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So I got to fooling around with making animated gifs out of the coolest drill moves from this year, and I decided I'd go all out and do all the finalists (plus Troopers). What other moves do you like from this season? Crown Blue Devils (I actually like the rotating box better but it wasn't shown at all in the Semis VOD.) Cadets Vanguard (The circles merging into a giant ellipse was my favorite, but these things have a 10 second limit when you make them at imgflip.com.) Bluecoats Phantom Cavaliers Boston Madison Blue Knights Spirit Blue Stars Troopers

I clearly have too much time on my hands...

Completely false.

I'm going to be blunt... Dude, you need to stop viewing this like Political, Anti-gun statement. Even if Hopkins blatantly said" I'm not using rifles because I am anti-gun" (which he hasn't) it does not effect the activity, your life, or anything else. You hate it only because of the implied political leanings and not because of the actual act. If a pro-gun corps director decided to not use rifles or sabers for artistic reason is it any different? If a pro-gun director decided to call them "implements of war" would you be angry? What's frustrating me with you is that you only care about this, and you are only calling it foolish because, as you admitted, is because of the implied context of a director who may lean a certain way politically. IT doesn't matter! For you this all about George's politics and not actually about teh words used or the aesthetic decision to not use implements of war... And that's annoying.

You know, there are psychologists who can help talk you through this psychosis of yours. Really, they can help. Wishing to relive one's youth is not an uncommon affliction, but most would agree that, at some point, you have to make the decision to move on with your life. With work and constant attention to what's good in the activity you'll be able to destroy these monsters in your head. I promise. And you can look forward to a much more enjoyable future if you'll just trust those around you and be open to the possibility that there's a better life ahead for you. You can do it. It's really nothing, compared to the effort the MM's expend in the course of a season.

You don't sound harsh. You sound naive. Like someone who has never done it. There's a big difference. There you go - you got your opinion in. I got mine. Hope I don't sound harsh.

My ideal DCI Finals weekend: Going to Allentown

Hey Chaos; any reply to this? You could make it just as interesting for us to read as some replies were to John Wooton.

All of you are thinking FAR too small. My ideal DCI weekend would consist of completing the following checklist, in no particular order... - Conducting Phantom's horn warm up - Designing a new, improved uniform for the Oregon Crusaders - The Cadets tenor line teaching me how to play (as in, from scratch.) - Learning how to spin & toss a rifle from the Blue Devil's guard (also starting from scratch. I'd bring my own helmet.) - Listening to the Battlestar Galactica soundtracks with the Bluecoat's music staff and bouncing arrangement ideas off of them - Creating a handful of drill sets and watching the Cavaliers try them out - Having a long chat over beers with Dan Acheson, Micheal Boo, Micheal Cesario, and just to keep things spicy, George Hopkins - Getting fundraising tips from whomever's in charge of such things at the Blue Devils - Conducting Vanguard in an on-field warmup - Shadowing a judge on the field to discover what the heck they're seeing & hearing - Co-announcing Finals with Brandt Crocker So that's my ideal DCI weekend. It's not too much too ask for, right???

This is the first time I've ever heard this. I'm going to go out on a limb and call this one gossip.

Enjoy.

Excellent first score for Heartliner. I am sure those kids were stoked at the size of the audience. I am sure they got a great reception! They will be a happy and tired bunch heading back to King of Prussia. Pennsauken will come up fast for them.

Absolutely this! I expected them to add this at finals. Close the book at the very last show, with a "The End" banner on the back cover.

