West Chester, PA (93.800)

What a day... We had a fantastic rehearsal and a spectacular performance tonight. This morning we were completely on fire. The staff told us that we were rehearsing phenomenally and it was very easy to feel what they were talking about. The school that we stayed at was somewhere in New Jersey about 90 minutes from West Chester. It had 3 great turf fields for us to rehearse on and we got a lot acomplished!

We performed 3rd to last tonight behind the Blue Devils and the Cadets. We beat the Cadets again and we are closing the gap between us and the Blue Devils! We only finished 1.05 behind them tonight! It feels great to climb towards the top and to get cleaner :)

We are rehearsing in Allentown tomorrow at a middle school right next to the stadium. We have to finish rehearsing early tomorrow because the school is so close to the show. Instead, we are going to do laundry and/or go watch night 1 of the regional. (We dont perform until Saturday evening)

One week from today is Quarterfinals...

Off to bed!
Later days,
Patrick

Warrenton, VA (93.400)

Today was a pretty short day. The staff realized that we were tired and they let us sleep in until 10am! Once we got out to rehearsal, there was tons of overcast and not much sun. The field was really rough, but we pushed through. For some reason there were hundreds of people visiting our rehearsal and an NBC news crew that did a news segment on us. The school was in West Virginia and was called Mussellman Middle School... So if you live in that area, look out for it on TV or try and check it out on the internet! We ended up finishing rehearsal early today because of rain. (Carolina Cloud strikes again...)

Tonight's show was kind of wierd. Most everyone in the music ensemble felt like we had a bad show... but the staff was pleased with our performance and our score went up. I think it just felt that way because the stadium was small and there wasnt much crowd reaction. Ive done that show 3 times and I can remember it being like that every time...

We played America the Beautiful with the Blue Knights tonight and we beat the Cadets again! Now we are only 1.45 behind the Blue Devils for 1st place... Anything can happen in the 9 days that we have left...

Off to bed...
Later days,
Patrick

Salem, VA (93.250)

Today was a very interesting day. The rehearsal was pretty grueling... It was hot and humid the entire day. The field that we rehearsed on was practically dirt and sand. Also, we stayed at a church that was across the street from the school that we rehearsed at. It was a pretty long walk to the fields and almost everyone was late to rehearsal. By the end, everyone was tired, sweaty, and dirty.

Historically, Salem has been my favorite show of the year. Every year, there is a dog show that goes on while the drum corps show is there. It is great fun to see all of the dogs!

This year, the show definitely lived up to its expectations! I had an amazing show... I would even go as far as to say that it was 'magical'... Apparently everyone else had a great show too. I was very glad that most of the things that we had worked on since our last show had improved too. It feels great to finally get more credit for our hard work.

Tomorrow we are in Warrenton, VA... Hopefully it wont be as hot as today...
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. - 10 days left as of midnight...

Back to Basics (Ft. Mill, SC)

With only 12 days left this season, we ended up at one of the high schools that we had winter camps at (Ft. Mill High School). It felt very weird being there again... The last time I was there, the back of my legs got so sunburnt that I could barely walk for a week. In fact, I think that it was probably more hot when we were last there at April Camp than it was today... It was still pretty hot today though!

We had 3 blocks today: 5, 4, and 3 hours respectively. During our evening block, a group of high school band students from the school came to watch a portion of our rehearsal after their band camp. Also, at about 9:30, it started storming so we had to go inside. Once we were inside, it started raining sideways! I was very glad that we made it in... Since I am on food truck cleanup crew, I had to clean up the truck in the rain... but it wasnt a big deal... I really love my tour job (even in the rain!)

We are in Salem, VA tomorow... Im going to try and catch some sleep before we get there...
Later days,
Patrick

Charlotte, NC (92.350)

Today was a pretty interesting day. We woke up and bussed over to the stadium that the NightBEAT show was going to be at so we could rehearse. We had a 5 hour block with production runs and then we rehearsed our encore performance with a small group of marching band students that had attended a Crown Brass Workshop.

After the rehearsal, we had the privilege to meet some of the VIP members of the Crown organization. It was a great experience because we got to meet the people who made this summer possible for us. Also, there was a professional massage therapist and a chiropractor available for us today. It was really cool...

