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I'm not going to re-litigate this, but anyone who thinks that the staff people who went to BAC were motivated only by money are simply whistling past the graveyard. It is disingenuous to suggest that all is well in Allentown. And for the record, the design team at Boston who masterminded the 2017 production will confirm the fact that the BAC Exec Director didn't change a note, alter a drill move, or add a single prop to the show. He hired a team and let them do what they know how to do. Interesting concept.....

When you are in charge, you are in charge. You get credit for the successes. You take blame for the failures. And that's the way it should be. To blame your problems on your staff is small. It's what politicians do. Jeff Ream is right. Everybody knows who is in charge. That's where the buck stops.

Guess now I have to. I wonder who my favorite corps is right now. LOL This list could change pretty much every hour, I have a lot of recent shows on there, and that's more due to the fact they're the shows I've followed, watched develop, and saw live. They're the shows I connect with, I am not ignorant of the great history of the activity I promise, just my generation I guess. I threw this together pretty quickly too so I'm almost sure I'm forgetting someone very important here. After the top two you could probably shuffle them and I wouldn't care about the order. 2015 Bluecoats on first viewing is probably the most shell shocked a show has ever left me, and that's why I'll put it on top. It felt like I was watching and listening to something I had never seen before. 2013 sewed the seeds, 2014 asserted themselves, and 2016 perfected what they've done as of late but IMO 2015 is the show that really made them who they currently are in terms of how they approach sound. Love all the music, the two minutes before the ballad are probably my favorite two minutes of drum corps ever and the whole show is just absolutely electric when I watch it. 2010 Blue Stars is the first good drum corps I saw in competition and was honestly a checklist of everything I love in a show; great and emotionally captivating theme, incredibly aggressive music, dark and loud brass, amazing percussion, and a pretty exhausting to watch visual program. This show is why I'm excited to see what they do every year. 2014 Bluecoats of course had the pitch bend but it was so much more than that to me. After some pretty complex shows being near the top it was refreshing to see a very simple concept executed so masterfully on so many levels in a way that was incredibly appealing. Amazing ballad that has gotten beaten to death in recent years, but back then it was so refreshing to hear someone just let a piece of music be what it is again and let the show breathe. And yes the ending is amazing. 2016 Bluecoats was a culmination of elements performed at a level that I had never seen before. Seeing those uniforms run out from behind the prop at the tour premier the first time was INCREDIBLY shocking, but holy hell it was exciting. The usage and integration level of the props was absolutely masterful, and they packaged it all with an incredibly unrelenting and just absolutely bombastic musical program that never ever ever let up in any regard. This show was like a rock concert in Denton for me, it was overwhelming in the absolute best of ways. It might be my "least" favorite of their recent medal run but it is still a show I absolutely adore. 1993 Star of Indiana is a cliche, but just getting rid of all the reasons people argue it's legendary I just love what it is. I love how they used space as well as silence and let the brass have incredibly variety in style and volume. The percussion is fantastic as a supporting voice and amazing and sparingly featured. The guard is pretty starkly simple but adds so much. And of course the closer is just straight up run and gun awesomeness. 2017 Boston Crusaders I had the pleasure of seeing twice and that's easily the most fun I've had seeing a show live. They executed this thing about as well as they could have, they truly maxed it out. Incredibly well told story, fantastic staging, incredible clarity in the music package, and incredible performances from all sections catapulted this one pretty high on my list pretty fast. I lept on my feet soooooo fast when I saw this show at the end, it was just pure energy. 2014 Blue Knights is among the small list of shows that made me shed a tear, and where I feel like voice overs were absolutely integral and made a show just work on all levels. What an incredibly beautiful, well told, and heart wrenching story they wove on the field that year.......IMO perfectly capturing what that moment before you pass is like when your life flashes before your eyes. At that time this was their strongest effort in quite awhile and it was just an absolute treat to watch. Seeing that show in Denver is a highlight of my live shows thus far for sure. 2017 Blue Devils started off as a show I did not like. At all. In any way shape or form. And then the Atlanta week happened where they really started to refine and add small details that brought it together into a show I have just fallen head over heals for. As a tribute to who they were, are, and will become it was just masterfully put together and really pulled at my heart during finals week. This show has probably turned me into a full fledged Blue Devils fan. 2015 Blue Knights IMO is the freshest musical program to grace the field as of late, they threw any kind of formulas or ways of doing things completely out the window and created a seamless, ethereal, and just stunning show. This is also when Mike Jackson's absolutely surreal percussion writing really took its footing and I fell in love with his and that teams work. And their usage of color........just stunning. 2010 Bluecoats is what really made me fall in love with them after they gave me my first live drum corps experience in 2009. I love shows that are dark and angry sounding and are all up in your face for twelve minutes. This show is that to a T. I do realize the synth bass gets nasty in this one but in a time when everyone was still figuring out the electronics menace they were hardly the only ones. 2011 The Academy is another show that was like a checklist for my personal enjoyment. Above all else I freaking love listening to this show. Every part of the show is incredibly exciting to listen to, and their brass and ESPECIALLY percussion were so hot that year. Loved the Hinshaw drill and the bonkers color usage in the guard as well. This is just straight up good drum corps. 1996 Phantom Regiment easily has one of my all time favorite openers in the 4th Ballet Suite, and the climax with the lone guard member spinning that oh so simple red silk sends chills down my spine every time. The whole show is just emotionally satisfying and brings to life the music of a composer whose life was filled with so much turmoil and aggression in Russia during that time. I think they captured the pure essence of what Shostakovitch is. 2016 The Academy is about the most fun I've had following a corps journey through a season. When I saw this show preseason on youtube I knew it would be special, but I had no idea it was going to end the way it did. The whole of finals night watching that online was so so so special, I can't imagine what that was like live making history. But above all that......what a show. Simple and masterfully executed storyline, amazing musical and visual moments throughout, their best performances ever in pretty much every caption and subcaption, and that closer.......it was a fairytale season for them. 2014 Blue Devils is a show that works on so many levels, it's a simple film show if you want to stop there but it's also so much more if you keep on digging. The ballad and closer blow me away every time I watch this one, and their level of performance that year was just never going to be caught. It was awe inducing to watch them that season. 1998 Glassmen has always been a show I loved for the simple fact it's just fantastic music and drill performed amazingly well. I love Borodin, I LOVE their percussion that year, and the Jamey Thompson visual program is just a treat to watch. Not much else to say than it's just the essence of what I like about drum corps. Honorable mention to the 1997 and 2016 Santa Clara Vanguard.

