coastiemeg

Oh yeah, I totally agree, 1998 was a good year! Actually, 1998 was the first year I bought on video, come to think of it. Didn't NL do a show ("Chaos and Order") designed to be viewed from both sides in 2002 as well? I seem to remember being able to watch from the back bleachers and still get a great show. But, then again, when it came to NL, I'm always like this:

LOL, I almost used these for my girls this Fall season, I was literally thisclose to ordering them. Let us know how they work out, and if they're as cool looking in real life as they are on the website!

Thank God! Happel was just awful! I like Jolesch A LOT more!

I've done something sort of like doublefast/time on sabre, but it was called two-handed fronts. It's mostly finger work, and it takes a lot of practice. LOL @ knockers, who calls them that???

My main concern is actually having a winter guard this year. We only had 5 girls march fall season, so it'll be amazing if we have that many for winter season. We're trying to do a recruiting session tomorrow at their lunch time (show guard videos, maybe spin a little for them) but I coach at a school where winter guard girls are seen as cheerleader rejects, and we all know that we're NOT!! It's just a shame, because I know there's plenty of talent out there, they're just too pressured by the other kids to actually step up and do it. I'm so jealous of you folks that have a lot of interest in your programs, you're really lucky.

I hear ya, on that one, they do need some cleaning. I've been reading their tour diary at www.seattlecascades.org since the beginning, and it sounds to me like they're just worn out (which is to be expected of a drum corps, der). I know they're working their little tails off, and I'm just praying that everything falls together these last few weeks. That's the thing about the Cascades, they may have a rough season to start out with, but they tend to pull it together once the heat is on. (Knock on wood, lol). Here's hoping for best. P.S. DCI Finals are the night of my birthday and I have winter guard rehearsal, so that's two bummers in one evening for me!! I'll have to tape it, and celebrate my 21st some other day.

Anyways, thanks for the review. I was curious to see how someone viewed Seattle's show now that they've tweaked it a little since Kurt had to come here and defend it. I'm bummed I only got to see them perform once, and that was so early on in the season, but I'm sure there will be plenty of fans here that are going to Providence that will keep us posted. I found your review to be very informative, and thank you again for being concise and to the point. Bravo.

Amen, Mike! I'm so glad you posted that, it said exactly what I was thinking. I'm glad they took the direction they did, it shows that they're not afraid to be daring and fresh with their concepts. I would hate for this organization to keep putting out show after show after show of the same old thing that everyone else is doing. I'm happy that this is an ever-evolving activity, it makes going to the competitions fun and exciting ("I wonder how BD is going to perform tonight?" that kind of thing.) It keeps us on our toes, and as an audience member, that's a great feeling. Meg

At the Seattle show, junior and high school students with a school I.D. got in free if they were attending the clinic and then were seated at the 50 yard line. That way, groups of students from the local area schools could attend the clinic without having to worry about costs for tickets, food, etc. etc. Just thought you might want to know, we had the school-age kids taken care of.

I was on a guard that was choreographed by Kurt in 2002, and the man is a God where I come from. His ideas for shows are so innovative and fresh, that it's sad to see them not be accepted in their own time. I saw the show on Saturday because I was a volunteer at the show, and I thought it was amazing. It captured futuristic and vintage at the same time, which is really difficult to combine in one show. I like how they didn't choose to go traditional, I applaud them for their efforts and Kurts bravery for coming on here to shed a little light on the matter from the instructional staff's view. It shows that they're not just ignoring what we think or acting like they don't know what people are saying about them. Please, please don't turn this into a personal attack on Kurt, he said he wasn't representing the entire views of the corps, just himself and where he was coming from. I agree with the judge who said, "The world may not be ready for a Cascades like this" (or something to that effect). The folks who've been involved in Drum Corps for a long time may not be ready for such a futuristic show with newer concepts, but maybe that's what Drum Corps needs to pull it into the future. I was up there sitting with the judges during the Cascades show (I ran their tapes and critique forms to the sideline afterwards) and the judges most definitely didn't say any comments like those mentioned here, they were quite the opposite actually. And I know this isn't just about judges, it's about the fans, too, but from the top tier, the fans were the loudest for the Cascades, so that has to say something. I wasn't going to say anything at first, just stand back and watch the fur fly, but since Kurt came on here and mentioned a few things, I decided to give it a go. I know I haven't been with Drum Corps as long as a lot of you, so feel free to tear me apart for being a "young'un", it wouldn't be the first time a personal attack on a message board has been directed at me, I've got pretty thick skin. The Cascades show is well on it's way this season, so we might as well sit back, relax, and see how well they do at their competitions, there's not a whole lot that can be changed about it by those on the message boards now.

