MURFREESBORO... I DEFINITELY WANT TO TAKE JUBAL BACK HERE

Wow.... I still remember our first big DCI show with Jubal in 2002: the University of Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro. Now that's a perfect stadium for drumcorps!!! You bet!

Blue Devils had an all-day rehearsal here yesterday, a System Blue clinic this afternoon and the show tonight: The Masters of the Summer Music Games - sponsored by Pearl percussion.

OK,.. in 2002 it was the drive from HELL, coming from Michigan and going straight to Tennessee! That was a ridiculously long drive. No... bad choice... we'll never do that again.

But coming back here is high on my priority list! I doubt it's going to happen though.

I will have a meeting with both Dan Acheson (DCI CEO) and David Eddelman (Open Class coordinator) during Championships week in Indianapolis to discuss our tour-plans for 2011 and talk about the (im)possibilities as far as shows are concerned. We will be competing in Open Class, but obviously we'd also like to be in some bigger shows with World Class corps.

We'll see... DCI allowed us to perform at Murfreesboro (2002), Cookville (2006), Allentown to name a few... All major events! Not to forget Atlanta in 2006! That's a great dome the show is held at. We're on our way there now. It will be a short night! And a looooooooooooong day!

Now,.. back to Murfreesboro... The members did not have to sleep on a gym floor this time. The corps was housed in the University dorms, and had double rooms in two buildings. All rooms with their own bathroom and shower. They loved it.

It makes it a bit harder to get everyone up in the morning, but everyone did come to breakfast in time. We (staff) slept on our buses, but we got to use two of the dorms too to use the showers and bathrooms. A REAL shower,... that just makes your day on tour!

The corps got to rehearse in that fabulous stadium yesterday. Some of us went and see the evening rehearsal block. It must be a privilege to be in the position to rehearse in facilities such as this. I know there are a LOT of DCI corps out there that had much worse places to line their fields at and practice at all day.

There are a few changes to the show that were going to be put in for the Murfreesboro show. It's mainly the ending of the show that changed, and lots of small visual additions throughout the show.

Today (Friday) was the big day. It would be the first time the whole top-12 was going to perform at the same show (since Minneapolis rained out). We saw Carolina Crown the other night, but Bluecoats were here too this evening.

The crowd in Murfreesboro is always very LOUD, and tonight was no difference. They cheered for everyone! Especially all the marching band members DCI has been attracting to their shows over the last few years! They're going wild at some of the shows.

I still think The Cadets have a fun show. Nice theme! This "Little Jeffrey" guy plays a leading role and adds a lot of humour to the production. I don't care too much for the color guad when they wear the corps uniforms at the beginning. I really like "Dance of the Tumblers"! I usually enjoy the musical selections Cadets pick out for their shows. Unprecedented drill formations and developments as usual!

Bluecoats are the surprise of the season this year. They put a very entertaining in-your-face show on the field, entitled "Metropolis". This show is very percussion-focused. Now,... I don't know much about drums/percussion, but they perform some exciting stuff!

I should revise my opinion on what I said earlier about the Cavaliers show. I didn't like them as much when I first saw them, but I should give them credit now. The more I see them, the better I like them. "This is my rifle",... picture the entire hornline on rifle!!! Cavies do it. I'm still waiting for all of them to toss the rifle too though!! That would get this crowd WILD!

Love the brass instruments that Carolina Crown plays!! makes me think back of all the Jubal years we used to play them. I still feel sorry we switched to silver!! Crown's title of the show is Second Chance... that might very well refer to them not winning the Championships in 2009. Lots of body movement! Lots of sitting down and play! (No chairs though!)

Their new uniforms include the corps logo as a gold mirror with the letters MMX engraved. When I first saw it I thought it was a sponsor (Just like the banners on Cadets' Herald trumpets with the Yamaha logo), but soon found out it's 2010 in Roman numbers. Stupid me.... I should have known better!

Blue Devils are getting better and better, the additions seem to work well. I am sure they are still testing things, and there will be more changes to come! I fully understand there are people who hate this show. Just check what some of them write on the forum on drumcorpsplanet.com!
This show however is one of the most creative shows EVER brought to the field by anyone. And believe me,... I am an "old school' drumcorps kind of person. I wasn't much in favour of the switch from G to B-flat.... let alone all this electronics.

I posted about the use of electronics in my blogs before. I hated it at the beginning but I feel much more comfortable with it now, especially since it's used very effectively by a lot of the corps, and fortunately there is not a whole lot of TALKING over the microphones!

