Musicman1084

I don't know how it would be possible to be simultaneously performing with two corps. I know of several instances the past decade or so when a member of a west coast touring corps would fill a hole for the rest of the season at a national touring corps once their season was over on the west coast. The Blue Stars managed to fill a tenor hole a few years back with a BDB member.

Not sure if it has been mentioned, but the Crossmen’s brass caption supervisor, Aaron Witek, has resigned.

Really happy to see Wes Pendergrass on the Crossmen staff announcement. I have really enjoyed his work and I'm excited to see what he brings to the drum corps field.

Oh ####, I definitely missed that update! Thank you.

Just throwing this out there … Tom Aungst is not currently arranging for drum corps (at least not to my knowledge) and obviously has history with the Blue Stars.

1. Change is Everything (2024) 2. The Garden of Love (2023) 3. Riffs and Revelations (2022) 4. Tilt (2014) 5. Down Side Up (2016) 6. Session 44 (2018) 7. Kinetic Noise (2015) 8. The Observer Effect (2025) 9. The Jagged Line (2017) 10. The Bluecoats (2019) 11. Lucy (2021) If I were to list out my favorite shows of all time (not just Bluecoats) 1-5 would take up a large amount of real estate towards the top.

Just saw the victory run on Youtube - they added the conquest shots in the final set while the guard was collapsing to the center!

On topic #1 - the award isn't for the overall visual caption. It's for visual proficiency only. There is no double dipping with the guard caption. On topic #2 - someone else already mentioned it, but most corps do submit information with phonetic spellings. People need to stop giving the man grace just because he's a legend and occasionally growls a certain corps' name. It's unprofessional, it messes with the timing and flow of shows, and it clearly affects the members based on the reactions we were seeing on the field. The bare minimum of reading through the sheet and preparing is clearly not happening. I saw an interview with Chuck Henson once where he talked through his preparation for BOA, showing us that he would read through and practice the script while troubleshooting drum major names while the prior corps was on the field. Brandt is clearly not doing that, especially given there was NO improvement in certain names all three nights. Hell, on the third night he completely dismissed a corps' director's name and said "anyway..." as he trailed off at the end. The irony of that one is that the director's name was "Bastante," as in "enough." At this point I can't help but feel that it's ego getting in the way, and it kills me to say that given what he has meant to the activity. Yes, he's a legend, he's an icon, but at this point he isn't the moment.

Possibly my favorite moment of the entire season. He did it in prelims and I wonder if the staff told him to not do it for semis, but I’m so glad he did tonight. That yell right at the impact point after a ridiculous three turn was a perfect depiction of just how hard they’ve worked and how badly they all want it.

I'm actually shaking right now. Had to get up and walk around for a bit after that show. The focus and energy was palpable. If there was ever a "rise to the occasion" performance, that was it.

Brandt, it’s not that hard, and you’ve had three tries this weekend! Bastante! It’s Bastante! As in, ENOUGH (fittingly).

And now I can’t wait to attend Philly’s performance of Mahler 5 next year. May can’t come soon enough!

Well, right now it’s a legitimate concern with Crown’s long setup white noise machine on full blast…

It took me most of the season, but I am loving that Mandarins show. One of my favorite endings of the year - love the reference back to the Billie Eilish piece. I'm enjoying this new "expect the unexpected" approach year-over-year with the Mandarins. The only slight letdown is the drumline, if I'm being honest. There was an awful lot of hype surrounding the change, but I'm not sure it has completely panned out like they were expecting. I'm not seeing as noticeable of a change as I'd hoped, and if anything, I don't think the drum tuning is particularly complimentary to the corps. The tenor sound is quite thin (and really, some of those scrape passages should have been watered long ago, because the rims are still very prevalent). This definitely feels like a multi-year development in progress.

Yep - last year was quite a retention killer. I'd find it very hard to believe we'll see the same level of departures after this product.