I gleefully giggle every time I hear the tuba feature.
Tag: Marching Arts
I admit it: I’m one of those people who likes to hear their own voice. It’s why I like doing announcing gigs on the side when the opportunity arises (by the way, I’m TOTALLY available to do announcing gigs).
So, when Bands of America brought forth their Joining Us! announcer’s challenge, I was all in.
Voting starts at 8 PM Eastern on October 12th (tomorrow as of this posting), so my video link on the voting site isn’t active yet, but you can check out my announcement below.
You can vote for me here!
Note that each vote costs $1 and benefits Bands of America and Music For All.
Sorry I’m so late getting to this. Also, I didn’t know this would be the Ball State performance, so I get the original ending and all the energy from the BOA kids in the stands.
Jeff Sacktig’s finest work.
The 2010 Drum Corps International World Championship audio recordings came up in my playlist this morning. This was the season where the Blue Devils won playing what may be the Stan Kenton Orchestra’s most polarizing music, City of Glass, as part of their championship show, Through A Glass Darkly.
Admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of BD at the time. I was on the bandwagon of hating the corps because they were pretty much the New York Yankees of drum corps. The 2010 Blue Devils changed my perspective and my opinion, however, and compelled me to write about it on my old website. Here is what I wrote a decade ago for your enjoyment.
Now that we’ve resolved our tie for second, let’s take a look at what came in the other 2nd place bundle from Drum Corps International. This is the third of four mystery bundles I’ve purchased. You can check out the first two I’ve opened here (Boston Crusaders) and here (Phantom Regiment).
It’s a pretty standard bundle, similar to Boston’s and Blue Stars, which will be my final bundle. Inside, we find…
MY VERY OWN DCI ORANGE CONE!!!
I have to resist the urge to throw it out of the way…
This ensemble arrived just in time for me to mow the lawn this weekend in full DCI mode.
And, if it gets cold, I have this long sleeve hooded shirt as an option. They thought of everything!
Well, this may not be part of the lawn care regalia…
Still, I can now add DCI to my “business casual” wardrobe.
If you’re smart, never EVER let me hit this. Golf club, baseball bat, or even a tree branch. Nothing good will come of it. I promise you.
And that’s the DCI bundle. A pretty quick reveal and, so far, the only one which did not contain any media. Not that I expected any, but a replacement DVD from 1981 would have been awesome.
One more to go! Watch for my Blue Stars mystery bundle reveal soon!
Earlier this week, I opened up the first of the four drum corps mystery bundles I ordered from various organizations. If you missed it, you can check out my Boston Crusaders Mystery Bundle Reveal by clicking on the link. Now it is time for me to open up and reveal the second of those bundles.
In the Twitter poll I held, we had a tie for second as to which bundle I would open this time. Since we in drum corps hate ties, my wife, Rachel, gets to break this one with her vote. This is also appropriate as it involves one of the corps involved in the first tie for the DCI World Championship back in 1996, Phantom Regiment.
As you can see, Phantom sent me a mystery BOX, which makes sense since this was the most expensive of the mystery bundles I participated in. I was looking forward to quite the haul once I opened this box up.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one excited or interested in this box…
Almost everything in the box was in this drawstring bag, which is very useful both for personal and professional use. The other drawstring bags I’ve had have all given up the ghost some time ago, so getting a new one in this box was good timing.
SO. MANY. PATCHES!!!
As you can see, I now have almost every show patch since 2004. Here are the shows represented:
- 2004 – Apassiando 874
- 2006 – Faust
- 2009 – The Red Violin
- 2010 – Into The Light
- 2011 – Juliet
- 2013 – Triumphant Journey
- 2014 – Swan Lake
- 2015 – City Of Light
- 2016 – Voice Of Promise
- 2017 – Phantasm
- 2019 – I Am Joan
I also have the 50th and 60th anniversary patches.
I think I am going to create a collage of these patches and frame it as part of my future Wall of Drum Corps.
My drum corps tour DVD collection also grew as I received the 2009 (The Red Violin) and 2014 (Swan Lake) DVDs. My Plex media collection continues to grow.