And then the Xylosynths! That's some invention!!! I love them.
Earlier this season our feeder corps Jong Jubal sort of kicked all their vibraphones and marimbas out the door, and replaced them by this wonderful instrument. A great choice! In fact I think they bought 4 of them. Some of the corps here use the instrument too. I think most of them only have one though! Great effects!

Blue Devils are in the hunt for another title... their 14th!!!
I'm excited!
They got an impressive 95.3 points for tonight' s performance, which gave them aimpressive lead over Bluecoats (93.55), Cavaliers (93.10) and Carolina Crown (92.35).

Enjoy,

HK

LOADING THE MIRRORS

When at a show the members of the Blue Devils have a lot more to do than getting off the bus, warm-up, perform their show, change and have snack.

This season the corps is using 36 mirrors in their show "Through a Glass Darkly".
These have to be unloaded from the truck every rehearsal and every show. Quite an extra task for the members! Some sections (they rotate) have come up with their own technique so they can save some time. Obviously they'd want to get out of their uniform as quickly as possible too, and head over to Devils Food for snack!

Here'ssome video footage of loading the truck after the Hattiesburg show.



Enjoy,

HK

With a score of 94.1.... The BLUE DEVILS

Here is a little video clip of the scores being announced at the Hattiesburg show tonight.
I will try and update once we're in Murfreesboro.



Enjoy,

HK

MISSISSIPPI,... yes that's how you spell it!

Some of these States have the most peculiar spelling! Mississippi is one of them. I also think Massachusetts is high up on that list!

A day of rehearsal today,... but what a night this was!
We had left Lafayette around midnight... as usual we're the LAST corps to pull out of the parking lot!
We usually don't get to go to the bathroom in between snack and departure so our first stop is always about 20 minutes down the road at a truck stop and freshen up, buy something to eat an/or drink... or better yet: ICECREAM!
We got back on the road,... and then the shit hit the fan.
Phone calls back and forth between Sheryl and Pete.
Apparently there was a problem with "The Hound" , one of the member buses. A water hose in the engine snapped, and forced them to stay where they were. That meant all members on that bus were divided over the two other two member buses, and the motor home (which was travelling with them) and they all came to where we were at. This was about 30 miles ahead of them.

It was little after 3AM when they arrived. We got an extra 16 members on our staff bus. They LOVED it. "This is awesome!" some of them said. We had about 5 bunks available in the back, since the drivers wouldn't get back to bed until we got to Hattiesburg. Then the rest found a place in the front of the bus on the couches or even on the floor. Unfortunately they didn't get to watch TV or anything, because lights were switched off shortly after we left. It sounded like they were having a great time though! Lots of laughter from the front of the bus for the next hour or so.

This whole inconvenience surprisingly didn't put us much behind schedule. Breakfast was only an hour later than originally planned (11 instead of 10). Everyone had to turn in their uniform at breakfast, because it was time they were washed agein. Last night when I was in the tunnel at the stadium and the corps walked by there was this distinctive smell of BO! Yes... definitely time for a laundromat!

The color guard warmed up and had their rehearsal right next to the food truck, and horns and drums were scattered across the school premises.
We made lasagna for dinner, and two separate alternatives for the vegetarians and the vegans. Oh,.. and another little dish for Ben, who has like the worst allergies ever!
When he marched we used to look at every single label on the packages to make sure there wasn't anything in the food that might killl him.

We lost our transportation (and at the same time our air-conditioned place to sit on the few breaks we take) for a few hours tonight when the uniforms were taken to a laundromat. They were gone much longer than last time. Don't know why. Had to put my bags and shower necessities inside the school building, because we had some serious rainfall tonight. The corps was out on the field and I don't think they ever really stopped.

Kelly (who usually works the souvie trailer) brought me a new bottle of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum while they were out doing the uniforms.
I will be good for the next couple of days!

Lights out, so everyone is in bed. At least that's what we think....
We're sitting in The Nest having a couple of drinks.
Will try and get online again tomorrow.

Enjoy,

HK

LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA

These are my fellow cooks on the Devils Food cook-staff. A great team.
From left to right: Erik Skinner (in charge of water, Gatorade, tea and all other drinks for the corps, also takes out all the garbage), myself, Yvonne Moss, Carol Vargas, Sandy Gist, Tom Wills and his son Kris Wills.

