BlooooContra

2021 Blue Stars contra tech here. Loved working with those cats. 😂

Downside Up has been my go-to for new people since 2016. Never fails.

Doug also did Radiohead’s Paranoid Android and Exit Music before Muse’s Madness kicks in for the closer.

First of all, you and I have eerily similar taste in music. Foxtrot, Traveling Without Moving and Back to Black are all killer records. I’ve heard Doug arrange Muse for my band down here in TX and let’s just say that it was a beautiful, beautiful thing that resulted in a 4A beating quite a few 5 and 6A groups.

1. 2015 - Kinetic Noise My hands-down favorite show of all time. It has everything I could ever want. It makes me bob my head. The ballad is gorgeous. There's a stereo contra feature. I'm sold. 2. 2005 - Caravan Loved the music. Really fun concept that married the version 1.0 Bluecoats with Blood 2.0. Right show. Right year. 3. 2017 - Jagged Line Lots of attitude in the visual program. Though I usually FF through the ballad, Psychopomp and Zomby Woof are 2 of my favorite arrangements anyone has ever done. If anyone out there hasn't listened to the Thank You Scientist album that Psychopomp comes from, check it. One of my favorite current bands, and a potential killer source of more field material in the future for some groups. 4. 2016 - Downside Up I'll never forget seeing this live for the first time in spring training and thinking how the entire activity was about to change forever. The last 30 seconds of this might be my favorite 30 seconds ever in a show. These guys came out every night like a cross between rock stars and super heroes. If I could get a time machine and march any show ever, this is it. 5. 2001 - Latin Sketches The winter camp where the corps read through Red Cape Tango for the first time was the moment the corps shifted for good. Guard choreo. in the ballad was gorgeous. Honorable mentions: 1999 - The Music of Chick Corea (got me hooked with Armando's Rhumba) 2008 - The Knockout (ballad and closer... YES) 1998 - Four Seasons of Jazz (gratuitous screaming and maybe the Autumn Leaves that's aged the best) 1986 - untitled (Hungarian Dance no. 5... only jazz? Really fun to listen to) 2000 - Threshold (because I'm definitely gonna end this list on a biased note. Also, the closer w/ duet)

The weight and balance of the Jupiters is... let's say not super conducive to promoting physiological wellness in drum corps in 2015. In the spirit of being civil, that's about as far as I'll publicly go in terms of expressing thoughts on Jupiter tubas. :) Glad the Blue Stars switched, and I can see already on Facebook that the members are thrilled. Big win for the kids.

Ask any current drum corps tuba player who has gone from a summer on Jupiters to a summer on Yamahas what the change was like and watch their eyes light up. Good move, Blue Stars. (edit to remove excess complaining about Jupiter tubas :) )

This was a small part of a laaaarge discussion within our alumni group. I don't post much these days, but let's see if this will help a bit. The long-ish answer: licensing is infinitely more complex than that. What DCI already reproduces doesn't affect anything other than what DCI already produces. The contracts each individual corps drew up initially with the composers of ever. single. piece. has specific language regarding permissions to arrange, mechanical licenses, synchronization licenses, etc. etc. etc. To add another marketplace of distribution into the mix would be absolute chaos. I can't overstate this enough. The short answer: Donald S. Passman wrote a fantastic, easy-to-understand book on the ins and outs of the music business that's very cheap on Amazon right now. It's a fantastic read, and is one of the books they use in the Music Business MBA concentration at Belmont University. It will explain far better, and in far more detail, than I can on a simple forum without going into full-on dissertation mode. Hope this helps at least a little!

Please, can we stop with the horribly un-funny/witty puns? My brain hurts... Interesting topic, though. :) Considering how story-heavy the activity went for a while, maybe the scales will shift again. It would be fun to see a quantitative analysis of the top 12/17 from 2000 to present in terms of concept vs. story design paradigms, particularly if there's a distant correlation to placement.

If there's one thing I've learned over the past few years, it's that comedic delivery and DCP do not mix. There was potential in this original premise. The Onion headline probably would have been, "Lucas Oil Stadium Officials to Ban Vaginal Symbolism."

Niagra Falls Four Corners Frameworks Spin Cycle 007 Machine Samurai Mad World I'll be more than shocked if we ever see a body of work like that again. And these are just some of the highlights. The man is unmatched, and may remain that way indefinitely.

Louis C.K. is funny. This... is something that is not that word.

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Teach a band and get the gig. The rest is generally word of mouth. I got my first gig in '03 by offering to do it for a band I taught, writing on the super-cheap. Since many schools have people from elsewhere writing, having someone in-house seems to be helpful, especially for mid-season tweaks. Though the new Envision software looks interesting, I would recommend just ponying up and buying Pyware if you really want to write. Their forums are also a really great resource with no shortage of helpful people who will happily help you out along the way with learning the software.

Effective, achievable, well-staged and generally on-the-grid and cleanable seems to work for everyone when they do it.