HK

DRUM CORPS NEDERLAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

2010-09-11T07:30:00.000+02:00

DCN Championships today!! Very excited!
There are about 20 corps in competition in 4 classes.
We (Jubal) are running against Juliana from Middelburg and Beatrix from Hilversum.
Let's defend our 2009 title with pride!

Enjoy,

HK

HK PICS in BLUE DEVILS Thank-you video/slideshow

2010-08-26T08:24:00.000+02:00

I took thousands of photos during my tour with Blue Devils last summer. Most of them can be seen in the Mediabox on www.bluedevils.org/mediabox.

Here is a selection of my Championships photos used in the annual "Thank You" video-slide show that Blue Devils produced and posted on their website.
Always great to see your own photography work back!!

Thanks John for the credit at the end of the video!

Enjoy,
HK

ADORABLE !!

2010-08-20T03:55:00.000+02:00

So here I am spending the last few hours in the States, ready to fly home (well... obviously I haven't packed yet..).
What an amazing trip this has been!! After touring with Blue Devils I spent this week with my relatives in Grand Rapids & Kalamazoo (Michigan).
And the best part of this week was that I was here in time for my second-cousin "Anders Matthew" to be born.
My cousin Angela had her fourth baby last Monday, and the baby is absolutely ADORABLE!!

Her other kids are the cutest ones you can imagine too. What a wonderful family!

This week has been pretty hectic and beside the relaxing part (went to the Grand Haven beach too) I've been up & running all week.
Last night we had a family dinner get-together at my aunt & uncle's house. I made my sweet & sour stir-fry. OMG... was this a lot easier than making the same dish for 180 hungry members & staff at Blue Devils!

Haven't really had (or taken) the time to upload more about DCI here. Sorry about that, but hey... I only get to see these guys in Michigan once a year (if I make it here) so I decided to enjoy that precious time with them.

My flight departs little after 4PM, from Grand Rapids airport to Chicago O'Hare. Then I have a connecting flight to London Heathrow and the last stretch from London to Schiphol. I expect getting there around 11AM tomorrow. Am hoping to go by Jubal rehearsal in the afternoon.

Enjoy,

HK

BLUE DEVILS 2010 WORLD CHAMPIONS

2010-08-15T03:31:00.000+02:00

DCI is over.
Blue Devils were just crowned DCI World Champions, their fourteenth title.
What a great season this was, and such an incredibly creative show!

It was great to have been a part of this wonderful experience.

Enjoy,

HK

ONE OF THE BEST SEATS IN THE HOUSE

2010-08-14T19:01:00.005+02:00

Glassmen during World Class Finals

I CANNOT COMPLAIN...

Once again I think I got one of the greatest views of the field in Lucas Oil Stadium tonight. I am joining Michael Boo (who does the live updates on the Championships for DCI and Lauren Vogel Weiss (writer for Modern Drummer magazine).

The official Press Box is way up in the stadium on the 6th level (nose-bleed seats), but has windows, so is definitely NOT GOOD from a sound-perspective point of view.

I also got invited to the Zildjian suite and the Stanbury suite, will stop there during intermission. Stanbury is making our corps' new uniforms for the 100th anniversary year 2011. I already got a sneak preview of the sample model. It looks amazing!

I will update with a bunch of photos no sooner than Monday. I will just sit back and enjoy the event tonight, then hopefully party after retreat (it would be a shock if Blue Devils don't take this year's title), go back to the hotel - party some more - work on some photos for Blue Devils - brunch at the Omni with BD members, staff and parents, and then I will get a ride to Michigan with Ron Cefalo (Blue Devils alumni 1972-1977). Will spend next week with my relatives in Grand Rapids/Kalamzoo. Should be a great time.

Will need to catch up on some missed sleep too!

Enjoy,

HK

FIRST TITLE IN TE POCKET

2010-08-14T15:30:00.001+02:00

Sorry about being a lousy uploader of my articles this week. Just too much stuff going on, and honestly speaking,... just having too much of a good time to sit down and write some articles for you to read. I will try and catch up on that! (I know... I have said that before...)

I just attended the last segment of the DCI Open Class Finals and saw Blue Devils B take this year's title topping evry single caption except for color guard.
First title is in the pocket... let's see how the evening goes! Looks like it shouldn't be much of a problem.

What a great show they had this year. They will get to perform again tonight before the World Class Finals start.
Rick Odello (corps director of the year) is running an excellent programme with these youngsters. A truly professional organization, just like their A corps.

I am now wnjoying a good beer with my friend Jim at his hotel across the street from the stadium. I will go back in in a little bit, for I have a meeting with Dan Acheson (DCI CEO) regarding the Jubal tour 2011. I talked to Dave Eddelman (Open Class coordinator) yesterday. Jubal will be competing in Open Class International Division next summer, for we have a bunch of members over 22. Well over 22 I would say! (My fault,.. sorry! but I will definitely be on the field again in 2011!)

Enjoy,

HK

GREAT TO BE BACK IN INDY

2010-08-12T23:51:00.002+02:00

We got to Indianapolis early Wednesday morning. Was a looooooooooooooooooong ride over there! 500+ miles! Feel sorry for Warner (our driver) who has to stay awake all night to get us there safe!

The housing facilities that Blue Devils were scheduled to stay at this week recently fell through, so a lot of time has been spent on finding us another school. That didn't happen!

So the good news about this is that we are all staying in a HOTEL now!
That's just great. Everyone gets to sleep on a REAL bed! And we have our Devils Food truck parked at the back of the hotel, so we can serve everyone as planned.

The rehearsals are at the Colts' practice facilities. A fabulous location. Unfortunately it's not open to the public, so all those parents who are in town can't come and see their children at practice.

Today I attended Quarter Finals, and was lucky I got to see ALL 23 World Class corps in competition. I got a ride into town with BD's DVD producer John Christensen and his crew.

One of the best moments of today was meeting up with my friends Jim (JUBALLLLLLLLLLLLSSSS!) and his wife Jo-Ann at their hotel across the street from Lucas Oil stadium.

more later...

enjoy,

HK

NIAGARA FALLS

2010-08-11T10:09:00.007+02:00

I spent a few hours at Niagara Falls yesterday. Kelly (BD Promo) came along too.
I have been to the Falls several times, but it just keeps stunning me!
We took a public bus from our school housing site to downtown Buffalo, then changed onto another bus to Niagara Falls. Cheap trip too... only $4 roudn trip!
Here's a little video impression I put together:

Enjoy,

HK

TIME OF MY LIFE

2010-08-09T22:54:00.007+02:00

I can't believe it.... It juyst doesn't stop! Ran into another bunch of people I used to march with last night at the show in Buffalo. All former or current Empire Statesmen! GREAT !

Had just had a great couple of days, and as cream on the cake I was treated on a performance by the Empire Statesmen. David Bruni is sill their drum major. (His dad, the late Vince Bruni - "Mr B" started the corps).
I was surprised to see "Juice" (Mark Sichewski) and Mark Sinden in the corps. Back in the dsy they drove from Canada every weekend.
Jimmy Steele, who used to be brass captionhead for Spirit in DCI, is back on mellophone and is CH for the horns.
Geoff Adeney still has to learn some of the drill, and will be in soon.
What a great evening!!!
The corps has a "Wizard of Oz" show this summer. Excellent musical book! Traditionally Statesmen add a lot of props and little tricks to their show.
A girl dressed as Dorothy worked her way through the programme, and a witch with a green face topped it off. I wasn't surprised to see the "I am melting" scene! Well done!!

I was the first ever foreigner (not counting the Canadians) to march Empire Statesmen. A few years later they hed two other guys from the Netherlands with them. Back home they're with Bicycleband Crescendo. This year one of their younger brothers (also of Crescendo) is playing in Statesmen's trumpet section: Leonard Tolsma. He was surprised alright when I started speaking Dutch to him in the stadium tunnel!

I missed Pioneer and Cascades (sorry Martjan!), but got to see Troopers and Boston Crusaders. And our own team of course, who scored 97.05 tonight!!!

Some other musical entertainment was provided by the Prime Time Brass, an ensemble of all corps alumni, that topped the DCA Ensemble Championships a few times.
Four more familiar faces from my 1992 Statesmen season in that group too! Fun to see all of them after so many years: Tom Allen, Bill Ray and Chris Castellon.
AND they play some crazy stuff! High screaming trumpet slos too!

Enjoy,HK

OMG... WHAT A GREAT TIME

2010-08-08T23:57:00.021+02:00

See,... I knew this would happen.... I am taking some time off from Tour with Blue Devils and am having so much fun that I get WAY BEHIND in updating my weblog. I truly apologize for that! But these last four days were THE BEST!!
I only arrived in Buffalo (Orchard Park) earlier today, whereas I had normally would have been here since yesterday morning!

I already wrote about my Washington experience & hanging out with Lisa and the Trotta family on Wednesday. That was a great day.

Now,... on Thursday we talked about going to a mall and then later on going to the Westchester show. I hadn't originally planned on going there, but my friends were going and thought it might be neat after all. Westchester is always a good show. I remember doing an exhibition there with Reading Buccaneers back in 1987. Good crowd!

We were just about ready to go to the mall when Lisa came home from work. That changed all plans for the day. I like being impulsive, I know...
Lisa was going to visit her mother Ruth in Annapolis for a few hours. Absolutely wonderful lady! It had been 10 years since I last saw her. I can't really believe it has been THAT long, but that's what Lisa told me.
So off we went to beautiful Annapolis. "Mom G." as I always called her had recently moved to another appartment. Nice place. We stopped at her old house first to collect some things and we brought her some beautiful Hortensia flowers from her garden.

It was such a pleasure seeing her again after all these years! She will be 90 this October. There's no way one would get her age correct at the first guess.
We went out for lunch at Mike's, right on the Southern River. It's a seafood/fish restaurant - my favourite,... NOT! - but they fortunately served delicious chicken as well!

In the afternoon we went to Baltimore. I love that city! I remember very well that Lisa took me there (together with Paul, who marched Sunrisers) in 1984 after DCA. Inner Harbor is a neat location! We went to Fells Point first though. Introduced Lisa to Gelato. Now she's hooked! We walked around that part of town a bit. Saw a Morris Dancers performance.
The Baltimore Oriols had a home-game in their stadium. I guess everyone went there, for Harbor Place was deserted. We had a nice and refreshing beer (Sam Adams... my favourite!)
On our way home we picked up some pizzas and threw those into the oven.
The Trottas came home from Westchester around midnight. Chatted with Luigi for a little bit. They enjoyed the show a lot! And made arrangements for better tickets for the Allentown show.

Friday morning we didn't do all that much. Lisa had taken the laptop (that refused to start or show any activity really) to work, and her colleague fortunately managed to fix it and get all the data back on. That did take a bit longer than expected.

We hit the road little after 3PM and made our way to Allentown. Traffic was absolutely ridiculous!!! Roads were congested EVERYWHERE! And a few accidents caused
"rubbernecks" on our lanes.
We made it to Allentown right before the show started. The Trottas met us at the gate.

Skee & Connie always work the main gate. Wonderful couple! Skee used to march Reading Buccaneers with Lisa and me. Exellent drummer!
Shelly Fox always works the corps entrance, so I stopped by her as well. Then throughout the evening I ran into several other Buccaneers I know from the 1987 season. Unfortunately the corps was the weekend off. I had hoped they were scheduled to perform in exhibition here this Friday.

I was out at the frontsideline for most of the show, but had talked to Patty Bibeault (Matadors 1984) on the phone earlier, so knew where to find them in the stands. I had seen them recently on their short visit to Amsterdam, but they had brought their sister Jeanne as well!! My dear friend Jeanne!!!! Glad to see her!
We watched some of the shows from where they were sitting. I shot the Glassmen and Blue Devils of course.

Another surprise was seeing Laura! In fact she saw me in the stands and came over to say HI to us. Laura was a very good friend in Matadors. I admit... I had a serious crush on her back then.
Blue Devils won the show. Their score went down just a little bit compared to their last show.

Unfortunately I didn't see Lisa after the show. She had already left.
The Bibeaults had talked me into staying a day longer and hang out with them. Well,... that certainly was a challenge! There was nothing I'd rather do than spend MORE time with these friends, but I had planned on hopping on the bus again with BD after the show, and going to Buffalo from there. I almost got a ride with the Troopers or the Boston Crusaders, but that fell through so I ended up getting on our own souvenir truck after the Saturday show.

Right before retreat a tribute was made to DCI East show promotor Bob Bennett, who had unfortunately passed away earlier this year. Trumpeter Al Chez (former Garfield Cadet and known from the David Letterman band) played a beautiful rendition of "America the Beautiful" after which the DCI East committee released white helium balloons. Emotional tribute!
Bob Bennett was also my personal contact for getting Jubal into the Allentown show. I met up with him every year I attended the Allentown show.
I stayed overnight at the Bibeaults' hotel in Bethlehem, near Allentown, and after a late breakfast at a restaurant that was formerly owned by Perkins, we spent most of the day at the pool.

The hotel was packed with drumcorps people. One of the guys at the pool knew my friends. He used to be the guard caption head for the Sunrisers. And guess what... when I was introduced to him he mentioned some guy named Paul used to march Sunrisers in 1984. that was my Jubal buddy Paul Besseling. What a small world!!
We had dinner at the Hamilton Family diner just outside the stadium. We missed the first two performances, but that didn't really matter.
Allentown really is one big reunion every year! People come from a lot of places to see DCI. Lots of familiar faces.
Bluecoasts won the Saturday segment of the DCI Eastern Classic.
Went back to the hotel in Bethlehem and got up pretty early this morning, for the souvie truck was to pick me up at 7:15. Some 350 miles, and a good 6 hours later we got to Buffalo and caught up with the corps.
Many members said "Welcome back... we missed you & your cooking". Well... I missed them too, but wouldn't have wanted to miss these last few days for the world!

Enjoy,

HK

3 DAYS OFF FROM TOUR

2010-08-04T23:48:00.017+02:00

I didn't watch much of the show in Salem last night. I did miss Glassmen's performance, and am sorry about that, but will see them again soon!
I watched the hornline warm-up before the show, which was all very relaxed.
They worked on some exciting parts in the show, bringing the voices better together yet. If you's ever get a chance, do check out "The Lot" and try and get in front of one of the corps' brass arcs. You will be blown away. Absolutely spectacular!!!

I also decided this would be the show I'd watch from the back sideline. I always do that at one show during the season. It gives you a whole different view on the show seeing it from this perspective. You will see a lot of things you don't even realize they're going on on the field when watching it from the front.
Musically it all sounded very weird. Obviously the mirrors block a lot of the sound.

After snack we hit the road to Fairfax. I had announced I'd be taking a few days off to spend with Lisa, my best long-time friend in the States. Today (Wednesday) was another long day since I didn't sleep at all last night.

Blue Devils drove from Salem to Fairfax overnight (well... ALL trips are during the night, so this was no exception!). I had agreed with our driver Warner that he would drop me off at the Vienna/Fairfax GMU metroline station on the way to the housing site (which was the University complex). This would be the easiest option, but would get me to Washington kind of early... VERY EARLY!!!

I was dropped off at the Metroline station exactly when the gate of the station was opened (4:50 AM) and could take the very first train into the city. I don't think I have ever gone to a big city, let alone a capital, at this time of day. I arrived at Union station at 5:40. That's ridiculous. Obviously I didn't want to walk around town yet when it was still dark, so I sat in the Amtrak lobby and checked out my email and stuff on my phone. In fact there was an excellent Wifi signal within the station!

Dropped off my bag at the bag storage desk and slowly started walking towards the capitol building. Yes.. SLOWLY. That was the motto for the day...
I spent all morning walking at an easy pace from the capitol all the way to the other end of the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial. Easy going, with a stop every once in a while on one of the park benches along the grass fields in the middle of the Mall. Made a quick visit to tweo of the Smithsonian museums (I admit... mainly to use the restrooms,... I have seen just about all of the museums over the years and different visits to Washington).

I always enjoy the architecture very much, and the monuments of course! Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial (which could just be seen in the distance through the trees), the World War monument, the long wall of the Vietnam Memorial and of course one of my favourites: The Lincoln Monument, where a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln is sitting in an even so impressive chair,... all white marble.

Washington is by far one of the most impressive cities of all the cities I have visited in the States so far! I could come back here any time!
I felt like the ULTIMATE TOURIST today!! You should have seen me! Had my picture taken with just about all of the monuments... Hard to believe that was really me, but hey... playing the tourist ONE day out of 50 isn't all that bad is it??!!!