So close to New Orleans here.... Wish we had a chance to actually go there!
I had such a great time there after DCI Championships when I went out with my uncle and aunt and my parents (who had come to the States on a holiday as well) last summer.

I only saw half of tonight's show. This was a nice stadium!! Not too big a crowd, but very responsive.
When I arrived I didn't think the stands were all that high, but getting closer I soon realized the field itself was situated much deeper, so the stands went doiwn much lower than street level.

This was just a regular show, nothing special.
Nice score again for BD! Still out stong and well ahead of everybody else!
But then we haven't met Carolina Crown of the Bluecoats yet.
We will see Crown in Hattiesburg on Wednesday, and Bluecoats in murfreesboro on Friday night.

Enjoy,

HK

PISSED OFF IN THE MORNING!! BUT A FUN FREE DAY AFTER ALL !

Of all the years I have toured with the Blue Devils now, I think this is the fourth free day I get with the corps in San Antonio (Texas).
The day however started with the Individuals & Ensembles competetition. Now I used to like this event a LOT when it was held during Championships week.
It always took place on the Wednesday, which was great!
I especially liked the I&E in Orlando/Kissimme in Florida. I saw Ercan Erhan (Jubal alumni) who was marching with SCV that year win the snare individuals that year.

In fact my day didn't start all that well.... In the front of the bus, where some of us kept their stuff, and where I had practically "lived" the first part of this tour (until I got my own bunk), I had my computer bag, and other things at that table-cubicle we have. When I got up at 7:30 (and I had only gone to bed close to 4AM), everyone's belongings were piled up on top of the table, and the whole front of the bus was emptied out. My shoes were in the toilet area, my jacket was somewhere on a hook, the laptopbag was gone, and put somewhere. Chargers were put away in drawers.... Well... I can tell you I was PISSED OFF alright!!!!!
There was a note on top of the table saying : "If everyone would keep their personal (spelled personnel) stuff in their own racks everyone would enjoy their living space."
Damnit.,.. This WAS my living space for the last two weeks!!

I left a "not too kind" note on the little noteboard we have on the wall. If only he had asked.... It would have taken no more than 5 minutes for everyone to put their things away.
And believe it or not,.... the guy NEVER even sits here. He drives one of the vehicles and sleeps during the day, or is at the stadium with the Promo trailer.

No... not a very good start for me this Sunday!!!

Just like the show itself this year's I&E competition was turned into a 2-day event. Most members whose corps was scheduled to perform in the Sunday night show competed in I&E on Saturday. So we didn't really get to see anyone else. The bus left the school at 9AM, and when we got to the Judson High school where I&E was held, we were the first ones to arrive. We litterally opened up the place. The DCI staff wasn't even there yet.

All Blue Devils competitiors were scheduled at the same times, so I had to choose a room and a caption. I decided to go and see the tenors, keyboards and multipercussion after I saw Taylor Smith on trombone (2nd - 86.0) and saw the Tuba ensemble (trio) who were scheduled last. Had to miss the snares. We soon found out that Andrew Odello had won the snare competition wiyh 97.5 points! In fact his fellow BD snares matt Known placed 2nd (94.5) and Emmanuel Deleon placed 3rd (93.5).
Jimmy Marshall won the multipercussion caption (93.5).
Michael Howard was the only competitor in the Tympani caption, and obviously won (91.0).
David Reaver won the trumpet caption (87.0) and his buddy Kyle Headstream took 3rd (85.4).
Alex Mutz placed 4th on Baritone (87.9)






No,.. this two-day set-up is defintiely not favourable! Not for the members/competitors and not for the crowd and parents either. It does take away some stress during Championships week though, but personally I don't think it did the event justice.

We got back to the school in San Antonio by 1:45. All the other members had done their laundry this morning. None of them came along to watch their line-mates. I was surprised about that!
Beside corps director Pete Emmons only two percussion staff members had come along to watch I&E and support their members. All others probably preferred sleeping in, taking it easy in the morning and simply enjoying a free day.

I stayed at the Nest till about 3PM. Then walked to the downtown area. to the famous Alamo to be precise. Hahaha... I wrote about my visit to the Alamo in 2007 here as well. I could write the exact same thing. I posted something on Facebook, and got quite the lecture from one of my Facebook friends.


I just can't believe how hyped people get over something that's not even 200 years old yet.
Man... our own drum & bugle corps back in The Netherlands is celebrating its 100th anniversary already in 2011!
I won't go into too much detail... just look up my July 2007 post, and consider it written today.