I didnt think that the show tonight was that great... There were some issues at times, and the staff didnt seem too pleased. Our score went down.. but so did everyone elses'... I think we are around 1.6 points below 1st place right now...

Tomorrow we have a really long rehearsal day... 5 hours in the morning, 4 hours in the afternoon, and 3 hours in the evening. I am sure that we will get much better...

I am going to try and sleep... Im extremely tired...
Later days,
Patrick

Atlanta, GA (92.625)

Well, we ended up in 4th tonight overall... but we got 2nd in brass! Again, we only lost by .1 to the Blue Devils! (18.7)

It was really cool warming up in the parking lot today because we warmed up next to the Cavaliers, Bluecoats, Cadets and Phantom. As we warmed up, each one of the other corps began to leave until we were the only ones left. I think its finally starting to sink in for me that Crown is one of the 'big boys' this year...

I felt like we had a great show...there were some small things going on that were dome-related, but it felt really good. The opener was great today...

We played America the Beautiful with the Blue Devils tonight... That was pretty cool...

Tomorrow we are at NightBEAT. Hopefully it wont rain out like FirstBEAT did... Its a home crowd, so im sure they will love us! I am really excited...

Off to sleep...
Later days,
Patrick

Regional Day! (Atlanta, GA)

Well, we are on our way to the Georgia Dome for our regional... and it is raining again! Lucky for us, the show is indoors... This definitely brings back memories of 2006 when there was a torrental downpour at this show... I will be interested to see how the weather holds out for us...

Our rehearsal went very well today. There was overcast for most of the day and it was extremely humid. There were times during ensemble where I literally had to wring out my white cotton gloves because they were drenched in sweat...

I feel really confident coming into the show tonight. We fielded our new closer last night and we have made some other noticable changes to the show... Hopefully the crowd will love us tonight and we can climb further into box 5! We ended up with a 18.3 in brass last night, only second to the Phantom Regiment by .1! It would be awesome to win brass tonight!

Ill post details about the show later tonight! We will be playing America the Beautiful with the Blue Devils...

Later days,
Patrick

P.S. - We are back in the Eastern Time Zone.

Murfeesboro, TN (92.625)

We were in Murfeesboro today. This morning we slept in a gym that seemed like a refrigerator... It was freezing! We woke up to some cloudy weather and it ended up raining on us for a good part of the morning. We went inside and worked on some of our dance technique for an hour or so and then finished up the morning outside in the rain. After lunch, the clouds went away and it got pretty sunny and humid... We didnt do a run through today... we did production runs instead. That was probably smart because everyone was still tired from the past two days at the Liberty Bowl.

The show was pretty good tonight... There were some minor issues in the opener and a few individuals stuck out elsewhere... But it was still pretty good. We ended up taking 4th, but we are also less than 2 points away from first place. I havent seen the recap yet, but the word is that we got 2nd in brass and are only .1 behind 1st place! We have a great shot at winning brass this year!

I got to see some family and friends today and that was really exciting!

Tomorrow we have our Atlanta, GA regional. We are scheduled to perform at 10:07pm EST Saturday evening. Im not sure whether the show will be on the DCI fan network or not, but you could always check it out and see (if you are a dci fan network subscriber)!

We have another big day tomorrow... I need lots of sleep... I am still really tired...
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. - 2 weeks from tomorrow (Saturday) is finals! 14 days left...

Memphis, TN Stadium Day Pt. 2 (16 Days)

Another long day. We rehearsed all day in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis getting ready for our 3 consecutive big shows (Murfeesboro, Atlanta, NightBEAT)... The stadium was right next to both a train station and a airport so we had planes flying over us and train whistles going off all day long... For dinner tonight, they grilled out for us! We had chicken and it was spetacular!

With all of the modifications and cleaning that we did to the show, it should be interesting to see how things end up tomorrow! I am really excited to perform tomorrow because these past couple days have been so long and tiring...

We rehearse till 5pm tomorrow if you are planning on making it out to rehearsal.

