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#bushwackers — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bushwackers, aggregated by home.social.

  1. Happy Halloween! While I’m not dressing up in costume for an office party, I do feel the mood for spooky fun. I’ve got the house to myself while I work, so it’s time to crank some tunes!

    First off is Skatune Network‘s Skalloween album, released in 2021. For those of you who don’t know who Skatune Network is, they are an incredible one person Ska band who arranges and performs Ska covers of our favorite video game, cartoon, and pop music. This 8 track album features music from Beetlejuice, appropriate with the sequel that just came out, to Scooby Doo, a cartoon which pretty much celebrated Halloween all the time. Skatune does an amazing job with all of their tracks, and they collaborate with other great artists on this album as well. I’ve made a YouTube playlist of the album below, but you can also find the album on Bandcamp (link) and on other streaming media platforms.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4XUsocAKg-JEzqfmqKn2t1FEMaDWXyx&si=fPt5sAOZ5qWTr6-j

    It’s a Halloween movie! It’s a Christmas movie!! IT’S BOTH!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas, released over 30 years ago, has one of the most iconic movie soundtracks which Danny Elfman ever wrote. As I observed when I wrote about this soundtrack for it’s 30th anniversary, it was the combination of Elfman’s amazing score with the voices of the actors which makes this soundtrack so successful. Elfman even provides the singing voice of Jack Skellington (speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon, who also played Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride)! I’ll admit, I’ll stop and listen to any song from this soundtrack whenever it comes up in my Plex, but I’ll always try to watch this movie on Halloween. This year, with the recent passing of Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, I’ll also be sure to raise a glass when his song comes up.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3P6QbzwRveRljRWtG8nzdhLwKw0XfxEs&si=9pwBnL1iD1PClrae

    Of course, we can’t have a Halloween playlist without some drum corps, so here’s the 1994 Bushwackers performing music from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    https://youtu.be/yEUOxjbGEzs?si=VAbxc1nDLd5PutGQ

    On the twenty-third day of the month of September
    In an early year of a decade not too long before our own
    The human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence
    And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do
    In the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places

    So began Alan Menken‘s and Howard Ashman‘s musical adaptation of the Roger Corman B movie classic, Little Shop of Horrors. The stage version made its way to the silver screen in 1986, and the gems from this soundtrack are plentiful. Steve Martin absolutely drills “You’ll Be A Dentist”, while Ellen Greene goes from tender wistfulness in “Somewhere That’s Green” to full out Broadway belting in the show stopping “Suddenly Semour”. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops sets the standard as Audrey II, while Rick Moranis cemented his status as a comedy horror schlep as Seymour after his turn in Ghostbusters as Louis Tully. The movie is a joy to watch and the soundtrack is a joy to listen to.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6zRCxFyiWGRQH-F5wvejJx9wgc6kWtBa&si=xG9IWRjCaAuvrOTL

    There’s one musical which has a special place in my heart that also fits with the season. That is The Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never quite fully explained. This was a musical I remember listening to multiple times while in high school along with all the theater kids I shared classes with. It was also one of the first drum corps shows I remember seeing live as the Santa Clara Vanguard performed it in 1988 at the Parma, Ohio, show. I would eventually go on to perform music from Phantom with the Empire Statesmen in 2000. This was also the first musical I would see performed live at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square. It’s the 25th anniversary concert performance of Phantom which I listen to more than the original cast soundtrack, though, as I find the audio mix is much clearer and the performances of Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé and Ramin Karimloo as, in my opinion, The Phantom are as powerful, if not more so, than Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, plus there’s less of the campiness that the original version of Phantom had.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXfCGfEFi5PfZCNOG13HTJObGIXgYXVQ&si=kNY07qsCCCSdk0Xi

    Here is the 1988 Santa Clara Vanguard performance of Phantom of the Opera:

    https://youtu.be/RV6AaSqUXiQ?si=fKwxrGLQJF7gOEGV

    And here is me with the 2000 Empire Statesmen performing Phantom:

    https://youtu.be/dc8yZ_5yRzw?si=BFT-0kqcbPxhZBOc

    https://medi-nerd.com/2024/10/31/2024-halloween-playlist/

    #AlanMenken #Bandcamp #Beetlejuice #Bushwackers #ChrisSarandon #DannyElfman #EllenGreene #EmpireStatesmen #Ghostbusters #Halloween #HowardAshman #JackSkellington #KenPage #Kevin #LeviStubbs #LittleShopOfHorrors #Music #OogieBoogie #PalaceTheater #PlayhouseSquare #Plex #PrinceHumperdink #RickMoranis #RogerCorman #SantaClaraVanguard #ScoobyDoo #SierraBoggess #Skallowen #SkatuneNetwork #SteveMartin #TheFourTops #TheNightmareBeforeChristmas #ThePhantomOfTheOpera #ThePrincessBride #YouTube

  2. Happy Halloween! While I’m not dressing up in costume for an office party, I do feel the mood for spooky fun. I’ve got the house to myself while I work, so it’s time to crank some tunes!

