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(www.kentucky.com)
This group of people will march to the beat of the same drummer.
Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps will host an event on the summer music games tour with Drums Across the Bluegrass on Sunday at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester.
Seven of the top 20 drum and bugle corps in the country will be participating in the show, which is expected to draw 3,000 spectators.
The event also highlights Southwind’s 25th anniversary, said Brett Owens, event chairperson.
Southwind, based in Winchester, has 135 members between the ages of 15 and 22. Fewer than half are from Kentucky, and throughout the years, members have come from 35 states and six countries.
The Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps is halfway through its summer music games tour, which started in Oswego, Ill., June 17, and ends with the World Championship in Foxboro, Mass., Aug. 13.
Overall, the corps will participate in more than 37 competitions in 19 states. Drum and bugle corps feature only brass and percussion instruments, incorporating choreographed moves with flags and other props. Judges score the corps on visual and musical criteria.
The public portion of the event will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Among the performances will be George Rogers Clark High School band performing the national anthem; the Bluecoats of Canton, Ohio; the Boston Crusaders of Boston, Mass.; the Madison Scouts of Madison, Wis.; and Spirit from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Fla.
The event host and announcer will be Brad Bell, a veteran of the drum and bugle corps competition circuit.
General admission tickets are $12. These tickets are first come, first served. General admission seats run from the 30-yard line to the end zone on either side of the stadium.
Reserved seating is $15 per person, with assigned seats between the 50- and 30-yard lines on both sides of the stadium.
VIP seating is $25 per person and offers seats with armrests and back support as well as extra leg room. Seats are on the 50-yard line and are limited.
(www.mlive.com)
KALAMAZOO — A 24/7 touring commitment for the summer. Sleeping on gym floors night after night. Repeated rehearsals in sweltering heat for some 30 competitions.
More than 2,000 North American and international students, ages 14-22, can think of no better way to spend their summer.
Drum Corps International is a nonprofit youth organization serving as the umbrella group to junior drum and bugle corps here and abroad. Corps of brass, percussion and color-guard members compete from June through mid-August, when true glory awaits the winners Aug. 9-13 in Foxboro, Mass., where the world championships take place.
(www.daily-chronicle.com)
Members of the Chicago Royal-Airs Senior Exhibition Corps had the most gray hair of any of the groups performing Friday night at Hopkins Park, but most said they feel like teenagers when they take to the field.
Seven drum and bugle corps gave spectators a sneak peek of the performances they will be giving during the Drum Corps Midwest Championships tonight. Most of those performing were junior corps with members under 21 years old.
Rich Tessitore said playing the baritone bugle takes him back to when he participated with the Norwood Park Imperials. He left the group when he “aged-out” at 21.
The 60-year-old Palatine resident is a member of the Chicago Royal-Airs alumni group, which formed in 2002. The group, which was started in Chicago’s northwest side neighborhood of Humboldt Park, was together for 10 years.
“We’re mostly all old drum corps people,” Lisa Nuske, 40, said.
“You gotta say old?” Tessitore said.
“Just look at him,” she said and laughed. He pointed at her with the cigar he was smoking.
The group has about 100 members; about 50 performed in Friday night’s concert. They take the field tonight at Huskie Stadium at the conclusion of the 28th annual championships.
Nuske said the average age of group members is about 56.
“We’re all well over 21,” she said.
Corps members are from throughout Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Some members come from California and there’s a Canadian in the group, too.
Nick Tomasi, 65, drove in from Defiance, Ohio - about 260 miles from DeKalb.
Tessitore, who runs a machine shop, said he always looks forward to performing.
Nuske agree.
“It makes us feel like we’re kids again,” she said as the group walked across Sycamore Road to Hopkins Park after warming up. “It brings us back to when you were in junior corps … When you’re here it brings you back to being 16 years old.”
Tomasi interrupts: “Really? My body doesn’t feel like it,” he said and laughed.
Other members of the corps start laughing. They make jokes about who their sponsors should be and start naming various geriatric drugs.
“Here you forget about your arthritis and aches,” Nuske said.
Tony Laskowi, 61, of Aurora said that since rejoining the corps, his doctor has said his blood-sugar levels have remained low.
“He asks, ‘What have you been doing?’” he said and laughed.
John Olker, 55, of Kalamazoo, Mich., said he appreciates the other group members’ dedication and the fact that the group also has a full field show. He said if the group just played music, most members wouldn’t participate.
Olker said he participated in several groups after the Royal-Airs disbanded in 1968. His last performance was in 1979 when he left the now defunct Chicago Connection corps.
“Basically three-fourths of this group I grew up with,” Olker said. “I consider them friends. How many friends do you have more than 40 years?”
He and other members said being a member of the corps takes up a lot of time, but it’s worth it.
“At first I couldn’t believe we were doing this again,” Laskowi said.
“Now I don’t want to quit,” Olker said. “I will continue to do it.”
Other members who heard him agreed, nodded and lined up to get on stage.
