What a great achievement by our staff and performers to win the WMC Championships and to have the high score of all the marching groups. Over 300 groups total form 30 countries competing over four weekends. WOW!

OUR activity needs to celebrate all that share in the passion for marching and music. Our world is much more than here in the Unites States. And it is much more than who wins and losses. Even though we won the WMC, it was about the grand experience sharing our talents with all the other incredible groups. Seeing what the world has to offer. We all get a little caught up in the moment and forget about the faces behind the horns. We all have amazing kids. AND there are amazing groups ALL over the world.

Lets enjoy the next two weeks and not let our enthusiasm detour what our amazing young people are doing.

Dave


Check out
http://bluedevils.org/news/index.php?newsID=131

Hey guys ... sorry its been so long I have been really busy trying to keep this
guard going. The guard has not clicked all together yet. I am staying
positive. It has kinda come to that point where I have to go back in
time and remember some of the people that I used to look up to. I know
things will continue to get better. The other day kass reminded me to be a blue
devil and I had to remember what that was. Since that day I have worked
harder and been what I thought a blue devil should be. Scott and jay
will take care of the show and we will take care of our part. I'm going
to work as hard as the blue devils before me and I hope to keep the blue
devil ora alive. P.s I have to give a shout out to my para cuz I
forgot her in the last one.

Sorry about the non-existent entries. But this is the most important
time of the season anyway...so I'll just start now. Things are winding
up to a great finish. Lots of changes were made that are making their
debut tonight. I'm excited with the new show and hope we can close the
gap with the Cadets and Cavies. I think the audience will enjoy it a
lot more also. We'll see about the outcome...go BD!!

Hi all,

The corps is doing absolutely great. We have much to do. We will keep working on the show and improving the design and effects. The staff over the last couple of days have been making many changes. Today they will be working on the end of the show. Next week we have a bunch more changes planned. In between the changes the performers are working on their excellence. Things are going well. But there is much to do. We have supreme confidence that in Boston we will be at our peak performance and the show will be fun and exciting. We do have a couple of years experience under our belts. ;)

Everyone is in great spirits. The performers are extremely talented and one of the hardest working group I have ever seen. We have no worries about the placements. We enjoy the challenge ahead of us. We understand the task and are fully confident that we will realize our full potential. We are enjoying the competition.

The Europe trip was awesome. It is not having any effects on our performance. It was a very challenging but rewarding trip. I do not think any of us would trade that trip for anything. What these kids have done to do a extensive three week tour of Europe with ALL the demands an then come back in to the United States and jump right back into the competitive tour is absolutely amazing. AND with no complaints. I am so proud of them.

Thanks for all the great support. We are looking forward to Murfreesboro and Indy. It will be fun!

Dave

It has been so long since my last entry. Europe was definitely an
experience that words cannot justify. I have so many memories to carry
with me for the rest of my life. The places, the people, the
experiences... Ryan and I spent a lot of time soaking up just how
beautiful each individual place was. We have so many pictures!

I want to give a special thank you to Felice and the wonderful people in
Lecco, Italy for taking such special care with me. It is unbelievable
how beautiful a people you all are. Thank you so much. I really do
appreciate it.

Thank you so much to everyone in Europe who took the time to watch us at
rehearsals and shows. It meant the world to us that you would share with
us the very thing that we both love. You made our trip even that much
more incredible...

Now that we are back in the U.S., we are working hard. We are getting so
many things done. The last couple days have been especially exciting.
The show is really shaping itself beautifully and it shows.

We are getting geared up for this weekend... It is going to be a great
weekend of drum corps! Time to sweat... It is great. Until next time...

So I'm back, from europe and we got the sidekick back. Well europe.....where should I start, it was an experience that's for sure but I'm glad to be back in the states. I missed competing and the whole usa drum corps feel. But europe will be something I will never forget and I have 300 pictures to remember it by! So now that we are back and the jet lag is gone we are back on our own schedule with our own buses and our own food truck, I have never been so happy to see devils food I swear, it does feel like drum corps again. Right now we are in texas and the san antonio show is this weekend, and I'm excited to see everyone and compete. We came in second the other night to the cavies but our moral is high and we are pushing. We are maiking a few changes to our show and cleaning things up to get our score up. Oh our first show back in the states was kalamazoo and when we went on it was pouring, not even like sprinkling like in our eye's pouring, before going on I was kinda nervous but when we were on field it was just kinda like well here it goes and it ended up being such a fun performance, one I will always remember. Well off to practice now before our show tonight!