I think they chose to go a separate way this year because they didn't want to become predictable. I respect them for pushing the envelope and daring to be different. The guard outfits... I gotta say... are a little risque especially when most of the gals are pretty busty, and I think the exposed bra was tacky. I did like the fact that they were wearing dog tags, and the outfits looked more like futuristic flight attendants, which is the direction I hope they were going for. I thought the 'scades were awesome, VERY LOUD, very dynamic. I read your post before on how they should spread it out a little more, not just keep it between the 35's, and I think you had a very valid point. At points, it seemed a little bunched up, but I'm sure that's something they'll work on. I heard one of the judges mention something like that (I was the runner for the judges at the Cascades home show) so we'll probably see quite a lot of improvement come World Champs. I thought that the idea for the construction of the plane was awesome, the kite planes were a little tough to understand at first, but I really liked how they showed victory at the end of the song, it was very uplifting. All in all, I gotta say, it's a pretty darn good show, but that's just me (the Cascades groupie, lol) talking, I'm no judge here. :)

I'm going to the show hosted by the Seattle Cascades this afternoon and couldn't be more excited. It's been forever since I've been to a drum corps show (almost 3 years, which is forever for me! :P ). I've been pumped to see their show since I heard what they were performing, especially Stairway to Heaven. I have a few friends that are marching this season (A trumpet, a bari, five or six guardos) so it'll be cool to see them perform on the turf. Well, to whoever is coming to the show at Husky Stadium, I'll be the tall blonde girl taking tickets. B)

I agree the B.K.'s Sybil was incredible. I would have liked to have seen more ensemble work, but the show was really amazing, and really captured the true essence of the film. The girl in the front during the beginning of the show where she's cutting her hair used to freak me out so much!! And I have a soft spot for Northern Lights in 2001, that show rawked and was totally awesome to see live. The sign language that they do in the beginning and end of the show was taught to them by my color guard instructor, woot!!!! :)

Ohhhhhh!! Sorry about freaking out like that, I thought you meant winter guard, not percussion. I was about to get really angry, because that rule sounded ridiculous! Anyways, now I understand why they made it.

That's not neccessarily true. The Pacificaires from the Vancouver, B.C. area of Canada compete every year at WGI World Champs. They haven't made it to the finals yet, but they still attend every year. I'm on an Independant A guard that is their rival at nearly every competition here in the Pacific Northwest, and if their members are over 22, that isn't fair to me at all! (I'm 20 and plan on staying in for the next two years). If, when I reach 22, I have to be forced to move to find and audition for an IW guard (which is nearly impossible as I am in the military and Northern Lights is only accepting males anyway) and then the girls in Pacificaires can stay in merely because of this new rule, how does that even out the competition floor? To me, personally, this is total BS! Did they even take into consideration the guards in this area that this would be completely unfair to us? I know that I have pretty much no say in the matter, but I feel like I am basically getting told, "You have to quit in two year, but see those girls over there? There's no age-out limit for them." Whatever, I don't make the rules, I guess. I just have to live by them. <**>

Really?!?! How did they rank at that show?