Movie Night, a walk and the DCI simulcast

On Wednesday I got a call from Patsy to meet her at Carrie's to go to see Hope Springs.  Yippee...so fun to spontaneously say 'yes' to such invitations.  Having my days and nights free (for one more day) has been so much fun.  Love Meryl Streep!  When I was there I saw the advertisement for the Drum Corp International Phantom Event broadcast of the National Championships (quarter finals) for the next night.  I have always wanted to go to a Phantom Event at a theater to see what it would be like.

Thursday I met Steph for a walk...a 13000 step, six mile walk....ouch but fun.  Great way to catch up.  Well guess where she was going...yep, they were going to attend the DCI National Championship broadcast.  She invited, I decided to go.  All five hours (3:30 to 8:30)  Turns out it was a live simulcast from Indianapolis.  That was cool.  Not disappointed at all.  

Killing time when the feed went down

  

Because of severe thunderstorms, the broadcast feed stopped for about 20 minutes until the storm passed.  Here is how the kids entertained themselves. The DCI ran the two corps we missed - everyone was happy about that.  

The bands are seeded based on past performances during the season so it really isn't surprising.  

Here are the Blue Devils, seeded first and came out on top.   Steph was a Blue Devil from 1975 through 1977.  In high school the drum line dreamed of being Blue Devils.  

Blue Devils - the gold standard of DCs

Tonight is semifinals and Saturday is finals.  Seems like a lot considering they only eliminated two last night and then 12 tonight.  Each night makes money for all of those parents showing up to watch their kids.  Pretty obvious but the kids like to perform so that part is good I guess.