Hi all,

I will probably not write much now that we are back and you can follow much easier the drum corps activities on the internet. The members will be bloging next week when I get them their sidekick.

All three flights made it in with no problems on Wednesday. Only one lost horn and one damaged bag. Very amazing. We finally all made it to the housing site around 1:00am ... Glad to see our food truck ;-)

It is Friday. We had a good day yesterday. We switched housing sites and had a very strong evening block last night. Today will be a two block day and then SHOWTIME.

The Jetlag is not having to much effect. We have been talking quite a lot about how to get back on a normal schedule. With a drum corps schedule, it is not to difficult.

We are going to start making so more changes after tonight heading into San Antonio. Each week we have good blocks of time and many improvements to the show planned.

Stay tuned. We still have many weeks to go ... AND WE are just beginning

Thanks for reading and ALL the great emails. The kids are very excited to see all.

Dave

Greetings all,

I'm sitting in the lovely Heathrow airport here in London. The hornline members were the last flight out of Amsterdam. It felt a bit like Groundhog's Day being back at this airport. Time just flew right by...

The plan:
-Get just enough sleep on the plane to mess with my biological clock and still be able to sleep once we get into Kalamazoo.

Speaking of the day... Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday! Yeah yeah... I'm old. At least I don't look it. I look like I'm 16 years old or something.

I hope you're all ready for the Blue Devils to be back on US soil! We're all very excited to get back and set those fields on fire! It's going to be quite good as Erik Skinner would say...

Quite good indeed.

See you guys soon!
~Carl

PS. Email me happy birthday!!

Hi all ..

Just a quick note. We are at the Amsterdam airport and heading home. All the members have made it through customs and now are at the gates. The first flight has left, which was the Percussion. The second and third flights leave in about 2 hours.

We are all very safe. We have discussed the jet lag issue and everyone understands what they need to do to do take care of the bodies and minds

We will be at our housing site in Kalamazoo in the evening. Unpack and get settled in Wednesday night. Get a very good nights sleep. And then get back to work on Thursday with a FULL day of rehearsal. Friday SHOW day.

We will see everyone soon. Expect MANY cell phone calls when the planes land in Chicago.

Bon Voyage Europe ... It has been an adventure and a experience we all shall never forget.

Dave

Greetings All,

Well, it's about that time. After the London terrorist attack, security has been stepped up, and accordingly, we're leaving in about an hour to drive to the airport just incase they decided to search EVERYTHING we have.

Today's rehearsal was rough with the Kerkrade night gig last night. We were all sore since our performance time was almost an hour after we stretched, not to mention, I think we played every extra chart in our book before a "surprise" field show. We also did a clinic today, which was interesting with some G bugles in the mix. It was fun to have some fans with their horns in the arc, I'm sure they were thrilled too. Our ensemble block went smoothly as well and we had a huge turnout for our run through - lots of Thai kids. Our run was pretty hot, by the way. It was fun to sign some autographs and have pictures taken our last night here. I doubt the enthusiasm will be the same once we return, but I guess you never know, especially since we've been absent for so long. We're all really excited to be in cell phone range again. We were joking that no one's going to talk with each other once we land, it's going to be straight to the cell. If you think tour is tough, try touring in another continent...that's a whole different animal.

I doubt we'll be jetlagged too much. The staff has given us directions and tips for beating it so in a couple days, we should be ready to roll into our SECOND American show. If there was a Blue Devil group able to beat diversity, it's this years'. My fellow members have done a great job with handling the "mystery tour."

Well, that's about it, the next time you hear from us, we'll be home. I hope you're all as excited as we are. This program is an incredible spectacle and will prove to be impressive. Take care and we'll see you all soon.

Later.