    First off is Skatune Network‘s Skalloween album, released in 2021. For those of you who don’t know who Skatune Network is, they are an incredible one person Ska band who arranges and performs Ska covers of our favorite video game, cartoon, and pop music. This 8 track album features music from Beetlejuice, appropriate with the sequel that just came out, to Scooby Doo, a cartoon which pretty much celebrated Halloween all the time. Skatune does an amazing job with all of their tracks, and they collaborate with other great artists on this album as well. I’ve made a YouTube playlist of the album below, but you can also find the album on Bandcamp (link) and on other streaming media platforms.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4XUsocAKg-JEzqfmqKn2t1FEMaDWXyx&si=fPt5sAOZ5qWTr6-j

    It’s a Halloween movie! It’s a Christmas movie!! IT’S BOTH!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas, released over 30 years ago, has one of the most iconic movie soundtracks which Danny Elfman ever wrote. As I observed when I wrote about this soundtrack for it’s 30th anniversary, it was the combination of Elfman’s amazing score with the voices of the actors which makes this soundtrack so successful. Elfman even provides the singing voice of Jack Skellington (speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon, who also played Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride)! I’ll admit, I’ll stop and listen to any song from this soundtrack whenever it comes up in my Plex, but I’ll always try to watch this movie on Halloween. This year, with the recent passing of Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, I’ll also be sure to raise a glass when his song comes up.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3P6QbzwRveRljRWtG8nzdhLwKw0XfxEs&si=9pwBnL1iD1PClrae

    Of course, we can’t have a Halloween playlist without some drum corps, so here’s the 1994 Bushwackers performing music from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    https://youtu.be/yEUOxjbGEzs?si=VAbxc1nDLd5PutGQ

    On the twenty-third day of the month of September
    In an early year of a decade not too long before our own
    The human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence
    And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do
    In the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places

    So began Alan Menken‘s and Howard Ashman‘s musical adaptation of the Roger Corman B movie classic, Little Shop of Horrors. The stage version made its way to the silver screen in 1986, and the gems from this soundtrack are plentiful. Steve Martin absolutely drills “You’ll Be A Dentist”, while Ellen Greene goes from tender wistfulness in “Somewhere That’s Green” to full out Broadway belting in the show stopping “Suddenly Semour”. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops sets the standard as Audrey II, while Rick Moranis cemented his status as a comedy horror schlep as Seymour after his turn in Ghostbusters as Louis Tully. The movie is a joy to watch and the soundtrack is a joy to listen to.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6zRCxFyiWGRQH-F5wvejJx9wgc6kWtBa&si=xG9IWRjCaAuvrOTL

    There’s one musical which has a special place in my heart that also fits with the season. That is The Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never quite fully explained. This was a musical I remember listening to multiple times while in high school along with all the theater kids I shared classes with. It was also one of the first drum corps shows I remember seeing live as the Santa Clara Vanguard performed it in 1988 at the Parma, Ohio, show. I would eventually go on to perform music from Phantom with the Empire Statesmen in 2000. This was also the first musical I would see performed live at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square. It’s the 25th anniversary concert performance of Phantom which I listen to more than the original cast soundtrack, though, as I find the audio mix is much clearer and the performances of Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé and Ramin Karimloo as, in my opinion, The Phantom are as powerful, if not more so, than Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, plus there’s less of the campiness that the original version of Phantom had.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXfCGfEFi5PfZCNOG13HTJObGIXgYXVQ&si=kNY07qsCCCSdk0Xi

