WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL 2008 HURRICANE DRUM AND BUGLE CORPS THREAD!

Hurricane is excited to begin its third season in DLOFDC competition. This thread will be updated periodically with interviews with staff and members, stories from tour, and the latest developments in the show and otherwise.

“I’m very, very excited to be back at the helm this season,” asserts Kristina, Hurricane’s executive director. “The corps was quite self-sufficient during the 2007 season, as I was on tour myself. I’m tremendously proud of the kids and staff for their successes in my absence. 6th place in Division 2 is a huge step forward after attaining 4th in Division 3 in our inaugural year in 2006.”

Updates and news stories to look for:
-The firing of the Captions Selections Committee and hiring of the Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps Computer Science Department
-Changes in instrument sponsorships from previous seasons
-Show announcement
-Possible changes in logo/motto/uniforms/guard equipment
-Complete overhaul of the website

The official Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps website is located at www.freewebs.com/hurricanedrumandbuglecorps . Again, it will undergo major changes in the near future, so please be patient!

Hurricane is looking forward to an exciting, educational, enriching season! Check back often for more updates!

HURRICANE PRESENTS 2008 UNIFORMS
Because everyone loves a corps in pink


Hurricane released today their 2008 uniforms for the batterie, front ensemble, and brass.

This is similar to the uniforms in years past. However, this year, the pinkish-purple band across the chest will have sequince and the gauntlets are tinged the same shade of pinkish-purple. Also, despite the model wearing a hat in the photo, the corps decided since the picture was taken that they will continue the Hurricane tradition of not marching with hats.

"Concerns have been raised by some of our male members, in particular, regarding a perceived femininity of the uniforms," remarked corps director Kristina. "Fortunately, they rescinded such comments when they overheard colorguard members discussing how attractive all the guys looked in pink!"








The colorguard uniforms have also been selected and can be viewed at:
http://www.thecostumecloset.com/images/CCW14.jpg
http://www.thecostumecloset.com/images/CCW15.jpg

An interview with one of the colorguard caption heads, Dan Sking, revealed that the uniforms were selected with both Hurricane colors and show concept in mind.

"As always, we like to match the guard unis to the general color scheme of the musicians' uniforms," commented Sking. "This year, we also definitely wanted to go with something light, airy, graceful."

Sking declined to comment further on the show concept, but the director assured that the show concept announcement is imminent.

Nice uniforms! Come check mine out @ The Legionnaires in the Division 3 forum.

Somehow I doubt the concern with the male members was over the COLOR of the uniforms. I am guessing it has more to do with the lack of imagination needed when viewing the male guard uniforms.

oh, and for the record, that picture is reason number 1,445 why there should only be female guard members.

lack of imagination needed... reminds me of the uniforms for a show called "spin cycle"

The staff of Hurricane Drum and Bugle corps fully practices the fine art of gender equality in all sections of the corps.

Also, the visual staff is perplexed as to how Hurricane's guard uniforms resemble those of Cavaliers 2003 in anyway.

Finally, a brief survey of a sample of male Hurricane members demonstrated that it was indeed the color of the non-colorguard Hurricane uniforms that originally had them skeptical; nothing else about the uniforms was bothersome.

Thus, we uphold all decisions announced!

Stay tuned for the show announcement... coming tonight, after the director returns from a boring play with her family that she is not particularly interested in attending.

The tightness in the... erm, crotchal area

Ahhhhhhhh, it all becomes clear. No, the male NON-guard members were originally upset about the color of THEIR uniforms, until they overheard the colorguard talking. Anyway, the Hurricane staff generally attends significantly more to the guard work than any tightness in colorguards' "crotchal areas." And you? Just kidding. Now on with the press release...

HURRICANE ANNOUNCES 2008 SHOW CONCEPT
Corps hopes their plans will instantly take flight

Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps is proud to announce their 2008 program, "Aviary," featuring classical music portraying various types of birds.

Repetoire:
Ballet of the Unhatched Chickens, from "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky
Volière ("Aviary"), from "Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint Saens
Excerpts from Swan Lake, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Excerpts from The Firebird, by Igor Stravinsky

"Aviary" is being presented in the memory of corps director Kristina's first pet parakeet, Zipporah. Zipporah was an incredibly sweet, special bird who will always be loved and missed! It is also to honor her two current pet parakeets, Ava and Zippy (and she assures you, she did not agree with the latter, very cheesy name).

Hurricane staff and members are tremendously excited to begin a fantastic 2008 season! Stay tuned for more press releases, updates, interviews, and more!

