2014 Big, Loud & Live 11

[Caviecub]

2014 DCI Prelims – 8/7/2014

Corps placing 15th through 4th.

This is one of the more fun drum corps seasons I’ve seen in a long while. Looking forward to actually purchasing the Blu-ray and the CD’s this year.

Details below. Credits to Michael Boo and Megan Bonfield for capturing in words a few things I could not.

37 corps today! That’s a lot of bleacher butt! In Indianapolis, the games began at 10am with Patria – one of the first corps from Guatemala to attend the World Championships. Welcome to them! I wish more corps from the rest of the *world* had the resources to make it here.

Not able to be in Indy, I made it to the 2014 Big, Loud & Live cinema broadcast at the Regal 14 Theater in Germantown, MD. Note, they had the volume cranked up (Sqeee!) There were about 40 in the audience – far from a full theater. The broadcast began with the 15^th seeded corps and moved up from there.

Spirit of Atlanta - Atlanta, GA – “Magnolia”

“Promised Land” (from “Porgy and Bess”) by George Gershwin
“Willow Weep for Me” by Ann Ronell
“Jubal Step” by Wynton Marsalis
“I Need Thee Every Hour” by Annie Hawks and Robert Lowry

My take: It was like eating magnolia ice cream, dribbling down your chin a little, sitting in the muggy summer heat under a giant tree on a plantation. Entering the field to “Down to the River to Pray” was a great touch and set the mood.

Colts – Debuque, IA – “Dark Side of the Rainbow”

Selections from Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon,” Radiohead, and Raymond Scott
“Breathe”
“On the Run”
“Time”
“Powerhouse”
“The Great Gig in the Sky”
“Everything in its Right Place”
“Brain Damage”
“Eclipse”

The show takes place 10 years after Dorothy’s exit. The Scarecrow, now decked out in CEO suit and tie with just a couple bits of hay poking out, somehow assumed king status. The power went to his head, admitting to having killed the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. For shame! The core of the show displays his less than reputable handiwork. In the end he realizes his mistakes when Dorothy’s ruby slippers make an appearance. “I gained knowledge, but lost wisdom”. Things end with the old Scarecrow skipping off to the back corner of the field… once again in tattered hat and clothes stuffed with hay.

Of course I love Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album. It was great to hear those songs played well… including “The Great Gig in the Sky” with a corps member adding some of Clare Torry’s improvised vocals!

Troopers – Casper, WY – “A People’s House”

“A People’s House” by Robert W. Smith
“The Ramparts” by Clifton Williams
“A Distant Image” by Sandi and Paul Rennick
“Lincoln” by Robert W. Smith
“America the Beautiful” by Samuel A. Ward, arr. by Robert W. Smith

I did not have the pleasure of seeing this show before tonight. And they wowed me! Great show- a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, building from his quote: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." A notable surprise in the show is the corps forming the outline of Lincoln’s head, with the guard displaying flags that together show his face. Really neat! Lincoln’s iconic stovepipe hat is featured throughout. Tasteful narration by Mary Todd Lincoln did not get in the way of the show at all. Ended with America The Beautiful - I wanted to stand in end of show ovation, but the audience was still way too reserved for such a display. I at least gave a hushed clap, the first of any noise in the theater.

Crossmen – San Antonia, TX – “Alma Gitana: A Gypsy Soul”

“Bulgaria” by Peter Erskine
“Erghen Diado” by the Bulgarian Women’s Choir
“Emmanuel” by Michel Colombier
“Zambra” by Ojos de Brujo
“Habanera” from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, East Village Opera Company
“Caravan” by Juan Tizol, performed by Duke Ellington

Real gypsy covered wagons make up the backdrop. (That’s covered wagons typical of gypsies, not wagons covered with gypsies.) The corps uniforms and drum shells are beautifully adorned with deep Oriental rug patterns. Up close they are gorgeous!

Madison Scouts – Madison, WI – “Time Trip”

“Fanfare for the New” by Hugo Montenegro
“Fugue” from “Passacapglia and Fugue” by J.S. Bach, arranged by Allyn Ferguson
“Concerto End All Concertos” by Stan Kenton
“Bulgarian Bulge” by Don Ellis
“Star Children” by Don Ellis
“Open Wide” by Don Ellis
“Niner Two” by Don Ellis
“Final Analysis” by Don Ellis

Good old-fashioned Madison! Crisp, sharp, and entertaining! The show trips through time – beginning in a black and white era and ending in psychedelic colors of the 70’s. Interesting ending with the corps members wandering off the right end of the field in a nonchalant “ok I’m done now” look – with a nice rifle toss all the way across the field.