    Here is the 1988 Santa Clara Vanguard performance of Phantom of the Opera:

    https://youtu.be/RV6AaSqUXiQ?si=fKwxrGLQJF7gOEGV

    And here is me with the 2000 Empire Statesmen performing Phantom:

    https://youtu.be/dc8yZ_5yRzw?si=BFT-0kqcbPxhZBOc

    https://medi-nerd.com/2024/10/31/2024-halloween-playlist/

    #AlanMenken #Bandcamp #Beetlejuice #Bushwackers #ChrisSarandon #DannyElfman #EllenGreene #EmpireStatesmen #Ghostbusters #Halloween #HowardAshman #JackSkellington #KenPage #Kevin #LeviStubbs #LittleShopOfHorrors #Music #OogieBoogie #PalaceTheater #PlayhouseSquare #Plex #PrinceHumperdink #RickMoranis #RogerCorman #SantaClaraVanguard #ScoobyDoo #SierraBoggess #Skallowen #SkatuneNetwork #SteveMartin #TheFourTops #TheNightmareBeforeChristmas #ThePhantomOfTheOpera #ThePrincessBride #YouTube

  3. Happy Halloween! While I’m not dressing up in costume for an office party, I do feel the mood for spooky fun. I’ve got the house to myself while I work, so it’s time to crank some tunes!

    First off is Skatune Network‘s Skalloween album, released in 2021. For those of you who don’t know who Skatune Network is, they are an incredible one person Ska band who arranges and performs Ska covers of our favorite video game, cartoon, and pop music. This 8 track album features music from Beetlejuice, appropriate with the sequel that just came out, to Scooby Doo, a cartoon which pretty much celebrated Halloween all the time. Skatune does an amazing job with all of their tracks, and they collaborate with other great artists on this album as well. I’ve made a YouTube playlist of the album below, but you can also find the album on Bandcamp (link) and on other streaming media platforms.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4XUsocAKg-JEzqfmqKn2t1FEMaDWXyx&si=fPt5sAOZ5qWTr6-j

    It’s a Halloween movie! It’s a Christmas movie!! IT’S BOTH!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas, released over 30 years ago, has one of the most iconic movie soundtracks which Danny Elfman ever wrote. As I observed when I wrote about this soundtrack for it’s 30th anniversary, it was the combination of Elfman’s amazing score with the voices of the actors which makes this soundtrack so successful. Elfman even provides the singing voice of Jack Skellington (speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon, who also played Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride)! I’ll admit, I’ll stop and listen to any song from this soundtrack whenever it comes up in my Plex, but I’ll always try to watch this movie on Halloween. This year, with the recent passing of Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, I’ll also be sure to raise a glass when his song comes up.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3P6QbzwRveRljRWtG8nzdhLwKw0XfxEs&si=9pwBnL1iD1PClrae

    Of course, we can’t have a Halloween playlist without some drum corps, so here’s the 1994 Bushwackers performing music from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    https://youtu.be/yEUOxjbGEzs?si=VAbxc1nDLd5PutGQ

    On the twenty-third day of the month of September
    In an early year of a decade not too long before our own
    The human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence
    And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do
    In the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places

    So began Alan Menken‘s and Howard Ashman‘s musical adaptation of the Roger Corman B movie classic, Little Shop of Horrors. The stage version made its way to the silver screen in 1986, and the gems from this soundtrack are plentiful. Steve Martin absolutely drills “You’ll Be A Dentist”, while Ellen Greene goes from tender wistfulness in “Somewhere That’s Green” to full out Broadway belting in the show stopping “Suddenly Semour”. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops sets the standard as Audrey II, while Rick Moranis cemented his status as a comedy horror schlep as Seymour after his turn in Ghostbusters as Louis Tully. The movie is a joy to watch and the soundtrack is a joy to listen to.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6zRCxFyiWGRQH-F5wvejJx9wgc6kWtBa&si=xG9IWRjCaAuvrOTL

    There’s one musical which has a special place in my heart that also fits with the season. That is The Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never quite fully explained. This was a musical I remember listening to multiple times while in high school along with all the theater kids I shared classes with. It was also one of the first drum corps shows I remember seeing live as the Santa Clara Vanguard performed it in 1988 at the Parma, Ohio, show. I would eventually go on to perform music from Phantom with the Empire Statesmen in 2000. This was also the first musical I would see performed live at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square. It’s the 25th anniversary concert performance of Phantom which I listen to more than the original cast soundtrack, though, as I find the audio mix is much clearer and the performances of Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé and Ramin Karimloo as, in my opinion, The Phantom are as powerful, if not more so, than Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, plus there’s less of the campiness that the original version of Phantom had.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXfCGfEFi5PfZCNOG13HTJObGIXgYXVQ&si=kNY07qsCCCSdk0Xi

