Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Posted by admin on August 15, 2010
Speechless. I’ll post more n a day or two after it all sinks in. What I can say is its been an amazing ride and today was emotional and just… I don’t even know. 2010 Madison Scouts, you changed my life. May You Never Walk Alone.
Posted by admin on August 13, 2010
I can’t explain how incredible things are right now. It’s absolutely surreal that I’m wearing the Madison uniform, performing in front of thousands of people, doing what I’ve grown up dreaming of. I’ll talk more after tomorrow night, but I’ll say that emotions are really coming out. Was in tears singing YNWA to the cook crew tonight. I am so proud and fortunate to be a Madison Scout.
Thanks to those who went to watch in theaters last night, hope you enjoyed the show!
Matt and Amy, the Keowns, Shawn, and my parents are all in town and I’ll see them tonight. Matt came to rehearsal yesterday and it was wonderful seeing him.
Quarterfinals- lot and show were a bit strange for us. We had a good show, but things that usually aren’t dirty had fuzz. I think theres a lot of factors that went in to that, but as Donnie said, we dipped our toes in the pool last night and tonight we will dive in. Jon V told us how proud the staff is of us and that we’ve exceeded their expectations and we need to soak in the fact that we are Madison Scouts and that everyone that sees us loves us. He said we were rehearsing like world champions and the fact that we get the crowd on their feet over and over, makes us world champions. For those of you that didn’t hear, we scored an 89.15 and are in 10th, .5 behind Boston.
On the way to Lucas Oil now. Fire is burnin’! Watch out, here come the Madison Scouts.
Posted by admin on August 12, 2010
We had our last two rehearsal days at IU Memorial Stadium. It’s pretty crazy being back at our housing for winter camps and spring training. Just feels like we were here in spring training last week.
Thom and Nick worked us very hard in probably the worst heat of the summer, but it was fun. We got a whole lot done and its so exciting going in to tomorrow with how well we’re playing. Hearing Thom tell us how well we were playing and hearing Nick tell us how proud he is of us is, just felt amazing.
I can’t believe its over in 3 days.
I wake up, and its quarterfinals day. Hope that all of you go out to watch tomorrow night live in theaters! http://dci.org/cinemas/
Oh and Matt, Amy, Alan, Shawn, Larry and my parents are all gonna be here for Semifinals and Finals!
Posted by admin on August 10, 2010
Tonight was the last supper ceremony. It was really special and now I’m starting to realize that the season is almost over.
We received our NAILs tonight. It stands for Never Alone in Life and you wear a nail around your neck. Each nail is represented by an alum. It’s really special and just instills everything this corps has taught me in to a symbol I can have for the rest of my life. My NAIL is Rick Dunlevy, a snare drummer from 74-76, who marched the 75 championship show with Slaughter and Rhapsody. So cool. Already emailed him! Can’t wait to build another brotherhood with him.
Back on the buses, heading back to Bloomington. I can’t believe finals week is here. I don’t want to think about leaving my brothers yet. Everything is finally really feeling like it was worth it. It has all summer during performances, but its different now. It’s gonna be an emotional and amazing last 5 days.
Posted by admin on August 9, 2010
Great show last night in Clifton. Staff was happy, the crowd went nuts, our numbers went up to an 88.25, and the vibe all around was great. Got to watch some or the show with Komal too.
Saw Jordan again at the buses, and Rachel and James from UNC came to see Jordan and so I got to see them too.
We headed out at 10:15 and are still on the road now at 7:45a, heading to Columbus to rehearse at Ohio St.’s stadium. Pretty sweet to rehearse at the shoe! We’ve rehearsed at IU Memorial, the Metrodome, and now OSU stadium.
Posted by admin on August 8, 2010
We had a 5 hour block going in to our 2 hour ride to Allentown. It was a very cool to hear Thom Hannum’s voice from the box.
The atmosphere at the Allentown show was awesome. You could tell that drum corps memories were made at this place. Our lot was pretty crowded, but it was a little weird. We weren’t rocking our lot like we usually were for some reason, but we finished strong.
The show went really well and the the crowd went nuts. We were told how tough the Allentown crowd can be, but we brought them to their feet in the first 10 seconds of the show haha. It was a memorable performance and we relived the past with the company front of Slaughter. Judging was pretty strange and we got bumped back under BK, but scored an 87.5. Percussion scores were wack and we got pretty low with a 16.9, but Thom and Nick both told us how proud they were and how fine we played, and that means more than anything. The crowd rioted when they announced our scores, booed like crazy and then stood again for our DM’s. Apparently someone got in a fight or something over us and got kicked out. Haha it feels great knowing how much people love us.
Anyways, I got to hang out with Jordan after for a good hour and half and that was wonderful. We took down that huge sno cone you see in the last post haha.
