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The One About Marching In the Olympics
117 Plays4 months ago
Join our hosting panel as they talk about all the times Marching Arts has been a part of the Olympic Games. Our hosts bring you their stories, plus news, guests, and so much more!
Special Guests
Barbara Hopkins
Meet our Hosts
Jackie Brown - @spintronixguard
Stephen McCarrick - @stephenmccarick
Cindy Barry - @leandermomma
Nicole Younger - @o2bnpjs & @thecookoutcg
Trevor Bailey - @t_pain151
Trish O’Shea - @trishdish1002
Beth Beccone - @bether7189
Chris Rutt - @wildhornbrass1
Cynthia Bernard - @cynthiabern
Ashlee Amos - @famousamossss_
Theo Harrison - @harrisontheo07
Stephanie Click - @stephanieclick
Whitney Stone - @dancerwhit
Justin Surface - @J_dex07
Ashley Tran - @itsashleytran
Jack Goudreau - @goudreau_
Bill Woodward - @remoking100
Emily Nee - @tch.makes.art
Ricardo Robinson-Shinall - @ricardorrobinson
Austin Hall - @Austin_hall10
Jose Montes - @joeymontes57
Bobbey Biddle - @bobbeyboy107
Peyton Billhart - @peytonbrillhart
Music provided by leydamusic.com Follow him @josh.leyda
Avatars provided by @tch.makes.art
Featuring
Lexi Duda - Host for On A Water Break In Rhinestones - The Stories of the Twirlers @lexi_duda
Thank you also to @guardcloset
#marchingband #colorguard #dci #podcast #onawaterbreak #wgi #drumline
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Transcript
Olympics and Marching Arts Connection
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, we are back for another incredible episode this week commemorating the 2024 Olympic Games and reminiscing about its marching arts ties. We will find out what made Chris say. So we had to relearn the entire show going, okay, I'm two off of R-19 and four in front of Q-90, whatever.
00:00:21
Speaker
And why Nicole said, see, here's my thing. And this is why I bring this up. Breakdancing has now become an Olympic sport. Great. You know? And I've watched some of it. I'm i'm down. All this and more. So get out on the field, and we will see you back on the sidelines for this week's episode of On a Water Break. Eight off the Met and go. Welcome to On a Water Break. The podcast where we talk everything. Marching arts.
00:00:52
Speaker
Everyone, bring it in. It's time for a water break.
Olympics and Arts: Historical Ties
00:00:57
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of season two of On A Water Break, the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break. I'm Jackie Brown. This week it is about to be the halfway point for one of the most time-honored traditions of athleticism in our world, the 2024 Olympics.
00:01:16
Speaker
And no Olympic celebration will be complete without looking back at the ties that the Olympics have had throughout the years with the artistry of the ceremonies. In particular, the artistry of the marching arts.
00:01:29
Speaker
ah But first, let's see who's on the sidelines today. Nicole, I feel like we keep doing episodes around each other and I haven't seen you in ages. It's true. It's true. I'm just like, anytime you say, hey, does anybody need, you know, do you need an extra, you know, co-host? I'm like, wait, I haven't seen Jackie. So this is like our catch up time. let' mention It's just nice to have someone else in your seat. You know what I mean? Yes, true.
00:01:59
Speaker
And Chris Rutt, I haven't seen you in 800 years, I swear. You look great for your age, by the way. Thank you. Yes, it's the Southern California sun, right? That'll do it, Tia. And back this week, because we had such a great time last week on, well, it wouldn't be last week at this point. It's probably going to be like two weeks ago when this airs. The Peggy Twiggs episode. Hi, Barbara Hopkins.
Olympic Connections with Special Guest Paul O'Keefe
00:02:26
Speaker
Hey, Barbara.
00:02:29
Speaker
I'm excited you're back. ah We also have a special guest today who has more Olympic experience to add. Did I mention that we've all got some sort of ties to the Olympics here for this episode? Paul O'Keefe. Hi, Paul. Hey, everyone. How you doing? It's nice to meet everyone.
00:02:51
Speaker
I see you on Facebook all the time and I'm like, I know this person. I know this name, a lot of the same circles. And it's so cool whenever you get to just meet somebody like that in the same circles in the marching arts and so on. Yeah. It's kind of like you, you all get the conversation all at once because we're cut from the same mold. You know, it's nice. Yes, definitely. Well, Paul, since this is your first episode with us, we have a little tradition that we do.
00:03:20
Speaker
It's called the 32 count life story. And basically what we're going to do is I have a Dr. Beat queued up here. And Dr. Beat is going to give you a metronome of 32 counts of eight counts. And then you can just start telling your life story. And it'll give you 32 counts. You need to tell us everything that has ever happened to you from the day you were born. Don't forget to include the Olympics until today. Okay.
00:03:49
Speaker
Oh, it can't be done. Okay, can we just start from like the 70s? You know, of course, you could just say I was born.
00:04:00
Speaker
ah And if you run over, we don't we don't make you do push ups or anything. So you'll be okay. a little bit of drum corps tips like you know drum corps stuff that I that happened to me you know and my and my colleague got experience because I was a horn player so okay well let me give you that let me give you the the metronome here you go ready okay okay um I was born in 1960 I'm from Boston Massachusetts um my family was involved in drum corps I was involved with the drum corps my brothers and since we were involved in the activity my parents drove the bus
00:04:38
Speaker
I was involved with the Pembroke Imperials, and then I loved being able to say I could march to the 25th of Lancers in 1975. In 1975, that was my dream to march with them. I was also what the first boy rifle in the state of Massachusetts from my high school and had to go before the board to get permission, because you didn't have boys in color guard in Massachusetts. so well um Wow. Wow.
00:05:09
Speaker
Good for you. the good that that was That's hard to do. but you always fit I love to watch people do the 32 count line store because I'm just like, when you start to like get down to the last couple seconds, you can see people try to speed up what they're talking about. I'm like, oh my gosh. So much fun to watch. So did you get you got to march with the 27th Lancers then?
00:05:31
Speaker
ah I came to the Drum Corps in the winter of 1979 after the season, after the 79th season, I saw them in Birmingham. And you know, I'm actually in the Drum Corps called the Pembroke Imperials, which had disbanded, you know, the New England Corps were kind of, you know, like any, anywhere else that, you know, the era from, from VFW, those other corps were kind of all, you know, just finances were an issue. So, ah two seven was really,
00:06:02
Speaker
instrumental in being able to, you know, go after talent and other drum corps that had kind of like gone by the wayside. So a lot of my friends from Pembroke Imperials had gone to the Lancer in 78, 79. So I made the transition and so in the winter of 79 and I was there for the 80 and 81 season. So it was great. And then I was on staff for a little bit. So yeah, I loved it. every I loved every minute of the 2-7 co-op.