Im completely exausted... We rehearsed from 8am-11pm again today...
Later days,
Patrick

Memphis, TN Stadium Day Pt. 1 (17 Days)

What a long day... We rolled in to the Liberty Bowl at 5 or so this morning and had to wait to get off of the busses until it stopped raining. When we finally got off, we had to take all our stuff into the elevator that took us to the 15 or so stories high to the press box suites that we are sleeping in. The one that I am staying in belongs to Hilton Hotels. It is really nice and has a great view of the stadium.

The Liberty Bowl is HUGE. We got tons done today. We worked our closer pretty much all day in the big stadium and we got so much better. We have a few surprises coming into Murfeesboro, so watch out for those if you are coming! Speaking of Murfeesboro, I heard a rumor that we are housing at Chapel Hill, TN (appx. 33 miles outside). Feel free to come and watch if you want. Ill be sure to let the schedule for that day be known as soon as I hear about it...

Off to bed... another long day tomorrow!
Later days,
Patrick

Hattiesburg, MS (90.400)

BOX 5 Brass! We broke into box 5 tonight with an 18.2 in brass! We beat both Phantom and the Blue Devils too... We came in 2nd overall behind the Blue Devils and we beat Phantom by a half point. We had a much better show than last night even though our score dropped 0.050. It just goes to show that the numbers that a judge puts down on paper doesn't necessarialy dictate the actual quality of the show...

Our day wasnt too bad. It started out real hot, but by the end of the day we had lots of wind and clouds. We ended rehearsal early again because we got through everything both quickly and efficiently. The staff seemed real pleased with how we were rehearsing and we had a good run through. I can feel myself being less tired at the end of our show than I used to be. I must be getting in better shape...

Tomorrow we are going to be in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN. We will be there 2 days rehearsing in the -massive- stadium and we should get lots better! Im excited to get lots of stadium time...

Off to bed,
Later days,
Patrick

Monroe, LA (90.400)

Today was hot! Our rehearsal site was in West Monroe, LA at a really nice high school. The school had a nice turf stadium field and then a smaller turf field that we got to rehearse on all day. Apparently the school won the national football championships in 1998 and 2000 and ESPN did a mini-series about them. That would explain the wonderful facilities.

The heat was pretty intense today and the turf made it even worse. We ended up doing a run through early to beat the heat... We got a lot cleaner today during rehearsal, but a lot of people were pretty zapped by the heat.

The show was at University of Lousiana Monroe and it went pretty well. We had a good performance tonight, there were just some small hairs out of place that need to be adjusted... We beat the Phantom Regiment tonight for the first time at a show that wasnt a regional. That felt really good!

We are headed to Hattiesburg, MS tonight for a show, and then we head to Memphis to rehearse in the Liberty Bowl for two days (Wed, Thurs). After that, we go to Murfeesboro for the Masters of the Summer Music Games show! I am not completely sure about the housing location, but I have heard that we are staying in Fayetteville. You can check the Carolina Crown website for more details on the housing location. (http://www.carolinacrown.org)

Off to bed...
Later days,
Patrick

San Antonio Free Day (20 Days)

We had a full free day today! We woke up and went to some laundry place to do laundry (again) and then we went to the Riverwalk/River Centre Mall. I immediately went to the AMC and secured tickets for the new Batman movie, Dark Knight. The movie was spectacular! (and very long)... I am so glad that I got the opportunity to watch it. I would definitely recommend watching it if you have seen the first one!

After the movie... I made my annual trip to the Alamo and got a footlong sub from Subway for dinner. It was great walking around town with the other corps because it was so easy to point out the people from other groups. Everyone either had a sock tanline, was wearing a corps necklace, or had a corps t-shirt... Most everyone there had seen our show last night and told us how much they loved it...

The movie took up most of my free time so I dont have much else to write about! We have a super long 500+ mile bus ride tonight to Monroe, LA... So I am going to try and get some sleep! I had a great time today...

Later days,
Patrick

P.S. - The countdown till finals is on!

San Antonio, TX (90.025)

We broke 90! Tonight was a great show... We got to perform last and we played America the Beautiful with the Cavaliers. It was really exciting being on the field when they announced SCV, Bluecoats, Cadets, Phantom Regiment and THEN us! Not to mention we are only .95 behind the Cavaliers right now!