    Here is the 1988 Santa Clara Vanguard performance of Phantom of the Opera:

    https://youtu.be/RV6AaSqUXiQ?si=fKwxrGLQJF7gOEGV

    And here is me with the 2000 Empire Statesmen performing Phantom:

    https://youtu.be/dc8yZ_5yRzw?si=BFT-0kqcbPxhZBOc

    https://medi-nerd.com/2024/10/31/2024-halloween-playlist/

    #AlanMenken #Bandcamp #Beetlejuice #Bushwackers #ChrisSarandon #DannyElfman #EllenGreene #EmpireStatesmen #Ghostbusters #Halloween #HowardAshman #JackSkellington #KenPage #Kevin #LeviStubbs #LittleShopOfHorrors #Music #OogieBoogie #PalaceTheater #PlayhouseSquare #Plex #PrinceHumperdink #RickMoranis #RogerCorman #SantaClaraVanguard #ScoobyDoo #SierraBoggess #Skallowen #SkatuneNetwork #SteveMartin #TheFourTops #TheNightmareBeforeChristmas #ThePhantomOfTheOpera #ThePrincessBride #YouTube

  4. Happy Halloween! While I’m not dressing up in costume for an office party, I do feel the mood for spooky fun. I’ve got the house to myself while I work, so it’s time to crank some tunes!

    First off is Skatune Network‘s Skalloween album, released in 2021. For those of you who don’t know who Skatune Network is, they are an incredible one person Ska band who arranges and performs Ska covers of our favorite video game, cartoon, and pop music. This 8 track album features music from Beetlejuice, appropriate with the sequel that just came out, to Scooby Doo, a cartoon which pretty much celebrated Halloween all the time. Skatune does an amazing job with all of their tracks, and they collaborate with other great artists on this album as well. I’ve made a YouTube playlist of the album below, but you can also find the album on Bandcamp (link) and on other streaming media platforms.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4XUsocAKg-JEzqfmqKn2t1FEMaDWXyx&si=fPt5sAOZ5qWTr6-j

    It’s a Halloween movie! It’s a Christmas movie!! IT’S BOTH!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas, released over 30 years ago, has one of the most iconic movie soundtracks which Danny Elfman ever wrote. As I observed when I wrote about this soundtrack for it’s 30th anniversary, it was the combination of Elfman’s amazing score with the voices of the actors which makes this soundtrack so successful. Elfman even provides the singing voice of Jack Skellington (speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon, who also played Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride)! I’ll admit, I’ll stop and listen to any song from this soundtrack whenever it comes up in my Plex, but I’ll always try to watch this movie on Halloween. This year, with the recent passing of Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, I’ll also be sure to raise a glass when his song comes up.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3P6QbzwRveRljRWtG8nzdhLwKw0XfxEs&si=9pwBnL1iD1PClrae

    Of course, we can’t have a Halloween playlist without some drum corps, so here’s the 1994 Bushwackers performing music from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    https://youtu.be/yEUOxjbGEzs?si=VAbxc1nDLd5PutGQ

    On the twenty-third day of the month of September
    In an early year of a decade not too long before our own
    The human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence
    And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do
    In the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places

    So began Alan Menken‘s and Howard Ashman‘s musical adaptation of the Roger Corman B movie classic, Little Shop of Horrors. The stage version made its way to the silver screen in 1986, and the gems from this soundtrack are plentiful. Steve Martin absolutely drills “You’ll Be A Dentist”, while Ellen Greene goes from tender wistfulness in “Somewhere That’s Green” to full out Broadway belting in the show stopping “Suddenly Semour”. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops sets the standard as Audrey II, while Rick Moranis cemented his status as a comedy horror schlep as Seymour after his turn in Ghostbusters as Louis Tully. The movie is a joy to watch and the soundtrack is a joy to listen to.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6zRCxFyiWGRQH-F5wvejJx9wgc6kWtBa&si=xG9IWRjCaAuvrOTL