00:06:32
Speaker
Yeah, tell us about marching about the Olympics. You know what, what, uh, how did you get involved? How did you, your core get involved with that? What was your experience like? Let's, let's start there. Well, you know, when Tommy Walker saw the core in Birmingham and DCI in 1979. And so he was watching the, uh, the, I guess on TV on PBS from the broadcast of PBS live. So he saw the core, you know, and.
00:07:00
Speaker
I mean, it was really the color guard that that sold him, you know, you know, visually, you know, I mean, they were everything to the core visually, you know, in those days. And so and it was close by in Lake Placid, you know, and it was, ah you know, not that far away. So yeah, we, we, we fit the bill, you know, so a lot of work, though, I can remember people like Patsy B and Mays and Golly and all the women have to, you know, do 400 silks, you know, for you know little doll flags, you know, and then the bigger flags. So there's there was a lot going on. It was funny. And then we had to perform on ice for the closing ceremonies. So we had a brace of cloth. Yeah, a brace of cloth that was glued to the bottom of our shoes.
00:07:56
Speaker
to be able to march on the ice. Yeah, it was fun. It was fantastic.
Challenges of Performing in Olympic Conditions
00:08:02
Speaker
One of the best moments for me was there was behind the regular rink on the closing ceremonies, there was another rink where we were practicing our routine and then a lot of the athletes were were around us and they were just, they were blown away by what we were doing. And it felt so great because these are people that are the same age as we are, you know? It's like, so it was, it was just, it was so much fun. I loved every minute of it, really. So is that how you and Barbara met? Barbara, how did, what's your connection? I was in the Lancer 76 to 80. So I was able to go to the Olympics and Paul was young, but um we had a lot of people that came in from Pembroke.
00:08:47
Speaker
And in Massachusetts, you have a North Shore and you have a South Shore, depending if you're North or South of Boston. I'm from South of Boston. And Pembroke was probably one of the best drum corps that never made finals. And when things went South for them, we really benefited from those people. Plus, they were a South Shore Corps. So it was pretty cool. So I knew him with, we probably had about 12 or 13, right, Paul? Right, I mean, yeah. We had the best. We had Cliffy White, who was the Contra individual winner, and he's phenomenal if you ever to see the video. He was going to the New England Conservatory at the time. Phenomenal player, he legendary. he would He was also one of the members that helped carry in the Olympic flag. Yeah, he was in the group that carried the Olympic flag, hole which is a great story. You should tell that story, or I can tell that story. Yeah, you tell that story, but the voice out.
00:09:45
Speaker
Tommy Walker discovered us. The color guard, we may have done a little bit more than the drum corps as a whole, but the very first event we did was kind of a town event and all the churches got together. They did an ecumenical ceremony. And so we were in uniform and we were all lined up.
00:10:02
Speaker
And Tommy was there with his significant other, whose name was Judy, and they were kind of in charge. And he's in the front getting all nervous. He said to me, because I was the front, because I was the shortest, and Mary Berkley was behind me. Mary Berkley's at WGI, Hall of Famer. I'm sure you know all about her. He's going to say I know the name. Yeah. She was older, but she took time off from work to do it. It was great. And so Tommy said, you know, we've got to have you come out with like equal spaces between And we went, all right, sounds like a four pace. So we just passed it down. you know Keep the four. And so we walked out with our perfect four. And we did our thing. We went around the perimeter. We stopped. Then we all laughed in the lights and everything. And Tommy's like, wow, that was perfect. We're like, yeah, we do this. This is good. So we did a lot of things. We did a commercial downtown Lake Placid with the full drum corps for Dandy Don Meredith live Monday Night Football for Lipton T. Remember that? It was snowing. We did that.
00:11:03
Speaker
And then we rehearsed for like two or three days on the ice. They had some figure skaters from a club in Minnesota. So, Jordan Galley and a guy named Tommy Walker, Tommy Mahoney, who was a choreographer, who did movies and theater, and he had a name. He was a professional choreographer. and the The two of them went out to kind of work with the skaters and then George worked with us and we just knew what we had to do and we kind of had an idea. So we staged it on this big, huge patch of ice. Everything was done outside then.
00:11:34
Speaker
and right so we did our thing there were there was there was a little motion going back and forth and ego but that was kind of a funny story but everything was fine and then as everything was going on they had some local like Boy Scout kids to walk the flag around but they couldn't they weren't in step they didn't know what to do and Tommy said these guys can do everything so they they got a bunch of the they got the Contras And they got our drum major, Gerard Dwyer, and they said, you do it. And they're like, yeah, we can do it. So they actually watched the flag around the track and hoisted it up the pole. I think they announced that they were the Boy Scouts from Lake Placid, but they weren't. They were us.
00:12:16
Speaker
mean That's hilarious. Well, here here's a but here's the thing. The official program was printed, you know? I mean, it's all in there, you know? Right. And they weren't there. So yeah I guess you had to give them credit. So it's like, you know, it's OK. But then you guys came out and played. So the whole crew came out and played as part of opening ceremonies. And oh, you've got to tell the story about the SUNY Potsdam School of Music ball.
00:12:45
Speaker
Oh, so you the Crane School of Music. Crane School, yeah. SUNY. They were in a little dome area and it was all behind glass and heated, you know, when they're behind there with their instruments. So it's a college music program. near late as And they were very, very good. Yeah, they were phenomenal. They played, but they were protected and worn the whole time. and We were outside and it was like zero degrees. So so the issue the issue for us was you know, we went up New England kids, we can take it, you know, but the issue was the valves. So we tried special valve oil didn't work was about 30 seconds. There's a few as few of us had tried it with with this person named. Well, so it was a dad. Mr. Kelly says what about anti freeze because we had tried tough one didn't work graphite didn't work. So it was so crazy.
00:13:42
Speaker
So we figured it out and it was car antifreeze. So we would line up and we'd got we two valves back then, right? Not one. So you would, you would stand there and you would take a valve, dip it in the antifreeze. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Right.
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, not the safest. I don't know if it would pass the ocean these days. And that night, I mean, it was so cold. It was like, it was like minus 20 degrees, you know. again Yeah, one of the songs we had to learn with the with the great Gator Kiev, I guess. And so we'd be out there practicing and we'd be in our street clothes. And we would, you know, we looked like a ragtag bunch of kids, you know.
