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First chance to see DCA action live, and it was a great venue, good sound, good sized crowd, and tons of familiar faces.

of course if you want the She said, you have to get Drum Corps World's online magazine emailed to you. What I have in there will be a condensed version of this. I'm sure I'll make fans and enemies, I always do, and I know several around me thought the same thing and will probably post as well.

New addition....when you sit near me and we know a lot of our neighbors, a lot of great one liners emerge. I'll include them

Sunrisers................Western Fantasy, but a lot of people thought it was about art until the big reveal of the digitally printed painting. Very young corps, and there were some holes. Battery performance had some good moments and some not so good moments. thinning could help clairty.Especially in the beginning the huge guard made the corps come across as much larger. Well written perc intro leads to brass entering, and either the brass was tired or the drums were too loud...i think c) both. Also at times the body work got in the way of musical performance. time and reps can fix that. Highlight IMO was the ballad of Promise Of Living. I dug the bass drum stuff added in, but it needs to be softer. Cool stuff for the percussion in Billy the Kid, but dirty, and the horn re-entry never grew dynamically. have to be honest, 1st viewing, missed a lot of guard stuff.

Still...a god idea, and if it can be cleaned, a Sunday night show spot is possible. As I just watched Gold on the DCI Atlanta feed, it'll be interesting with them, Sun, Hurcs and Bush. Like i said before, it's very apparent how young they are. Now let's see how wise they get.

line of the night: "They should be A class......but they'd have to cut 20 guard"

Shenandoah Sound...................When you have a small corps, one of the key ideas for design should be to NOT spread the corps out all over the place. and while I think the performers have some musical material they can hit for their size, visually they are set up to fail. brass on one side, battery on the other so many times I lost count, and as a result the ensemble suffers. Also, at times, the battery book is way to thick for the performers and size of the brass line. I don't want to beat them up, I want them to do well...they had made such progress the last two years.....but.....

and...I know about the 35 rule. I guess that makes it ok for 3 people to stand there in the pit for 3 songs literally doing nothing. Look, I know you want o have a corps f legal size, but get bodies out there doing more than standing there

I do like the idea of the brass starting out on or near or against the chorus risers in the beginning of the show. Some really nice soprano and mello solo work. battery had a coupld of nice moments. guard is staged well.

line of the night: "well, someone had to come in last"

Bushwackers..."We Are". I love all of the nods to Bush past in the show musically, visually and with the backdrops. Made me forget I used to hate losing to them LOL. Who in drum corps starts a tune with a cymbal feature? Bush. In fact the lids are one of the highlights of the program. A very active and musical book. Loved the ballad with the brass and xylo, and the playing coming from behind the backdrops. cool staging in the last drum break to remove the brass from the stage and allow the percussion and guard to shine. Battery does have some cleanliness issues, some of it due to feet issues. brass had some stamina issues at the end.

Easily the best Bush has been since what, 07? 08? Fill in the holes, clean, and hey, in a few places subtraction can actually be an addition. Opened up a spread on Sun tonight which has to have the corps feeling good about themselves.

line of the night: " best they have been in years. still hate them". LOL old competitive wounds never die

White Sabers.....................ladies and gents, this corps is the real ####### deal. nd i'll finish this later

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As usual... great stuff, Jeff!!! :thumbup:

Sun changed their theme just before the season began to "A Painter's Canvas."

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Great so far Jeff!

and...I know about the 35 rule. I guess that makes it ok for 3 people to stand there in the pit for 3 songs literally doing nothing. Look, I know you want o have a corps f legal size, but get bodies out there doing more than standing there

:thumbdown:

Reminds me of a corps last year that would just take any parent or sibling that was around and put them in a pit. The pit was practically bigger then the other sections combined it seemed.