Their new Independent World guard made their competitive premier today at WGI Indianapolis, a strong 3rd in prelims behind two contenders. . Super fun show, just like anything I expect out of that organization. They should have a great inaugural season.

Oftentimes the catalyst for a change in trajectory is a key hire or a set of hires. Elevating from within for the retiring program coordinator doesn't seem to be that catalyst. Nor do the other design team hires, it would seem to me. To me, the best hire the corps made was the guy that started this conversation - the BK brass caption head.

the problem is, as i alluded to in an earlier post only Tim K really touched in....is expectation. The Cadets first zigged, then they zagged. For a period of close to 30 years they were a trend setter. Always raising the bar. Doing the impossible. During the later portion of that amazing run, some design flaws started appearing that morphed tremendously in the last 5 years. And now, the corps that changed the game finds themselves consistently trying to catch up. And, while said here, sometimes bluntly, sometimes in veiled terms, major design choices are controlled by one person. A person who stated publicly he doesnt get WGI, which is the trend setting portion of the activity. With the incredible growth in WGI participation.....it became the driving force in design trends that carried over. Indoor guard started as an offshoot of what happened in the summer, just as band grew copying what corps did. But one person calls the shots, and it shows that person can't adapt to the times....or give up the control to let his people do it.And constantly trying to force a message into the shows draws major derision from fans. allowing someone else to be the driving force in design is the best thing that could happen. That's why people left. it wasn't money. it was frustration in the process.

quality is quality with or without males. There were years with the males it wasn't a top guard and having males might have been part of the reason they went all female to begin with. especially that last year of co-ed

I'll be interested in how improved the Guard scores might be this season. now that Phantom has returned to a Coed Guard format..

Back on topic ... Cadets enter 2018 off an odd 2017 year characterized by a dearth of veterans and substantial turnover in senior staff. A year ago they were a young corps with a staff that had never worked together. Yet the corps mostly held its own in a 2017 summer in which the competition was particularly good and despite the unforeseen consequences imposed by the license holder on Cadets musical options. The members gave 2017 a strong thumbs up for satisfaction, which has translated into a high percentage of vets returning for another year at Cadets in 2018. Last year's senior staff returns as well, this time unencumbered by the restrictions of the Bernstein family. All told, things are looking a lot brighter this spring than they did a year ago. HH

For 2018, I want all kids to have a safe, and rewarding summer.

What? You have 20 years to go for that don't you?