00:14:26
Speaker
And we didn't have, we had an official outfit, and they'll tell you about, but that came a little bit later. So we're just trying to try and stay warm. So, and it's how you know, it's hard as a horn player, it's hard to play a horn with gloves on. So we had these little cotton gloves, which were better than nothing. And so we'd keep our hands on our pockets, we put our mouthpiece in our pockets, you know, and, but the antifreeze worked. It totally worked. it was like It was amazing. I mean, no there were other things that happened. I mean, the drum line had snapped snap wooden you know drumsticks would break. The mylar heads would break. The heads would break like It was really like a learning curve. And this was things that no one thought of. you know I mean, we thought, well, we'll just get the you know the special low
00:15:17
Speaker
especially Val Boyle, that will work, right? and the And actually the Crane School of Music did try to help us with that. And so nothing was working. We were just out in the elements, you know, ah that whole day practicing before it all happened, before the flags went in, before the stadium was filled, before Mondale got there, you know, any of that stuff happened. But yeah it it worked. And that night we all washed out once because we didn't have to do it again like that.
00:15:47
Speaker
You know, closing ceremonies were inside. It was a little bit warmer. The horns were kind of freeze up, you know, with, um you know, stuff. in but This is like, it's January or February, right? February. That ever yeah boy but they do the Winter Olympics. Yeah. There was no stress when I think about it. And I never thought about it before, right? There was no stress. It was just all fun. Yeah. Yeah. It was all fun. and Yeah. I'll never forget the the women, you know, like I said, Bay and and Patsy, you know, George, Mrs. B, them all sewing the the fabric because, you know, we couldn't wear our uniforms because our uniforms were very, you know, British Empire, you know, yeah the theme, you know. So they had to be kind of nondescript and we had to be warm. So we wore Levi company, donated the corduroy jeans that we had. We were our own footwear. We had a
00:16:45
Speaker
down a cranberry vest, a white turtleneck top, and then a white hat. We're going to get some pictures of these things so we can put them up on our Instagram. Oh, yeah, sure. Oh, man. Sure, absolutely. So anyways, it was it was great. And then don't forget the pigeon release. Barbara, remember the pigeon release? Oh, yeah, at the very end, they had was supposed to be done. So if they released pigeons, it was a big thing. They only did that once.
00:17:13
Speaker
you know, on international television, that was pretty cool. So we had you had to be done in one take. So that was all that was all satellite back then. Yeah, right it was all so right state of the art. Yeah. And the Lake Placid, the last time it was a small opening ceremonies, because Everything changed because it was sarah Sarajevo, so that's Soviet Union, and they did huge. And then Tommy Walker did the LA Olympics in 1984, and that was huge. So we were the last little bitty kind of local, but it was still fun. That was still pretty impressive. I mean, we were on Sports Illustrated, and we were on Good Morning America, and we were on Today's Show. and
00:17:48
Speaker
live shots all over the place. And again, I didn't even think about this until recently. I don't remember any of it being stressful. Do you, Paul? It was like a vacation. No. It was like, it was like Lancer vacation. And they, you know, we had food all the time, which was nice. Because we were, we were like, everybody else who's an entertainer all the time. I was gonna say, did they put you up? Well, we stayed in a school.
00:18:13
Speaker
But so joke we once we were at the venue and we did rehearsals and before the actual performances, I mean, we got the same food in a box that the TV crew and got. it So I remember yeah spending a lot of time eating with the TV crew because they had a huge TV crew and they were kind of fun to talk to. So You know, that was their job, but we had a lot of fun talking to them. You know, there was something about that whole show business thing that we were able to relate to, I think. I think for sure. Don't you think so, Paul? Yeah. Yeah. It was just because we had done, we had done lots of like Merv Griffin shows and local crime shows. Yeah, that was really early 1975. Many, many, many movies that were locally. We had a lot of publicity at home. We had the local PBS station in an hour documentary about us. So we'd have a lot of experience just being around.
00:19:06
Speaker
cameraman and media and stuff like that. We got a lot of coverage from the local media as we were going out, so they dropped by rehearsal and stuff. So that was really cool. And the city of Revere was really great with supporting the drum corps back then, you know both financially. you know I mean, that that was instrumental to us getting there in a 1954 bus. We had to get there to buy gas. And our buses were old. So it was a miracle that we were the miracle off ice actually that we got there. twice So we got there twice.
00:19:42
Speaker
up and back. And it was crazy because a lot of us had to I mean, I was in college then, and I had to arrange to not go to classes for a week. But of course, you know, you know, it's hard to explain drum corps to people. So you don't explain exactly why you have to have a week off from college. I said I had a week ago I just had a thing I had to be away for a week and yeah and do that. And then, and we got to rub elbows with some other people that were there. Chuck Mangione was there because he was kind of the You know, he was pretty popular. He's pretty hot. So he was hanging out with us all the time. You of course was familiar with Drum Corps. Oh my gosh. He was kind of like hanging out with us. I know some guys in the drum line get to hang out with him a little bit. And that was fun. And then- So Chuck, that was like my senior year show. We did a Chuck Mangione show, my senior year of high school. And so like that name is just sort of like, you know, it's more memories for me, you know. And he knew, because by that point,
00:20:37
Speaker
He had already done a live DCI broadcast and a lot, you know, everybody played his stuff. And right so he knew about Trump right now to kind of be around us. And we, you know, there was just a lot of background that it wasn't new and shocking to us. It was just, you know, we we were there to do our thing. right And it was fun. It was fun to do our thing. And yeah, the the athletes were really supportive. I remember how we practiced the closing ceremonies inside the arena and we did the file.
00:21:05
Speaker
with the flag and the rifles and just did our thing. and they they just they they would just like they They just gave us this huge ovation. and i talked to I wish I remember his name, but as we're watching all the coverage in between opening and closing ceremonies, they gave a lot of coverage to the guy who won the cross-country events. He was a guy from Philly and he was seven feet tall. So he was in the rink when we were getting ready to practice and almost do the closing ceremonies. And everyone's running up and asking me for autographs and they were really good about that. So I went up and just started talking to him and I said, I saw you on TV and you're fantastic. I knew he spoke English from the broadcast. And he said, Mia, you are so good. Look at you. And it was so cool. So it was fun. And then
00:21:53
Speaker
One of the things we did for closing ceremonies was there was an up-and-coming choreographer named Moses Pendleton with a group called Pilobolus and he was working at Dartmouth and I'm so sorry that I can't remember the other guy that he worked with so he kind of choreographed a thing with us where we got together as like a mound. we were supposed to be on a gri It was kind of crazy, but to us it was kind of crazy, but we did it. But you know, so it was like
00:22:25
Speaker
You know, we we had our we had our chance to do that. And that was kind of funny. I've seen it on video. I don't know if it's the most impressive thing he's ever done, but we did that. ah feelinging Anything together during an Olympic ceremonies rehearsal is impressive. I just needed it. We did, but we did opening and closing like that. yeah kind It was sort of smaller than right. We could and we did. And again because Tommy and Judy had all the faith in us and he knew they knew that we could do whatever they wanted us to do so.