HURRICANE MERGES PREVIOUS STATISTICS DEPARTMENT WITH NEW COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
Hurricane's new department aims to employ a multi-disciplinary approach

Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps announced today that they will be dispensing with their old statistics department. They will be continuing to employ the Hurricane Head Statistician as an employee of the newly-formed Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps Mathematics and Computer Science Department.

Staff includes:
Kristina- Mathematics and Computer Science Department Chair
Belle Curve- Head Statistician
Al Gorithm- Head Programmer
Theo Ree- Theoretician, Programming Consultant
Ruby Perl- Hurricane Website Webmaster

The corps decided that a more multi-disciplinary approach to strategy ought to be utilized to increase chances of a promotion to Division 1 for the 2009 season.

"I know I was unable to fully control any aspect of the corps last year while on my own tour, but missing a promotion by one placement was somewhat frustrating," explained corps director Kristina. "This year, with the staff having improved left-brained abilities, we are hoping that integrating a little CS into our strategy might not hurt."

"Progress is still somewhat sub-optimal," grumbled lead programmer Al Gorithm. "I contacted Mr. Theo Ree, our consultant, who confirms that brute-force is needed, but something is still screwy, so our strategy is not working quite right. If we cannot remedy the issues, we will return to our more manual ways."

While many Hurricane fans are excited and interested about this new-found approach, many are not comfortable with it.

"The staff appears insufficiently trained in this area," complained a long-time Hurricane fan and employee of Google. "Who do they think they are? Besides, their approach doesn't seem logical to me. They said themselves that it's not working. How about they hire people who know what they're doing?"

"We'll see what happens," said Belle Curve, Head Statistician. "Nobody- not statisticians, not computer programmers, not theoreticians... can predict the future. All anyone can do is their best."

"I'm in full agreement with Ms. Curve," nodded Kristina. "All we ask out of our kids is their absolute best efforts to achieve a worthy goal, and to do so fairly. I should hope that would be what the world would want out of the staff, as well (despite when we mess up quotation marks and commas, such as in our show announcement press release)."

Congratulations on the promotion! Good luck.

HURRICANE PROMOTED TO DIVISION 1
Non-Returning Corps Allow Hurricane to Keep Moving On Up

Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps was officially promoted to DLOFDC Division 1 status early this morning.

"We are ecstatic!" smiled the director. "After only 2 years of competition, we have moved from Division 3 to Division 1. This year, our third year, we would love to make it into the top 12 in Division 1, but we urge our members not to worry about placements... only to worry about giving 100% of their efforts to Hurricane."

The newly-formed Hurricane Mathematics and Computer Science department was slightly less enthusiastic.

"We have to change everything," groaned Math/CS Department member Al Gorithm. "As if things weren't already a little bumpy, now we have this promotion thrown in to complicate caption selections and the bit of math/CS that we may use to help."

"I'm pretty excited," commented Theo Ree, another Math/CS Department member. "I know I'm not involved much, but it's fun to watch everything develop from afar. Kristina had said that there was a remote possibility of a bump to Division 1, and I'm happy for her that that occurred."

"I think it's awesome!" exclaimed 3rd-year tenor captain Cadence Miller. "I can't believe I'm a division 1 tenor captain. I'm so proud of the whole drumline... and the whole corps."

"I'm really, really excited," gushed euphonium player Sarah Marks. "I came to Hurricane thinking I might not be good enough for Division 2, and... now I'm in Division 1!"

"YYYYYYYYYYYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" shouted an enthused baritone player, brandishing his water jug over his head.

The response from Hurricane fans has also been overwhelmingly positive, as the amount of donations the corps has received today is octuple the amount from any other day in Hurricane's history. This will be a tremendous help in light of the recent gas price increases. To donate, please visit the corps website, as gas is well over $4 in the Chicagoland area.

DELUCIA INTERVIEWS CORPS DIRECTOR
Secrets revealed? Listen and see!