This Hurricane's show is always a nostalgic time. You start rehearsing or at least meeting right after finals in September, push rehearsals through the long New England or East Coast winter and sort of sniff the air in late March like a groundhog to see if you can get out on a field. Then you're out and not rehearsing nearly enough music so that the visual program can catch up, and the days are endless, mixed with that incredible aroma of freshly cut grass. There are fields you were counting on that are now off limits because a football coach thinks that a 135 lb trumpet is going to do it more harm than a 300 lb steroid engorged High School junior whose only purpose in life is to take up space on a field to keep his quarterback looking good for the girls that the lineman can only dream about. Then comes the late spring when the corps finally realizes that the first show is no longer 6 months away and that they still need to get two productions on the field. And of course there's the guard staff making up work on the front sideline which makes you crazy when you think about spending hours every night until 2 and 3am getting each brass note and phrase just so, but you know you can't open your mouth about it - "they're artists"... then the season kicks off and you're pretty much where you thought you'd be, trying to catch Hawthorne, or Reading, or Empire or all of the above. Rehearsals turn into day long sweat-fests from which the same 1 - 3 players continuously sit out due to a twisted ankle or "I just don't feel well" but you keep plugging with what you've got. Around mid-July you start to hear most of the show that's been percolating in your head for 10 months, albeit through triple rolls at ff in the snares, quads, bass and (gasp) cymbals. At this point the pit still sounds like wind chimes in a hurricane - more incorrect notes and rhythms than correct. After hours of pushing in the hot sun you get a 45 min break to put your head down to think and what do you hear? Someone with a snare drum square in the middle of the field playing his (it's never a girl - they're too smart) brains out. If you're lucky it's actually a drummer. You notice that as much of the team is relaxing you have one of the 2nd baritones filling one of his colleagues' horns with water - really filling it - then placing it delicately back where it was left to sit. Just as you think you might close your eyes for 10 minutes the corps director approaches accompanied by a familiar face - the guy that used to write, teach, or solo for the corps back in its golden days. You wonder what the #### he's doing in Scranton, or Gloversville, or WestChester PA, or Harrisburg, or Nutley or wherever the #### you are that week. After greetings the director tells you that Bob (or Jim, or Ray - no, not Ray, or Joe) has come all the way there to see how things are going and wouldn't it be great if he got to talk to the corps? Sure! of course it would. You're trying to figure out which rehearsal block will be consumed by this old ######## trying to make himself relevant for 20 minutes. Now resting is out of the question. You head over to a stand of trees where the brass players are beginning to blow long low tones. There is one awful noise as baritone Bob activates a horn completely filled with water and the corresponding guffaws from the rest of his section, followed by imprecations from Bob. Now it will take an extra 5 minutes to get them focused, maybe not the worst thing on a hot day. Worst part? When the time comes for old Living Legend to deliver his pep talk you stand off to the side trying to look interested and slowly realize that he's speaking truth about the activity in a way that you've been too busy to deliver. Truth about teamwork, and caring, and what kind of effort it takes to be a part of something really important, and how the process forges friendships that withstand decades of neglect. Truth about building a champion, and being a champion, and sustaining a champion, and defending a brand. And you realize two things: a) they're listening. Somehow he overcame the bubbling baritone and taco salad lunches, and the general disinterest that is usually stamped on the faces of the drumline when any non-drummer is speaking. and b) you're listening. You recognize the truth, and why this activity has meant so much to you since you were a kid, and why you'd rather be there with this team than anywhere else with anyone else. And more important, why this guy WAS a living legend, and maybe why the corps' golden days coincided with his stewardship. And you're appreciative, and maybe even a little jealous, although you've had your share of success as well. And the summer burns on and the results are like a see-saw: up at shows you didn't think you nailed; down when you thought they had put it all out there. You listen to tapes, you listen to the competition, you listen to your line, you listen to your heart, and finally you listen to your head and figure out how best to position these folks for the last couple of weeks. And it doesn't all come to a boil at championships. It's at the Hurc's show in Bridgeport, or West Haven, or maybe Derby depending on the year. Championships are still a week away but you're now pretty certain about what you got out of this year's show, and in general terms what the next week will be like. From here on in you're like a boxing manager trying to make sure your guy is stepping into the ring completely ready. And the nostalgia slips in... all the moments of certainty, doubt, inspiration, arguments, stubbornness, pride, heat, cold, laughter, some held back tears some years. And you wonder whether you'll be back to do it again. It's a young person's activity, and after you get to enough August 24th shows you are not longer a young person. You've skipped promotions at work... some summers completely gave up work to do this. In some cases you now work for a guy or girl that used to work for you. The pay is not what it could have been if you had focused 100% on the job, and the pay from your corps that year is hovering about 50% of what you agreed on going into the last week. On August 25th the only thing you're sure of is that you've got one week to go, and that you did everything you could think of doing. If you see staff members or players at the Bridgeport show tonight with a sort of unfocused glassy look it could very well be nostalgia... or a wide range of psycho pharmaceuticals. But that's for another rant...

Don't think I haven't thought of it - my trombone has been kicking my ### all summer. For Annapolis I've been too busy editing my "thank you" speech... it's now down to the same length as the Gettysburg Address... Like this part: "I'd like to thank the Academy, although I have no #*@^@ing idea what that show was about..." I have this fantasy of going into a show with my own little family micro-minicorps... Ray Jr on trumpet; Dan on Trumpet; myself on trombone; my grandson Connor who is playing a really strong trombone at 13; and my son Kevin on tuba; daughter Nancy on synth and percussion. Tammy could be a one girl guard. I keep waiting for 9 year old Meghan to play french horn. Maybe one day soon we'll see the group out there, but unfortunately not this Annapolis.

Three people voted for the Cabs in 10th. I wanna know what they smoke, it's got to be pretty strong.

