once again, i moved into allentown college a couple of weeks late, because i had to finish high school. i arrived on the evening of june 7 just in time to watch the last hour of rehearsal. the Cadets looked defeated, worn, beaten down by the first two weeks of spring training. after rehearsal, i hauled all my worldly belongings inside, and caught up with what was going on. everyone kept telling me that hell's kitchen was the hardest thing ever marched- yippee.
the next morning when i went out for marching rehearsal, i slipped into the circle for basics very quietly. finally, darryl noticed that someone new had arrived- he looked at me and jokingly said
"so are you in this drum corps, or what?"he was, of course just making fun of the fact that i missed the hardest part of the season already...or so everyone thought.
over the next four days i learned all the drill to the big apple, and all of the musical changes that had been made. the opener got moved to the end, hell's kitchen's unison staccato eighth notes were turned into whole notes, and thankfully a ballad had been added. this program made stonehenge look like mary had a little lamb. it was going to be one hell of a tour.
christine nanartowicz during the giants stadium show
i remember the first preview show, and how beat we were going in to it. we had practiced all day, and the brass staff found it nessacary for us to warmup on the move while in full uniform at 4pm. it was exhausting by itself. we took the field for the show, and i remember telling myself to if nothing else, survive. survive is what we did- and not much more. that first show was the hardest thing i have ever done.
we finshed out the last four days of spring training, and packed everything for tour. we were very excited to be out of allentown after a month there. the southern united states was just as smotheringly hot as the year previous. changes were being made to the show on a daily basis. the ballad got totally rewritten, the opener restaged, the horn parts watered. the show just wasn't clicking along like the previous year. we sped right along over the united states, making changes, trying to survive.
on july 1, the Cadets got a well deserved free night in canada. now i know that this is not the forum to air out dirty laundry, so i won't, but it should be known that on the said evening, the Cadets were a highly stressed group of young adults in a very wild town. the next morning, april and hop had a talk with us. it was obvious that they did not approve of our conduct, and were concerned for us as people, and Cadets. by this time in the season, it was obvious that the show wasn't working out, the staff wasn't getting along, and the Cadets were not having a good time.instead of rehearsing in sectionals that day, our brass staff took us inside an old cathedral which had been converted into a modern art museum. something very special happened in there, and we came out changed individuals. the show that night was in montreal, which is the only dci show where alcohol is sold. there were thousands of screaming, intoxicated french canadians. it was insane. it was the evening the 1999 Cadets needed to have. we were remotivated, reenergized, reorganized, and ready for the rest of the tour...