SOMEBODY SCREWED UP!!

A long, long time ago somebody must have screwed up big time.

Currently our Tour with Blue Devils is taking us through the beautifuk state of Pennsylvania, and we are housed in the picturesque Landisville, near Lancaster. Our original housing site in Coatsville fell through. Would have been nice going there, since the band director was one of the assistent drum majors with Reaging Buccaneers back when I marched with them in 1987.

Well,... Landisville is right in the middle of the so-called Pennsylvania-Dutch area, known specifically for the large number of Amish that live here.

Now the screwing up part is where the hell they got the name Dutch in Pennsylvania-Dutch. Come on,... us Dutch have got nothing to do with this! It should have been Pennsylvania DEUTSCH!!!

The Pennsylvania Dutch are the descendants of German immigrants who came here prior to 1800. Some say that the word "Dutch" in this case owes its origin to an archaic meaning where the word "Dutch" designated groups that are today considered German and Dutch - prior to the Thirty Years' War, the Netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch were generally regarded as one of several German peoples. (Yeah,... as if we liked that!!!)

I am not going to write a lot about the Amish and their nice horse-drawn carriages. They're a very interesting community. Back in 1987 I did some carpenting work in this area, so got in touch with a few as well. They have an amazingly unique way of living! Check Wikipedia or Google to learn more about them!

One of the stupidest things I have ever seen in Pennsylvania Dutch county, is the windmill symbol, which reminds everyone so much more of the Netherlands, rather than Germany.

The best example is probably " Dutch Haven" , the Amish souvenirs and crafts store in Ronks (PA), that has a huge windmill up on their roof.

One of the best cakes I have ever had is "shoe fly pie", which happens to be an Amish specialty! GREAT STUFF!

Willie Schouten, a friend of mine, lives in Ephrata, which is quite near the school we're staying at. I think it's only some 15 miles. I called her today. Some Jubal friends are arriving in the States today and will be staying with her. So I will most definitely see all of them tomorrow or Friday. I am looking forward to that!

Talked to my friend Lisa on the phone too today. Am trying to hook up with her on Thursday night in West Chester after the DCI show and spend all day Friday with her. I just heard that her Wind Symphony concert which was scheduled for tonight (Wednesday) was cancelled and is now going to take place on Thursday night.

So I will have to find out how we are going to arrange things. Don't know... there might be a train from West Chester to Wilmington... I will do some research on that later tonight.

Blue Devils are staying at this Hempfield High School for four days. The corps is now rehearsing in a nearby stadium, so I have the whole night to work on updating the blog and sending photos out. A lot of my Blue Devils photos can be seen on the corps' website (www.bluedevils.org) in the media section - photos 2008.

From here we're moving on to Allentown for a show on Friday, and then to Akron (Ohio) for the Canton show. we will spend three days there too, before moving to Indianapolis for DI Championships week. That should be exciting.

The corps is doing really well. They are undefeated so far, and still have a decent lead over their competition (about 0,8 points) at the last show.

Enjoy,

HK

ANTHONY HOPKINS

You might remember I posted here before that these last few years I got comments from people saying they think I look like actor Anthony Hopkins. Well, yesterday at dinner this came up again.

Jaimy Holly told me what they had been talking about on the staff bus, and the look-alike story got a little twist… T.J. (color guard instructor) had said that if ever a film was going to be made about the Blue Devils, Anthony Hopkins should be asked to play my role.

You bet I had a good laugh about that one!

I’m just wondering if he’d like to spend pretty much all day in the kitchen…

Enjoy,

HK

STAFF DINNER

All of Blue Devils support staff (cooks & drivers) were invited for a buffet dinner by Pete Emmons the other night. We went to “Ryan’s”, where an incredibly varied buffet was waiting for us. You name,… they had it. From steak to spare ribs or grilled chicken, a full salad bar, loads of vegetables including sprouts (I still wonder why they call them Brussels sprouts here…), corn on the cob, a full Taco bar, and my favourite… the DESSERT BAR. Quite a selection of cakes, puddings, brownies, cookies, muffins, fruit, but also an ice-cream machine.



