Klassic Weekend!
– June 27-29, 2008
Kiltie Klassic XV ushered in the 2008 drum corps season to Southeastern Wisconsin with a classic line-up of drum corps at one of the Midwest’s most storied drum corps venues, historic Horlick Field. Then it was off to Madison for a very well received performance at the big DCI Regional at another storied venue, Camp Randall Stadium. We capped off our busy debut weekend with an incredibly well received performance for a packed stadium just down the road from Madison in beautiful Oregon, WI.
Our busy 3-show weekend began at noon on Friday at Horlick Field. The skies looked a bit ominous and the weather report was iffy at best, calling for thunderstorms to roll through the area throughout the day and early evening. But our run of luck with the weather held and we had a very productive rehearsal, complete with a healthy smattering of spectators in the stands cheering each show segment as we rehearsed large ensemble blocks of the show. It was hot and muggy, so we all worked up a pretty good lather. At about 4:45, as we were getting ready to do our final pre-show run-through, the skies opened. It rained cats and dogs! We quickly scurried under the bleachers, and corps director Scott Stewart declared rehearsal over for the day. I drove home in the downpour worried about a possible cancellation of the Kiltie Klassic. When I got home I saw on the local weather radar that the storm was going to blow through, and that we were going to be good to go for the evening, so I caught a bite to eat and my lovely wife Lisa and I headed back to Horlick Field.
The show itself was hot in more ways than one. The pre-show rain resulted in steamy conditions, but it was the corps themselves that were really hot. As always our Kiltie Klassic show committee, headed by Joe Fazzari with lots of help from Kathy Strege and others outdid themselves. Top to bottom, this was one of the best run shows with one of the best line-ups we’ve ever had. The packed house was abuzz in anticipation for the return of the resurgent Troopers and Blue Stars, the first ever appearance in Racine of the Cadets, and the first appearance in over 40 years of the Boston Crusaders. Add in local favorites Pioneer, Racine Scouts and Kilties with Revolution all the way from the great state of Texas, and you have yourself one heck of a show! Each and every corps was well received and treated to wonderful ovations.
Following our warm ups, we headed over to the stadium and got to hear the second half of the Boston Crusader show from behind the stands. WOW! Their powerful classic “in-your-face” style of drum corps, complete with their famous “Conquest” closer had the Racine crowd throwing babies! Then we also got to hear the Cadets show from behind the stands. Their show is quite controversial with a lot of narration that revolves around some pretty heavy topics like divorce and breast cancer. I felt a little uncomfortable when they ended their show to narration and no music. I don’t think that the audience knew that the show was even over, and I felt like the members on the field were cheated out of the kind of ovation that they deserve. But the Racine crowd was classy and did give them a nice hand once they realized the show was over.
As you might expect, our entrance was greeted with lots of boisterous shout-outs from the crowd. The completely packed house treated us to great ovations after every movement of the show, and when the horns snapped down after the final note I soaked up the great home town ovation, breathing it in like a fine wine. It is what we crave, and what we put in so many long hours of work for. I was really pleased with the performance. I think it was our strongest opening-night performance as an all-age corps. Like everyone else in June, we still have a ton of cleaning to do, but we’re already showing flashes of brilliance during the show. I also think that this is our most balanced and complete all-age corps. Guard, percussion and brass are all contributing significantly to this show. With the great work ethic I’ve seen so far this year, I really believe that we have a chance to be great.
The Grand Finale was preceded by a tribute to the members of the 3 national championship Kiltie corps of the 1960s; 64, 68, and 69. All of the members and staff of those great corps that were in attendance were asked to come onto the field and be introduced to well-deserved ovations from the Racine crowd! It was a great way to honor those great members of the long line of plaid!
