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The Bushwackers were next, and I think the corps felt more comfortable with the opening section of the program than they did at Chester, and it made a real difference as to the overall feel of the program.

The "Blowin' in the Wind" segment is starting to become a very meaningful moment for the show, and I think could be a really memorable moment for fans if they keep up the good work on improving.

Some tasty bari solo and lead bari moments were evident, and the show's taking a nice shape. With more confidence and everyone making a contribution to the brass ensemble show for the whole run, I think Bush will have a strong second half to their season and get even more of the crowd with them.

Fusion's run had some really refreshing sound to it this week. great harmonies, fine deep playing. Tempos were pushed a bit harder, and they had the crowd really involved and excited with their performance. I really, really appreciated their run at the Grand Prix, and I think it sent a positive message. Fusion never makes excuses for anything that might go against them, they make good. They go out there with who they have, find the right people, bring them into their family, have the right educators involved to 'teach up' the performers that make sure everyone understand exactly what is needed to make things happen, and they make it all come together into a program that's a real treat. I did get a pin for the hat. Now, I need some purple to wear. And for me to say I need some purple to wear.... quote me on it. Besides Grape Juice, Fusion Core is about the only thing I like that's purple.

Hmm, Maybe the old Ford "Honker" Can-Am race car, but I digress.

C2 was next. I know I called out the brass, and some of them did get out there and put air into the tube this week, but not enough. I know some of them are trying to carry the mid and especially the low brass and drag them along kicking and screaming, but 4 people can't do it alone.

The upper brass appears to be getting revved up, and I'm not sure of some of the brass book was tweaked a bit from the week before.

The Front Ensemble had a fine run and the Tubas were much improved from Chester, but still need to work on their focus. Overall, a better performance from Chester, now, they need to keep developing their stamina and have enough gas in the tank for Ballet Sacra so they can drive the program home. They have the pieces for a solid program. I'll be curious to see how they can get the program tightened up at Downingtown.

Dinner break. Bucs, Cabs, CV, and Cabs Alumni, next.

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The next performers were the Bucs (13FE/2DM/22? CG/10? Battery/58 brass) with their high-energy "Break On Through" program, which features a juxtaposition of the first movement of Shostakovitch's first movement of the 4th Ballet Suite (opening of the '96 Phantom show for those who are unfamiliar with the actual title) and the Doors' "Break on Through".

One of the first things that pop out at you with this program is the physicality of the guard. The unison fives are pretty impressive, and they really pushed hard in this performance.

The low brass solo work was bariliscious, and very much appreciated.

The brass book is very subtle, clever, and well crafted, with the two seemingly opposite themes working in concert with each other, and using the front of the field as a plane with which elements of the corps 'break through' for features as the program unwinds. There's a lot of musical style changes, and the corps for this point in the season handles those very well.

The percussion battery really pushed and shone that night, their features a real highlight of their program.

Down low, the show came across really well, and it felt like the "Boom went the Dynamite" moment to that point of the night.

There were issues, yes. Some of the polychords didn't lock up as well as they needed to. Part of that is that some individuals tend to be scared off by close harmony and serious dissonance. The staging has been discussed a lot on DCP, and I have to think the distance lost by backing up the Front Ensemble onto the field and leaving that area open isn't severe enough to be as much of an issue once the brass opens up and really starts to tackle the program more aggressively.

I think the technical issues with the program have been very fairly touched upon in other threads. It's still a bit early in the season, and there is time to work out a lot of those tech-nuts-and-bolts problems. The Bucs staff and members have never been averse to working hard to clean and improve program.

It was a pretty solid run for mid-July from my perspective. My thought was how the Cabs were going to top it, knowing they were close at Wildwood. I've been thinking deeply about how the Bucs and Cabs relate and I'll get more into some of the things I've been thinking about later in the review regarding that relationship. It's been in part why this has taken so long. There's come pretty subtle and complex things in motion right now, and I want to make sure I explain them as best I can and as fairly as I can.

Edited by BigW
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btw W I tried to message you earlier but it said I couldn't...it was about your call yesterday

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btw W I tried to message you earlier but it said I couldn't...it was about your call yesterday

Thanks- will get back to you ASAP tomorrow AM. Hopefully, I'm not in trouble. :satisfied:

Need to have 2 tires looked at at Noon, one down, ran over someone's lumber yard they dumped on the South bridge Saturday morning. Exciting stuff trying to figure out what to hit that would cause less damage. :wacko: Call yah when i get up.

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The next corps was Atlanta CV(11 FE/2 DM/ 18 Battery/18? CG/46? brass), whom I still think of as CorpsVets. :exclamation: I still remember them at Hershey in one of their first seasons, and they've always left a good impression on me when I've seen them live ever since.

