Leaderboard

A gentleman on my row left some merchandise he purchased when he hurried out after Finals night. As soon as we realized we tried to run after him and locate him, to no avail. I would love to be able to find the owner. I already contacted the corps who the items were purchased from and am awaiting a response, but this young man seemed as though he was definitely in the know on drum corps stuff so I thought he might come here too. So if you left something behind please contact me and tell me the items you purchased, from which corps and your seat location to verify it's yours. I know I would be so disappointed if this happened to me since we all know souvie's are NOT cheap!

I'll fess up to being the luckiest guy (and dumbest for leaving my merchandise). Thanks, MalletMom! You're the nicest person ever.

Reunited and it feels so good! The interwebs is magical I tell ya! Thanks folks.

Can we retire the "any brass" rule change he foisted on the activity as well?

Consistent with 20 years of observation, this is an example of the kind of people drum corps fans really are. : )

Madison Scouts , on the whole, have given me my money's worth for my entertainment dollar under Mason's tenure. But if the question is... what does Madison need to do to move up in the current DCI pecking order under nthe current DCI sheets ?, I'd say they need to shore up the Visual and the Guard. The days when Music and Brass could have you derive the maximum points on the sheets has left the DCI train station awhile back. Its primarily the Visual ( and Guard ) now that moves the dial. If Madison wants to play the DCI game as its currently constituted, they need secure staff that can write a top tier visual production and teach the MM's( including the Guard ) how to stage it, march it, pose it, and dance it to the max.

There are plenty of Rookouts in past BD corps over the years ....from every top corps imaginable. Talk to a couple and ask them that question, they are your best judges of physically demanding and how BD stacks up to other corps. If something is labored it could be the function of drill design (including individual movement design and how it flows to the next set) or could be a function of execution. i.e. If a bear is running it is beating the ground to death, not the most efficient use of energy and why they can't do it for very long.....if a deer is running it is the most efficient use of energy and why they normally outrun most predators. They're both covering the same ground but with very different styles.

well, here's why: getting a show truly clean can't be done for someone jumping in with 3 weeks to go, especially in an all white uniform.

Coming from a BDB member, I'll tell you our story. At the start of the season we were really overconfident, we thought we were going to win a ring easily. Our music and drill design was just through the roof. We didn't try we didn't care and we got absolutely destroyed early season. That's where all the five point gaps come from. Additionally those first four shows we didn't have the last 4 minutes of our show done. We thought "Oh we're only a half point behind scvc and we still have 4 minutes of our show." So we didn't try for another week, and in that week we added 14 sets of choreography to our show and learned the last 4 minutes. Then the next set of shows came, we lost every single show again. We as members felt cheated and demolished. We felt as if the judges had scored us unfairly and screwed us over. The very next practice after those sets of shows our visual staff sat us down. They explained we weren't cheated, we lost fair and square. There was nobody to blame except ourselves. We were a talented group of individuals, just unbelievably lazy. That's when we started to really perform our show. Within the next week we had a brass staff member, Rob Stein, come join us. He was on staff during 2011 and 2012, and took 2013 off. He was also a staff member for cadets during the 2012 season. Now why does this matter? To put this in perspective, if any of you remember BDB was getting thrown around during the 2012 season, meaning we were getting our ##### handed to us by SCVC and OC. SCVC was 3 pointing us and OC was 5 pointing us. Within 2 weeks, we had jumped ahead of SCVC due to a training program that Rob Stein started when he joined us on tour, which was only 2 weeks long. This season he joined us a month before finals. We started that training program and within 2 days had finally realized what we were capable of. We went through this training program for a whole month, now if two weeks of this could jump a three point gap, imagine what a whole month did. Rob didn't just help the brass either, he was put on box duty and was constantly critiquing our work etiquette, not just the brass but every section from percussion to color guard. He made us realize that in order for us to win, every section needed to be on top of their game. We went from rehearsing like a bunch of high school kids from various programs to one cohesive corps that understood their responsibilities. After a week of Rob's help and his training program, we had our next set of shows. The results of our hard work came through, we were now one pointing SCVC and had jumped the 1.5 gap that once separated us. You can see where this trend is going, eventually the five point gap at the beginning of the season that separated us and corps like PC and Mandarins shrunk, and we finally met the demand of our show. Going into this season we had an incredibly designed show, but we as a corps were nowhere near even half of our potential. It took us six shows to realize that this season was going to be decided how hard we worked, and wouldn't be won for us. We realized that the ring we won wasn't going to be given, but earned. I'm not saying that other corps weren't working as hard as us, but that we finally decided as a 150 member family that we were going to bust our ##### and go out this season with a bang, and we did.

