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Hey, cats with catsup... ALF would think that as being rather tasty!

In your view, is this a catastrophe?

Just don't do what I tried to at my first corps rehearsal and read in concert pitch, I tried the 2v trick of reading like a BBb horn with third valve stuck down and it was miserable.

I apologize but this may take a while. I have read a lot of sports metaphors relative to this thread. A lot of talk about money, logistics and talk about competition. (Slight pause) To say that I grew up in a competitive neighborhood would be an understatement. My best friend outside of drum corp grew up across the street from me. He became the captain of our high school football team and then went on to captain his college football team. His 2 older brothers both played professional football (NY Giants of the NFL and Boston/New Orleans Breakers of the USFL). Next door to them and directly across the street from me was a young man who went on to play college hockey for the U. of Lowell, Ma. Directly next door to him was a young man who played hockey at West Point and right next door to him lived a young man who ended up playing hockey for the Boston Bruins as a defenseman. That's 3 professional athletes and 3 college athletes out of 4 houses sitting right next to each other. I played high school football and hockey but I, along with almost all of the kids in that neighborhood, enjoyed growing up playing back yard tackle football, street hockey and ice hockey together. We could play back yard ice hockey together because we use to build a little hockey rink in a freinds back yard. We were competitive against each other and we were crazy. We would play a football game that entailed everyone being at one end of the yard with the exception of one guy whom we would throw the ball to and his objective was to try to run past everyone with out getting tackled or I suppose killed. Our little hockey rink? When we got bored we would put our goalie net in the middle of the rink and skate around it playing roller derby on skates. The goal was to try to check anyone you could over the surrounding snow banks. It was great fun to catch a glimpse of someones skates as they disappeared over the little white mountains we had created. My belabored point is this. I understand competition. So, to a soon to be 55 year old, the question one could ask is what do I reminisce most about? I don't think much about the various sports teams I played on or even all that back yard fun I had. I reminisce most about the 5 years I spent marching with the Boston Crusader's and none of those memories has anything to do with competing. My memories are about performing in front of thousands of drum corp fans who loved listening and watching us perform and I certainly reminisce about all the fun we had off the field as well. In fact I can't imagine another drum corp having as much fun as we did. (I know using the word fun sounds lame but I'm trying to make a point) I remember putting on the uniform and the pride I felt wearing what I thought was the classiest uniform of any drum corp. This despite the little rips and tears and the faded colors we tried our best to hide. Not from shame but from pride. We had no money. We had no money! My first year was 1974, I was one of only 24 brass and we came in 37th place in the DCI prelims 25.150 points behind the Madison Scouts. This from a drum corp that came in 2nd place in the VFW nationals 4 years earlier. That night I had one of the most memorable nights of my life hanging out with my fellow Crusader's in Ithaca, NY. We had fun. In an early thread on another topic I wrote about the mistakes the Crusader's made back in my day. Mistakes that kept us from getting out of our own way. This thread isn't about what we did wrong back in my time it's about what we did right. And what did we do right? We survived! I can understand if some people think I'm being naive when I make the statement that drum corps folded because they let themselves fold. But I ask you. No, I'm going to tell you that if all those drum corps that folded back in the day had the same attitude about competing and money as the Boston Crusader's had then they would all still be around today. All of them. I can't imagine another drum corp facing the challenges that the Crusader's did back in the day. We would have a lot more smaller drum corps, ones barely getting by financially with kids that are maybe not from the most affluent homes, kids that might not be all that talented, hanging out with their buddies talking about what a great show they just performed that night. And they wouldn't be talking about how they could have come in 6th place instead of 7th if they only had the money to afford that 45th piece of equipment for their pit that night. Over-emphasis on winning leads to chronic disappointment and very little fun and fewer Drum Corps. I grew up playing sports and playing drum corp and I'm stating right now that in my opinion sports can not rise to the level of Drum Corp as to what it can offer a kid. What sport do you know of that has, lets say, 75 to 150 young women, young men, boys and girls performing together. Performing all forms of music while creating artistic designs in front of thousands of fans. Well, I suppose you couldn't name any. I suppose it wouldn't be a sport it would be either a band or a drum corp. I'm obviously getting a bit tired. Anyways, I didn't go out for the high school football team until my senior year. I was really a hockey player who got talked into playing football by my best friend who lived across the street and was captain of the team and blah,blah, blah. I ended up as a 2nd string running back who returned kick offs and punts. (I loved it but I wouldn't recommend it. Lots of headaches.) I played in front of maybe 150 people. In the Boston Crusader's I started out as a 3rd Sop then a 2nd then a lead and then the soloist in the '79 prelims in which we had only 25 brass but still managed to come in 12th place in GE brass . I mentioned this, too many times, in other topics. I played in front of thousands of people. (I also mentioned in a previous thread that in my opinion the best ovation we had that year was when we put on a half time show for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian football league. Their were 54,000 people at the game and they gave us some great ovations throughout the show.) In '79 we had about 60 people in our entire corp and we came in 19th place mainly because we threw out 2 of our 5 snare drummers about 2 weeks before the DCI championship. Why? because they were @#%%$#@. So are drum line came in 35th place and our drum corp came in 19th and we hardly had any money and so unfortunately....we had a great time that night hanging out with each other. We always had a great time in '79. Maybe this ramble needs a summation but I'm hoping not. I know I'm not giving specifics about how to save drum corp but then again maybe I am. I understand that money is an inevitable reality for drum corp but it's far from the point isn't it? I suppose how far from the point is the question.

