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As far as the guard staff goes, I want to give a shout out to both the organisation and the new staff for handling this transition. The heart of the former staff has been there since 2003 (I should know since I marched the beginning years of Doodoo's reign) and for that to change last year, was a hard pill to swallow. Transitions will always be rough especially after coming right after a well-deserved caption win, and expectations to stay at that same level with a new staff is a nearly impossible feat With that said: I think it was a great solution for the organisation to hire Joey as the caption supervisor. - Having a talented person who was a student of Michael creates an evolution of the Crown guard aesthetic, while creating adding a new perspective. - Having a young and talented person take over is a risk, but if successful, I hope Joey stays and continues to rebuild the program with his already unique writing. It's time for the next generation of Townsends, Sages, Shaprios, Chandlers! - Is the guard rougher this year compared to past seasons? Yes, but man are they flying in drill and spinning an incredibly difficult book. Hats off to the team for going all out in a transition year. I love that you guys aren't losing the heart of what makes Crown guard so special - taking lots of risks. Anyway, I know the guard has been a major talking point on this forum in a mostly negative sense, so I just wanted to say that the new staff are doing a great job for the first year and once the marching members get comfortable with the crazy drill and new style I hope they clean clean clean! They are already vastly improved since the preview, now they just have to add that Crown confidence to the performance. Karma cap and we're all rooting for you Crown Guard!

I'm usually just a passive participant when it comes to this forum - especially since I'm a guard alum, but I'd like to throw in my 2 cents. As far as the new guard staff, I am optimistic about a smooth transition. Reason 1: Rick and Joey are coming from SCV and their guard program has been of the most subtle and classiest guards out there - what a treat to watch them this year. Mind you, the guard finished in 4th place, 5 tenths behind Carolina Crown. Even if we lose some current talent, they may bring over some equally talented folks. Reason 2: Joey is a Crown alum. His innovative choreography is refreshingly unique, and it's no surprise he was under the Michael Townsend tutelage. I'd be more worried if they were bringing in someone with a west coast style or any style that wasn't derivative of the Crown/midwest technique. Speaking of technique: I can't imagine that changing much either - catch tape position, warm-up techniques, etc. Overall, a lot of consistencies that will be there. Joey is not only talented but a nice guy - one of the qualities I loved about being in the crown guard. The staff were consistently positive, strict when they needed to be, but not irrationally intimidating. What better way than to have Crown family come back to preserve the guard's traditions? Best of luck to Joey and Rick and best of luck to Michael. I hope he can build Boston's program just like he did with Crown. What a turnaround he and the staff did after taking over in 2003!

From a (former Crown member) guard perspective: Holy heck the book this year that Michael has written for the guard is truly "relentless." This might be the most difficult book I've seen from Crown. The amount of unison tosses from the weapons, the slick movement underneath them, and the difficult catches - astonishing. And for the guard to be executing this well at the beginning of the season gives me hope that we won't see too much watering down for the sake of cleanliness. It's also refreshing to see so much unison work with the all parts of the guard. Movement as well is sharp and well-choreographed. I think the guard is hungry this year to bring the Zingali to Fort Mill, and I hope they continue to clean clean clean and reach a level of performance that goes beyond what BD magically brings every year. Speaking of BD, they've won the colorguard caption since 2008. I'm rooting for this year's crown guard to shake things up a bit (knock on wood). It's going to be fun watching them evolve this season. Best of luck!

Guard had an amazing run! That last flag feature just made a "GIMME THAT ZINGALI" statement.

