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What do people think of the Blue Knights' preshow from 2011's "An English Folksong Suite?" I thought it was emotionally stirring and really set the tone for a beautifully done show.

2008 Blue Stars: Le Tour Their warmup (Faure's Pavane) is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever played on the field.

Phantom Regiment 1977. I recall seeing Phantom Regiment live that year in Boston and people who attended DCI East the previous night mentioned that Phantom had a :"warm up" that was its own mini-show for those who did not buy tickets for "concert side seating. Now this would have been the days when warm ups were "How loud can you get" (I miss warm ups). A corps could not face the front and move without the start gun going off and incurring a penalty. Phantom warmed up to Leroy Anderson's "Phantom Regiment" and it was its own little show but since they faced backfield, they could move without a penalty. So I ran to the backfield seating to see the warm up, which was a preshow and ran back to my seat to see the actual show.

That is the classic question... I was at a show in Pittsburg PA with BAC in 1993 - the corps played a great show on a clear night under a full moon. After retreat the show sponsors threw what amounted to a block party for all the corps. I was just walking around drinking it in, already being an old man (41) and talked to kids from various corps all over the place. It was like tour paradise with kids from all 7 corps mingling and getting to know each other (no cell phones, no FaceBook, not even MySpace). I bumped into some kids from VK and asked "how you guys doing?" One young man responded "I don't know yet." I was sincerely puzzled and asked "You don't know yet? When will you know?" and he replied, dead serious, "When I see if we make finals in 2 weeks." I said, "and if you don't get in, tonight wasn't any fun?" His response, "That's just about the size of it." I don't think we did that to him, and I don't think he was indicative of most kids, but it was mind-boggling. I had lived through it with the 84 Bridgemen falling out of finals and ending one of the great runs of all times, but many of those kids were still tight, and as awful as that underfunded (unfunded?) tour was it remains one of my great memories. So, if you get to a finals corps God bless you, but if you can't do this activity unless you're int he top 12, I humbly suggest you're looking for the wrong activity. That's not drum corps.

Or Sun Devils. Or Shenandoah Sound. Or Cincinnati Tradition. Etc., etc. Until we get a look at the corps on the field this summer, I don't see a "lock" here.

Cavies 2010- Mad World The pre show set the mood for the entire show. Loved the mix of recorded and live. It's one of my favorite moments from 2010. Well thought out by the staff and great performance by the men.

Unfortunately this is what is wrong with drum corps today...BITD we built national contenders with local kids, not joined them.

Would your entire season be ruined if you made it into a top-12 corps that fell out of Finals for a year?

There is still time to join us for the Perry 200 Grand Patriotic Parade and concert scheduled for May 25th in Erie. The deadline is fast approaching however. Payment for your uniform ($35 for shirt and cap) is due by April 14th. Join us if you can for this once in a lifetime historic event...71 brass, 32 percussion, and still growing. thunderbirds@erie.net or check us out on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/104040176299910/

The 23rd Dixie Stinger will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2013, 6PM, at Parkville High School, 2600 Putty Hill Avenue, Parkville, MD 21234. http://yankeerebelsa...ie_Stinger.html Tickets: Adults: $15 7-11 yrs: $7 Under 7: Free! Send your ticket requests to bwagner21@verizon.net. For a great evening of Drum Corps entertainment come on out and bring your family & friends. Their will be a great variety of food, hot and cold selections, deserts, soft drinks, and much more. Our Emcee - Mr. Fran Haring Performing at the show will be: Middle River Ancients - Batimore, MD Archer Epler Musketeers Drum & Bugle Corps - Upper Darby, PA American Original Fife & Drum Corps - Washington, DC Selden Cadets Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps -Long Island, NY Lancers Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps - Hanover, PA Reilly Raiders Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps - Willow Grove, PA. Hawthorne Caballeros Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps - Hawthorne, NJ

I doubt it. Many are participating BECAUSE it's a one shot deal. However, the corps has been inactive for a couple of years and this might just jump start it again, at least on a local level. As I have been told by the management, "Baby steps"!