It was a good thing I got to Washington so early, for I had planned on meeting Luigi and Mike (also from Dordrecht & Jubal) at Union Station at noon, so had to hurry back on a public bus (free this time becsause the machine was jammed!)
The two of them were also staying at Lisa's these days, and we were all to pick his wife Trinet up from Dulles International Airport at 16:40.

We walked by them back of the Capitol building to visit the Library of Congress. Security there is just about as crazy as at the airports! X-ray machines! Nothing in your pockets! Take your belt off... What are they execting??

We had lunch at "The Dubliner", stopped at the post office and made our way to Dulles Airport. It took well over an hour after Trinet had landed for her to get through Immigration and Customs.
I took a nap in the car on the way to Lisa.
It was a great pleasure seeing her again. I see her every year - usually take the day of the Allentown show off to spend with her - but it's always good to be back here. Sort of my second home in the States. I used to live with Lisa when I marched Reading Buccaneers back in 1987. Wow... that's 23 years ago!!! Hard to believe it's been that long!

We had a few snacks and drinks and chatted before went to bed.

Enjoy,

HK

TOO BUSY ?

2010-08-02T23:55:00.015+02:00

Jeezzzz... some of these days are just too busy to actually sit down and write more updates. I think I started this one about three times already. Sorry about that!

Saturday Atlanta was an absolutely fabulous day!!
I got to see ALL 23 World Class corps! ALL... yes I know... It's a long time ago when World Class/Division I/formerly Open Class counted so many corps that there was no way all of them could fit in a ONE DAY event! I am just hoping this activity will not lose any more corps.

As I wrote with the photo update on Kitty & Joury, it was a LONG day.
I got to the stadium very early. About 8AM. Helped out get the souvie tables installed (the trailer could not be taken inside the dome). Went on a mission to find stuff to put the Blue Devils banner up OVER the tables, so that everyone could see where BD was, instead of taping it to the front of the table.

Was able to take a shower in the Dome,... probably the nicest one thus far on tour!! Talked to some of the DCI officials and made my way to the CNN Center.
At the CNN Center you can get a $13 tour of the News complex.I didn't take the tour, but now I feel sorry I didn't. I am sure there will be another chance!

It would be GREAT taking JUBAL back here in Atlanta in 2011. Competing in the Dome would be another fantastic experience. In addition to that,... after free days in Chicago, New York City and Washington DC in 2002 and 2006, I think we should include some other cities in our upcoming tour. Atlanta would be a good stop on the tour. But then we have no idea where our 2011 tour will take us yet. That will all be decided later this year, and finalized at the DCI meeting in January.

At the CNN Center I ran into A.J., a Glassmen friend of Erik and Joury I met a couple of years ago. We had posted on Facebook back and forth that we would look each other up at the stadium... Haha... no need for that!

Had a good lunch at the food court inside the CNN Center, and obviously cruised through the different shops there. Bought some souvies. Oh.. I really felt like a tourist out there!

Back to the stadium for a full day of performances. Met up with all the other photographers. Some of them have been coming out just about as long as I have, and it's good to see them back every year.

Finally got to see Martjan actually PERFORM with Cascades!
In fact I saw all the Dutch members who are marching with DCI corps today. originally there were only 4 Dutch members in DCI corps this summer, but with the recent addition of my Jubal fellow members Joury & Kitty with Glassmen we're proud to have a total of 6 representatives of our Red, White & Blue.

Also in Cascades is Arnold Schut, enjoying his second year on cymbals with the corps.
Back in the Netherlands Anton is a member of Beatrix drum & bugle corps.

The Colts have Erwin de Jong in their Baritone section. Erwin marches with Con Spirito from Joure back home. He is one of the youngest Dutch members ever to join a DCI corps.

Danny Zuidhoek, member of Adest Music back home, is marching with the Blue Stars this summer. He plays the trumpet. The corps is having another great season. Their "Houdini" show is a hit. The crowd loves them!

The show in Murfreesboro the other night brought a lot of excitement along, having the top corps together for the first time. Today a much larger crowd got to enjoy the competition for the top spots.

All 8 corps that competed in Murfreesboro went up in scores except for Cavaliers, who scored the same 93.1 points both nights.

Phantom Regiment upset SCV by scoring a solid 1.5 more than the previous night and taking 6th place. The Cadets also went up an impressive 1.45 points over their Murfreesboro score!
\

Our team is still well in front with a 1.9 point lead over a highly entertaining Bluecoats.

Here are the scores.

enjoy,

HK

1 Blue Devils 95.650
2 Bluecoats 93.750
3 The Cavaliers 93.100
4 Carolina Crown 92.550
5 The Cadets 91.450
6 Phantom Regiment 90.000
7 Santa Clara Vanguard 89.550
8 Blue Stars 88.900
9 Boston Crusaders 86.150
10 Blue Knights 85.750
11 Madison Scouts 85.550
12 Glassmen 84.300
13 The Academy 82.600
14 Colts 81.800
15 Troopers 81.600
16 Spirit 79.800
17 Crossmen 78.500
18 Pacific Crest 77.850
19 Teal Sound 75.850
20 Mandarins 75.150
21 Jersey Surf 72.350
22 Cascades 72.000
23 Pioneer 71.700

THE DUTCH ARE IN !!!!

2010-08-01T02:31:00.000+02:00

Today I spent all day at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for the DCI South Eastern Championships. I will do a longer post from our next housing site, but just wanted to let you know that our two Jubal members are out on the field already with Glassmen.

Pretty amazing, knowing Joury and Kitty only took their decision last Saturday, so they learnt the whole show/drill in 4 days. They had their first show last Thursday already. That's great!!

Here are a few shots of them during in the Glassmen show and some close-ups at retreat.

Compliments to both of them. Now they're memorizing the music.
Currently the Glassmen are ranking 12th. let's hope they will make Finals in Indianapolis.

Enjoy,

HK

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

2010-07-31T01:58:00.001+02:00

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,

LOADING THE MIRRORS

2010-07-29T16:53:00.000+02:00

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

2010-07-29T13:47:00.000+02:00

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!

2010-07-28T01:42:00.000+02:00

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

2010-07-27T06:38:00.001+02:00

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 !

2010-07-26T01:26:00.008+02:00

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!

2010-07-25T01:22:00.001+02:00

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!)

2010-07-24T02:22:00.004+02:00

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

2010-07-23T11:55:00.015+02:00

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

2010-07-23T08:17:00.001+02:00

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!

2010-07-22T23:21:00.000+02:00

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!

2010-07-22T04:16:00.013+02:00

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

EDMOND OKLAHOMA & LADY GAGA

2010-07-20T03:42:00.008+02:00

I wrote about us stopping at a few truck stops on our way to the next city every night. First of all because some of the ladies on our staff bus have to go to the bathroom, but we also get off and get something to drink or eat.
Well on our way from Edmond (Oklahoma) to Little Elm (Texas) earlier this morning we got off at a truck stop in Oklahoma City.

We first thought it was an early Halloween or some fancy dress competition when the next carload arrived and some teenage girls came in (with their parents). We soon found out there had been a Lady Gaga concert in town they had gone to.
Unfortunately I don't have kids myself, but if I had daughters I doubt if i would let them go into a truck stop dressed like this. And to be honest,.. I don't think they would consider doing it themselves either (although the Dutch are quite a bit more open-minded than the Americans).

Seeing our (rockstar-style) staff bus, the girls and their parents thought we were part of the Gaga crew, so the photocameras came out right away. Some of us had our photo taken with them as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROL!
Today is our Devils Food chef's birthday. Carol Vargas is a wonderful lady!
Have been working with her ever since my first tour with BD (2004).
Made her a special cake. Turned out three other members had their birthday as well today. Enough reason for a second cake of course!

Dinner was Philly Cheese Steak. DELICIOUS!!!!

The show in Edmond went well. I missed the first couple of corps, since I worked in the food truck to get snack started, but jumped in when Blue Stars were about to take the field. New uniforms again for them VERY NICE!
They use huge wooden crates on the field and perform magical tricks. No wonder, since their show title is "Houdini". Pretty cool stuff going on out there!
Blue Stars have someone from The Netherlands in their ranks. Danny Zuidhoek is one of their trumpet players. Back home he plays with Adest Musica (Sassenheim)

Phantom Regiment placed second tonight, and Blue Devils keep their series of wins going with an impressive score of 91.15 points, still giving them quite a lead over the other competetive corps. At the show in Van Buren (AR) tonight, the Cadets took first (88.8) over SCV (87.0).

Sat with Joury in the stands during Phantom Regiment's encore performance. Wow... they sound pretty! The corps played some selections from past successes, including "Overture 1812".

Enjoy,

HK

KANSAS CITY SOLD OUT

2010-07-20T01:52:00.000+02:00

It has been a while since there was a show in Kansas City!
I remember coming here for DCI Championships in the Arrowhead stadium back in 1989 and saw SCV win the championships with their Phantom of the Opera show.

I don't think there have been too many shows out here since.
Tonight was a very good event! Apparently they like drumcorps in this state. The show sold out tonight. About 4000 people came to see the "Brass Impact" show. They even $5 tickets for the back stands! How about that! But hey... who wants to sit there??!!

Pioneer have a pretty cool show! Opening to the sound of gospel. Pleasure seeing Donnie Allen again - I marched with him in the Empire Statesmen in 1992. He has written their horn charts for the last number of years and is doing a fine job. I couldn't believe the corps is marching 15 members from Mexico this season!
But,... they also have three members from South Africa in their ranks. Corps director Roman Blenski sponsors three or four members from the Field Band Foundation every summer and has them march in his corps.

I was just in South Africa earlier this year to help two field band projects get started in the towns of Dordrecht (yes, there is a town with the same name as mine out there) and Indwe. Good to see this international programme Pioneer has had with the FBF for many years has such a great effect ans impact on these members and the FBF organization in general.

Crossmen are performing a Pat Metheny show. Great music. Still very dirty though. Loved hearing "Minuano" on the field. that's not an easy piece!

Liked Madison Scouts better than I did at the previous show I saw them. "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" is a fantastic piece! New york Skyliners use to rip your face off with that!

Phantom Regiment had a great performance: "Into the Light", with music by Michael Kamin. Beautiful and elegant as always. Especially liked their drumline tonight! They are working on a major comeback after their disappointing placement in 2009.

With the strong wind in and around the stadium Blue Devils had some trouble with their mirrors. I wonder if they have a back-up plan if the weather is really bad and the wind is too strong. They will probably only use the movers (the metal frames that hold the mirrors). The show would definitely look a lot different, and would no doubt lose a lot of points. Fortunately only about 5 or 6 mirrors fell over.

The Colts, being the show host, went on last, and did the encore concert too.

Best thing about the evening?? Ran into Jubal-fellows Joury & Kitty, who are on tour with Phantom Regiment for the remainder of the summer. They're working in the souvenir trailer. Will see them again tomorrow.

Leftovers in the parking lot and out of here!!! Back on the road to Edmond (Oklahoma).

Enjoy,

HK

BD TRUMPETS ON VUVUZELAS

2010-07-19T04:23:00.000+02:00

I had brought a VUVUZELA on tour with me as a present for a friend of mine.
BD trumpet tech Chip Crotts heard about it and asked me to use it in the trumpet sectional last week as their training tool for the week.

I will try and update the regular blog later tonight.
In the meantime enjoy this little videoclip!

Enjoy,

HK

APPLEBEE'S

2010-07-18T22:28:00.005+02:00

Spent a long time chatting on the bus with Kris Wills, Ricky Odello and his fiancée Kelly McCormick the other night. That makes it a little harder to get up in the morning. Especially if there's also some Bacardi involved....

Today the corps had some excellent rehearsal time in the cool little stadium of Excelsior Springs, a small town near Kansas City. The did an afternoon block and n evening block from 6 to 10.

Brunch was great and dinner was even better yet. And not only for the members, but also for us.

We were invited by corps director Pete Emmons to go out for dinner at Applebee's tonight, with the cooks, drivers and promo. There were 20 of us altogether.
What a delicious dinner that was! I had a full slag of glazed spare ribs. That's pretty much my favourite meal when in the States.
I should make sure I get to go to TGI Friday's too some time this summer!

We didn't have time to go to Wal-Mart across the street, because we had to be back at the food truck to get snack (beef stew) out in time,... only to find out that they had decided to take the WHOLE CORPS to Wal-mart.
It would have been nice if they had told us about that. A lot of members didn't come by the food trailer for their snack, but were most likely going to grab a bite at Wal-mart.

Taking the corps to a Walmart is a highly unusual phenomenon. This hasn't been done for many many years.
For the same reasons that when the corps is on the road during the night they NEVER stop at a truck stop, but at rest areas only.
The corps would be in the store for hours!

It was great for the members they got this opportunity! Too bad we didn't get to go. We hardly ever get to go really.

We were allowed to use the washer and dryer in the Home Economics classroom, so I got to do my laundry, eventhough it was welll after midnight. At least I have a bunch of clean shirts to wear again!
Who knows whwn the next opportunity would be on tour. I think the corps will only have their next laundry in San Antonio.

Updated some more photos to the BD Mediabox from the last few shows in the meantime, then off to bed.

Not a very exciting day today really. Sorry about that. Some of these days are just like that...

Enjoy,

HK

WHAT A BUMMER !

2010-07-18T17:05:00.010+02:00

Yesterday was a crazy day! Especially because the show got cancelled. All corps must have been so excited to finally be in the same show with EVERYONE, and then this serious thunderstorm that hit the area screwed up the evening.
We already had a show that rained out (Omaha, Nebraska). Santa Clara Vanguard had not had a single show since last Tuesday.
For Cavaliers this was their third show that rained out (including their home-show in Naperville).

After a very good rehearsal and clinic day in the stadium yesterday the Blue Devils had another good double rehearsal block today to get ready for the first big major event (DCI regional).
And so was everybody else. But we'll have to wait until Texas before we will all meet again.

We had two tuba members that had their birthday today, so I made two cakes. Both spice cakes. That's one of the corps' favourites! I decorated only one of the cakes though. Since Mike is white and Anthony is black, the cake was split in two,... correct... with a white and a black tuba player. This caused quite some laughs. And that's exactly what the intention was!
We will have some more birthdays coming up, so I will have to come up with some other ideas.
And I want to do the show's logo one of these days.

For dinner we made MEAT LOAF. What a delicious dish! And quite simple in fact...
The vegetarians are enjoying my presence on tour as well. The spinach lasagna was well-received, and so was the broccoli soup.
Now they're asking for all sorts of different meals. Today I was asked if I could make hummus. Well, it's been a while, but shouldn't be too difficult!

I caught a ride to the stadium on the equipment truck, which is driven by Chuck this week. On our way over we were informed that DCI was delaying the show by 45 minutes. In fact that was about the longest delay possible, since the stadium has a sound ordnance. At 10PM the event should be done. Well,... that would most definitely have to be changed.

I came in when Madison Scouts were about to take the field. Their show is one big reprisal of what they have played in the past. All cool stuff, but far from what I had expected them to do. Then their uniforms with the short sleeved shirts,.... I don't think I like them at all. And there is absolutely no contrast in their show as far as colour is concerned.
The Colts performed next.

Two special guests at this show were the Governaires and Minnesota Brass, both Drum Corps Associates (senior) corps. I liked Minnesota Brass a lot. Haha.... Never too old to march I guess! Some members live on a pension for sure!
The Troopers, Blue Knights and Glassmen followed, and then the announcement was made that "an intersting rainstorm was coming our way" .

Wow... that was some rain alright. Tornado sirens went off. All spectators were sent to the restrooms for shelter. I ended up in the loading zone with the corps members.
It's really too bad this show was cancelled! It would have been a spectacular event. And who knows what the scores would be like!

When the storm had passed (the rain that is) the sky kept lit with lightning.
We (the food crew) didn't like the decision that was taken to still make snack for the corps. We first thought of tomato soup, but fortunately the decision was revised and we only put bread and peanut butter & jelly out, and fruit. It would have been ridiculous if we'd had to cook!
Especially since most members had found their way to one of the surrounding restaurants.

We're in Kansas City now and the corps is doing a full day of rehearsal,... well almost, because they got to sleep in until noon. The show isn't until Monday night.
We (the cooks, drivers and promo) are invited for dinner at Applebee's tonight. NICE !

