hostrauser

Bingo bango bongo. I've always been that guy to create a mess, so let me do it one more time. Yes, copyright laws are complicated. They are also not something that sprang out of the ether yesterday. If my memory serves, DCI/Phantom Regiment couldn't get audio reproduction rights for the Loris Tjeknavorian "Dance of Ecstasy" segment of the 2008 Spartacus show, and that segment was cut out of the final CD presses and VHS/DVD releases. This is almost a 20-year issue DCI has been dealing with and, this might be a surprising opinion, but I think they got pretty darn good at it. No, the problem here is the corps. More specifically: the show designs. My understanding is that, as the legal entity that was producing these audio files for reproduction and sale, it was DCI's responsibility to get the audio reproduction rights for every song for every corps. And now we have "progressed" to the point where musical show design is all about crafting 30-second impact statements, so you have eight or ten or fifteen musical snippets per show, multiplied by 25+ corps... the amount of money and labor hours spent obtaining all of those rights had to have become astronomical. I would bet a very small amount of money (hey, I'm not Elon Musk) that the sound editing and production costs paled in comparison. It just seems impossible to me that the audio production costs (which I know more about than copyright law, admittedly) could be so high by themselves as to not make this a feasible product. DCI made it very clear that this was a bottom line decision: corps can still go through all of those steps if they choose (and, since many corps run in the red or very minorly in the black, I'm guessing most corps WON'T), but it's entirely on them now. DCI was just losing too much money on this. Look, I'm not going to doomsay this is another nail in the coffin of DCI. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but either way the world is a much different place now than it was in the early 90s, when many peoples' introduction to DCI was through PBS or VHS or audio recordings. But it was those very audio and video recordings that carried many of us through the offseason. That kept our interest in the activity high. That helped get us excited for what the next year would bring. Who knows, maybe DCI will keep trucking along and this will be barely a speed bump. But as someone who has purchased EVERY finals audio package from 1992-present, I'm both very sad and thoroughly annoyed.

From Jack Borland on Facebook: After initially accepting the position of visual caption head at Colts again for the 2026 season, some unfortunate truths have come to light in recent days and I have made the difficult decision to resign. I am very grateful for so much of what working with the Colts brought into my life the past six years. I had the privilege of working with who I believe are the most talented visual instructors in DCI. But mostly, I want to express my deepest and most sincere thanks to the performers. Working with all of you, watching you perform, hanging medals around your necks—just getting to watch you grow and find new levels of achievement for yourselves…I feel so incredibly fortunate to have been able to play any part in hopefully providing you the best possible experience. Thank you.

July 14th, 1995: Moonlight Classic at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA

Fly or Die is absolutely insane

They played through it. I can remember one time in the early-90s (94 in Boston?) where the Madison Scouts practically had to swim their drill because the skies just unleashed during their performance.

It did, but in addition to the lawsuits facing YEA, band directors on the Atlantic seaboard were getting really fed up with the way USBands was being run (a lot had to do with scheduling and last-minute, poorly communicated changes from the stories I have heard first-hand). The NESBA gained more bands in Massachusetts, a group of band directors in Maryland started up their own circuit (MMBA) to get away from USBands, and I believe Cavalcade picked up some groups, too. I think USBands has started to recover under the Blue Devils' leadership, but damage was definitely done to the circuit's reputation.

Somebody get the Bot Spray

They aren't the first. Vanguard went last year. I'm still in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode for their return in 2024.

DCI is broken. How much more proof do the powers that be in Indianapolis need? Two DCI champion legacy corps in two years.

Thank you, this is exactly what I was trying to communicate. My argument is not that "there is no creativity in drum corps any more." My argument is that "wild" shows (like Bluecoats this season) cannot and will not ever win in the current system.

Heh, I realize now there is a potential confusing contradiction in my story: I claim to have not participated as a spectator in the 2023 DCI season yet I reference 2023 shows. Clarification: I watched the Finals performances of the three medalists on The Site That Shall Not Be Named. This is the first year in over 30 that I have not spent any money supporting DCI.

