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I agree with BRASSO, I wouldn't call $3.00 an accurate assessment of damages for no longer having access to SCV 1988-89... $75,000,000,000,000 sounds likes it's getting near the ballpark.

Cannot give enough props to an organization willing to put an early spring-training rehearsal out on social media for anyone to see....

I lost over 100 pounds about 7 years ago, but she took the best sweatshirts with her. <rimshot>

Electric Counterpoint is one of my favorite pieces and I just know theyll do it justice in some innovative, creative way. Hyped for this season!

Since I have nothing else better to do, here are the youtube videos of each selection in case anyone is too lazy to look it up (All links supplied by Bluecoats' Facebook account): Shaker Loops - Jon Anderson Electric Counterpoint - Steve Reich Woods - Bon Iver Gene Takes a Drink - Michael Gordon The Animated Description of Mr. Maps - The Books Dense - Univers Zero

I wonder if they're approaching it by way of Peter Gabriel's cover of it? I would definitely be all about that.

They really put it all out there. Good for them. Seriously, it's drumcorps not Apple waiting to unveil a new product. Some of the other corps think their reinventing oxygen.

And BD is using books on the field. Looks like a scholarly summer aplenty..

I'm hoping they will approach Counterpoint in sort of the way Reich writes his music; minimalistic yet brooding and expanding (not sure if thats grammatically correct but w/e) In other words, I think if they take that approach and apply it to the hornline it will be amazing and ###### in its own quirky way. Say the mellos/trumpets and the snares play a tasty lick, with color and movement added from the colorguard and body/drill as usual, and then add in the baris/euphs and the tenors; present a new idea with just that section, and then do the same thing but with both the high and low brass etc etc. I dunno if any of this makes sense at all, but its how im hoping it will play out just for that particular piece; think City Life back in 2013, but with more technical and moving (get it, kinetic....moving, heh.) harmonic parts.

It may eventually show up here but they don't always make sessions like tonight's available to be replayed.

Hop meant for them to be 18' tall but wrote 18" by accident.

Props are fine but Cadets track record with them isn't great.

Sure does...

Ouch. I've decided that, when it comes to extractions, it's better to give than to receive. I always tell my patients, for the love of everything good and holy, don't spit, swish, use a straw or smoke for at least a couple days after an extraction, because dry socket is truly aweful.

Always reminded of a local store owner who got sucked into a group court case from a state run sting operation. 2 or 3 owners were actually guilty but named other (innocent) owners to try to get out of jail time. Every time one of the wrong doers went to appeal something (a lot) all the innocent ones had to $how up al$o (show up also). Finally the innocents ones copped a plea deal. They plead guilty to take a fine and probation. As the one lawyer said "We know (my client) is innocent but he will go broke proving it. That includes losing the store, probably house and kids education money." IOW you can win a case and end up losing more.....

Gosh I love technology.

http://footage.framepool.com/en/bin/2650306,kilties+drum+and+bugle+corps,usa,1973/

I fear that many prognosticators are in for surprises, emc2, given that most predictions are based on little more than descriptions of show themes and/or individual corps' past records of accomplishment. That being said...the whole effort is still fun, isn't it?

This is dubious at best...Seriously!?!....lol

That, and a good tune to whistle

Pioneer show title: "Exodus: Divide the Sea, Unite the People" https://twitter.com/pioneerdbc/status/601481283261374466

The idea would pair well with the repetition and and harmonic/rhythmic approach of Reich, Adams, etc. Some hallmarks of minimalism going on here. Although there seems to be chaotic elements as well. Highly anticipating this.

I hear Crown is encouraging their fans to throw buckets of blood in the audience, sort of like Regiment use to do w/ streamers What, you didn’t get the tweet?

Much, much, much better. I think they're in the same vein as last year, but taking the music a step further and the theme seems a tad more complex. I'm very excited! Lots they could do again. Looking forward to a quirky, weird, noisy, crazy, show.

Brasso, I can outdo you on the wisdom tooth perspective. I had four impacted wisdom teeth and the docs said they had to go. A member of my church was a noted dental surgeon, scheduled me for the operations, and was extremely kind with accepting only what insurance would pay. Well he gave me the medicine to knock me out, warned me that I'd awake possibly looking like a raccoon, but the swelling and pain would soon go away. Several hours later I awoke, felt light headed, little pain, but was amazed by what I saw. There was the doc with his arm in a cast. It seems when he put the pliers in to turn the tooth, the tooth stayed but his arm turned. Before I came out of anesthesia, he had been up to hospital emergency room for his x-ray of the arm and the cast of the broken arm. I still have the last wisdom tooth thirty-five years later!

Haven't heard narrations yet! I imagine it would be used very tastefully!

OP updated. Spotify updated, except I went with the original Shaker Loops. Jon Anderson's version is not available on Spotify.

The Bluecoats have earned my benefit of the doubt, but those are some... interesting and far out music selections. Mike

This sounds pretty dang bad ### to me. I love the use of all this crazy, unused, new, and modern music. Their last treatment of Steve Reich in 2013 with "City Life" was absolutely masterful. Bon Iver's "Flume" in 2012 was gorgeous. The Anderson piece seems like a good fit for them. "Dense" is a lot of fun. Need to give the rest a listen, but this sounds different enough from last year to eliminate that worry from my mind. Absolutely stoked to experience this! I think they've found their identity in terms of music.

LOL! I remember going through that diet but that goodness I did not end up having dry socket. I was so afraid I'd have that considering how "invasive" the surgery had to be. I do remember losing quite a few pounds during that week. What sucked even more was that it was close to Christmas time. Diets and holidays don't mix. Hope you get better soon!