I went to the show last night and conducted an impromptu "field study" of the fans around me. I sat around two high school group cliques. I was inspired to observe them because these band kids are the future of our activity. Whether they march or become lifelong fans, it's important that these shows affect them in ways my first drum corps show did. Here are some of my observations: Cavaliers and Madison Scouts still charm the girls. There's a reason they've stayed all boys. The high school girls around me were so giddy about both corps. During intermission, tons of blushing girls were getting their picture taken with one of Madison's military-dressed guard members. As high schoolers do, they were late coming back to the seats after intermission. No Bluecoats for them. I suspect a lot of souvie booth action going on and possibly a group trip to the bathroom. Tons of texting, facebooking, and miscellaneous smart phone usage during Phantom and Cadets. With kids these days, you gotta grab their attention right away or they'll do something else. SCV was smart to do a Les Mis show after the blockbuster hit because these kids were all about it. Even before they hit the field, they were giving their critique "If it's a Les Mis show then they HAVE to do (song) or (another song)." The girl in front of me was playing the game of "Oh, I recognized this song before all of you! I WIN." She was also dancing along, bobbing her shoulders up and down. On the opposite spectrum of recognizable music was Crown and Blue Devils. But there were major difference between the two. Similarities? The discussion of plumes. Kids notice the most random things. They were awed by the single very sharp plume on Crown's shako and the massive plume on the Blue Devil's shako. The differences? They were engaged with Crown from the start. Even if Crown's show is "intellectual" as some are saying, it's also downright stimulating. There's something visually or musically amazing happening every 30 seconds or so that really grabbed their short attention spans. When the Blue Devils entered the field, there was much discussion about the poles. These kids were really enjoying the first few minutes, even getting a pretty big entertaining chuckle out of the the corps tribal stomping to the drumset groove. But sadly after that, all went downhill. There wasn't much talking and some resorted to their phones again. At the end of the show, a girl giving a standing ovation turned to her seated friend (the same girl so into Les Mis) and asked, "Are you going to stand up?" The seated friend didn't say anything and just looked at her with an expression along the lines of, "B####, please." During the DCI Finals commercial, they all decided to plan a road trip to Indy. Let's see what their parents say about that... Leaving the stadium, I also heard some fan sound bytes. "What #### was that Blue Devils show?" "There was just too much #### going on. Didn't understand it." Two guys who sounded like Samuel Jackson giving a drum corps review. "Oh I think my favorite was... was... that Carolina Crown." "Oh yah, but I thought that ending was so stupid. Everything else was so thought out and then it got to that ending." A thick-accented Minnesotan family. I was tempted to butt in and say that the ending will probably change. I didn't. Well, there's my unscientific scientific study for you. Later I will probably write an in-depth review of the top guards, but for now, I wanted to give an objective observation of the shows.

Any chance you might know today's schedule, corpbands? They haven't posted to FB yet, and I want to plan a drive to the 'burbs to watch my old corps rehearse!

as a former guard member ('03-'06) I couldn't agree more. they've really outdone themselves this year on the book and design integration. plus, the talent in this year's guard is already starting to show the beauty of michael townsend's book. when his work is clean, the nuances to klesch's music are just perfect.

Based on the visceral response to the scores you'd almost think it was California Crown instead of Carolina! But, I'm happy to see they're making quite the impression on the west coast.

I know when it comes to crown the brass gets all the talk, but that guard - so much demand and they're pretty darn good for this early as well!

This was really fun to watch and while it doesn't compete at the level of difficulty of DCI, DCI can't compete with the sheer entertainment and mass appeal of this one performance. 3,823,776 views as of right now. All in 2 days. That's an amazing number to me. And while we continue to argue the entertainment value vs. art vs. new audience in the marching arts, at least we know 3,823,776 people were intrigued by this show. No one can argue with that. It's for sure starting to shape my POV on the activity's future. And one more thought: If OSU can learn this in two weeks, wouldn't it be cool if a corps could do a special exhibition halftime show at a major event that's fan-friendly?

Totally agree about fan interaction and social media - it can help launch the career of someone for the cost of nothing. I hope DCI continues to invite her to finals - maybe at one point she can convince one of her True Blood costars to come see the show with her.

I have to admit that I never heard of Janina Gavankar before but when DCI said she was on "True Blood" it piqued my interested and I googled her. Wow, I didn't realize her already successful Hollywood career and most importantly, her ties to Phantom Regiment (albeit for a very short time)! There were some (maybe two?) negative comments about her seemingly fake enthusiasm, but I personally think this was nice little move for DCI. She was tweeting updates to her 82,032 followers about each finalist's show in a way only a true drum corps fan could – and I'm sure most of those followers know nothing about drum corps. Well, they do now! Sure, it's a little bit of cross promotion gathering new fans for her, but in the end, we also have someone who's climbing the ranks of Hollywood and not afraid to geek out for drum corps. And to that I say, thanks Janina! To me, that's the magic of drum corps. I'm no Hollywood star, but I've been away from the activity for a few years and will never forget the amazing shows I witnessed or the amazing people I marched with. Now that the offseason is here, I really hope we can all spread the word of Drum Corps to newbies. Let's pack the stands in 2013. I have a feeling it will be a memorable season!

All legends were protégés at one point.

Just curious. What's the nod to Star 93 specifically? I think I can infer that they had a 2 am rehearsal as well? Help a young one out! Would love to hear about this.

True story. Sorry, I should've been more explicit. Your interpretation certainly explains it better. Thanks.