wheelerand

Definitely - best of the evening so far.

I haven't seen anything explaining the reversion in the Cadets' name. What's the scoop?

Like many others, I'm not into the synths - at least, not what I've heard so far. But I doubt they can do any damage that amped voice hasn't already done.

Not a big fan of the keyboards for G-men...marimbas would have sounded better.

Enjoyed Boston also. Some Guard drill looks like it's not in yet, but good show overall.

Can't get the page to load completely. Anyone know if IE 8 is a problem?

Don't mean to be stupid here, but I'm not seeing any links on Fan Network that I can click on. Can someone tell me where this link is?

Looking at the radar...the back end of this storm is still in Iowa. Doesn't look good. Still, I hope they get it in - safely. I have VIP tix but came down with bronchitis so I'm home tonight

Same here - really impressive rifles. Intro was a little long for me...too much time with too little going on. Besides that, though, what a great show.

Although I really loathe the narration in this show, I do agree that the ending is much better. The drill is awesome, and the final narration is much better than suggesting that happiness is a snap of the fingers. Some good improvements.

Yep, they should stick to the instruments.

I'd say that was true of all the narration - this is a well-known story and doesn't need the "help". I saw this show early in the season when it was still all instrumental and it was one of my favorites...way too much voice now. I was OK with the "setup" narration in the pre-show; if they had just left it there, it would have been fine. The way it is now, though, is way overdone and distracts from the show. Oy, never thought I'd see this from BLU.

Crown is one of two corps at the shows I've seen that get standing Os that are more than just the normal appreciation - the other is Blue Stars. I like Crown's music, except it's a bit choppy - 13 numbers in 11 minutes doesn't give the music much of a chance to build. Hallelujah Chorus is a great ending for what they're doing, but more than about four bars would have been nice. Drill - very lackluster from what I've seen. Still, I'd put this show among my five or six favorites so far. And the judges seem to like it as well.

Naperville, Crown easily (interesing for a Cavie home show, eh?) Rockford, Blue Stars and Crown. Same at Madison. These are the only shows I've seen that have the fans on their feet BEFORE the drum major turns around.

Please forgive me if this has already been answered...scanning all the topics could take me all night!! Does anyone know if Madison's show this year has any relationship to the Tennessee Williams play, "The Night of the Iguana"? I read the show announcement on their website, but it made no reference to the play. The coincidence in titles seems too...well...coincidental. Anyone know?

Experience has lowered my expectations in general...

I respect that point of view, but sooner or later if every corps gets applause, standing ovations, etc., then there's no differentiation between shows. As it happens, I do stand for every corps and I applaud most of them. But I also respect those who feel differently.

You're right. I didn't state that very well. See my last response to TX

"Booing is classless" - that's an opinion. "You shouldn't boo" - that's a prescription of behavior and is imposing your opinion on me. Of course, I don't have to agree with you or obey what you say but I still call that imposing an opinion. If we define that differently, I can accept that.

Again, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I still believe that if you're prescribing limits on behavior, you're imposing an opinion. And that, of course, is my opinion. Oh, and by the way, I am ugly. But I can live with that. :P

Some folks are saying that the behavior of booing is wrong. That's an imposition of their opinion on others. If I say I wouldn't do it, then I'm expressing my opinion and preference. If I say you shouldn't do it, I'm imposing my view on you.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. Say what you want, believe what you want (we all do anyway) - I don't believe that anyone is actually booing the kids. Are they booing the narration? Yes, of course. Were they booing Hopkins for taking the kids off the field? Definitely. Were they still displeased when the corps came back? Obviously. But I don't agree that any of that means that they were actually booing the kids. BTW, I agree with you that booing is pretty much classless. But fans react to shows and corps - both positively and negatively - in many ways that could be described as "classless". Shouting out people's names during the performances, the already-mentioned ubiquitous "They're always ready" - these are not "classy" responses. They are responses born of passion for the activity and for the corps and kids. It's not a tennis match or a golf game. The passion for the activity overwhelms what might be considered good taste or good manners. As I said earlier, I don't boo anyone myself. But I'll defend the rights of those who want to boo even if I wouldn't do it. It's never going to be a "gentlemen's" activity - there's just way too much passion involved. You can't take away the boos without taking away the passion, and that would be disastrous for the activity. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, Hoppy himself has the power to change that if it becomes a priority for him. It just isn't at this point.

I personally agree with you; however, as I stated before, I don't think that anyone is under the delusion that the booing is aimed at the kids. That's just not what I've gotten from what I've read. We need to understand, I think, that Drum Corps is by nature a passionate activity. The kids have to have passion to do what they do for a complete summer. Certainly the staff and volunteers have to be passionate about their corps and about the activity. And the fans are very passionate about it. The activity actually NEEDS that passion in order to survive. Without it, a lot more corps and shows would disappear. The downside of all this passion is that there are also negative expressions of it - that's just reality. Personally, I don't find the boos any more offensive than the tired-out "They're always ready" that people always seem to think is so original. It's just different ways of fans expressing their passion. This type of passion doesn't restrain itself by the cool, calm reasoning of logic. And it isn't always bound by perceptions of "politeness" or whatever else you want to call it. I don't think you can really have the passion that the activity needs without having both positive and negative expressions of it. Certainly, you see many more positive expressions than negative ones. Bottom line - this is all really within Hopkins' control. Clearly, to him, the vision of what he wants his shows to be and what he thinks is moving the activity forward is more important than how the fans respond. Given that priority, how could anyone expect the reaction to be other than it is?

I'll say it again, that's your personal choice and I respect that. But I don't think it's something that should be imposed on anyone. I guess I just disagree with the concept that in general booing is either appropriate or inappropriate - it's just an expression of how people feel.