The Rivercenter Mall was next. Great foodcourt there! Decided to have Chinese. Very tasty!

I got a text message from a couple of brass players, who were wondering what I had planned and asked if I would want to join them to the IMAX theatre and watch "Incepetion", the newest film with leonardo di Caprio. And thus I did! What a great film!! One of the best ever. And I didn't even get to see all of it, because I dozed off a couple of times. I'm not too good at watching films in the theatre!
Remember our last night in the States when we were here with Jubal in 2006. We went to the theatre too, and I remember seeing the commercials and one preview, and the others waking me up when the lights in the theatre went on again. I had missed ALL of that film then. I think it was "Twin Towers".

This time it wasn't all that bad,... but I DID miss a few scenes. Will definitely have to go and see it again when it's out in The Netherlands!

After the film I ran into euphonium player Alex Mutz. You might know him from the DCI calendar!
With a couple of other members we bumped into at the Riverwalk we went to "Lone Star Bar & Restaurant". The others had to eat yet, Alex and I decided to sit at the bar and drink a couple of good Mexican beers. We talked about a LOT of things!! This is his age out year, and he was all interested in the corps scene in Europe. he would even consider coming over and march!

The corps was to meet at the Convention Center at 10PM, so the buses could leave at 10:30 and hit the road to Lafayette (Louisiana).
We had quite the party on our bus yeat when we left. Apparently I had another one of my sarcasm-moments. Couldn't resist making comments about what had happened on our bus this morning either...

All in all it was a fun day!
I think I have seen enough San Antonio now, so I wouldn't mind getting a free day elsewhere next time.
But who knows... we might very well end up here with JUBAL on our 2011 USA tour next summer....

Enjoy,

HK

IT'S JUST NOT THE SAME!

The DCI Southwestern Championships - the annual show in San Antonio (Texas) - is very different from where we are used to going. The beautiful Alamodome could not be used this year (I heard because the football team is using the facilities during the day).

For a lot of years the Alamadome has been the scene for a fantastic day of drumcorps! This was the show where ALL (World Class) corps meet for the first time during the season. This year that would have been last week in Minneapolis, but unfortunately that show rained out.

Now the San Antonio event was split into two shows: one on Saturday night and one on Sunday night. We were on the first night, and hardly had any competition. The other corps we wanted to see (Crown, Cavaliers, Bluecoats & Cadets) were scheduled for Sunday night. The show was now held at the Judson High School stadium, so an outdoor event.

The Alamodome always was a ONE-DAY event, and always drew massive crowds.
Tonight the size of the crowd was rather disappointing! It didn't even get close to what would normally come to the Alamodome. I expect tomorrow's crowd to be even smaller, knowing it's a Sunday...

We're staying at the same school we have been staying at the last couple of years: The Providence/St Mary's All-Girl Catholic school, not all that far from downtown San Antonio. That means: walkingdistance to downtown! I love it!

Obviously there was no decent practice facility near the school. The field they have was being renovated, so after brunch the corps was taken to Alamo stadium. I went downtown to get my camera checked. The only camera store at the Rivercenter Mall (Ritz Camera) had gone out of business. I thought (and hoped) it was only the memory card that busted, and I was right. I got a new Compact Flash card, and the camera works fine again! That made my day.

Dinner was the best (and most expensive) meal we have fed the corps so far this year: Beef briskets! They LOVED it!


I got a ride to the stadium on the equipment truck with Bill Seeley. We (Keith and I heard that we had to help with unloading the mirrors from the truck too, and take them to the stadium. Also had to take some dinner to the ladies at the Souvie trailer. Gail was back in town too! When we got back to the truck (which wa ridiculously far from the stadium entrance) we found out that a lot of volunteers had offered to help unload the morrors and take them to the stadium. They do anything for a free T-shirt!

The corps buses were parked even much further away! And the warm-up area was like a swamp. No,.. not a good site!


Sorry I missed Cascades again. I was hoping to see them tonight, especially as there are two guys from The Netherlands marching. I briefly talked to Martjan again during the show. He was having a great time. Better than the first time I saw him. Less homesick I guess. And the show is going well for them! I will try and catch that show in Atlanta next Saturday. I don't think I will get to see them in Lafayette either, since we're not housed at the show site.


