now we were ready. we finished up spring training, and headed for our annual preview at a brass band festival in gettysburg. this would be our only performance before we performed twice at a show in buffalo with the cavaliers. unfortunately, it rained the entire day in gettysburg. the field was saturated, and deemed unmarchable by the administration. we ended up doing a standstill concert. [it was a pretty darn good standstill concert, by june 16 standards.]

after the show, we packed up, and headed for buffalo- the place where our season would �officially� begin and end. we rehearsed all day at a school in the not-so-wonderful part of buffalo. the weather was nice, plus some old friends showed up to catch the runthrough. i really had only seen fatte a few times since 1999 finals, so it was good to catch up. anyway- we had not yet figured out if it was possible to perform our ballad while wearing shakos, so that night we did BOTH our shows without them. it was bizarre to say the least- the cadets with no shakos. weird. the first show that afternoon was our first ever runthrough in uniform. the sun was in our eyes, it was hot, there were no lines on half of the field- it was horrible, as most first shows usually are. the second performance, [prefaced by george as �round two�] was much, much better. �ten points better� i was told by a few people later that evening.

at the end of the night, we and the cavaliers came to the front of the field to play a few tunes together. when it came time for �the tiger of san pedro,� we acted as we usually did for that type of tune- feet apart, leaning back as far as possible, just having a grand time of it. the cavaliers stood at attention. my, how things have changed. in 1998, it probably would have been much different...

we started on the east coast tour toward the usual stop in orlando, with a day off in disney world. we stayed at the same school as every year, it rained just like every other year, and the pitcher�s mound was on the show field, just like every other year. [you would think that dci would figure that one out?] the orlando show was alright- we were third, after the blue devils and the cavaliers. this was a sign of things to come. if we were going to play the competition game, it was going to be a LONG summer.

soapbox:
to me, the competition part of drum corps is perhaps one of the most insignifigant parts of the experience. i have �won�, �lost�, and tied. it really doesn�t matter. �winning� does not make you a better human being. [drum corps is not a head-to-head sport like basketball, so you cannot control the actions of the other groups. this is why i will not use the terms �win� or �lose� in ANY of these pages.] this being said, it can be fun to play the game, as long as you don�t base your summer on it.
in 2001, we decided to play the game. why not? we actually have competition this year, lets max it out. ok. no big deal. in orlando, we were more than three points behind than the blue devils. lets see if we can change some minds over the summer. just as long as we make people clap, and we have a great time doing it.
end soapbox.

we continued the east coast tour. shows in columbia, philadelphia, and eventually our home show in clifton. the cadets are notorious for having horrible shows at clifton. the grass is always 8 inches tall, and it is always impossible to march through. this night, however, was different. we came onto the field, and laid one out for our fans. much to our delight, we began to chip away at the three point defecit. this particular evening, we got a higher brass score than the blue devils. [the judge, jeff mitchell, was standing right in front of me for the ballad- i take FULL credit for this :] life was good.

we did the usual july 4th parades in bristol, wakefield, and bridgeport. after the beverly, mass show, we packed all our stuff, and headed to beverly high school for a few hours of sleep and a shower before we got up early, and headed for the boston airport, and eventually california. the only rub was that there were four [4] drum corps at that school. crown, the crossmen, and the blue devils all beat us there. it was a mess, to say the least. we got up around 4, and headed for the airport.

the crosscontinental flight was pretty good. it was nice to have a day of just sleeping. when we finally did arrive in california, the santa clara vanguard�s buses picked us up. they had been on tour for a while, and cleaned out the inside of their buses just so we could ride across the bay bridge. i left a thank you note on one of the windows of the drum bus- that was an amazing thing to do. THANK YOU, VANGUARD!

the school we arrived at was called dublin high school- home of the gaels. [GAEL FORCE!] we would be here for 4 or 5 days. [brad, zak, snacky, and i were very happy, because there was a starbucks about a quarter mile up the road. we went there for breakfast and dinner every night we were there. we invited george to walk with us once, and of course, in classic george fashion we got �naaah. i�ll take the car.�]