Another piece of flair to go on my lanyards! Speaking of which…
I hope Phantom doesn’t mind if I put my BAC Waldo pin on here as well.
For those cold winter days when I need to scrape off my windshield, this compact ice scraper is the perfect size. And, when I’m scraping off my windshield…
I now have this comfy Phantom Regiment ear warmer! What’s also nice is that I can wear my AirPods underneath this, so I can listen to Phantom while wearing Phantom while cleaning off my car windows with Phantom!
Meanwhile, once grilling season begins, I have this lovely spatula to use! I especially like the grip so I don’t drop the spatula.
When I have chips along with my burgers or hot dogs from the grill, this bag clip will come in handy to keep those chips fresh until the next time.
After the cookout when I’m at the show, they Etymotic Ety Plugs will protect my hearing. I’ve been meaning to get plugs for indoor and outdoor marching arts performances. Now I have a set.
I’m a brass player, but there’s no way Phantom would throw a baritone or euph on the mystery box. These official Phantom Regiment Innovative Percussion drum sticks are a more than acceptable substitute.
To keep my hands from getting sweaty when I’m playing snare (poorly) with those sticks, I now have a set of Phantom Regiment wrist bands, complete with chevron logo.
But, to be honest, my true calling is to stand on the podium, and now I can look official while waving my arms wildly with this Phantom Regiment baton. Now the corps can see my conducting pattern, especially how chaotic it is.
Finally, Phantom was thoughtful enough to provide me a way to open my remaining mystery bundles, as well as any other packages or letters I get in the mail.
Check back on my site later this week for the next mystery bundle reveal!
I always wonder why corps don’t use brass plated horns more often.
It’s fun when percussionists go for the brass flex.
With the end of the non-existent 2020 North American drum corps season, a few corps and Drum Corps International had the fun idea of offering some of their merchandise in mystery bundles or boxes. This was a great way to clear out stock from previous seasons in preparation for 2021 merchandise (we hope), bring in some much needed income after this non-season’s lack of souvenir sales, and give fans a chance to show their favorite corps some love.
I went ahead and purchased all four available mystery packages from DCI, the Blue Stars, the Boston Crusaders, and Phantom Regiment. They all arrived around the same time, which left me with a slight dilemma: Which bundle would I open first?
Of course, there’s only one way to settle this question, and that’s to ask the Internet!
I bought the various "mystery bundlesboxes" offered by various drum corps. Who's should I open first?
— Kevin Gamin (@kevingamin) September 15, 2020
With BAC’s victory, it was time to open their mystery bundle and view the loot.
Not a bad haul from Boston, at least in terms of package size. As promised, eight items came in this bundle, starting with T-shirt’s.
First up is the 2019 Goliath tour shirt. The front features the show logo (I do like the Goliath helmet superimposed over the logo) while the back has the full 2019 tour schedule along with half of the helmet from the front. I caught this show at five of those tour stops, including Boston’s three DCI Championships performances in Indy at the end of the season.
Next up is a “raglan crew” shirt. I didn’t know what raglan meant, but a quick Google search led me to this definition from Wikipedia:
Description
A raglan sleeve is a sleeve that extends in one piece fully to the collar, leaving a diagonal seam from underarm to collarbone. It is named after Lord Raglan, the 1st Baron Raglan, who is said to have worn a coat with this style of sleeve after the loss of his arm in the Battle of Waterloo.
I’ll be honest: This is the first and probably only sleeveless shirt I’ve owned. That’s the risk one takes when buying a mystery bundle, though. Of course, the weather is about to turn cooler as we move into autumn, so I may give this shirt a try next year.
I do like to collect drum corps digital media, so I was pleased to find the Crusaders’ 2016 tour DVD, Quixotic, as part of my bundle. This will get added to my Plex library ASAP.
We finish this bundle with a few Boston decals/stickers, which will look good on my MacBook, and a gold Waldo lapel pin, though these days it’s more of a lanyard pin/piece of flair as I can’t even remember the last time I wore a suit.
Which bundle will be next? Keep watching this site to find out!