Enjoy,

HK

DCI MINNEAPOLIS SHOW CANCELLED

2010-07-17T22:32:00.004+02:00

Well,... not for all participating corps,... but after DCI had delayed the schedule three times already the storm that was hitting the area at about 7PM litteraly put an end to the shows.

Phantom Regiment were set to go on the field, when they were pulled off.
All corps left their warm-up lots or were taken off their buses by the police and were told to go and find shelter inside the stadium.

All members mingled in the loading zone of the stadium. That was an unusual sight.
Here's a little videoclip of what I shot after the announcement was made in the stadium.

There was some interesting lightning outside as well!

Enjoy,

HK

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TON !

2010-07-16T23:49:00.003+02:00

Today is my brother Ton's 44th birthday. He's giving a party tomorrow. Here's to you bro!!! Have a good one. Some day I think I should bring him out here too. He used to be crazy about the American drumcorps music. Not so much anymore, but he always talks about it when I get back after a trip, and wants to hear some new repertoires.

And he is a great fan of Michael Jackson's music too,... so here's a little treat for you: The Cadets performing "Thriller" at their encore concert the other night.

We're at the University of Minnesota stadium. What a huge facility. Pretty impressive, knowing this is "only" part of a place where people STUDY. I wish our school system in The Netherlands would include a lot more sports and music in the programmes. I can only dream of that!

This morning we had another massive food order delivered. Man,... I am always surprised where we leave all this stuff on the food truck.

The mail came in too. Some of the members are sent big boxes of goodies. One of the booster club members always sends home`made cookies for the corps. They are GREAT! But spending $45 on postage is a bit outrageaous. We could buy a lot of cookies for that money right on tour. Bey hey... these are homemade, so very special!

Today BD are doing a System Blue clinic here with high school students, who had been ehre since Wednesday. That seems to go very well. After having studied some music with the BD staff/techs the hornline (and woodwinds) got to play together during warmup outside the stadium. The drummers had studied a cadence. Then tonight they got to see the full corps at work in the evening block. I took a seat in the stands too to watch the runthrough.

It's all so much nicer and more impressive when you see this in full uniform! This was a very good run, so they're ready for the big show tomorrow. All world class corps are going to be at the show tomorrow. EXCITING!

After the runthrough we fed the corps and all the System Blue clinic students one of the corps' favourite snacks: ROOT BEER FLOATS! Personally I don't like root beer at all, so I added Sunkist to the vanilla icecream myself.

Enjoy,

HK

MOUNT RUSHMORE STATE

2010-07-16T01:05:00.006+02:00

One of the places in the States that's still pretty high on my priority list to go and see is MOUNT RUSHMORE in South Dakota.
Well today we actually ARE in South Dakota,... but unfortunately nowhere close to it.
It will have to wait till another visit of this state. In fact, I think this is the first time i actually visited South Dakota.
There are only 7 states out of all 50 I haven't been to yet, including Hawaii and Alaska.

At a truck stop I had a good laugh at seeing a postcard of Mount Rushmore!
I have to share this with you all !

The weather here in Sioux Falls (SD) is way better than the two stops we had before this. Still a little warm, but not as humid, and no moqsuitos.

The board with the daily schedule for the corps always shows who our host is at the school. This is usually the band director. Today it was "Dean Versteeg". Second time in only a few days I thought I'd run into someone from the "old country",.. but no... He didn't speak Dutch either unfortunately.

Our food truck was parked right next to the practice field, so we enjoyed listening to the music all afternoon. Took a bunch of pictures for the BD website again. Am uploading them tomorrow.

Dinner was a Taco Salad Bar. That's always a hit among the members. They love it. There's so much out there on the table they could add to their tortillas. And believe me,... some plates are quite a piece of art!
We decided that next time we'll turn this Taco Salad Bar into a competition. The one with the best looking plate and the nicest name for his/her taco will win!

At the stadium I took some "behind the scenes" shots of the different corps getting ready for their warmup or ready to go on the field. I also saw Philip Schussler, who is marching Mellophone with The Cadets this season.

Tonight we saw The Colts in action. Met corps director Greg Orwell, who only joined tour today. Then The Troopers performed their show. So far I heard nothing but positive comments on The Troopers. The crowd seems to really like them a lot.

My buddy Viv was there again to give the Glassmen a big boost, waving his British flag. When i talked to him he said this was going to be his last season with the corps. Well,... he has said that the last five years I think... We'lll have to see about that!

I already wrote that I like the Blue Knights a lot more than in previous years. The color guard switches from bright orange to elegant blue dresses.

BD gets more and more crazy. lots of minor changes and additions have been made over the last week and seem to work well for them. You can see - among all top corps - that it's still pretty early in the season. The drill and set changes are still kind of dirty with both BD, Cavaliers and The Cadets.

The opening segment of The Cadets show features some Herald Trumpets. Well done!
Lots of fun stuff going on in their show too! This is a show I would like to see from high up in the stands one of these days. Well... that in fact counts for all of the shows. Cool drumsolo!

Cavaliers are the odd one out to me. So far I don't care much for their programme. The part where the whole hornline switches to rifles is spectacular though! And their unique marching style separates them from the rest of the corps. That's a fact!

Cadets did an encore after the show. Their rendition of "Rocky Point Holiday" has always been one of my favourites! Last year Cavaliers surprised everyone in San Antonio or Atlanta with Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The Cadets now play a version of the song as well. COOL!

We're on the road to Minneapolis, where a System Blue clinic has been going on since Wednesday night. Some 120+ high school marching band students have signed up for this 4-day "Marching Band Skills Camp". System Blue has sent the best of the best instructors to Minneapolis to teach these students.
Todd Ryan, John Bradford and Brent Turner for Visual; Van Mathews, John Meehan, Wayne Downey, Andre Feagi and Brandon Holt for Brass and Winds; Joel Matusak, Seve Fischer, Murray Gusseck and Scott Johnson for percussion; Scott Chandler, Jennifer Leseth for guard.
my long-time friend Patrick Seidling (formerly with The Madison Scouts, Southwind, and most recently corps director for Phantom Regiment from 2001-2006) is the System Blue live Events Manager.

Will try and catch some of the clinic activities tomorrow. The show in Minneapolis is going to be at the same venue: the beautiful stadium of the University of Minnesota.

We're now enjoying a few good rum & cokes (Bacardi Black!). I did some shopping at a local convenience store near the school. Posted some postcards as well.

Enjoy,

HK

SHOW IN OMAHA (NEBRASKA) CANCELLED

2010-07-15T01:04:00.003+02:00

The eerie clouds quickly making their way to over the show site were not too promising.
The weather forecast already said we were in for some severe thunderstorms by 7PM.

And so it happened. The Colts were already out on the field, but bailed out right after the drum major's salute.

Every corps litterally ran into the school building to hide. So did the crowd, so that place was pretty well-packed!

It came pouring down like crazy for about an hour, with gushing winds!
A perfect rainbow when the clouds passed was the result.

We served the corps snack and left Omaha at 11:30PM. As usual as the last corps to leave the parking lot. We're on our way to Sioux Falls (South Dakota). Only about 190 miles.

Today was Hector's birthday by the way. He plays the marimba in the pit. I made two sorts of cake. Both with fruit (pineapple and mandarins), and decorated one into a birthday cake. HE surely liked it!

Enjoy,

HK

MOSQUITO BITES

2010-07-14T02:58:00.006+02:00

Oh my god… You won’t believe how many bugs we have out here in Kansas! It’s absolutely ridiculous! Thousands of mosquitos. It’s almost as if the state was hit by a plague. Every member got stung a lot on the field, and so did we! Tonight at the show it was even worse!

I was talking to SCV staff member (and former drum major) Stuart Shulman before their show and he said they had cancelled their rehearsal after lunch today. Their housing site was near a marsh, so their mosquito invasion was even worse than ours! They had called the show sponsor and claimed another rehearsal site, otherwise they wouldn’t have come to the show at all.

I stayed up way too late last night with Kelly (Ricky Odello’s fiancée) and Rudy Garcia (snare tech) and had a couple of drinks on our bus.
I missed breakfast. For some reason the ladies on Devils Food let me sleep in a bit. They probably know about my short nights. I’m better at cooking lunch and dinner anyways.

However… tomorrow we have Breakfast Pizza on the menu! MY FAVOURITE!!
So I will make sure I am up then! No problem,… because we’re having brunch at 11AM, so everyone gets to sleep in a little. You would expect this top-corps would be up early and out on the field by 9 every day, but it’s all really very relaxed out here. There are a lot of days on tour that we skip breakfast and go straight into brunch at 11 or even 12:30. It also depends on the miles we have driven overnight though. The long hauls of 500+ miles take well over 10 hours. It’s a good thing we usually get to stay at the same place for two days after such distances.

The upcoming days will be back to back shows and nights on the road, however. We’re on our way to Nebraska now, then South Dakota, and Minneapolis Minnesota afterwards.

Today there was construction work in some road in the part of town our host school “Valley Center High School” is situated in, and in the whole are the water was shut down. Fortunately it came back on before rehearsal was over, because in this heat a shower was an absolute MUST!
On Devils Food the temperatures rose to 100 degrees (Fahrenheit). That would be about 37 in Celsius.

This was one of the very few days that the corps did NOT do a full runthrough at the end of rehearsal. They did go over all segments, including the new uniform change for the color guard that was going to be done for the first time at the show tonight.

Dinner was chicken fritters and chicken & gravy with green beans and the daily salad bar. For the vegetarians we had something that looked like spare ribs (or like our Dutch snacks: Mexicanos).
Apparently very tasty, because they loved them.

The showsite in Hutchinson was about 45 minutes away. We stayed there for the same show last year. I remember going to that air & space museum they have behind the stadium.
There were only 6 corps at the show. Ross Viner (the show coordinator) said that even though they had spent an extra $3000 on advertising, they simply couldn’t fill the stands. In fact there were a lot fewer people here than at last year’s show!
It was good to see the other DCI representatives that I have met over the years there too: Scott Speelman (you’d think he must have Dutch ancestors) and ………….. Very friendly guys!
Another DCI guy that has become a good friend is announcer Dan Potter. Always a pleasure to see him at shows too!

Seeing Vivian Whittaker (Yohoooooooooooooo Viv with his Union Jack) at show is a lot of fun. This crazy Brit travels with the Glassmen evry single summer. I think he has done this ever since his daughter marched. When the corps enters the field he waves his flag in the stands. I remember he brought a Dutch flag when we toured DCII in 2006!

DCI media contactperson Diane Peasel had promised me my media credentials for the remainder of the season would be waiting for me at the will call desk at the stadium. I was expecting single event media passes as they issued for me over the last few years, but to my surprise she had made an “ALL ACCESS” pass. That’s way easier than using the individual show passes.
Ran into some photographers I know from different DCI shows as well. The location of the stadium wasn’t too favourable though. With the sun setting behind the stands the field would end up half sunny and half in the shade, which completely screws up your light settings on your photo camera.
Especially during Colts and Glassmen this ruined quite some photos!

Blue Devils topped tonight’s show again, but went down in scores by just a little bit.
SCV placed second and Blue Knights third. I think we’ll see all of them again at the next few shows. BD also played the encore tonight by the way.

Enjoy,

HK

QUESADILLA SNACK

2010-07-12T23:59:00.005+02:00

After a very long ride (over 500 miles!!) we got to Valley Center, where we're staying at Valley Center High School for two days.
Seeing the whiteboard on the foodtruck after I got up put a smile on my face... The band director, our host here at the school these days is called JAN VERBOOM...
Well... could it be more Dutch or what?
I met him shortly after brunch, and started talking Dutch to him. Unfortunately he's the third generation Dutch in his his family since the first moved here, so never learnt any of our language. What a bummer!

The corps had two blocks of rehearsal today. We fixed Baked Ziti for dinner. I made three special batches for one of the staff members with a serious food allergy, a pan for the 7 vegetarians, and one little pan for a vegan.

It's a pain in the you know what,.. all these special meals... but they're more than worth it. And they all really appreciate it too that we make them something special. They are too often forgotten about, and have to settle for a "boca burger" or something.

At dinner all members had to hand in their uniforms, which were going to be washed at a Laundromat tonight. They do that a couple of times on tour. And not without reason! The unis absorb quite a bit of sweat in this heat, so a nice smelling uniform is always appreciated. Our bus is usually used for this uniform laundry adventure. About 6 people go along, and use up pretty much all the machines at the Laundromat. Our driver Warner, who doesn't normally help out with washing the uniforms and is probably not used to going to a laundromat, filled a machine with detergent, threw in a bunch of coind, turned the machine on,... and then realized he hadn't put any uniforms in.

This reminded me of the Jubal 2006 tour, when we took the whole corps to a Laundromat and our corpsdirector Bert and vice-president Jan were the first ones to come running off the bus to make sure they were the first ones to have a washing machine to themselves (because there were obviously too few machines to accommodate about 100 people). They litterlay ran in, threw all their laundry into a machine, put the coins in, turned the machines on and watched their dirty clothes spin.
The lady at the machine next to them asked: "You're not WASHING your clothes first?"
Only then they found out they were using the dryers instead. Obviously all the washing machines were in use by the members by then. Always a fun story to bring up.
I told it again on our bus tonight.

So far this blog has nothing to do whatsoever with the title QUESADILLA SNACK.
Quesadillas are one of the members' favourite snacks! I very well remember making them on the grill for the corps last year during Championships week. Then I grilled 638!! This year I "only" did about 450. First of all they had a very good and heavy dinner not too long ago so they probably weren't all that hungry, and we asked them to only take two to start with, so that every member would get a chance to have some in the first round, and then come back later for more.

I added a little kick to the cheese that goes into the quesadillas using taco seasoning, garlic powder and oregano. The ones with salsa and pepperoni were a hit too!! That batch was all gone in no-time.

Lights out was at 11PM. To Dutch standards that seems pretty early. I remember very well some of us used to stay up late a lot during our 2002 and 2006 tours. But believe me,.. most members wouldn't do anything rather than go to bed and sleep at this time. Some of them stay awake a little bit, and update their twitter and/or facebook pages. Some of the pictures I posted on the Blue Devils mediabox page have already been used as profile photos on several facebook pages of the members. That's cool!

I'm off to bed too. Breakfast is served at 8AM, so that means we would have to be in the kitchen by 6:30 to get everything ready. Tomorrow we're going to a show in Hutchinson. That should be fun! Very nice stadium there by the way.

Enjoy,

HK

FREE DAY IN DENVER

2010-07-12T03:30:00.003+02:00

The corps was up and running early this morning. We would all have a free day in the city. You already know this at breakfast when you see the members come down the line at the tables. Everyone is dressed nicely. It’s almost as if this is a different bunch of people. Elegant dresses, nice shirts… The only thing that still gives away they are drumcorps members is the sock tan!

Decided to cut my hair this morning. So shaved it way back to only some milimeters. Feels good in this kind of weather too!

The three corps buses dropped the members off at Laundromats to do laundry this morning. Some of the members were sad they couldn’t see the game. At lunch I heard they did get to see the beginning of the game at one of the Laundromats. I got to watch the game on our bus. I had put the Dutch flag up and made sure everyone heard the vuvuzela. Most of the staff on our bus watched the second half of the game.

The corps had a meeting in the gym, where Pete Emmons explained what can and especially can NOT be done on a free day. Obviously the legal drinking age in the States would apply to a lot of members, so the warning was pretty clear. If they would break the rule,… they would be sent home.

Envelopes were handed out to the section leaders. The booster club sponsors the free days, and gives $10 to each member. That’s an excellent gesture, especially since some of the members simply don’t have all that much money.

We were already on our way to Denver during the second half, and even the first 15 minute overtime started while on the road. Everyone was dropped off at Union Station where we were to be picked up at 10PM.

I found the very first bar that had the game on together with my buddy John. My orange Holland shirt evoked a lot of comments. All positive though! It seemed everyone in the bar was rooting for our team! The bartender found out I am Dutch, and said the beer was on the house! Nice!!
Unfortunately we didn’t win. The funny thing was that it cleared out the bar right away. We went to another (Irish) bar and had some appetizers. I had a Samuel Adams. Good beer!!

John was picked up by friends that live in Denver. He’s going home for a few weeks and then will join again later on. I cruised the town a bit, checked out some of the stores, and enjoyed the architecture. The museum is really nice! Ran into a devoted Spain-fan too He insisted on having his picture taken with me...