Hope that everyone has a blast in Bridgeport Tonight ! So Wish we were there :-( Maybe Another year !

Someone mentioned low brass not being used as weapons. I beg to differ

At the inner city HS I worked at, I was told by a fellow music Educator that a kid went after an Assistant Principal in the band Room with a music stand. He picked the wrong Assistant Principal, the guy got off of a Murder Rap on Self-Defense a few years before this incident. He grabbed a Sousaphone, blocked the kid's swing, and then knocked him out cold with the Sousie. That's the closest I've ever heard of anyone actually using a Low Brass Instrument as a weapon. This principal was a decent guy, too. The look on his face when I brought in an empty fire extingusher that I used to put out a fire caused by a kid smoking and tossing the still lit butt into a trash barrel was, indeed, priceless.

And yet it's obviously a lot more than word choice for you.... It's painfully obvious, and that is in a response to what you wrote.

Thanks Chris for clarifying. Michael Gaines was not fired from the Cavaliers. And for those of you who don't know who Chris Lugo is.....look it up

Nah...one class only...if you want to do drill knowing that it doesn't count on your score, go ahead. I hope that this conversation trickles down to the people in charge and reminds the judges that drill doesn't count in the final score.

All insults, all the time. 100% argument free. Most of who? What population are you claiming to represent here? (that see it as nonsense.) I don't see anything silly about this ad content. Seems perfectly reasonable to me. I must be silly. What happened at the 1972 Olympics, Brasso? I believe you just made up the phrase "never been a problem with anyone for over 80 years" even though you had no idea what you were talking about. How could you possibly have evidence of such an absurd claim. The fact that the one person giving first hand historical experience on this thread had already in effect disproved you should give you pause. Maybe?

Caveat: Dmitri Shostakovich is my favorite composer. I have over 50 CDs of JUST Shostakovich music in my collection (maybe closer to 100). I have at least two different recordings of all of his symphonies and much of his recorded ballet and film score music. I have books about him, have studied him, and he is the primary influence on my composing style. This is not to imply that I'm more right or wrong than anyone else, just to warn you that I have OPINIONS in all caps when it comes to DSCH. That said... Defiant Heart has the best opener in DCI history: Jim Wren's masterwork arrangement of the Introduction to Fourth Ballet Suite (originally from Shostakovich's "Limpid Stream" if I'm remembering correctly). After that, though, the show is good-but-not-great for me. The youthful exuberance of Symphony No. 1 seems an odd mesh to the darkness of the opener and the closer. It seems too "playful" to match the rebellious attitude of the rest of the show. I think Symphony No. 11, Mvt. II and/or Symphony No. 15, Mvt. II would have been a better fit here. And, while the start of the Symphony No. 5 section is FANTASTIC, I can't get over how "untrue" to the original Phantom's finale is. The Finale to #5 is NOT supposed to be this driving blaze of glory. It's a sarcastic and bitter finale, a "phony" triumph, with ostinato repeated to the point of absurdity and modulation away from the major-key "triumph" (from DM to Gm and Bbm). It works as drum corps, but I'm too attached to the original work to fully appreciate the drum corps version, I guess. Spartacus just has great programming and execution. I felt the visual design was better, and the music was just as solid. Shaw's and the Rennicks' arrangements are gold. To me, this show is a 20.0 in Musical GE and about a 19.9 in Visual GE. Even after nearly 20 years of following drum corps, this became my new #1 show of all time.

I agree. I personally think Defiant Heart was better programmatically than Spartacus & had better design (especially visually), while Spartacus had better musical performance. Also, to be kinda blunt, I feel like Defiant Heart went for it Finals week and won based on passion & a good design while Spartacus was WAY too pandering and cheesy. It was REALLY hard for me to get over the cloying cheesiness of Spartacus ("hey, we're on the cusp & need more GE: let's kill someone else!"). That corps performed the crap out of their show, but I'm not really a fan of Spartacus as a production.

They're pretty easy to create:

Lighten up Francis

I'm just asking - is "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" also offensive to you? It contains a Hitler scene - quite funny one, in fact. It's Hollywood, man... it's a movie, and it's the internet making fun of a scene FROM A MOVIE. You don't have to apologize for your statement at all, but I'm also not going to apologize for posting it. Nothing about this thread is offensive, neither in intention nor in actuality. Nothing about the original movie that people took the clip from is offensive, and nothing about that scene within the particular movie is offensive. Bear in mind that my grandfather is also one of the (relatively very few) remaining World War II Veterans still alive. To snarkly imply that I "just don't give a s**t" is rather offensive in itself. Again, there's nothing you need to apologize for. But, there's nothing I need to apologize for either. I respect your opinion and your disinterest in watching. Also, I clearly described the nature of the thread in the title, and you still made the decision to not only enter the thread and view the video, but also to ignite a flame war.

