Annapolis, MD and Pittsburg, PA

We had a good show in the US Naval Academy stadium in Annapolis, MD. and broke 70 on our second outing. Below are a few pix from the pre-show rehearsal.

We are housed near Pittsburg now and the Eat-Shower-Load is set for 3:00. The designers are continuing to tweak the drill and the kids are getting more and more confident in their performances.

We are starting to see a round of colds and congestion setting in so have a number of kids resting for the next day or so.

We're off to Dublin, OH tonite after the show--about a 200 Mile run--perhaps 5 Hours for the trucks.

We had a scare during the first show with the new gator--it stalled and would not re-start during our trip back to the trucks after the show. We had to use about 10 people to push the loaded trailer and gator up the hills and back to the truck. After a little trial and error, I was able to get fuel flowing again and the gator re-started. It ran fine for the Anapolis show last nite. Seems that it might have been a little crud left in the fuel system from manufacturing.

The crowd response has been very encouraging for the first two shows and we are getting a few of the first-show bugs out of the system.

More pix from Dublin.

Curt

Show Day 1--Chambersburg, PA

Sorry about the "outage" the volunteers and equipment were staying at a different location in Quincy from the corps so I had no access to the internet. Here are a few pix of move0ut day, Spring Fling, and the Everette and Quincy stay. The Bunker Hill parade was a real blast as was the Fling. It was a 10 hr drive for us down to Chambersburg and the show is in a few hours now. The corps is really excited and the show is looking very good for early season. Hope you can all watch the Annapolis show on-line.

Housing info should be available on the Crusaders .com site. I am always a day behind or more now on the road so my info may not help finding us in time.


Everyone is healthy and the weather is cooperating so far. Possible thundershowers this afternoon but it looks good right now. We are at a nice middle school and the facility is clean and spacious. No turf but two large fields to work on.

I'll try to catch up a little this week since we will be settling into the roady system.

The Sr. corps was great at the fling and also came to Quincy to give the kids a cook-out of dogs and burgers on Tuesday nite. A little break for the kitchen staff and a treat for the kids. We returned the favor with a full dress show performance on the turf at Veterans Memorial Stadium--all were enthusiastic to say the least.

Gotta go now. Watch the show on-line, and enjoy the pix. More to follow.

Curt

T-0 Move-Out

Today is move-out day. It started raining hard at 10PM last nite and was pouring by breakfast. Its still raining on and off now but the corps is carrying on with visual rehearesal in spite of the weather. Mental toughness! They are learning the drill for the closer now.

Spring Fling is tonite then a couple of days of parades and rehearsal in the Boston area before we depart for Chambersburg, PA.

Connections to good, fast internet services will now become subject to coverage area issues so updates might be a little more sporadic. I will try to continue with the pix and commentary tho.

More later..

Curt

NH Show Morning

It was fog and mist for the morning breakfast and visual practice this morning. The corps is on a modified schedule today. They are doing a clinic after lunch for a small high school band group. Then it is warm-up for the show at 7:00. After the show, the corps will have dinner with the clinic kids and do a full Eat, Ship, Load (ESL) practice before snack at 11:15. The ESL practice is to get the sleeping area cleaned and the rookies familiar with the routine of packing up and then re-deploying their sleeping arrangement and clothing.

It was chilly last nite so Chef Ron was the star of the evening with a tasty corn-bread-topped beef stew casserole for dinner. Snack included hot chocolate, of course. This morning, we had fresh-baked corn/cheddar muffins or carrot-cake muffins and cereal or oatmeal.


Lunch today was started with a cheer as the first members to hit the line saw the home-made strombolli/calzone with pepperoni and cheese.

The weather is predicted to remain dry until 8:00 tonite when rain will again begin for the remainder of nite and early tomorrow. So with some luck, we will get to do the first public showing of Core of Temptation, the Boston Crusaders' 2009 Show. See the video trailer here.

Day 17 Rainy Day in NH

Yesterday was perhaps the last of the sunny days we will see in New Hampton. It started raining a little after midnite and is raining steadily now at mid morning. The forecast is for rain, fog, mist, and steady temperatures in the mid fifties for the next several days.

Yesterday was a modified schedule and a free nite after 6:00PM. There was a movie scheduled for the auditorium at 9:30 and many of the kids made the hike to the Subway. I drove about 8 kids in the Baritone line to get subs. Another group supported the local pizza delivery shop with perhaps 30 pizzas ordered and delivered. The ping-pong tournament was in full swing as was final dot book updates and cell phone time. Most of the corps went to sleep early and also enjoyed an hour of extra sleep this morning with the delayed wake-up call to 8:00AM. Breakfast this morning was pancakes, oatmeal, and cereal in the rain.

Practice this morning is indoors--I suspect visual and run-through will be in the rain on the turf this afternoon.

Tomorrow is the show for the New Hampton community--if it is raining, it will more than likely be an indoor stand-up show. Show is scheduled for 7:00PM.


Clean-up of areas is underway during breaks and each member has now practiced re-packing, and getting ready to load out several times.

Hopefully this rain pattern in the Eastern States will lighten before the shows begin--last season we were in rain nearly every day for the first couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the comments and feedback. I try to pass on all of the "say hi to ....." messages I get. It surprises most of the kids when they find out you are seeing them on-line!