00:22:54
Speaker
we do And one of my favorite memories was the morning of Sunday morning and the men's hockey team had won the night before
Meeting Olympic Athletes
00:23:03
Speaker
against Russia. So they had to go off and do another game to beat Finland, I think.
00:23:10
Speaker
and All of a sudden people yelled, they're here. So they had pulled up after beating Finland. So they had won the, they had officially won the gold medal. So we knew that that was, that it happened. And someone said, they're here. And every, all of us, it was the color guard. We we were in there with all the local people and whoever was hanging out.
00:23:30
Speaker
We ran out of the rink and the bus was there. And all of a sudden the street between the bus and the the hockey, the pipe ice skating rink was full of people. And the players got off the bus and they had to go through this mob. But it was like this huge, like happy people were jumping up and kissing each other. And I got how yeah picked up by a couple of the players and the hockey goalie was a guy named Jim Craig.
00:23:56
Speaker
who's still around and he played for the high school in the town next to where I grew up in Northeastern. And I saw him play in high school a lot, you know, we'd go watch local games. So I'm yelling, Jim Craig, Hock-a-Mock League, which was the local league. And I heard his voice go, Hock-a-Mock League, oh my God. So I didn't really get to see him, but um it was really fun. So it was just crazy fun. They went in and then later on, before we started opening ceremonies, they got the gold medal. So we get to see that from the back.
00:24:29
Speaker
Paul, before we actually started recording, you were showing me some of your pin collection. Oh, yeah. You should show it. Yeah, so this is a this is a souvenir hat that I picked up in one of the local shops. it's It was similar to the hats that we wore, but we had no emblem on it, the same shape. you know And then, let's see, this is this this is a Russian pin.
00:24:58
Speaker
And this pin here, this little, the ring pin is interesting because a bunch of us had been in a local shop and had bought these and Tommy Walker came up to us cause we were wearing on them on our, on our, uh, little wool jacket. And he said, where did you guys get those? And so we told him where we got them. And so they were apparently illegal.
00:25:22
Speaker
non-Olympic merchandise. So they went down into the shop and they, were they removed the ball. So I think that's a funny story about that particular pen. I don't know what the difference between this illegal pen and the one that, you know, olympics didn't take any money on it yeah this is a little bobsled and then the hat and this is the I tell you what, the pin collecting culture at the Olympics is insane. Like I know there's some crazy Disney pin people and there's some crazy people who like it, but the Olympics, because you're coming from all over the world and people literally are bringing just bags and bags of pins to trade. I got so into pin collecting when I was there.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah, that was we didn't know anything about it. We were just there and we figured it out soon that that's what you do. Yeah, yeah. Nobody told you ahead of time. We'll do that. It was it was fun because we were right there when opening ceremonies happen and ended. They had a huge problem getting people into the tiny little village of Lake Placid. So they dropped us off downtown remember that Paul, they just dropped off downtown and all the bars were open and nobody cared. And everybody, we were there with all the athletes. I was with some people with the the Dutch speed skating team and they were in there.
00:26:45
Speaker
you know, just partying it up and we were right there with them and it was, we were, because there were no tourists or anybody else there, it was the athletes, the production people in us downtown and it was crazy. So um we got to talk to a lot of people that way and everyone was excited. The whole town was excited. It was really exciting. And then that night we went across the street to two local taverns and all the locals bought us drinks all night because we were the locals who were at the the we were like we did the show like you guys are great this is awesome of course they were all excited and it was crazy so nice yeah this is 1980 and the 27th Lancers and then 84 I think was LA but then in 96 the Olympics came back
00:27:35
Speaker
And Chris, that's when you got to be in the Olympics? yeah Yes. Yes. And you were a with the cadets? Yes, it was my rookie year with the cadets. ah Crazy, crazy experience to be a rookie and going to the Olympics. I remember they sat us down at like the February camp and explained that, oh, hey, by the way, we've been approached by the olympic the Atlanta Olympic Committee to have us perform in the closing ceremonies. And we were just like, we didn't understand what what he was saying. We're like, what are we doing?
00:28:10
Speaker
what are we doing hey what we doing but so we did and they said that it wasn't just going to be oh you're going to play some olympic themes and then we're off the field no we're doing a whole segment um so we did this um We did a segment with the comedian, Bill Irwin. ah You've seen him on movie multiple movies, but he is a he is a slapstick artist too. And he was supposed to be the international drum major of marching bands from across the world here to play the cadets off the field. And yeah, and so he came out and did his stick, but we had to learn a whole second show on top of our competitive show.
00:28:56
Speaker
oh my god Yeah. So then that was going to be my next question because I've seen the video and I'm like, was this part of their show that they just, but nope it's separate. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So we had our, we had a main competitive show, the the American West, which was fun, but then we had the Olympic show. So we, we performed the closer of our, of our come competitive show, which was done on a, on the main field and in the stadium, but with no yard lines.
00:29:28
Speaker
So when we got down to Atlanta, the Olympic committee had plotted out the field with these little three by five cards that said R19. Yeah, R20, and which were not close to anything that resembled a field. So we had to relearn the entire show going, okay, I'm two off of R19 and four in front of Q90, whatever.
00:29:53
Speaker
and And of course, this was there's no lights in the in the arena at our field. It was dark. And this is after a 20-hour bus ride. but We had gone on first at Allentown. like It was the Friday show, the Friday of Allentown. We went on first at like 7 o'clock. Our bodies at that time were not ready to perform at 7, because we kind of went on later. So it was awful.
00:30:21
Speaker
We got off the field and George brings us all together and he went, well, that wasn't it. Get on the bus. Oh, my gosh. Well, he said we're just like, no, OK. So we got on the bus. We we we came in second that night to to the Cavaliers. So that was still fun. Going on first awful show still came in second. Good times. We drive 20 hours to an Atlanta. We rehearse. And then on the Saturday,
00:30:50
Speaker
We, no, I'm sorry, on the Sunday of the closing ceremonies, we were in the stadium all day ah because we had to you know block out what we're doing. So we're on the field and arced up and we were playing, we were debuting the new Olympic themes that John Williams had wrote had written. And at at one point, Olympic committee people start screaming at us, say, play something, play something. I felt like I was at the Bristol Rhode Island parade.
