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ironlips

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Everything posted by ironlips

  1. Ok. I must put this on my Summer reading list. Those "Cats from the Cornfields" were some kind of cool.
  2. "You gotta see these cats from out in the cornfields!", DCI Judge Rich De Cola raved to me in 1975. He wasn't kidding! The main driving force was Darvin Omer "Doc" Crosser, a Korean War vet who founded the corps in '65 and became their first drill and music instructor. They were 'way too hip for their own good when they began knocking on DCI's door. Check this: As the story goes, Jim Ott and some of the Blue Devils staff saw the Precisionnaires and said, in effect, "That's it!". For 1975, these charts, and (particularly) their interpretations, were superior to almost everything else on the field, but a bit ahead of the judging techniques (except for the aforementioned De Cola and a couple of others like Lloyd Pesola). The drumming was too musical to get much credit vis-a-vis the prevailing standards. Argonne had suffered the same kind of undervaluing a couple of years earlier. The only Osage brass instructor from this period that I knew was Bobby Hagglund. He was playing trombone in a progressive R&B band out of Minneapolis called "Haze". They were opening for a kid who called himself "Prince". A peek at their roster will reveal a future corps director and more than a few important instructors and adjudicators, in addition to no small number of members who became professional performers. Like Camelot, they seemed to exist for only "one shining moment" but they certainly sparkled.
  3. A perfect description of the man. You said it much better than I could have.
  4. "Unplugged Innovation" - That's a great description. I used to tell folks that Drum Corps was the most intense purely acoustic experience on the planet. Of course, that's no longer true, but it surely was at one time.
  5. At age 21, Dave arranged the selections from "Hair" for the Des Plaines Vanguard. He was marching in the mellophone section at the time. Note: there were no synths or electronics at that time and bugles had one valve. Timpani and keyboards were illegal. The show begins with a reenactment of a protest riot, and the "police sirens" are produced by mellophones:
  6. At age 21, Dave arranged the selections from "Hair" for the Des Plaines Vanguard. He was marching in the mellophone section at the time. Note: there were no synths or electronics at that time and bugles had one valve. Timpani and keyboards were illegal. The show begins with a reenactment of a protest riot, and the "police sirens" are produced by mellophones:
  7. Many on this thread will be interested to note that Dave's all-time favorite arranger was Hy Dreitzer. "Nobody like him", he'd often remark. Or Dave Hill, either. Give a listen to this. Dave wrote most of this show while he was still marching in this line. You'll hear many a Dreitzer-ism:
  8. I've seen these cats up close and personal and they are bada$$. Their musicianship is amazing. They were formed a couple of hundred years ago, as the king's portable boom-box. The French and British have always "competed" with each other for marching band bragging rights, with Napoleon upping the ante by importing Turkish musicians, cymbals, and the "jingling johnny", carried by a drum major in a tall shako with orstrich feathers. "Fie!", said the Brits, "We'll put our chaps on HORSES, and go on first. They can follow us down the street."
  9. "...leaving the audience with a sense of both the challenges and the possibilities of revolution. " This is really clever, creative and logical, and how (in my imagination) a show might be programmed by the android DATA from Star Trek. Next step: Leave the audience entertained.
  10. I'm ok with AI watering my lawn while I'm away, but I don't want it driving my car, or writing my music. A scientist friend pointed out that what I want won't actually matter. We're doomed. Have a nice day, HAL.
  11. Yes. It was pretty clear to some of us that your tongue was placed securely in your cheek regarding props. But the concept of "Winter Corps" is actually quite viable, as WGI demonstrates. I am always amused (though not surprised) that any new "idea" is greeted with immediate skepticism. As I pointed out, this is just human nature (in my opinion).
  12. C points to the single most important characteristic of any prop, and even the pros sometimes fail at this. Ask Alec Baldwin.
