The Fourth and the Fifth

Everyone had a good Fourth of July evening.  The rodeo was entertaining, according to Evan and Bethany.  The fireworks were a little disappointing.  I read in the newspaper that they would be doing only aerial fireworks - no out-of-arena fireworks, I'm sure, because of the fire danger and fire department resources needing to be available to the entire area.  Tim and I actually enjoyed the show up in Placerville.  It wasn't a long show, but it was nothing like the one a couple of years ago that lasted five minutes.  Brett didn't go to see the fireworks anywhere.  He says, "Until they invent some new ones, I've already seen everything a million times."  So, yes, "Happy Fourth of July to you, Mr. Scrooge!"

I came home to watch "A  Capitol Fourth," which was nice.  I'm not really into Huey Lewis, Taylor Hicks, or Jerry Lee Lewis, but that's OK (I was most impressed with Jerry - he did a pretty decent job).  Then, I watched the "Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular," which was totally awesome.  I've decided I would like to be there for their show in person before I die.  (Well, I guess there's not much chance of getting there after I die.)  I would like to be in a boat on the Charles River watching those fireworks.  You've got to see this:

In the midst of everything yesterday, Evan reminded us that he wanted to go to Stanford, today, for the Drum Corps International (DCI) West Finals.  This would be a pretty decent show, with the Blue Devils from Concord, CA, Phantom Regiment from Illinois, and Santa Clara (CA) Van Guard. 

Because I knew the show wouldn't end until about midnight, I told Tim he had to go - two drivers, I always say.  Tim isn't a big drum corps fan, but then, he's never been to one of the shows (Erica laughed so long when I mentioned that Tim was attending a drum corps show, I wondered if I should call her back when she'd had time to compose herself - she said she needed a good laugh, and leave it to her dad to not let her down).  I thought this would be a good experience for him.  He'll understand me so much better after this.  So, Tim, Bethany, and Evan drove to Stanford this afternoon (a three-hour trip that, miraculously, only took two hours). 

They're on their way home now, so I'll have to wait for all of the details.  Tim did mention he took many photos, so I can post them tomorrow, with a short history of how we became involved with the whole drum corps thing in the first place.

Tim said that the rumors had already begun that the only reason the Blue Devils won is because they're the local corps, so to speak.  My corps, Phantom Regiment, came in second.  I'm pretty sure that I agree with those rumors.

Comments

[tim]

The You-tube show is cool but I like the belly punch you get from the live show. I think the Boston show was done over the harbor so I am sure there are many good vantage points. The DCI show was neet but I would have liked to have found something a little closer and maybe shorter. I was played out when we got home at 2:00 AM. Nice work getting the 4th show on your blog in a timely fashon.

[robin bird]

awww too bad brett felt scrooge-like he misses so much when he closes his mind like that.....i see tim put up his review of the show in his comment... thanks tim. this is something i know nothing about nor have i ever seen anything like it. sounds pretty interesting though...