#santaclaravanguard — Public Fediverse posts

Throwback Thursday – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard

https://medi-nerd.com/2026/03/19/throwback-thursday-2025-santa-clara-vanguard/

Throwback Thursday – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard

https://medi-nerd.com/2026/03/19/throwback-thursday-2025-santa-clara-vanguard/

Throwback Thursday – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard

https://medi-nerd.com/2026/03/19/throwback-thursday-2025-santa-clara-vanguard/

Throwback Thursday – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard

https://medi-nerd.com/2026/03/19/throwback-thursday-2025-santa-clara-vanguard/

Throwback Thursday – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard

https://medi-nerd.com/2026/03/19/throwback-thursday-2025-santa-clara-vanguard/

12 Corps Of Christmas – 1995 Santa Clara Vanguard

The word that comes to mind with this show is “surreal”.

#MarchingArts #DrumCorps #Christmas #SantaClaraVanguard

https://medi-nerd.com/b/we

VIDEO – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard Percussion Recording

https://medi-nerd.com/2025/12/08/video-2025-santa-clara-vanguard-percussion-recording/

VIDEO – 2025 Santa Clara Vanguard Percussion Recording

https://medi-nerd.com/2025/12/08/video-2025-santa-clara-vanguard-percussion-recording/

2024 DCI World Championships – Santa Clara Vanguard

We found our peace of mind and our paradise as we watched Vanguard’s Vagabond travel across the field and tell

All of these photos are available under a Creative Commons license, free for you to use as long as you give me photography credit.

You can find all of the edited photos from this and other events on my Flickr site.

You can find all of my photos on my Smugmug site.

#2024 #DCI #drumCorps #DrumCorpsInternational #Indiana #Indianapolis #LucasOilStadium #MarchingArts #SantaClaraVanguard

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

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

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

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

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

Big news for Kendrick Lamar fans broke today:

https://twitter.com/kendricklamar/status/1832804013894689232

Needless to say, this is huge news for the superstar rapper and songwriter, but, as drum corps fans will attest, his music has already appeared on the football field a few times in recent years.

In 2018, the Guardians first brought Kendrick Lamar’s music into the drum corps idiom with their show DAMNED. Combined with selections from Kanye West, Kesha, Childish Gambino, and, in a unique but excellent twist, Gustav Mahler‘s 2nd Symphony, the show was eclectic not only for its mixture of current and 19th century classical music, but also for the use of a vocal ensemble at the front of the field, adding to the power and emotion of the show.

https://youtu.be/4jZz5LpetA0?si=xpBYmoqCxHNUPjF2

Staying in Open Class, the 2021 Colt Cadets incorporated Kendrick’s “Pray For Me” as part of their Together/Apart show, which was showcased during the 2021 DCI Celebration season and the only time the Colt Cadets performed on all three days (Thursday/Friday/Saturday) of DCI week. The show focused on the impact the COVID pandemic had on both the corps as well as the activity as a whole, as we literally celebrated the return of drum corps after the first vaccines were made available. The show also demonstrated the impact of the pandemic on the activity as the Colt Cadets fielded no guard that season, though the brass and percussion filled the stadium with their emotion and sound to make up for it.

https://youtu.be/GvkaTwAP0bc?si=gUWGeD9VoYN_E1sD

This past season, two corps utilized Kendrick’s music in their shows. First was the Blue Stars, celebrating their 60th anniversary show, Universal. During the middle section of the show, the lyrics of the Kendrick/SZA collaboration “All The Stars” were heard as part of a transition between songs. It seemed appropriate to hear the worlds “all the stars are closer” as the horns moved forward on the field to envelop the audience in their sparkling sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzSV2hGlpVs

It was the Santa Clara Vanguard, returning from a year’s hiatus with a strong 6th place finish and top percussion honors, who designed their show, Vagabond, around the Kendrick song “United In Grief”. Along with the audio queues of “tell ’em”, “I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime”, and “I hope you find some paradise”, the corps also played the melodic “I hope you find…” theme throughout the show as a lietmotif for the vagabond traveler making their way across the field and the world to tell their story.

https://youtu.be/a3KOdJ4Xz14?si=aJdTSUlBIG5D79A1

With the number of awards and nominations Kendrick Lamar has received for his music and his writing, it may be a little surprising that there is only these four examples of his music in drum corps, especially as the activity has embraced the use of non-traditional instrumentation and effects in shows. As drum crops continues to evolve and mirror the current membership and designers, what other compositions of Kendrick’s should the activity explore? What other artists should drum corps add to its ever expanding repertoire?