Edited by Kyle B
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As usual... great stuff, Jeff!!! thumbup.gif

Sun changed their theme just before the season began to "A Painter's Canvas."

didn't catch that last night or on here. sorry

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White Sabers.....

yeah they are the real deal. The clincher for me was the attention to dynamic shaping and layering early on...by brass and percussion. The last few years I've kinda been on them about overwriting the drum book...not this year. musical and still gets its licks in. Some cleanliness issues yeah, but it's July. Opening statement with the guard on the purple flags made the corps look huge. I do feel the chant section in that perc break needs to be fleshed out more performance wise by the chanters...sell it guys! Then...the ballad mashup of Largo and Dancer in The Dark....genius. The Carolina Blue flags used by the guard work so well there. After the ballad, some stamina issues, but that's maybe 20 horns out there. Give em time. Mello solo to set up the famous hit was spot on, but the tympani roll was way too choppy. Smooth out the hand speed!

Easily the best they have ever been, and IMO, they could set the Class A scoring record easily.

Line of the night: " so that's where former Brigs members went after they learned to do more than 8 to 5"

INT...kinda long. no one paid attention to the kids trying to kick field goals

Then the show within a show

this is what I said when MBI came in in 2011:

IMO, the show is there. It needs cleaned, refined, tweaked, and cleaned some more. Having never seen them live this early, I'm told they do their best work in August. Well, it's August, so now is the time.

yep.....and the spread is even closer this time. opening bass 32nd run with August DCi qulaity lets you know percussion is for real. So cool the many takes and twists on Mighty Fortress...and hey, Minnesota is better suited than anyone to have fun with the Lutheran National Anthem( easy folks...i'm Lutheran too, and my father in law retires from Lutheran Ministry next week after 36 years. He's the one who taught me to call it that). Fire Dance, Sabre Dance, Estanica all well done...I got so wrapped up watching my notes are thin. When the big drum goes out in the field and the snares shed their uni tops, you know it's getting trinbal, and the body suits they wear are very cleverly designed. I do think they need screens up front to help block the view away from others changing. Some gas issues after the last drum break....but they always do their best work in August, so who knows. Can they catch Bucs? It's possible. Spread was larger in 11. This show may not be one for the average older DCA fan on paper, but if they perform...

line of the night: " well they took Bucs best gimmicks from 06-12 and rolled into one show"

and the retort " Well then if they win, that'll be even funnier"

Edited by Jeff Ream
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Cadets2......young corps obviously, and if I have a concern, it's that I think the drill for the brass is too hard for a weekend schedule. Still some unfinished guard stuff too. Opening statement nice...can imagine once horn holes filld ( and there were a bunch) a lot of power is yet to come. End of the Day similar to 89 in many ways, but thats ok! Slo Mo drill also a nice homage to 89. On My Own was very expressive, but I felt the impact lacked what it could...part stamina, part holes. A really cool new and fresh take on Rue Plummet, even more percussively aggressive than 89..and possibly SCV this year. Ending did seem a touch abrupt. And the closer, with thw two tunes going on at the same time...even recognized a few drill moves from 89...felt a touch uneasy and you could hear some tired horses, but they didn't quit. Loved the Z-pull.

Clean,clean, clean, and add bodies, and I think Cabs and Empire could be worried.

Line of the night: "their director paces the sideline too. Did George make him learn that?" ( Sorry Rich. It was funny at the time)

Bucs.............Higher, faster, Stronger...and maybe catchable. very musical percussion opening as corps does body, and then the slow tease build....it's almost like "come on, get it over with!"...but when they do, you know it. The corps seemed very aggressive last night, and a few times the music felt uneasy as a result. Love the stuff with the ladders, especially the mellos all have been raving about. the battery groove/tuba feature was tough to figure out who the lead line was....battery may have been a touch hot volume wise. Very cool moment in the ballad with the brass upfront on side 1 working against the percussion going backfield on side 2.....loved the backfield solo stuff leading into Bachanale....especially whe the corps turns from playing backfield and charges to the front. Some stamina at the end, but still, another solid book. cleaning is the game. Again, I got so focused watching my notes are thin.

