Date: June 11, 2011
Time: 11:32pm (CST)
Playing on iTunes: "Ain't No Rest For the Wicked" by Cage the Elephant
Location: Omaha, NE Day 2
Day two of insane Nebraska. Luckily today was a laundry day!! So happy to get my dirty clothes cleaned for once. They were starting to smell...
As I said before, the pit likes to find shade spots...no matter where they are. As you can see below, there is a little black dot in the middle of the picture. That's Andrew Monteiro (marimba player) trekking up the hill, across the street, behind the building to our shade zone. Yes we had to go far away to get some shade but it was worth it. We had a short day of rehearsal with no ensemble so we were by ourselves all day.
The Blue Man is back!! Richard Cravin came back to help out for a few days with the Cadets. He really helps out with all the visual aspects of the show on the field as far as performance and staging. He also came over to the pit to help us figure out some logistics with mounting our ethnic drums onto our instruments so that we can just roll onto the field without having to worry about carrying an extra stand for the drum.
Richard also gave us an hour lesson to help the pit out a little more with our ethnic drumming section of the show. He gave us some tips on technique and how to perform the style of taiko (japanese drum) drumming. Funny enough, he put in a cool visual effect that we do with our sticks and he added a vocal part for us to say during the show. Maybe you'll see the visual and hear the vocal if you pay close attention. The little details in the show really help.
The corps was fortunate enough tonight to get KFC...not really sure what the occasion was but I wasn't going to start asking questions!! The pit had to load the truck so the food staff saved a tray of chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and gravy for us. The food staff is so nice to us!!
LAUNDRY DAY!!! After our short day of rehearsal we got to do some laundry! Finally, I was able to clean my disgusting clothes. It's funny, in my hometown of Chelmsford, MA, the laundraumats are in a very localized area with lots of businesses around it. The past few laundry places we've been at have been very secluded it some very interesting areas. We saw a Dairy Queen on the way to the laundramat and so of course we had to go there after putting in a load of laundry!! I made sure I got a Mint Oreo Blizzard!
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| Maggie doing her laundry |
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| I had a little more laundry than this, but above is my "darks" load. |
Now we're off to Minneapolis! Get ready for the Cadets to dig in and kick some butt!!
Thought of the Day: "Have fun. Always enjoy yourself, not matter what your doing. No reason to be in a down mood all day. If you're having trouble with something, make it fun. You'll enjoy it."
Thank you for your amazing posts. They are greatly appreciated and the photos along with the post add so much. Continued success on tour!!
ReplyDeleteIrving
Fan of the Arts
I too enjoy reading and looking at the pictures each day. Thank you for doing this.
ReplyDeleteNancy Mitchell
Kevin's Mom (Cadets 2011 Contra - Angel)
Hello – My name is Joan Lima and I marched with the Cadets in 85 and 86. I have been reading your blog since George mentioned it on his FB page last month and it has been a pleasure following your tour experience. You’ve had more laundry days than we had either year I marched and I am jealous! I especially enjoy all the inside info on your instruments and what the pit is doing day-to-day – my son Charles does percussion and played vibraphone in a local indoor drum line this past winter (Vegas Vanguard). My favorite was the photo from when you were in Texas of the keyboard propped up on a cinder block. Very funny! Thank you so much for what you are doing. – Joan Lima, Las Vegas, NV
ReplyDeleteJoanLima, glad I could get a laugh or two out there. Got to make sure that people are enjoying every little bit of it! It's great to be able to get some alumni pitsters reading it so they can see what's going on now.
ReplyDelete