00:31:17
Speaker
And so because the last runner of the marathon was coming into the stadium. So he started playing the Olympic themes and you could kind of see him. He looked over and he was like wondering what the heck was going on. But he stood up here even taller and he ran. He made his way around. There was a lot of onions being cut in the in the stadium because everyone was in tears. It was so much fun. I will never forget that.
00:31:44
Speaker
But then afterwards, we and we got to eat like like what Barbara was saying, you got to eat with the crew and do all that stuff and go through 17 miles of security. And then we did the show. And what I remember most about it was standing, you know, we're in the block, in the tunnel, and the drum major says, you know, we move together, and and the drum major's tap, the battery's tapping off the cadence. And the echo within that tunnel, as we're coming out onto the field, and there's 75 to 80,000 people in this, are in this stadium, was mind blowing. And I'm here, I am a 17 year old kid going, oh, wow, this is fun.
00:32:28
Speaker
But yeah, it's an experience I'll never forget. the the show that we the The show that we learned, we had Bill Irwin come out and meet us like two or three times on tour so that we could he could practice with us. And he was he was so much fun. We spelled Hi Mom on the field. you know and it was it was It was a really, great really great experience. And a very good friend of mine from high school at the time, he was at a local bar in in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and he was with his buddies. They just got off of work at Hershey Park, and the Olympics were on, and then my mug is on TV. He had his drink, and he goes, dude, that's rot. So it was a great time.
00:33:17
Speaker
getting that close up is is like, that's like the dream. That's like the dream right there. Right. It was, it really was one of those moments that I will never forget. And I can still feel from what we're standing on the field, I can still feel the fireworks, the heat from the fireworks going off at the end of the stadium, which was was we're being shot in the other stadium right next door. So it was really an incredible. Yeah.
Reflections on Olympic Performances
00:33:47
Speaker
it was it was true like that was the that was the old That was the old stadium they were going to tear down. that's I remember that story. yeah And then to bring it full circle, now the DCI Southeastern Championships are done in that same stadium that we performed in. It's gone through many iterations over the years. The Braves played there, but now I think it's like a Georgia State soccer stadium, something like that.
00:34:13
Speaker
but But yeah, so watching watching the the DCI Southeastern Championships going, that's the same field that we were on, and they were playing to the correct way. Except that they have yard lines. Well, yeah yes, yes. That really was a challenge, especially for a 17-year-old kid that has never marched drum corps before in his rookie year going, OK, I'm going to guide the forum. I'm just going to stay in between my two people, and we should be fine.
00:34:43
Speaker
Yeah, do your thing. Do your thing as you were trained to do, right? I mean, that's the wonderful thing about those experiences is like, like Barbara said, I mean, we were so well trained. It's like, you just do it. It's like, this isn't any big deal, you know? It's just the thing that you do. And for me, and I think for everyone, you know, here, that experience of the Olympics is everyone's kind of on the same wavelength, people are really happy, you know, and it just, everyone's like, all everything's, the world is good, you know, no matter what's happening on the outside of the world and to be able to perform at the at any Olympics, I mean, so we were, I think we were the only two drum corps and maybe a few color guards, right, that have done it ever, you know? Yeah, I just- It looked good on TV that night, because I've, you know, we were all excited to watch
00:35:31
Speaker
kind of like joining the club. Yeah. Right. Yeah, exactly. No, it really was a really neat experience. And then so then afterwards, when the whole thing was done and we oh, and they wouldn't let because of like the the the terrorist things going on in Atlanta at that time, hey they didn't allow any of our equipment trucks or the support staff. All the all the other trucks were about 20 miles outside of town.
00:35:58
Speaker
And so once we were done, we literally ran, ran off the field and then straight onto our buses. And then we met the, we met the rest of the caravan about 20, 20 miles away. that's just what they read us Then we drove back up to New Jersey. But like, where did everything, did you have to like shove drums under the bus and stuff? Yes. Yes. They took all of our luggage. We put it on the the prop semi because remember we had those huge things. Yeah. Yeah. So they threw all our luggage under there and then they put all the drums and the flags and in there and then we they shipped us on down. They had brought the front ensemble, that they brought the pit in the day beforehand and then they rented us a U-Haul. We put everything on the U-Haul and off off they went afterwards. But you know we didn't have electronics back then so it was pretty easy.
00:36:51
Speaker
So then how far apart was the timing from the Olympic performance to finals? Like how much time do you guys have left in the summer?
00:37:02
Speaker
We had like a week. yes It was right after Allentown. okay yeah Which was because it was crazy because we did, we were in Allentown, we went to Georgia, we went to Atlanta. We went back up to Clifton to our our cadets home show and good old Clifton Stadium. And i it was again a terrible show because we had been on a bus literally for 21 hours.
00:37:28
Speaker
and then we get off the bus and the blue devils bless them they fed us but you know how how bd eats they they eat very well so we had steak baked potato cake And then they're like, okay, go perform, have fun. Oh, we were so tired. We were so- We were secretly sabotaging you. No, absolutely not. We had like three points that day. We're like, we don't care. We just did the Olympics. It doesn't matter. Yeah.
00:37:58
Speaker
We still don't remember when we shot it because we left that night. like We didn't stay at at Clifton. we I think we started heading south again, so it was like another eight-hour drive after the Clifton Show. It was brutal. It was it was rough. by the by the After the Clifton Show, we were ready to not be on a bus for a few days, which was great for from the staff side of things because they're like, cool, now you're going to rehearse for three days because you've been awful.
00:38:26
Speaker
yeah like give us some rest let's practice a little bit well but we can all talk about philosophies of former former instructors but in the 90s you know sleep as they would say sleep is a rehearsal for death that's why the winter Olympics are the one that you'd rather do right It just worked out. Oh my God. Yeah. that That's still on my top of my list. I mean, even though we didn't beat the big BB, we were a second, so that was fine. you know But we had beaten them the week before at DCIE, so um by like three points, and we deservedly so beat them. And it was just like, yeah, we can beat you. Yeah, we all have the Olympics from that year, so.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the Olympus kind of gave us a catalyst to kind of really push the show and we were we were really a tight group of kids, you know. and that was it was a great year no matter what I mean I don't you know it was a great experience it was the best thing I've i've ever done to to be able to do that with my friends is just amazing yeah and at the Olympics I mean come on there's nothing that better than that and that that's the one of the big things is that I was with 127 other people in that in that core
00:39:39
Speaker
that we had spent all we it was such a it was we had such a great summer that the the show we did was great and we also did the but the major league baseball all-star game that summer as well wow in philly so i mean it was there was a lot of cool stuff so the fact we came in third or second or whatever like that didn't matter if it was we had so many great experiences that year that to be with each other and we all remember every little bit about that trip.