Boy, I don't know what shows you were watching this year. Anyone who saw Troopers 2014 and concluded their program and performance was inferior to 2013 simply didn't pay attention. That's what made this year particularly frustrating for them: they upped their game from 2013 -- and were told by the judges they were worse.Beyond Troop, you had Colts, whose show this year was a significant step up from 2013. Same for Academy and OC.

Top 10? Come on, son, this is DCI. Here are my Top 12 favorite shows... 12. 1991 Star of Indiana - Roman Images 11. 1990 Star of Indiana - Belshazzar's Feast 10. 2000 Cadets - We Are the Future 9. 2013 Carolina Crown - e=mc2 8. 1989 Phantom Regiment - From the New World 7. 1993 Phantom Regiment - The Modern Imagination 6. 1993 Star of Indiana - Music of Barber and Bartok 5. 1993 Cadets - In the Spring, at the Time When Kings Go Off to War 4. 1995 Madison Scouts - A Drum Corps Fan's Dream (A Day in the Life of a Bullfighter) 3. 1999 Santa Clara Vanguard - Inventions for a New Millennium 2. 1994 Blue Devils - My Spanish Heart 1. 2008 Phantom Regiment - Spartacus

But G artillery is much louder and better!

Well I can't possibly imagine a flame war between Madison alumni happening on this thread.

Because I was curious and I'm a huge stats nerd, I wondered: "What is the highest score each corps has achieved on World Class sheets?" I limited my research to all DCI Finalists and any corps that has been active in DCI World Class in the past ten years (mostly; a few others thrown in). What I found was meaningless, but fun to look at... 99.0+ 99.650 Blue Devils (2014) 99.150 Cavaliers (2002) 99.150 The Cadets (2005) 98.0+ 98.800 Santa Clara Vanguard (1989) 98.400 Phantom Regiment (1989) 98.300 Carolina Crown (2013) 97.0+ 97.800 Madison Scouts (1988) 97.800 Star of Indiana (1993) 97.175 Bluecoats (2014) 96.0+ 95.0+ 94.0+ 94.800 Suncoast Sound (1986) 94.600 Glassmen (2001) 94.200 Spirit of Atlanta (1986) 93.0+ 93.000 Crossmen (1997) 93.000 Velvet Knights (1988) 92.0+ 92.500 Blue Knights (1999) 92.400 Boston Crusaders (2002) 92.050 Blue Stars (2010) 91.0+ 91.900 27th Lancers (1981) 90.0+ 90.800 Bridgemen (1981) 90.150 Anaheim Kingsmen (1972) 89.0+ 89.100 Freelancers (1989) 88.0+ 88.600 Sky Ryders (1986) 88.400 Magic of Orlando (1996) 87.0+ 87.900 Dutch Boy (1988) 87.900 Troopers (1985) 87.075 Colts (2007) 86.0+ 86.950 Muchachos (1974) 86.200 Oakland Crusaders (1975) 85.0+ 85.300 Guardsmen (1979) 85.300 Kilties (1975) 85.000 Seneca Optimists (1977) 84.0+ 84.975 The Academy (2007) 84.950 Southwind (2000) 84.850 Royal Crusaders (1975) 84.800 North Star (1979) 84.050 Cascades (2002) 83.0+ 83.800 Capital Regiment (2004) 82.0+ 82.900 Argonne Rebels (1972) 82.700 Kiwanis Kavaliers (1997) 82.650 Blue Devils B (2014) 82.300 Pacific Crest (2013) 82.100 Oregon Crusaders (2014) 81.0+ 81.650 Vanguard Cadets (2014) 81.600 Purple Lancers (1974) 81.400 Academie Musicale (1997) 81.250 Des Plaines Vanguard (1972) 80.0+ 80.850 Mandarins (2001) 80.350 Esperanza (2004) Below 80.0 79.400 Jersey Surf (2009) 79.300 Les Etoiles (1996) 79.300 Pioneer (2001) 78.850 Bleu Raeders (1972) 77.850 Black Knights (1975) 77.800 Teal Sound (2010) 76.700 Commodores (1974)

I agree with the 94-2003 BD uniform! I loved Crown's uniform last year. It didn't work for me this year. I didn't hate SCV's white jacket but didn't like it either. Madison definitely NO! Yuck! I really love SCVC and BDB uniforms. Love the new Crossmen uniform!