Line of the night: "if a judge had them down, they #### well better be able to explain it".

And there you go. Won't see any DCA live til Reading, so it'll be interesting. many subplots afoot this year, and i'm pretty sure no corps is locked into any position yet. Amy Snook and crew, awesome job yet again...see you at Exeter Twp!

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Thank you, Jeff. Downingtown West Band Director, Ed Otto, my co-chair, is a blast to work with. His parents and band members were a huge help. The community gets behind the show, too, not to mention the High School Principal, three weeks on the job and already a big fan (he presented one of the awards).

Can't tell you how awesome it was to have seven corps rehearsing on the campus. All fields were able to be walked to on the track that wound its way between and around them.

Thanks to everyone who attended. It was an honor to have Gil Silva and Red Corso make the trek from up north.

Thank you to those of you who bought your tickets early. It saves the chairmen the heart attack of sweating out the gate. You can imagine the expense of bringing corps in, especially from several states away. It's good to know before show day that your bills are all but paid. I'm sure there are plenty of suggestions for our committee. We try to tweak things every year to make it better based on what we observe. We're already talking about next year's show and have a few new irons in the fire. Hope to see you all back in 2014.

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Great job, Amy. And kudos to the Downingtown parents--smiling faces all over the place! Possibly the best food concession we see all year.

Got to meet some of the "enemy" fans from Minnesota--what a classy group of people. We appreciate the 22 hour journey to show us their program. The trip had to be a killer.

Nothing makes sport or the DCA activity stronger than good competition. Here's wishing the MBI family all the luck (well, ALMOST all the luck) in their endeavors this year. See you in Annapolis.

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Great job, Amy. And kudos to the Downingtown parents--smiling faces all over the place! Possibly the best food concession we see all year.

Got to meet some of the "enemy" fans from Minnesota--what a classy group of people. We appreciate the 22 hour journey to show us their program. The trip had to be a killer.

Nothing makes sport or the DCA activity stronger than good competition. Here's wishing the MBI family all the luck (well, ALMOST all the luck) in their endeavors this year. See you in Annapolis.

It was a loooong bus ride, especially the one home. But it was well worth it. What a great venue for a DCA show and the atmosphere around the school was electric with several corps in residence and then rehearsing. It seemed more intense in that regard than DCA Championships. What a great experience for any rookies in the corps to experience before heading into finals.

Thanks to everyone who attended the show. I’m confident we would have left everything on the field regardless of the attendance, but it sure was great after a long bus ride and rehearsal schedule to finally make the turn into the stadium and see such a nice attendance. And, the crowd enthusiasm was definitely appreciated.

Finally, thanks to all who worked on putting this show together. You were wonderful hosts and it was a real treat to be able to share a moment with the Buccaneers on Friday night. What a fantastic organization and I really enjoyed the performance Friday night. I only got to watch a small snippet of the field show as the Bucc’s wrapped up rehearsal with their closer. One of the regrets of performing is that you can’t watch the show live and have to wait until the DVD to see the program. But it sure looked exciting from the endzone! I wish there could have been more time for the members to mingle, but it was late and there was work to be done. But the few people I was able to meet and chat with were great.

Drum corps is a great community and the bond between all performers is something that is hard to describe. I know, I've been trying unsuccessfully to explain it to my wife for years. She still can't understand why I would subject my aging body to such abuse as a long bus ride to the east coast. But, she's never been standing on the starting line waiting to perform a program into which you've invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears together with a group of people that in many respects may be closer than most blood relationship families. You don't even need to say anything to one another, just look into each others eyes as you prepare to enter the field and it is almost like reading minds. You just can't explain some things in words.

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I forgot to mention...late Friday night, I won't mention names, but I saw some Bucs staffers in a video pushing MNI's big drum and laughing.....a nice prank between friendly rivals. I'd love to hear how MBI took it when they saw it missing

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