Leaderboard

Crown at War Memorial Stadium in Arkansas via Twitter pic

I like the Rite of Spring in it's original form, so I'vebeen looking forward to this, and a friend sent it to me last night. Plan ole boy,you better be sitting down. I really enjoyed the musical arrangements. Not chop and boppy at all, allowed phrases to develop. I hope it doesnt get tweaked too much and the visual doesn't #### it up, but this is easily the most I have enjoyed listening to BD since the Godfather show

Well, CHASING AMY was pretty brilliant, CLERKS was a strong debut film, but I don't think I'd say Kevin Smith is anything CLOSE to a god... :tongue: :tongue: :tongue:

From what I understand, they intend to take the beeping out sometime before Finals. We will wait to see how the beeping develops through the season though.

It doesn't take 1080p Super HD mega Blu Ray to see some feet not moving in time and other visual aspects that weren't clear when compared to other JUNE videos released by other corps. But you know. That slow horn snap was probably just the "subpar and bad quality 2013 technology"'s fault, am I right?

I see a lot of people placing Cavies around the 6-8 region in their predictions and I think that's a mistake. Keep in mind that it was hardly the members keeping them down last year but the vehicle itself. I thought they did a fantastic job of performing the trainwreck that was 15 minutes of fame. There was just no way to push that show forward, no matter how well it was performed. This year looks like a much more promising return for the green machine! I love the musical selections and can't wait to see them bounce back from such a down year. Keep this show on your radar because they're going to be out to prove that last year serves as no reflection on the previous decade of dominance. I can't wait!

Yeah, I just watched that run and got chills during the ballad. Why? Because I wasn't being distracted by some college kid telling me about two lovers on a park bench and wondering what that had to do with E=mc2 and why was he telling me this over a gorgeous ballad that is totally separate from the source the narration is pulled from, especially when the guard seems to be acting it out fairly well all by their lonesome and god I wish he would just shut up, this has gotta be as awkward for him as it is for me, did none of us learn from the whole debacle that was the 2008 Cadets, I know the big hit is coming, but it doesn't matter because I just want this entire number to be over so I don't have to listen to this little diddy about Jack and Diane from this kid who wasn't even born when that song came out and I wonder what they're gonna do next year, boy this camera is shaky, my battery's low but I left my charger at work, who puts all these ads on YouTube videos anyway, do I get another gin and tonic, I think I get another gin and tonic, Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home....

Cesario has a great job. He's involved in the activity more than so many others and has more often than not influenced the direction of more than one group for the positive. I also think he is one of the most genuinely positive people the activity has ever seen.

I was hyped for this show when I saw the music. Now I heard the recording, and I am beyond pumped. This is awesome. I've been "meh" on BD the last few years, but IMO this has potential to be one of their best ever.

Those runs are insane. I can't even move my fingers that fast on an instrument, and yet they have all 84 of them doing that. Pretty amazing. Just a week until I get to see it live! Can't wait!

Good lord I hope that's not the actual ending of their show...

The last couple of years, I have live-Tweeted at shows and written several reviews for posting here on DCP. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly for the live-Tweeting. However, when it comes to show reviews, there is a certain vocal minority who tend to respond to my (and others) reviews either publicly in the thread or via private message with vitriol and contempt. Many show reviewers have simply stopped bothering to write here on DCP as a result of general nastiness. I'm not talking about simple debating or taking an opposing view to something written... debate is excellent. I'm specifically talking about readers who think that because someone has been critical of their favorite corps' performance the reviewer must somehow be biased against them or hate that corps. It's worse when it's members, staff, or in one particular case, a corps director that crosses the line. When I Tweet or review, I'm giving you my honest assessment of what I have seen and heard, based on years as a marching member and staff member of several DCI and DCA corps. It's evident that other reviewers are doing the same thing. I was seriously considering live-Tweeting only, and not writing any show reviews on DCP this year. However, after discussing it with some DCP members I trust, have decided to take one more stab at it. I'll be writing a post-Wildwood review, and I encourage others to do so as well. Having said that, if you choose to take issue or rebut what I (or any other commentor) says, think before you write. Attack the issue, not the person, and remember that the writer, whether the reviewer or fellow commentor, just might have more experience and know more than you do. Debate me. Correct me where I've made a factual error. Do the same for others. But how about we all, myself included, have a little respect for the people that take the time to write show reviews. If we don't, we might find there aren't any left. Leave the jack##### at the door, ok? You can follow me on Twitter via @loudbrass. I'll be live Tweeting from Wildwood this weekend. I'm fine with someone reposting my Tweets in the DCP show thread as well.

