desertrat68

The humidity is low so while it was hot, it wasn't THAT hot. I've been to shows in the south that were much worse than what we had tonight. Once the sun goes down and the solar radiation isn't beating down on you, it's not that bad. Plus The Academy is pretty straightforward in telling corps to practice inside during the heat of the day. 10-12 years ago they had to send people over to certain corps to tell them to get their kids out of the sun and to give them water/gatorade. Anyway, it was a good evening of drum corps. Normally by this point I would had seen Academy's show before hand but we decided to wait and experience it for the first time at the show. I was encouraged by what I saw and heard. Covid hit Arizona music ed HARD and it's going to take a while for it to recover and for the talent pool here locally to get back to where is was before.

Yes, the food truck is brand new. It was delivered months late - hello supply chain problems - and there just wasn't time to do anything about it other than to get through tour and figure out what's going on this off season.

Yes, the problems with the refrigerated food storage are causing logistical nightmares for the corps. As far as dietary needs, the corps has long been providing appropriate options at every meal for those who need it. They ask every MM and (staff) well before the season starts so they can plan for it. My family has been on the road with them in one form or another for 13 years now so I know its being done. This is a very, very young corps and I will leave it at that.

Academy had 17

While I agree about the later, I disagree about the former. Fatigue, both mental and physical, is a huge part of the DCI experience. I believe that they make the decision to give their corps time more time off so that they are mentally and emotionally at their best for the grind that is the push to finals.

Do not underestimate this. My son joked that they called themselves the retirement corps. They do their best to program their tour to give members the optimum chance for recovery time. The get more half/full days off than other corps. This pays off the last two weeks of the season with a better rested corps ready to clean the **** out of their show. About the only thing they could do better, and maybe they have in the last few seasons, is improve their nutrition a bit to cut back on the carbs and add more protein. (Just about every drum corps can probably do better at this!) That said, there is always as much food available to the members as they desire each meal. Also, they preach every year about becoming the best blue devil corps ever. If they do that, then things will take care of themselves.

Orange bridges on clearance. Not needed in Arizona since it (almost) never rains.

There is a video on Flo Marching with Scott Chandler breaking down the show from start to finish. In it he said he himself actually found the music watching the National Geographic show while on a plane ride. Goes to show you that you never know where or when or how inspiration will strike.

Flo also has the complete finals - minus the sound - available to watch. I just watched both BD and Bloo on high cam. Fascinating to compare the flow of the two shows. Without the sound to distract you, you see so much. I was surprised by how much movement is going on in the BD show, and by how fast they moved all through the show. The members have to be in the best shape of their lives.

Yes. Everything in how they have staged the members alludes to it. And frankly, do we really think they haven't planned to do so from the very beginning?

Full discloser - son aged out with BD... ... But I'd still pick BD this year. saw the show the first time at their rehearsal before the Rose Bowl show. I was blown away by how moved I was watching a bare bone show a at freaking rehearsal! Still hasn't changed for me. Seeing it now, and not in live in person at the show, it still affects me. And I really love Crown's show too. I think it's the math minor in me that responds to it so well. Bloo just doesn't hit me like that. Part of it could be that I'm not really a Beatles fan. While I enjoy their stuff, it's not a part of my childhood like it would for someone a little bit older than me. I watched to show last night with my son's high school band. One of the kids said it best, Bloo's show just felt really long. It's all personal preference. I can see why others just really click with Bloo and are blown away by it.

I'm in Phoenix right now and you do not want to be a drum corps trying to rehearse here. Or warm up here. Or just generally be outside here. NO body wants to be outside here. And while we have the doomed stadium, there isn't any buildings connected to it and the sound inside for marching bands is just AWEFUL.

i attended my first show in 2008 so I will go with what I saw live. 2009 SCV - Saw it in Mesa, AZ and my husband and I almost cried when we saw that first time. It was just as powerful to us as we watched online as the season progressed. 2016 Academy - We had poured a lot of ourselves into the corps for 7 years and I think I watched the last half of the show with tears in my eyes from the joy of watching them finally making it to Saturday night. "The Effort is the Prize". 2017 BD - Watching your kid age out will always touch you. "Concord Blue Devils" ... Gave me the shivers the first time I heard it, and it does every time I listen/watch now. That show meant so much to the members. They felt honored, and a sense of responsibility to perform that show well for the all those who came before them.