Blue Stars – LaCross, WI – “Where the Heart Is”

“The Chairman Dances” by John Adams
Original music by Richard Saucedo, Ian Grom and John Mapes
“Homeward Bound” by Paul Simon
“Home” by Drew Pearson and Greg Holden (made famous by Phillip Phillips)
“To Build a Home” by the Cinematic Orchestra

50^th Anniversary this year. The show is *heavy* on a theme about a couple moving into a new home. The entire corps is wearing moving overalls (they shed these later of course). The field is surrounded by panels forming a giant house, with rooms sectioned with blueprint diagram panels. They enter the field with tons of cardboard boxes and hand trucks – some carrying corps members wrapped in bubble wrap! That same bubble wrap turns out to be guard flags. The show progresses very cleverly with the guard depicting all sorts of classic moving-in images – unpacking boxes, putting the futon temporarily in the garage, flags that look like giant paint color swatches, moving the futon to the living room (with a cool rifle toss while flipping over the couch!). Note, the corps never marches over the walls – they only march through the doors and windows. Percussion shells are also decked with blueprints. I did not catch this, but others blogged: in the epilogue, the couple is moving out and a new one moves in. The corps ends up laying within all the walls – meaning you always leave a little bit of yourself behind. Really sweet and cleverly designed show!

Boston Crusaders – Boston, MA – “Animal Farm”

“The Battle on the Ice” from “Alexander Nevsky” by Sergei Prokofiev
“Polyushka Polye (O Field My Field”) from Symphony No. 4 in D Minor” by Lev Knipper
“Concert Românesc, Mvt. IV” by György Ligeti
“Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” by Samuel Barber
“Symphony No 11, Mvt. 2” by Dmitri Shostakovich
Original material by Ryan George, and Ellis Hampton

They say the show was meant to be a little… not disturbing, not awkward, not… something. Uncomfortable is the word the director uses. Guard is decked out with white masks, each of a different type of animal face – which turn bright red when the ‘pigs take over’. (Shamefully, I never had to read this in school, so that event was lost on me.) There’s a sinfully gorgeous mellophone solo in the middle of the show. It’s so melodic, and slow. But the gal puts *tons* of emotion into it. It is echoed a bit later in a trumpet voice. Drums seem to be a detail no corps misses this year – with Crusaders drum heads wearing the picture of a very weathered wood fence. Three windmill images appear in the show, in drill, and as a 20-foot tall human tower with guard member holding up two rifles in an “X”.

Phantom Regiment – Rockford, IL – “Swan Lake”

“Swan Lake” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
“La Peri” by Paul Dukas
“Dracula” by Philip Feeney
“King Kong” by James Newton Howard
“Flightplan” by James Newton Howard

Not meant to play the literal ballet music – they pull several pieces to set the story mood. Throughout the show the corps slowly transforms from beautiful white to menacing black – including the corps shedding their classic white coats and donning black hats reminiscent of roman guards. The end depicts the now evil black swan Oddette unable to seduce the prince. Per Michael Boo: “Odette and Siegfried choose to die together in the lake instead to be together forever. Their act of true devotion breaks the curse and their spirit lives on.” Once again, pure (good) drippy gorgeous Phantom show in every way.

Blue Knights – Denver, CO – “That One Second”

“A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics” (from “A Beautiful Mind”) by James Horner
“Brief Eternity” by Bobby McFerrin, Roger Treece and Don Rosler
“”Hand of Fate: Par 1” (from “Signs”) by James Newton Howard
“To Build a Home” by Swinscoe, Fance, Page, Watson and Smith (The Cinematic Orchestra)

Wow. Powerful show. It mesmerizingly flows through what the beautiful narrator describes as that last second before you die. Again, per Michael Boo: “From Kevin Spacey’s soliloquy: “I’ve always heard your entire life flashes before your eyes the second before you die.” “First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all, it stretches on forever.” There’s a big digital timer to the side of the field. It counts *up* from 1 second for the rest of the show. The female narrator talks about passing through life’s memories. From laying on the ground looking up at stars in the sky, to “…the yellow leaves from my favorite maple tree.” I apologize for quoting the live tweeting of others, but they seem to really capture some things I can’t seem to put into words. Another memory per Megan Bonfield: “’My grandmother's hands... and the way her skin seemed like paper’ - another screen is flipped over to reveal an image of hands clutching a wooden cane.” Ending with the quote: “And then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on. And then it flows through me like rain… and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment.” Honorable, reverent, and serene show. It all blended together so well! This is one of my favorite shows of the year. Oh yeah – drum shells in a beautiful golden wood with heavy wood grain – invoking the yellow leaves, and perhaps the wood from an old artesian handmade chair.