And to think he and I were just sharing a few glasses of vino last Sunday remenicing about our I&E victories at the 66 Northeast Circuit Championship ... you know the one I mean ... it was held in the German Beer Garden (of all places) ... LOL ... he told me he beat "the other cat" by outplaying him in the bugle calls, but not necessarily the "solo" selection ...

All subjective of course, but I couldn't disagree more on the Blue Knights. I absolutely love their new uniforms.

Shhh, don't give SCV any ideas. I can just see them opening their show next year with a 40 banjo wall of sound as they launch into the Pete Seeger songbook. Actually, a Pete Seeger show would be pretty cool....come at me, banjos!

The guy has literally done it all: as a player, quite possibly the greatest lead soprano of all times. As a teacher, brought Garfield to a level of excellence in brass that paved the way for their future DCI success, then moved on to Blue Devils, and at some time or another, pretty close to every finalist brass line (and many of the finalist wannabes) As an arranger, just his chart of "Pieces of Dreams' for Garfield would have been enough to be a career for someone like me, but Westshore's Icarus and "i've Got it Bad" jump quickly to mind. He has judged shows in South Africa; studied bugles at Oxford; recorded jazz legends. Won Emmies, more than one. The coolest thing? He's one of us. Ask him about his success or accomplishments? It's always "The other cats" Amazing guy - one of the all-time greats and my idol since I was 12. Frank Dorritie And I left out more stuff than the rest of us have done put together.

Despite being on the west coast having to enjoy only early versions of shows, except '07, the show at Stanford has been host to the eventual DCI champion in EVERY year's show since it's inception in 2007. We've been lucky in that aspect that, by chance, a corps decides to go west for a tour ends up winning. Aside from TOC shows or other major shows, are there any other shows out there that has hosted the eventual champion since its inception/first-ever show? 2007: Blue Devils 2008: Phantom Regiment 2009: Blue Devils 2010: Blue Devils 2011: The Cadets 2012: Blue Devils 2013: Carolina Crown 2014: Blue Devils Sure, I may be reaching here, especially since BD has been pretty dominant, but still--it's pretty neat. What are the chances of the three non-BD corps deciding to come west to end the season as number one? Basically, I am BEGGING all you midwest and east coast corps to come to Stanford on a regular basis. It's not easy for some of us to venture eastward.

In celebration of one AMAZING season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNIrp9QcdAM

INCOMING!

I can't speak for Thursday, as I didn't arrive until early evening to Indy. However, having not seen BDB at all this season, I was duly impressed with the high quality of the group. Saw them in warmups at the park, prior to entering LOS (was there with a friend whose kid marched PC). What an outstanding group...and I thought their placement was just about right. The thought that they belonged in finals? No, don't think so...but they aren't far off. As a former judge, I'm sure the jump from prelims to semis was more a function of "fitting" placements when in a large show format. Tendency is for there to be more disagreement on rank/rate as the quality of groups decreases...add in the need to leave room, and scores tend to spread. Once everyone has been seen, some scrambling of placements/scores will occur. Throw in an extraordinary performance here and there, you will see some dramatic movement at times. I thought the entire swath of groups from BDB through Mandarins were all quite good. It's important that these groups continue to prosper and grow, for the good of the activity. Let's hope so!

Go get 'em MBI!

C2 still cannot compete with the top level in color guard, which bleeds all over every visual sheet and GE music

The show site is only about 15-20 minutes from the original site so I don't think the location change will effect attendance much. The Rockmart location actually has better facilities for practice and warmup so I think it will be a good thing. Should be a great show. We are all really excited to host everyone tonight. Safe travels to all. Dan

I am honored, sir, to frighten your local animals.

not only familiar names on the panel... but it was an excellent panel... very interesting

The Finals judges may have been explicitly disagreeing with that position, since they were perfectly free to score Crossmen, the first performance of the evening, lower than they did. It is normal for the 12th-place show (and often the 11th- and 10th-place shows, too) to drop in score between Semifinals and Finals. That didn't happen: Crossmen got the best 12th-place score ever.