    There’s one musical which has a special place in my heart that also fits with the season. That is The Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never quite fully explained. This was a musical I remember listening to multiple times while in high school along with all the theater kids I shared classes with. It was also one of the first drum corps shows I remember seeing live as the Santa Clara Vanguard performed it in 1988 at the Parma, Ohio, show. I would eventually go on to perform music from Phantom with the Empire Statesmen in 2000. This was also the first musical I would see performed live at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square. It’s the 25th anniversary concert performance of Phantom which I listen to more than the original cast soundtrack, though, as I find the audio mix is much clearer and the performances of Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé and Ramin Karimloo as, in my opinion, The Phantom are as powerful, if not more so, than Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, plus there’s less of the campiness that the original version of Phantom had.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXfCGfEFi5PfZCNOG13HTJObGIXgYXVQ&si=kNY07qsCCCSdk0Xi

    Here is the 1988 Santa Clara Vanguard performance of Phantom of the Opera:

    https://youtu.be/RV6AaSqUXiQ?si=fKwxrGLQJF7gOEGV

    And here is me with the 2000 Empire Statesmen performing Phantom:

    https://youtu.be/dc8yZ_5yRzw?si=BFT-0kqcbPxhZBOc

    https://medi-nerd.com/2024/10/31/2024-halloween-playlist/

    #AlanMenken #Bandcamp #Beetlejuice #Bushwackers #ChrisSarandon #DannyElfman #EllenGreene #EmpireStatesmen #Ghostbusters #Halloween #HowardAshman #JackSkellington #KenPage #Kevin #LeviStubbs #LittleShopOfHorrors #Music #OogieBoogie #PalaceTheater #PlayhouseSquare #Plex #PrinceHumperdink #RickMoranis #RogerCorman #SantaClaraVanguard #ScoobyDoo #SierraBoggess #Skallowen #SkatuneNetwork #SteveMartin #TheFourTops #TheNightmareBeforeChristmas #ThePhantomOfTheOpera #ThePrincessBride #YouTube

  5. Happy Halloween! While I’m not dressing up in costume for an office party, I do feel the mood for spooky fun. I’ve got the house to myself while I work, so it’s time to crank some tunes!

    First off is Skatune Network‘s Skalloween album, released in 2021. For those of you who don’t know who Skatune Network is, they are an incredible one person Ska band who arranges and performs Ska covers of our favorite video game, cartoon, and pop music. This 8 track album features music from Beetlejuice, appropriate with the sequel that just came out, to Scooby Doo, a cartoon which pretty much celebrated Halloween all the time. Skatune does an amazing job with all of their tracks, and they collaborate with other great artists on this album as well. I’ve made a YouTube playlist of the album below, but you can also find the album on Bandcamp (link) and on other streaming media platforms.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP4XUsocAKg-JEzqfmqKn2t1FEMaDWXyx&si=fPt5sAOZ5qWTr6-j

    It’s a Halloween movie! It’s a Christmas movie!! IT’S BOTH!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas, released over 30 years ago, has one of the most iconic movie soundtracks which Danny Elfman ever wrote. As I observed when I wrote about this soundtrack for it’s 30th anniversary, it was the combination of Elfman’s amazing score with the voices of the actors which makes this soundtrack so successful. Elfman even provides the singing voice of Jack Skellington (speaking voice provided by Chris Sarandon, who also played Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride)! I’ll admit, I’ll stop and listen to any song from this soundtrack whenever it comes up in my Plex, but I’ll always try to watch this movie on Halloween. This year, with the recent passing of Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, I’ll also be sure to raise a glass when his song comes up.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n3P6QbzwRveRljRWtG8nzdhLwKw0XfxEs&si=9pwBnL1iD1PClrae

    Of course, we can’t have a Halloween playlist without some drum corps, so here’s the 1994 Bushwackers performing music from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    https://youtu.be/yEUOxjbGEzs?si=VAbxc1nDLd5PutGQ

    On the twenty-third day of the month of September
    In an early year of a decade not too long before our own
    The human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence
    And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do
    In the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places

    So began Alan Menken‘s and Howard Ashman‘s musical adaptation of the Roger Corman B movie classic, Little Shop of Horrors. The stage version made its way to the silver screen in 1986, and the gems from this soundtrack are plentiful. Steve Martin absolutely drills “You’ll Be A Dentist”, while Ellen Greene goes from tender wistfulness in “Somewhere That’s Green” to full out Broadway belting in the show stopping “Suddenly Semour”. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops sets the standard as Audrey II, while Rick Moranis cemented his status as a comedy horror schlep as Seymour after his turn in Ghostbusters as Louis Tully. The movie is a joy to watch and the soundtrack is a joy to listen to.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6zRCxFyiWGRQH-F5wvejJx9wgc6kWtBa&si=xG9IWRjCaAuvrOTL