Curt

Free Night!

It was a great weekend here in New Hampshire! Sunday evening run-through was done in full uniform and was quite a nice performance. Over the weekend, the weather was cool and dry except for a very light sprinkle late on Sunday. The pit got to do a trial equipment truck load and figured out how to do the big puzzle. We have a couple of new keyboards and one 5 octave marimba in the "fleet" and it is longer than the width of the truck. Sunday evening, the Crusader board of directors came up for a meet and greet with the corps. The kitchen staff prepared and served another full thanksgiving dinner complete with cranberry sauce and stuffing.



The expanded uniform crew is very busy with some new practice flags, uniform final fitting, and adjustments.

I got the new speaker stands assembled Sunday and they fit the speakers as designed. This will be a welcomed change from the makeshift stands we used last season.

The weather is clear and sunny this morning with a forecast for some rain Tuesday thru Friday. Hopefully it holds off on Wednesday evening for the NH preview show.

I'm now trying to finish the growing list of final projects before move-out.

Curt

Count-Down to Departure

We are beginning to count down the days now before departure. Little tasks begin to get jammed up into the diminishing time left before we leave for the summer. The weather is being super--low 70's and cool evenings--perfect corps practice weather.


The food delivery arrived and we spent the remainder of the afternoon storing the food away. We also got the walk-in refrigerator working again so all the cold stored food from the portable refer had to be moved into the kitchen truck as well. Its a lot of lifting, bending, and hefting heavy boxes up the steps. After everything is put away, there was a brief opportunity for a rest in the shade for the hard-working kitchen volunteers and staff--then its up and going again for the next meal.




My newly finished speaker stands will be mated to their respective speakers this weekend, and the other pit equipment is being packaged up for easy roll on to the show fields.

With only a couple of exceptions, the corps is still healthy--remarkably, and unlike last year, there are NO orthopaedic or athletic type injuries.


Lunch today was our first salad bar extravaganza of the season and you can tell by the heaping plates that the members really liked it. Dinner was salisbury steak, mashed potato and gravy, green beans, and fresh carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

Breakfast this morning was french toast casserole, cereal, and fruit salad. Taco bar for lunch today and bacon cheeseburgers for dinner. No one is going hungry.




The corps is now working on the closer for the show. The first full run-through in uniform will be the friends and family of New Hampton performance next Wednesday e.vening. We are all looking forward to seeing the corps in full uniform again.

Its going to be an exciting summer!

Cheers,

Curt

Two Perfect Days in a Row

The weather has been nothing short of spectacular for drum corps practice for the last two days. Warm, sunny days and crisp cool evenings. It is supposed to be nice throughout the week now.

If I miss pictures of your member in the section overviews, it is probably because they were not in place for the pictures--alot of uniform measuring, fitting, special visual work being done during the day and often each section sends two or three members at a time. I'll eventually get them filled in.

The corps is generally healthy with only a few doctor runs..a bug in the eye, upset stomach, a pulled muscle, etc. The schedule is becoming the master at this point though--lots more kids asleep well before lights out in the evening--and some pretty tired looking troops in the breakfast line after stretch/run. But the feeling is very positive and they continue to work very hard. In a matter of a few days, the entire show will be on the field and full-show run-throughs will be performed. The clock is counting down now for departure from New Hampton.

THe first laundry nite was done Monday or Tuesday. On a rotating basis, each section gets to use a laundry facility in one of the dorms here on campus. The rain and cold nites have run many of the kids out of clean clothes by this time.

THe refrigeration repair has begun this morning on the food truck and the second large food delivery is scheduled for today. Its always a special "treat" to see 300-400 cases of food show up and get dropped off in the parking lot!

More later..

Curt

Wind, Cold, now Sunny and Ideal

Saturday evening the corps Hornline performed a few chorales for the New Hampton School Alumni Reunion. The pictures are courtesy of Karen D. After the performance, the reaminder of the evening was a free nite for all members. Most made the pilgrimage to the Subway or ordered a pizza for delivery. A few were treated to a dinner out by alumni or friends and family. A few caught up on dot book entry or sleep. Everyone was back at the schedule first thing on Sunday morning.





Sunday began looking like an excellent day--overcast and cool but no rain. After lunch, the wind picked up to storm strength as a severe frontal system raced across New England. Our re-ballasted pop-up tent canopies survived but one of the large rental tents used by the reunion party took off and ended up on top of the school roof. The winds gusted up to 45 MPH and the temperature dropped thru the 50's. By the last show run through at 8:30, the temp was about 48 with a wind chill well below that with NW winds still at 20 MPH.



Today, the morning dawned crisp and clear after frost and freeze warnings overnite. It has quickly warmed up into the 60's and a full schedule of outdoor visual and ensemble rehearsals is in progress.

Lots of guard pictures are here today again courtesy of Karen D. and todays lunch line photos by me. Breakfast this morning was egg casserole, cereal, etc. Dinner last nite was stuffed pork chops, scalloped potatoes, and veggies. A special treat at lunch today was chocolate milk.

We missed a day of posting because the high winds took out the school server room a/c unit and caused the network system to go offline.



Last nite's show run through included everything through the ballad. despite the cold, there are enthusiastic whoops and hollers when the final run of the day is called--

More later,

Curt