LONG JOURNEYS

Since there are no shows for the corps all week this week, we're making long journeys these three days in order to get to the West Coast as soon as possible.
The first stop is Big Springs (Nebraska) where we are only spending the day today, and will leave tonight at 9PM. This was a 625 mile drive from Columbia (Missousri). On our way here we dropped one of the souvie people of at the Kansas City airport.
Big Springs only has 495 inhabitants!! So we're adding about 35% to its regular population today.

I bet the local grocerystore/supermarket will have sold out all his bags of chips and candy bars by the time we hit the road!

A local news paper reporter came in today for a report. One of the photos I took might end up published with the article she's writing.

Next stop is Salt Lake City (Utah), another 580+ miloes from here. Then it's on to Reno (Nevada) before we settle in palo Alto (California) for a few days.

I'm surprised I'm able to access the internet here in big Springs. And it's even wireless. How 'bout that!!

Enjoy,

Hans

I WOULD NEVER GO TO MY SCHOOL AGAIN !!!

Let's be honest... If this were a picture of the cafetaria at my own school back home, I would NEVER go there again!!

No,.. these are not cockroaches, these are crickets,... big-ass fricking two-inch sized crickets!

I took this picture in one of the Burkburnett school's cafetaria (fortunately not the cafetaria we were fed in!). The place was loaded with crickets.

Texas has had a lot of rain over the last few months. The state is suffering from an incredible invasion of crickets. They are litterally EVERYWHERE!
A couple of days ago when we were at the San Antonio show, the area below the lampposts in the parking-lot (see below) was covered with thousands of crickets, jumping happily around, while we had to walk right through them on our way to the trucks and buses. Absolutely disgusting!!!

Though I'd also share some of this crap with you. You bet it's not always as uch fun as it seems on tour. Fortunately we haven't seen too many roaches yet! Let's keep it that way!

Crickets in the San Antonio parking-lot

Enjoy,

HK

JIM IN INDY

Jim ("cupping" his ears)

JUBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS !!!!



My buddy Jim Wagner and his wife Jo-Ann were at the DCI show in Indianapolis last night.
I wish I'd had more time to sit down and chat a little more with them.
Jim is America's #1 JUBAL fan !!!

He is one of those guys who enjoys a couple of good trumpet/soprano screamers in a hornline. Always "cups" his ears to get the most of it.


I posted about him here on this log before. Met up with them in Brussels recently for a fun afternoon. They always go to the Indy show. I usually see them there and of course at DCI Championships, so I'm hoping we'll have some more time when we're in Pasadena.



Jim always brings me MOLSON beer. He knows I like that. Quite a lot of the American beers don;t taste all that good. I enjoy Sam Adams a lot too.



Last year when Jubal was on tour in the States, Jim invited a whole bunch of us for pizza and beer a few blocks from Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.



Always good to see this guy, who has definitely got the most incredible collection of unique trumpet/brass recordings. He enjoys sharing his stuff with drumcorps members. He always brings me a few copies on CD too.



Jim asked me to make sure I send all Jubal members his regards...





Great guy! Great fun!



Enjoy,

HK

RIBS ! HOLY COW !!!!

Whenever I am in the States I simply HAVE TO try out all the restaurants that serve spare ribs (usually baby back ribs).

This trip I had ribs twice before we arrived in Burkburnett.

Last Sunday on our day off in San Antonio I had ribs at Tony Roma's, right at the River Walk.

The very best ribs so far on any of my USA adventures I had at the Montgommery Inn in Concinnatti (Ohio). Unbelievable!!!! that was a few years ago though. Haven't had any good ones like that since!

Now the band booster parents of the local high school band in Burkburnett were so kind to prepare a typicasl Texas roast dinner for the Blue Devils.

One of the parents - Rob the Rib guy as he is know in the area - was already cooking out on his grill outside of the school when we woke up (8AM). He would serve us some real Texas Beef Ribs.

Oh my gosh... were they great or what!!!

Quite a size too, if you're only used to eating rugular (pork) ribs. They were incredibly tender too! Delicious!

Rob had grilled enough to feed 400 he had said... Well,.. then he surely doesn;t know what drumcorps kids eat... They had to order extras for the pit which came in late.

Enjoy,

HK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH !!!!!!!

...... the coolest 25-year-old ever!

JUNIOR IN MADISON SCOUTS

Even though the corps isn't doing too well in the rankings, Junior van Aerde is having the time of his life with The Madison Scouts. I saw him perform at the show in Pittsburg last night.