    There’s one musical which has a special place in my heart that also fits with the season. That is The Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never quite fully explained. This was a musical I remember listening to multiple times while in high school along with all the theater kids I shared classes with. It was also one of the first drum corps shows I remember seeing live as the Santa Clara Vanguard performed it in 1988 at the Parma, Ohio, show. I would eventually go on to perform music from Phantom with the Empire Statesmen in 2000. This was also the first musical I would see performed live at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square. It’s the 25th anniversary concert performance of Phantom which I listen to more than the original cast soundtrack, though, as I find the audio mix is much clearer and the performances of Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé and Ramin Karimloo as, in my opinion, The Phantom are as powerful, if not more so, than Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, plus there’s less of the campiness that the original version of Phantom had.

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUXfCGfEFi5PfZCNOG13HTJObGIXgYXVQ&si=kNY07qsCCCSdk0Xi

    Here is the 1988 Santa Clara Vanguard performance of Phantom of the Opera:

    https://youtu.be/RV6AaSqUXiQ?si=fKwxrGLQJF7gOEGV

    And here is me with the 2000 Empire Statesmen performing Phantom:

    https://youtu.be/dc8yZ_5yRzw?si=BFT-0kqcbPxhZBOc

    https://medi-nerd.com/2024/10/31/2024-halloween-playlist/

    #AlanMenken #Bandcamp #Beetlejuice #Bushwackers #ChrisSarandon #DannyElfman #EllenGreene #EmpireStatesmen #Ghostbusters #Halloween #HowardAshman #JackSkellington #KenPage #Kevin #LeviStubbs #LittleShopOfHorrors #Music #OogieBoogie #PalaceTheater #PlayhouseSquare #Plex #PrinceHumperdink #RickMoranis #RogerCorman #SantaClaraVanguard #ScoobyDoo #SierraBoggess #Skallowen #SkatuneNetwork #SteveMartin #TheFourTops #TheNightmareBeforeChristmas #ThePhantomOfTheOpera #ThePrincessBride #YouTube

  6. I need to take a moment and apologize to the all-age drum corps community. Up to this point, I have not featured any DCA performances. There’s a few reasons for this, mainly that there aren’t many videos of DCA corps performing Christmas or wintery music that I can use without worrying about the video getting taken down from YouTube at some point. Another reason is that there hasn’t been a lot of DCA shows I can think of which have these themes as part of their show. Fortunately, there is one show which I’ve found that I actually hadn’t seen until recently, the 1994 Bushwackers and their performance of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

    Both Bushwackers and the Velvet Knights used music from Nightmare for their 1994 program, which is a quick turnaround considering that the movie and soundtrack were released in October of 1993. VK chose to focus more on the dreamscape side of things with their use of music from the movie, plus Bush made their whole show focus on the music and themes of Nightmare Before Christmas, so I only include Bushwackers for my Christmas corps list.

    Image from https://bushwackersdc.org.

    The Bushwackers were the two time defending DCA world champions in 1994 and had won all six of their DCA titles (1986, 1988-1990, 1992-1993) over the past 8 years. A recent powerhouse corps, founded just a few years before winning their first title, the Bushwackers had also made a name for themselves with their highly theatrical show themes, such as their previous two championship shows, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George. While they departed from Steven Sondheim, the music of Danny Elfman proved to be just as effective and eclectic for the corps.

    Two things stand out from the very start of the show. First is the percussion, both in terms of their performance, which was one tenth short of winning the percussion trophy, and in terms of their design, which had the field percussionists opening the show on stages set on the field, performing on various concert percussion instruments during What’s This. The other is the color guard, dressed in patch covered black, evoking the dress worn by Sally, with faces painted as if they were themselves residents of Halloween Town

    Image from https://bushwackersdc.org.

    The show runs the gamut of emotions from the wonder of What’s This to the mischief of Kidnap the Sandy Claws, as well as the spooky anticipation of Making Christmas and the sadness of Sally’s Lament. The closer brought it all home in reprise format and the big finish which drum corps excels at. Just like our yearly tradition of watching Nightmare Before Christmas as part of our Christmas holiday viewing, I recommend giving the 94 Bushwackers a watch and/or listen for Christmas time as well. Jack Skellington would approve.

    https://medi-nerd.com/2023/12/24/12-corps-of-christmas-1994-bushwackers/

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