Music City Legend Drum & Bugle Corps - 6128 Tuckaleechee Lane - Antioch, TN 37013-4539

Telephone 615.941.2420 World Wide Web: www.musiccitylegend.org

For More Information:
Stephan M. Anderman
Public Information Officer
317.412.0112
mcl-indiana@earthlink.net

 

MUSIC CITY LEGEND TO COMPETE IN “OPEN” CLASS

Music City Legend Drum and Bugle Corps, a not-for-profit “all-age” drum and bugle corps now in its third season of operation, representing Nashville and all of Middle Tennessee, has officially notified Drum Corps Associates, the governing body of the “all-age” corps activity, that it will compete with the “big boys” in DCA open class competition in 2006. The announcement, by Executive Director Scott Rhodes, was a result of the corps’ continued growth this past winter.

The corps placed fourth and won the “high brass” award at last year’s DCA class “A” championship in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Music City Legend is comprised of members from “mid-teens to middle age”.
“It is almost unheard of,” stated Rhodes, “that a corps grows in size and matures musically as quickly as Music City Legend has.” The corps was organized at his kitchen table with several other drum corps enthusiasts three years ago. “We’ve grown from that to a 21-member mini-corps in 2004, to a roster of about 58 last season, to nearly 80 people on the field this year.”

That growth has not gone unnoticed by the fans, competitors, and members of the greater drum corps community.

“The corps has created quite a buzz”, noted Jim Reed, MCL’s program coordinator. “We will be facing off against some of the greatest drum corps in the world.” That list of greats includes such well-known corps as the Hawthorne Caballeros from New Jersey, the Syracuse Brigadiers, who in 2002 pulled off the first “four-peat” championship run, the New York Skyliners, the CorpsVets of Atlanta, the current DCA Champion Reading Buccaneers of Pennsylvania, and the last corps to generate a similar “buzz” when they came on the scene a few years ago, the Renegades from San Francisco. Music City Legend’s 2006 season has tour stops in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia, and runs through Labor Day weekend’s DCA World Championship contest, to be held this year at the new Paetec Park in Rochester, New York.

“But,” continues Reed, “the thing we want to do most is entertain.” The corps has moved from last year’s gospel themed program in 2005 to jazz. Time for a Change features the multi-metered music of Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and the late Hank Levy. But Music City Legend is also planning ahead and has agreed to host the 2007 DCA South Championship on Saturday, August 4th, 2007. It will be the first time ever that the Nashville area has hosted such an event for “all-age” drum corps and the first time this “regional” contest will be held outside the Deep South.

The corps will host its third annual Family Day concert on Saturday evening, June 24th, at Goodpasture Christian Academy on Due West Avenue in Madison, starting at 7:30. The gates open at 6:00. The event serves as the final dress rehearsal for the corps prior to MCL’s first contest of the 2006 season the following night in Lexington, Kentucky. Admission to Saturday’s family-friendly Family Day concert is FREE. The public is also invited to watch the corps rehearse all day Saturday at Goodpasture Academy, starting at 10:00 AM. Additional information on Music City Legend can be found on their web site at www.musiccitylegend.org.