Like Jim said... no offense at all, Geoff. You're right. But it seemed that... back then... we (the corps from that era) almost felt like a failure if we didn't have a complete package ready at the first show. (Of course, we made changes during the season, cleaned a lot of stuff up and got better... but the product was reasonably "in shape" by the first show.) I know in Sun, in 1980, coming off two DCA titles and a third-place finish in 1979, we basically knew we were in for a rougher-than-usual season when we didn't finish our drill until only a couple of days before the first show on Memorial Day weekend. Usually, we'd have the entire package finished at least a weekend or two before. In 1980, we were out of our comfort zone. (Heh... those who marched in that corps that year know we were in a variety of "zones" that entire summer. Stories for another day. ) No matter what the era, or type of show, it all comes down to preparation. A corps knows, months in advance, when the season begins. It is then up to a given corps to make every reasonable effort to put a complete package on the field at the start of the season. People are paying good money to see those shows; they deserve a good product... if there isn't one, those fans might not come back.

Crazy lightning and rain delaying start of Experience show out near the San Antonio Airport. Gorgeous facility Texas style with great views for the staff. Ensemble rehearsal last night cooked. Very mature brass sound for this early and some show stopper licks in pretty much all sections. Real "Crossmen Style" percussion section - high energy, high intensity. Guard looks great and well integrated into the show. Making this kind of concept show (Protest) work is really a huge undertaking, but the preshow and electronics help set it up. I have to admit that by the end of "We Shall Overcome" at the show's end I had tears streaming down my face. I very much dig the sound, the intensity of the kids, amd the energy that comes with exploring unfamiliar concepts. It sounds to me like they'll have time to make this show succeed as these young people are pretty polished. Looks like they're going to start this up 30 min late as a local announcer attempts to whip up some enthusiasm from a soggy crowd. I fear that we'll see no pit if this rain doesn't subside. Well worth making the trip from Dallas though as it's great to see this storied organization in such good shape this early on.

Nope, not crazy. I loved the entire 07 show, narration and all. It totally worked for me as a complete package.

Absolutely cannot wait to go watch them rehearse next Tuesday with some friends! I'll make sure to give a review of what I see.

Obviously, this is the time of the season where everybody is experimenting with what works and what doesn't. Props to Crown for first trying the narration live, but in the original the "park bench" narration is performed by a very, very old man, and that changes the context completely (i.e., he's reminiscing about two lovers in the distant past, one of them probably himself). I think they would be much better off with a pre-recorded narration by a suitably crusty old guy. Imagine if the Blue Devils' narration last year was done by a member in unaccented English. It would have been baffling, and not in the way they intended.

I'm guessing they're getting new uniforms next year since they cut off all the right sleeves this year.

Hahaha you can still see where the coin from last year's show was sewn on the jacket.

Here are some new Crown vids I just found. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asA4jwgilUw

I'm not sure what the big deal is with 72 brass...I thought I read somewhere that the Cadets are also fielding 72 brass this year as well...I could be wrong...I'm sure someone may correct me...LOL

As one alumni on this board.........YES we ALL think Kevin is GOD!!! Nothing ground breaking there. Of the alumni that I communicate with…..everyone falls into 2 categories- love it or neutral and want to see it on the field before commenting. I’m very sure there is a pocket of folks that do not like them. Most love it and it likely has to do with the chameleon corps thing (although they were in “Cream” about half of their history), but I’m getting that it’s liked because they are out there challenging the norm and standing out from everyone else. I have found that Jim Coates is very receptive in talking about the corps direction and listen to our concerns. Yes we don’t have the numbers of most other corps, but I know there is a vocal group that they hear from regularly. At the end of the day- it does not matter the type/ color of uniform/ costume is worn. It’s all about how a show “Speaks” to you and what you get out of the show. Which is the beauty of Drum Corps- if you don’t like show “X” just wait there is another group next. Just my 2 cents

So, I finally saw the video of the run-through and honestly, based on what I read on here, I though the narration was going to be worse than what I saw. I honestly don't see what's so bad about it. Sure, it's not traditional, but where would any of us be if we all just stuck to tradition. Tradition has to change some time, and Crown chose for it to change now.

Definitely a pleasent well done show. Drill can not be adequately assessed from this camera view but the music can be best appreciated considering they are doing drill and this most difficult tonguing. Can't help noticing some parallels to BD 2012's show design. Battery does not march well at all even for the simple side to side movements seen here. Singers are superlative, but the counting should make them be considered drum majors, ha, ha. Reminds me of the old SCV trick of having the soloist stand at the point where the next formation was to begin, etc. new unis may fit well with this style drill At least 3 places where they could have been making the Crown.

