1992 Cadets of Bergen County is DCI.org Download of the Week

[Michael Boo]

What the hell were you doing last night? Too much early St. Patrick's Day partying?

No...I think I might have been abducted by aliens. They were kind enough to bring along my car.

I keep hoping they'll someday drop me off in Tahiti or Paris, but they keep dumping me in Indy. Not that's there's anything wrong with that.

Edited March 17, 2012 by Michael Boo

[chris ncsu]

I loved your writeup, Boo. It's usually what I call my favorite show. I love to crank it up on the drive home from a bad day, or at the end of the week.

[Kevin Doherty]

Naked,

I don't hide that I've been a Cadets guy for about 60 years (along with all the other Jerseys epecially SAC, St. Joes and Vinnies) I don't know that the 92 drill was any more difficult - as challenging as it was, than the late 70s early 80s drills, witness 1980 2-7 and others. Drill has changed starting with 1980 SCV. But is it better? The best Cadets stuff is the best, but I think it is arguable that it is better. A fertile avenue for discussion. but ultimately futile because the only thing that counts is what gets put on the field this year. I don't disagree with anything that's been said and respect everyone's opinion, except that Boo says he is in Indy, but he is actually in Lower Elbonia negotiating for the rights to fermented cabbage. Not an easy task because my Korean friends are hot on his tail along with Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern.

Kevin

[Michael Boo]

I loved your writeup, Boo. It's usually what I call my favorite show. I love to crank it up on the drive home from a bad day, or at the end of the week.

To Tame the Perilous Highway?

[jjeffeory]

As a life-long Holy Name/Cadets fan (since early 50's) I have to say that 92 was the most shocking outcome I ever witnessed. Tremendous show. I could watch it forever. I love the musical content and drill. But the horns were out of tune at crucial points and this seemed to be ignored. I think Star had everything needed to leap over BD and, no matter what the sheets say, I still cannot understand the results.

I think as musicians we can maintain objectivity, and whatever my homey tendencies might be, the best performance deserves the best results.

I refuse to bash judges. Their job is very difficult.

Kevin

Totally agree. I almost marched that show...

The hornline was out of tune during some exposed parts. It sounds like the mellos to me...

Still, that was an incredible show!.

[redhaven]

I know this is a very old topic. Marched Cadets in 92 but I have not been involved in the activity really in any way in a long time. Someone posted this show on facebook and I did a little googling and found this post. 

I was watching the semis and quarterfinals performances and it is true that we had some intonation problems on finals night.

This was an extremely young hornline so it would not surprise me if the cold weather had a bigger affect on us than the other corps. The low placement in 91 made recruitment more difficult and most of the vets left because 91 was a bear of the year for the corps from what I was told. The 91 show was hard to put together and the staff pushed and pushed, usually at the expense of sleep and free time. I had heard a rumor that the staff staged a bus breakdown to miss a performance and have an extra rehearsal day. Anyway, I can remember very little of the corps attended the first couple of weeks of spring training because either they were still in high school or the corps agreed to let them march even though they could not attend for other reasons because recruitment was so difficult. There were weekdays at camp that we probably had less than half of the hornline at rehearsal. We performed in exhibition at our first couple of shows because the show was a real train wreck early in the season. 

The last few weeks of the season were such a fun ride. I remember a few times the corps members insisting that we stay on the field during dinner and shower time to rehearse. Phantom beat us the Sunday before finals and then finished 6 spots behind us. 

As for Star, there was definitely a perception and some rumors flying around about how easy they had it. I don't remember much booing but we did not see them outside of big regionals. They did have the nicest buses of any corps. At the time few discussed that the reason they were so nice is that they needed to be well maintained to be used as charter buses. When Cadets started doing that, our buses also improved dramatically. I do not remember feeling  anything other admiration for them just like the rest of the corps. I am sure this is pretty common but I watched vhs tapes of pbs broadcasts for so many years and the corps members seem like gods. Then I march a top 12 corps and after a few rehearsals I no longer feel that way about myself or my corps, but when the other corps pull into the lot, it is like meeting a superstar or something. I think that is mostly how I felt about Star. I saw first hand that the member experience was pretty similar to ours. I can remember the crowd reaction when they were announced in 3rd. I think it was more shock than anything else but nothing like the shock of Phantom coming in 8th (and the unfortunate gesture by their corps director).

Anyway, if you ever have a chance, check out the semi finals performance. The intonation is somewhat better (but still not as good as other years I marched) and there is a little less muddiness in parts of the show that i noticed appeared on finals night. 

[ouooga]

17 hours ago, redhaven said:

I know this is a very old topic. Marched Cadets in 92 but I have not been involved in the activity really in any way in a long time. Someone posted this show on facebook and I did a little googling and found this post. 