Here is my most current Top 15: 1) Carolina Crown 2009 - The Grass is Always Greener, 2012 - For the Common Good, 2013 - E=mc2, 2014 - Out of this World, 2015 - Inferno, 2016 - Relentless, 2017 - it is … 2) Carolina Crown 2008 - Finis 3) Santa Clara Vanguard 2009 - Ballet for Martha 4) The Cadets 2000 - We Are The Future 5) Star of Indiana 1993 - The Music of Barber and Bartok 6) Santa Clara Vanguard 1989 - Phantom of the Opera 7) Phantom Regiment 2008 - Spartacus 8) Madison Scouts 1995 - A Drum Corps Fans Dream 9) Santa Clara Vanguard 2016 - Force of Nature 10) Carolina Crown 2011 - Rach Star 11) Santa Clara Vanguard 2012 - Music of the Starry Night, 2013 - Les Misérables 12) Blue Devils 2000 - Methods of Madness, 2003 - The Phenomenom of Cool 13) Madison Scouts 2013 - Corps of Brothers: 75 Years of Survival 14) Santa Clara Vanguard 2015 - The Spark of Imagination 15) Santa Clara Vanguard 2017 - Ouroboros

omg

I haven't put one of these together in a long time, I should do that.

actually money wasn't an overall determining factor. Just because one guy held it together doesn't mean things change. For one of them, it also took away day job responsibilities, so did they really come out ahead financially? Sometimes, a team that has success has issues that pop up that keep the success from continuing. Could the money have been the icing on the cake? Possibly. But knowing the character of those involved, just assigning the blame solely on money is as ill informed as you claim it is to solely blame everything on George. In fact.....if it's such a great place to work, why is YEA turnover so high? I mean Justin was set up to be the heir apparent. Think he uprooted the family to Concord solely for money? He aint making that much. I once left a job because the workplace environment that had once been great sucked after a while. Luckily my services allowed me to get more money at the new gig, but if the old place had continued to run as it was, I never would have left.

You know better than this. It was the same director who kept that same staff together for a decade - some more. And let's be honest about why they quit. It wasn't in protest about design or anything else. In two prominent cases it was for money. Another resulted from tragic family circumstance unrelated to the Cadets. I know. It's as easy as it is incorrect to blame everything on Hopkins. The truth is the wholesale staff turnover at Cadets last year wasn't because of him. I don't doubt that certain guilty parties are trying to make it sound as if it were. They're tapping into the conspiracy theories to disguise their own mercenary motives. Don't believe it. The Cadets have been among the corps with the most consistent staffing a long time. One unusual year doesn't change that. HH

well....no. the philosophy in all things YEA comes from one place. personally i'm not a fan of all that has come from WGI. I like WGI, and I like DCI, and i like some of the similarities and dislike some.

Do you feel dirty? Like you need to take a shower?

My apologies for posting it here, but I figured I might as well post it here. Today I will be at TMEA! WOO! shoot, my name tag will even say Hook'emCavies. So if y'all see me let's talk drum corps. Might even see me at a DCI booth or two. ... GO CAVIES!

Thank you glory! You are spot on. I have a friend who was there...he said there were people in the stands that were drunk and completely out of control. Sadly, there were some out of control drunks who followed the Cadets to their busses and continued yelling at the kids. That was the darkest night for drum corps that I ever experienced. I almost stopped following the activity that night. I was embarrassed to be a drum corps fan that infamous evening at the Rose Bowl!

Great? No. Not great. Not great at all. The selfish, childish, boorish behaviour of fans in the Rose Bowl was a worse offense than any for which the Cadets were accused. Those kids performed as well as any corps - that year or another - and they deserved better from adults. The jeers and the boos put the stands as low as the Cadets were high. HH

Enjoyed Cadets camp today. I must say, the improvement in the brass line over last year is remarkable. This line can part your hair...a lot of focus on power. And the book is way more interesting than last year. Drew Shanefield is doing great stuff...he wrote a great book. Really happy with the Cadets right now. I believe this is the best foundation the corps has had to build on for several years. Today was the debut of the vocals at ensemble. Very surprised that I was impressed...not a big fan of vocals in drum corps. The singers are extremely talented and the vocal arrangements seem way better than previous attemps. The Cadets should go into spring training with a really solid product. What happens when they put the show on the field is the real test. We shall see how it turns out. Hopefully, the design staff won't shoot themselves in the foot again this sason...please!

Largely agree with you. I know what you're saying re/Blue Devils...design structure somewhat the same, design concepts were different from year to year. I think you'd have a hard time making the case that any of the shows from 2007-present had the same personality or energy year to year. Mirrors to Bacharach to Dada to Rite to Fellini to Ink to Dreams to Diamonds...very different from year to year. I guess a better way of describing the Bluecoats' first couple of minutes is that the energy was quite similar from 16 to 17. Agree completely that the music was incompatible with the Fosse visual style. While you could program the movement style to align with the music, that didn't necessarily mean that it would project the same way when not paired with jazzy Broadway music. I did like the music a lot...they're always digging up new music that I've never heard (well, very familiar with the Zappa piece). I'll still have this program on my playlist in my car...music program was a lot of fun!

If that is what you want to take from it, so be it. I consider it sub-par for Cadets standards so if you don't like that, I can't help your feelings. I stand by what I said 100% regardless of whether or not you like it.