Two plates/bowls was hardly enough for me. First of all I had three plates from the dinner buffet, but then I had the whole crew waiting for me to finish my dessert. They all wondered where all that food went and how come I could eat so much. I always say… “There’s always room for dessert!” (especially if there’s ice-cream and whipped cream!!!)

That was a fun night! We took one of the member buses there, even though the restaurant was only a mere 300 yards from the school. We could have easily walked there! Oh,... and when I had gone for my first plate one of the drivers had put a kiddy seat in my chair.

Enjoy,

HK

SWEAT & PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT

(Note: 2% of body weight approximates to 1,4 litres of fluid for a 70kg man…)

Here’s what happens:

BODY WEIGHT LOST AS SWEAT versus PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT

2% : Impaired performance
4% : Capacity for muscular work declines
5% : Heat exhaustion
7% : Hallucinations
10% : Circulatory collapse and heat stroke

Enjoy (but keep hydrating!!!),

HK

BORING CROWD

except for some fans...

At the show in Murfreesboro there was quite a large crowd filling the stands, but they were boring as hell, absolutely non-responsisve! And that’s amazing, for I remember very well our JUBAL tour back in 2002. Our first show Stateside was in Murfreesboro,… the exact same stadium. I thought the crowd’s reactions to our performance and that of the top-DCI corps was pretty good then.
I talked to some of the Blue Devils members after the show and they had the same feeling. Hardly any reaction from the crowd doesn’t help them much in getting a better performance on the field. That’s too bad. Sure it will be much better in the Georgiadome tomorrow in Atlanta.

We left Lebanon (TN) after a three day stop there. As I wrote below, the place was dead at night. We did go back to that same bar the second night though. Was even more fun than the first. This time Andres and Keith came along. We took the bus (The Hound), so one of us didn’t drink. (Thanks Jay Glenn!) Everyone else more than made up for that though!! Rum-Coke for $5.25 and Draft beers $2, a full pitcher of beer only $6! Jaegerbombs on the other hand were outrageously expensive! But that didn’t keep us from having a few.
We told a few jokes too. That was fun! I should say it’s hard to translate some jokes though. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense in another language.

This last day in Lebanon it rained quite a bit. Most of the corps’ rehearsal was inside. We served food in the school cafeteria as well. They did finish rehearsal with a full runthrough.
Coincidentally the local High School Band is also named “the Blue Devils”. The promo trailer was opened up Thursday night for the kids of the High School and numerous parents that had shown up to attend rehearsal (thinking it would be a full performance in unform – as was announced in the local paper). Some of the corps members also bought shirts from the marching band. It had a large print on the back, saying “Blue Devil Pride”. Pretty cool!

Blue Devils once again played really well at Murfreesboro. They took a 1.3 lead over The Cavaliers. Carolina Crown has been making incredible progress these last few years and are now right there among the top! With Devils Food we put another couple of interesting meals out. Some of the food is so much different from what we are used to having back home. We fix things so much differently. They all enjoy our meals too though. Gives them some variety.

We also celebrated driver Jay Glenn’s birthday. He was the head chef of the day. He made French Toast for breakfast, and Lasagna for dinner. That was pretty good actually! I think he took over our habits of touching up the food with some spices.

I made two Pineapple Upside Down cakes. Had never made those before. They turned out really nice. I should remember that for back home. Also made a special birthday cake, which is the funniest cake I have made so far. A rectangular three-layer cake with grape jelly in between, fully covered in white icing and texts in blue icing.

I made a bus out of cake as well and put it up straight on top. Then decorated the whole thing with blue icing. That cake was a big hit!

Enjoy,

HK

PHOTO UPDATE FROM USA TOUR

I had some trouble adding photos to the last few posts here, so here is a series of shots from the last couple of days.

Enjoy,
HK
We pick up the mail for the members every week. Everything is sent to General Delivery, with the envelope or box saying "Hold for pick up!".


Warm-up before the show with a nice sunset in the background.

Relaxing recliners at the mall.

Food court at the mall.

Grapevine Mills Mall (Free day in Dallas area).

Laundr-O-mat,...