I inwardly winced when I realized they were following the Bucs- a real challenge for any group. I figured the Cabs wanted that spot badly as well as the Bucs, to get that direct back-to back read. A tough draw in the contest combined with making the Kessel run in 5 parsecs to Jersey from Hotlanta and prolly rehearsing all day in Tatooine (somewhere near Matawan if my memory serves me right), those are the kinds of things that will define a corps. Would CV snack on danger, dine on death, or flinch?

I took a good look at faces in the corps as they set up on the field, looking closely at body language. Everyone looked ready and eager to perform. No burned out deer in the headlights faces from too long in the bus and too hard a rehearsal. No sagging shoulders. I sought out Dan from my vantage point and saw the smile, his composure, he was definitely the arrow ready to be shot from the bow. I knew this would be an honest best effort and a very good one from the corps.

I was ready to see the 'Hexed' presentation, and it kicked off very well. A rich Lower Brass sound, good control from the ensemble, exciting guard tosses, great solo mello work, things developed quickly.

Just to remind everyone I try not to do all Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash drinking Apple Jack's fresh cider with Pinkie Pie, yes, there were some performance issues, but for this point in the season, it was pretty daggone good. Some tweaking, they'll have it down. I didn't find anything wrong brass-wise that I thought would require crazy amounts of rehearsal time and bottles of Advil for the staff to fix the issues. :satisfied:

The one thing that really came across early was this- it's obvious the CV creative staff sat down and really thought about what they needed to do to push their corps to 'the next level' in all aspects of the activity, and in that way, it's definitely succeeding.

The brass really has a good feel for what each section's doing and shows it's capable of some really subtle harmonic and dynamic layering. The costume changes showing the corps becoming affected by the witch is subtle and quick, and the music takes a more primal and savage turn as the show progresses.

The guard's personality and costuming also help to press home the story and they add weight and impact to the total program.

The simmer blows through to a boil to the end, and I felt it was quite a fine performance for the corps. The I's need dotted, the t's need crossed, and the corps has a very legit crack at the top 5 if they can continue their momentum.

The only real concern was the "Consumatum est Victrix est Venifica" chant- audibility is a bit confuzzled, and there needs to be something done to help the crowd relate more to the fact the witch has emerged victorious. I have a feeling the thought at CV is, "What do we gotta go, whack everyone over the head with a ball bat that the witch won, you goof?" Maybe! Something needs to be done to really make that finality really jarring,riveting, and chilling, get the crowd to flinch. For example, in 'The Watchmen', you realize the villain's won. GAH! :wow: If that impact and message can be made to work better, it'll really cement the finish to this show in an much-improved way.

I'll get this done later today if I can. Much on my plate before work. Got to get the rass-frattle snazzin tire fixed before work. After reading the one thread where some apparently crazy person appears to want Adcock in a pair of kick pleats, I feel the need to try and talk some sense on a couple of issues at the end of this review. Some people are going crazy, and this is ME saying this! :satisfied:

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Thanks so much for the review BigW. Very fair evaluation I think. Gotta get over the CorpsVets thing though. ;)

So, tell me, if you were looking for me how come you didn't come introduce yourself? Got to meet Fred Windish from DCP. Great to see him. Come say hi next time! Just to clarify, as I know trying to count numbers in the middle of a live performance while taking notes on the show is near impossible, we have 12 Front Ensemble, 18 Battery, 36 Guard (37 with our witch), and 54 Horns...oh yeah, and Marvin and I, that are too old to do anything but stand on a podium and flap our arms!

As I am sure is the case with all the corps, we are addressing all of the concerns you mentioned. What we were able to put out there in New Jersey was a good solid skeleton of a show. Next time you see us I doubt the show will look much like what you saw in Wayne. So very excited about how the show is evolving and progressing. We wanted to come out of that trip with people legitimately considering us in the mix and I think we accomplished that.

Gonna be a great run to Rochester! Two performances this weekend...lots of adding and defining over the next several weeks...our home show...more adding and defining...then the push into finals. In my three years with the corps the organization has gotten better and stronger each year. We are so proud of what we have accomplished as an organization both on and off the field over that time, and we aren't satisfied yet. Not by a long shot.

Everybody have a great last month and bring your best. As I have said before in other places, that is truly what it is going to take this year. What a fabulous place to be for DCA, especially on its 50 anniversary!'

Thanks again BigW for the review. I look forward to seeing what you have to say come Labor Day weekend.

Dan

Edited by Dan Detweiler
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I was looking for you as the corps entered the field while I was in the stands. :satisfied: No way was I gonna bother anyone getting ready for a show that important! I know from experience- watching body language and faces before a performance can give away a lot about what's going to happen. Been on the field or on stage enough, and seen enough shows to get a pretty good read on that sort of thing when I'm low enough.