I was watching the semis and quarterfinals performances and it is true that we had some intonation problems on finals night.

This was an extremely young hornline so it would not surprise me if the cold weather had a bigger affect on us than the other corps. The low placement in 91 made recruitment more difficult and most of the vets left because 91 was a bear of the year for the corps from what I was told. The 91 show was hard to put together and the staff pushed and pushed, usually at the expense of sleep and free time. I had heard a rumor that the staff staged a bus breakdown to miss a performance and have an extra rehearsal day. Anyway, I can remember very little of the corps attended the first couple of weeks of spring training because either they were still in high school or the corps agreed to let them march even though they could not attend for other reasons because recruitment was so difficult. There were weekdays at camp that we probably had less than half of the hornline at rehearsal. We performed in exhibition at our first couple of shows because the show was a real train wreck early in the season. 

The last few weeks of the season were such a fun ride. I remember a few times the corps members insisting that we stay on the field during dinner and shower time to rehearse. Phantom beat us the Sunday before finals and then finished 6 spots behind us. 

As for Star, there was definitely a perception and some rumors flying around about how easy they had it. I don't remember much booing but we did not see them outside of big regionals. They did have the nicest buses of any corps. At the time few discussed that the reason they were so nice is that they needed to be well maintained to be used as charter buses. When Cadets started doing that, our buses also improved dramatically. I do not remember feeling  anything other admiration for them just like the rest of the corps. I am sure this is pretty common but I watched vhs tapes of pbs broadcasts for so many years and the corps members seem like gods. Then I march a top 12 corps and after a few rehearsals I no longer feel that way about myself or my corps, but when the other corps pull into the lot, it is like meeting a superstar or something. I think that is mostly how I felt about Star. I saw first hand that the member experience was pretty similar to ours. I can remember the crowd reaction when they were announced in 3rd. I think it was more shock than anything else but nothing like the shock of Phantom coming in 8th (and the unfortunate gesture by their corps director).

Anyway, if you ever have a chance, check out the semi finals performance. The intonation is somewhat better (but still not as good as other years I marched) and there is a little less muddiness in parts of the show that i noticed appeared on finals night. 

What section were you in? I have a friend who marched soprano in that horn line. 

 

Also what the heck happened to Phantom in 92? I had never looked at those season scores before. I'm just trying to imagine how they went from within half a point of Cadets to 6 points behind them less than a week later.

[JFitz19]

 Regarding the booing of  Star  and the announcer admonishing the crowd,  that was two years earlier at the Preview of Champions in Madison in 1991.   I was at that show, and I also attended the show in Ypsilanti in 1993, and my memory is very clear about those shows. There was no major booing in Ypsilanti, as I recall.   I also think, as others have pointed out here in the past, that the harsh reception of Star of Indiana was more of a Midwest phenomenon. I saw the corps early-season in 1992 in Beverly Massachusetts, where they received a warm reception. They were also very well received the previous year in Lynn Massachusetts when they won at Manning Bowl.  Massachusetts got along just fine with Star.

 

[redhaven]

I was also in the soprano line. My name is Rich  

Phantom had a rough run at finals. I always sensed that they were too pumped up finals night. They actually beat us 6 days before finals!

http://corpsreps.com/scores.cfm?view=scoreshow&showid=1992188

I don't have a copy of Phantom's show but I think I remember a member of the guard dropped and lost her rifle in full view of the rest of the corps early on. Sometimes when you are all pumped up, the air all comes out when something bad happens.

[redhaven]

7 hours ago, JFitz19 said:

 Regarding the booing of  Star  and the announcer admonishing the crowd,  that was two years earlier at the Preview of Champions in Madison in 1991.   I was at that show, and I also attended the show in Ypsilanti in 1993, and my memory is very clear about those shows. There was no major booing in Ypsilanti, as I recall.   I also think, as others have pointed out here in the past, that the harsh reception of Star of Indiana was more of a Midwest phenomenon. I saw the corps early-season in 1992 in Beverly Massachusetts, where they received a warm reception. They were also very well received the previous year in Lynn Massachusetts when they won at Manning Bowl.  Massachusetts got along just fine with Star.

 

I would agree with that observation. Star was at DCI East in 92 and I do not remember much booing and if there is anywhere where a non "EAST" corps would have been booed it would have been there back in the days when fans would watch prelims in the morning and spend the day cooking out and drinking copious amounts of alcohol before finals at night. I wish they still did that!

I went back and looked to confirm Star was at DCI E and they were only a point ahead of us at prelims there. Sifting through the scores from that year is really interesting. It seemed like we were beaten by everyone until Aug 6.