2023 was the first time in over 30 years that I was not a DCI spectator in any way, shape, or form. I didn't go to any shows. I didn't go to Big, Loud, Live in the theater. And I didn't purchase video performances (live streams now, replacing the DVDs and VHS tapes of yore). Because the drum corps atmosphere--not the corps themselves, but the overall drum corps environment--has gotten truly, stiflingly... Boring. 1992 was the year I was introduced to DCI. 1993 was the year I became a super-fan. I think I still have those 1993 tapes memorized. In 1993, the build-up style of judging was only about a decade old. I remember the interviews with Jeff Fiedler and Gene Monterastelli on those tapes, and Monterastelli in particular pointing out the big flaw of the tick system: it was beating down corps trying new things in favor of corps who weren't doing as much stuff but were doing it cleaner. And it really did lead to a revolution in drum corps design. From 1988 to 1992, five years, there were five different champions with five different and distinct styles. And 1993 promised to continue that trend: Cadets, Star of Indiana, and Phantom put out three fantastic drum corps shows that were completely and totally different from one another. It was an exciting era. It was partly because you didn't know who was going to win from year to year, but even more so because you didn't know HOW that corps was going to get to the top. The Blue Devils won in 1994, 1996, and 1997 with three entirely different show designs. Ah, the Blue Devils. So much dislike of that corps and resentment of their recent success from the peanut gallery. To hear some people talk, the Blue Devils are everything that is wrong with modern drum corps. And that's KINDA right, but probably not in the way you'd expect. The 2005 Blue Devils changed drum corps probably even more than 1993 Star of Indiana did, though it's not recognized as such. After that lackluster season (by their standards), the Blue Devils changed. The Blue Devils have the smartest design staff in DCI, have for a long time. 2005 made them re-evaluate everything they did in show design, whether it was a conscious decision or a subconscious recognition of reality, I do not know. But the Blue Devils were the first, the fastest, and the best at recognizing what DCI judges do and do not want, and they simply trimmed everything outside of that from their shows going forward. They found the one major, hard and fast rule of modern DCI judging and had it pretty much locked in by 2007. They've finished 1st or 2nd (by tiny margins) every year since. What is this magic rule that the Blue Devils learned over 15 years ago, that other corps either haven't figured out or refuse to abide by? Simple: THERE IS NO EXTRA CREDIT IN DRUM CORPS. There's no extra credit! Don't do anything you can get away with not doing if you want to score well. Judges want variety of demand and cleanliness, the Blue Devils provide that in spades every season (it's usually the SAME variety of demand... but I get ahead of myself. More on that in a moment). Anything beyond that, difficulty for difficulty's sake, is just going to drag your score down unless you can get it as clean as the Blue Devils. Which, let's face it, you probably can't. Look at 2023. The Bluecoats had, in this idiot's opinion, a lot more visual difficulty in their show. But the Blue Devils were LOADS cleaner. The miniscule spacing and timing problems that popped up here and there in the Bluecoats' show simply weren't present in the Blue Devils' show. And, of course, the Blue Devils guard was near flawless. I think corps feel the need to try to do MORE than the Blue Devils to beat them, but I think it's the exact opposite. They need to do LESS, and make it CLEANER. The Build-Up judging system has fallen into the same pitfall the old Tick system had: it is beating down corps trying new things in favor of corps who aren't doing as much stuff but were doing it cleaner. Full circle. Now, this next sentence will probably surprise you, so I hope you are sitting down. I love the Blue Devils. Seriously. 1994 Blue Devils remains one of my Top 5 shows of all time. I CHOSE to audition for the Blue Devils over any other corps (back when I had that youthful naivete that hid from me just how awful of a visual performer I was). And I love the Blue Devils design concepts. I just wish it weren't pretty much the same thing, year after year after year. The same staging concepts. The same visual elements. The Blue Devils are a truly awesome sports car, but all they do is change the paint job each year. Because they know (consciously or subconsciously) they can't do much else without getting hammered for it. Who's to blame? The Blue Devils? DCI judges? I feel it's kind of a chicken and the egg situation. On one hand, the Blue Devils have heavily influenced the course of DCI judging. On the other hand, many of their design features became mainstays solely due to positive reinforcement from the judges. I would absolutely LOVE to see what the Blue Devils staff would come up with if the judging system gave any signs at all that something different would be acceptable. Even the most recent non-BD champions (2018 Vanguard and 2016 Bluecoats) have strong Blue Devils influence on their design styles. And that's why 1993 and the years surrounding it remain such a fond memory for me. Sure, those G bugles sounded dreadful, and even the top corps made performance fracks that you wouldn't see or hear in ANY finalist corps today. But year after year after year you not only had no idea who was going to win, you had no idea HOW they were going to win. Cadets' style? Star of Indiana's style? Phantom's style? Blue Devils' style? But today, there is only one winning style: the Blue Devils' style. All other styles have been judged and found wanting. Everyone is trapped. Even the Blue Devils. And that makes drum corps boring. ************** "It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." --Maurice Switzer "Hold my beer." --Hostrauser

I liked this show a whole lot more than I expected to. Quick question, though: who provided the voiceover/narration for this show? He sounds EXACTLY like Clavicus Vile from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (voiced by Stephen Russell).

Blue Devils better than everyone else? Sure, I buy that. Blue Devils nearly a point and a half better than everyone else? Naaaah.

This song just SCREAMS "Blue Devils" to me, especially the horn riffs (uh, horn patch riffs) (first heard at 1:08). "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" -- Harry Styles (yes, the video is a bit weird) Now this one I can see any number of corps doing. This song is a whole groove. "Cynical" - Emei