It was really cool going last tonight because as we walked towards the Alamodome, there was complete silence. No other corps were warming up and it was just us and our fans. As we walked out of the airlock, we could all tell that everyone in the dome was sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what all the talk about the Creme Team from South Carolina was about. While we were performing, I felt like I was in a dream world... There were weird sounds bouncing around the stadium and it was very difficult to lock in at times.

I am perfectly content with taking the Bronze medal for now... We performed our hearts out and we got credit for what we did. We need to take these next 20 days and improve as much as we can! Anything can happen...

Tomorrow we have a San Antonio free day! I really hope that I get to see Dark Knight (Batman) at the IMax... It should be a good time.

Off to bed...
Later days,
Patrick

Performance Time (San Antonio)

We are scheduled to perform tonight at 10:24pm CST (thats 11:24 for all you EST people). Just wanted to make sure you knew in case you were going to tune in to the fan network! We are performing last and we do have encore...

Later days,
Patrick

Fire Ants! (San Antonio, TX)

Today was a really long day... We ended up rehearsing until 11:30pm CST! This morning's rehearsal field was covered in fire ant hills... I think I got bitten by at least 10 ants. We had a little tornadic/t-storm activity in the mid-afternoon that made us have to cut out of rehearsal early...

We had clouds most of the day today but they somehow always seemed to dodge the sun! I got a temperature reading at the hottest part of the day today... 106 degrees! It wasn't nearly as humid as Lafayette, LA... but it was definiely a scortcher!

Tomorrow is a big day for Carolina Crown. We have our DCI Southwestern Championships regional tomorrow! We dont perform until sometime past 10:30pm CST because we are the last corps to perform tomorrow evening. Also, we get to perform the encore! I am axnious to see how we handle tomorrow's performance because it will be our first time in an indoor facility. (not to mention there will be a jumbotron!) Tomorrow is also technically our first full regional. It will be the first time that all of the corps see each other head-to-head. I am interested to see how things turn out!

If you are interested and have a subscription to the DCI Fan Network, you can watch our show live as we perform via webcast! Be sure to check that out if you are able... We will likely be on around 11:30pm EST...

Well, I have a few things to do before lights out... Big day tomorrow!
Later days,
Patrick

Houston, TX (88.600)

We are finally in Texas! I always dread coming to Texas because of the weather, but I always end up enjoying it. Today was extremely hot, but somehow I didnt mind the heat. When we got to the school this morning, we had a long hike to the gym and we had to climb 2 flights of stairs to get there. Lucky for us, the school was really nice and we had great rehearsal facilities. Also, we had a production run ensemble again today instead of doing a full run through.

The show was in an awesome stadium somewhere in Houston and we performed second to last. We had a great hornline warmup and an even better show. Its pretty weird to think that my score tonight was higher than my finals score in 2006 and we still have 22 days left till finals! We have a great opportunity this year...

We got beat by the Cadets again tonight, but we are still in 3rd place going into the San Antonio regional. Hopefully we can show everyone who is boss on Saturday when we finally go head to head with every corps in DCI... After all, we are performing last!

Off to bed,
Later days,
Patrick

Lafayette, LA (87.700)

I definitely felt like I was in the South today... We had full bursting sun all day long and no rain. It was really humid and we had some really tiring moments. We ended up doing production runs of each of our musical numbers instead of doing a run through. During the run of the opener, my horn got nailed by a flag and now my top lip is brusied and swollen... It was not fun to play with...

Today was a shorter day for us because we were one of the first groups to perform at the show. In fact, we performed before the intermission. I really wanted to see the Blue Stars show tonight, but we had to leave around the same time that they were going on.

The stadium that we were in was really big and we had to go through a tunnel to get on the field. The show was at the University of Louisiana, (home of the Ragin' Cajuns!) and the atheletic complex that we performed at was really nice. Unfortunately, we lost to the Cadets (they got 88.500)... But hopefully we can come back and beat them tomorrow night! We are in Houston tomorrow and are headed towards San Antonio by the end of the week!

Off to bed...
Later days,
Patrick

Ocean Springs, MS (87.400)

We finally had a day without rain! In fact, we had pleasant weather today. It was more hot than yesterday, but it was nowhere near as humid. We had a really positive rehearsal today and the staff said that we had a great run through.

