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So, just to bring this full circle and back to drum corps, protests always produce results of one kind or another. When the Immaculate Conception Reveries protested their placement by occupying the starting line in a sit-down demonstration years ago, they were summarily DQ-ed. That was the immediate result. In short order however, that corps morphed into an East Coast powerhouse called the 27th Lancers which proceeded to tear up the league for the better part of 20 years, giving creative opportunities to the likes of Charlie Poole, Jim Wedge, Ike Ianessa, George Zingale, Marc Sylvester, Denice Bonfiglio and others whose impact on today's activity is both evident and significant.

Lots of great Spirit shows... but I gotta go with 1980. That knock-a-wall-down sound from the horn line, especially in the opening statement. Breathtaking.

Speaking of “The Sopranos “, all I can think of right now is Livia saying “Always with the drama”.

Stop driving your good people away. Every day a crisis. Hoo boy :(

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, :) but I seem to recall checking once a few years ago, and 1980s .8 was the narrowest gap between 1st and 4th at DCI championships. That was an incredibly tight year.

Some people only live by anxiety and mistakenly believe such tension means they are "thriving."

Good question. Let me explain-- I've been through an instance where a Scholastic championship event had that problem roughly a decade ago, I think. Many parents, directors, and performers were left rather unhappy/dissatisfied. Steps were immediately taken to change that. It had to be done. People are far, far more satisfied now, thankfully. So-- I do know from experience that competitors at any level want a venue that they feel is worthy of their championship event. Looking back at my DCA experience, I realized I felt the same way and wasn't really cognizant of that until that incident happened. I figure the DCA members made this decision and also feel the venue meets their standards. I think it's got a solid view from the stands and plenty of room. I've been there a few times over the years, deliberately checked out the night scene in town after this year's regular season contest, I thought it was pretty nice, I enjoyed the food and libations, though I really haven't done that scene since I left Corps. The location is fairly accessible by car from a lot of directions. I remember talking to Dan Detwiler in 2016 at the Ijamsville contest when he asked where the heck it is, and I told him it was literally about 3-3 1/2 bus travel hours up the highway off US 15 from where we stood. The people in town heavily support the event. The area has a very strong history of appreciating the Fine Arts and this activity. I think reading through this thread there are people who have liked and disliked about every place DCA's held a Championship, I figure Williamsport to be no different- I think the final say will be what the member corps conclude for themselves about it and what consensus they reach.

I get at least one of these "we need help" emails every fall. LOL. Not that big of a deal.

Fav's 1980 1986 1990 2012 Least Pass

'78, '79, '80.... videos, like videos of corps shows from today, do no justice to these shows. Live is so much better than watching via videos... and the audio/ video reproductions from the 70's/ 80's were absolute pure crapp.... especially compared to todays audio reproduction capabilities,. In more recent years, 2012, 2013 were SOA shows that were terrific, imo

Nick Benson will be the new Artistic Director, and Key Poulan the new Brass Arranger, for the Seattle Cascades. (Key will still be arranging for the Mandarins but has left his post at SCVC.) http://www.seattlecascades.org/designers

True. The Supreme Court has ruled that one's Freedom of Religion, Speech, Assembly, 2nd Amendment Rights, and other Constitutionally protected Freedoms are not iron clad Freedoms that extend to all environments equally. For just one example... an individual in an Employers domain. Employers, the Courts have ruled, have Employer Rights too. Courts have to balance the Rights of Individuals vs. the Collective Good all the time in their Court Rulings. Since this is a Flag thread, an individual's right to dishonor an American Flag, for example, does not automatically extend to an Employers domain. As such, an Employer ( such as the " NFL " ) would be within their legal rights to terminate an employee if they chose too for dishonoring the American Flag on company time, on company grounds, for example. Heck, in most cases, they could even legally terminate an employee for being late to the Flag ceremony, if they chose too. On the other hand, the Courts give much greater deference when the exercise of one's Freedoms are done away from the employer's domain, and not in a clash with that of an Employer's Constitutionally protected Rights.

Really impressive that high school students can pull that off so well. I'm guessing drum corps would have an easier time with it than high schoolers just because of the time factor, and it looks stunning. Would love to see it executed properly in DCI.

I'll give it less than 5 years before the field floor is lighted with LEDs in a light-weight material that's run off a single, small Honda generator and programmed from the A&E laptop.

As always, context is everything. If there is a specific effect that is penitent to the design and it works well than cool but as we often see in DCI, these sorts of things become thoughtless compulsories, the design staff checking a box. The use of tarps in DCI has not impressed, the above mentioned Tommy tarps I didn’t enjoy for the same reason as the Cadets Big Apple traps, gratuitous window dressing that became a distraction and added nothing to the show. I ended up waiting and watching for the tarps to do something or mean something and other than Hopkins standing on it, nothing. BK in 2016 was tripping all over their trap, as were Troopers this year so they become another sort of distraction. Bluecoats tarps did nothing for me either. Best use of a tarp was BD 2016 but that wasn’t really a tarp even if it was… it had a point, a purpose that served the theme and an effect Then we get into the entire visual design scoring of rewarding props /tarps created by the staff, another cheap trick

Plymouth Canton used an almost full field tarp in 2010 and I left jaw-dropped after seeing it. I still can't believe that show missed out on BOA finals that year, placing 13th.

Nice. I enjoyed their show in 2017. Hoping for another good year for Bones!!!

I was completely blown away mystified by this show. Let's just admit right here and now that THIS is the future of DCI. And I, for one, am probably going to like it a LOT more that the HORSE-HOCKEY that's running around the drum corps field now. The design of this is exceptional. From visual GE, to staging, to color pallet changes to utilizing the "backstage" and I will even say execution - I LOVE HEARING REEDS AND WINDS PRESENTED CORRECTLY AND BALANCED - the muted trumpets were beautiful and I appreciated the visual candy of the the "flitting" side-to-side black and white color guard. And THANK YOU to the audio engineer who kept all that balanced. I know the stadium live might have been different, but I was not audibly inundated with ANYTHING in that show. (DCI corps could take some cues from the tasteful fader control, IMO.) Dang! I enjoyed that! I say bring on the full-field tarps, baby!

If the Cadets could find a way to make money based on the number of posts in their thread, they'd never have to worry about money again.

Matt Hurley – Program Coordinator Matt Hurley is an experienced designer and technician in the marching arts. Matt started his career with the Bayonne Kidets at the age of 8, before marching Bridgemen, Sunrisers, and Emerald Marquis. Matt has been working with New Jersey drum corps, marching bands, and winter guards for over the 30 […] View the full article