There are no "deleted 600+ shows". Fewer than 100 performances were deleted. All were Finalist performances from 1999 or earlier. More than 1,000 other performances remain on the Fan Network. And obviously it was necessary for me to make some arbitrary decisions in order to estimate the value of the lost material. It seemed like the more pragmatic way of approaching this discussion than throwing up my hands because it's all subjective--e.g., that some fans are entitled to a full $69.99 refund because all they care about is North Star's 1979 performance of "God Only Knows". After all, if this were a legal matter, eventually someone (judge, arbitrator, jury, etc.) would be making a value judgement for others. It would be their call. But it's not a legal matter. Any rebate would be merely a nice gesture on DCI's part: as previously discussed on these forums (both six months ago when this news originally broke, and just in the past couple pages of this thread), the Fan Network has never promised specific content. So contractually, they might as well respond:

That's interesting as I think Crown has one of the brightest sounds in the activity. Very resonant, but bright. If you get up close when they play loud, it's with a ton of compressions and edge, but they match so darn well player to player that is very balanced and from a distance has a smooth and refined sound. It's a really great concept and approach and is also very pleasing to the ear. Dark and bright are such relative terms to our ears anyway and I'm sure BK will do an incredible job of blending the front ensemble with voice and brass to create a great moment. Their percussion folks, especially with the electronic expertise on that staff, will create a killer version!

BK updated on OP and Spotify. Using Across The Universe version of Because. Why? Because ... no Beatles on Spotify.

I just hope they don't replace contras with blasting synthesizer lows.

Well, Mikey, time to send you back out to Spring Training and tour duties so that you can be featured on Bodies by Drum Corps. (And they eat 4X a day on tour!)

The front ensemble is playing also. Maybe that's where they'll get their lows and highs. Also, I suspect there will be some narration mixed in with the piece.

Yes, it is tough...I dropped 120...but I still have 40 or so to go...been stuck where I am.

Congratulations on the weight loss!!! Having done 73 pounds down once, I know it isn't easy. But that's minor compared to one poster here (Jeff in Denver, the artist who marched Madison) who dropped over 100.

It's amusing that as far back as 2010, one regular contributor to these forums argued that the corps who played Regina Spektor's music was the opposite of "daring", because her work is actually "middle of the road", "unobtrusive", and "iTunes-approved". Despite that argument, and acknowledging also that the Cypress Bay winterguard used this very song in their 2010 show, I am, as a fan of Spektor's work, glad to see this song being played. I look forward to seeing what BK makes of it.

BlueRays, but yea. The drag is the initial outlay to buy the BlueRays (or DVDs for those stuck pre-HD) is a whole lot higher than subscribing to the FN. On the other hand, you can rip the BlueRays to your computer/tablet/phone at a much higher quality than the FN presents.

Bummer.

The Blue Knights present their 2015 program, "Because..." TEASER TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgmfXURB4_k&feature=youtu.be Inspired by the powerful lyrics of the famous Lennon and McCartney song we have our minds focused on the wonders of the world around us. We are celebrating the beauty and joy of being alive and open to possibility. When you ask "Why?"... unless you include the whole reality of existence found so easily in the world around us, the only logical answer is Because... The Blue Knights design team consists of Jed Weeks, (Program Coordinator), Juan Caceres (Visual Design), Jay Bocook (Brass Composer/Arranger), Mike Jackson (Percussion Composer/Arranger), Kevin Shah (Percussion Composer/Arranger/Music Coordinator), Tommy Keenum (Program Consultant/Designer) and Ralph Hardimon (Music Consultant). Source material for the 2015 Blue Knights production includes: "Because" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney), "Rush" (Jay Bocook, Kevin Shah, Mike Jackson) "Apres Moi" (Regina Spektor), "I'm Alive" (Adam Watts) and "Fly to Paradise" (Eric Whitacre). MORE INFO: http://ascendperformingarts.org/blue-knights-present-their-2015-production-because/

His Skylarks guard was amazing back in the day...waaaaay ahead of its time!

Agreed.

Androids suck.

Crossmen also have a "History" night during spring training with speakers from the founding years and other past generations coming out to San Antonio to share stories and recordings. The members also had a great experience at the corps banquet held in Allentown last year, where they were able to meet and eat with many PA/NJ alums. The Allentown banquet was so well received that it is being held then/there again this year.

Eventually SCV is going to break back into the medal spots, and this year is as good as any. I believe that we're going to get to the point that the top 5 or 6 corps are going to rotate in placements from one year to the next, and that's going to include the Blue Devils. All it's going to take is for SCV ( and Cavaliers) to get back to their previous levels. Bluecoats are up and down in recent years. Cadets are up and down but have the ability to pop a win at any time if they're ticked off at something or to prove a point. Crown is up and down ( within the top echelon). Blue Devils has been mostly up the last decade. SCV has been down to middle of the pack of the top echelon of corps these last many years, but they're on the up swing; Cavaliers have been mostly "down" the last several years, but they're gaining a place every year and they have several decades of higher placements and history which should help the get back up there. Then there's Phantom, who has been at the top of the game a couple of times, but is currently down as of this past year. They could be a surprise to get into this top group too. Other corps haven't won or are currently too far down in the placing to be considered to be put in the rotation. Basically, I'm thinking that SCV is going to be a "Vanguard" this year with their almost self-referential "the Spark of Invention" show...

The last time SCV won a DCI Title ( 1999 ) they utilized a similar theme revolving around the concept of " inventions ". Their theme that year was " Inventions for a New Millenium ". I really liked that show a lot. SCV fans can only hope that this redo theme on " inventions " gives them the... pardon the pun... the spark they need to enable them to move up this summer.