00:40:09
Speaker
even though some parts are blacked out but uh you gotta take the bad with the good sometimes exactly yeah so now so i live in uh southern california now and with l la coming up in four years i'm like are you auditioning if I would like to. mean i will email you stuff there' I'm still on the email list, so I will email you stuff when it comes. I'll forward it your way. I'd love to do it.
00:40:40
Speaker
ah now doing this a whole do it We're all going to pick up a piece of equipment and get out there. What's the age limit? There's no age limit. There's no age limit. Actually, when I, when I was in the Rio 2016 Olympics, there was a woman who now, granted she wasn't responsible for a lot of the other things that the rest of us performers were responsible for. Let's put it this way. But the, the, supposedly the oldest woman to ever come to perform in the ceremonies was in the Rio Olympics. And it was like, I think she was 98 years old. I did a little interview with her on the Spintronics channel on our YouTube channel. ah But she was she was great. And she was in great shape. And she was just happy to be there. And, and yeah, there's no age limit. So it's pretty cool. Let's go. Let's go. So Chris was talking about those little those little like
00:41:34
Speaker
cards that they have for your drill markers. And we had these, actually, do I have it sitting right here? No. If I had it convenient, I would pull it out. I literally just found them the other day, but I have the little like, we had these bibs and our, the bibs had like our number on them or whatever. And that was like your number where you go and stand to start the whole thing.
00:41:54
Speaker
And then it was crazy because it really is like being part of the ceremonies cast. You know, I, of course, I was in another country, had to learn the whole language, totally different experience for that sort of stuff. But it runs so much like a drum corps that I just fell in. No problem. I knew what we were doing at all times.
00:42:16
Speaker
um They ended up making me like a line leader person. And they were like, that's weird. Why is this American girl here in charge of us? We're all Brazilian and we know Portuguese. Why is she in charge of our line? but But I just knew what I was doing because it was just like drum corps. And um i seriously, the way we'd run drills and then they'd be like, okay, go here and then do this dance and then go here and do this dance.
00:42:40
Speaker
And then the cool thing is we had these little headsets so they could like, well, I don't know how cool it was. It did end up really cool, but they could change what we were doing in the middle of the show. So we would be out there and they're like, okay, I do this little, like we had these little stands dances sort of things during the parade of athletes. They'd be like, do this little dance. Okay. Now change into the arm roll dance. And we'd be like, okay, we're changing our dance now. And it was just like on the fly. And and then I ended up getting a closeup.
00:43:09
Speaker
in one of the cameras and every single time a camera went by, I was like, hey, you know, right in the camera. Not a single one of those have I seen. Okay. I don't know if those were broadcast anywhere. However, when I got back to my locker at the end of the night, I opened my phone. I had 200 text messages from people and like 30 screenshots saying they had seen me and I got a closeup.
00:43:38
Speaker
but it was one of those cameras that was way up on top of the stadium and zoomed all the way in on me. And I was like this, listening to my headset for the next instructions.
00:43:55
Speaker
That's what it was. I was just like, nevermind all of the like happy smiling performance faces I gave. That was that was what it was.
00:44:06
Speaker
Well, look at it this way. At least you didn't have a piece of equipment a piece of equipment in your hand and dropped it. That's true. That's true. That would have been tragic. Christy, you have Olympic pins or memorabilia? I do. They gave us some limited edition pins. Oh, my life.
00:44:27
Speaker
But it's the opening, the the the the Olympics and themselves, and then the closing ceremonies. Wait, they gave those to you? Yeah. Oh my gosh. We got hats. We got a shirt. And I think we got a fanny pack. Oh, yeah. They was they they spent that they spent that coin on us, baby.
00:44:50
Speaker
That's amazing. Those pins, that series of three, that exists for all of the modern day Olympics. But they didn't give us
Olympic Culture: Pin Trading and Sponsorship Issues
00:45:01
Speaker
ours. We had to go buy them. And then like they really they don't release them all at once. So like oh like you had to hit the store, the Olympic store, like at the right time to get the right pin. I have two of them. I'm missing one.
00:45:17
Speaker
Yeah, i'm I'm very fortunate. And I've held on to it all this time. They've never come out of the package. Like, it's just nice. Yeah, no, it was it was fun. That was that was it was a really, really fun time. I can't complain too much. We got these. I mean, that's great. I mean, oh, OK, so so I feel Jip, don't you, Barbara? I was going to say so we ended up with those Olympic flags that we walked out, you know, we had like, there were 40 of us or there were 50 of us because the the rifles had to carry flags. We taught them. We ended up with those flags. Yeah, it was interesting so going to say anything more than that. Yeah, exactly. you like you Didn't we go out and retreat at DCI with those? I should know. I was out there. Yeah, we had a few that we would, you know, we we would go to the American flag for retreats. When you had an American flag section.
00:46:13
Speaker
So that was cool. Yeah, it was cool. All right. Well, Nicole, I'm going to need you to run up to the box and make sure there's power for the judges up there because we have a show on Saturday. And we need to get back out on the field because all this reminiscing is great, but these kids need to rehearse.
00:46:43
Speaker
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00:47:16
Speaker
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00:47:28
Speaker
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00:47:55
Speaker
All right, we are back on the sideline and we're about to do some what are we doing? This is one of my favorite segments because we get to give our critical feedback on anything we want to in the marching arts or for today, we'll throw in the Olympics as well. What are we doing?
00:48:18
Speaker
thank What are we doing? So ah Nicole, do you want to start us off? I sure do. What are we doing not having an Olympic, I don't know, drum corps or marching band? Like an other corps sort of thing? Exactly. See, here's my thing. And this is why I bring this up. Breakdancing has now become an Olympic sport. Right. You know, and I've watched some of it. I'm i'm down. ah We need to put
00:48:51
Speaker
the drum corps in that way, shape or form. I think that it would just add another layer. And it's honestly, they're trying to add another layer, all the events that go on in the i mean in the Olympics. right So how about it? If y'all know some people, let me know. but You can have some calls. Let's make some calls. Yeah, make some calls. Chris, what are we doing?
00:49:17
Speaker
Okay, what are we doing with all the musicians, the wonderfully talented musicians of the Paris Opening Ceremonies, all the musicians, all the dancers? No, just the musicians.
00:49:30
Speaker
with their priceless instruments outside in the pouring rain. I saw like the the paris Paris Philharmonic ah playing playing it right in front of the Eiffel Tower and it's just pouring or let's just say all the grand pianos with standing water on their lids.
