PDA

View Full Version : Orleans concert won't be the usual drill this year



thedrifter
06-23-08, 08:52 AM
Orleans concert won't be the usual drill this year
By Susan Milton
smilton@capecodonline.com
June 23, 2008 6:00 AM

ORLEANS — The tuneful blast of blaring brass and thumping drums hits Chief Warrant Officer Brian Dix every time the U.S. Marine Drum & Bugle Corps plays.

Standing within that rush of music is "just like hitting a bull's-eye every time," said Dix, the Corps' musical director. "It's like hitting one out of the park every time. It's like getting married every day "¦ to the same person."

Dix will be amid the performers and that music Wednesday night at the Marine Corps' 26th Battle Color Ceremony in Eldredge Park. The concert will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The annual free concert and precision drill usually draws 4,000 to 6,000 people to watch the Marines parade through town and perform in the picturesque park.

This will be Dix's last performance in Orleans. He is retiring later this year after 10 years as the leader of the Washington, D.C.-based band. In 1984, when Dix first played in Orleans, he was a lance corporal and bugler in this Marine band, which plays all over the country and the world.

"We are lucky enough that they keep coming back," said Harry "Lynn" Pike of Orleans, the visit's lead organizer for the Marine Corps League's Cape & Islands Detachment 955.

This year the league will honor Dix and U.S. Marine Corps Col. Paul Bruemmer of Orleans — who is Pike's son-in-law — by asking them to review the visiting troops, Pike said. In 1983 Bruemmer led the corps' silent drill platoon during a visit to Orleans.

The league works on the hour-long show for about six months each year.

"When I watch little children stand there, and look at their eyes (as they watch the corps), it makes me realize it's worthwhile," Pike said.

The league raises about $15,000 each year to transport, house and feed the 120 Marines who stay at Otis Air National Guard Base.

This year's concert will begin with one of Dix's own compositions, "1801," named in honor of the oldest active post in the Marine Corps — the Marine barracks in Washington, D.C. — and dedicated to all who have served there.

"You can't buy music off the shelf for a drum and bugle corps," Dix said in a telephone interview, "so all of our music must be arranged internally. That's the beauty of my job. I try to write one original work every year that's customized for the drum and bugle corps. It's nice to have Marines writing for Marines. Who knows better the Marines' fullest capabilities than another Marine?"

Schedule of events:

5:30 p.m. - Former state trooper Dan Clark and his wife Mary Clark sing.

6 p.m. - Flyover by U.S. Coast Guard jets from Air Station Cape Cod.

6 p.m. - U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps march along Route 28 to Eldredge Park. Stops at war memorials along the way to play taps and "Eternal Father."

6:30 p.m. Battle color ceremony at Eldredge Park.

7:30 p.m. Salute by the 101st Field Artillery, Brockton with howitzers also used in the performance of the 1812 Overture in Boston.


Online: To hear or record the music for free, or to get a free ringtone, go to http:drumcorps.mbw.USMC.mil/index.html