We stayed in a town called Long Beach that was right on the Gulf of Mexico. As we were driving to the show site, we drove alongside the beach and got to see lots of interesting scenery. The area that we were in was flooded with Casinos. You could tell as we drove down the road that the area had been previously devastated by Hurricane Katrina. There were random places where there were stairs leading to non-existant houses along the beach. It was slightly eerie, but at the same time you could tell that a lot had been done to try and help increase the quality of life in the area.

We had a great show tonight. We beat the Cadets again! We proved that winning the Orlando regional was not just a fluke... I dont know actual caption scores, but I do know that I had a good show....

Well, I am practically falling asleep at the phone...
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. - Be sure to check CrownCast #4 for a nifty little interview with me about Saturday night! It should be on the DCI Fan Netowork as a free video if you want to check it out! (look on www.dci.org)

Laundry Day (Pensacola, FL)

We had another rehearsal/laundry day today. We crossed over into the Central time zone last night and ended up getting an extra hour to sleep (even though we only got around 2 hours of floor time)... I was really confused this morning because wake-up was supposed to occur at 8, but my watch said 9! I figured it out eventually...

Today was really hot again... I have a feeling that our days of cool breezes and extended cloud coverage are numbered. We have officially started our deep southern + southwestern tour and we are starting to feel the effects of the southern climate. Im starting to go through 2 pairs of socks a day...

We rehearsed untill 5:30 today and did a run through...we werent expecting to do one because it wasnt on the schedule, but I am really glad that we did... Everything got cleaner today (including our clothes!).

When we went to go do our laundry, I got to experience my first Whataburger. It was pretty good... I actually ordered a honey butter chicken sandwich, but I got to try a friend's burger...

Also, I got my corps jacket today. It fits really well and is very comfortable. I am undecided as to whether I will put patches on it or not... But I have some time before I have to figure that one out...

I am going to try and get a bit of sleep now...
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. It rained today... 22/24 days

Tropical Showers (Kissimmee, FL)

Carolina Cloud strikes again... we officialy have had 21/23 rain days since we left on tour. We spent lots of time in the rain today between our 3 rehearsal blocks. Im personally getting real tired of all of the rain... But the cloud coverage from the sun is always nice.

During brass sectional block, the high brass was arced up working on some show segments when the sun came out and we saw a full rainbow. It was really pretty.

During our evening ensemble block, it started to lightning. We ended up doing our run through with 45 minutes left in rehearsal. Since the weather wasnt really doing much damage to us, we ended up rehearsing more after the run... Pretty unorthodox, but its better to be proactive than to not get to do a run through...

I personally felt that we had a phenomenal day. Everyone was really excited about winning the regional last night and we used that energy in a positive way. To make things even better, we just found out that we are performing last at the San Antonio regional on Saturday! This gives us an awesome opportunity to have a great performance in the Alamodome... I am really excited!

We are in Pensacola, FL tomorrow for a rehearsal/laundry day. Its around a 450 mile bus ride... So I am going to try to get some rest...

Later days,
Patrick

Orlando, FL (85.625)

We beat the Cadets tonight!!! That was probably the best show that I have ever performed. Our show was at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The stadium is very historic to drum corps and many great corps have marched there. It feels extremely rewarding to be among one of the greatest corps to have marched on that field. Also, when I look at things retrospectively, I think that tonight was even better than my 2006 finals performance with Madison...

Our day was very fast paced. We started out in ensemble so that we could dodge any rain that might come our way. We rehearsed all morning and then we did our run-through before lunch. By the time that we were done, I was completely drenched in sweat.

It was extremely humid today and there was not much cloud coverage. Around lunchtime the storm clouds came and it rained on us for an hour or so. We had an indoor technique block with our visual caption head and we got to relax and visualize our show (sleep) for a half hour before we started working on the marching part of rehearsal.

Overall today was a really great day. The vibe was really positive all day and we brought everything that we had to the field tonight. We played America the Beautiful with the Cadets and we were standing next to them when it was announced that we beat them.

Tonight proves something very important to the drum corps community: Carolina Crown is capable of breaking into the top and may actually have a shot at winning this year! It is really hard to grasp that concept right now... so I wont talk too much about it. All that we can do as individuals is to continue to take ownership in our show and to work hard to clean what we can in the time that we have left. We have 4 weeks tll finals...

