Whiskey

It made me cry. The music was such a vibe. At the end I looked aroud the room at family and friends and was overwhelmed with emotion and how beautiful life is, no matter what culture. A week later saw Gaga in PHX and shook her hand backstage in passing. I understood why my son loves her so much and we cried together at various times throughout the concert. Music can be a wonderful thing.

Living beyond your means will catch up eventually. Design teams/staff have their vision but it is the job of the directors and their boards to say no. I actually sit on a achool board and it is a tough job. This marching band "race" has moved even to the high school level. I am at awe of today's designs and creativity. Flower Mound HS (Texas) had a video last year where they took some of their staff to the Yayoi Kasuma exhibit in California. I mean if you have the means, great. At the same time, the levels these design teams think they can go on someone else's dime is disoncerting to me. We will always be an activity of have and have nots. Doesn't matter if we philosophically agree with this or not. The activiity is a microcosm of the world today. The activity can only look inward. If it is going to that at even the HS level, we will continue to see the trend what the marcing arts is evolving to today. Everyone wants to feel they're special, an artist, but it is still band at the end of the day. Follow social media and you see designer, instructors and judges are all friends with one another. It's not surprising when someone posted above about the judge's comments to staff during a critique. It's one big popularity club.

I attended the Albuquerque and Mesa shows at the beginning of the year. Felt like an off year for BD and SCV and a special year for the Cadets. Regiment was solid but not at the level as the top 2. BK was entertaining. The Cadet's show was already getting good cheers and feedback from the start. Although the spread was not too large yet between them and BD, you kind of knew Cadets would be in control at the end with their reputation of cleaning and making solid shows become special at the end. For me, I thought their biggest competition was the Cavaliers. I believe Cavaliers had solid shows the first time they all met that first week in Texas and later when they met again at some regional in the midwest. BD gave a run at the end and won some shows at the later part of the season but you just kind of knew the Cadets had that "it" factor.

Thank you for that clarification. He just ran so much of the day to day with John that it felt like he was the head. Forgot Wayne held that role and title even into the early 2000’s.

I don’t know why I pictured Fate/Death jamming out to Rach Star 2 a la Death in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.

Is this the first time a Brass Caption head has won a title with three different corps they lead? Congratulations to Gino and the brass staff!

Maybe BAC will move Townsend into the role. Kind of how Big Daddy Chandler’s role evolved with BD. And not that he’s doing a lot with the creative direction already. Great post about the Aimachi baton twirlers from him.

I like Spirit more than Colts. I hate Spirit airlines though, flew them once and yeah…never again.

Enjoying the show! Decided to come last minute. Solid performances all around. Just saw Dennis Delucia. Didn’t know he was on a cane. We all be getting up there.

Do they still do the light snacks up at the press box? Is it still true that the higher you donate the better sections you will get based on # of years donated? The special entry is helpful. Use to be a Friend for about 5 years but wasn’t worth the investment for me any longer.

Thank you, Chuck, for making us feel so good with the music you created.

I believe bgg80 was part of the old BD Forum. He's a true fan of the crew. Just about everything he spoke of, I concur with completely as well. Contrary to popular belief, BD alums and fans are pretty honest in their feedback of how a show is going for the year. It's just a different vibe of what I observe compared to other corps' fandoms and that is cool. Most also acknowledge greatness and there were so many positives exchanged about both BAC's show within the BD sphere. During the Cali tour there were a lot of FMM of BD, SCV and Mandies cheering on BAC quite unabashedly. There's alot of history with BAC and it is very respected throughout the activity. There is also some connections over the years with BAC and BD in terms of members and staff. One example is Gino being a BD and doing his thing out there on the east coast since 2000. That's why I kind of laugh of everyone trying to make BD and their fans feel bad or all the comments about the anti G7 coming full circle. Perhaps for fans that will make you feel good. Within the activity it's a small world and everyone knows everyone. Much of the negtive competivieness is driven by the fans. Corps are competitive too but at the end of the day, it's all just summer band. Look at all those smiling faces at Buc-ee's that the various corps and memebrs have been posting. Everyone, enjoy the rest of your summer!

I was at one of the shows they lost in ‘96. Cadets beat them at the DATR show by about a half point. That was the year SCV was like a full 5 points behind BD at the beginning of the year and they almost caught up at the end.