They had to go a new direction when Michael Townsend left as artistic director for Academy and took a similar position for BAC. Give them credit for letting Lindsey have the creative control she needed to grow into her role as artistic director/program coordinator.

To quote my aged out son, "J. Birney Crum, she don't lie."

The call to do the standstill came from the very top. Mark is a stand up guy and if member safety is an issue, he will always error on the side of caution, even it may be costly to ‘the standings’.

Donating straight to members is amazing. I know my kid could not have marched if he hadn't had donors. And he went above and beyond the normal note to say thank you and to include them in his journey each year. The last two years he marched he had an Instagram page specifically to share his season with them. That said, please remember that member dues/tuition do not come close to covering the cost of putting a corps on the road. (And I'm not talking about the big boys. The little fish have to do major fundraising as well.) So if you feel frustrated by the corps you currently support, but still feel the tug, and feel it's time to take your money elsewhere, then look into the giving opportunities in other corps. I know there are many corps now that allow you to sponsor a specific item, such as "a Mile" or "a Meal". I know my hometown corps, The Academy has a Feed your Favorite Corps Program, that covers food costs, you can even sponsor fresh fruit. Heck, one of the buses of the members sponsored a fresh fruit at a meal on tour this season. All the various DCI corps websites are linked on the DCI site so you can look around various websites and see what's in place for various corps. If you would prefer to sponsor an individual, some corps do have scholarship funds that you can contribute to. And you can also reach out to corps this off season, after they've had a chance to catch their breath, and ask them point blank if they have a system in place to identify kids having trouble paying their dues that they can direct donors to give specifically for those kids. If they don't bother responding, move on to another corps. (BTW Academy person to talk to is Carol Balk. I have no idea if they do or not direct potential donors to specific kids, but Carol would know.)

Somewhat. They give them an idea to interpret and see that they can come up with. Visual is a big part of the audition process. That said, my son aged out in '17 and he's blown away by how well this corps moves.

This. My son started his dci career marching the with the local non-finalist and never intending to leave. 5 seasons and 2 corps later, he aged out with 4 finals appearances and one ring. Stuff happens, dreams evolve, kids become adults. He's now a high school band director and uses the different lessons he learned from his three corps in building his program. Heck, he was teaching in a corps this summer and learned something from watching warmups of another corps that he's instituting in his band when they start in 2 days. It wasn't the "slotting" that led to him leaving, it was the opportunity to push himself, and to learn that led to not one, but two corps changes.

Yeah, now I remember. Was hoping my guy got heard his corps' score before he hops on an airplane to come home from his teaching stint on tour.

I'm trying to remember if they wait until the end to announce all of the scores or if they release them in blocks throughout the day.

Every year a "Finalist" corps comes west since finals moved to Indy. It's been a while for Bluecoats, and I don't remember Blue Stars in the last 12 years. It had been a drought for Cavaliers until this year, though they have obligations in Rosemont to throw in the mix. The bad thing is, The West never gets to see a 'mature' version of a show in person. Frankly, I can't see that changing any time soon. There just isn't a venue in the west that I know of like Indy with an NFL stadium and enough covered warm up areas connected to the stadium in case of inclement weather.

If they tried to march tonight, you'd see members going down right and left or they would have to slow down so much that they would be missing marks all over the place. The field drains great, but the grass is still damp. It's stand stills so you can hear the music, or nothing.

Looks like low chance of rain. Day of show rains turn Mile High into the worlds largest slip n/ slide. Anyway, its my personal favorite venue for watching drum corps. Enjoy the show to those lucky enough attend.

Couchmen are gonna be there; try their booth. 😉