LEBANON IS DEAD

The town of Lebanon (Tennessee) is defintely not going to be all that high on my priority list for possible future visits...
There's absolutely nothing to do at night.
Last night we ( busdriver Jay Glenn, Erik Skinner and myself) walked about 3 miles to a bar,... which happened to be the only place open in town.
The local Cab-company " Kelly's Cab" didn't have time for us, because they close at 7PM, and Kelly - who probably only owns ONE taxi - was probably in bed already.
A police officer (they sure have plenty of copr cruising the streets here!) was kind enough to send us into the right direction: Memories, the town's only "happening place".
Had a few good beers - and needed those after our walk. Jay Glen sang a song (it was Karaoke night), and we played a few games of pool.

Had a cool night after all,.. but then we had to walk all the way back to the high school we were staying at. Oh well...

Developed a "mailbox fetish" on the way back....

Enjoy,

HK

LAUNDRY & AFTERNOON/EVENING OFF

Taking the corps to a Laundr-O-Mat is always fun. I remember very well from our Jubal trips in 2002 and 2006. Especially 2006, when our corps director and vice-president were the first ones off the bus, ran into the place to make sure they had a washing machine before everybody else. That was hilarious! When they came in they dumped their dirty laundry into a machine quickly (while everybody else was figuring out how the place worked) and got a very surprised look from a lady standing next to them. She probably wondered if all foreigners put their laundry in the DRYER first… Obviously by that time all the washing machines were being used by the other members.

At Devils they usually take the corps to two or three Laundr-O-Mats (or similar places). Even though some of them are fairly big,… there’s no way they can accommodate 150 people’s laundry at the same time!

With the Nest we always go to a different place form where the corps is taken. Shared a machine with Keith. Neither of us had a whole lot to wash. And the machines were more than big enough.s taken. separate place laundry at the same time. fairly big,...milar places). ng used by the other members.

em. y (while everybody else was fig Laundry takes about an hour. Across the street there’s usually a small shopping plaza. Unfortunately this was not the case where we went. The only places around were a Pawn Shop, a gas station and Sonic. So I walked over (in fact al of us did) and we had a bite.

The rest of the day we were off.

Since I had been up till 5 PM the night before with bus driver J-Glenn, celebrating his 43^rd birthday\, I felt it was time for a little nap. I only woke up when all the BD vehicles had already been parked at the Mall they dropped the corps off. Nobody had woken me up when they left the bus. I think I only got up about 45 minutes after they had all left.

I had hoped we got a free day in downtown Dallas, but a mall was chosen instead.

I toured the place twice. Only went into a few shows, didn’t buy all that much.

Took quite some time in the bookstore. Excellent selection! Some good cookbooks!

I picked up a wireless signal at the Food Court, so I spent some time there too updating my weblog, checking my email, sending my dad a E-card for his birthday (Have a happy one dad!!!), sending Blue Devils action shots to the corps’ webmaster to be used on the website (look under A-corps – Media – Photos 2008) s action shots to the corpsng my weblog, checking my email, sending my dad a card for his all left.

and I surfed the net a little bit. Other than that I think this kind of free day is pretty boring.

I can see the point corps management has though. They are guaranteed to have everyone together! I’m sure quite a few members went and see the latest Batman film! I didn’t really feel like seeing a movie. Last time I did that in the States was on our last day with the group that stayed behind after our Jubal tour. I only saw the commercials an film trailers for new upcoming films then. I slept right through the main feature film! OK,… I was tired after that tour alright….

I saw a lot of unfamiliar “white feet” at the mall. It turned out the Bluecoats had their free day there as well. I will explain the term “white feet” later, but it’s got to do with the members’ suntan.

The buses were ready to roll out of the parkinglot at 10PM. We waited another half hour or so before the staffbus was back. Some of them are riding our bus on tour.

pictures on both last post coming up soon. Having some problems with my own laptop.

Enjoy,

HK

THE NEST

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD !!!!!!!!!!

I posted here about our support staff bus “The Nest” also last year. It’s an old Greyhound bus (1977) that used to serve as one of the corps’ member buses in the old days and was transformed into an “overnight motel on wheels” a few years ago.

Behind the driver’s seat there are two sets of two seats on either side of the aisle for those who want to see the environment while we’re on the road, or just want to be out front for a chat or something. Most trips are during the night, so there’s not a whole lot to see anyway.