To be honest I don't care much for this year's programme the Scouts are performing. The corps is pretty much performing a complete new show compared to the beginning of the season. The show didn't work all that well for them and they stayed way behind in scores, so the entire drill was rewritten. Also quite a bit of the music was rewritten.

That must have been a hell of a job for all those members who had been working on their show for several months. I only saw them for the first time last night, so hey... I can't really say much about it. I will probably like them better next time I get to see them.

Here's some photots of Junior. I think he fits right in. And yes,.. he's got his hair the same way he has been hiding it under his Jubal shako...

Enjoy,

HK

PITTSBURG KANSAS

Here's some more pictures of Erik. Will post photos of Junior with Madison Scouts tomorrow. Will see him perform here in Pittsburg tonight.

We crashed in Pittsburg Kansas for two days now. Tonight is the show, tomorrow is a rehearsal day. Finally got the wireless connection going on the laptop. An unsecured signal here at the college, so that's great! Chatted with my folks and brother on MSN.

Saw Erik at the Wichita Falls (Texas) show again last night. He is definitely having a great time with the Glassmen.
They cranked up their scores, and are now pretty much in the hunt for a spot in the top twelve. That would be really nice!
Colts and The Academy are the corps to beat.

Enjoy,

HK

MADE A FEW CAKES

One of the first things some of the members that were around in 2004 or 2005 when I toured with Blue Devils asked me was "Are you going to make those cakes again???"

Well, yesterday I had some time to do two cakes.

I put this year's show theme logo on them: Winged Victory.

Turned out pretty neat with the white and blue icing on a chocolate/banana cake.

Enjoy,

HK

PROUD OF THEIR HISTORY

At The Alamo in San Antonio (playing tourist...)

Americans are in general very proud of their history (very patriotic too, but that’s a different story), compared to Europe though, their history doesn’t go all that far back…. Today was a good example.I went and see the ALAMO in San Antonio. Big deal… for the locals that is… and for any American tourist visiting San Antonio.

It’s an old sort of fortress, originally called Mision San Antonio de Valero, which served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for about 70 years. First parts of the Alamo were built in the early 18th century. And that’s OLD for American standards.

The Alamo played a critical role in the Texan Revolution (1835). You might want to check wikipedia for the full story. I just didn’t find it all that interesting. There was a huge line of tourists waiting to get in, so I didn’t even bother, eventhough I was told… “When you’re in San Antonio, don’t miss the Alamo!!”

I strolled through the premises’ garden a little and quickly made my way to the nearby Riverwalk and Rivercenter shopping mall. Great place! Was there also back in 2005. Lots of corps have a day off in San Antonio today: Blue Devils, Phantom regiment, Glassmen (just ran into Erik and showed him some of the photos that are on this weblog), Boston Crusaders, Spirit of JSU, Carolina Crown, the Colts,.. and I assume there must be more…
Getting back to this history I started out with,… Americans are also proud of their heritage.

When asked where they’re from they usually also kick in where their parents or grand parents were from. “I’m 40% Irish, 60% French.” I always say… “Born here?? You’re 100% American then!”
But hey,… as the expression goes: “Everything in Texas is Big!”

Enjoy,

HK

THE NEST

All Blue Devils vehicles have a nickname. The members’ buses (charter buses of the Muskingun company from Ohio) are called The Hound, the ’04 and The Funliner.

Then there’s The Lone Star, the big blue and well equipped staff bus.
The motor home that’s on tour is called
The food truck is simply Devils Food.

And our support staff bus is The Nest. The Nest used to be a 45 passenger Greyhound like charter bus, transformed years ago into a very convenient tour bus. What’s left from the original situation on the bus is the driver’s seat and the first row of two sets of two seats in the front row. That’s where our cooler filled with ice is standing.

Then there’s a curtain to keep the light out of the rest of the bus. The rest of the bus consists of bunk beds only. All original furniture had been taken out and replaced by 16 beds, so we actually get to sleep well while on the road at night.

I just woke up (7:15 AM) and since I had hit the sack I have never noticed we were rolling. We must have got here at about 5:30 AM. Our driver Andres (a former BD tuba player who aged out in 2000 when the corps came to Europe) obviously has his own bunk as well.

My bunk on The Nest

My bunk is right in the middle of the bus, closest to the AC.
The bus has a generator so we can plug in whatever we want. Some bunks have their own little reading light, others have a fan and there are phone chargers lying on the ground everywhere.
I have my camera battery charger plugged in and when in use also my laptop.