Most members went to see a movie today. And then had dinner at one of the many restaurants. The Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s and the Hard Rock Café were among the members’ favourites.
I hooked up with a bunch of them at the Cheesecake Factory, and told them I was going to be at the “Tilted Kilt” bar next door. Had a few Sam Adams beers, when Tylor and Colin joined me there. I treated them to a drink. Unfortunately it was a no-smoking bar,… I had bought some cigars too.
Cool bar!! Especially the sort of “Scottish style” dressed waitresses. Obviously we had to have our picture taken with them.
It was a fun day!

Back on the road now to Hutchinson, Kansas. In fact we will be staying in a town called
Let’s hope I can get access to the internet so I can upload this, and check my mail. It sucks if you think you can chat with your best friends back home, and then find out internet doesn’t work!!!

Enjoy,

HK

GO NEDERLAND!!!

2010-07-11T21:08:00.005+02:00

I am probably one of the very few Dutch who doesn't care for the game of football (soccer) at all. Today I am making an exception. Patriotism prevails...

I am dressed in my orange "Jup Holland Jup" Jupiler shirt, we put the Dutch flag up in the staff bus and my Vuvuzela is freaking out the other staff on the bus!!

GO NEDERLAND!!

Enjoy,

HK

BIG WIN FOR DEVILS IN DENVER

2010-07-11T01:13:00.001+02:00

Happy 50th birthday Thierry! I was invited to come to my friend Thierry Plume’s 50th birthday party in Auvelais (Belgium) today, but I’m just a little too far out of the way to pop in at his party. Have a good one my friend! I used to teach at the Borsalino drum & bugle corps he ran in the French-speaking part of Belgium.

Today was the “big day” for the Blue Devils. It was the first time they would go against one of their closest rivals from the East Coast : The Cadets were in town and were to perform at the Denver “Drums Along the Rockies” show in Invesco Field – the beautiful stadium of the Denver Broncos football team.

We’re housed at a high school in Brighton, not too far from Denver. Rehearsals are going really well. All the staff are on tour now, so that will give the corps a great boost. In between meals I watched some of rehearsal today. They’re all in good shape!

We have wifi on the staff buses, so I can easily upload text here on my weblog, and a lot of photos to the Blue Devils mediabox. And of course I get to check my email and see what my best friends are up to on Facebook.
Unfortunately we got shut down today, because we heard that we went way over the download limit, so the corps will get a bill for the extra used Gigabytes. They’re working on changing the account into a much bigger capacity, so we will probably be OK in the next few days.
Good thing, because I’m desperate to chat!!

Dinner was once again delicious. We had chicken fillets from the grill basted with barbecue sauce. And we turned the leftover baked potatoes in a tasty potato salad. I then pitched a ride to the stadium with Bill Seeley in the equipment truck.
The parking officials gave us parking lot #14. That must be a sign….

The buses left about half an hour after we did. I picked up my media credentials at the will call office and made my way into the stadium. DCI Championships were here in 2004. It definitely is one of the best stadiums for this activity. Not only as a facility for the corps, but also for us photographers! The light (for TV broadcast) is absolutely fantastic. I don’t even have to go into the high ISO at all !

I saw the Colts and Glassmen for the first time tonight. The Troopers were here too. They’re aiming for keeping that Finals spot they regained last year! And I think they have a good chance at doing so.

Ran into a lot of corps people I have met over the many years I have been coming out to DCI. Always good to see familiar faces while on tour! Chatted with percussion virtuosos Ralph Hardimon for a little bit. Also saw Fred Morris and Rod Owens again. Rod used to be Glassmen’s tour director (also when they came to Europe) and is now the tour director for the Troopers.
At the show my fellow Drum Corps World photographer Pat (from Boston) was shooting for the magazine. I promised Steve to send in a bunch of shots during tour as well.

Blue Devils were on right after the intermission. That was kind of odd, having the defending champions play first after the break, followed by three other top-corps.

Bringing the mirrors into the stadium was quite the experience. The tunnel was too low to bring them in straight up, so a couple of staff members tilted every one of them to make sure nothing got damaged. This took too much time, but contest director Tom Hope (former Freelancers director) told the corps it would not affect them as far as penalties or anything were concerned.
The show was very well received by the crowd! And after the very good runthrough I saw this afternoon, this performance set the standard for the rest of the season.

Santa Clara Vanguard’s production of Bartók just doesn’t do it for me. It is by far as good and entertaining as last year’s SCV show. Thomas Claessen is doing a fine job in the tenorline. I briefly saw him after the show outside the stadium. Our mutual friend Marc Lust from Oostende is coming in in two weeks to volunteer with SCV. It will be fun hanging out with him as well.

Cadets perform ToySouldier. Lots of gimmicks in their show this year! The first part of the show all color guard are dressed the same as the drummers and brass, which makes the corps look huge! Later they take their jackets off to show a bright fuchsia top. Fast drill and spectacular formation rotations once again prove to be Cadets’ trademark. I especially liked the opening segment when they used Herald Trumpets.

The Drums Along the Rockies show is sponsored by host-corps Blue Knights. It’s been a long, very long time since I last liked them as much as I like them this year! Their musical selection is very accessible, and their whole show is just nice to watch.

Everyone in the corps was a bit nervous tonight because this was the first time they would meet the Cadets. Well,… when the scores were announced it took away quite a bit of the tension.
Blue Devils: 88.0 points versus Cadets: 85.7 points.

We’re back at the school in Brighton now. It’s well after midnight and we have just finished (leftovers) snack. Tomorrow is a free day. The corps will do laundry first. We will pack, wait for them to get back at lunchtime, and then head to downtown Denver. Tomorrow is the World Cup Finals. I was going to try and watch it with some of the trumpet players and some tubas in a sportsbar, but with the schedule we have for tomorrow that’s not going to happen. We will only go to Denver somewhere between 1:30 and 2PM.
The good new is that our bus also has satellite TV, so we will watch it on the bus. Let’s hope our team does well.

Enjoy,

HK

STIR-FRY WAS A HIT !!

2010-07-10T02:27:00.009+02:00

Today the corps had rehearsal all day, so we were up and running very early to get breakfast ready for 8AM. Most days the food crew is up about 2 hours earlier than the corps gets up, and usually goes to bed well after lights out. Especially on days where we don’t move!
Breakfast was chocolate chip pancakes. Lunch was a sandwich bar, plus two different pasta salads and tuna salad. These members love salads, and especially the condiments! The food table looked like a warzone after lunch. It’s scary to see how much some of them eat!

Shortly before lunch the weekly food order came in. Some $6000 worth of food and utensils for the food truck is delivered right at our truck. When they unload their truck with all the stuff, you'd wonder where we would leave everything. A lot of frozen and refrifgerated food too! It takes a while to get everything loaded into our vehicle, but we manage every time.

Today was one my favourite days in the kitchen, and I knew it was going to be one of the members’ favourite as well! I was going to make my famous Chicken Teryiaki and Chicken Sweet & Sour stir-fry today! And not to forget the peanutsauce, which is virtually unknown here in the States.

The corps had 3 rehearsal blocks. I got to watch some of that too. Very interesting exercises by the hornline, also combined with visual/marching. Now the funny part is going to be that fact that they (the trumpet section) are going to be using the orange VUVUZELA I brought. Trumpet tech Chip asked me if he could borrow it. It was going to be the “teaching tool for the day”, he said. He then explained to the trumpets if anyone showed they didn’t know all the show music yet, he was going to make them march that part of the show with the vuvuzela. Well,.. that would look funny! The members got a good laugh out of that one. He explained that renowned brass instructor Donnie Vandoorn used to make his members march drill with an orange cone if they didn’t know their parts.

Some changes were made in the drill and minor changes in the music too today.
After a pretty chilly (if not cold) evening last night, the weather turned out just great today. In fact it was pretty warm!

It got quite hot on the food truck too when I made dinner. Carol & Sandy helped me with the rice. Easy going rice they had: Minute Rice. Just boil water, use a set amount per carton, toss in the rice, let it sit for 5 minutes (and the rice soaks up the water), and it’s ready to go.
I seasoned it, and added the garlic, onions, vegetables and marinated meat I had prepared earlier this afternoon. Everything right from the grill. Made four big pans. We only had three throw-aways left. Always good for leftovers at snack tomorrow! They were totally digging the peanut sauce too!
Always good to hear they appreciate a different meal.

Watched the runthrough tonight. Unfortunately at rehearsal they don’t use the actual mirrors, which add a great effect. Having shot the shows from the frontsideline it was cool to see the show from the stands now. Ran into a few members that marched over the last year, who live in the area.

Snack (cheese bagels) tonight was prepared by the three drum majors Brian Howard, Andrew Rogers and Tania Schmitfranz. Cheese bagels is one of the corps’ favourite snacks. I think they went through about 500+.

Now I am uploading more photos for the BD Mediabox and typing this new update for my weblog. The Nest (our luxurious tourbus). John and I turned the table into quite an office! We are the only ones still at work.

Some of our fellow support-staff members just watched Avatar on the entertainment center in the Nest. The sound from the DVD player is AMAZING. It’s almost as if you’re sitting in an actual theatre!! Most are to bed now though!
I'm going soon too,.. gotta get up early for tomorrow's (read: today's) breakfast

Enjoy,

Hans

FIREWORKS IN THE ROSE BOWL

2010-07-09T03:44:00.002+02:00

Well,.. I finally got my new phone synchronized with the computer too,... so here's the finale of the Americafest 2010 fireworks display at the Pasadena Rose Bowl on the 4th of July. Enjoy, HK

LONG DRIVE TO COLORADO !

2010-07-08T22:00:00.005+02:00

Last night was a looooooooooooooooooong drive!!! We left Ogden Utah not too long after the show. We got here little after 8 this morning after having put some 500+ miles on the odometer. We will be here (Henderson, Colorado) for the next 4 days.

The show at Mile High Stadium in Denver isn't until Saturday night, so the corps will have plenty of time cleaning stuff in their show, and adding new things to it.
The corps had two block of rehearsal time today. We served brunch at only 1PM, so the members all got time to sleep in a little bit.
Brunch was hash browns, home fries, a variety of scrambled eggs, and delicious choclolate muffin.

Dinner was a taco salad bar, so I chopped quite a bit of tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, and I don't know what...
It's unbelievable through how much food these members go. I also made pasta salad for dinner or snack.
We grilled some 70 pounds of ground beef for the taco salad bar! And it's all gone now. You should see how much food some of them stack on their plate!

This afternoon I checked my email and answered some. Found out that all my media credentials will be waiting for me at the Hutchinson show. I will get a separate pass for this Saturday. Also read through the Jubal Italy diary on the Jubal site. Cool!

The showers at the school are scorching hot! But hey... it's good to have a shower.
We are even able to do some laundry here at the school these days.
Also uploaded some more photos for the Blue Devils website. Check it out on the mediabox on http://bluedevils.org/mediabox/

The hornline paid tribute to famous bass arranger Jim Ott at warmup tonight. I posted some videofootage of that on my facebook page. Jim died exactly 30 years ago today.

Watched some of rehearsal too tonight. Unfortunately the lights in the school stadium didn't work, so they had to do sectionals instead.
Some lady from the neighbourhood came and complain about the "noise". I think that was only at 9PM. SHe'd going to be in for a surprise tomorrow night then,... when rehearsal (including runthrough) is planned until 10PM.

Enjoy,

HK

ACTUALLY ON THE ROAD WITH CORPS NOW

2010-07-07T20:51:00.009+02:00

Today is the date our carnival/mardi gras band “De Rammen” celebrates its 33rd anniversary. Have a good one everyone!

Today was also my first day to really get to work for the corps. They let me sleep in just a little bit, but then I spent most of the day on Devils Food – the food truck.

We cooked breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack today. Caught some of the rehearsal too. What a great location, with these mountains in the background!

I put on my HOLLAND T-shirt when I walked over to rehearsal. I knew Colin Meyer (the one I also met in Florida last summer – see older posts!) was rooting for Germany because of his family background, and he was hoping the World Cup finals would be The Netherlands versus Germany. Well,… I told him the “bad news”. He definitely was NOT happy.

We all agreed that Sunday on the corps’ free day in Denver we will try and look for a Sportsbar to see the Finals together. There’s plenty of Blue Devils members that love the game.
Samer, the trumpet player I mentioned earlier, has relatives in The Netherlands. He was wearing a cool Holland-shirt as well.

The show was in Ogden. Beautiful scenery on the way over there.
At the show I saw Martjan, a member of Pasveer, who is marching Seattle Cascades. Well,.. he’s not actually marching, because he plays keyboards in the pit.
I promised his dad to take some pictures. Unfortunately I missed the show performance.

Blue Devils stunned the crowd, which was a very responsive bunch! They took top honours with a score of 85.10 points. The biggest surprise of the evening was that Blue Knights beat Santa Clara Vanguard. I think that has never happened before!
After a good Ravioli snack and some free icecreams I am back on the Nest, uploading photos and texts.

Will hit the sack pretty soon! So goodnight everyone. We will be in Brighton (Colorado) the next few days, for the show in Denver this Saturday. I am very thankful to my longtime friend John Christensen for letting me use his extra computer. John is producing the Inside Blue Devils DVDs and the Blue View episodes on the BD Mediabox. I have known him for quite some years now. Great guy. And a great drinking buddy too! Well,... not yet so much this tour, because I have only just been here, but I defintiely remember some nights at some basr down the road during the 2008 tour.
For the 2008 DVDs he used a lot of my photography to go with the 5.1 recording.

Enjoy,

HK

ROAD TRIP TO CEDAR CITY, UTAH

2010-07-06T22:47:00.008+02:00

We’re on the road to Cedar City now, it’s about 4PM. Just heard the Dutch team made the Finals.

Got up at 8:30 this morning. First stopped at the Riverside Post Office to pick up the mail for the corps. During tour the corps has about 8 mail stops that parents and friends can send stuff to for their kids in the corps. We were totally surprised the lady said there was NOTHING there. Unusual,… because there is ALWAYS mail for members!

Headed to the RV place to exchange the motorhome, but our new one hadn’t come back yet, so a stop at Wal-Mart was a warm welcome!! By noon we went back to pick up the motorhome. It’s HUGE !!! It’s a 35’ (10.5m) Pursuit. That will be fun driving it later today!

Oh, we headed back to the post office in Riverside, because we both thought it was impossible there was no ail for the corps. So I called, and got the supervisor on the phone: “Yeah there’s tons of stuff for you guys waiting here for you!” When I talked to the lady she said: “Well your friend gave me his ID, so I looked under his name...”. She hadn’t listened to what we said… That’s for sure!

We stopped on the way for lunch at In-‘n-Out Burger. Good burgers there!!
The first half of the trip it was time for me to upload last night’s photos to the laptop. I will send them to the BD website tonight, so they will probably be posted later tonight or tomorrow. Check out the Blue Devils MEDIABOX page if you get a chance. Cool stuff!

The road to Cedar City was absolutely spectacular! Especially the second half which I drove. We drove right through Las Vegas! That would have been nice to make a quick stop there! Oh well… some other time!
We got to Cedar City at about 10PM. The corps was to leave for Utah at 11. Perfect timing.

I put my stuff on the Nest - our support staff vehicle, which used to be the fancy rockstar bus the instructional staff used last few seasons. By the way… all corps vehicles have a name, including the memberbuses (the ’04, the Hound and the Funliner). The Nest stands for “Non Essential Staff Transportation”. This bus has 17 bunks to sleep in. Oh,.. I wrote that before, right?

Enjoy,

HK

JULY 5 - RIVERSIDE, CA

2010-07-05T23:43:00.009+02:00

It’s Monday already. Can’t believe how fast this all goes. After breakfast I uploaded some stuff onto the computer and internet from Jarrod’s computer, and then we (Angela and I) took off to a pre-show pool party at Mike Gurrola’s house. On the way over we stopped at the all to check out the Apple store. Unfortunately the laptop I brought from school isn’t working properly. It does accept the wifi signal and it does connect, but I don’t et onto ANY website at all. Weird! Probably some kind of setting, but I can’t change that – only the school administrator can do that.

Now I had been thinking of getting a Macbook Pro anyway, so this might be a good time. You wouldn’t believe the line outside the store though. In fact there were TWO lines, one of which was just for the new Iphone! We decided to leave, drop my luggage off at the corps and head out to that party.