It was the Summer of 1987 while at band camp and our Band director had us take a break from the afternoon heat. He pops a tape into the vcr then All things great and glorious came before me. We watched Vanguard and Garfield. What was this thing called DCI and Drum and Bugle corps and why I hadn't heard of it before today? First live performance was 1990 RCC Show.

You had me at Mr Fran Haring... but unfortunately lost me on the date - we're doing the "Walk for Wishes" out here in Dallas for the "Make a Wish Foundation" that day. Hope the show rocks - will see you at Archie's show on April 26th - have to make one more Brass Reunion before I die. I'll never forget the "Requiem for an Era" that We did with Rebs' Alumni that one year though. That was fun, complete with haze and lights. Great piece done well. Makes you warm all over. Make it a good show!

bonnie and i want to wish you all a happy easter. be safe and enjoy your time with your families. where is the queen??? she has abandoned us in our time of need.

It's the way it's been since the 70s. This isn't new, and had nothing to do with the G7. Kids in band look at Troopers and Blue Stars and want to march there instead of their local OC corps too.

Ok; if you were a Junior in any of the well-known hs bands around the nation; your parents were already paying the multi-thousands of dollars in fees to be in the marching band; you were going to the BOA Grand Nationals and other out-of-state contests; your summer was already packed with hs camps and sectionals; would you (and especially your parents) want to fly you back and forth to say Rockford, IL, pay Regiment another multi-thousand in fees, and try to figure out a way to overcome the Sumner conflicts? This is not the 1970's hs band scene and 1970's drum corps scene any longer, (no matter how much you want to wax poetic in the world of nostalgia).

The Selden Cadets are looking forward to their first appearance in this great show! See you all next Saturday! Irene Allan Business Manager

This is one of the best posts I have seen on DCP in a long time...Youth, meet Wisdom; Wisdom, Youth.

There occasionally are openings that develop due to injuries and school requirements, but even when those occur, corps generally call those who didn't make the first cut, as they had already tried out and are already known to the staff. There have been exceptions when corps have gone out into the public to find someone, but that's because the ones they tried to call back weren't available and had gone on to do other things, such as commitments to jobs and internships. Personally if I were a corps director, I'd want someone who wanted my corps because of what the corps is...what it stands for...how it impacts its members, and not because they were choosing my corps because of our placement.

I respect your freedom to make your own decisions, honest I do. But this ONLY wanting to march top 12 mentality is why I really despise the instant gratification culture we have allowed to develop not only in drum corps, but in our entire country. No offense, and please do not take this personally, but here is me hoping that you make a contending corps (which finishes 13th).

Too late. " Top 12 Corps " have already been determined for 2013, so I " feel terrible " in telling you that you are probably SOOL at this stage.

I said the same thing at the beginning of the season. Im aging out I auditioned at a top corps and almost got a callback. They sent me info to other groups and i had about 5 options. Couple in the top 12 and couple outside. I decided id rather go with a group with someone to prove with a bunch of great additions and some people I knew. Its no guarantee ill make finals but im gonna give everything i can to be there saturday night. And just because they were top 12 last year doesnt mean they will be this year.

One's self-esteem should not be proportional to one's placement at the DCI World Championships.

...at least in some universe!

Beat me to it! They followed up with Van der Roost's Stonehenge and Canterbury Cathedral. 97 and 98 are a couple of my very favorite shows.

From the Crown FB Page: Hello Oklahoma! We are looking for a housing location in the Oklahoma City/Edmond/Norman area for 2 rehearsal days on June 16th & 17th as we make our way to the West Coast. Please contact nancy@carolinacrown.org with any information.

True story. But they also have quite the head start on a corps like Crown. Crown made Finals for the first time in 1995, at which point BD already had 7 titles. So even while they are the corps to beat, I think Crown is quickly becoming the corps to beat in the brass caption. Not to diminish the accomplishments of the Blue Devils at all, they have had some amazing brass lines in the past.

It's not really a myth. Their brass has been very successful in the eyes of the judges over the past few years. The same judges that have been putting BD at the top overall. As a matter of fact, I believe BD won brass the year they played the "atonal" show in question. No, Crown is not infallible when it comes to brass performance. But I think they have begun to establish themselves as the "corps to beat" in that particular caption. Much like BD is the corps to beat overall in any given year.