Dennis DeLucia: Hello, and welcome to today’s Drum Corps International “Field Pass.” Today we will hear from Kristina, the director of newly-promoted Division 1 drum corps, Hurricane. Nice to see you again, Kristina!
Kristina: And it’s great to be interviewed by you again, Dennis!
D: I’m sure it is! Let’s get started, then. First off, congratulations on your corps’ recent promotion to Division 1 status. How do you feel about that?
K: Nothing short of fantastic, Dennis. I couldn’t be more proud of my staff and kids for pushing as hard as they do. Particularly considering my relative absence from the corps last season, these guys did great.
D: Now, speaking of that absence, I was noticing your corps’ repertoire for this year’s show, “Aviary.” I couldn’t help but notice that half the repertoire was also written into the show you performed all last summer. Might audiences get sick of those pieces?
K: No, Dennis, I think not. My corps had a profound, life-altering influence on me, and as such, I just couldn’t keep said influence out of this year’s repertoire. Besides, if I’M not sick of those pieces yet, and I played them all day for 3 months, then how could crowds be sick of it?
D: I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’ve got a point! Now, what’s with the program as a whole? “Aviary” is supposed to somehow relate to your pets, correct?
K: Yes indeed. My favorite parakeet who has ever lived, Zipporah, passed away in December from a thyroid tumor, leaving her sister Ava behind. She was incredibly sweet and smart. My mother then bought another parakeet (and gave her the ridiculous name of “Zippy”… ugh!). We just like birds in my house, Dennis. They are innocent, sweet, adorable creatures and deserve a drum corps tribute!
D: Um, if you say so… So, what’s with this Math and Computer Science Department overtaking Hurricane’s former Statistics Department?
K: Well, Dennis, Hurricane has decided to take a more multi-disciplinary approach to caption selections. Our experts have no idea how it will pan out, and our proposed new strategies were not utilized for our initial caption picks. But we are interested to see the results.
D: Now, some people have complained that Hurricane is cheating by using math and computer science to make more educated guesses instead of purely relying on drum corps knowledge and intuition. How would you respond to these allegations?
K: I would tell anyone questioning my integrity to shove it!!! I mean, I would tell them that they are excellent people who should understand that it’s impossible to cheat at DLOFDC. I’m a geek… not a psychic. You can have all the math and CS you want going for you, and then a corps could suddenly take a turn for the worse or better. My strategies are far from infalliable and I am as worried as anyone else that my caption selections are going to miserably fail.
D: Sounds plausible… yes, yes, good point. Alright, we have time for one last question, Kristina. Rumors are circulating that you’re currently recovering from overuse injuries. Is there any validity to the rumors, and how do you expect to conduct all your director-ly business when you are in arm pain?
K: Yes, I am recovering from medial and lateral epicondylitis in both elbows as a result of playing marimba with a little too much aggression during this past WGI season. I am in physical therapy and am already feeling much better than I was. I expect that this will not have any bearing on my corps responsibilities thanks to very able-bodied staff, as well as the fact that THIS IS FANTASY DRUM CORPS, DENNIS.
D: You know, you do come up with some excellent points! Well, that’s all the time we have for this edition of Drum Corps International’s “Field Pass.” Thank you very much for your time, Kristina!
K: And thank you for yours, Dennis!
D: Tune in next week when Drum Corps International interviews George Hopkins regarding his plan to implement an extra field judge called the “Hash Evaluator” which will add points to corps’ scores if the hashes are particularly worn out. (Just kidding, Hoppy; I like you guys; we’re cool.) Thanks for listening!

HURRICANE FINISHES EVERYDAYS
"Let's blow this pop stand," request members

Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps members left their rehearsal location in Chicago, IL today for their housing and rehearsal site near Rockford, IL.

Members were starting to get slightly restless, especially given how prepared their performance is. Virtually all participants are anxious to get a taste of the competition.

Hurricane wishes all DLOFDC corps the best of luck this season!

HURRICANE STRONG OUT OF THE GATE
Hurricane 4th on opening day; likely to be strong contender

Staff and members of Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps are proud and relieved to have placed 4th on opening day in DLOFDC's division 1.

"I didn't know if we could compete with the 'big boys,'" remarked director Kristina. "If this is any indication, however, we should be just fine."

"HELL YEAH!!!!!!!" commented the only member we could get to calm down enough to talk to the press.


STAFF COMPUTER SCIENTISTS SHAKING THEIR HEADS
"What were we thinking?" questioned one staff member

Hurricane's staff computer scientists from the Hurricane Drum and Bugle Corps Math and Computer Science Department are feeling somewhat sheepish today, as they discovered that the techniques they plan to use are totally useless until July 4th.

"What were we thinking?" questioned Al Gorithm, lead programmer. "By the time we implement our strategy, if we implement it at all, the deadline for picking GE captions will be fast upon us. Furthermore, the data prior to July 4th will be pointless (or even detrimental) to use. I wish I knew what I'm doing. Oh well."

Bell Curve, the head statistician, has been hard at work.

"I'm crunching a lot of numbers right now, picking up the slack that this has created," she groaned. "My wrists hurt from making such a detailed Excel chart."

Hurricane staff, members, and fans are all hoping they can still pull together solid caption selections by the deadline.