Occasionally we have a few drinks when we start driving to the next location, not every night though. It’s usually beer, or mix drinks.
Sleeping on here is very comfortable, even though I do think I am catching a cold due to the AC.

On our way to San Antonio we found out that quite a few of us on The Nest have a passion for Big Band. I played some of the stuff I have on CD with me. The Nettai Tropical Jazz Big Band from Japan was a big hit. The water boy, a Japanese kid named Kotaro, is the first person I met who actually knows this Big Band. (and Paul, who gave me the CD of course…) Kotaro also has the CDs. He was singing along with some of the songs. Only the driver knew the Youngblood Brass Band, so Avalanche and Brooklyn were found pretty interesting as well.

I still have another 4 hours before the corps wakes up and has brunch. The weather outside is awful. A serious rain is coming down on us. I wonder what rehearsal is going to be like.

We’ve got to get cooking at 10 o’clock I guess to get everything ready before they line up. Might be a good idea to serve brunch inside today.
Yesterday in Little Elm (also Texas) right when the food delivery was there we got hit by a serious shower as well. The sky darkened on us, hit the stadium where the corps was rehearsing a little later. It cleared up after 45 minutes or so, so it wasn’t all that bad. It got pretty sticky afterwards.

Today is the San Antonio Regional show in the Alamo Dome, a beautiful venue! All 21 Division I corps will be there today. Will be an interesting competition! The scores among the top have been kept very close lately. There’s a good chance for both Blue Devils, the Cadets and the Cavaliers to walk away with first place tonight.

Enjoy,

HK

ALEXANDER WITH THE CADETS

Alexander Giskes - Jubal's front percussion instructor - is marching The Cadets this summer,.. Well,.. not really marching. He's playing the marimba in the frontline ensemble, so he doesn't really get to run around the field like everyone else in the corps does.
Alex is having a great time, as he told me shortly before he had to perform. I met him in the parking lot when he was setting up his instrument and polishing the bars and the cymbals.

I will get to see him at another few shows before Championships, so will have plenty of time to chat.
I saw The Cadets perform at the Mesquite stadium last night. As usual I have to get very used to the Cadets' show concept, so it will probably take me a few shows again this year before I actually start really enjoying it.
OK,. it's an absolutely incredible show they put out on the field, that's for sure. I simply don't care for all the talking over the microphones they do throughout the show.
Then the corps (like the two corps before them) was disturbed a lot by a continuous cracking sound from the stadium sound system. This really did a lot of damage to their show.

Next Jubal member featured on my weblog will be Junior van Aerde who is marching snare drum with the Madison Scouts. I am hoping to see him perform in San Antonio tomorrow.

Enjoy,

HK

FOOD ORDER CAME IN

Every Friday Blue Devils have a food order delivered to the food truck at whatever location/school they're at.
That's always a great experience, for a big-ass truck shows up and backs up as close as it can get near the food truck and when the back door opens you're in for a treat!

You won't believe how much stuff comes off that truck,.. or even better,.. where it all stays in the food truck. The entire food crew (except myself) had gone to Dallas to get their personal belongings off the "Nest" (the support staff bus), which had broken down, was being fixed in Dallas, but was most definitely not going to be ready before we leave for San Antonio tonight (more about The Nest in another post). So there was only three of us loading everything on the food truck, filling up the fridge as full as we could get it.

There's absolutely no more extra space left in the freezer now, all shelves filled to the maximum and even the aisle has boxes and cans of fruit and veggies stacked. We got some help from a few colour guard members carrying boxes onto the truck so that we could go ahead and store them.

Some experience this food delivery!!!

I will try and sort of list what comes in every week so you get a rough idea. The order is usually anywhere between $4500 and $6000 worth of goodies.

With teh rest of the food crew on the road I spent most of the day in the food truck on my own, preparing dinner for tonight. Meatballs in Italian sauce and made a huge salad. Also made Italian Tiramisu for the support staff. That's sitting in the fridge for a few hours now. Most of them don;t know what it is, so I hope they like it.

Enjoy,

HK

PHOTOS DON'T SHOW

Sorry you guys,... apparently due to a server problem, temporarily none of photos in earlier posts on this blog appear on the screen. The links to where I posted the photos doesn't seem to work.

We're working on it!

In the meantime, let's see if I can have Erik's photos pop up from somewhere else...