  13. We humans are so very predictable. The first thing we do is look for what's wrong with something. That's why the tick system lasted so long. This basic concept is actually a sound one, already exists and is quite successful. It's called WGI. There's no "tour". Except for Championships and Regionals these are one-day events on weekends and there are literally dozens of them each week, all over the country. Props? Sure...ones that work indoors on a gym floor. Lighting and EFX are handed easily. Here's a good example: Now, I don't see the World Class corps participating, but Open and scholastic units, sure. One predictable downside is that audiences might become too large for some gyms and shows would require arenas, but most of these (even the pro basketball venues) are empty half the time because teams are on the road. Of course, none of this will serve to discourage props on the field come summer. The opposite will be the case, actually. And the tick is not coming back anytime soon, either.
  14. This gets my vote for funniest quote of the year. It may even get a 20 on my sheet. That will stand as the top number (in my judgement as Adjudicator of the Quote Caption at this contest) until or unless a better one arrives by Dec. 31st., at which time someone else's phrase may get that 20. This does not mean either is "perfect". There is no "perfect", little Grasshopper. Numbers are only relevant (and relative) to other numbers, whether Roman or Arabic, and in some alternate universe perhaps 3.14 is the ultimate standard.
  15. Yes, that is correct. I might also add that it is not always correct for all the judges to agree on scores and placements across the board, otherwise you'd only need one judge per contest. The trick is for judges to get a pretty good handle on the value of the tenth within their caption. For instance, a 1-3 tenth spread indicates the groups are competitive and that caption could easily flip tomorrow. More than that indicates a different "neighborhood", at least in the contest in question. Of course, groups can have different strengths and weaknesses, and to different degrees, which is how a group can win a competition without copping any first-place ordinals. There is a limit to how many judges is the optimum number. The larger that is, the more likely spreads will shrink, while the likelihood of ties is increased. Judging 'ain't easy, which is why my advice to designers and performers alike is to make it easier by being obvious in your intent and in your skills demonstration. Don't try to be "clever". Lay it out there.
  16. Someone here signs off with "I have seen the future and it's WGI", or words to that effect. I get it. Two words: Tarpon Springs Hipper than hip.
  17. Phantom is extremely fortunate to have Marie on the team. Her knowledge, and the experiences she brings to the table are simply priceless.
  18. Wait. How old was Fran in '65? Maybe 12? Drum Corps' Youngest Announcer?
  19. "1971 was a Fiddler medley without a bottle dance but they had a nice soprano soloist for "Matchmaker" by the name of Wayne Downey." Best lip trills in the business...until his students, Pete Burnijko, Doug Huras and Larrie Dastrup met Dindi in 1980 (speaking of closers).
  20. "Whomever made that last tick ( I blame a horn player -no way it was a drummer ) before the 11 1/2 minute execution gun went off has been quiet and in hiding for 45 years now. " Let's get real. All ticks were equally costly. Rifle, drum, horn...whatever, and the FIRST one in the show shaved just as much from the final score as did the last.
  21. In my view, the Finals performances are rarely the best of the season. Notable exception: Bridgemen '76, (and then they fainted).
  22. No, and now he is. Oversight corrected. Everyone, including the members, assumed he had been inducted years ago. When this was discovered, immediate steps were taken. There are others who "should be in the Hall of Fame". I urge anyone who is aware of an individual who deserves that honor to visit <www.wdchof.org> and confirm whether that person has been inducted. If not, begin the process then and there by downloading a submission form. If we don't value our own heritage, who will?
  23. Action shot: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=2mtQ4QTk&id=EE4A741513DE816E86A75AD73B4084E8B6DA7981&thid=OIP.2mtQ4QTkVmX8FxnGFX-3JwHaGp&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2F5a%2F6b%2F38%2F5a6b38a1d3c444772e75f1941fcfa3e8--corp-knights.jpg&exph=495&expw=552&q=Belleville+Black+Knights+images&simid=607987096952706343&form=IRPRST&ck=BE10C058DCEDCC51ABAB4DF507BCF18A&selectedindex=14&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0&vt=0&sim=11&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.da6b50e104e45665fc1719c6157fb727%3Frik%3DgXnatuiEQDvXWg%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0
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