Hmm, for fun, I'll take a stab at it, in no particular order, I do agree with the idea it should be a top 12, though. 1991 Crossmen: Original and unique horn book, groovy as anything percussion, unique stuff. 2014 Blue Coats: I made the Coat's crowd cam on Facebook at Chaster when I lost it for them. What more can you want from me? 2004 Vanguard: I went nuts for them as well live. All due respect. 2008 Phantom: I am Spatacus. I am Groot. I am still loving this show. 1986 Blue Devils: Perhaps the best and purest expression of the early BD style and dominance. I remember seeing that at East Prlima and standing on the bleacher at the end leading to the front and jumping up and down like a manic for them, arms in the air for the rest of the show.. 1984 Cadets: Brilliant. Groundbreaking. 2008 Cavaliers: The show got it. It was respectful, it was intense. 1991 Cavaliers: They made me cry at East prelims during "Silent Night". Wow. 1980 Bridgemen: Sheer attitude and fun. 1999 Glassmen: I love Kodaly. Met a bari player from Heartliner in Germany who marched that show and we were singing the big ending from Hary Janos together and laughing last year about it. A marvelous book. 1999 Blue Knights: Trittico. A brilliant composition. The all out push in the end sequence is something brass players live to play. 1990 Star of Indiana: I love '91... but.... there's such a sense of brilliance and uplifting spirituality that lifts my heart. Honorable mention, '91 Star, '85 Suncoast, '82 Phantom. 1993 BD. 91 BD. '80 North Star. There's a mix of older and newer stuff in there. there is Pre-1980 stuff I do enjoy and appreciate but just doesn't quite make the list.

Minnesota Brass 91.25 in Mendota Heights tonight. Govenaires 81.10 This will still put MBI & Govies back a bit in seedings since they do not have another DCA show after tomorrow night's show in St. Peter. I think MBI's weaker spot this year is the horn line. Good sound but they have to crank the volume 200%. Guard is among the best and so is the percussion. Visual is much improved over previous years.

That is very nice of you!

The "I will walk away when they allow______" crowd reminds me of the Black Knight in Monty Python that keeps fighting after losing each of his limbs, one at a time. It's funny and sad all at the same time.

If you get hit by field artillery, you will certainly B-flat.

Field artillery in the key of B-flat. It's coming soon.

No offense Chuck ... but what the hell is a "prelium" ... are you just tryin' to bust our chops by constantly mispelling "prelims"? :-)

The first DCI Corps to use a baseball in DCI competition were the Cavaliers, I believe.

Probably in Australia...

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to the longest sentence in the history of sentences:

OK, I'll play: Mendota Heights O1. 90.15 -- Minnesota Brass O2. 68.90 -- Kilties A1. 77.90 -- Governaires Scranton O1. 92.55 -- Caballeros O2. 92.25 -- Buccaneers O3. 91.60 -- Fusion Core O4. 89.45 -- Cadets2 O5. 83.20 -- Bushwackers O6. 82.85 -- Hurricanes O7. 75.10 -- Skyliners A1. 86.35 -- White Sabers Rockmart O1. 87.65 -- Atlanta CV O2. 76.80 -- Alliance O3. 73.00 -- Carolina Gold A1. 79.35 -- Sun Devils A2. 68.75 -- Cincinnati Tradition St. Peter O1. 90.45 -- Minnesota Brass O2. 69.10 -- Kilties A1. 78.10 -- Governaires As usual, I'm most interested to learn where I've guessed wrong.

From Weather.com, the Scranton forecast for Saturday: "Plenty of sun. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the upper 50s."