That was a lot of fun! Again a lot of former Blue Devils members!! Mike has a large pool next to his house. Some of the others were playing “beer pong”. Enough to eat and especially drink at this party. The grill was on too. More and more people stopped by. I think we were little over 25. Great fun!

Jared Andrews (BD tenor 2004) gave me a ride to the stadium, where I watched some warmups. BD’s warmup always attracts quite a crowd in the lot, especially here since Riverside is sort of a “home-show”. Lots of members and alumni are from Southern California, and a lot specifically from Riverside. Many used to march in the RCC drumline. Tom Float, former drum instructor for the corps stopped by at warmup too.
At the hornline a lot of alumni were brought into the section circles to introduce themselves and talk a little about their time and years in the corps.
The show went really well! The crowd loved it, even though it’s a very unusual programme.

The original idea was to hop on tour with the corps here in Riverside tonight, but I’m only leaving tomorrow. The buses and trucks left at 11:30 PM. I stayed behind with Keith Hales (long-time driver for the corps), because there was a problem with the motorhome, and we were to return and exchange it in the morning. That gave us a good excuse to stop at Jared’s afterparty. We took the motorhome right to his house and had plenty of space to park. I think there must have been about 80 people at the party. That was cool! Again enough to drink and plenty of people to talk to, some of whom I already knew, but made a few new friends too!

By 3AM most had left, so I decided to crash in the motorhome too, because it was going to be quite a ride the next day, all the way to Cedar City, Utah.

Enjoy,

HK

JULY 4 - Part #2

2010-07-05T08:26:00.003+02:00

In the meantime all the mirror screens used in the show were brought into the stadium. The tunnel was just not high enough to roll them straight onto the field, so it was decided to take them out there well before the show started. Last year it was a set of white chairs, this year mirrors… I wonder what they will come up with for 2011.

Back at the buses and trucks dinner was served. And I got to talk to a lot of vets in the corps. Some of them were eager to know how Jubal – our corps back in the Netherlands – was doing. Some had checked out the news on the DCI website or drumcorpsplanet.com.

And obviously a lot talked about our national football (soccer) team as well… They were surprised I don’t really care about the sport. OK,.. it would be nice if they’d make the Finals, I admit.
All of last night’s corps were in the show tonight as well. It would be an exhibition performance (no judging!)

There is always a good crowd turn-out at this Americafest event. This year they expected about 25.000 – 28.000 people. The funny thing is they all take their seats starting right behind the goal on the end-zone and working to both sides from there. That meant that the concertside (pressbox side) the corps would be playing to were filled to little over the 45 yardline. Highly unusual for a drumcorps show. But the people didn’t come for the corps first. They were there to witness the best and biggest fireworks display in California at the conclusion of the corps performances.

The crowd did numerous waves during the ballad performed by The Academy, which was pretty disturbing, but very funny at the same time.

Devils’ show was very relaxed. You could tell they didn’t have the stress of being judged. Everything was pretty loose, but still very well-performed.

The mirrors work very well for the corps. Musically there are a few highlights to be recognized from previous BD repertoires, a good reflection of the past. The feet are still pretty dirty but I’m sure that will improve in the next weeks.

In the finale right before the fireworks the corps played a patriotic piece first followed by a joint version of Battle Hymn of the Republic.
The fireworks display was definitely one of the very best I have ever seen. It lasted well over half an hour, shooting incredible stuff into the air. Apparently some $ 60.000 went up in the air tonight.

Nick Massoto, one of the 2009 tuba players dropped me off at Angela and Jarrod’s house on his way home. I had a lot of fun with the 2009 tuba line last summer. Especially on the free day in San Antonio. I think I will buy them some cigars next week.

Enjoy,

HK

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

2010-07-04T23:34:00.003+02:00

Had an incredible breakfast that Gary’s mom cooked!
Today Americans are celebrating the 234th birthday of their nation. There are festivities all around the country. Parades, fairs, concerts, picnics, barbecues and fireworks! I was lucky enough to be able to go to Pasadena for one of the largest celebrations in the State of California: Americafest 2010. This annual event is held in and around the ROSE BOWL in Pasadena, a stadium that can seat 90.000 people at games! Wow!

Jennifer Langford – BD color guard ’09 – picked me up at Gary’s parents and was going to meet up with a bunch of BD guard members for lunch. Blue Devils had the day off at and around the stadium before their evening performance.
Talked to quite a few ’09 members who are marching again this year, before they all wandered off to the activities on the stadium grounds. Lots of food stands! The army trailer was a hit too! You could practice your shooting skills and even “fly” a helicopter! Had a good time with Samer (one of the trumpet players) firing a gun at some screen.

Good to see my fellow DEVILS FOOD food crew people I will be working with the next five weeks too! And not to forget: THE NEST, our home on wheels during tour. We upgraded quite a bit from last years, because we got the former staff bus to ride. Very nice and very comfortable!!! It sleeps 17!

The drumline had an early warm up because they had a gig right before the gates of the stadium opened. The drumline marched down the road to the gate. The crowd – which were camping out with little tents and barbecues on the grass – loved it! On the “stage” in front of the stadium the drummers played for the entering crowd. Very relaxed and very entertaining! Some of the kids coming by got the chance to bang on a few drums as well.

Also Brandon – a 12-year-old – who was at the System Blue clinic. He is an incredible talent. At the clinic he joined the snareline. He could play the entire opener (learnt from audio recordings), and played it extremely well. There’s some video footage of that too, which I will try and post here as well later. Great kid! Unbelievable how he manages to know the whole piece including the visuals!

To be continued.... Gotta go

SEEING BACK LOTS OF FRIENDS

2010-07-04T09:20:00.005+02:00

I was surprised I already woke up at 8AM. Must be the time difference and the body clock that tells me it’s time to get out of bed… Excellent donuts for breakfast!
Angela drove me to Gary’s house where I was to spend the day, hang out at the pool, have a few drinks and go to the Walnut show in the evening.

Gary was visiting his parents for the 4th of July weekend. He’s a great guy. I had him stay over at my place last year, when he was in France for clinics. We had a blast then,.. going to Rotterdam and Amsterdam for the day. Good times!
The house has a huge pool in the back yard, so obviously we ended up in the nice & refreshing water (with a beer!).

Got dinner at some Chinese restaurant before we headed out to the DCI show in Walnut.
It was great seeing all those Blue Devils friends back again. The rumour was already out that I’d be joining tour a week early. And apparently – as they told me when they got off the bus - some got really excited when they saw me in the parking lot when their buses rolled in. How cool. Especially the vegetarians are looking forward to some special meals.

Always good to hear they are all welcoming you back here! Such great people!
What a reunion it was in Walnut. Not only a lot of members from the 2009 season were still in the corps, but so many alumni living in Southern California came to the show to see Blue Devils.
My press pass was not at the will call office, but it wasn’t any problem going to the front sideline to shoot some of the corps’ performances. Lots of familiar faces in the stadium too.

Obviously my long-time friend Al Murray was there. We had quite a chat about lots of stuff. He was just in Europe early May. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to meet then. Glad to hear he’s doing well. The System Blue program is working well! The Blue Devils just had a three day System Blue clinic weekend in Riverside. Al told me aout the new System Blue/King brass instruments BD are using. They (John Meehan & King) have designed a whole new line of instruments, and BD are already playing on the new trumpets and mellophones. Looking forward to trying out one of the trumpets myself.
I also ran into Ed Dempsey. I used to march with him in Reading Buccaneers back in 1987! And DCI announcer Dan Potter, who always has his specific way of welcoming me. Last time he said “When I see you at DCI, I know the summer has really begun”.
This year’s version “So they let you into the country again… That’s great!”
Always good to see him, and always interested in what’s going on back in the Netherlands and with Jubal. He was all excited that we’re bringing the corps back to the States next summer, and would like to do an interview with me about that one of these days for the DCI Field Pass reports. So we need to sit down one of these days.

Fellow photographers Jeff Sallee and Chris Maher were at the show too, and my good friend Charlie Groh. What a character he is! He is a former Vietnam helicopter pilot. Wonderful guy! He was shooting for drumcorpsplanet.com.
I didn’t get to see all the corps at the show. Liked Pacific Crest, which seem to have made a lot of progress over the last few years. Academy is pretty solid too.

Santa Clara Vanguard are playing Bartok. Good to see Thomas Claassen from Oostende in the tenor line. He’s doing an excellent job! Talked to him briefly after the show.

The Blue Devils show is something else. I know I will have to see this a couple of times before actually realising what is going on on the field. Very innovative,.. very new,… very unexpected. The mirrors on the field create a great extra dimension! It almost doubles the size of the corps visually at times, and used very effectively. I will have to get used to the music too. Stan Kenton’s City of Glass is not the most accessible stuff he produced, but a very challenging repertoire to work with for the corps. Good to “La Suerto de los Tontos” back!

After the show we hung out a little bit and went to the YARD HOUSE with the entire BD staff for a few drinks. Crashed at Gary’s parents for the night.
A very good second day on US soil!

Enjoy,

HK

GREAT FIRST DAY

2010-07-03T08:40:00.004+02:00

This first day was a great one!
With my flight having been rescheduled I had to leave home real early, so I had to “miss” the last day at school. Otherwise I could have gone to school, and catch a train at bout 1PM and get to the airport at ease. Well that changed when I found out I was rerouted through London on a flight that left at 7:20 Am. Su much for stopping by school…

In total I had been up and running (not counting the time I slept on the plane though) for a good 52 hours. And it still felt OK.
Angela (my long-time Blue Devils color guard alumni friend) picked me up from the airport.

I was so lucky at the airport. The line for US citizens at immigration was way longer than the line for non-US visitors. This was the first trip ever I did not have to fill out an I-94 form (visa waiver). Apparently the ESTA forms we have to fill out online before the trip are sufficient information for the authorities. So I got through Immigration in no-time. No problems at all. The friendliest officer ever at the desk!
Then my suitcase was one of the first to come down the conveyer belt, so I was the very first to walk through customs too. Waited a little bit outside for Angela to drive by the terminal and pick me up.

We went by the Cerritos High School where Angela teaches color guard. The band is not all that big. It was fun running into some other BD people I know there. Jessie is teaching visual and Nicole, who aged out with Angela back in 2004 is teaching the front ensemble. This trip is turning into a reunion already! I like it!
I stopped at Wal-Mart for a bit and do some errands. I had just remembered I forgot to bring my toothbrush.

Picked up Angela at the school and went to Long Beach, where she works at “District Wine”, a very cool new wine bar right in the middle of where it all happens in long Beach. The place is run by Mark Dunton (former BD and Scouts instructor) and his fiancé Angela Mesna.

What a great place they have. This would totally be something for me back in Holland!! I just might it another thought!
A bunch of other friends stopped by that evening too. My dear friend Gary Juarez came too. He was in town visiting his parents for the July 4 weekend. Gary came and stayed with e last year May when he was over for clinics in France. Fun guy!
Also Jennifer (BD guard 2009) came, and Preston Howard, who I believe I met ages ago, but really got acquainted to last year, when he was teaching Millenium drum & bugle corps from Italy. I saw him at the DCE Championships. And Jessie, who is on BD’s visual staff and will be on the same tour-bus as I will be on throughout tour. That will be fun. He brought a friend who marched SCV. We all turned out to have quite a few mutual friends!

The evening was a blast. The red wine they serve is excellent!!!
Took a couple of group shots at the end of the evening, before we left.
Jessie made blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs at Angela’s and Jarrod’s and I think we only hit the sack at about 4AM.

Enjoy,

HK

ARRIVED IN THE STATES

2010-07-02T22:28:00.000+02:00

My flights went well. Took a taxi from home at 4am. Then the train to schiphol for the first part of the trip to London. A 3 hour layover and then an 11 hour flight to LA.
God... The american airlines crew is OLD! I have never seen that many wrinklies on a plane before.
I slept pretty much through the whole flight. The stewardess was kind enough to leave my meals on the tray next to me.
Immigration & customs at the airport were a piece of cake.
Wsas one of the first ones in line for immigration and the VERY FIRST to get his suitcase and walk through customs.
Angela (bd alumni) picked me up. We went by her band camp rehearsal and I went to walmart for a bit.
Now at a wine bar run by my drumcorps friend mark dunton in Long Beach. A bunch of bd alumni joined us: gary, jennifer, jessie & preston. Ron - former SCV - is here too.
Great first day. I love it already!!!
Enjoy,
HK

THE 2010 SUMMER TOUR

2010-06-15T18:37:00.002+02:00

Another couple of thousand miles will be put on the odometer this summer.
Here's the trip I will be making as of July 3:

July 3 - Walnut CA
July 4 - Pasadena CA
July 5 - Riverside CA
July 6 - Cedar City - UT
July 7 - Ogden UT
July 8 - Brighton CO
July 9 - Brighton CO
July 10 - Denver CO
July 11 - Denver CO
July 12 - Hutchinson KS
July 13 - Hutchinson KS
July 14 - Omaha NE
July 15 - Sioux Falls SD
July 16 - Minneapolis MN
July 17 - Minneapolis MN
July 18 - Kansas City MO
July 19 - Kansas City MO
July 20 - Edmond OK
July 21 - Little Elm TX
July 22 - Dallas TX
July 23 - Houston TX
July 24 - San Antonio TX
July 25 - San Antonio TX
July 26 - Lafayette LA
July 27 - Hattiesburg MS
July 28 - Hattiesburg MS
July 29 - Murfreesboro TN
July 30 - Murfreesboro TN
July 31 - Atlanta GA

August 1 - Alpharetta GA
August 2 - Salem VA
August 3 - Salem VA
August 4 - Fairfax VA
August 5 - Fairfax VA
August 6 - Allentown PA
August 7 - Orchard Park/Buffalo NY
August 8 - Orchard Park/Buffalo NY
August 9 - Orchard Park/Buffalo NY
August 10 - Orchard Park/Buffalo NY
August 11 - Carmel IN
August 12 - DCI QuaterFinals - Indianapolis IN
August 13 - DCI SemiFinals - Indianapolis IN
August 14 - DCI World Championships - Indianapolis IN
August 15 - Indianapolis IN

August 15 - August 20: relaxing with my relatives in Grand Rapids, MI

Enjoy,

HK

BACK TO THE USA

2010-06-14T18:26:00.004+02:00

This summer I will be touring with the Concord BLUE DEVILS again for several weeks as part of their staff. This will mark my 6th season volunteering with them.
Should be another fun tour!
I will join them July 3 when they are in Southern California.

Celebrating July 4 in the States is a great experience.
It's been a while since I was last there on Independence Day.
Tons of parades everywhere. BD have a show at the Americafest in Pasadena's Rose Bowl stadium that evening!

So the HK-weblog posts will be back online this summer! Come back & check them out.
Have been thinking of switching to Dutch though. Haven't decided on that one yet.

Enjoy,

HK

AND DAD SAYS TO HIS SON....

2009-09-10T22:29:00.002+02:00

09-09-09,... NINE NINE NINE

2009-09-09T21:09:00.003+02:00

Today is the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that will appear on the calendars before January 1, 2101. Well... I am sure WE won't be there to witness it.
The real date-freaks should mark their calendars on January 1, 3001 of course.

Apple swithed its iPod release day from the traditional Tuesday to a Wednesday; new films were released today, ... all in all a much anticipated date!
Lots of couples got married too today. Las Vegas, known for drive-through wedding chapels saw one of its hotels offering a special marriage deal as well. The Stratosphere hotels/casino offers quickie weddings. It was angling to marry off 99 couples at 9:09 p.m. for $99.09!!

Oh,.. and digitally remastered versions of all of the Beatles studio albums were released today too! I was given a chance to sit behind one of the original 60s Beatles drumset which is on display at the Zildjian factory in Massachusetts. How about that for a brass-player...

Do I think it is a special date? No, not really. It sounds nice though.
My students in school enjoyed writing 09-09-'09 on their test papers today.

I wonder if my maths colleagues talked about this date at all.
I know they're teaching Pythagoras in some classes now. Well,.. I read that it was Pythagoras who realized that there was something special about the number 9.
If you multiply nine by any single-digit number you will get a two-digit number of which the sum will equal nine again. (9x4= 36; 3+6=9 or 9x8=72; 7+2=9)

Or how about this one: Multiply nine by any two, three or four-digit number and the sums of those will also get you back to NINE again! (9x254 = 2286; 2+2+8+6=18; 1+8=9)

Another year until October 10, 2010. I think I'd prefer November 11, 2011: The date we celebrate the beginning of the Carnaval season!