Today was a 5 hour block in NJ for our show in Clifton tonight (last before quarterfinals). We did lots of chop busting…8 and 100s at 192…Ouch. Vic Firth guys came and recorded us all day and I actually had a camera hooked to my drum, which was pretty sweet. Look out for a video on their website! Everyone was kinda snappy today and there was a lot of tension for some reason today. Hope that doesn’t last.
Komal, my sister, came down from NY to watch rehearsal and then we got some pizza during EPLC. So nice to see her! She’s coming to the show tonight too.
4 shows, 6 days left. Wow.
Posted by admin on August 7, 2010
So we had a long drive from Atlanta to Ohio and had a short rehearsal day before laundry on Sunday. Last laundry block of the season!
We had 2 shows in Ohio and one in Erie, PA, all of which were consistent improvements from Atlanta. We beat the Blue Knights a couple nights ago and then the next night we closed the gap with Boston to .3! Really exciting. Our numbers are rising quick too, with an 86.7 and 17.3 in percussion.
Last night was a show day in Rome, NY, which went well again.
We’ve been doing a “back to basics” approach to rehearsal this week and its really paying off. Nick went off on me quite a bit the past couple of days but I’ve picked myself back up and played much better today.
Today was a rehearsal day in Oradell, NJ, where we’re housed through Sunday. Day 1 of Allentown was tonight, and we go on tomorrow. We’re staying here for Sunday’s Clifton, NJ show too.
We had Thom Hannum, Jim Ancona, and Brian Perez all come back in today for some great work. Learning from them is so inspiring and getting my butt kicked by them was just a lot of fun.
Big Allentown show tomorrow! Can’t wait to see how crazy the crowd goes! Will get to hang out with Jordan some too.
We’re actually only 30 miles from NYC, so my sister is coming Sunday!
A week from tomorrow- Finals. Wow. I can’t believe it.
Posted by admin on August 2, 2010
We had 8 hours of floor time to rest up before the big day. I was so on point all day because how excited I was to see everyone and to finally perform in the Georgia Dome.
We had a 4.5 hour block and Sean and Les made it the last 2.5 hours of it. It was so great to see them there supporting me! The only missing part of the equation was Mr. Hunter, haha but he had to go to band camp, so I forgive him. Andrew, Sarah, and Myron got in at the end of rehearsal. I asked my brothers to take care of my drum and uniform for me so I could go grab some subway w my friends. It made me so happy to hang out with them.
When we pulled in to the lot, I was just realizing that I was about to play in the lot I watched for the past 3 years. I still have those moments of saying, wow, I’m a Madison Scout. Hype going in to the lot was pretty great and then the lot crowd got huge, and we were all rockin it. We had a great lot and Sean, Les, Andrew, Sarah, Alison, Susan, Megan, Apurva, Anubhav, and Devang all came to watch. I had to focus really hard because if I started looking at friends or thought about them, I knew I’d tick haha. It was really hard when Apurva came running up to the lot and I was fighting to not crack up, haha especially bc we were running the snare break where I grin for the crowd.
The tunnel was awesome. Jim Mason is an incredible person. He delivered the most intense, inspirational, and hyped pre-show speech I’ve ever heard. We were so ready to bring the heat.
The march out was amazing. 20,000+ screaming fans in the Georgia Dome before we even started made me realize that I was actually there. The crowd was on their feet at the first hit, the corps was on fire, and it was amazing. The weird part was playing in a dome where at some points in the show, all I could hear was my own drum, but we were playing well and I was confident. The crowd was on their feet again after the drum break, and then the last 20-30 seconds of the show they were already standing. The new ending really delivered. I can’t even explain the feelings I had on the field last night. Like nothing I’ve ever felt in my life. I was rockin out the whole ending haha.
After the show I made my rounds to see everyone in the dome and they were all going nuts for how awesome we were. We were by far the crowd favorite and no one got a response like us.
We had to get back in to uniform for full retreat. I got to hang out with Jordan under the dome for a while, which was wonderful as usual.
We got put in 11th with an 85.55, .2 behind BK and .6 behind Boston, putting us in a great place to take them down this week! Things are getting so freaking exciting, I’m not ready to come home haha.
Sean, Les, Myron, Andrew, and Sarah all came to the bus and we had picture time by the bus and talked for half an hour before we left.
It was just an incredible day and so amazing to see everyone. Thank you all for supporting me, it means so much.
Drove 9 hours to Middletown, OH, had a 5 hour block of check patterns, chops, percussion ensemble, and short ensemble before our last laundry block tonight. Pretty upset we didn’t go to Nightbeat in SC tonight, oh well… Show in Centerville tomorrow, and shows everyday but Friday this week.
I can’t wait to get better.
Welcome to Kuntal's blog for his rookie season with the Madison Scouts!