Since i'm the new kid to DCA, i will say this seems way more exciting than DCI. We've got so many corps that are the top of their region, that i'm not sure there's a way to predict what will happen. Cabs, Bucs, Fusion are all gunning from the east. No Cadets Squared... I'm sorry, I dont think this is your year. From a design point Cabs and Fusion have the edge. From GE and size Cabs and Bucs are pretty equal. I think the youth of the Bucs may bit them in the butts from a performance aspect though. Now here's where it gets verrrrrry interesting Dr. Jones. Thanks to a lack of clips, we don't have much to go on for Atlanta CV, Gold and Minnesohtah (yes, spell it like they say it... dontchaknow) Brass. Now I think Atlanta CV has a wicked cool design idea for a show, so who knows what they're doing with it down there in their Atlanta based batcave. No one knows BUT THE BUTLER!!!! And i can only see their intro clip online. But it was posted a month ago, and they had a very mature sound in my little Macbook Pro speakers. Now I watched the few Gold clips I can find, and I don't think they play as well as the eastern trio or Hotlanta CV. All the clips tell me they have intonation concerns and they don't listen as an ensemble very well. So balance could become their iocane powder. "Therefore I cannot choose the glass in front of you..." But then there's the equalizer... NO CLIPS of Minnesohtah Dontchaknow Brass. Hmmmm.... what sort of secrets are you hiding out there in the land of the lakes? Are the giant Mankato moquitos taking all the clips off the web? Do they not have GoPros or Vues out in the soggy state? Can't 3M make some sort of recording device ... DONT LEAVE US HANGING MB!!!! Give us what we neeeeeeed baaaabbbbyyyyy!!!!! Actually i found one clip, of them playing standstill in the dark. well gosh darnit minnesohtah... that's just won't fly dontchaknow. So who knows what super secret sauce they are cooking up out there. the standstill sounded pretty good. at least the boom boom section was exciting, and the horns do sound reasonably in tune with a fatty fatterson tuba section. So these ladies and gents with the waves on their shoulders and the funny accents could bring the noise and make DCA go all drunkitty for a minute if they bring the noise this year. Speaking of bringing the noise... make sure you pour one out for the Statesmen. I didnt know them, I never saw them live. But its sad when another corps marches off into the sunset. (cue trumpet solo) And DCA will be less without them. I think i'll have to come out for finals. Just to see this DCA thing in my face.

I want to see a drum corps play 4 great songs with no complicated theme at all.

From Vienna Teng's facebook: Why Creative Commons is awesome, Exhibit B: Congrats to Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps on their fantastic 2014 show! Honored that they chose "The Hymn of Acxiom" for their ballad this season—hearing & seeing it this way gave me goosebumps. (The whole show is definitely recommended viewing too...) and Thanks to the Oregon Crusaders for including Hymn in their program as well! Very cool to see/hear it juxtaposed with Edgar Allen Poe...

Conversely, James Madison is no longer believed to have been a Mason.

DrumManTX I appreciate all your analysis, but more than that how through the full season you were embracing the performances of these Corps. We need more fans like yourself. There are too many that can't or won't take the time to pay much attention to the Corps that fall into the 14 and below placement range. And worse are those who only pay attention to the top 8 or so. Looking forward to your posts next year.

Boston Crusaders' show for next year, their 75th: 1940 "We must be the great arsenal of democracy. " MAY - INVASION: Paul Hindemith's Symphony in E-flat JUNE - PARIS: Oliver Messiaen's Quarter for the End of Time, Mvt. 8 JULY - BATTLE OF BRITAIN: Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem AUGUST - ANNEXATION: Sergei Prokofiev's opera Semyon Kotko SEPTEMBER - THE DRAFT: Aaron Copland's Our Town (all music either composed or premiered in 1940)