Enjoy,

HK

NEW YORK CITY,... COULD STILL HAVE BEEN DUTCH

2009-09-08T18:29:00.001+02:00

New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam) was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that later became New York City. This week the city of New York is celebrating this great moment in history, exactly 400 years later.

The harbor and the river had been discovered, explored and charted by an expedition of the Dutch East India Company captained by Henry Hudson when he first sailed by what is now Manhattan on September 11, 1609 on the Halve Maen. Through 1614, the territory was surveyed and charted by various private commercial companies on behalf of the States General of the Dutch Republic and operated for the interests of private commercial entities prior to official possession as a North American extension of the Dutch Republic as a provincial entity in 1624.

The town developed outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in the New Netherland territory (1614–1674). Provincial possession of the territory was accomplished with the first settlement which was established on Governors Island in 1624. A year later, in 1625, construction of a citadel comprising Fort Amsterdam was commenced on the southern tip of Manhattan and the first settlers were moved there from Governors Island.

The town was founded in 1625 by New Netherland's second director, Willem Verhulst who, together with his council, selected Manhattan Island as the optimal place for permanent settlement by the Dutch West India Company. That year, military engineer and surveyor Krijn Frederiksz laid out a citadel with Fort Amsterdam as centerpiece. To secure the settlers' property and its surroundings according to Dutch law, Peter Minuit created a deed with the Manhattan Indians in 1626 which signified legal possession of Manhattan. He was appointed New Netherland's third director by the local council after Willem Verhulst returned home in November 1626.

The city, situated on the strategic, fortifiable southern tip of the island of Manhattan was to maintain New Netherland's provincial integrity by defending river access to the company's fur trade operations in the North River, later named Hudson River. Furthermore, it was entrusted to safeguard the West India Company's exclusive access to New Netherland's other two estuaries; the Delaware River and the Connecticut River.

Fort Amsterdam was designated the capital of the province in 1625 and developed into the largest Dutch colonial settlement of the New Netherland province, now the New York Tri-State Region, and remained a Dutch possession until September 1664, when it fell provisionally and temporarily into the hands of the English.

The Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. New Netherland was ceded permanently to the English in November 1674 by treaty.

The 1625 date of the founding of New Amsterdam is now commemorated in the official Seal of New York City (formerly, the year on the seal was 1664, the year of the provisional Articles of Transfer, ensuring New Netherlanders that they "shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences in religion", negotiated with the English by Petrus Stuyvesant and his council).

(source: Wikipedia)

Enjoy,

HK

WE NAILED IT !

2009-09-06T09:07:00.003+02:00

(photo: marsenshow.nl)

Yesterday evening were the annual Drum Corps Nederland national Championships.
With the great season we have had so far we knew we had pretty good chances of winning that title back this year.

And so it happened! Eventhough last night's performance wasn't the best we could have done and the crowd was absolutely dull.
We kinda need them to get us hyped even more! Corps need crowd response!

Here's two video clips of last night's winning show:
PART #1
PART #2

And the show still leaves room for improvement. Lots of individual mistakes can still be corrected easily and a lot of uncertainty can be taken away in some of the forms.

We topped all cations except for auxiliary (colorguard), but with only 0.15 point difference with Beatrix' the guard came awfully close in their caption as well.

We'll have four more performances on our agenda. This afternoon we will be doing an exhibition performance at a tattoo in Venray, where the local band is celebrating its 50th anniversary. I just woke up, so I don't really feel like it all that much (yet!). The bus is leaving in less than an hour.

Then next weekend we're in Hilversum at the Media Music Festival, organized by our closest "rivals" Beatrix. That will be an excellent event, for they have an impressive line-up of performing groups.

Unfortunately there are no performances scheduled in the weekend of September 19, so we can spend time on making the last adjustments to the show.

September 26 it's party time: the Drum Corps Europe Championships in Kerkrade.
I bet you we'll be more ready than ever before!

Enjoy,

HK

NATIONALS TOMORROW

2009-09-04T18:22:00.000+02:00

photo: Jubal/Theo Vink

Tomorrow night we'll be taking part in the Drum Corps Nederland national Championships, right here in our hometown. There are going to be 17 corps in competition, 6 of which in Open Class.
We're on last!
Let's just hope the weather will be OK. It wouldn't be the first time all corps are drenched at Finals.
All day rehearsal first though. Unfortunately no chance to see our feeder corps Jong Jubal, since they're on when we're doing our runthrough. These kids would have so much enjoyed being cheered for by their "big brothers". Oh well,... will have to wait until DCE for that then.

Enjoy,

HK

WEDDING EPIDEMIC

2009-09-02T18:58:00.000+02:00

Two of my colleagues at school are getting married this week. No, no,.. not with each other, but I am talking about two separate weddings.
Kids in school are talking about a true epidemic and wonder "what's wrong".

Wilco, our Physics teacher got married today. I went to the ceremony at our beautiful city hall in Dordrecht. It was pretty crowded. It was a gorgeous day today, so that was great. I hate it when it rains on wedding days.

Tomorrow our Economics teacher George is getting married, and we're all invited to the party in the evening. Should be a fun night.

I love weddings! Great to see HAPPY people!

Enjoy,

HK

FLIP !

2009-09-01T23:42:00.002+02:00

I bought this very cool handy little video-camera called FLIP.
I saw it being used as a member-cam when I was on tour with Blue Devils.
It's a neat little device that fits right in your pocket and records in HD !!! How'bout that!
With the exchange rate of the Dollar versus the Euro being EXCELLENT, I got a very good deal.

The camera is absolutely GREAT. Obviously it doens't match the quality of bigger camcorders, but for computerscreen (youtube/myspace/facebook or websites) or small HD TV is perfect.

It's the FLIP ULTRA HD model I got. It comes with a rechargeable batterypack via USB Built-in flip-out USB arm, and records up to 2 hours of video on its 8Gb internal memory. It has a 2.0" lcd screen, a frame rate of 30 frames per second, built-in wide-range stereo microphone, MP4 file format, f/2.4 so a fast lens for great results in low-light environments!

The New York Times wrote about the FLIP: "One of the most significant electronics products of the year”. Hey,.. I am not arguing with that!

Enjoy,

HK

LIFE BACK TO NORMAL

2009-08-30T22:06:00.001+02:00

I knew the day was approaching,... back to work tomorrow! School starts again! So everything will go back to normal again as of tomorrow.

I came home from spending 7 weeks in the States yesterday, played at two gigs with the band yesterday evening, went out with a couple of friends afterwards (jetlag didn't really kick in yet), had a busy day today. My folks arrived at Schiphol airport too today.
Unfortunately I had to miss today's corps' rehearsal.

Now I'll have to wait another year before the next USA adventure.
I think I can live with that idea!

I'm looking forward to hopefully a much better and more satisfactory schoolyear than last year. I'm just hoping the students will be a lot more serious in general, more eager to learn. That was one of the most disappointing factors of last schoolyear.

Lessons only start on Tuesday. Tomorrow all students will get their timetables for this schoolyear and meet with their class-teacher. I bet they will be surprised to hear some of the rules that have changed for this year. No more cell phones or any kind of music device allowed in the school! I bet you they will enjoy hearing that!

Enjoy,

HK

NORTHWORST AIRLINES ????

2009-08-28T22:56:00.003+02:00

*#&%@$## !!!!!!!!!

So I booked my transatlantic flight with our national pride KLM AIRLINES a long time ago. Their baggage regulations say there is a free allowance of 2 checked bags + the regular carry-on bag.

These flight today from Grand Rapids to Detroit and from Detroit to Amsterdam are operated by Northwest Airlines (a KLM-partner).

When I just checked in they charge me $50 for the 2 bags I wanted to check !!!!
I first thought the guy was kidding me...
Then he tells me he would have to charge me another $50 for the 5 pounds of overweight on one of the bags, unless I moved some stuff to the other bag.

It looks like all airlines are starting to try and make some extra money with these new rules charging money for your luggage. It's like we have known from airlines such ar Easyjet and Ryanair. That's how they can keep their flight fares low.
This KLM flight to the States wasn't low AT ALL! I would have understood better if that was the case. Northwest Airlines is definitely turning into Northworst Airlines.
Before we know it we will be paying for going to the lavatory on the plane!!

I have to write a letter to KLM Customer Service anyway about the awful way they (or their Delta partner which operated my flight here) dealt wit the delay coming into Denver, so that'll be a nice letter of complaint I am sure!

Enjoy,

HK

LAST MEETING BEFORE I LEAVE

2009-08-28T10:48:00.000+02:00

It's 10.30 AM on Friday. I am flying home in seven hours. I just got back from having breakfast with my longtime friend Jim Cook and his partner Marcia.

I met Jim back when we were preparing for the first ever JUBAL USA TOUR. He's a great guy! He organized our stay in Michigan to kick off our tour in the USA both times, and definitely gave us the best welcome anyone would only dream off. Everything was organized to perfection!

I met with him this morning and we talked about our plans for the 2011 USA TOUR with the corps. He's already excited about that!

We already know that in order to qualify for the DCI Open Class Championships week we will have to compete in the seeding show in Michigan City on the Monday of Championships week. Well, Michigan City is only 2 hours from here. Jim co-hosts a show in the Kalamazoo area on the Friday night right before that, and the concert event he started with us in Paw Paw on the Saturday. So plenty of opportunities there.

We don't know where the DCI Tour will have us perform first. If that's anywhere in the Chicago area, we might opt for crashing in Michigan to start with for a few days just like we did in 2002 and 2006. It's another two years from now, I know, but it's never too early to get things started.

Enjoy,

HK

WHAT A GREAT FAMILY !!

2009-08-26T16:36:00.001+02:00

These three weeks with our relatives in Michigan have been absolutely wonderful!!!
We spent such a great time together.
With my annual trip to the States I get to see them a lot more often than my folks do, but this summer we got a chance to all spend some precious time together.
Too bad we all live so darn far away from each other!

Enjoy,

HK

HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR EGGS?

2009-08-25T08:59:00.001+02:00

We went to the Cracker Barrel for lunch the other day... in fact we ordered breakfast. For some strange reason many restaurants in the States serve breakfast 24 hours a day. I just wonder why...
We all love eggs, so that's what we had, some with pancakes, some had bacon, hashbrowns, toast,.. whatever.
I explained to my folks before how they could order their eggs: sunny side up, overeasy, overmedium or scrambled.
Well, I almost fell off my chair laughing when my dad ordered his!
He asked for the eggs in a biscuit special. When the waitress asked him: "How would you like your eggs cooked, sir?", he responded - with a serious look on his face - "OVERSIZED PLEASE!"

Enjoy,

HK

GOT MUSIC??

2009-08-24T01:32:00.000+02:00

As if four weeks on tour with the Blue Devils and an intense visit to New Orleans wasn't enough yet,.. we stopped in Nashville Tennessee today.
A different style of music, and maybe not exactly my thing, but did we enjoy the evening!!! What excellent bands!!!

It was quite a drive from New Orleans up to Nashville! Originally we had planned this stop on the wau to Florida, and Memphis on the way back, but we changed plans a little bit.
We only got to Nashville rather late today, so we didn;t have all that much time. But then... what would be going on in a town like this on a quiet Sunday? Not much I guess.

Well,.. the evening definitely proved the heart of the town was as lively as could be. "Broadway", the main street downtown, wasn't crowded, but the bars and clubs that had live music had quite a crowd.

At dinner (smoked ribs for me!) we enjoyed some live Country music and after a stroll along the various bars we ended up in Robert's Western World. What a great bar! Not because the beers were only $2.50, but they had a 4-piece live band playing some wild country music. Unbelievable!

We had a couple of drinks there and enjoyed every minute of it. OK... I preferred the Jazz I heard in New Orleans, but this was just great fun. The violin player showed off some speed technique in some of the songs. Amazing stuff!!

The hotel we're at in on the outskirts of downtown. The dollar exchange rate is still treating us well, for at $44 a night in a room with 2 double beds... I'm not complaining!

Enjoy,

HK

NEW ORLEANS.. WHAT A GREAT PLACE TO VISIT!

2009-08-23T03:06:00.007+02:00

I just got back to my hotel room from one of the best days of this trip. WOW!
I love New Orleans. BIG TIME!
I am for sure coming back here alright. I think it would make a nice place for my bachelor party... haha... IF I'm ever going to have another one. I might just have had it with the "in sickness and in health,.. to death do us part" stuff. But then,.. you never know!

We took the ferry to Algiers and back to enjoy the view of the skyline (nothing compared to the big city skylines though..), then a walk along the riverfront, checked out some souvenir shops and took a very touristy carriage ride through the French Quarters. I am so glad we did that! With my aunt's foot injury walking too much through the quarter wouldn't really be an option, so this came in handy.
As I said.. it's pretty touristy, but the "driver" treated us to an extended history overview of the quarter and its buildings. Quite a lot of explanation. Beside all the "famous" buildings and balconies, we also got to see the house Brad Pitt bought (as if that interested us,.. but it got my aunt carried away!)

The walk through Royal Street and Bourbon street was an experience itself. Some great brass bands were showing off their talents on various corners of the streets. Amazing musicians!

We went for dinner at Sammy's. The food was pretty good, but nothing exceptional: Rib Eye Steaks.

The rest of the family went back to the hotel before I did. I ended up in the Preservation Hall... THE place to be for original, and traditional old style jazz.
I caught two sets by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and had a great evening! Can these guys play! And improvise. The Preservation Hall is only a small venue, but the atmosphere is fabulous!

I strolled up and down Bourbon Street some more to experience some of the partying going on. This place is definitely boozed up at night. I couldn't believe the number of beautiful women there, most of them with the N.O. famous "Hurricane" cocktail in one hand. And then of course their reactions to the beaded necklaces that were thrown from the balconies. The tradition is they show their boobs first in order to get one of those necklaces. And do they did! NICE! (Well... not all of them of course!)

To conclude the evening I enjoyed a $6.75 draft beer at the "Maison Bourbon", where trumpeter Jamil Sharif and his band were playing. Again,... great music all around! he asked every table where they were from too. Apparently he liked Europe because he talked a lot about the visitors from overseas.

Enjoy,

HK

BLUE DEVIL IN TOWN

2009-08-21T17:56:00.000+02:00

Today I met up with one of the Blue Devils baritone/euphonium players (2008/2009) who happens to live only a couple of miles from where we're staying. What are the odds on that?? It's a small world!

Colin Meyer is one of the guys in the corps that has continuously kept making positive comments on my cooking with Devils Food. I kinda got embarrassed when he explained to my parents today what the word was within the corps about my being part of the cooking crew...

When I posted on Facebook that we were on a holiday here at the Destin West Resort in Fort Walton Beach, he immediately responded saying "Hey, I live in Destin!"
So after a few phone calls and voice mail messages (the guy is harder to get a hold of than the President I think!) he picked me up at the condo early afternoon. We had a few drinks at the condo first, I introduced him to the family and I took him to lunch (in fact he took me, but I paid the bill).
We went to McGuire's, an Irish bar/restaurant just across the bridge in Destin. Great place! They brew their own beer.

Colin suggested we should take their special drink/cocktail... Well so much for that suggestion when the waitress carded us. I thought she was kidding, but she explained they officially have to card everyone under 30. Well,... I think I should take that as a compliment then, for I never got that drink, and ended up having Coke with lunch.

The burger was great though! Amzingly huge! So were the fries.
Speaking of a small world. I noticed the shirt the guy at the table next to us was wearing. It was a Zildjian shirt. Now, you don't see those shirts all that often, so we get to talk to him an guess what.. he marched Cavaliers in 2001 and 2002!!

Colin warned me for going to the restrooms. I was expecting some crazy stuff going on in this place, but when I got there I didn't notice anything particular,...
Until I took a closer look at the signs on the doors!! I admit,.. I went to the Ladies' room.

Back at the condo my cousins had just come back from the outlet mall and were fixing Piña Coladas. Colin must have had a smooth massage class tonight!

Enjoy,

HK

LIFE SUCKS??

2009-08-20T22:21:00.002+02:00

Well, definitely NOT out here!
I'm having an unbelievably good time here in Fort Walton Beach (Florida) with my folks and relatives from Michigan.