The Cavaliers – Rosemont, IL – “Immortal”

“Chamber Symphony, Opus 110” by Dmitri Shostakovich
“La Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saëns
“When I Am Laid in Earth” by Henry Purcell
“A Walk on the Water’ by Stephen Melilllo

Skipping past my early season reservations – The Cavies once again pulled off a strong showing, with that old Cavalier feeling throughout. Yes, a vampire theme. Guard dressed in antique very detailed blood red and deep purple velvet coats with old lace cuffs. Drum shells match the velvet details, and the drum heads show a menacing close-up of an eye, the face around the eye in black and white, the iris a fiery red-orange. One of the ovation-worthy parts of the show come from a percussion feature I bet you’ve never seen on the field. They roll out 5 marimbas in a circle (I guess that would be a pentagon), and 10 percussionists inside – 2 per keyboard. They rattle off mind-blowing riffs from Danse Macabre. First, each of the two players rotate on the marimba – one moving from the low end up to the high, then continuing. Then they change to revolve within the entire circle (pentagon!) playing on each successive marimba! It’s amazeballs how they keep all the notes going flawlessly while running around like that (crazy fast as put by Megan Bonfield.) That’s some hellacious keyboard work! I believe the souvenir booth is now selling a t-shirt of it. Another striking point is when the guard members reach for horn’s chest, pulling out a long black silk as if stealing their soul, the guy slumping back… lifeless. Really neat effect! A solo euphonium is also focused upon, his soul removed with a red silk. He regrets this to the happy tune (sarcasm) “When I Am Laid in Earth”. The in final push, the euphonium’s mortality is restored (I’m not sure exactly how, but it is), but at the cost of the souls of the rest of the entire corps – again with red silks yanked from their hearts. I admit – early season I cringed hearing of the corps theme. But they really pulled it off in a great show that stole my soul! (See what I did there?)

Carolina Crown – South Carolina – “Out Of This World”

“Space Oddity” by David Bowie
“Interstellar Suite” by Amin Bhatia
“Shadow Behind the Sun” by Evelyn Glennie
“Major Tom” by Peter Schilling
“No Place Like Home” by Michael Giacchino
“Perhelion – Closer to the Sun” by Philip Glass
“Vitae Aeternum” by Paul Lovett-Cooper

Defending World Champions. Again pulling out some unique “space pants” and a universe brimming with spacy props including – mufflers (used an eerie percussion feature), trampolines, and flying disks. Crown has some unbelievable horn riffs that sound perfect. At one point, the corps drops their horns to be replaced all with trumpets! 60 trumpets and 16 mellophones! 76 high brass! Can you believe it? The riffs were the same notes offset by 2 counts, they ripped across the field as if echoing across the lonely space. A ‘meteor shower’ percussion feature has the battery up front left playing on stationary silvery mufflers. They created a very high pitched tinny metallic sound that really painted a great picture. Trampolines invoke the feeling of weightlessness. Frisbies and colorful flying disks possibly represent UFOs, or other outer space phenomenon. Crown never plays stuffy, pretentious, inaccessible music. They always put on a fun show for the fans, and the fans alone. You go home recalling and excitedly discussing all the high points. This show continues that now ubiquitous tradition.

Santa Clara Vanguard – Santa Clara, CA – “Scheherazade: Words 2 Live By.”

“Scheherazade” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

The Persian glitz of this show reminds me of Star of Indiana’s “Roman Images” show in 1991. Succulent. Opulent. I’m pretty descriptive, aren’t I. The backfield is full of Arabian Nights-ish silver towers, temples, and parapets. The corps has white jackets, a rich burgundy draped sash, and gold epaulettes and tassels. The guard harem is decked out in fancy gold and beige Persian silks. The open male guard also begins with sultanish white robes with gold embellishments. And the gorgeous dark red drums with ornate gold details are drool-worthy. All the flags are opulent, rich, and colorful. The guard and corps make use of pedestals that look like fine pink, gold, and purple silk pillows. (Basically, lots of Arabian like silks.) This year is another take on their Scheherazade show in 2004. It tells three of the tales that kept the protagonist alive in the face of her husband’s penchant for killing his wives… Aladdin, Sinbad, and, I’m not exactly sure what the third story was. It’s difficult to describe the music. It’s just Scheheraade. If’ you’ve heard it, you know it. If you haven’t, well, it’s very… Arabic feeling – as much as a Russian composer can come up with at least. Like all the visual details, the music is rich and colorful. The show ended with a large circular silk under which the entire corps disappears under… a la their 1989 Phantom of the Opera show… with the protagonist popping up in the center to close the story book. Santa Clara took 1^st place in Percussion!

Bluecoats, Cadets, and Blue Devils coming...