Well night 2 seemed more exciting to me overall than night one, I still recommend that: “BRASS, PERCUSSION, MUSIC ENSEMBLE PEEPS, use this video for the next week’s planning. On the web cast I heard every tiny little timing rub, brass stick out, tuning issue, etc., much more so than any other web cast.” Though not always in agreement with placements, thought tonight’s scores and spreads were pretty accurate. My disagreements- Cavies should have been MUCH closer to Crown or over them and Coats won the show tonight, NO question. My impressions: SURF: The approach toward a serious theme is fine, but nothing more than that. As I stated yesterday, I am not a fan of emotional, inner self-seeking show themes. Played fine tonight, marched fine, spun and drummed fine. I just wasn’t pulled in at all. My favorite part of the corps is the guard, Some clean stuff tonight and some extremely musical flag writing. Mandarins: I enjoy the show theme and aggressive approach very much. The sound did get up to the stands a few times, though quality was questionable. The voice over wasn’t always clear though I thought minus some small edits, it was appropriate for the production. Based on fan network only, seems they have cleaned the least of their peer grouping. The props are not as effective as probably intended. Guard writing at times is as good as most anyone’s. The drum tuning worked well in the stadium. Some real promise for the future. The Academy: They have cleaned a lot and have really planned most every detail of the show quite well. The European pompous theme of Vanity Fair comes through starting at the preshow. Lots of Ts crossed and Is dotted. When some aspect of the show isn’t at a solid level of cleaning, it really sticks out. The overall pace and lack of real big moments cause the program to come across as quite vanilla overall. There are however several long phrases that hold our interest well and have good payoff when all is resolved. The use of moderate tempos for much of the production hurts their overall GE. Pleasant enough to want to se it again. Wishing for a bit more “umph.” This is the type of show that I wonder if they will get enough GE reward for creating a show design that has development, attention to programmatic elements, detailing, etc., though the overall performance may not be as good as let’s say, the Troopers? To some degree, seems the judging should reward and say, this is fundamentally how you design a good show, though it may lack the level of detail of BK, SCV, or BD, . . . yes. Spirit: Think the corps’ announcement came at the wrong place. The audience was caught a bit off guard, as I think the corps was as well. The preshow music and intro are extremely weak in establishing interest, theme, confidence, and intrigue. In this day and age, that seems impossible, with so many good examples available in drum corps and marching band. Like Academy, too much at slow tempos. “Willow Weep . . “ (though isn’t the show about a magnolia?) is the best part of the show, but rests purely on the shoulders of the brass to carry the moment. Though the sound got up into the stands at times, it was overblown and severely out of tune. The fugue in the next to last tune shows some promise, but is extremely underdeveloped. There are so few applause moments and a lack of a sense of being taken on a journey that I felt uncomfortable much of the show. Where is the sense of musicianship? Style? Other than playing loudly? Not sure they won’t drop. What is the last move/set? Rough ending. Good soloists. Sorry to be so negative, I just am so surprised after the past year’s well produced and entertaining shows. Troopers: There was a big jump in quality from the previous groups. Great communication for most of the show. The three or four times there is a drop in designed focus, it is extremely noticeable. The Americana feel works and all sections of the corps came to play. I kept thinking, Crossmen would have to really be good to stay ahead of this. They not only have the bigs, but plenty of lower volume moments that are handled with great finesse and musicianship. Some of the rifle writing is disappointing in that the performers are capable, it is just that I am bothered by filler work, especially when it is play acting when it isn’t working (pairs of rifles battleing to then immediately be working in tandem?). The ending is huge and communicated as well as most anyone tonight. More depth in design next year? We’ll see Crossmen. Crossmen: This show is crafted to a level of detail and coordination more than Troopers. The visual program, though at times cramped, is special. That said, overall, Troopers communicate moment to moment better than Crossmen. When Crossmen let down emotionally, when there is an awkward show seam, or an individual mistake, it really stands out. I do very much enjoy the show and the gypsy theme has developed well. The Carmen portion of the show, my least favorite over the summer, has improved a lot. The added sounds, colors, feels, provided by the front ensemble were all good choices. Would like it to develop more; it doesn’t fit the rest of the program as much as it could. Were there a few new members on the field tonight? There were a few too many mental errors for this late in the season. If there are new members, hang in, I am sure you will get it. This battle between them and Troopers will be interesting. Crown: Before being a bit negative, I should state that they are a great drum corps and do amazing and at times outlandish stuff. I hope the staff and members are not using the act of winning as the measuring stick for having a good summer (think BD has finally stopped doing that, at least in part). I feel fairly safe stating that this was not a good showing for them tonight. They are probably better than what I saw and heard. Some changes, including all of the ending drill, have improved the show. With all of the direction changes and exposure to error, it is pretty astounding that they are pulling it off this well. Individual