A curtain separates that part of the bus from the rest. Next up is a bunk on either side of the aisle. These are for corps manager Cheryl Miles and head chef of Devils Food Carol Vargas. Behind another curtain (it’s almost like business class and economy class on a plane…) is room for the rest of us. A total of 14 bunks (two levels) gives room for an equal number of places to sleep while on the road.

Mine is the first one up on the left side of the bus. Pretty comfortable I should say.

The only disadvantage is that I’m right next to the air conditioning unit on the ceiling, which continuously blows out some very cold air. I am working on putting up a curtain or something, but unfortunately there is nothing to attach it to. I will have to figure out something for that.

My bunk is the usual mess… There’s my laptop, camera, videocamera, an extension cord (yes we have power on the bus!) some of my clothes (our suitcases are in the bays underneath the bus). At the far end of the bunk I have attached two little racks that hold some stuff, such as my chargers, brochures, postcards and things.

Every morning I am happy I haven’t fallen out of the bunk. Especially on bumpy roads I am sure it would be easy to fall out, also because I know I turn around a lot in my sleep.

Enjoy,
HK

SO MUCH FOR TEXAS...

And the heat I hope… This has been insane these last 5 days. Temperatures have practically been 100 degrees Fahrenheit or a little over every day! But that didn’t keep the corps from performing well. Really well I should say. In San Antonio they took a 1.4 point lead over Cavaliers!

It’s a good thing we (the people on Devils Food) are having a great time and a lot of fun together on the food truck, because preparing all that food in there makes it even hotter than it is outside. With three hot meals a day you can imagine what it’s like in there: 2 large ovens on full temperature (350) and about 5 burners on the stove are constantly on as well.

The place to be on Devils Food is in the fridge (the freezer is like Antarctica!). Always a good excuse to go in and get some butter or cheese or whatever out or bring it back in again.

Speaking of stuff going in and out. Every Friday we have a food order being delivered to the school we’re staying at. That’s incredible! A truck pulls up close to the food truck and the drivers starts moving boxes off his vehicle. There seems to come no end to the supplies. Boxes of frozen beef, hamburgers, sausage, chicken patties, frozen vegetables, canned fruit and veggies (all no. 10 cans), a large variety of sauces, dressings, mayonnaise, pickles, jalapeños, relish, butter, cottage cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, cans of whipped cream, coffee, tea, Gatorade (we go through $1000 worth of Gatorade powder a week!!!!), juices, milk, spices, hash browns, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, pastas, tortillas, chips, gravy, fresh vegetables, lettuce, potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, fresh fruit, sugar, syrup, oil, hot sauce, Tabasco, cereals & cornflakes, bread, hamburger buns, sandwich rolls, bagles, plates, bowls, cups, plastic silverware,… I think I could go on for another while.

It’s absolutely amazing if you see all that stuff outside of your truck waiting to be taken in. You’d think it never fits in there. But surprisingly we always manage to get everything in.

The freezer is just about filled up to the ceiling! The fridge has become an unorganized chaos, and there are boxes everywhere on the floor. Then at night, when we hit the road, all the coolers and ice-chests, the tents and chairs and everything has to go in yet too!

You bet we’re taking more showers here than we would at home. Sweat is gushing from your body.

ERIK & YOURI WITH GLASSMEN

A couple of shots of Erik and Youri, who are having the time of their lives with Glassmen this summer.

Enjoy,

HK

CHICKEN TERYAKI and SWEET & SOUR

(I had left my memorystick at the school, so I couldn't post this at the stadium in San Antonio, but this text should have been here before the one below...)

While the corps was having a rehearsal in a nearby stadium in Little Elm (Texas) yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon and early evening in the kitchen preparing last year’s big hit: Chinese/Indonesian stir-fry. And boy,.. did they love it again this year.





Made two dishes again, both chicken, and lots of stir-fry veggies. In fact the meat kind of outnumbered the rice, but is surely tasted great. Made some improvised Peanut-sauce as well. The members didn’t really eat much of it last season, but this time the pan was empty before we noticed. Some of the kids that marched last year asked if this was the kind of meal we served them last year. Cheers all over the place!
One of them commented on video about the meal. Pretty funny!
The meal was late,.. really late. I think we only ate at 9:30PM.

