Furioso is a new DCI.org column by Joe Smith, a 16-year-old mellophone player for the Colts. Smith is a junior at Ankeny High School in Ankeny, Iowa. Smith will report back from each camp, and will continue his reports through the summer. E-mail him at drumcorpsguy04@hotmail.com, or instant message him at Trumpetsforever4. Your friend sunblock As summer draws very close many corps have started to put drill on the field. This time is something many people look forward to, especially since you're no longer stuck inside a school all weekend. Almost everyone is now very excited for the great "move-in" day that for most corps is now less than a month away.

The Colts' upper brass line
With many corps moving onto the field, many of the guys are stripping off their shirts and many girls are wearing sports bras. As our drill writer told us last weekend, "It's an ugly site the first time the shirts come off for the year." Because of this, most people, especially vets, start to use sunscreen somewhere in the range of SPF 30-45. This is a highly advisable thing to do for the inexperienced. I just happened to be part of the inexperienced group of people, and suffered the consequences. When we went inside for dinner after a nice four hours outside for drill, I was a dark red color on almost all of my upper body. Along with the guard finally coming back for the true effect of a full corps, camp was the full ensembling of the show music. The one downside to a late April camp, though, is the fact that many proms are going on during the same weekend, so there were a few people missing. But of course with every camp, there is always someone gone for one reason or another. April camps mean a lot of things for corps. The horn line is always almost set by now with a few exceptions, the guards are doing their final auditions before they set the line and the majority of the drum lines are set. It's now time to look into who you want to share your bus space with for those 70-odd days on tour. Our weekend was concluded with a public "Spring Debut." The corps shared the event with several other organizations sponsored by our corps. As we stood at attention waiting for the set command, they introduced us and explained our show, entitled "Symphonic Visions: Ritual, Song and Dance." Then with a slight setup they brought Brandt Crocker out, and everyone thought he was only a member of the audience until he took the mic and announced the corps in the very famous voice of DCI. This was personally a very emotional moment, for I started to realize that I'm a part of such a great organization. The show was performed very well by the members of the corps. Less than a month until move-in, and just barely over a month until the very first shows of the year. Many people are excited. But the question is, are you?