Then we set up for our encore performance. We performed the classic Kenny Norman/Tom Sorensen arrangement of “Scotland the Brave” as the crowd clapped along. Then we played Jerry Kelsey’s great arrangement of “Water is Wide”. This piece is a tribute to Joel “Lothar” Magnuson and all the Kilties that have departed. The crowd was very reverent, knowing the significance of this piece. Then we played Movement V of the show which served as a prequel to the highlight of our encore. Legendary Kiltie drum major Scotty Poulsen, drum major from 1964-1971 honored us on the field and led our battle cry “Wea Winnea Bea Daunted” as only Scotty can. He then directed the playing of Auld Lang Syne. I had goose bumps during the whole song! What a fantastic way to cap the show. Thanks Scotty!!
After the show, I lingered at the concession stands and chatted with all the Racine drum corps alumni and friends. Then Lisa and I headed over to DeMark’s for more of the same. We capped our Klassic evening with a visit to the Fazzari residence for the big post show campfire. Of course Lisa and I stayed a bit longer than we had originally intended, but we did manage to get home at an almost respectable hour. Once again, special thanks to the Fazzari’s for going way above and beyond the call of duty and hosting us all. I for one don’t know how you do it!
It seemed like 8AM came before my head even hit the pillow, but I roused myself and met 50 or so Kilties at the Sturdevant Wal-Mart to catch the 10AM bus to Madison for our appearance in the big 19-corps DCI Regional. It just felt right to be riding a drum corps bus, singing with the Kiltie Khoir, and generally talking all things drum corps. The bus pulled up at the Regency dorms just a block or so from Camp Randal Stadium and we checked into our rooms, had lunch and relaxed until our 2:30 show warm-up. With our show being the night before in Racine, it was not logistically practical to rehearse and get a run-through before our performance, and to complicate things, it started raining cats and dogs at 2:30, so the uniformed corps proper all met in a large tornado shelter in the basement of the Regency to regroup. The guard stayed in the basement for stretch and warm up, the percussion headed outside under a canopy for warm-up, and the brass headed to the TV room for show review. Scott played segments of the 2008 show music, and commented on what we were doing right and wrong in the show for each segment. It was sort of a mental rehearsal of sorts. By 3:30 the rain had stopped so we headed over to the stadium for warm-up and some time spent visualizing our show and going over starts, stops and horn moves. Not getting a run-through scared me a little, but I could see that everyone was really focused on their show, so that set me at ease a little. As scary as it was not having a run-through, what was really scary for the guard was the wind. Gale force winds were making the handling of equipment extremely challenging. But I could see the look of determination on the faces of the guard members as well, so that also put me at ease.
As we entered the stadium through the end-zone tunnel, I was delighted to see that the crowd was much bigger than I had expected. Thank you to all the drum corps fans that came out early to support the all-age corps! It was a blast playing in such a large cavernous venue for such a great crowd. Despite the limited preparation, I thought that overall the show was an improvement over Friday’s performance, especially musically for me. Tempos seemed solid despite the large stadium echo. I personally didn’t have a very good visual show, brain farting on at least 3 occasions with horn moves, but I had a better horn show than Friday. The guard deserves special kudos for fighting through the difficult wind conditions admirably. I honestly don’t know how they did it. We were rewarded by great crowd responses throughout, and a wonderful standing-O to cap the performance. Like I said before, it was a blast!