Off to bed!
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. 85.625 - 85.125 = .500 :D

Quick Update (Orlando, FL)

If you are a DCI Fan Network subscriber... you can watch our show live tonight via webcast... just wanted to let you know!

More to come after the show tonight...
Later days,
Patrick

Valdosta, GA (85.000)

Firstly, I want to welcome all of the new visitors to my tour blog! Feel free to leave comments or discuss any of the posts on here...

I heard today that we have only had 2 days since we left on tour that we didnt get rained on. We have given ourselves the nickname 'Carolina Cloud' because the storms follow us everywhere that we go...

Today was pretty ridiculous. We got caught in the middle of some tornadic weather and had to rehearse inside. Lucky for us, we were in a really nice school with a massive gym (and AC!) that we could fit both the colorguard and brass in. We got in a big arc and reheased our ballad while the colorguard did their work. This went on just fine for around a half hour...then the blackout came. Out of nowhere, there was a really big flash of lightning and the power went out! Luckily for us, someone had glow sticks and we rehearsed in the pitch black gym for a hour or so by glow stick light. It was pretty entertaining... we actually got a lot accomplished.

Tonight's show was not as good as we had hoped for. We had a massive disaster during our opener that took us a really long time to recover from. After that, the show went pretty well. It had been a few days since our last show and we had cleaned a bunch and put in a lot of changes. I would be interested to see how we score without the issues in the opener...

Big day tomorrow! We have our Orlando, FL regional tomorrow in the Citrus Bowl. We have to hit the ground running tomorrow so that we can change the drum corps community's perception of what it takes to be a top dog in the activity. We scored a 17.10 in brass tonight which already puts us less that 3 points away from a perfect 20. We have a really good shot at the Jim Ott award this year. That would be amazing if we could acheive that! I really hope that we can continue to get better and clean up our show in the (less than a) month that we have left.

Off to bed!
Later days,
Patrick

Rain Rain Go Away (Columbia, SC)

We had another rehearsal day today at Irmo High School. We learned some drill changes in Hungarian Rhapsody and Barber of Seville that should help make things a lot cleaner. During our brass sectional block we had to leave rehearsal early because of lightning. Then during ensemble, we had to go under the stadium to dodge a lightning storm. We eventually got our from under the stadium and was able to rehearse. The staff decided to tag an extra hour and a half on to our evening ensemble time so that we could utilize the larger stadum and make our show even cleaner for the regonal in Orlando on Saturday.

I wish that it would stop raining and storming every day. Tomorrow we have a show in Valdosta, GA and then Saturday is the regional! Hopefully we can stay dry...

I am really looking forward to having a show tomorrow because we haven't had one in a few days...

Off to bed...
Later days,
Patrick

Columbia, SC (Rain Out)

Well... Just as it always works out... Our home show got rained out. We started stretching for the show and it started lightning. They ended up postponing the show for 45 minutes and then cancelled it. I was really bummed because I was looking forward to marching the FirstBEAT show. We got to rehearse in the stadium that we were supposed to perform in tonight for our afternoon ensemble too.

Hopefully this weather will stop and we can finally get back to rehearsing and doing shows normally. Finals is 1 month from today! We need all the rehearsal that we can get. Honestly, the only thing that I am worried about concerning the rain is the humidity that comes afterwards.

We are staying the night at Irmo High School for a rehearsal day (same place as last night). We get to rehearse in the stadium again tomorrow. We should get a lot cleaned up from a chordal tuning and ensemble standpoint. It has a really high pressbox so the staff has a great vantage point to help us clean our show. We leave here tomorrow and head to Valdosta, GA / Pensicola, FL.

Off to bed!
Later days,
Patrick

Pitch Black (Chesapeake, VA)

Today was our last day in Chesapeake at Hickory High School. It was kinda a weird day again because of the weather. We were on a field around a half mile from the school during brass block when we realized that we are in serious trouble. Moving toward us faster than we could run was a massive pitch black cloud. As we were running back to the school, the sky was completely dark and lightning started flying everywhere. Lucky for us, we made it inside the school before it started pouring.