And to top this holiday,... my favourite cousins and kids flew in from Michigan yesterday to join us for the rest of the week. How cool is that!
Eventhough the weather might not be as great as we had hoped - though today is the sunniest and hottest day so far - we're all having a wonderful time here.
One more week to go!
It's absurd being on a trip for 7 weeks, I know... but I'm loving it!
Someone reminded me on Facebook that I have to get back to work on the 31st. Bastard!
I don't want to think about work when I'm having a good time. No way!
As I said... I have another week.
We're going to New Orleans yet, and Memphis, or maybe Nashville. We haven't decided on that one yet.
But out here everything is just great. The condo is great, the beach is great, all the pools are great, the company is more than great,... I think I could live here.

You know what... that might be something to think about seriously... but then, being a real family guy, I don't think I would want to miss my family back home.

Enjoy,

HK

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

2009-08-19T09:14:00.000+02:00

Maybe I should rephrase that...

I admit,... I was spoilt being on tour and at practice fields surrounded by good-looking well-trained color guard bodies all summer (ok,.. they're all young,.. about half my age) but just looking around now is quite a bummer.
Holy crap,... there's a lot of fat in the country!!

Enjoy,

HK

WHAT DOES HK DO ON A CLOUDY DAY??

2009-08-18T20:54:00.000+02:00

Right... he goes SHOPPING!!
I love shopping! I could spend days at shopping malls or factory outlets, or just in town!

Yesterday was one of those days. The aftermath of the Tropical Storm Claudette wasn't all that bad. The impact the storm had here was just a lot of wind and a lot of rain overnight. No real damage fortunately.

So today we went to the Silver Sands Factory Stores, a couple of miles east from here in Destin. This is one of the nation's largest designer outle centers their brochure says. Well over 100 brand-name stores with great offers!

All of us went, but I took my own tempo. Didn't want to go in all the stores the rest of the family wanted to check out.
Bought som nice shirts and pants at Aeropostale and at Calvin Klein.

We had dinner at Chili's. Well that was another experience. Our waiter Jimmy was a great guy, but his assistant Caty (or Katey) definitely was one of the worst waitresses I have ever had at a table.
Main course was brought to the table when we hadn't even finished the apetizer plates, so there was hardly any room on the table.
Her face was that of a kid taking the same History class he doesn't like for the third time. Man... did she like her job!
We had to clear the table to make room for the plates she was bringing.
The food was GREAT though! And a very good deal too! 2 dinners for only $20: a shared apetizer (we had Mexican cheese fries), each our own choice of entree (Half a rack of ribs for me!) and a dessert to share: Chocolate Chip Molton Cake.

Well, that's when I almost called for the manager.
We were all still enjoying the main course when she came and brought the desserts.
Forget about waiting until we were done, or leave alone cleaning the table... I don't know where she learnt about her job, but she was definitely NOT fit for it!
She even took my aunt's plate who wasn't done eating yet. Unbelievable!
Just left us with a full table and put the desserts there.
Jimmy apologized when I told him, but it wasn't his fault.

Oh well,... the food was excellent. Let's stick to that thought...

Enjoy,

HK

STOP WHINING ABOUT GAS PRICES!

2009-08-17T18:57:00.004+02:00

America should stop whining about their gas prices. It's ridiculous!
They should come and fill up their tanks in The Netherlands for a change.

We filled up our tank on the way over here at $ 2.399 per gallon.
Now,... in Europe we don't talk gallons. We're on the metric system.
And we don't use dollars. We have euros.

But let me tell you what WE pay for unleaded: 1.48 euros per litre.

1 gallon equals 3.7854 litres
Today 1 EURO equals $ 1.406

So with the euro/dollar exchange rate of today a quick count (3.7854 x 1.48 x 1.406) would tell you that for ONE GALLON we would pay $ 7.88 back home!!
Yes that's SEVEN DOLLARS and EIGHTY-EIGHT CENTS!!!!
(little over 3x as much as in the States!)

Now... are you still complaining??

Enjoy,

HK

CLAUDETTE COMING OUR WAY

2009-08-16T21:04:00.000+02:00

What are the odds?
We get to Florida and Hurricane season starts.
There's two major hurricanes starting on the Atlantic Ocean: Ana and Bill.
Now... Claudette (a tropical storm) is hitting shore here tonight!
I can't believe it!
We spent a few hours at the beautiful white sandy beach. Even had our own reserved beach chairs and umbrella. Saw a dolphin near the coastline!
Afterwards some time in the pool, when dark clouds were coming our way. It certainly looked like rain!! But the clouds passed and it looks fine now.
The Weather Channel says it's a tropical storm, but the impact will not be as bad. It should be coming on land tonight. They do expect floods in some areas.
Fixed dinner for all of us tonight. Tasted great.
Was like being on Devils Food (only had to cook for less than 3% from what we cooked for on tour!!!!)
Feel like taking a nap. I think I will go ahead and do that,... but I will probably sleep until the morning!

Enjoy,

HK

PURE TORTURE !!

2009-08-15T23:47:00.001+02:00

We have a spectacular view from the balcony here in Fort Walton Beach/Destin (Florida) at the condo we rented for the week.
We just arrived after a day and half of driving straight south on Interstate 65. It was a good ride over. Stopped about every two hours.
The condominium is great. Lots of space! 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a massive livingroom/kitchen, balcony, a bunch of pools outside, a lazy river, a pool with a bar (I LIKE THAT ONE!) and the beach at about 50 metres from here.
This week is going to be pure torture! I know it. It'll be an awful week!
I'm off to bed.

Enjoy,

HK

OK,... WE COULDN'T RESIST

2009-08-14T23:14:00.000+02:00

Normally I try to avoid McDonalds whenever I go to the States. First of all, because we have these restaurants back home as well.
And i don't think the food is all that good.
BUT,... they are serving Chicken Wraps, and they're pretty good actually!
And any size soda for only $1 isn't bad either.

We're en route to Destin in Florida for a relaxing week at a far too luxurious beach resort with all sorts of pools, jaccuzis and stuff.
As I wrote the other day we were leaving for this trip with some delay.
Today we took my aunt to the hospital for a check-up on her injuries.
Things fortunately look good. She's doingmuch better.
So we skipped our visit to Nashville which was planned for today and will go straight to Florida.

We've just checked into a hotel in Franklin, Kentucky. A few miles from here is the Tennessee state border, and Nashville is the first big city we'll pass tomorrow.
We got a bite before we checked into the hotel... right... at McDonalds.
Yeah... sundae caramel with chopped peanuts for dessert.

Enjoy,

HK

MY BUDDY VIV

2009-08-13T22:23:00.000+02:00

When on tour it's always a treat running into my long-time friend Viv Whittaker from England. I think I have known him from way back when, when he was still with the Buccaneers in DCUK.

Viv has been touring with Glassmen for a great many year and is a great fan of our corps Jubal as well. You all know him,.. he's the guy that's waving the Union Jack at the beginning of Glassmen's show shouting "YOHOOOOOOO,..... Are you ready?".He's been doing that too at Jubal performances.
Now at Quarterfinals and Semifinals he was hooting "JU-BALLL", supporting our tuba player Marcel in the corps.

I love this guy! So much fun! And always interested in how I am doing, what I am up to and especially how Jubal is doing.
Thanks for being a great friend Viv!!!

Enjoy,

HK

TUBING & S'MORES

2009-08-12T23:58:00.000+02:00

My little cousin (second cousin to be precise) has NO FEAR!
It's amazing that a 4-year-old is having this much of a blast when she's being bumped around on a tube at high speed, pulled behind a speedboat.

I know it would have freaked out my niece (who is her age), but then we might not be as much exposed to open water as these kids here. (I know,... we have plenty of water in The Netherlands...)

Unfortunately we also had a little mishap today when my aunt was out on the deck, ready to get on the boat we rented and the boat bounced on the waves right onto the very end of the deck and pretty much chipped one of her toes right off.
At least, that's what it looked like at first.
She spent some time at the emergency room in a nearby hospital and had X-rays taken. The bone in her toe is completely crushed, but surprisingly it took only 4 stitches to get her toe back together.

She has to come back to the hospital on Friday, so we'll have to postpone our trip to Nashville and Florida. That is... IF the doctor will let her go.
With this kind of wound there is a high risk of infection. We're hoping for the best. The funny part was that my aunt's biggest concern was that she thought she had ruined our day...

We had some "s'mores" at the neighbour's bonfire later that evening. They taste really good!! A s'more is a traditional campfire treat popular in the United States and Canada, consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate (HERSHEY!!!) sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. YUMMIE!!!
S'mores got their name from the phrase: "Gimme some more!"

Enjoy,

HK

RELATIVES

2009-08-11T23:48:00.000+02:00

It's always great to see my relatives in Michigan again. It's too bad we all live so far away from each other.
I am fortunate to get to see them preety much every summer, mostly after my tour with DCI.
Last year I spent two weeks with them, this year THREE weeks.
And even nicer,.. my parents flew here too last Friday, so it's a real family reunion.
My uncle and aunt moved here from the Netherlands back in 1968.
We are spending some time at my cousin's cottage on a lake, rented a boat today, took a ride on the neighbour's speedboat, had an excellent grill dinner and had a good couple of drinks.
Life is great!

Enjoy,

HK

A CHAMPION IS FOREVER

2009-08-10T19:38:00.000+02:00

A Champion is forever a Champion
All the teams you did defeat
You aced all your tests
NOT ONE TIME did you get beat

Others may not notice the change
And the Champion may feel the same
But, over the years, with laughter and tears
This coloured your view of life's game

You and your teammates paid the price
Fought through heat, cold, and rain
Learned how to endure
Learned how to live with pain

You are not the boy you were back then
But as you grow old - Ravaged by age
You'll wear a smile, knowing
You've seen your name at the top of the page

Enjoy,

HK

HK STARTED HIS HOLIDAY IN MICHIGAN

2009-08-10T09:05:00.001+02:00

TIME TO SIT DOWN AND RELAX !!

Tour is over,... it's HOLIDAY-time now. No seriously... just spent 4 weeks on tour with the Blue Devils, but now the relaxing starts!
Scott Allen, a friend of a friend, was so kind to give me a ride from Indy to Michigan. On the way to Kalamazoo we found out we have a lot more people we know in common. The Drumcorps activity again proves to be a very small world!

In Kalamazoo we had something to eat at Burdick's where my uncle and dad picked me up. My folks flew in too last Friday. Now the next three weeks we'll all be vacationing here.

One of my cousins and her family have rented a house on a lake for the week, so the whole family had dinner there. Excellent steaks from the grill. I love it!!!

Today I'll go swimming and tonight we'll have another cook-out at my uncle and aunt's house.

Enjoy,

HK

NEED I SAY MORE??

2009-08-09T13:11:00.000+02:00

Well done everyone! Another title!

Enjoy,

HK

IS THIS HIGH ENOUGH FOR YOU??

2009-08-08T21:03:00.007+02:00

Here I am... Lucas Oil Stadium, chatting with my friend John Christensen in the scoreboard/jumboscreen booth way up high in the stadium. This is the Press Box level, about 8 feet from the ceiling of the stadium!
John did the blue Devils DVD production the last few years. He used a lot of my photos in the 5.1 recording segment. Fun guy to hang out with too. Visited quie a few bars last summer.

I just saw Blue Devils B take the 2009 Open Class title.

I have a meeting in a few minutes aboyt Jubal's USA Tour in 2011 and then off to Jim (JUBALLLLLS!) Tailgate party across the street.
Might end up at the party where Joey Pero is playing this afternoon. We'll see.
in the meantime I'm leaving you with a view from the "nosebleed-section".

Pretty unbelievable huh?

Enjoy,

HK

FUN AT AGE-OUT CEREMONY

2009-08-08T02:10:00.000+02:00

I always take a photo of the Blue Devils age-outs during the DCI age-out ceremony.
this year the photo turned out just a little different with an orange touch added to the colour spread.

Enjoy,

HK

WHAT A GREAT NIGHT OF DRUMCORPS!!

2009-08-07T10:29:00.001+02:00

Last night's quarter finals were one of the better ones I have ever seen! My gosh, these corps were on fire! Eventhough I am touring with Blue Devils and might be a little prejudiced, I absolutely LOVE the Cadets' show! Man are they playing great stuff!
Lucas Oil Stadium is a gigantic stadium. Unbelievable! Unfortunately ticket sales were a little down this year so the crowd was smaller than expected.
The stadium has big black curtains covering the back stands, which makes it almost theatrical. It does take away some of the light for taking pictures though.
The scores were very high, and the spread between first and second was bigger than most had expected (or hoped).
Cavaliers dropped back to fourth place (95.85), Cadets had to settle for third (96.05) but very very close behind Carolina Crown that took second with 96.10 points. Then Blue Devils took top honours with an impressive score of 97.95 points. First place in most (sub)captions, but only third in brass and second in visual performance.
So that means even more room to grow. The drumline kicked butt! Color guard did too! They might just get that perfect TEN tomorrow or Saturday. Same goes for the drumline!
It was nice to see the Troopers back in good shape! They managed to make it back in the top 12. Cool show!
My prediction for Saturday is Blue Devils taking the title, Cadets placing second, Crown in third, Cavaliers in fifth, Vanguard in sixth.
Too bad Phantom Regiment are not having their greatest year this year.
Both Erik and Marcel must be having a blast! Both making Finals, with Erik in a very good and secure top-3 position.

Enjoy,

HK

FLIP FLOPS A BIG HIT

2009-08-07T07:58:00.000+02:00

Pascalle gave me this pair of flip flops for my bithday.
In fact they're not really flip flops, because they don't flip or flop.
There are no Well,... they turned out to be a big hit in the corps here. I have been wearing them during the day and walked into the stadium where the corps was rehearsing. A whole bunch of members gathered around me to check them out. Everyone wanted to know how this worked.

They don't have the irritating rubber/pastic part that goes between your toes to keep them on your feet.
Some kind of layer on the top of them makes them stick to the sole of your foot.
No tan lines, no hot feet, no blisters or anything between your toes! All the comfort of being barefoot!

I agree,... I couldn't believe this would work the first time I saw them, but they definitely do! And you can use them again and again!
The first few times wearing them are kind of strange, but you easily get used to this.

Thanks again Pally! They're a success!

Enjoy,

HK

HALL OF FAME PARTY

2009-08-07T03:38:00.000+02:00

We (Pat Seidling and myself) drove Andrew Odello to the Hall of Fame party at the Convention Center in Indianapolis last night. His dad was inducted in the DCI Hall of Fame last year (Class of 2008) and was giving a speech, together with Dan Acheson, Greg Orwell and James Campbell.
Unfortunately the BD runthrought ook until 10PM, so we didn't make it in time for the speech.
The class of 2009 was inducted too. Shirley Dorritie, the wife of my friend Frank, was one of the inductees. All five inductees had touching speeches, looking back at the time when they were teaching or working with a corps. Some humour always works well with a crowd.

Enjoyed seeing many DCI I have got to know over the years I have been coming out.
Enthusiasm among them when I told them we would be bringing Jubal over again for the 100th anniversary!

Enjoy,

HK

U-BALL

2009-08-07T01:10:00.000+02:00

I guess with my new shirt everyone in the States should now know how to say the name of our corps - JUBAL - correctly!
Most commonly heard version was always "Dzjubal", which is logical if you take the English spelling an pronunciation into consideration.
But now I found something that does away with all that.
Blue Devils are staying at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana this week.
I found this shirt after a tip from my friend Pat Seidling in the University's bookstore. Obviously I couldn't resist buying it.

Enjoy,

HK

INDIVIDUALS & ENSEMBLES

2009-08-06T16:12:00.002+02:00

I went over to the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis today on the bus with all the Blue Devils participants. There were about 40 members that took part this year.
Unfortunately a lot of the performances were shceduled at the same time, so it was hard to choose which ones to see.
I saw a baritone individual, two tuba individuals, the tympani individual, both brass ensembles and the pit ensemble.

All excellent performances. Being a trumpetplayer myself I particularly liked the trumpet ensemble. They performed an original piece. Sounded great. Some neat high notes in there!!!

Enjoy,

HK

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD,.. LOTS OF FOOD

2009-08-05T01:36:00.003+02:00

I wrote about the food order here earlier, but at some meals it's absolutely ridiculous how much these members (kids are the staff here refers to them) eat.
Some of the plates are covered with enough food to feed a small family.

In Buffalo we made cheese bagles for the corps for snack one night. That's pretty cool actually. And gosh.. they LOVE them!
We put the whole food crew to work in an assembly line and prepared a total of 23 trays of half bagles, some with cheese and seasoning only, some with ham and pineapple and some with pizzasauce and pepperoni and lots of cheese of course!