Fran will get a laugh out of this, I'm sure. A 'drum corps CV' to many of us in the NE here would mean CV-43, the USS Coral Sea, which was the ship Moe Knox served on as a young man. :cool: The good news for the corps is I think other than Fred Windish and I most people don't remember, or figured the title change out quickly. :satisfied:

As the corps got larger later in the evening, it was harder to get accurate counts, so thanks for the update there as well. I know from experience, 54 horns is a good, good size if everyone on board does exactly what's asked of them, and from the way they sound, they are. :biggrin:

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The next corps was Atlanta CV(11 FE/2 DM/ 18 Battery/18? CG/46? brass), whom I still think of as CorpsVets. :exclamation: I still remember them at Hershey in one of their first seasons, and they've always left a good impression on me when I've seen them live ever since.

I inwardly winced when I realized they were following the Bucs- a real challenge for any group. I figured the Cabs wanted that spot badly as well as the Bucs, to get that direct back-to back read. A tough draw in the contest combined with making the Kessel run in 5 parsecs to Jersey from Hotlanta and prolly rehearsing all day in Tatooine (somewhere near Matawan if my memory serves me right), those are the kinds of things that will define a corps. Would CV snack on danger, dine on death, or flinch?

I took a good look at faces in the corps as they set up on the field, looking closely at body language. Everyone looked ready and eager to perform. No burned out deer in the headlights faces from too long in the bus and too hard a rehearsal. No sagging shoulders. I sought out Dan from my vantage point and saw the smile, his composure, he was definitely the arrow ready to be shot from the bow. I knew this would be an honest best effort and a very good one from the corps.

I was ready to see the 'Hexed' presentation, and it kicked off very well. A rich Lower Brass sound, good control from the ensemble, exciting guard tosses, great solo mello work, things developed quickly.

Just to remind everyone I try not to do all Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash drinking Apple Jack's fresh cider with Pinkie Pie, yes, there were some performance issues, but for this point in the season, it was pretty daggone good. Some tweaking, they'll have it down. I didn't find anything wrong brass-wise that I thought would require crazy amounts of rehearsal time and bottles of Advil for the staff to fix the issues. :satisfied:

The one thing that really came across early was this- it's obvious the CV creative staff sat down and really thought about what they needed to do to push their corps to 'the next level' in all aspects of the activity, and in that way, it's definitely succeeding.

The brass really has a good feel for what each section's doing and shows it's capable of some really subtle harmonic and dynamic layering. The costume changes showing the corps becoming affected by the witch is subtle and quick, and the music takes a more primal and savage turn as the show progresses.

The guard's personality and costuming also help to press home the story and they add weight and impact to the total program.

The simmer blows through to a boil to the end, and I felt it was quite a fine performance for the corps. The I's need dotted, the t's need crossed, and the corps has a very legit crack at the top 5 if they can continue their momentum.

The only real concern was the "Consumatum est Victrix est Venifica" chant- audibility is a bit confuzzled, and there needs to be something done to help the crowd relate more to the fact the witch has emerged victorious. I have a feeling the thought at CV is, "What do we gotta go, whack everyone over the head with a ball bat that the witch won, you goof?" Maybe! Something needs to be done to really make that finality really jarring,riveting, and chilling, get the crowd to flinch. For example, in 'The Watchmen', you realize the villain's won. GAH! :wow: If that impact and message can be made to work better, it'll really cement the finish to this show in an much-improved way.

I'll get this done later today if I can. Much on my plate before work. Got to get the rass-frattle snazzin tire fixed before work. After reading the one thread where some apparently crazy person appears to want Adcock in a pair of kick pleats, I feel the need to try and talk some sense on a couple of issues at the end of this review. Some people are going crazy, and this is ME saying this! :satisfied:

good lord you got Star Wars and Road Warriors references in the same paragraph!

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Soooooooo messing around with the new laptop last night as TV sucked as usual. So we hook it to the TV and check out the DCA FN. Watched 1975 Rocheter Phoenix before Kris came out as old video quality bothers her eyes. (I'm so used to old audio/video clips that crappy film quality comes with the territory.) Then we looked around and see 2014..... wait a minute..... 2014!!!! Grand Prix. Watched competing Cabs and da Bananas before had to do other things.

Will have to watch the rest sometime after reading the reviews.... thanks Dub... Doing Drum Corps at home beats not being able to watch it at all......

PS Also watched 2005 Renegades as great memories having Rich Sennett sitting next to us at Finals during their show. "Oh man.. this is nuts... I love Drum Corps" repeat few times. Show on the field and show in the stands next to us......

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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