You saw the title of this thread, and you purposely decided to enter and read it. The offense you suffered is self-inflicted.

The Blue Devils. They were once very entertaining, and used to get the crowd up and out of their seats cheering wildly for them. I miss them a lot. I hope we get them back some day.

For those of you who have seen this, enjoy again. If you haven't seen it, this is priceless:

...you're an olde hand at this...I think we see things similarly. With experience comes understanding...and better ability to pick one's battles, eh?

One of the top storylines tonight: Where will the corps from Germany... Heartliner... fit in as they make their DCA debut at the Bridgeport show? Also... can Sunrisers make up some ground on the Bushwackers and Hurricanes in that same show in Open Class... and in Class A, will Windsor Regiment continue to gather momentum with an eye on a finalist spot, and can Centurions close the gap on Excelsior? In Reading, the Buccaneers are gunning for the top Open Class seed score for next weekend's Prelims. Also... how much can Cadets2 narrow the gap between them and the Bucs? And the same with Fusion Core... can they get closer to C2? Also... where does Carolina Gold fit against the Open Class big guns in the show? And in Class A... will the White Sabers score something other than an 80? (LOL... that one's for you, Donny!!!) And can Shenandoah Sound gather some momentum going into Class A Prelims next weekend? Buccaneers Alumni are doing an exhibition at the Reading show. I believe there are a few exhibition units at the Bridgeport show.

Probably one of the most amazing things I've seen in terms of concept in the past 4 years!

it is possible the pass through gaps didn't line up perfectly? to me it looks like the 3rd person back (starting on the 50) marches two different angles before the pass through and after.

Thank you, Skywhopper!!! Of course you realize you are driving all those band drill writers back to their computers and graph charts now, don't you, ha, ha?

Well... if they don't, you will be drenched with sweat by next Saturday.

We wish you guys were here, too! I'm sure they'll still be talking about last year's perormance tonight, though

I am hoping the White Sabers will have higher than 80...four weeks in a row is enough

Come on White Sabers...get that score up! I am thinking about you guys, but with two playing gigs and the Statesmen Farewell, I just couldn't make it this weekend. Do it! Donny

Pretty incredible, Skywhopper! I'm going to have fun watching this thread over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

This. The slow disengagement from traditional rifles/sabres will gain momentum and within, say, 10 years they will be all but gone, except for props. And I've shot more rounds in a minute than most people will shoot in their entire lives! Hah! Love my personal guns...but think there's no place in our school systems, and, by extension, those who utilize our school systems, for facsimile weapons. Just my opinion...we'll see...

OK, so these are YOUR words now. Not only do you have to "match talented and skilled staff who work well with each other," but you also have to find designers who are extremely talented at what they do. Would you agree? So... How many years should that take for a corps NOT called the Blue Devils (or for the sake of argument corps like SCV or Cadets or Crown)? One year? Two? Three? What if it takes more than that? What if you give it a few years and the pieces just don't fit? Certainly you're not suggesting it should happen on the first try, are you? Even the Blue Devils went through a few designers before settling in on what they have now. Should those corps just stick it out with pieces that don't fit simply because it's the "loyal thing to do?" Or because "that's how the Blue Devils do it?" What if while you're trying to work out the right combination of designers, your corps stagnates in the rankings, or even begins to slide backwards and your members start defecting to higher placing corps? What if that stagnation or backslide leads to financial contributions taking a hit? Would you then be in favor of trying a different combination in order to find the RIGHT match, as you put it? You're the corps director.....GO. How long should it take? PS - If anyone has the answer, I'd be interested in knowing: From the years 1987-1993, did the Blue Devils change designers in any of the captions? If so, who and when did it occur? Thanks.

Better yet, why doesn't Michael Cesario step in for the good of the activity and have every corps does a tribute to its own heritage? For one season -only use material used before in the corps history. feel free to update and re-invent or be more literal. Each corps gets a chance to embrace its past without concern for their competitors will be "cutting edge" and have an advantage. Each corps gets a chance to embrace its existing fan base and (most likely) garner boatloads more. Would it be that bad if people clapped louder? Bought more tickets and souvenirs? Smiled on the way out of the stadium? I have to think that deep down inside the BD Staff would be thrilled with the opportunity.

Glassmen's was formerly "Just a Gigolo" and now is (was?) "Madre de la Tierra" for those unfamiliar:

Yes that's what I'm referring to. I thought it was for Madison's anniversary. Thanks for the clarification.

. I love you, you love me Mass times c squared's energy .