We had quite a ride ahead of us to San Antonio. Some 400 miles I think. Usually we have 2 or 3 “potty-stops” when we go to our next stop on tour. I am normally only awake during the first stop. Next stop I wake up is pretty ,much always our final destination,.. and then the Nest has already been sitting there for a few hours. Other than that I am doing OK in waking up in time.

Last few days I was the first one out, so I got the kitchen started. This morning I was a little later, but still well in time - which is about two hours before breakfast (or brunch as we had this morning) is served. We take about two hours to fix the meal.
Little Elm was a great place to stay (apart from the heat then!) Good shopping nearby, excellent facilities!

We’re in San Antonio right now, same school as last year and in 2005 – a Catholic Girls School, not too far away from downtown. I remembered I took public transportation into town last year. Good service. Today there’s no time to enjoy the city centre and the pretty River Walk. Both in 2005 and 2007 we had the Sunday after the show off in San Antonio. Great city, but I am OK with the idea that the corps chose another location for a day off this year. We’ll be in Dallas all day Monday. It has been a while since I last was in Dallas. Hope to see some of the sights.


Tom Wills is leaving Devils Food tonight. That’s unfortunate, because he is a GREAT help, an excellent griller and a good conversation partner as well. He also teaches in High School so that gave us some topics to chat about. I think he has been on tour for 3 weeks with us. We will see him back at Championships, but then as a spectator. In the next few weeks we might have another few parents come in the next few weeks to help out. But we’re pretty full as it is right now. Too many people for the available bunks on the Nest. I’m just lucky to have mine secured.


The corps is rehearsing on the school’s field right now. I will go and watch the runthrough. I have just finished slicing ham for dinner. It’s scalloped potatoes and ham from the oven. The kids seem to like everything we serve them. There’s always a special tray in the kitchen for the four or five vegetarians we have in the corps, and one for Ben, who is allergic to any milk product and whey. So that means we have to prepare his dish with care.

I did another two cakes today as well. Put some icing on the chocolate/pineapple cake, copying this year’s show logo “Constantly Risking Absurdity”. Turned out nice,.. a good practice for the next one.

The other cake was one big experiment. That hasn’t gone out yet. Yellow Cake with Lemon. I assume we’ll put it out tomorrow at dinner.
Tonight is the show at the Alamodome. I can’t make it to the afternoon show unfortunately, so I am hoping to get to the stadium early enough to catch Glassmen’s performance. Would be nice to finally see Erik and Youri perform.

Enjoy,

HK

LIVE FROM THE ALAMODOME

I'm sitting right at the frontsideline of the beautiful ALAMODOME stadium in San Antonio.

What a great venue,.. and WHAT A NIGHT!

The best of the best on the field tonight here. The best four corps of this afternoon's show advanced to tonight's programme, plus the top corps that are leading the pack up until now.

Got to see my Jubal-buddies Erik & Youri as well. They're marching with Glassmen this summer.

Will try and update tomorrow. Am going to enjoy the rest of the evening now.