I saw Joury and Kitty again. They had made their decision and talked to both the people at Phantom Regiment and some staff at Glassmen. Glassmen have two spots open: a baritone and a mellophone. And guess what! That's exactly what both of them play! This is great. Joury marched with Glassmen before, but to Kitty marching DCI will be a whole new experience! I'm sure she will love it! They only have three weeks though! I wish them luck!

Here's some shots of the competing corps tonight.

Enjoy,

HK

HOUSTON (NO,... WE DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!)

Best part of the evening was meeting up with the Field Band Foundation members who are marching with Pioneer this summer, and talking with them for quite some time in the parking lot after they had done their show. Unfortunately we got to the stadium when they had already performed. Warren, Cheslin and Olwethu are having the time of their lives with the corps here!

As I wrote in my previous post, all World Class corps are performing both in Dallas and Houston these two days, in front of the exact same judging panel at each show, so we should get a decent comparison tonight. It's really too bad we still haven't competed against Bluecoats or Carolina Crown yet!! That sucks!

Even worse yet.,... we won't see them this weekend either, as the format of the San Antonio show was changed into a two day event and was no longer held at the beautiful ALAMODOME, but at the stadium of the Judson High School about half an hour away from the city. Apparently the Dallas Cowboys needed the Alamodome for a couple of hours this weekend, so DCI had to go elsewhere!

The distance between where the corps buses were parked and the stadium itself was ridiculous! We unloaded the truck far aweay from the stadium too. On weekends the corps usually gets a lot of people to help out move the mirrors from the truck to the corps entrance of the stadium. There are always plenty of kids that will do that for a free t-shirt!

Mid-evening I did think... "HOUSTON,... WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!" after all
Worst part of the evening: My camera died halfway Cavaliers' show. I will have to get it checked tomorrow somewhere.

All files I took tonight are corrupt and show errors. The camera itself gives error messages too. I'm just hoping it's only the memory card itself!!! keep my fingers crossed!






So I got to see the Blue Devils and the Cadets from high up in the stands (same level as where the judges were at!) Excellent view!
Some exciting stuff going on on that field!!

Enjoy,

HK

MEETING DANNY GOTTLIEB IN DALLAS

When I hear the name of that city I always have to think of the TV series. JR,... eh... Sue Ellen, Miss Ellie, Cliff, Lucy, Pamela....
Jeez,... surprised I even remember those names. But then I got to watch it a lot because my mom loved it.

We never got to see much of the city itself yesterday though, but that's OK. I'm not here as a tourist anyway. The Little Elm High School was quite a bit out of the way.

By popular demand I made two sorts of hummus yesterday. (FYI - We are on our way to Houston as I am writing this) One hummus straight up with garbanzo beans, lemon juice, garlic (lots of it!!), salt & pepper. The other one was pretty much the same concept but to give it some extra flavour I added spinach, and dried chili peppers for the afterbite.


But hummus wouldn't be hummus if not served with pita bread. So I decided to make that too! Well,... that was a pain in the "you know what!" alright.
I'm not too fond of this whole yeast stuff, and then letting your dough sit for 2 hours before actually making the little round rolled out breads to go into the oven.

Obviously this was a try out and I didn't make pita or hummus for the whole corps.... That would have been insane!! I think the bowl of pita bread was gone when half the corps had gone down the food line. Perhaps we'd better buy it next time.
It was definitely worth doing the home-made pitas. Hardly ever had as many compliments on the food as today.

The show in Dallas was another sold-out one. And what a great & responsive audience/crowd! They loved EVERY corps! That's just great! In fact last night (Thursday) and Friday there are two shows back to back both in Dallas and in houston where all World Class corps perform. So we will get to go to Houston next and all corps that were there tonight are coming here to Dallas.


Got to see my friend Lauren Vogel Weiss, who is also on the Drum Corps World staff with me and writes for the magazine Modern Drummer. She features an article about drumcorps every August/September edition. Unfortunately due to a decrease in advertising revenues the size of the article was brought back from 4 pages a few years ago to a single page or even less today. Good seeing her again.

Lauren introduced me to Danny Gottlieb.
Now... The name might not immediately ring a bell to all of you, but those who like Pat Metheny should know immediately who I am talking about. Danny is a renowned jazz artist (drummer) and was the first drummer in the Pat Metheny band when they started. I saw him perform at the North Sea Jazz festival
many years ago. In fact he still tours through Europe quite a bit nowadays.