00:49:52
Speaker
I'm just sitting there cringing the whole time. I felt so bad for all the musicians and their priceless instruments. But yeah, what are we doing? Let's put protective stuff over over those instruments, please. Do you think they're real? Oh, I know. I seldom.
00:50:12
Speaker
What happened? Right, they didn't call me. But um my favorite though, my favorite was watching, there was one point, I don't know, the the the faceless runner was doing something and there was like the French national army band standing on one of the bridges and they were they were doing a dance with some Parisian pop stars who who kind of looked like Beyonce. But I'm watching the band and they're they're doing their little choreography and I'm watching the French horn players because a French horn player, and horn is nowhere near the guy's face. He's just off the back and forth. He was my favorite. I'm like, not even, and I'm not playing. You can't hear me. I'm not concerned with the notes. It's fine. Yeah, you're fine. Fred, yeah. He said, I have one job. I'm gonna do it. Okay, trading. I'm not playing. I'm French.
00:51:05
Speaker
Barbara, what are we doing? You know, I love seeing the can-can dancers in Paris.
00:51:13
Speaker
How come no one else has ever played gay Parisian and drum corps? That's a good one. We did. You saw that show called. Are there drum corps in France? I know there's there's several European drum corps. I don't know. I don't think so. They're too busy making butter and having cheese and eating great food.
00:51:36
Speaker
but They're my guests. Fine. They have great wine. Yeah. Oh, yeah. mean Not a problem. UK for sure, you know. But that's a good question about whether they have drum cores. OK. Well, we'll have to start one there, I guess. They do in England, and they do in um the Netherlands. Because I've been there, and I've been to those shows, so. Yeah. I loved the can-can dancers. I was happy. So you're just trying to take us right into the gush and gos is what you're trying to do here. Oh.
00:52:05
Speaker
um Yeah, why didn't you have to rain? That made you sound. There we go, there we go. So Paul, you get the vibe of how the water we doing segment works. So do you have any critical feedback you'd like to give? Doesn't necessarily have to be Olympic. It's going to be Olympic. Okay. Okay, so what are we doing?
00:52:30
Speaker
with the cardboard beds in France that the ah Olympians are staying on, that they were specially designed for them because they couldn't do any badness on those beds, they thought. So I don't know. I thought that was... that the olympo The Olympic members are getting the full drum corps experience.
00:52:50
Speaker
Let's have fun at cardboard beds, baby. These beds could not be comfortable. I'm just... They're probably kindling for the winter time. Right. It's like, here, we sleep on it during the summer, we burn it during the winter. You're lucky that they get to lie down. Five years of tour, I was sitting up on those buses. So, yeah. At least they can lie down, right? I would like to know, what are we doing about these costumes. I just learned recently that a lot of the athletes have to like pay for their own costumes. And I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait. That's like, that's like the kind of thing we do in Winter Guard, like the members pay for their own costumes. And we are at the Winter Guard level. We're not at Olympic level, like
00:53:43
Speaker
but Why are they paying for their own costumes? That's insane. no I realize that. That's crazy to me. yeah now and um Some of them have sponsors that pay for it for them, but they're not just like having costumes donated to them. And they're Olympic athletes. It's wild. That's wild.
00:54:05
Speaker
So but I thought that like with Ralph Lauren's doing the uniforms for the American team that that was all included when they open up their little packages on camera. I don't know. I mean, that's that's really sad sponsorship because sponsorships do exist. But they well, they made a really big deal because was it Flava Flav?
00:54:26
Speaker
had like donated the the whole like all the so anyway that that opened up the discussion. um I think it was that was it like the swim team or something that he donated all of their their funds to um them envelope water polo. Okay, okay. So he donated all this and it because he basically he had the same idea I had he looked at it and he's like why do these people have to pay for their own stuff? Like this is crazy. They're Olympic athletes.
00:54:53
Speaker
and it's so And it's something they really shouldn't have to worry about at all, you know? I mean, for what they do, know and it just doesn't make sense, really. I did watch a TikTok about one of the one of the athletes, and she was showing off like all of the stuff that they got. So supposedly, they got two big duffel bags and like these different, I want to say like warm-ups. I don't want to really say uniform, but everyone had the same like tops and bottoms. yeah And they got big jackets and stuff like that. So i I don't, I don't know. I don't know about the whole, you know, buying your only a garden uniform. The gymnastics team had a ah big sponsorship that happened and supposedly their, their costumes this year are the most expensive, um, Olympic, USA Olympic uniforms in history. And it has to do with how many rhinestones are all over their costumes, so. Yeah, Schuborsky Crystal sponsored them. They were gorgeous. I saw them. When were they on yesterday? and yeah Absolutely gorgeous. Yep. Sparkle. Beautiful. Well, I feel like we've been excited about like everything we've talked about on the show so far. But let's get into our gush and goes.
00:56:11
Speaker
Great job, everyone. Set your equipment down. Cut and go. Nickel. Oh, goodness. I am still gushing over. I mean, I know the Olympics just started and somewhat not. um But I'm gushing over what I can see because like I used to live in Texas. And so um there is a huge, I want to say huge, maybe two handfuls of people that are kind of high up there on the rankings that are from Texas. And there was a kid that was actually from the city that I taught in in Texas, Tombaugh.
00:56:47
Speaker
He's um in on the men's team. So it's exciting to see that. um Of course, I'm going to watch Simone Biles, of course. And then there's a swimmer. I think her name is. Oh, I forgot her name, Katie, something maybe. Katie Ledecky. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Sounds sounds right. She's 27 now. She went to her first Olympics when she was 15. Roke Records then has kept going back.
00:57:15
Speaker
You know what I mean? Like, she has spent the majority of her life training for the Olympics and, you know, and doing all that. So I kind of feel like I'm watching a superhero on TV. Also, Katie Ledecky is an alto sax player. Oh, shut up. See, this is mine. She's a band geek like us. She's a band geek like us. Like, yeah. Put your kids in band. They might be Olympians someday. You never know. That's right. That's right. Curious.
00:57:45
Speaker
Okay, so what do you want to gush and go on about? Okay, I'm going to go off Olympics and go into DCI just a little bit. And I need I need to gush two things. One, all of the cadet members that are now marching in other cores,
00:58:03
Speaker
and seeing them flourish and being successful and having the summer of their lives. I think like six out of the 14 mellophones at Carolina Crown are from the cadets, so. Wow. I'm ah i'm a mellophone player, so got gotta to give it up to to the golden section. ah But my other my other gush is is the blue coats. That show from top to bottom is pure theater, pure yeah pure magic. And I'm just so excited for the for the staff and the members and everyone that they are incredible. So go blue. Yeah, absolutely. They were. I mean, that and the the one clip I saw of them is just like, wow. Yeah, this is something a different, definitely different in the activity. Again, you know, the push in the envelope and it's ah definitely out of the box. It's like, yep yeah, good for them. Did anybody watch the DCI Broken Arrow show?