Believe it or not, but the corps went through all but one tray. So that was well over 700 cheese bagles!!!!

Tonight I made Quesadillas. They sure love these too. This was the second time I made them on the grill. Added pepperoni to half of them. Last time I grilled 432. This time 638!!! And ALL GONE! Unbelievable!

Enjoy,

HK

QUICKY AT NIAGARA FALLS

2009-08-04T09:14:00.001+02:00

From the school we are staying at (ECC in Orchard Park) I took a loal bus to downtown Buffalo and got a transfer on a bus to Niagara Falls. Being this close to the Falls I kind of wanted to go there for a short visit. Since everything for dinner was in the oven and tonight's snack was going to be the Ice-cream bar, this would be an easy day for Devils Food. Otherwise I would have never left.
But what an adventure this was. Man!!

Local transportation is great around here,.. but the buses should not break down, for that's what happened between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. They had to bring in a new bus, for ours wan't going anywhere anymore. So we sat there waiting for about 40-45 minutes. I thought I'd never get to my destination, especially because the last bus back to the school was to leave Buffalo at 8:30 PM.
I got off the bus, walked to the Falls, took a couple of pictures and returned to the bus stop to catch the last bus back.
I don't think I have ever visited a site this short, but I had been to Niagara Falls about 5 times before I think, so no need to take the full tour. There's one thing I would still like to do at the Falls and that's taking the Maid of the Mist boat trip. That must be spectacular!

We left for Indianapolis after snack tonight. A day earlier than we thought we'd go. Apparently we could get into the school on Tuesday already. Which is good, otherwise it would have been hectic for the Individuals & Ensembles participants, since it's a 10 hour drive from Buffalo to where we're at.

In fact I don't know exactly what the town is called we're going to. I only know it's a loooooooooooooong way from Indy. That's too bad, since the original housing site Ben Davis was within walking distance from the city center.
Let's hope there's a wifi signal at Ball State University! (Well we just arrived and... guess what! there IS a very strong wifi signal here at BSU, so keep checking back for more updates!)

Enjoy,

HK

BUFFALO HOT WINGS

2009-08-03T23:07:00.000+02:00

When in Buffalo you HAVE TO get an order of Buffalo hot wings.

I hung out with the staff at the stadium bar "Milligan's" the night of the show. Had expected a lot more people in the bar, but that didn't keep us from having a good time.

We ordered a couple of pitchers of beer and of course... AN ORDER OF BUFFALO WINGS.
Now every restaurant or bar in the area claims to have the best ones around, but these were pretty darn good actually!!

I ordered the medium ones,... could always come back the next night for hot ones. Well that never happened, since we left on Monday night.
We talked to the barowner Steve for a little bit. He was all interested in what kind of grouop we were.

He explained about the wings-sauce. They make the sauce themselves. He told the cook to get me a little jar of extra hot sauce. VERY NICE!!! and tasty!
They even gave me two little cups along for the road. I think we could use them with some of the stuff we'll be making this week.

Last night's show was held in the Buffalo Bills stadium. The corps even got to sleep some hours in the Fieldhouse, because there were still activities going on at the school.

enjoy,

HK

CAKES

2009-08-03T23:02:00.000+02:00

With all the work going on in the food truck I haven't had as much time to make cakes as I did last year, but some birthday cakes have been going out and I experimented a little bit with ingredients on some. How about a chocolate cake with honey, and a layer of vanilla pudding and choco puffs with banana frosting. Today I made Dutch Apple Pie. They were delicious. Here are some of the results up until now:

Enjoy,

HK

GREAT TIMES... GREAT FRIENDS

2009-08-01T01:53:00.002+02:00

Just spent two great days with some very good friends. So I Was away from the corps fora few days. I really enjoyed that. It was time for some change in the daily routine.
The corps travelled to Reading after all last night, so I am happy I found my way out here before them.
I put my bags back on our bus again once the corps parked at the stadium. They were the last ones to arrive at the showsite and as usual we were the last ones out tonight.

Today we all had a very nice breakfast at Lisa's house. I woke up on the couch with the TV still on. See,.. that happens to me every single time. It's almost like being home... Remote control still in one hand...
Today we went by Lisa's work to pick up a Windows set-up cd rom to help reboot my laptop again. Then we went to Philadelphia and had lunch at Dave & Buster's. That's a great place, almost casino-like, but then more kids-oriented. You can play all sorts of games there. On the menu they had a special combo "eat & play", so with your meal you'd get a $10 playing card . Mike used up three of those I think. On our way out of the city we drove by some historical sites in Philly and then hit the highway towards Allentowm. We had spome really BAD weather on our way over there. I was afraid the show was going to be cancelled. That would have been a shame. Especially for Paola, since this was her first DCI show ever!

Fortunately it cleared up when we got to Allentown. With a delay of hone hour we had plenty of time to check out the souvenir trailers and chat with people we ran into.
Best part of the evening: I finally found my friend Andi back after so many years! We marched Reading Buccaneers together in 1987. I had seen her a couple of years after that, when she marched Cadets and when she was drum major for Bushwackers and Buccaneers, but then lost her out of sight.

Every year when I was in Allentown and I ran into some old Bucs friends I kept asking for her. We finally got in touch earlier this year (Hooray for Facebook!) so we had set a "date" for tonight. And guess what... while walking through the park behind the stadium to check out some of the warm-ups she tapped me on the shoulder. Met her family too. Felt like I had known her husband for some years too. Strange how some things seem familiar. Two kids. Everyone dressed in Cadets colours! Nice! I hope we can keep in touch now on Facebook. Have been missing that!

The show was great too! I didn't sit through all performances though. Have seen most corps before a couple of times this summer. With Paola I checked out the Blue Devils wrm-up for a little bit and then hurried back into the stadium because Glassmen were on right after the intermission. Well, guess what. Intermission got cancelled, so we only caught the last few chords of Glassmen's show.
On our way up the hill to get to the stands we ran into Dan Acheson, CEO for Drum Corps International. I introduced my Italian friend to him. She was reall surprised when I explained later who Dan was. I don't think she got it right away when they met.

We found great seats right at Press Box level to see Cavaliers, Cadets and Blue Devils. What fantastic performances!! I love Cadets' music! Definitely my favourite musical book by far this season! Devils topped the show again with another strong lead. I said gooodbye to Luigi & family and Lisa and Paola. They were all going back to Delaware. I was to get back on our vehicle.
I am typing this as we are on one eof thelongest stretches of this tour. It's well over 10 hours of driving. I feel sorry for our driver Warner! Buffalo here we come!

Enjoy,

HK

DAYS OFF TO PICK UP PAOLA IN PHILADELPHIA

2009-07-31T14:04:00.000+02:00

My friend Paola at Philadelphia 30th Station

I took two days off from tour to hook up with my friend Lisa in Wilmington. And my Jubal buddies Luigi & Trinet and their son were staying there too.
They all came and pick me up in Downingtown this morning. Unfortunately my laptop showed some major errors and I can' seem to start it up any more. Oh well... there's probably some wizzkid in the corps that can figure out what's wrong with it.

After going by lisa's house, I dropped Lisa off in Moorestown, since she was performing with her Wind Symhony tonight. To make the day even more hectic... I drove to Philadelphia to pick up my friend Paola from Italy at the station.
Back to Moorestown to get Lisa and some of her drums. Fortunately her fellow musicians helped her out by taking some of her drums home, so we had more room in the car.

We got to Lisa's at about 11PM. Had a couple of Samuel Adams (my favourite beer!) and I'll crash on the couch pretty soon. All beds are taken with this full house.

Enjoy,

HK

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, BUT WHO YOU KNOW...

2009-07-30T08:28:00.001+02:00

in Dutch we have a similar expression/saying: "Het maakt niet uit wie je bent maar wie je kent!" And it just proved that this is so very true!
I think it's thanks to my many trips to the States & DCI and the many people I have met over the years that I am now actually in the back seat of a car on my way to Philadelphia... to Downingtown to be precise.

It took ONE phone call after I had found out the Mandarins drum & bugle corps were driving to Pennsylvania after last night's show in Centerville Ohio (about 10 hours from Philadelphia).

I contacted Ray Mar, corps director for the Mandarins, whom I have seen and talked to at many shows already this season, since Mandarins and BD are doing just about the same tour. I have known Ray for maybe 15 years now. In fact I got to know him through his son Greg, who taught the color guard and visual when I first met him many years ago.

I dropped my problem with Ray, said I was willing to ride any kind of vehicle. I didn't care...
I just didn't want to miss my appointments in Philadelphia and Delaware!

He had a little issue since his corps had a lot of sick kids over the last few weeks. They are still not all fully recovered. They keep all the sick kids and those that had had the flue together on one bus and sort of quarantize them. That means that the other two buses are very full. Manarins field 118 members this season.
Ray first didn't know where to put me, so I was going to see him at the show. I packed some luggage (I'm only going to be away for 2 days) and the presents I had brought for Lisa, and got a ride on the Cheeseball to the stadium.

I was introduced to Harold and Howie, who are both drivers in the SUV I'm currently in It's about 2AM right now. It pulls a little trailer with instruments.

I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now! I get to do everything tomorrow and Friday as originally planned! That's great!

It's a ten hour drive to the Philadelphia area. We talked quite a bit the first stretch of the route. Howie is the talker of the two. I explained a lot about Jubal and drumcorps in Europe. We also chatted about work and the world's economy and a whole lot of other stuff.

Just heard one of the Mandarins' corps buses broke down at about 1AM. One of the axels broke. So they will be getting to Downingtown a lot later than we will.
I think I will take nap in a little bit. I'm pooped.

Enjoy,

HK

HOUSING SITES CANCELLED

2009-07-29T14:24:00.001+02:00

We have a problem! WE recently heard that the housing site Blue Devils had blocked for DCI Championships in Indianapolis has "thrown us out". It was the same school we stayed at last summer, and when DCI had its regionals in the RCA Dome: Ben Davis High School.
They Blue Devils and Ben Davis HS have had a long relationships. Several BD instructors teach at Ben Davis too. Wayne Downey write their brass charts.

That all didn't help securing the facilities. Now,.. I don't know exactly what happened here, but these situations are usually the result of decisions made by the sports coaches, who need the gyms and the fields, especially since school is starting pretty soon.

With another week to go before we actually have to be in Indianapolis for the first events, you can imagine people are getting pretty nervous around here. And honestly,.. I don't know what's going to happen.

I know the corps is too important for DCI to let this happen, so I assume they will jump in. I know that just about all Open Class corps are on their own as far as arranging housing. DCI primarily coordinates the housing for World Class.

The other problem we have is that yesterday we heard that the housingsite (which is where we were originally going after tonight's show) for Thursday and Friday is out too. We were going to stay at Reading High School, but that fell through as well.

Cancelling a site one day before arrival is unacceptable, but hey.. that's what happens, even to top-corps such as Blue Devils and the Cadets.
Now normally I wouldn't worry too much about where we're staying for a show, but this news really screwed up my plans as well.

I suggested to Pete Emmons (corps manager) that I was willing to contact some of the people I know in the Reading/Allentown area from the year I marched Reading Buccaneers, but there was no need for that for there were people on it already.
This morning still no news on a possible ralternative housing site. I suggested he'd contact Al Moffat with Zildjian. He helped me find housing for Jubal in 2006 at a military academy near Allentown.

I am now figuring out what to do tomorrow, because right now it looks like we're coming back here to Bellbrook Ohio tonight after the show and spend another day here tomorrow and then go to Allentown on Friday. So it looks like I'm screwed.

My long-time friend Lisa from Wilmington (I lived with her when I marched there in 1987) was originally going to pick me up at the Reading High School tomorrow morning; some other Jubal friends are staying over at her place too tomorrow night. Then early eveing tomorrow I am to pick up another friend - Paola - in Philadelphia. She's flying in from Italy and will spend a year in the States for work & study. In Italy she marches in the Truggio Marching band. Since she has never seen a drumcorps show before - beside the Blue Devils in Italy in 2005 - I suggested she'd come to the Allentown show.

Well,.. I gotta run... am going to try and find someone that can give me a ride. I already put a request on Facebook. Bluecoats are going to Pittsburg from here tonight, so that won't work. The Academy perhaps!

And it's going to rain pretty soon. NOT GOOD!!

Enjoy,

HK

PICS OF ERIK @ CROWN

2009-07-28T23:52:00.000+02:00

Here's some photos I took of Erik at the show in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta last Saturday:

Enjoy,

HK

SMALL SHOW IN SEVIERVILLE

2009-07-28T14:26:00.000+02:00

Last night we were in Sevierville Tennessee. Glassmen were there too, so I hung out at their warm-up a little bit. Some of that stuff they played didn't sound all that much better to me than our own jubal warm-ups back home.

After the show I went to see Marcel and his tuba-friends at their buses. We'll see them again on Friday in Allentown.

Here's some shots of Marcel:

Just like last year I shot the Blue Devils show from the back sideline, which gives you whole different perspective. First of all you get a lot better shots of the chair action and poses. And the crowd in the background gives it a neat extra touch.

There were only 6 corps at the show. I only go to see the last three.
Blue Stars were back in action. They had pulled out of a show the night before, aso because of illness of some of their members. This years seems to be a lot worse compared to previous years as far as this sickness is concerned. Mandarins still didn't have everyone back on the field.

Glassmen's tour director Rod Owens told me he had NEVER pulled his corps out of a show before. If Glassmen had marched that show they withdrew from, they would have ad 15 holes.
Erik told me Carolina Crown would have had over 30 holes in the show if they had gone out the show they missed.

In Blue Devils there are three kids ill right now. They're all staying in another area (room) at the school. Several members have made a trip to the hospital over the last weeks. Lots of anti-biotic pills are being used right now.

Enjoy,

HK

DEVILS FOOD

2009-07-28T01:04:00.005+02:00

"DEVILS FOOD" is the name used for the food truck. In fact all Blue Devils vehicles have names. I posted about that last summer.

Here's a photo of the food-crew we have on board right now. Mel and Kathleen were here with us until San Antonio. Yvonne joined us in San Antonio and Annette have joined us in Atlanta. Joining me in the photo from left to right: Annette Zackey, Gail Marie Wright, Carol Vargas (head chef), Marianne Emmons and Yvonne Moss.

Great working with these people. It's not always all that well-coordinated, but we definitely put some great meals out for the members!

Enjoy,

HK

AIRCARD

2009-07-27T13:16:00.003+02:00

Brandon Zackey (center, standing) - official photo for Vic Firth advertising

Maybe I should have found one of these for this tour, giving me access to the internet down the road. But even the prepaid version that can do 2GB of data seems to be quite expensive, so I'll just go with whatever Wifi signal I can pick up at schools or stadiums.

Yesterday Annette Zackey joined our food crew and she lets me use her blackberry hook up for the internet, so I can update more easily than before. Annette was here also last year. Her son Brandon is marching with the corps. He's a tenor player in the drumline.

So we also have more help in the kitchen this week, with booster club vice president Yvonne back on board and Annette.

I sometimes gets a bit too crowded in the aisle. Yesterday's lunch we did was a HIT!
Taco bake casserole, with layers of tortilla chips, cheese and a mixture of ground beef/kidney beans/tomato paste/and a lot of spices. Then in the over for a good hour. Excellent result. And to be honest.... we could have made another big pan, for we ran out! I can't believe they went through three and a half big pans in half an hour.

Last night we made spaghetti and garlic bread. I had already made the garlic butter in the afternoon so it could sit for a couple of hours and have the flavours & ingredients blend well.

Enjoy,

HK

MIDNIGHT CALL

2009-07-26T22:51:00.002+02:00

I missed a call the other day. Now some people can call me ANY time of day, and they know it, but I had left my phone on the bus and didn't bring it with me unfortunately. No message on the voice mail either.
But a text message popped up on my screen... Text messages are always good! With the time difference a text message would be easier too, AND cheaper! If you don't carry your phone around, the message will be waiting for me when you wake up in the morning, or in this case when I get back to the bus.

Doing all this travelling from state to state, I sometimes don't realize what time zone we're in and what the difference is with the Netherlands. Right now we're on Eastern time, so that means a difference of 6 hours. I wouldn't want to wake anybody up in the middle of the night back home, and I don't think my fellow passengers here would enjoy my phone ringing at 3AM either.

Enjoy,

HK