Enjoy,

HK

ERIK WITH GLASSMEN

My friend and fellow Jubal member Erik van Doorn is marching with The Glassmen from Toledo (Ohio) this summer. Last year The Glassmen made a tour in Europe and he got hooked.

I saw him perform at a show in Tupelo Mississippi last night.

The Glassmen are performing a gipsy themed programme this year. Of course they are hoping to place among the top-12 again in order to make DCI Division I Finals in Pasadena California mid August.

Here's some pictures of him. I will be seeing him quite a bit on the road the next few weeks, so more photos are definitely going to be posted here.

(Jack in the box!)

Enjoy,

HK

SHORT STOP IN ALABAMA

French Toast on the grill...

The corps only stopped in Jacksonville (Alabama) for the show last night. Got to see the Cavaliers also. They’re doing a Billy Joel programme. Will see it many more times, but already really enjoyed it. Fast paced and well performed!

I just missed Glassmen’s performance, for I heard the announcer ask the crowd for a round of applause for them when I got off the bus. Cavaliers and Devils are absolutely awesome. I go to see the shows from up front, so can’t really judge. Have to see them both from up top one day. Plenty of time for that on this tour alright!

In Jacksonville I met my buddy Cozy Baker (colleague writer for Drum Corps World). He spent some time with Jubal while we were on tour in the States last summer, and joined us for the HK Chinese dinner on the Wednesday night if Championships week in Madison. Also ran in to John Donovan (owner of Drum Corps Planet and board member of the Blue Devils). I have known him a few years too now. Always great to see a lot of familiar faces when here. And I’m sure I will get to see a whole lot of them. Brian Hickman and Rod Owens (Glassmen) were there too. They took their corps on a tour in Europe last summer. Had a little chat with both of them. After the show I finally saw Erik. I told him I was going to get him the stuff his folks gave along the next day. I will fortunately get to see the Glassmen quite a bit this tour.

After the show we had to get on the buses quickly again, for the tour was taking us to Tupelo Mississippi. Yes,.. TUPELO,… where Elvis was born back in 1935!!! Quite hot in Tupelo, especially in the morning. The afternoon wasn’t all that bad.

Today (Monday) was also the first day my “job” at Blue Devils really started. I was assigned to the food truck kitchen staff – Devils Food – and will be cooking for the corps these for weeks.That should be fun. You probably know I am fond of cooking, and especially for others! So no problem there, for there’s 170 hungry people lining up at the tables four times a day!

Made French Toast this morning (the translation of “wentelteefjes” freaks them out!!! French toast,… some 400.

Yes,… these meals here are something else alright. Unbelievable how much food is stacked in all the cabinets and on the shelves in the food truck! Pretty amazing. And every Friday a new order of food comes in (delivery).

The corps rehearsed at various fields on the school premises. For lunch we made hamburgers on the grill. Again,… 400 !!! Can you imagine the heat in that food truck, when it’s around 32 degrees outside already?

Also made two massive pasta salads, but these didn’t go very well. Guess the members didn’t really feel like eating pasta salad today. Well,.. they will be seeing it again one of these days. Leftovers always return to the table as snack later the same week. Got to check out some of the rehearsal this afternoon. Pretty intense!
After dinner (800+ fish sticks in the oven) the corps warmed up and got ready for the show.

No,... these are Fish Sticks, not Ladyfingers (lange vingers)!

In the meantime I had a chance to see Glassmen’s show. A gipsy themed programme, which works very well for them. Rhythms that stick in you rmind. Erik is doing a great job with them. Took a couple of shots of him during the show. It’s hard to find him the first time you get to see the show. He was happy with the Belgian Waffles (and I bet his bus partners are even happier!)

Devils didn’t put on a very good show. They dropped in score just a little. Tomorrow they will study a new ending. New music & new drill. Will be exciting to see that!

We will stay overnight here and have a full day of rehearsal scheduled in Tupelo. Then it’s a long drive to Dallas, Texas. We will be staying just outside of Dallas in a town named Little Elm. Some 600 miles from here. Am I glad I have a bed to sleep in while we’re driving there!!! I have a bunk on “the Nest” - the support staff bus. Very convenient!! Both in 2004 and 2005 I spent most nights in the souvenir truck, first year as co-driver, in 2005 as driver, so mostly slept during the days then. This year is different. I am cooking all day, shooting a lot of photos again, and get to sleep at night.

Enjoy,

HK

I'M HERE !!! FINALLY...

