Name: Richard Cardenas
Age: 20
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Drum corps experience: Blue Devils 2006, Esperanza 2005, Troopers 2004 What is your favorite drum corps story? One time we were on the bus and my seat partner, who is Japanese and doesn't understand English all that well, and I were talking about competition. I saw that she has a list of drum corps in her cell phone. I was asking her whether she liked this corps or that corps, and I saw that she had the Cavaliers there. I said, "Do you like them?" She said yes, and I said, "Well, do you want them to win?" She said, "Sure, that'd be great." I said, "Wait a minute, we're the Blue Devils!" And I started telling people around us what she'd said, and she was practically beating me up to get me not to tell them! It was really funny.

Richard Cardenas
What is your favorite moment in your show? The very end of our ballad. There's a vibe moment right at the beginning of the ballad that states the theme, and we get to end the ballad with the same theme, the theme of the show. It's really pretty. What made you choose the Blue Devils? I really like the jazz style of Blue Devils. A lot of corps do it, but not with the same focus. I guess it's kind of been my dream. What do you miss most from home? Oh, so many things! My bed, for one, and the simple things like TV and knowing what's going on in the world. Just those simple things you don't have on tour. What were you most looking forward to before tour? Has it lived up to your expectations? Since I started as an alternate, I didn't know I was going to march until about two weeks before tour started, so I was really freaked out. I asked myself, "Am I going to be able to catch up?" But, I also was really excited. It's been amazing. It's met my expectations, and it's even gone further than that. Anything else you want to say? I do miss home, but I'll be back once the tour is over!