Danny's stepson Scotty is the center snare for The Cadets this year. Danny and his wife are volunteering with The Cadets on the food truck this week, so pretty mucht doing the same thing I am doing. We had an extensive conversation about drumcorps here in the States and drumcorps back home in The Netherlands, about how and when I got involved in Jubal, about the time and way he was exposed to the drumcorps phenomenon, and the change of his thoughts about the activity over the years from not liking it at all, to almost being addicted today. Obviously having a child in the scene makes a big difference.

How fun this is that if you share the same interests it doesn't take much to get a conversation going about a lot of differenty stuff. Almost felt like I have known him for many years! Looking forward to seeing him again in Houston.
I made sure I got some close up shots of Scotty for them.



BD's score was an impressive 92.00 points!! This still gives them a good lead. Let's see what happens in Houston and what the scores are for the other 12 World Class corps who performed in Houston tonight.



Enjoy,

HK

THE TOUR SO FAR

We have put a lot of miles/kilometers on the odometer already since I hooked up with the corps in So-Cal and went on the road with them from there.
The tour has taken me to a lot of states already. I didn't get to see all that much of it, because we mainly travel during the night.

Free day in Denver was fun, and we will have another one coming up next Sunday in San Antonio. That has sort of become the most popular location for a free day for the corps/ I think I came here every single year.

Still enjoying it a lot! Looking forward to seeing some friends on the East Coast soon!

Enjoy,

HK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Hey pa,.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
I hope you have a good one!
I'll make sure we toast to your health on our bus tonight!!!

Enjoy,

HK

TEXAS IS HOT!

We got back to my all-time favourite school when on tour: Little Elm High School in Little Elm, a small town in the outskirts of Dallas.
We have been coming here for the last couple of years, and the school is absolutely fabulous. So are our hosts Frank Felice (the band director) and his assistant Celeste Sosa. They are the best!

We got to the school at the crack of dawn, and Mr Sosa offered to do Wall-Mart/Starbucks runs for the members with the school van early morning before we did brunch just like he did the last couple of years.

The school is pretty new. It was only built about 6 years ago. It's HUGE! And not only the building, but the classrooms, the gym, the band room... everything was built providing plenty of space. just the hallway itself is impressive!

The school, just like most High Schools in America, offer a wide variety of extra activities in addition to the regular weekly schedule. The auditorium/theatre in the school seats about 550 people I'd say. There are quite a few city theatres in The Netherlands that would be jealous of this. If I only think of theatre "de Willem", which is situated within a school in our neighbouring town of Papendrecht... That really is NOTHING when compared to what this school has to offer!

Then there are several gyms, dedicated to different sports programmes. The corps was sleeping in one of the main gyms, and the color guard used the other one for their sectional. We could all use the cafetaria (which was wonderfully air-conditioned!) for brunch and for dinner.

At brunch the MONSTER-truck shows up. "MONSTER" is the very popular high-energy drink. One of the Blue Devils alumni members is the regional manager for Monster in the Dallas area, and comes by the school every year when BD is in town. All members get free cans of Monster. What a great gesture. He used to promote the product in the parking lot at the stadium too. Free cans for everyone! Yeah!
For us (Devils Food) he had a special delivery - coffee flavoured! - and made sure two containers made it to our fridge! Great stuff!

Today the corps had a two-block rehearsal. During the day they stayed at the field next to the school, but after dinner they all went to the beautiful and impressive school district stadium, about a mile from the school. And the district only has ONE school, so Little Elm HS pretty much " owns" the place!

In the afternoon we went to the Wall-mart which is nearby and spent about an hour cruising the store. I like it when we actually get a chance to do some errands ourselves. Dinner was all ready waiting to be put in the ovens, and we had plenty of time! The temperatures here in Texas are known to be high, and today was no exception. It was about 101 degrees outside! Bloody HOT!

After dinner I got a ride to the stadium with Andrew Rogers' mom Liz (who helped out in the kitchen these days) and saw the evening rehearsal. BD are changing the ending of the show. They learnt the music today, and the drill is being adapted as they go. The color guard had most problems learning the new drill, equipment and dance, so they probably won't perform it yet tomorrow! We'll see what happens!



Snack was another one of the corps' favourites: ICE CREAM BAR!


Numerous jars of ice cream were out on the tables with an incredible variety of toppings.: chocolate, sprinkles, walnuts, peanuts, M&Ms, Skittles, gummy bears, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, caramel,... you name it.. it was out there!

Lights out at 11:30 PM. Well,... for the members that is,.. we stayed up a little later!

Enjoy,

HK