We ended up rehearsing inside for a few hours and then we ended up leaving the school early to go to Columbia, SC. Tomorrow is Crown's first home show so that should fun...

Hopefully there will be more to talk about tomorrow...
Later days,
Patrick

Chesapeake, VA (82.600)

We continue to score higher and higher each day as we further refine our show... We made some changes to the show in the Closer and Barber of Seville... The colorguard also dyed their hair black! It looks really good when they are in uniform with their black hair with white streaks. Maybe I can get a picture up later...

I am really excited that we scored 82.6 tonight... We also beat the Cadets in brass again... It feels great to kick them around like that :)

Today's rehearsal was a really rough from an energy perspective... There were some hydration issues and everyone was tired and groggy... But I think we ultimately had a good day and got a lot accomplished. Thank goodness it didnt rain again...

We are in Chesapeake, VA again tomorrow for another rehearsal day... Hopefully we can get even better and beat the Cadets again at FirstBeat in SC! (I think they will be there...)

Off to bed :)
Later days,
Patrick

Chesapeake, VA (Rehearsal Day)

Today was extremely rainy. We got off the busses around 7 and started rehearsal around 10... It was cloudy and rainy all day until our lunch block when it became a torrential downpour! We spent the rest of the day rehearsing inside and we got a lot of music stuff taken care of.

Not much else went on today... I met some cool people that live around here and I got to play a trumpet for the first time in over a month (yikes)... I have to start getting back in trumpet mode so that my jazz band audition wont be horrible the week I get home from tour!

Anyways... Off to bed!
Later days,
Patrick

Clifton, NJ (80.900)

We broke 80 today! Today was the first time that we had field judges too. Our brass judge for night was Albert Lo... It was really exciting that we beat the Cadets in all performing captions (Brass, Percussion, and Guard). Apparently we only got beaten by the Cadets in Visual and we are less than 2 points behind them! Hopefully we can overtake them soon... That would be amazing!

I had another Déjà vu today... We housed at the same housing site that I housed at in 2006 for the Clifton show when I was with the Madison Scouts. It was very interesting to form new memories at the same place with a different group.

Im going to try and sleep... We had a long day...
Later days,
Patrick

4th of July (Bristol, RI & Wakefield, MA)

Today was tons of fun! We woke up early to play for the TV thing that I posted about earlier today and then we went and marched in 2 parades. The first one was in Bristol, RI and the second one was in Wakefield, MA. We played our Earth Wind and Fire Medley (September and Lets Groove Tonight) on our routes 27 times today! It was quite possibly the most fun ive had in parades ever! The strictness of the parade was very lax and they allowed us to cut loose and grove when we were at halts. I think both parades together were around 10 miles or so...

When we were done with the first parade in Bristol, we took yellow school busses back to our charter busses and ate. When we got on the bus to go to the second parade in Mass, I fell asleep and was really groggy! Bad idea...

We when we got to the end of the second parade, we were presented with the 'Best Drum Corps in the Parade' award. The other corps were Citations, Teal Sound, Crossmen, Boston Crusaders, and The Cadets. The crowd absoutely loved us!

After both parades were over, we got out of uniforms and then we got to eat off all the other corps' food trucks! It was interestng to try everyone else's food... I really enjoyed mingling with the other corps for a couple hours.

Anyways... We are headed to Clifton, NJ now... So ill let you guys know how that goes tomorrow!

Happy 4th of July!
Later days,
Patrick

4th of July Update (Bristol, RI)

I dont know what channel... But there were tons of TV trucks and cameras that said Comcast and ABC that just filmed a small concert that we did. It said something about a Bristol 4th of July Celebration. There is a massive parade there today and there were famous-looking news anchors at a table commentating. They were surrounded by TV cameras like they usually have for the Christmas parades and Thanksgivng parades. I would try google-ing it or checking around comcast TV stations or ABC. It was supposedly nationally televised, but dont quote me on that... If it is anywhere, it is likely on ABC with all the parades. We played America the Beautiful and 1812 Overture as a parade kickoff and they filmed it... So look out for it!

