via satellite. Cost is $15 for students and $18 for adults; that gets you a seat in an air conditioned theater and the Top 17 drum corps which equates to four hours of fun. Or to put it another way, about a $1 / a corp. Not bad.....see you there!
Posted by Ryan on 04:50 PM
DCI Broken Arrow Review
Broken Arrow was the site for a great lineup of corps on July 30th and DrumlineBlog.com was there to take it all in. While normally the end of July hits 100+ temperatures, up to this point Broken Arrow hasn't seen a day of triple digit temperatures all Summer and this day is no different. Low 90s and some storms that stayed just out of range, but cooled things off, provided a decent venue for the show hosted at the home of the 2006 BOA Grand National Champions - Broken Arrow High School. This is a great show for me, because it is quite literally in my backyard.
As I've said before, my drum corp experiences usually do not involve setting up a camera during "8 on a Hand" and sitting there for an hour. True, it might make for some good video, but it's not how it usually takes place for me. Drum corp shows for me are more like a "reunion" of sorts. So while we do have some video, hopefully the story of my night running around and who I talked to will be just as interesting. So without further ado...
So I arrive at the high school around 6 PM....just about the time the Colts are pulling into the parking lot so I take a seat on the curb by the Colts equipment truck and watch them unload. I sit there mainly because the only other corp there at that time was Phantom Regiment and they had been staying there - the rest of the parking lot was empty. As I was sitting there, an old friend named Mike Brandes strolled up to say hi. He marched on the Colts snareline in 98 and 99. That 1999 Colts drumline was probably one of the best they ever had there; go back and check out some scores from that year. They beat a lot of drumlines that Summer.
About that time, Southwind and Blue Stars had pulled in and were unloading their trucks. So we decided to go check out Southwind and see this much improved drumline. We were joined by another Colts snare player named Travis that marched 98 and 2000. We watched the snares warm up in a sub sectional for about 15 minutes and then saw the Colts take off for a remote spot. We decided to follow and found them set up on the other side of an adjoining elementary school.
Standing there in the elementary school parking lot, we watched Tyler Dempsey and crew run the drumline through their warm up routine which started off a little raw, but soon locked in. By that time we had ANOTHER Colts snare player from 2006 walk up to see how the group was playing. Why so many Colts alumni? Well, Oklahoma has had a strong tie with the Colts over the years starting back in 1995 with a tenor player from Ponca City, OK. Since then, there has been an Oklahoma kid on the drumline/front ensemble every year since that 95 season. This year is no exception as Bass 3 is from the Edmond/OKC area and attends OU.
I'm sure other states have the same thing going, but you have to remember that until Memphis Sound came onto the scene the closest drum corp to Oklahoma was a 12 hour drive. I think that says a lot about dedication.
After talking to the cymbal tech for a few minutes I realized that the Colts tenor tech was none other than Mike Apodaca who marched on the Santa Clara Vanguard Tenorline from 1991-1993. I caught up with him after the Colts warm-up and talked to him about the old days, seeing SCV in 91 (my first live drum corps experience), his involvement with the Colts, and what else he is up to.
While the other guys decided to go into the stadium, I decided to look around for other drumlines. At that point, Spirit of JSU was just getting started, Boston Crusaders were cranking drums, and Phantom wasn't going just yet...so I decided to walk up to the stadium gate and check out Colts from the corner.
Remember how I said it was like a reunion? Funny how you run into people at these shows and I just happened to run into some staff members of another corp that I knew (and that shall remain nameless). We talked for a few minutes and they asked if I was going in to see the Colts. I said, "Nah, I don't have a ticket so I'm just gonna listen out here for a few minutes". "Nonsense" said one of the staff members and they handed me an extra staff badge! Whoo, staff member! So I walked right in with them and went up by the press box to check out Colts. It was a solid show that is getting stronger and stronger, and still has some room to push further. I expect to see them in the 8-12 range come DCI Finals Saturday night.
After the Colts performance, I headed back to the lot to see if Phantom Regiment was going and by that point, they were just about ready to get to the drum book. I ran into two of the drum guys from Union High School (Tulsa, OK) and we talked for a few minutes before PR started playing the book.
I was anxious to see them in person after checking out other people's videos on YouTube. Let me just say, they are unreal! Everything, I mean everything has such a high level in the quality of sound department that it is just sick. No slurred phrases at the end of rolls, no fat shots even on level 15 stick heights, just an amazing sense of control. If you are in California this week and can get to the lot in Pasadena, go see them play. It is a treat to see that high of a level of not only ability, but musical maturity.
When Phantom had finished, I started towards Boston Crusaders, but as I got up there, THEY FINISHED TOO! Not five minutes after Phantom! What happened? 
Turns out Phantom went a little late and Boston was finishing about the time they needed to make it to the gate on time. So unfortunately no video, but their snare tuning sounded great. I got a close look during the tuning session earlier, and from about 20 yards out, they sounded fantastic. Take a look at Vic Firth's DCI 2007 coverage for some great video of Boston.
The last group to go on this night was Madison Scouts. Yes, for the third time this season, I got to see the much-talked-about Scouts program. After watching Phantom Regiment, there is a noticeable difference between the two groups. They are getting better, but after seeing 5 of the Top 6 corps this season (based on latest aggregate scores), they are not up to the level of those groups. Again, not the end of the world, but for all the people saying they can't understand why they aren't getting the points....well, it's because of the playing level of these other groups. I'm not worried about the Scouts, they will bounce back and almost every group has had a dip at some point in their history.
After Scouts, I hung around the trucks looking for staff members from "that corp" that let me borrow the staff badge. I needed to give it back to them before they left, but no one was around the trucks so I headed to the stadium to check out Madison Scouts. I hung around inside the fence from the 5 yard line with Paul Rennick and Boston staff such as Jerry Carpenter talking about "reads" of their respective shows right next to me.
After the Scouts finished their show, I had a sinking feeling in my gut. For some reason I imagined "that corp"'s buses pulling out of the back lot early with me still holding on to that badge! So I headed back at a quick pace and as I turned the corner, sure enough, their buses were pulling out of the parking lot!!! At this point, my brisk pace turned into an all out run to try and catch the staff bus before hitting the main road out of the school. They were a good 500 yards away when I started to run and fortunately for me, they were slowed down by the numerous speed bumps (for once, a useful device in this circumstance). I was able to knock on the window and hand off the badge before being "blacklisted" from the staff for future favors. Whew! I was lucky this time.
After a long evening of a lot of walking and seeing familiar faces, I headed back for THE shortest drive home of the season....12 blocks.
Posted by Ryan on 02:28 AM
