MJH

The real truth is that in 2001 Yamaha bought DCI. Being as they were already in the business of making Bb horns, they pressured the corps to adopt the use of "any key" horns through the giving away of drums and "demo" sets of horns. By pressuring the judging community to give higher scores to corps with the "new Bb sound" other corps were compelled to give in to the Bb craze. Yamaha saw the potential increase in sales with the introduction of amplification to the marching field. Be prepared, in the next few years, for the introduction of motor cycles and wave runners to DCI.

We had this thing Ted Boliski (I think) made out of a coat hanger, a bath towel, and some electrical tape so we could have level drums. As I recall, we wore 2 snare slings clipped at 4 o'clock & 8 o'clock on the drum. He had us cut like 2" off our 3S sticks and we played matched grip with these stubby little tree trunks. My folks were cool with QCC, but they folded the year I was in them. I never could get the parents on board with Pride of Cincy, though. Too bad, they had a couple of pretty good years. I don't think QCC ever placed higher than 237th. Back then, I think, the 65-A class corps started with 200 for their placement, so that's not as bad as it sounds.

You guys used to do a section of Bluerock's walk beat. I played with Prussian Guard. We were all junior high kids that wanted to be in a drumline. I remember being blown away by you guys at regionals at Hara Arena, in Dayton. One of you snares gave me a few lessons and taught our drumline a few times, Tim something, I think. If I'd never seen the Blackhawks, I may have never explored drum corps.

Just my $.02 worth... I watched The Bushwackers show from the 50 just off the track. Man, what a good show. I really liked the cymbal line and the pit did a great job. The new unis look really cool. There's something about this corps I always like. Holy Smokes! The Cabs were GOOD! What a hot show! If they're not in 1st on Sept. 1, there is no justice. I haven't seen any of the other top contenders this year, but Cabs have one of the best shows I've seen / heard in recent years. What a high note it would be for the retiring DMs to go out on a first place year. The other thing I want to say is, what a great group of folks the Cabs are! We couldn't have been made to feel more welcome. A big THANK YOU to the Cabs and all the folks at their Legion Hall!

Court of Honor were great! I met their director last year at the Kenesaw show and I could tell his heart was in the right place. I'm glad to see they're doing so well. I look forward to watching them grow over the next few seasons. Crown was my most pleasant surprise. I think this may be the most entertaining show I've ever seen from them. I really liked how all the silks tied to the colors in the guard uni's. I loved the million dollar pit! Is Crown still playing G bugles? There was something about their overall sound that I really liked, maybe it's how they are voiced.

I saw that. He played a little bit of Let It Be Me (wasn't it?), right at the end of the show.

...for mosquitos! How long will it be before someone comes up with the "innovation" of 15" drums with silver dot heads. Snare drums never sounded better.

shameless opportunity to get my review back to the top. I know it's not the cleverest or most thorough review, but it is very much the way I saw it. It doesn't get any more real than that. vote for me, OK?

One does not "age out" of junior corps, one "ages in" to senior corps.

I started this on Sr Forum....If it sounds a little scattered, it's because I'm a littled scattered. I helped drive the equipment truck and we got in about 7AM. My dogs saw to it that I didn't get nearly enough sleep. We went on first in the competition part of the show and I'll try to talk about that a little at the end. I found an empty seat near the 30 after we loaded the pit equipment on the truck. (many thanks to the CV pit crew, BTW.) It was the best seat I've had all season. I didn't stay in it through all the corps. I'm just going to hit what I thought were the highlights of what I did get to see. The show opened with Mighty St. Joe's in exhibition. I watched them practically from the end zone so I didn't have the best perspective. I did love the tradition that comes from that corps. I was a little disapointed the announcer didn't say "On the starting line...". I enjoy the older style of corps so much and I am really looking forward to the alumni spectacular. I was a little surprised the Brigs Alumni didn't play at the Brigs show. I wonder why not... I thought Bush had some really cool stuff going on. I loved the part where the high brass and drums are marching at a fast tempo and the low brass is on the other side of the field marching at half the pace. I liked the fire theme a LOT. It would have been cool to see more spinning & tossing with the "flame-rifles" but I'm betting they don't lend themselves to that real well. The silks they have are beautiful. I don't know what kind of material they were, but they moved really nicely when they were spun. The other thing was, I was pleasantly surprised by how much bottom came from so few contras. I watched the three guys in the pit for most of Cabs' show. The latin perc guys. You know who I mean. How could you NOT know who I mean. My GAWD, they are a machine. Split cymbal parts, every stick height the same, total taste in their parts. Three guys playing as one. They are awsome. I WISH I had that kind of ability. Give me a few years and maybe I'll come close. These guys are the heart of the Cabs' sound. D@mn. I mean the music and the drill are great, but I was completely distracted. Maybe next season I can go to a Cabs' camp and spend a weekend learning from/working with these guys. I missed too much of Bucs to write anything. Brigs showed me why they are in first place going into the last 2 weekends. What more can be said about this corps. They take DCA to a new level. Tom Walsh, former CorpsVets corps director, came up to me after the show and said Brigs could have placed top 3 in DCI. I had to agree. I've said it before, I'd love to see a head to head competition with DCI upper echelon and Brigs. I got to see most of Grenadiers show from field level around the 10 yd line. They have a tasty sounding corps. I just wasn't in a position to give them a proper look/listen. Skyliners are small but mighty. The horns have the unmistakeable Skyliner sound. Their pit seemed a little off, probably due to their equipment truck not showing up and having to play on borrowed equipment. I'm glad to hear the truck turned up and everything's all right. I completely missed the Hurcs and The Crusaders. Empire Statesmen had my favorite show of the night. What a sound. Total class. The musical selection is what corps should be about. Great tunes, played well. Their horn book is as good as any I've heard all season, jr or sr. The playing is exceptional, especially in the high brass. Dynamics were tight and in complete control. I think they should be finishing closer to the Brigs. I believe they could make it a dog fight in Scranton. As far as CorpsVets go, I can only give a biased opinion, since I play in the pit. I had a great time playing our show. I felt like we really nailed the grooves. We had a little dirt in Tank, but we recovered well. That seems to be one of the things this corps does best, recover. I haven't heard the tapes or anything yet, but from what someone else told me I got keyed for my timbale playing. Oh, well, it's my first year in the pit and I wrote my own parts. I don't think I suck too badly. From what I heard, our horns had their balls out and it sounded to me like the battery played their best show all year. I love our guard. I can't say enough about how much I love them. I only get to see snippets of their work, because I have to concentrate on silly things like tempo and phazing. What I did see looked real good. They have come light years ahead of where they were last year and the only scoring I'm going to mention is theirs because whatever they get they will always deserve higher. They are the ONLY over 21 guard out there and deserve to get 10 points just for that. They bring a maturity to the field that most other guards don't have. It's a shame that doesn't get recognized. Oh well. If any of CV guard is reading this, you are all spinning perfect scores in my heart.

For those of us who ARE over 40 AND out-of-shape....thanks for noticing us, too!

B) Thanks for noticing. That's something we've worked at.

ooooh! BURN!

How much later? Tell me more.