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