Enjoy,

HK

HOT, HOTTER, HOTTEST

Today (Thursday) I had set my alarm clock for 5:50.
Breakfast was to be served at 8 AM, and we usually take about two hours to prepare.
This morning it was French Toast. Carol Vargas remembered our translation in Dutch (wentelteefjes), especially since we had a good laugh about that last summer, when we translated it literally back into English… You can imaging what that’s like.
Last night Ingrid and Adri Zuijdervliet arrived. Their daughter Manon is marching in BD’s color guard as I wrote earlier. Adri will be driving the Cheeseball and Ingrid will assist on Devils Food.
The members also made sack-lunch, which were kept in the fried and taken to the stadium where they rehearsed at lunchtime. That meant we only had to prepare dinner for the corps today, since snack is going to be the ever popular Ice-cream bar.
Dinner was going to be Spaghetti, so after I had passed some 300 pieces of French Toast on the grill, some 38lb of ground beef had to be grilled. The best part however is seasoning it… that means I got to go wild on the spices and herbs and things. And Eldon (former food truck driver) used to tell me: “There’s never enough garlic!”… Three huge pans of grilled ground beeef on the stove, simmering away for the rest of the afternoon.
So today was a pretty easy day for us!
The full food crew was taken to Walmart for some shopping in the afternoon. Wow…. My second time to Walmart in just 5 days! I’m loving it!!!
Didn’t buy all that much, but couldn’t resist bringing a case of MGD with me to the Nest: Miller Genuine Draft… pretty good beer,.. for American standards that is…
On our way back we stopped at “Sonic” which is sort of a drive-through restaurant, but where you park your car at individual ordering boards. A girl on roller skates comes out in no time to bring your order. That was fun. We all sat out on the patio.
Back at the school we had another few hours. Already started preparing for tomorrow’s dinner. I had told the rest of the crew they will have the afternoon off, when I’m fixing stir-fry.
As I’m typing this we have just finished dinner. Many compliments on the garlic bread and the spaghetti sauce. Hope it’s not too spicy for the show tonight.
I’m in the equipment truck right now, together with Debbie Odello, Ingrid and Erik Skinner (a 2007 age-out, who is this year’s waterboy). We’re on our way to Dallas for tonight’s show. I think Devils are on last,.. ánd they’re doing “America the Beautiful” and the encore performance. Snack isn’t scheduled until 1:00 AM.
Fortunately breakfast isn’t until 10:00 AM!

Oh,... and it was only 102 degrees Fahrenheit today....

Enjoy,
HK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO !!!!

Today is my brother Ton's birthday. Have a good one!!! he's only celebrating it this coming Saturday. Gave him a call a little while ago.

Day 4 – Hutchinson

The trip (about 250 miles) to Hutchinson went pretty smooth. In the morning I was told the others on the bus saw me on bed, asleep, but with my laptop still on my lap as if I was working on it. See,.. that happens more to me,.. I simply fall asleep. Well, it had been a long day after all.
I have absolutely no jet lag problems whatsoever. Have adapted easily to the new time-zones (8 or 7 hours earlier than in The Netherlands).

We were staying at the Hutchinson High School. Breakfast was at 10, but nobody had woken me up so I slept till close to 11. I almost missed breakfast,.. .everyone was up and running and ready to start rehearsal. They said it was too crowded in the kitchen anyway,.. so they let me sleep. That was nice! (probably the last time though…)

For lunch I grilled about 350 hamburgers. Nice and sweaty at the grill! You won’t believe how much the members enjoy hamburgers!
The corps rehearsed on the main field where the competition was held in the evening as well. That was about a 10-minute walk from the school.

After dinner warm-ups were held right at the school. I watched the drumline for little while, and then made my way over to the stadium. I had arranged to meet with Roman Blenski again, and the four members from South Africa that are marching with Pioneer this summer.
Took a few action shots of them and met with them after their show for some group shots. I told Roman I would send them to Retha Cilliers. He said,.. “Yes that would be nice,.. so she can see the kids are not just here, hanging around and sipping lemonade all day, but actually work!” I’m sure Retha will get a good laugh out of that!

I interviewed Roman about the relationship he and his corps have had with the Field Band Foundation for the last seven years, and about all the kids the corps has hosted.

Then I watched Blue Devils’ show. Another great performance. Scores went up again just a little bit. The color guard really plays a very eye-catching part in the show, and not just because of their fluorescent outfits.
DCI announcer and Field Pass host Dan Potter put a smile on my face again too tonight. When we met at the stadium he said. “Now I really know it’s summertime” referring to the fact he saw me back in the States again for this years’ drumcorps season.

Corn dogs (hot dogs in dough on a stick) for snack. We rolled out of the school parking lot at about 11:30 PM.
Going to Texas now,… some 415 miles to Little Elm. That’s absolutely one of the nicest and best equipped High Schools I have ever been at in the States. I will try to take some pictures there tomorrow and post them here.

Enjoy,

HK

SOME PICTURES FROM REHEARSAL

These were taken in Firth (near Lincoln Nebraska) the other day.

