What is in a name? Last year the title of my DCI Tour blog series was The Long and Winding Road for DCI. This year, maybe it should be the Shoot the Wad tour, as I am all in on traveling back and forth across the country again for this obsession, but mostly by air. This year, I am stopping off in Michigan to once again meet up with friends from my favorite adopted state and also attend the North Country Trail Association annual summer in-person board meeting. This is the chance to be together with those that I frequently share my living room with on Zoom. I will be completing my fifth year representing Vermont on the board of the country’s longest National Scenic Trail, the North Country Trail. Partnering with the National Park Service (NPS), we manage 4,800 miles of hiking trail between Vermont and North Dakota, crossing New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I have always enjoyed getting away from politics that dominate the news during my summer drum corps tour. This year will be particularly difficult. Our NPS partners have suffered enormous devastation because of executive overreach. “Can it for now, Kevin.”
Onward to DCI Colorado, California, and North Carolina by air. This year, I will miss the Midwest early season because this ole man is going west again. I will be flying to Colorado from Michigan to meet up with the Boston Crusaders for Summer training. I also have a good ski buddy in Boulder, and we will be visiting the Bishop Telemark ski and binding company in Edwards, a potential sponsor for my wintertime obsession. On June 28th, Drums Along the Rockies, hosted by the venerable Blue Knights, will be the first show out of the gate for me and a head-to-head competition between two amazing medalists from last year – Boston Crusaders, Silver, and Blue Devils, Bronze. Additionally, the amazing Troopers will be on the field with their Final Sunset. It will be the Boston Crusaders and my second visit to Colorado. Boston heads to California, so I have been California dreaming about how I can follow the DCI Western tour.
Plans are still in flux following Colorado, but for now, I have a plane ticket home from Denver for a few days before flying back over the continent to San Fransico to attend shows in Sacramento and Stanford, CA. At the time of this writing, things seem to be heating up as Californians are railing against the executive overreach in their communities. How did we get here? “Get back to drum corps, Kevin!”
Utilizing the economy class sky ride, I will fly to San Diego for a four-day respite with friends. Exactly 50 years ago, I and three of my closest friends drove across the country in a sky-blue Volkswagon Beatle from upstate New York to Archer Street in LaJolla, California. I decided not to march with the Grey Ghosts that summer and stayed on through the fall and winter. Two of my friends stayed for fifty years so far, but we keep in touch. They come to visit me in Vermont in the fall.
Once I have chilled at the Hacienda del Olyenick, I then fly to Los Angeles to attend the final California show in the Rose Bowl, maybe meeting up with Drum Corps World colleague Russell Tanakaya and family. I hope to relive the good vibrations that I experienced last time I toured DCI in California and foster the spirit of the East Coast and West Coast drum corps relations. Or is that too much to expect? Competition is one thing. These unsettled times must be challenging for the members as they prepare for their futures, many to become successful leaders. Who knows yet how the competitions will go, but I hope the only explosions that I hear are when the Boston Crusaders explode on California. BOOM! “Eat ’em up, Boston!” (insert smiley face here)
After my final California sunset, I take a redeye home to Burlington for a few days of malaise on the Mill Brook. Then, a weekend hop to North Carolina. I fly to Charlotte, where I will meet up with my younger drum corps brother, Tim, to attend the Carolina Crown home show, NightBEAT, in Winston-Salem. Whew! I’m getting air sickness just writing this! Thankfully, the round-trip flights are non-stop between the two Queen cities. I love drum corps in the south and will always carve out this show, no matter which drum corps show up to play. Usually, the best do.
Three days home gives me a little respite and time to prepare before embarking on my auto tour. This is when I pack up the Silver Bullet with the large box on top and head off for six DCI show nights in a row. First to Lawrence, Massachusetts, for the return of the Boston Crusaders to their home turf at the East Coast Showcase. This promises to be a special homecoming to celebrate their 85th year. What a legacy. The Bluecoats, the only drum corps that bested Boston last year, will be on the field before them, as well as 2024 DCI finalists, the legendary Madison Scouts. This will be a great year of competition on both sides of the continent and in the middle. “DCI Unites Us!”
Continuing our daily shows, my tourmate, Chuck, and I will be Allentown bound immediately to put us in the mecca of summertime outdoor music in motion for two days. Friday and Saturday in the Park will provide for some up close and personal interaction with the best kids from all over America, who converge upon the scene to warm up before the East Coast Classic shows. Next, we are going to Downingtonville, PA, again for Big Sound in Motion. This will be a combination of the DCI junior corps and all-age corps. This fun night will be followed by the best show on earth in Canton, OH, Innovation in Brass. Trust me. If it does not rain, we will experience the final night of outdoor drum corps for 2025 with a line-up that is hard to beat. Then we go lickty-split across the midwest flatscape to Marion, IN, for the DCI Open Class Championships before heading to Indy for the finals. Now I’m vicariously car-sick.
Chuck will fly home again while I hit the road back to Vermont on Sunday morning via stops in Ithaca and Clinton, New York, to visit my two dear sisters, who are wondering about their crazy brother at 70. We grew up together in the upstate NY heartland. I went to Ohio for college, then to California for a trip (or was that college), and finally, in the mid-nineties, I escaped to Vermont.
You can bet I will have a lot to write about in future posts. I’ll try to keep politics out of it. Maybe not. Peace out for now.