blow-ups throughout the production. Some ensemble tears and balance issues tonight. They were still plenty loud and have a great brass line. I may be over stepping by saying that it seems the designers forgot to look at our well-established drums corps history to see where other first time winners have succeeded and not succeeded the year after. I want to talk about the opening for a second- It doesn’t work. Other than the loud unison note, what does it offer to pull us in and shout “this years champions”, or last years champion for that matter?” Okay, so the show is loosely (I think loosely) based on the space race. Too similar to last year. An exciting time in America and a topic that still holds great interest and fascination. The David Bowie vocal stuff is too comparable to last year’s beginning, and is not sung well (besides all of the pitch issues, there is a female voice that is never in balance and is sharp night after night). The original David Bowie video is quirky, odd, eclectic, well . . . David Bowie. In this show opening, done the way it is done, it us monotonous, uninteresting, almost drudgingly awkward. Then we have a count down. It too is done like David Bowie did it- soft, unemotionally. Count downs build excitement, lead us to something, we are pulled in emotionally. If the idea is just this, absolute monotony and drudging beginning that has a unassuming count down and then the unison blast is supposed to shock us, it doesn’t because the rifle tosses look like they are done to an exciting count down, not the one we are hearing through the poor vocals. We see the brass moving into position to play loud, the loud note will not be a surprise. We expect Crown to be loud. This is one of those things where a corps is always compared to itself and it either matches, exceeds, or falls short. If in critique the staff were to say, YES! Just like the David Bowie video. Space Oddity, odd opening, get it? Umm, I say I get it, but it doesn’t really interest or excite me. It is just that, odd. If the entire show is built on that concept, it is odd, but doesn’t connect- a guess a trait of being odd. For this show, they kept lots of their Crown-isms, fine. The kept many of their go-to GE effects, fine. But I feel they let go of what many love about the Rach show, Triple Crown, Finis, etc. The heart. Recognizable melody. Visceral raw energy. Though I heard and saw the performance, I never felt it. Cavies: I think this show is exactly what the doctor ordered. Some have stated it seems like many past different Cavie’s shows with new music. Okay then, GREAT! The reason it works is because it is so structurally sound, logical, impeccably paced, written to the members' skill levels, and it communicates the theme clearly and pulls you in right away so you can enjoy the show right along with the performers. The brass have not only improved over last few years’ offerings, but over the course of the summer as well. A lot! They were getting up into the stands just fine. The marimba stuff is all just fantastic and a great idea (everyone else is kicking themselves for not thinking of it). Guard costume, colors, props, etc are work perfectly. Getting very clean. The percussion writing is the best of the summer, hands down in my opinion, and they really played well tonight. Though very different shows, this GE offering works much better than Crown’s. I also love that features are really features in that it isn’t just exposing a section playing well, but playing something difficult, well. Great use of electronics! PLEASE, add counts to the last note. IT IS TOO SHORT. YOU COULD HAVE US ON OUR FEET SOONER. REALLY. Should have been third tonight. Bluecoats: I was so excited to see them tonight, and so was the rest of the crowd. WOW! Blew the place down. Made a mark high on the wall. Cadets did not come close to reaching it tonight. Holy smokes drum line. Nearly flawless, and so fearless. Top drum trophy in a week? Holy smokes brass line. Nearly flawless and so fearless, and so delicate and finessed when called upon to be so. Doug Thrower! Thanks for such unique colors and sounds. Now this brass book doesn’t sound like everyone else, in a great way. Thanks for not backing away from difficult chords to tune, or difficult intervallic relationships. Nearly flawless guard show, and so fearless. Last minute is the best minute in all of DCI this summer. If forced to find flaw, visual program could be more developed, but on the smallest scale of consideration; it is a fantastic visual program. Interesting to see how next week plays out. This is so good, I do not have a problem with saying this was better than my own corps. Bravo! Cadets: Everyone around me was reacting the same way after Bluecoats, though wanting Cadets to be better, clearly better, that task was just so difficult to pull off. It is rightfully said that no one does simultaneous demand better than Cadets. This year’s production is no exception. They make some things look so easy that I sometimes wonder if they go unnoticed. The All American theme can’t be missed due to the Copland and the narration. The narrator does a fine job. All sections are great and the guard most improved over last season. The brass do loud really well. Some of the softer and more exposed brass areas were rough tonight. I think the stage is way under utilized and I dare say not worth the time and energy that goes into moving and putting it up every night. The mello solo section has been rough all summer and continues to be the weakest part of the show. The play acting that follows on the stage is disappointing. Good corps, very good. Didn’t connect as well with the audience as I had hoped. The ending seems to be a last-minute reach for points. Not sure that is where they will get them. Great show. Eager to see where next year goes. Time to be the innovator again?

Ok, I agree. I didn't see them THE year , but I was there for Kivit playing "bulls" under the backfield stands. THAT was a top 10 moment in my memory

Muchachos!