Could be increased travel costs because of distance, along with not having many other fundraising opportunities outside of tour fees. Some corps can charge less for tour if they have a viable bingo program/ huge fundraising op/ sponsorship. Some corps though don't have those chances, so they have to charge more for tour fees to balance the books.

I have two choices it seems, but I'll go with Chuck Johnson first.

WOW.....FINALLY! Believe it or not, I stopped checking for your review back in November, and really have not been here since! I just happened to come here and see that you posted something to the "review" page last night and said to myself, "Self...let me check to see if he posted anything"...and sure as #####, you did!! Thanks for the kudos!! :-) And if you think the tuba section was sick last year, i'm gonna go on record right now and say, "You ain't seen nuthin yet!" This years show is going to be insane, and the 10 tubas we have now are already better than last year. The 3 Tuba parts are going to floor you! Looking forward to gettin on the field in Wildwood...is it June yet? Hope to finally meet you this year!

Also, I think fans look at shows, assess what they like, and then like to do arbitrary numbers & placements that often have no basis in logic. Seeing comments like, "I would have the placements: Cavaliers - 98.5; Scouts - 97.1; Crown - 97" etc, with maybe a very broad explanation on why they like/dislike shows. You're right that judges look at very narrow scope for their number, and then all numbers are added & averaged for a final score. I think a lot of people don't think about that type of thing, or maybe think in terms like, "they had some cool drill moves but came in 3rd in GE vis, WTH?!" without realizing there are many factors on the GE sheets

That's gotta be "Chuck". Nobody wants to be called "The Round Headed Kid", as Snoopy calls him.

This thread proves it is officially the dead of winter in the off-season. A time when we on DCP get 'catatonic'.

But the judges are part of the audience. That's the thing that a lot of people who don't judge maybe have a hard time grasping, or even believing: but that is totally the truth. It kind of shocked me when I started judging - I found myself a lot more excited to watch/evaluate performances as an adjudicator than I do as a teacher. When I'm teaching, I'm doing nothing but look for mistakes to correct; but as an adjudicator I'm excited to see performances. I genuinely love when I see groups have great shows, when I see a design that really wows me, when a group has THE run of the season in front of me, when it's obvious students are having fun performing, etc. I love it. And other judges I know (DCI, WGI, local circuits, etc) are the same way. So if a show engages the judge, it can be inferred that the show also engages the audience (since, again, the judges ARE part the audience).

I wouldn't categorize it as cataclysmal, or something resting on catafalques, though catatonic might be more correct. Even though categorically obvious to say catarrhines or even the Catawba, cataloging each under the same category would not only be catalogic or be simply a cataplasm to the problem, but could be the catalyst that could catapult to a catadromous potential, rather than the current catabolism.

He should be doing EVERY show. He should record the intro for every corps and just have the files on a soundboard patched into the sound system. I have made mention of this before, but it would be a much better experience, more consistent from show to show. Even Saturday Night Live's intros are not actually live anymore. Don Pardo records these from a studio in his home in Arizona and uploads to the show's technical staff. This is how it should be done.

The DCP News Feed is horribly broken. The links don't work, and when you go to the page manually, it's just a link to whatever outside site has the original article/press release. It's been this way since they "upgraded" to the new software. it would be better to disable the DCP News Feed until it works properly, or get rid of it entirely.