Carolina Crown 2013 production E = mc2 <br style="outline: none 0px; box-sizing: border-box; ">First Full Run With Drill, June

I remember making phone calls to Drum Corps World or Drum Corps News in the early 70s to get scores. In 1974 I was working as news director at a Minneapolis radio station, and I'll never forget that Sunday in August when the Associated Press sent out the finals scores from the DCI Championship the night before in Ithaca, NY. I tore it off the teletype, and I still have it today.

if you listen to the past couple of years' concert in the park the music seems to be disconnected as well ... I'm sure there are transitions to be added and maybe they didn't "play all their cards" yet...

1) No. Wildwood has been Father's Day Weekend since its beginning in 2004. Unlike Christmas being December 25th of every year, or the 4th of July always falling on, well, the 4th of July, it is more like Labor Day. Mobile. 2) It is the same corps year after year who don't have finished shows. Give members a reason to be there on non-WGI/winter circuit days. Build the show from Day 1. Rebuilding or not, if you do not have a complete show, come up with a creative end to the performance. Not just suddenly turn and march off the field. Casual spectators = newcomers in reality. Hook a newcomer in and they will come back, or even travel an hour to a show. Lose them from the start and they aren't coming back again. 3) Your reasoning is similar to those who used to show up at the SAT's, sign their name and get the basic score. Don't paying customers deserve a little bit more than "Hey!! We're here! You should be happy with that!" 4) See the latter part of point 2. I've been around DCA since '91 (as a participant) and 2001 as a spectator. Every year the guards go later into the season to complete their books. It is visually a fail, and GE-wise a fail. As a relative newcomer if they could tell you the difference in guard work and they will tell you no. As that relative newcomer if they got as much out of Show A or Show B and they are smart enough to know the difference.

Is it looking to dine on Class A or Open? ...

Man those baris sound good. Love it!

No offense intended, but I've always felt like statements like this were a bit extreme. The activity continues to evolve, as it always has, but it will always be drum corps. Only Crown can do what they do. It's not like next year we'll see the Cadets in pajamas or SCV in space jumpsuits. When I say this I'm not targeting you or anyone in particular, but sometimes I feel like some people feel that if a uniform isn't modeled after whatever period they consider to be the "glory years" of the activity, then it's not fit for drum corps. Again, I'm not saying that's how you feel, but I've never agreed with that way of thinking. For the record, I wasn't a really big fan of Crown's '10-'12 uniform but I applauded them for trying something totally different.

I would like to see it again- I remember having the biggest anxiety watching that show at finals because I was horrified and disgusted with some idiots in the crowd- all those rude ### comments interfered with a great show for me....:devil:/>

Okay, so we know that Crown is going to have a top-notch brass line and music book, and if all goes similar to the last few years, will place in the top 3 in Brass Performance, Music Ensemble, and Music GE. But what about their Visual Program? To be a champion, you gotta have a championship visual design, which the Blue Devils seem to have mastered the past few years. Now, I could go into detail as to my observations on some of the "tricks" BD has used since ~2008, but instead, I want to focus on what Crown will do / can do to make their visual book be as immersive as their music book: - How will the ideas of Energy, Mass, Speed, and Light be explored (the name of the show is E=mc^2, after all)? - Regarding light, how can the concept of light being both a particle and a wave be visualized on the field? - Though this relates more to quantum mechanics rather than relativity, how about visualizing the "Double-slit Experiment" on the field? Any other thoughts/suggestions?

Whew! That brass book! Hope they can pull it off by August!

He must have heard Hopkins say again, No company front! :thumbdown:/>

Tomorrow. Or maybe tonight.

....except the judge's of course.

All of these. Also once a week they'd be the regularly scheduled 1 hour Wed. Nite Boston area radio station that'd inteview staff, instuctors, Drum Majors, record co. execs, show sponsors, fans, etc... they'd be Drum Corps News, Drum Corps World, Drum Corps Digest arriving in the mail at intevals.... Both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald had beat writers that covered the local Corps frequently and would provide detailed monthly columns, sometimes with pictures to their readers. The activity was a 12 month activity, so they'd be open practices by the 2 dozen or more Corps in the area... every third house in your neighborhood had someone involved in some Drum Corps. There were 5 Corps represented by someone in their family within a 500 yard radius of my house for example.....there were Drum Corps standstill exhibitions in January at Boston's Symphony Hall ( recorded by Fleetwood Records to later be sold to attendees and fans nationally ) and Standsill Competitions in April at either the Boston Garden or Boston University...there were Color Guard competitions most of the winter in the area...every other Community in your region had a Drum Corps so you'd bump into people with Corps jackets on all the time while out and about... The Boston Commonwealth Armory would have a Corps practicing there every couple of nights.... They'd be the annual off season Drum Corps Miltary style Ball and Dance with the annual Local King and Queen chosen from among the local Corps ( and pics published in the Boston Globe ) .........so as a result of all these things, there was a constant flow of both real time information as well as the bi monthly published Newspapers 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year about what what going on locally, regionally in the off season in both the Juniors and the Senior Corps. Today, DCI Drum Corps has essentially been reduced to an activity that has a blockout of activity for approx. 44 weeks out of the season. Today's Drum Corps are much more secretive of what is going on, which of course leads to more unfounded rumors, and wild speculation, and just flat out bad information which later proves to have been just fiction. In earlier times, practices were open to all, and so there was a constant daily stream of mostly solid information from multiple sources, including one's own personal, one on one, sources as to the goings on with the 12 month long Drum Corps activity. ' Hope this helps you understand how easy it used to be to secure real time information ( at least in some regions anyway ) about the Drum Corps activity at any given point in time of the year.

