The Magic... past and present

[DrumMajorMatt]

Lets make this a positive thread...

For all of you that have marched The Magic, or formerly the Magic of Orlando... Let's hear your favorite tour story.

Mine:

2003 - Rehearsal on the Gnat Field... Gino gets a phone call in thd middle of rehearsal... so we all wait, it was his wife... Then he comes back on the intercom and says.... haha wait, if you wanna know message me. lol

2004 - Listening to the crowd boo at retreat when they read our scores at practically every show. We placed low, but the crowd loved us.

2005 - I have a lot... but right now off the top of my head, the homeless people in the food line in Boston... wtf man!

2006 - Shorter season for me, but my favorite out of all of them, probably Chili's HAHA not! The dodge ball game in the gym and watching Kasey almost kill people with his throw. I have a lot from this summer though. Major props to everyone. You were my favorite corps by far!


ok... your turn. Go!

[GuardBaby23]

2004- This is a tough one. It was my rookie year of drum corps and by far my favorite. I guess the only sort of memory that can sum up how great the summer was, was my nickname, "15." I was the the baby of the colorguard and in fact 2nd youngest in the corps (only to be beat by Nick Hobbs). I loved being the baby. I don't even think some of the staff knew my name; I was just "15." It didn't even matter that I was a tickbox and got cut from half the show, because I got the ending pirate flag solo. One time another guard member commented, "This is ridiculous! I'm a 3 year vet and the 15-year-old rookie ends the show with a solo on the 50!"

2005- Bonding with the guard has to be the best. We were so tight that year. One of my favorite memories has to be move in, because of all the fun we had........like playing ships and sailors!

[Nicole]

2004: most of my favorite memories should not be posted here...but one unforgetable memory would be jake almost killing me on the field in houston with his sabre...and still doing the rest of the show minus the closer until the DCI contest coordinator pulled me off the field b/c i was bleeding profusely all over the place. good times. the other would be showing up at move-in's and everyone going...who is that? and shawna...didn't i end the show on the 50 with the pirate flag? miss you!
2005: haha. i love sara, jay, and matt. for sure. a lot. and a small group of others...you got me through it all. yay for being grandma magic at the ripe old age of 19.

[pamela]

Thank you Magic 2006!

I’m Pamela the Magic cook for 2006. I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has given me much needed support and those who expressed their appreciation for all my efforts for the Magic Drum Corps, this last summer. I shared the summer with 160 hard working, dedicated people. My daughter and the other members weren’t the only ones that had an amazing tour.

It was an incredible summer! I look back and it seems like a dream. I want to thank Bruce and Curt for everything they’ve done and for helping me out when I was cooking by myself. Even some of the kids would jump in once in a while. I also want to thank the drivers who took us safely around the many states we visited and the volunteers who came and helped me out or donated meals. Greg, you came to help me twice. We learned the truck together and your mission was successful. Thanks for coming especially that first week! Cooking for 160 people is hard work. Kay did the math and we cooked over 50,600 meals this summer. Wow! Can you believe that? I do know that without the volunteers coming in I could not have done it without them. You know who you are. Thank you all so very much for helping me. You gave me the strength and courage to continue.

All over the country, people stopped me to read my volunteer shirt. No Shower – No Sleep -- No problem. I didn’t know how true that was, until later. My hectic summer was filled with the excitement of unknown territory. Yes, I’m a newbie and this was my first tour. I can honestly tell you what that expression “tired to the bone” means. I was so tired and sore the first month that one-day I jumped off the truck and my legs gave out. Yep, face planted on the ground. My body was so exhausted my legs couldn’t hold me up. Curt was there to make sure I was okay. Oh! Let me just add that you can be so tired that when people talk to you, it’s like slow motion and you can’t tell what they are saying. You can see them talking and hear sound but you can’t make out what’s being said. Then try saying something intelligent back to them, good luck! They don’t understand you because you now have a new language of your own. I learned how valuable a fifteen-minute power nap could be and took showers whenever possible usually squeezed in after we arrived at the next housing site and got settled in at 3, 4 or 5 in the morning. No Problem!

In a different city everyday can be very exciting. You have a plan for every day and things don’t always go as planned. Thanks Trudy for being with me in Houston during the 6 hours we were in lockdown in the gym while the corps was at a show. I was so happy to see them return. Or how about WV? I was there to save you all.

Some of the kids call me mom. At this one truck stop there was only one cashier so when it was finally my turn the cashier asked me if I was the bus driver? I answered “no! I’m the cook.” The boy behind me added, “she’s our mom!” and another voice shouted, “She’s the mom of 130 kids.” And then another voice yelled, “Without her, we all would be dead!” Yep! These are my kids! I miss them already. They’re a great bunch of kids. I haven’t forgotten the beautiful flowers that the kids give me one day in June. What a lift this gave me. They went out to do laundry and came back with a bouquet of flowers and a stuffie that sat in the truck all summer watching me cook.

Somehow I made it though tour. When we left Orlando I had my doubts that I could do this. I was just a mom who wanted to share a journey with her daughter and I am glad I did! By the end of tour I was wearing more hats and having a great experience that I will never forget. I have so many stories that you are all apart of. I met a lot of new people and I made new friends. Some of you made me laugh so hard that I cried and some of you were there to stop the tears and helped me laugh. That’s what families do. Magic Drum Corps really is a family.

What an adventure!
Anyhow, thanks Magic for such an amazing summer.

Pam

[contramom]

Favorite Show... 2004 entire show...Mainly because it was our first involvement with the corps, and I was able to see the improvement in the corps over the summer since DCI Orlando was later in the year..
Favorite "Hit" 2005 end of the opener when the Corps hits the big turn and power chords!! Go Contras..
Favorite memories.. Night of Magic 2005/2006 when all the uniforms are on and everyone looks fantastic!!!!