I'll set up the Cabs before Night Shift. You look at the position they were in heading into prelims, and you knew what was likely to happen. Someone in the corps organization was bound to say, "You know what? We're a solid third. Let's just take this as far as we can go and run all out with this show this weekend and see what happens. We've got nothing to lose for trying!" From what I was told later, the corps collectively knew and innately understood this, and it showed at prelims. The first 45 seconds were decisive and really set the tone for this performance. The horns were just blowing plasma, and the diminshed 9 chord at the end fo the opening statement lit up the crowd. The fast-paced performance really highlighted a colorful brass book, and an exciting visual package, which really read well in this stadium. The Contras- a lot's been said, but their ability to play stylistically when needed really came out in this run. It's tough to get the orchestral bow-on-the-string timbre, and they nailed it in the Bocelli. The run was drive-it-like-you-stole-it maniacal, and everything hit where it needed to, and hard. Sometimes, runs like this can have a portion where things will get sloppy, not in this case. Focused, aggressive, emotional, and memorable. The Percussion battery continues to improve, enhance, and excite. They've found themselves as an entity. Now- can they take it further? that'll remain to be seen. And Frank- you really were over the top scary good at prelims. Eye-poppin' good. I can't print what's in my notebook when you nailed the one big solo in the middle of the show. When it was over- it did make one immediately wonder- could they catch corps ahead of them? Yeah, they sure might- and they did at Finals, but not quite for Prelims. The Cabs definitely have put themselves square in the serious conversation about the elite corps in 2014. Can they keep the momentum from 2013 into 2014? It could be the big unanswered question right now, and I look forward to seeing the answer later this year.

One word...Waterbury...

Two words... JOE BRUNO

I'm a little curious about your rationale for claiming that having auditions to replace Brandt Crocker will expand DCI's base. My personal viewpoint is that DCI should not take any action until the moment Mr. Crocker flops over dead while announcing "...and in first place, with a score of...". My hope is that that moment doesn't arrive for another 40 years or so.

I imagine Dan Potter will also do a great job, once he gets the call.

Irrelevant. Put the same player first on the trombone and then same part on a baritone. Both versions may be technically excellent but they will sound entirely different.

Well I agree that Trombone does not equal Euphonium, nor does it equal baritone. Corps can already and have historically used: Marching French Horns instead of regular french horns or mellophones. Marching french horns were used extensively in Drum Corps until they went out of favor of all mellophones lines, which was a trend started by the Cadets and Star of Indiana in the Mid-late 1980s. BD fudged around with different middle voice designs during that time, so you'll see some interesting mellophone/flugel looking hybrid horns with french horn bugles from BD in the 80s. Most other corps used a blend of mellophones for the lead parts and frenchies for the lower parts which resulted in a pretty rich and powerful sound. Problem is that marching french horns (and regular french horns) are pretty hard to play compared to the other brass instruments. People cracked notes quite a bit, even in the top corps. I know the Cavaliers were using hybrid mellophone/frenchies all the way to around '94. ! Corps may use marching trombones, or tromboniums instead of trombones. I believe that the Madison Scouts used to use DEG Tromboniums for a time back in the day for that bright trombone tone versus the "darker" baritone and euph voices. Tromboniums were used in the higher parts; baritones for the lower parts; euphs for the lowest parts. I play on one of these ( in marching band), Baritone (in corps), and euphonium was my major instrument. Very different sounds and weights that seem to be pretty lost on people today, except I believe that SCV and Phantom are exceptions... Current Trombonium designs look like this: (Trombonium) versus (Trombone) So there really isn't a need for the concert instruments because we already and historically have equivalents that "sound" like the concert versions of trombones, baritones, and euphoniums. I have brought up possible alternate brass voicings before. In addition to french horns and tromboniums, corps could use flugel horns, tenor horns, and alto horns in combination with the trumpets, cornets, mellophones, baritones, euphs, and various tuba sizes to create some pretty neat and unique brass "colors", but they're not doing it. There are many already legal instruments. If anyone cares to see the variety possible legal instruments including some of those that are NOT being used look at this website: http://www.brucehaag.com/page10.php The only thing I don't really see there are piccolo trumpets and different sized tubas. If almost all of the corps aren't using these instruments, instruments that are ALREADY legal in DCI, why in the world would they want to try a regular trombone or concert french horn?

What did you say?

don't ever assume people have proposed stuff and considered the logistics. history shows thats not even close to accurate

No bets, no slaps, just mutual respect, support and best wishes. Great people sharing an activity they all love. For me...that's what this whole thing is about. Sun Devils made great strides last year. CV made great strides last year. Just hoping both can continue their upward climb. Dan