Happy 4th of July! More to come later...
Later days,
Patrick

Bristol, RI (79.100)

Today was quite possibly the best day-after free day that i've ever had! Lots of people felt sick and tired... But I felt great! I think it is because I made wise choices on my day off concerning food and rest. It just goes to show that smart choices today can lead to a better tomorrow!

We had a really good show tonight. It wasn't my personal best run, but as an ensemble it was great! The crowd really loved us and they seemed to have a good time. Warmup was fun because we warmed up in some random person's back yard... They didnt seem to mind, but the idea of it was hilarious! When we actually got to the field for our competition... The grass was really thick and was difficult to push through. Apparently we did well since we scored a 79.1...

After the show, we played America the Beautiful with Jersey Surf and then we played encore for the crowd. There were fireworks going off during the whole thing and it was really fun!

Tomorrow we are marching in 2 parades somewhere in RI and Mass. Ive heard its good stuff...but we shall see!

Early morning tomorrow...
Later days,
Patrick

Free Day! (Bristol, RI)

Today was a free day! We did not rehearse at all today... When we woke up, we got cleaned up and did laundry. We were supposed to go to the beach this afternoon, but we went to a mall in Mass. instead. Apparently there was a thunderstorm warning in the area they wanted to avoid... but we didnt get hit (Lucky for us). Otherwize it would be really humid tomorrow...

I think that we may finally be out of our cold weather part of tour. It seems like the past week or so of rehearsals have been rainy and cold. Yesterday when we were in NY, we felt some moderately warm temperatures and some humidity. I was really hoping that we would not get used to the cooler weather while we were in the midwest, but i think we may have... Our midwest tour is essentially over. We will dip further down South in the coming days.

Tomorrow should be a good day to get better... We have a show in Bristol and then we do parades on the 4th of July. Its not Cedarburg, WI, but im sure it will still be great fun!

Since we have finally crossed into the realm of July... this means that we are more than halfway done with the summer... I am estimating that we have been here 41 days and we have around 38 left. This is kind of a bittersweet feeling because in some senses I am ready for it to be over; but in most senses I dont ever want it to end. I really want our show to be successful this summer. In addition, I truly feel that the social connection that I feel here will last a lifetime and that is really exciting. I am trying to savor each day for what it is worth while remembering that each new day brings new surprises and new feelings. Days like today are great because they give you a taste of reality... but I am ready to go kick butt tomorrow during rehearsal and at the show!

Off to bed...
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. Anyone ever notice that I use ellipse often when I run my thoughts together...?

Glens Falls, NY (77.700)

Another long bus ride last night... We got to Ft. Edward this morning at around 7 or so and we got a little bit of floor time before we started rehearsal. The school was very nice and the rehearsal field was great. It was up on the side of a mountain and the grass was really well kept. We got our butts kicked and we got a lot accomplished.

We had a really short show warmup once we got to the stadium. The show was actually in the outfield of a baseball diamond! It was really wierd because the press box was on the 45 yard line instead of on the 50. We won the show... But none of the corps that we usually compete with were there...

We have a free day tomorrow! They are actually giving us the entire day off to rest :) I think we are doing laundry in the morning, then going to the beach for the rest of the day! Im really excited!

Off to sleep!
Later days,
Patrick

P.S. Happy birthday to Becky!

Erie, PA (77.000)

What a day... We had a really long bus ride last night... I think that we got to Erie around 10 am... Once we got there, we went into the gym and hung out for a half hour or so then ate and rehearsed. The mail came today and all the mellophones got new mouthpieces! The ones that we had were eroded and had been giving people brass poisoning on their lips (myself included).

Today was a really short day in terms of physical rehearsal time... but it seemed really long. When we went outside to rehearse it started raining and it rained until we finished rehearsing. If you read back to one of my earlier blog entries from May... You may find that wet socks + me dont mix very well... I think they may have even put me in a bad mood at one point (yes, I was a Krabby Patty)... Nonetheless we pushed through rehearsal really hard and it paid off tonight at the show.

I performed at the Erie show back in '06 with Madison and I was really surprised to find out that the performance venue had changed since then. It was still a turf field, but it was at a different stadium.

I had a really good show. In fact, I think toight was my personal best run to date! Hopefully I can surpass that tomorrow for our show in upstate NY.

Off to get some sleep...
Later days,
Patrick