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He did. After the Cadets announcement, he decided to put all of his eggs into one basket for auditions. He really wanted to work under Matt Harloff and be a part of the Crown brass line. He worked extremely hard leading up to the first camp and was given a lead mello contract soon after. He's really enjoyed the camps so far and we're all exited for him and the coming season. Here we go again, Chief!

Mea culpa - I was not as appreciative of BD's 2022 and 2023 shows as I probably should have been, for a myriad of reasons. Finally got to listen to the CDs/downloads and not Flo audio, and I have to say - for exactly 3 minutes of each show, they go full on Classic BD Jazz Sound and absolutely blow everyone else away. (The guitar and Cowboy Bebop sections after the ballad in 2022, the JoJo opener in 2023.) Fantastic, awesome, incredible... I don't have enough superlatives for those segments. And they manage to work in extra layers of sound (whether it be brass, drums, pit or electronic) that it feels like a lot of corps don't even recognize can be missing - BD just puts it all in the car and stomps on the gas pedal. (And their set drummer, whoever he or she is, deserves extra championship rings each time - absolutely amazing.) Holy cow. Mike

Should we start an over/under on whether this will be the dumbest idea of 2024?

Wow! What a concept. Picking music designed to entertain the audience. I love them and wish I lived closer.

Who told you that? Where did you get that information from?!?

well word of this has of course spread to all corners of the universe....and not well received in most corners. Bet Nate is loving his 6th month on the job

That folks is how you do a show announcement 😊…. and I am not just saying that because Surf is from my home state lol. Looking very forward to this show

Neat. He's a fantastic composer and can surely see not only 'these themes standout here in this show" and "these lines are capable of these things and can grow in these ways" to write something unique and effective. I can imagine the thrill of the MMs knowing "Mackey wrote this for US to challenge US to do it" and rise to the occasion. It could be a super special thing for Crown not just for the incorporation of a Mackey original work but HOW they do it in a way that invigorates the MMs.

Deep throat told him in a parking garage.

Sooo… Memphis Cadets doesn’t have The Cadets uniforms. Easy litmus test for this one next summer. -Mike

I’ll be blunt: Memphis Cadets or Cadets of Memphis or Cadets of Shelby County is the dumbest thing I’ve heard this year … so far.

Glad too see Surf sticking with the fun and audience friendly shows.

This will be a blast. Tower of Power, Soul Train, Barry White. Wow.

And, great timing of the video. I’d much rather enjoy the hype in February instead of the day before the first show. Also, it’s not the same old boring, canned sound track we often get. I hope more corps follow Surf’s lead in this regard. Nice!

Absolutely love the show announcement video! Finally someone gets it!

the good thing about drum corps is the bar is always raised ( and not in good ways) every few weeks

Mackey is hip and so is Crown. Look out because the hipster meter is about to TILT in Crown’s favor!

"That's what she said (or asked)." Sorry; reverted back to my college days... 😇

Late to the party, but I just got to hear Sinnerman for the first time. OMG. I don't know what I was expecting, but they blew me away. Incredible integration of the singing into the show, and that kind of blues in drum corps is a very rare thing. Anyways, back to 2024, but wow that was awesome. Mike

Super excited for Mackey to be composing a movement for Crown. I performed Wine Dark Sea in college about 7 years ago and it was a highlight in my young life. He knows how to end a piece so if it’s the closer, I expect babies to be thrown. Also very interested to see how it translates to a concert band piece in the fall as it’s the opposite of what usually happens for DCI with concert pieces going to the field. Summer can’t get here soon enough

Man, you aren't lying about the percussion scene in Cali. Here in SoCal alone, you can't throw a rock without hitting a drummer. They are deep out here! #6 bass drummer for Crown last season currently attends my son's Alma Mater Vista Murrieta High School. He had huge support and we were all very proud of him.

Heck yea!! Congrats! I will definitely be rooting for your boy to slay it this season. Going to be another great summer indeed.

Anyone thinking this has been willfully keeping their head in a hole in the ground. This isn't like when The Academy struck gold. This has been planned and developed for growth. And yeah, if they can start tapping into some of that insane California percussion talent we see every year in WGI, then...woo.