00:59:02
Speaker
No. no well you If you've seen their show, you know at the very beginning of the show that they do that one that one first note and it's all on reverb. And then they kind of meander over to the other set. Well, they didn't have the reverb on for the first note of the show. And so I could just feel everyone's heart go. o and And the sound guy was like, damn it, the mute button was on.
00:59:26
Speaker
yeah
00:59:31
Speaker
That's part over, re-technical difficulties.
00:59:36
Speaker
Did they reset? Did they reset? No, they kept going, but the second the second the hit did have the reverb. So it was kind of like, oopsies, hit the button, everything was fine. But that skill for oh that's counts. I mean, live shows, stuff happens. You got to think on your feet. Yep. Yeah, the kids are probably like this,
00:59:58
Speaker
Yeah. What happened? Oh, we're back in. Yeah. we go. Here we go. Keep going. Yep. Yeah. Anyway, so that's why I wrote. What would you like to gush and go about? you know i I love seeing Phantom Juice so well this year. They look great on TV. So I'm looking forward to seeing them in Allentown. Let's do the rain dance that doesn't rain. um But I'll get to see them in Indy 2. I'm really excited to see them live. And they everyone seems like they love their show. And I finally got to meet Tony Hall at Peggy Twigg's funeral.
01:00:29
Speaker
And so just to kind of talk to him sort of in between and how excited he was. And and I just thought, wow, he just seems like a good match. So that'll be fun. I can't wait to see them. Because I competed against them my whole drum corps career. And um and i'm I'm just glad to see him just getting everyone excited. I think it's kind of the most enjoyable show this year. Blue Coast is great. Don't get me wrong, I love them. But there's just something electric there.
01:00:58
Speaker
So I like it. I have heard more about Phantom this year than I have in the last. I don't know, decade, probably, at least. and think go crazy and I think one of the best things about Phantom this year, especially, is that J.D. Shaw is back as the brass arranger. He was at Vanguard for a couple of years when they made their big push. And you can completely hear the the J.D. Shaw influence when you listen to that horn line. They're incredible. Incredible. Love that show. They look good.
Notable Olympic Performances and Marching Arts
01:01:33
Speaker
You know, they, and I like, I like the, um, I like minimal, um, props. So you don't want to be paying for props with expensive gas and inflation anyway. So to see how there's been some creativity out there, the animals, one of them, they, they do a lot with something that's there, but it doesn't take a lot of space. So I thought that was designed really well. so ah Yep. Yep.
01:02:00
Speaker
Paul, what would you like to gush and go on about? um I'm going to go back to the Olympics. um Although I had to gush about ah troopers. You can do both. I will have no restriction on there.
01:02:14
Speaker
Okay, so um Celine Dion's performance was just, no I mean, it was like was it was like well those drum call moments where, you know, I just couldn't, I mean, I'm at home alone by myself and I'm crying because the energy of her was just, in and how she looked and just, it was it was flawless. It was just really, to me was the moment that was just like, that's amazing to me. She's amazing. I i could hear Caroline playing that next year.
01:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, right. And especially because of what she's going through physically with a stiff ah person syndrome, you know, what what a fighter and what an amazing human being, you know, so I love watching the the clips, I guess yesterday, today of her just being so happy just to be around her fans, you know, she was, you know, casual in the streets of Paris and you know, writing autographs and just, you know, just giving her time and, you know, she doesn't feel the best. i Just amazing road to recovery, just blown away. And then drum corps, I want to give it to the troopers. Now I feel like I have to see them with that kind of that same kind of raw look that they're going after, you know. And my friend Matthew that saw them last night said, they brought the house down.
01:03:28
Speaker
You know, they brought up the old trooper uniform and he said it was a little, he he felt, well, he's younger than me now. He felt like it might've been a little bit on the, you know, for us on the nostalgic side, but it was, ah it was, it it brought the house down. So I guess I have to catch it live and see what that see what that's all about. I've heard so many good things and I saw that they, they had beat ah SCV.
01:03:57
Speaker
Do you know it's been 47 years since the troopers scored higher than SCV at something? Unbelievable. I actually remember, so yeah. You're like, I was there.
01:04:12
Speaker
You saw them that season, yeah. Well, and it's also interesting that ah Paul and Sandy Rennick, who write the drum book for SCV, also write the drum book for the troupe. So just say, little sibling, little sibling coming up and saying, come on, let's go. Yeah. And they're both original DCI, of course, too, which is good. Oh, yeah.
01:04:37
Speaker
And then there's a lot of talk about the ah about the mandarins, you know, and that and that show this year too. So I'm kind of jealous. I wish I was going to India this year, you know, and it's not gonna happen, but I guess it'll be flow marching on my big TV screen at home, so. That is not a bad way to watch, though. Exactly. That's the most comfortable seat. Right. Hey, it's called Gush and Go, not Gush and Stay. Let's go.
01:05:07
Speaker
Well, thank you guys for a great rehearsal this week. Thank you to our hosts, Nicole and Chris. Thank you to our guest clinicians, Barbara Hopkins and Paul O'Keefe. Where can our listeners find you guys on social media if they want to follow you? um ah I'm on Color Guard Corner on Facebook. You can find me there, too, yeah you know on Facebook. It's Color Guard Corner's an open group, right? yeah Yeah, it's an open group. ah No, sorry, it's a closed group. But ah but you know we just want to make sure there's some kind of connection with Drum Corps and it's not a lot of scams. So yeah, it's a great group of people. It's a great it's a great resource for um videos and for announcements for the color guard community and as a whole. it's a great It's a great group. And I just want to plug Drum and Bugle Corps Museum, because I know Bill Ives does a really good job. And um it's fun to look at all that stuff.
01:06:05
Speaker
So yes, yes, yes. One more thing, don't forget, we have our YouTube channel now that has many of our interviews coming out as full video editions. And if you want to see all of our Olympic memorabilia, you're going to have to watch it on video. So you might as well go over there and subscribe so you don't miss those.
01:06:27
Speaker
ah So before you close out your podcast listening app, go subscribe, write us a review, share this with a friend. Follow us on social media at on a water break and we'll see you at the next rehearsal on a water break. Go practice.
01:06:44
Speaker
The Ona Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and Christine Reem. The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lida. To learn more, visit ridamusic.com. And until next time, thanks for tuning in.