Looking forward to 2007 and new memories

[Johnson]

wow best memory of my drum corps history by far is magic '04 That summer was unforgettable. I could of chosen other corps to march with in 2004. When revo went inactive suddenly due to reasons i wont mention lol.... my wonderful brass tech Jeremy Grange got me spots offered in many corps including, madison scouts, capital regiment, crossman, carolina crown or magic. I willingly chose magic just because the vibe i got form watching there shows. Yeah those other corps beat us that summer but i garuntee you none of the at all would of giving me the feeling and the great summer magic gave me. and I also garuntee you that the crowd loved magic over all of those that year. We knew the crowed loved our show from the very first show even though it was a stand still. I remember the crowd cheering more for us then they did the blue devils that year who played right beofre that first show. Not only did the crowd make it perfect the staff and volunteers did to. Matt Straton had so much knowledge to share and helped my skill for my trumpet and marching grow greatly! He wrote and made a corps song for us that bonded us as a family and i can remember everyones face from that summer just from the attatchment we all shared. Bruce and Jimmy and all the rest of the staff always looked out for the best of the kids unlike some other staff of a certain corps that went inactive. If i were to give advise to anyone looking for a corps out there I would defenently reccomend magic. Theyere not doing bad because there a "bad" corps. the corps is only as good as the members are individually. just as much blam should be put on the members as the staff if anything gos wrong. If you pour your heart into it and do the evil word of "PRACTICE" ( and not just during rehersal but during your own time like lunch) and you do what your there to do which is drum corps. You will not only have a great summer you wll most likley do good. Thanks for the best summer of my life magic.. oh and one of the funniest memories is kyle and his 2 muffins joke that made us run lol i laughed the whole time we were running.

[Nicole]

i thought of another one...when we had to run around the field four times while attempting to do drop spins. hahahaha....good times. evil middle of nowhere land indiana...where the Matt Stratton lives...miss him. reminds me of another favorite memory, before each and every show he gave me a huge. he was like my dad on tour, always watching out for me...i mean, lets all face it, who could take on the big bear? I miss 04.

[GuardBaby23]

YES NICOLE!!!

You stole my glory finals week... But I'm not bitter...
I got to be a backup dancer for "The Chris Melani and Nicole Peathingy Show"!!! lol. I miss you too girl. You need to make an east coast appearance NOW!

edit: Nicole, the computer totally censored your last name. Oh, and Matt Stratton and Paoli rock my socks!

[guardchica0186]

wow.
How do you pick just one memory?

05:
How about painting our uniforms in the poconos before allentown?
or when Rod and Margie fell in the same day in paoli?
Everytime Daniel cried.

06:
staff run through.
bob marley.
waterparks.
shane.
tracking.
dance class... haha.
anything with the ribbons.



There are so many more.
I'm sure I'll be reposting.

[mellomaurus]

ROFL.

hey matt,
do you remember that night during finals week...when the gym was completely empty, but Poco and the Japanese volunteer girl, sorry don't remember her name...they were talking and laughing in Japanese..and then out of nowhere started BALANCING GIANT BROOMSTICKS ON THEIR FACES?

was that not the most RANDOM THING ever?

maureen

[pamela]

I have more. There are so many stories from this summer to chose from.


MI.
Drivers Mike and Jay decide to play a joke on me and leave me at a truck stop in the middle of the night.
Covert Operations begin.

INDY
Tomato sauce spills in cooler and gets all over my arms, legs, face and even my clothes. We are at the show site, RCA dome. (No water hooks up). I go for walk to USA Gymnastic headquarters to clean up. From a distance, police thinks it blood.

Houston had attack roaches.

[musiqrhino]

96 - Me and Carly going to BD's Truck and hanging out there and feasting on their steak and potato bar and listning to the vets (of BD) ram the 95 quad feature from Caribe. Then figuring we should head back (with plates full of food) and find all of the busses and trucks lined up and only Terry Valintine Craig, Robert Smith, And Mike Mckee (drum major) waiting outside for us. We were on chuck wagon (we did not have a food truck) and had to shuck corn the whole next day till the show.

97 - Being a vet

02 - Winning Div 2 finals was pretty sweet.
- Standing up to that jerkoff trumpet player, wife beater in hershey
- quarterfinals i stayed back after our 2 pm show and got interviewd for the dci update that they give out each day of finals week (i made the back cover) then fining out that we got an 87 on the way out and walking through the marketplace while everyone was congratulating me. cause they saw me in the purple and couldnt believe it.

Making finals when no one believed we could.

Teaching

04 - having an age out drink with motohiro and seeing him smashed . . he was smiling! hanging with yoko!

05 - almost every moment i spent with only the pit was a blessing! but i did love sneaking off when everyone else thought we were rehearsing!

Peace

DMT

[musiqrhino]

oh - I forgot O5 July 4th parade day and the pit going to that fat water park! And all the other rhode island shinnanigans.

[musiqrhino]

HOLY COW! 04 - Practicing for I&E the night before in the ballroom of that hotel until 2 in the morning. then going and kicking @$$ the next day losing only to the cavaliers!!!!

Sweet hotel! thanks Bruce

[GuardBaby23]

Oh Lord!

Who could forget the '04 hotels??? That was the best finals week ever! Oh and here's another one involving Drew:

The whole corps standing on the bleacher things at quarterfinals, taking our pictures when Drew walks up, "Come on guys, we have to hurry so we can get back to the hotel and practice."
Collective responce of drum corps: "Awww mannnn!!!!!!!!!!! pracrice? wait..............PRACTICE?!?!?!?!?! WE MADE SEMI'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"