(www.mercurynews.com)
Drum and Bugle Corps Show. Twelve marching groups from California and beyond will perform at the fourth annual Firebird Classic Drum and Bugle Corps Show. 5:30-9:30 p.m. July 16. Fremont High School football field, 1279 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Sunnyvale. $15; $10 students/seniors; free for children 4 and under. Benefits Fremont High School Band Boosters and Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. (408) 245-1064, www.firebirdmarchingband.com.
(desmoinesregister.com)
The precision-driven sights and sounds of drum and bugle corps return to Ankeny at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
For more than two decades, the city has been home to a Drum Corps International drum and bugle corps competition called Celebration in Brass.
The nonprofit youth organization serves junior drum and bugle corps around the world. During the summer when younger musicians are on break, drum and bugle corps travel the country participating in competitions that also entertain the public. Musicians belonging to these corps range in age from 14 to 22. The summer-long competitions culminate at the world championships in August.
Corps slated to perform at Celebration in Brass in Ankeny include the Blue Stars, Colt Cadets, Colts, Crossmen, Kiwanis Kavaliers, Pioneer, The Cadets and The Magic. The Ankeny Chamber of Commerce hosts the event, with local businesses serving as financial supporters.
(news.cincypost.com)
One of the most fascinating and entertaining events of the summer takes place this Sunday in Fairfield with the “Summer Music Games.”
It’s part of the Drum Corps International tour event, conducted throughout the United States. The closest event takes place at Fairfield Stadium.
…
Corps participating this year in Cincinnati are Carolina Crown from Fort Mill, S.C.; Boston Crusaders from Boston; Glassmen from Toledo, Ohio; Crossmen from Allentown, Pa.; Spirit from JSU from Jacksonville, Ala.; Southwind from Lexington, Ky.; and Lake Erie Regiment from Erie, Pa.
The competition will not include a drum corps from Greater Cincinnati, but many tri-staters from both Ohio and Kentucky have joined the Southwind group from Lexington.
The “Summer Music Games” in Cincinnati is one of more than 120 musical events leading up to the 2005 Drum Corps International World Championships to be held at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., Aug. 9-13.
The championships are the culmination of a summer of competition by drum and bugle corps composed of young people between the ages of 16 and 21. (To honor an individual’s committment to the corps, most groups host an “aging out” ceremony for retiring members.)
Competing corps consist of brass, percussion and color guard. Their musical routines embrace a variety of styles, including jazz, symphonic, new age, pop and show tunes - all set to precision marching formations on a “stage” the size of a football field.
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Gates will open at 5:30 p.m., and the competition begins at 7 p.m. Sunday.
But you might want to arrive early to see the Cincinnati Tradition, a local senior corps, perform about 6:40 p.m., Brown said.
Originally called the “Queen City Classic,” the competition has taken place at several tri-state sites. It has now settled into Fairfield Stadium, which is the old high school football field located behind the Fairfield Freshman School at 5050 Dixie Highway.
Advance purchase ticket prices are $18, $14, $10; gate prices are $20, $16, and $12; by phone at 513-858-DRUM.
For more information about “Summer Music Games” visit www.summermusicgamesincincinnati.org. For more information about Drum Corps International, visit www.dci.org.
(www.sunherald.com)
PASCAGOULA, Miss. - War Memorial Stadium in Pascagoula will again host drum-and-bugle corps from several states scheduled to compete in this month’s Drum Corps International concert.
The event, held in Pascagoula for the fifth consecutive year, is sponsored by the Mississippi Gulf Coast Summer Music Games Inc. and others. The show - which has attracted about 3,000 people each of the last two years - is planned July 19.
Seven corps from Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and Wisconsin are to take part in the event, billed as “Blast on the Beach.”
MGCMG uses funds generated from the show to provide scholarships to local musical students.
(www.twincities.com)
The St. Croix Rivermen Drum and Bugle Corps from Stillwater will hold its first alumni reunion next week in Stillwater.
More than 100 former members are expected to attend reunion events Tuesday and Wednesday. The organization disbanded in 1984.
The corps, which was based in Stillwater, performed in shows and competitions around the country.
“We put on an 11-minute field show and would go from town to town performing it,” said reunion organizer Sarah Harcey Anderson, a former member of the corps color guard. “We rode on buses and slept on gym floors in our sleeping bags. No hotels for us.”
Reunion events include a golf outing and social Tuesday and a family picnic and the Drum Beauty Drum Corps Show on Wednesday.
All past Rivermen members, boosters and instructors are invited to attend. For more information, call Anderson at 763-785-7820 or visit www.stcroixrivermen.org.
(www.pantagraph.com)
NORMAL — The Cavaliers live summer like they were rock stars. Except for the sleeping arrangements, that is.
The nationally known drum corps from Rosemont is among a handful of groups competing tonight at a Drum Corps International competition at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium in Normal.
The performances mark the end of the weeklong Bands of America camp for aspiring musicians, directors and field teams.
The drum corps life is “basically living like rock stars all summer long,” said Cavalier Brendan Vincent, a student at the University of Louisville. “You go to the competition and then get on the bus and to go to the next city.”
The corps has some of the best collegiate talent in the nation and has won its last eight competitions.
This week, in town to prepare for tonight’s contest, all 134 members have been sleeping in the Bloomington Junior High gymnasium. But the humble arrangements are nothing new.
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