I'd love to see them go WC and kick some ###

So would be cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Change, merely to have change is wrong, although exciting to some. Good things get lost and people get hurt. One must weigh the benefits and losses. I believe I have stated some serious losses regarding the judge's sheets and as one who has been to many judging seminars and rules congresses. You nor has anyone here mentioned any benefits of tinkering with the stripes and uniform other than change for change's sake.

Hmmm, it's rough.. But in all fairness I'm comparing this video to SCV, Crown and Phantoms preseason posts and those three are trying to take it all.

Well now, 'sa'bout time I got off my butt and did somethin' around here... hehe! Yes, FB!E is proud to return to the field with our all new Season XX "Adventures in Music" programs, determined to rouse the crowds from their symphonic slumbers and get some feet a'stompin. Leading our return, FB!E's World Class Crimson Lions will quickly get things jumping, recalling the glitz of late night TV in their production of "The Tonight Show". Featuring arrangements from big-band bonanzas, they sure do hope to get some seats swinging! - "Tonight Show Theme" (Doc Severinsen) - "Sing, Sing, Sing" (Tommy Newsome) - "Tuxedo Junction" (Al Hirt) - "Stardust" (Artie Shaw) - "In the Mood" (Doc Severinsen) - "Tonight Show Theme" reprise (Doc Severinsen) Barreling back to the scene, the high-flying antics of the Oostburg Barnstormers scream for attention as they travel from California to Maryland in "Coast to Coast". They wanted to call it the "Oostburg World Tour" but then realized they never really leave the states... An assistant did point out, however, the lyrics from the original song they open with does say "We'll be leaving (on tour) as soon as we're paid!" - "World Tour" (The Tubes) - "Funky Nassau" (unsure) - "Young and Rich" (The Tubes) - "Futurama Theme" extended drum solo (unsure) - "Madam, I'm Adam" (the Tubes) The single bright spot of Season XVIII was the surprising finalist appearance of our Privateers. Brimming with spiced rum confidence, these agents of fortune sail off on another action-filled adventure - this time to the dark and steamy swamps in the quest of "Aqua de Vida", the Water of Life. I honestly have no idea what it is they are playing but is sure is a highly engaging enterprise! Cheers and Good Fortunes to all in the DCP-I Season XX tour! See ya on the field.

I didn't think I'd even notice, but the lack of pants stripe really bugs me. Looks ... weird. I know, I know, progress and all of that. Just... weird. Mike

It may just be me comparing them to the Cadets and the other videos, but isn't this a bit rough even for early season?

Military uniforms (the ancestor of Drum Corps uniforms) are worn by the military to distinguish them from civilians - it is a part of the international Law of Armed Conflict (sometimes referred to as the Geneva Conventions). Military uniforms technically have to identify the country the soldier is from - i.e., U.S. Army. The fact that one is uniformed military allows certain privileges. For example - captured military are considered POWs. But combatants not in uniform can be shot as spies. But more on-topic - I like it when guard uniforms are indeed uniform.

Defensively cultish? ......................................................................................................... Ok, I can see that! You can have your thread back, it's only slightly dented! :tongue:/>

George Hopkins.

I stand up to clap after every corps performance, regardless. Some more enthusiastic than others, but everyone gets a standing O from me. Members in the smaller corps are always punished by indifferent fans (or fans who don't show up until the bigger corps are on). This attitude perpetuates the "auditioning for a top corps or bust" mentality that wrecks smaller corps. To me, trying to bolster those guys doesn't equate to the "everybody gets a trophy" mentality.

NEW UPDATE: More video from the Cadets in beautiful HD! (again, via YEA YouTube channel) Adagio for Strings and part one of Barber's First Symphony! YAY!!!