Annnnnnnd, someone missed the joke.

And, Golf Claps!

well...I am referring to the hundreds of local corps that have been replaced by the thousands of competitive bands...I've said that many times here in DCP. WC corps are looked up to by the band kids...as they are seen as the very best in doing what the bands do. That is pretty much the same as it was back in the day when the local corps looked up to the class 'A' Big Corps (e.g. Blessed Sac and Garfield here in NJ).

Competitive MB and drum corps are not 'two different things' anymore. That is why you don't understand why the thousands of competitive MB have replaced the hundreds of local corps.

Whatever yo. Everyone wants BD to lose.. I'll concede to the "fact." The main reason people don't like them is because they don't want them to win. We all hate BD.

Come on. You say that a tepid crowd reaction to a BD performance doesn't necessarily mean that they dislike the show, but you're able to gauge the emotional support a crowd has for a particular corps to beat the Blue Devils?? I guess we all see what we want to see. And are you suggesting that the crowd won PR's championship for them back in '08?

Lol things never change here. BD Fans: "Lots of fans find BD entertaining; they just choose not to show it by standing up and applauding. Those who comment on bad design or lack of audience engagement or no entertainment are simply ABBD drones. They're choosing not to be entertained." Rest of DCP : "BD's musical arrangements are little more than sound effect tracks to their visual presentation. The melody and continuity have been replaced by beep-bop-boops; the original pieces are virtually unrecognizable. I appreciate their excellence but their design only engages the judges. I miss when BD played recognizable music and melodic phrases longer than 16 counts." BD Fans: Complain they get no respect. And proceed to dis-respect every other top corps. Eventually they just call you a hater. Rest of DCP: Complain they're not really ABBD. They actually like BD -- just not their recent design trends.

Shhhhhhhhhh... do not tell that the the 7; they think they are the real draw!

. The question of mass approval and getting the crowds on their feet can be answered in a point I have previously made involving 2010. As the season wore on, the crowd was emotionally behind Bluecoats in their march towards finals (more, IMO, then they were towards the Cavaliers). But when the Bluecoats faded slightly at Indy, the crowd shifted dramatically to the Cavies, IMO, as if to say "the Cavies are now the guys that have the best shot at unhinging the Devs and we're going to pull them across the finish line" like we did PR. That has, again IMO, as much to do with mass approval and reaction than the crowd's being entertained or reaction to BD's show and performance on it's face. Some will suggest all of that ABBD stuff is minor, I will suggest that it is substantial and has a momentum of it's own. In short, despite what's said on DCP, the Devs will not enjoy the level of fan reaction that other top contenders enjoy until they drop out of the top three for several years and several other corps are champions. If you choose not to call that ABBD, call it "spreading the wealth" or "we're sick of here we go again". NOTE: BTW, I wish the outcome in 08 would have been different, but PR was off the charts good and deserved it.

:blink:/> A gross mis-characterization and unfair in every respect. Challenging someone when they use hurtful language (not that you did) when describing the work of a remarkable corps and their staff (including any corps) will never be defined by me as "insulting". And although in my early years of 08-09, I was PM'd and counseled a few times by veteran BD DCPer's telling me to "let it go, it's what they do on here when BD is discussed", I am quite sure that I have always tried to be respectful of other opinions (including yours). That wasn't necessary Jeff.

No, it is not as strawman. It is true. Why does the season matter in such a discussion? It doesn't. Also...no it is not an either/or thing.

They are all part of the same activity, so it is indeed germane to the discussion. I don't separate the two as you do.

Madison 2010

I don't see the joke. I think it was some swipe at BD for the music that they put out in 2010.

Well, with 23 brass trophies I think BD is the corps to beat in that caption.

Reaching a bit there but he or she should be looking at all corps if he/she really thinks they are good enough.

The slow way of doing it is "Move when you see the person next to you start to move." The fast way of doing it is "Move when you see the person five people over from you start to move." It's really that simple.

I REALLLYY want to march this summer, but what makes it terrible is I ONLY want to march Top 12.... If anyone could help push me in the right direction of a corps that is in need of a mellophone, It would be much appreciated