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/09/08/kendrick-lamar-on-the-drum-corps-field/

#2018 #2021 #2024 #BlueStars #ChildishGambino #ColtCadets #DCI #DonaldGlover #DrumCorpsInternational #Guardians #GustavMahler #KanyeWest #KendrickLamar #Kesha #MarchingArts #SantaClaraVanguard #SZA

Big news for Kendrick Lamar fans broke today:

https://twitter.com/kendricklamar/status/1832804013894689232

Needless to say, this is huge news for the superstar rapper and songwriter, but, as drum corps fans will attest, his music has already appeared on the football field a few times in recent years.

In 2018, the Guardians first brought Kendrick Lamar’s music into the drum corps idiom with their show DAMNED. Combined with selections from Kanye West, Kesha, Childish Gambino, and, in a unique but excellent twist, Gustav Mahler‘s 2nd Symphony, the show was eclectic not only for its mixture of current and 19th century classical music, but also for the use of a vocal ensemble at the front of the field, adding to the power and emotion of the show.

https://youtu.be/4jZz5LpetA0?si=xpBYmoqCxHNUPjF2

Staying in Open Class, the 2021 Colt Cadets incorporated Kendrick’s “Pray For Me” as part of their Together/Apart show, which was showcased during the 2021 DCI Celebration season and the only time the Colt Cadets performed on all three days (Thursday/Friday/Saturday) of DCI week. The show focused on the impact the COVID pandemic had on both the corps as well as the activity as a whole, as we literally celebrated the return of drum corps after the first vaccines were made available. The show also demonstrated the impact of the pandemic on the activity as the Colt Cadets fielded no guard that season, though the brass and percussion filled the stadium with their emotion and sound to make up for it.

https://youtu.be/GvkaTwAP0bc?si=gUWGeD9VoYN_E1sD

This past season, two corps utilized Kendrick’s music in their shows. First was the Blue Stars, celebrating their 60th anniversary show, Universal. During the middle section of the show, the lyrics of the Kendrick/SZA collaboration “All The Stars” were heard as part of a transition between songs. It seemed appropriate to hear the worlds “all the stars are closer” as the horns moved forward on the field to envelop the audience in their sparkling sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzSV2hGlpVs

It was the Santa Clara Vanguard, returning from a year’s hiatus with a strong 6th place finish and top percussion honors, who designed their show, Vagabond, around the Kendrick song “United In Grief”. Along with the audio queues of “tell ’em”, “I hope you find some peace of mind in this lifetime”, and “I hope you find some paradise”, the corps also played the melodic “I hope you find…” theme throughout the show as a lietmotif for the vagabond traveler making their way across the field and the world to tell their story.

https://youtu.be/a3KOdJ4Xz14?si=aJdTSUlBIG5D79A1

With the number of awards and nominations Kendrick Lamar has received for his music and his writing, it may be a little surprising that there is only these four examples of his music in drum corps, especially as the activity has embraced the use of non-traditional instrumentation and effects in shows. As drum crops continues to evolve and mirror the current membership and designers, what other compositions of Kendrick’s should the activity explore? What other artists should drum corps add to its ever expanding repertoire?

https://medi-nerd.com/2024/09/08/kendrick-lamar-on-the-drum-corps-field/

#2018 #2021 #2024 #BlueStars #ChildishGambino #ColtCadets #DCI #DonaldGlover #DrumCorpsInternational #Guardians #GustavMahler #KanyeWest #KendrickLamar #Kesha #MarchingArts #SantaClaraVanguard #SZA

I put a poll up on Twitter to see which version of Santa Clara Vanguard's Phantom of the Opera I should watch. The results were pretty definitive.

#JukeboxFriday #MarchingArts #DrumCorps #PhantomOfTheOpera #SantaClaraVanguard #AndrewLloydWebber

https://medi-nerd.com/2023/03/24/jukebox-friday-broadway-edition/