Well I hope that they have more assets to sell, because the fees will really ramp up when this thing goes to trial.

Mandarins had a brass camp this past weekend. My son didn't give away any details of what they have so far, but this is what I took away from the conversation........... To anyone thinking the Mandarins were a cute little story and one hit wonder that will fall back to earth in 2024.............prepare to be highly upset Saturday Night, August 10th.

And if we put our collective thinking caps on, we can probably all come up with some usual suspects.

So if I am to deduce anything from this, someone is going rogue.

Honestly, it should be their encore piece from now until the end of time. -Mike

The Bridgemen Senior Corps “fainting” for the first time in decades at the DCI World Championships. This performance took place at the 2016 DCI World Championships Semifinals on August 13. https://medi-nerd.com/2024/02/22/throwback-thursday-february-22-2024/

Troopers got all the electronics and the electronic trailer to haul it. Music City got the food trailer. Cadets didn't own the brass and owner took it back the day after they announced that they were not going to have a 2024 season. Battery returned. No idea what happened to front ensemble probably sold to multiple groups.

yup

Looked at some of this persons other FB posts and… nevermind..

12th in 2019, 9th in 2022, 7th in 2023....I would say the staff has got them going in the right direction. I know some of the percussion staff and what they are building and it wouldnt be a surprise to see that improve again in 2024.

Westshoremen bought Blue Devils uniforms in 1976. Took another year until we finally made DCA finals so don’t think we were mistaken for BD either

i'd say email Chris Lawrence and ask if he knows, but he'd demand to know who you heard it from before he'd answer

seen on the interwebs Mackey will write the closer after seeing (hearing?) the rest of the show. Now THAT'S interesting as it provides the opportunity to both tie together concepts and recapitulate motifs from throughout the program. So it's not just a Mackey piece commissioned by Crown -- it's a Mackey piece written specifically for this show and these other pieces.

well alumni not involved aren't thrilled thats for sure

I’ll just keep my thoughts to myself on this…. 🙄

But even if Cadet’s defense prevails, they still will have considerable legal fees.

FWIW, That domain was created on 15 January, did a whois lookup because I'm still a nerd. Domain ownership, in this case, is "redacted for privacy".

Star of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Hope to see them in Annapolis. Granddaughter just started on horn; time to begin the indoctrination.

Here's my suggestion for source material: William Grant Still composed this in 1930, four years before the Greshwin boys put pen to paper for Porgy and Bess. It may very well be in the Public Domain by now.

And what is so #### funny about this?

I have always congratulated BD on their wins. For my money, however, 2022 could have easily been won by them, Boston or Bluecoats. Ultimately, it has always come down to the judging panel on finals night. I'm not suggesting bias...only that they are human beings trying to put a number on an art form. If you took a dozen of us dcp folks and had us walk through an art museum trying to put numbers on the paintings, it would be the same, particularly if we all knew which artist painted which piece. I might have the Monet up by 2 tenths while Jeff Ream has the Picasso up by 1 tenth and Boss Anova has the Winslow Homer a half point above both. That darned Boss Anova....always hyping the New England people......

Or they could do both things at once. Do a “jazz” show with reinterpretations of standards in different formats. Think “Take 5” reimagined as a slow ballad, or a fast dance number?

I’d flip that a bit and say BD has taught many corps about the use of color over the years.

I love it how some on here are telling BD the how do a show. That's like giving advice to Meryl Streep on how to act.

Let me correct you here. Every show Blue Devils have ever done, formulaic or not have been High Sky CHALLENGING! If you saying going a different direction, Yes i can be onboard with you on that. They don't need to do anything innovative until they feel that's the way they want to. taking risk is such a subjective term i've come to learn in drum corps. They do take risk with many of their shows if we want to focus on details, just not in the way you want it, so they are overlooked. You want them do an entire risky show like many others are saying, but that's unnecessary unless they want to do that. Who says BD need to push the activity forward ? aren't the activity being pushed forward enough ? Let things flow and evolve naturally, someone else can do it too, give the other more credit that just saying BD SHOULD, why should it be the BD responsibility for that ?

Just as Genesis predicted....