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Many will remember this unit from their exhibition at Allentown's DCI weekend. Now they are heading to "The Barn" where the Islanders NHL team called home and will return again next year. Home of World Champions, just like these kids are champions in their own right. https://www.newsday.com/news/special-needs-drum-corps-set-to-play-nassau-coliseum-1.16506564

I marched the first three years of Spirit of Atlanta, but my favorite year was our second year, 1978. We had finished in 23rd place at 1977 finals in Denver, so no one was expecting much out of our sophomore effort, despite having a lot of returnees from a year of almost all rookies. Jim Ott began telling us in the spring of 1978 that we had something special, but his words really didn't click with us until we got to the second show of tour, in Cedarburg, Wisc. That night, the crowd was electric, and we began to feed off the crowd's reaction to our still very-new corps from the South. The audience shot to their feet when we hit the company front in Let It Be Me, and remained standing for the rest of the show. It was pretty much like that the rest of the season, which was so much fun because NO one was expecting the sound that Jim Ott coaxed from us. We ended up the year in 6th place, missing the high horns trophy (which would later be named for Jim) by a mere .05. Not too shabby considering that only two of the horn players had ever even held a bugle before our first rehearsal for the previous season.

Excellent appraisal.

We enjoy hosting and it makes for a great educational experience for our students at the beginning of the marching band season. We make sure the ensemble rehearsal in the evening is free and open to the public. We even let the corps set up their souvie tent so they can make a few bucks. We are lucky enough to have administration that enjoys drum corps. The first words out of the new principal a few years ago to our band director were "Have you ever hosted a drum corps?" Talk about music to my ears. We have hosted Blue Devils, Cavaliers and Crown since those words were uttered.

Happy Almost Spring!!!! Kinda....

Ooooo!!! I'll get mine today while I'm at school. I show all my kids my Cadets one from 2005 and then say, "... but I'm only going to make you do this" and then go into their much-simplified expectations. It goes over pretty well. :-D

Here is one...

It was a suggestion by one member, not the people in charge of the group. The final decision was 'no', since you are not a former member, or staff member. The person asking made it clear it was his idea, not yours. .

13-16 basically just not like last year. The headwear might be different.

Trust me it is. No singing. Fast powerful aggressive brass and thundering percussion. Probably the most vets out of any corps. Close to 100 Likely going to a more traditional crown uniform

1981 Madison Scouts. We were undefeated until we saw 27th Lancers about 5 weeks into the season. We shocked everyone, including ourselves when we won DCI Midwest finals in Whitewater, WI. Warhawk stadium went absolutely berserk when Blue Devils were announced in 2nd place. Every top drum corps was in this show, which will always be my single most favorite contest that I marched. This is the Madison show that is on the DCI Championship CD's because DCI finals in Montreal was not televised. We beat the eventual champion SCV in either our last or 2nd to last show before DCI Finals, I believe by more than 1 point. We went into Montreal championship week with a good shot to win it all. but fell short finishing in 3rd place. Fun fact... I can still play the entire Snare Drum book. I'll never forget it.

Disclaimer, have definitely watched every show post 1972 so I'm not just listing a lot of recents because of lack of exposure......I just really like what they've done as of late. The way they layer, tier their designs, and execute is just undeniably awesome to watch. Can't really list a least favorite because I don't think they've done anything bad. Not to my liking? Of course but that's my own personal taste. 1) - Metamorph - 2017 I really connected with their 2017 show in the final weeks of the season starting around Atlanta. When they started adding the voiceovers and fleshing out the back half of the show it finally came together into something pretty magical. I thought the presentation of past, present, and future were pretty masterfully done. I can certainly understand how the back few minutes might not be your thing for sure but if that was a glimpse at what they're going to venture into color me excited. And come on......the ballad. Holy God. That alone is just unreal. I think my immaturity as a fan when I was in high school and earlier in college unfairly tainted my views of their shows but 2017 finally made me get over that and become a full on fan of what they do. Cannot wait to see what they do in 2018 because of it. 2) Felliniesque - 2014 I love love love shows that work on multiple tiers and have real depth of design and this one is so deep. If you were a casual fan you could stop at it's a show about making movies and you'd probably really enjoy it. Start digging into the Fellini inspirations and things they do and depict and suddenly there is so much more there to find. And paired with unhuman execution on pretty much every level and it's no wonder it was unstoppable. I love every single part of this show which is hard for me to say on most. The ballad and ending especially are just magical. 3) Cabaret Voltaire - 2012 This is a love or hate show it seems and I really kind of love it. It's absolutely chaotic and bonkers but of course that is the point. I can still go back to this show and find lots of interesting little things I missed the last time which is what I've really come to love about the Blue Devils current iteration. I love how the use the Apollo 13 theme in this show, really fantastic way to bookend this show. 4) Jazz: Music Made in America - 2002 I think I really like this one because it's one of the first shows I ever watched, so a lot of 2002 shows have a special place in my heart. Not much to say other than it's just straight up jazz and straight up fun. Finding out after the fact a huge portion of this show was rewritten and reworked was very interesting, you can't tell if you don't know that. Only the Blue Devils. 5) Rhythms at the Edge of Time - 1999 Love the aggressiveness of this show, just incredibly bombastic and explosive the whole twelve minutes. They can do ballads so well, and this one is no exception. Love how they gradually move farther away in contrast to the music building and climaxing. Just a great drum corps show. Honorable Mentions: - 2016s ballad is about the most perfectly staged and evocative of the music visual moment I can think of as of late. The guard member ascending out of the brass in the climax of that is absolutely chilling. This show had some tiny flaws overall but a ballad that is just jaw droppingly good in terms of design. - 1993s horn book. Listen to it all the time. And 1991. - 1994 is a classic of course.

Can we agree that results would include winning at least 1 show in a year? 2017 was the first time since 1979 The Cadets did not win a single show. Not one. The Blue Stars won a show last year, and the Mandarins won two. The Cadets, none. It's a return to an era this corps should have forgotten permanently. Sad face

Imagine if they could've written the article a year or so later, and used the ballad, and last half of the closer from 2017. Goosebumps for me every time!!!