Well, so much for a smooth start this trip. What a day! Spent pretty much all day at the airport yesterday, waiting for further announcements on the departure time of my delayed flight. The part that was brought in from Amsterdam needed to fix the plane took forever to get to Brussels airport. Eventually (at about 4:30PM) Northwest Airlines decided to cancel the flight and reschedule departure for Sunday morning 8AM. I had worked my way into the hospitality lounge of Northwest Airlines and was able to leave a message here Saturday, send out some emails and relax a bit (with free drinks and food).

All passengers were put up in hotels for the night. I ended up at the Sofitel near the airport. Very nice place,.. and it should be for the regular single room rate was € 400 a night! We were also offered dinner and got one free phone call. I talked to Pete Emmons (Blue Devils) explaining what had happened.

Worst case scenario would be I’d miss hooking up with the corps in the Atlanta area completely and instead maybe reschedule my flight to Dallas, which would be their next major stop (on THURSDAY!!!!)

Since I couldn’t go on the internet at the hotel myself, I also called my brother, explained what the situation was and asked him if he could check various possibilities on the internet: other flights, new connecting flights to Atlanta, Amtrak, and the MARTA train schedule from Atlanta airport.
He called me back after dinner and came up with the solution I now actually ended up doing.

Flight to Detroit, then a connecting flight to Atlanta at 1:32, getting me to Atlanta at 3:38, taking the Marta train northbound all the way to Doraville. This is only 20 miles from Alpharetta (where the corps is housed).
I informed Pete this would be the best option, and hoped someone could pick m e up there before the corps would hit the road again on their way to the next stop: tonight’s show in Jacksonville Alabama. Then it’s on to Tupelo Mississippi.

And thus it happened.,… well,.. sort of… Trouble started in Brussels already. We got a wake-up call at 5AM, a shuttle bus picked us up at 5:30, since NWA wanted us at the airport no later than 6AM. The line for checking in obviously was insane. And even worse,.. the ground personnel didn’t show up until 6:45. Our flight to Detroit had another 2 hour delay, for we left the runway only little after 10!!



My new boarding pass for the connecting flight showed the flight mentioned above (1:32 from Detroit), but there was no way I was going to make that. It was going to be an interesting challenge getting to the right place in time today.

Northwest will get a lot of complaint forms regarding this delay/cancellation. Let’s see if we can get some sort of refund from them. A free flight would be nice!

Too bad I missed the Atlanta show last night though. Had hoped to see the performances. The scores are kept awfully close at the moment. Friday night in Murfreesboro there was less than a point spread among the top-3. Blue Devils also the Atlanta show.

I also missed seeing my Jubal-buddy Erik van Doorn, who is marching with the Glassmen (from Toledo). His parents had given me some goodies to take along for him. Oh well,.. will see him some time this week.
Had some interesting conversations coming here and at the airport in Brussels. One of the passengers was going to take a 3-week motorcycle tour on the West Coast (on his own!) visiting a lot of National Parks I have been to myself. That’s something I’d like to do one day as well!

Talked a lot about Belgian beers with someone from the Eeklo area. On the plane I was sharing row 34 with a very friendly student, Angelica, from FU who is originally from Columbia and had just enjoyed a visit to Europe. The other lady in row 34 is from Steekene in Belgium, on her way to visit her daughter in Gainesville Florida.

Once in Detroit (12:30) we got the standard Immigration and customs procedure (which takes forever and is way too overdone). At the transfer desk I was issued a new boarding pass. Departure time: 3:15PM. Knowing the corps would leave Alpharetta at 6:30, this could still work out, cutting it very short though!

Tried to call Pete, got the voice mail, and got a call back from him immediately. The flight eventually left Detroit airport at about 4PM, a bumpy trip to Atlanta got me there at about 6PM. This would become a problem, so I improvised and rerouted my trip on the train to met up with BD. I called Pete and told him what I thought would be the best bet,.. taking the MARTRA train to the station furthest west and closest to the I-20, instead of going north first and have them wait for me for about an hour.


Well,.. it has never been such a tight squeeze. I get to the Marta station at E Holmes, walk out to the parking lot and see the support staff bus pull into the parking lot on my right. I even beat them to the station.
So my tour started a day late, buy hey,… I’m here now.

Blue Devils at Jacksonville (Alabama)

Got to see the show in Jacksonville (Alabama) tonight, after a 2 hour drive from Atlanta. Only saw Cavaliers and Blue Devils. Great shows!!!

Enjoy,


HK