After the show I had a great time both at the Stadium View and at the show. The Stadium View sports bar was turned into the Stadium View drum corps bar. It’s always fun seeing old friends, meeting new ones and talking all things drum corps. Then a little after 7, I went to the show and saw most of the division 1 corps. I particularly enjoyed the shows of the Troopers, the Blue Stars, Madison, Boston Crusaders, Bluecoats, Carolina Crown and Cavies. Then it was back to the Stadium View for a night cap. It wasn’t long before Drum Major Guy Greg appeared in full regalia coming from the Grand Finale on his way back to the dorms. I must say, he was the best dressed person at the Stadium View. Between the uniform and being a former Madison Scout, he was like a humanity magnet as he made his way through. I was thinking if I had a uniform like that, I’d wear it all the time :-)
On Sunday morning we all met in the Regency parking lot for Kiltie breakfast before getting on the bus for 10:30 rehearsal at Madison East high school. It was an overcast day with temperatures only in the high 50s, but again the weather gods smiled and the threat of rain never materialized. After stretch, the percussion, guard and brass split up. The brass line worked a basics block, concentrating on refining the two marching styles that we use in this years show. Besides a traditional “toe-up” style, we also use a “pointed-toe lead” style in movement 4. That one needed the most work, as it is new to most of us. Then we tweaked the block formation in Movement II, “Celebration” adding a “horn up ripple” were the 8 rows of horns each bring their horns up a half a beat apart in a ripple back to front. Then we added a high leg lift to the 12 count push forward. We also changed the way we get into the full brass line arc in Movement IV, “Peace”. The 8 count silent entry into the arc has been removed, and we form the arc much faster than we did previously. It removes a slow spot in the show and gives the song better musical continuity.
Then we changed things up a little by running a full corps, brass and guard singing / percussion playing run-through of the show before lunch, and a full corps all in run-through of the show after lunch instead of at the end of rehearsal. It gave the staff a chance to see where we should spend the rest of our rehearsal time, and gave the chops more time to recover before our evening performance. It made good sense to me. At 5 PM we packed up and headed to Oregon, WI for dinner and down time before the show. The show itself was a first for me. It was a MACBDA competitive band circuit show sponsored by the Oregon Grey Armada marching band. A lot of our current Kiltie members who are Racine Lighthouse Brigade marching band alumni have marched in this show. They all figured that this crowd would love us, and we had the honor of performing last in exhibition under the lights.
Around this time we got some bad news from the contra line. We’ve had a run of bad luck in that section the last two weeks. First Dawn Estep developed a disc problem in her back and is going to have to switch to soprano in order to keep marching. Then Chester Yaeger hurt his knee during the Friday night show in Racine and couldn’t march Saturday or Sunday. Heal fast brother! Then Blade Mullinex endured what looks to be a bladder or urethra injury while running across the field in the opening set of our show at Sunday rehearsal. He spent the evening in the hospital in Madison. He is now home resting easy and hoping for a fast recovery and will be going in for further tests. We’re all hoping and praying that the injury does not turn out to be serious and he can rejoin us in the near future.
But the show must go on, so we dressed at the high school and walked to a residential street away from the stadium for warm-up. It was cool to have some staff members of the Racine Lighthouse Brigade watching warm up, and I think we surprised them a little when we started playing full out. You could see the big smiles on their faces. Brass warm up went well. Movement II of the show sounded absolutely the best I’ve ever heard it played. We were indeed ready to have a good performance.
It was really cool to see all the Lighthouse Brigade members in the stands cheering us on as we entered the field. It made us feel right at home. Then we let loose on the audience, blasting them with some serious sound at the opening hit, and they went ballistic! They weren’t quite ready for the sheer volume and full round sound that we are able to produce, and they loved it. The crowd literally flew out of their seats after Movement I. They loved Movement II, and erupted for a second in-show standing-O after movement III. The climax of Movement IV did it for them again, and when the horns popped down at the end of the show we were rewarded with another gaudy standing ovation that seemed to go on for days and made us all feel 10 feet tall as we trooped the stands.
We all assembled around Scott and he talked about the performance, bringing us back down to earth a little. While this corps has the ability induce some serious WOW, we still have a lot of individual errors throughout that need to be addressed with some hard work and practice at home. He told us that it would really be a shame if we don’t max this show out and after the Oregon performance and seeing the kind of reaction this show is capable of eliciting, I totally agree.
So there you have it. Our first tour of the season was a blast! We feel pretty good about our start, and we are determined to improve rapidly as we move forward. Scott often reminds us to take time throughout the season to enjoy the journey. So far the journey has been a good one!
Til Next Time,
J.C.
