Day 80

Date: August 3, 2011
Time: 1:02am (EST)
Playing on iTunes: "Who Says" by John Mayer


Location: Salem, VA Day 2


First show day in a few days! The corps is up at 7a and ready to get started on this great day! I loved waking up here in Virginia since as I said, it was nice and brisk out in the morning. Had my cup of coffee and I was ready to go.


A man by the name of Bobby Marino who marched here in 2000 in the bass line, was here to help out with the drumline. He had been with us a few times during spring training and I think once while on tour. He is the timpanist for the Army Field Band. He was here to work with Taylor. For the entire morning block, he came in and helped Taylor with some technique things, and tips on performance and such. It was also great because he came to the pit before we started our morning block and told us about the Army Field Band and how he got into it and what it's like to be a part of the band or any music group of the armed forces. He gave us a little information on what we could do to audition if we wanted. It sounded very interesting and like a very steady job.

After lunch we got together with the battery to do our "Angels and Demons trades". If you have not yet seen the show, during the percussion feature there's a little side-to-side battle between the angels and demons at the beginning where one side plays then the other, repeat. So our goal was to make sure that the demon pit and demon battery were playing together and were comfortable with each others parts, as well as the angel pit and angel battery.

Only two more days until we get to Massachusetts!! Our show tonight was in Salem, VA. It was a little different than the past few shows we had since we weren't with the Cavaliers and Blue Devils as far as top 8 corps go. The weather was very comfortable which is great for the pit when setting up because it puts us all in a great mood before we get changed and start to get mentally prepared for the show. Tonight's warmup debuted our new pit tune "Who Says" by John Mayer. Our tech Mike Zellers was the person who arranged it for us. I absolutely LOVE playing it because I'm a huge John Mayer fan and I get to play the guitar part on the synth. It sounds beautiful and very relaxed. A great change from most of our show music.

The pit getting set up for the show.,

With 10 days left, George tells us we need to make sure we're full engaged at all times because we have been out here for 80 days and it is getting hard, but as long as we give as much as we can all day for the next 10 days we can be absolutely amazing. We have a great show, we just need to perform it at our best ability. I think we can all do it. I know everyone in the pit is giving our all, and I know the rest of the corps can. We all seem to be very self-motivated and ready to take on what's in front of us.


Summer Music Games
1) The Cadets - 93.80
2) Carolina Crown - 93.15
3) Boston Crusaders - 89.05
4) Madison Scouts - 88.20
5) Spirit of Atlanta - 84.65
6) Colts - 81.65
7) Mandarins - 75.45
8) Jersey Surf - 73.20
9) Cascades - 72.60

Thought of the Day: "No one can tell you what to you. Only you can tell yourself what to do. Self-motivation is the most important aspect of your life."