Sound Explosion – July 26-27, 2008
The Kilties, along with our fellow Midwest all-age corps, helped carve out a little piece of drum corps history this past weekend here in the land of cheese. The first ever DCA sanctioned drum corps competitions in the great state of Wisconsin featured healthy crowds, healthy doses of entertainment, and great camaraderie at Saturday’s big Kiltiepalooza.
Our busy weekend began at our home base, Gilmore Middle School, with 9AM breakfast and 10AM rehearsal. Our run of good luck with the weather gods continued. We were blessed with sunshine, light breezes and temperatures in the low 80s, perfect drum corps weather. Rehearsal featured an emphasis on silence and good rehearsal etiquette. Our recommitment to impeccable rehearsal etiquette was just what the doctor ordered on this day. I thought it was our most productive rehearsal to date. Highlights included tweaking the transition to the parade block in movement 2 “Celebration”, tweaking our entrance into the full horn-line arc in movement 4 “Peace”, and set to set work on movement 3 “Conflict”. At 3PM corps director Scott Stewart concluded things by telling us that he thought we had set ourselves up nicely for our upcoming evening performance. We had 3 hours and 45 minutes to relax, have dinner and be ready for warm-ups.
Our evening performance was at the famous “Spectacle of Music” show. It is worthy of noting that the Spectacle of Music has a long and storied history in the Midwest. This show goes all the way back to the 1940s and was one of the premiere shows in the Midwest for many years, featuring a prelims and finals format. That is why the membership of DCA-Central is thrilled to have the “Spectacle of Music” become the first ever independently sponsored DCA-Central show in our brief history. We all hope that this show will mark the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
The Spectacle of Music usually takes place in South Milwaukee, but because of the early summer flooding at the usual South Milwaukee stadium, the show sponsors were forced to move the show about 6 miles North to Cudahy High School stadium. We kilted up and met at the truck for 6:45 warm ups. Because of we were late in the performance order I didn’t get to see many of the performances, but it is certainly worth noting that the Spectacle of Music featured the first ever performance by a new corps from Louisville, KY, the Derby City Knights who performed in exhibition. Knowing full well how difficult it is to get a new drum corps off the ground and on the road, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Derby City Knights on making it to the field! It is a huge milestone!
As we entered the stadium, we got our first view of the crowd. I was happy to see that the bleachers were about 2/3 full, a very nice crowd indeed. We put on a very good performance from the perspective of my dot and the crowd was better than great, greeting all of the show movements with nice ovations. We must have really impressed the members of the Cudahy High School Marching Band color guard. As we trooped the stands, they all came down to the rail and screamed so enthusiastically that it kind of reminded this old timer of the screaming teen-agers at a Beatles performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Thanks girls, you made us feel great trooping the stands! :-)
I got a chance to see part of the MN Brass performance from the back side, and they are looking and sounding great again this year. I then met the members of the Royal-Airs at the gate and was happy to see Kenny Norman in uniform ready to lead them on the field. They put on a wonderful performance and were rewarded with a great ovation to close out the show. Congratulations Royal-Airs on making your way back to the field! You did yourselves proud!
Then it was off to George’s Bar in Racine for Kiltiepalooza. Former Kiltie and Georges Bar owner Dave Popoff graciously offered up his fine establishment on the corner of Main and Hamilton Streets so that the members of the Midwest area drum corps could get together for some social time and good fellowship. Georges was jumping for sure! It was really great to see so many Kiltie Alumni in attendance. Large contingents from the Royal-Airs and Govenaires showed up, along with a smaller contingent of our friends at MN Brass. Kiltiepalooza chair Kathy Strege provided a great all-you-can-eat buffet for the hungry corps members and we all had a great time swapping war stories and watching drum corps videos on the big screen. My lovely wife Lisa and I weren’t the last to leave, but we were close. We just couldn’t get enough of Kiltiepalooza 2008.
Sunday morning found the Kilties assembled around the breakfast table at Case High School in what seemed like the wee-hours the morning (actually it was 8AM, it only seemed like the wee-hours) readying ourselves for 9AM full corps ensemble rehearsal at Racine’s Hammes Field, site of the Kiltie’s big “Sound Explosion” DCA show. Another great day for drum corps weather-wise featured temperatures in the mid 80s with a nice breeze that made it feel a little cooler. I love rehearsing in stadiums, especially when the staff has access to the stadium sound system from the high box. It affords a great opportunity for the staff to work full ensemble issues both visually and musically in a really efficient manner. We touched every show segment and made another tweak to the transition into the movement 2 parade block. From my perspective, I felt like this rehearsal marked a big turning point for this year’s corps. It felt like a lot of light bulbs were going off in people’s heads and things were clicking at a higher level than before. When rehearsal concluded at noon, Scott Stewart assembled the corps and told us that he felt like we had achieved a new performance level at the rehearsal. Forms were hitting and holding, guard work was crisp and musically we were playing with good ensemble balance. It gave us confidence heading into our afternoon performance.
Following a nice relaxing lunch of ham’n’cheese sandwiches and all the sides, I got a chance to relax in front of the Royal-Air horn and percussion arc and watch Kenny Norman front a music ensemble rehearsal. The 25 or so horns and half dozen percussionists sounded fantastic and made for an enjoyable pre-show break for me. Then we all put on the plaid and headed to the East side of the compound for 2PM warm-ups. But not before a contingent of Kiltie brass led off the show with a really nice rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Good job National Anthemers!
Finally, at 3:45, it was our turn to hit the audience with our version of a Sound (and Visual) Explosion. As we entered the stadium, we got our fist look at the crowd, and I was pleasantly surprised to see such a good sized enthusiastic assembly. We weren’t sure what to expect since we had only a brief time to promote this show when we took over sponsorship in early June. I’d estimate the crowd was in the 500-600 person range, and very vocal. We delivered what I thought was another very good performance with great energy and emotion, and the crowd ate it up. I think it was a significant improvement performance-wise from Saturday, and I was proud as we trooped the home stands to another great ovation. Thank you Racine for coming out and supporting the Kilties and DCA-Central. The goal is to make the Sound Explosion an annual event and with great support like this on relatively short notice, we think this show will have a permanent place on the DCA schedule. And while we’re doling out thanks, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Sound Explosion chairman Joe Fazsari and his staff for pulling off a great show. You Rock! And thanks to the MN Brass, Govenaires, Chops, Lakeshoremen, Derby City Knights and Royal-Airs for helping us entertain the home crowd. You were all great, and we look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks.
We assembled the troops around Scott Stewart outside the stadium and he told us that we had indeed taken the show to a new level on this day. I believe that we not only took our performance to a new level, but we also took a lot of the other aspects of being a Kiltie to a new level as well. Our work ethic, the tightness of the Kiltie family, our attitudes and our enjoyment of the activity all seemed to reach new levels. Scott reminded us that the rest of the season is going to fly by, so we need to take advantage of all of our time together going forward because we will never get another chance to max out this season’s show, and this season’s experience. I think we all felt a little extra pride as we played Slow Syne to close out the weekend. And as I close this review, I feel a little extra anticipation for next weekend.
Til Next Time,
J.C.