Enjoy,

HK

MET FIELD BAND FOUNDATION MEMBER

Day 3 – Lincoln Nebraska

After a very long trip (about 10 hours) we finally got to Firth Nebraska at about 9 AM.
Brunch wasn’t scheduled until noon, so we had quite some time to get things prepared. There would also only be a 3-hour rehearsal. Dinner was going to be early as well (4PM). We made pancakes for brunch. Everyone loved them, especially the chocolate chip ones.

Attended part of the rehearsal in bright sunlight. These kids are sweating bullets in this kind of weather!
Cut a bunch of Cantaloupe melons for the fruitsalad. Dinner was fish sticks, potatoes and corn. There’s pretty much always a tossed salad on the table.
I had made two birthday cakes for Cory (color guard). The chocolate banana one tasted really good!

At the stadium – a huge one ! – only four corps would be in competition tonight. Revolution had pulled out unfortunately. We all thought it was going to be over early, but the show committee had asked all four corps do a standstill concert encore performance right before the scores were announced.

In the meantime I met with Roman Blenski (corps director of Pioneer). He has four members from the Field Band Foundation bands in his ranks again. Three hornplayers and the first ever color guard member. I also met with one of the members, who unfortunately did not rally speak any Zuidafrikaans. I am meeting with all four at tomorrow’s show in Hutchinson Kansas, and will do a little interview with them. Will also take a group shot. I bet Retha Cilliers (CEO of the FBF) will like that.

Devils won the show with a score of 88.4 points, which is quite high. The color guard is extremely good this year. Last weekend they already scored box 5!!

Snack after the show was Beef Stew. Excellent! And that for a meal right out of frozen bags. Easy cooking

Have another couple of minutes before our busses will roll. Off to Hutchinson, Kansas.

Enjoy,

HK

BACK ON “DEVIL’S FOOD”

I got last year’s job back, which was exactly what I had hoped for: I will be cooking most of the summer again, starting today. Saturday night in the parking lot I already got my first order for a birthday cake from Cory in the color guard.

Tom – one of the pit member’s dad who also was on tour last year – told me that he was eager to know what kind of cake design I had in mind for this year’s show, after the successful Winged Victory cakes last season. I should say I have some idea, nut not a clear one yet. I’ll see what comes up.

The foodtruck crew this year has Carol Vargas back as the main chef. She was here last year as well. What a sweet lady! Have known her since 2004, my first tour with Blue Devils.

Then there’s Tom who I already mentioned. He’s staying on tour until San Antonio and will be back for Championships (but as a spectator then).
Marianne Emmons – one of Pete’s four sisters – stepped in the same night I did, after celebrating the Troopers’ 50th anniversary. She’s a lot of fun.
New on the crew is Gail, who used to cook for Phantom Regiment for many years, but switched to BD this summer.

Yvonne Moss – a booster club patron – was with us last year as well and is hooking up with the corps next week or so. And the conversations in the food truck will probably freak out the rest of the crew as of next week, for I bet they will be hearing a lot of Dutch! Ingrid – her daughter is marching in the color guard this year – from Huizen and her husband are joining us in Dallas. That should be fun!

This week Annette (one of the tenor player’s mom) is helping out and throughout tour there’s always a few parents assisting for a couple of days when they’re in the area.

Now,.. with Tom leaving us soon I will be “stuck” with a bunch of ladies in the kitchen. Same deal as last year. I had a blast though, so I’m sure that won’t be any different this summer.
I think I will treat them to some good old STROOPWAFELS today. They’re a big hit!!!
I’ll let you know what’s on the menus throughout tour. Good food only !!! I should say this corps is fed very well!

Enjoy,

HK

DAY OFF IN DENVER

So much for the day off. It turned out to be “only” 4½ hours total. Still,.. that was more than enough for this city. All shops were closed anyway, and other than that there wasn’t a whole lot to see downtown Denver except for the Coors Field Stadium (where the buses were parked), 16th Street with all its restaurants and bars and some very interesting architecture near State Capitol.
The Denver Museum of Modern Art is by far one of the most spectacular constructions I have ever seen.

Went to a brewing company and had a few excellent local beers. At night we ate at the Hard Rock Café. Got my first slab of ribs of course! Pretty tasty one too!

The restaurant/bar was full of band and arstist memorabilia.
Back on the bus now for some …. Kilometres to Lincoln, Nebraska.

Enjoy,

HK