wickerbill

The only time I remember the corps playing themselves off was after Finals. We still did retreats though after every show, unlike what they do today. We would line up with the other corps, march out onto the field, hear the scores announced, and then the winner would play an encore. I don't remember too many drum major only retreats that summer. It's too bad that they don't at least do the full retreat after Finals. I remember when I went to Finals in Buffalo in '01 and the corps would just stand around for a while after scores were announced and then announcer told them to get off the field. It was pretty disappointing after the memories I had of the way it was done in '96.

I still remember standing five feet away from the Cavaliers hornline after Finals in '96 while they played "Over the Rainbow" for us and the Blue Devils. I took a picture of a member of their hornline for him while he was playing. I don't understand how anybody can think that the way they do finale now is ANY better than the way it used to be done. Who cares if it takes longer. People are free to leave if they don't want to stay.

In my opinion, scores have been too high the last several years. Last night was more in line with there I think most championship shows should finish. Reserve the highest scores for the truly outstanding shows that deserve them. Regardless of what the scores are, I don't see how a random number should really matter. It definitely doesn't affect my enjoyment of finals if the champion scores in the 97's instead of a 98 or 99. They're all relative for that year. I was fortunate enough to march Phantom Regiment the only year they won, but our score was a full point below their '89 score that got them second place. I don't remember a single person on that field in Orlando lamenting our final score only being a 97.4. :P

I'm sure he was the only judge out there that has any affiliation to a corps. :unsure: If it's such a big conspiracy, why did Regiment's drumline actually win by MORE points on Thursday and by almost the same margin last night when they didn't have Regiment alums judging them? Just admit that Regiment had a great drum line this year and they deserved their caption win instead of inventing conspiracies where there are none.

Exactly. I watched the clip on season pass tonight and I can't get enough of that luscious low brass sound. Definitely plenty of SAK. SUTA!!!!!

I feel bad for you, man. My fiancee' actually called into work sick on Thursday to go to quarterfinals with me at the theater and then watched semis with me last night. She's only been a fan, or even known about drum corps, for about a year, but she's hard core now.

SUTA!!!

That would be cool, but I doubt too many movie theaters want to give up a theater for 5+ hours on a Friday night, even though with a full house and the higher ticket prices it would probably bring in more money than the average movie.

Yeah, there's a sign just outside Oklahoma City with that on it. Cities all around the country give themselves nicknames like that. It doesn't give them any legitimacy. I'm happy for all of the upper midwest people because they get a cheap trip to finals for 10 years. Good for you. You all seem to be the only region that is universally excited about this agreement. I can see the benefits to DCI, but it's crappy for the average fan. I'll probably make it up a few times, but just as I got the fiancee' real into drum corps they pull this. It will make it a much harder sell to go to Indiana every summer for vacation. What a boring place to be for 10 years straight. I would probably get tired of ANY city for that long of a period.

Posting late at night can be rough sometimes. :)

Are you serious or was this just a typo? No way any of those corps will jump up to third. The fight is for fourth between those three.

Cadets won '83, '84, '85, '87, and '90. '93 too, but that would be a sixth in 11 years, not 10.

I liked the commentator (can't remember which one) marvelling about how he had marched the whole time and he must be tired. Like the rest of the corps did a standstill for the whole show. :)

Great idea.

It also looked to me that their speakers were located right in front of the microphones. I hope they fix this before Saturday night because I won't be able to listen to that track if it sounds anything like last night. It was absolutely awful. It was like I was listening to my 1995 cd's.

The idiots running the theatre in Tulsa could never figure out how to get their system running reliably. We probably lost our video feed for at least 45 total minutes tonight. Messed up for at least part, if not almost all of these shows: Southwind, Capital Regiment, Glassmen, Blue Stars, Spirit, Crown, and Cadets. They kept blaming the feed, but it looked like an equipment issue on their end to me. Based on the few problems posted so far, it doesn't look like a national problem with the feed to me. I was getting pretty pi$$ed off at both the problems and the management's attitude. This has turned into the summer of technical difficulties for me trying to watch shows on the internet and now in the theatre. Really enjoyed the parts I did get to see though. SUTA!!!!!

Great post. That was hilarious.

Not really. Digital music sales are a small fraction of total music sales. Most people like having an actual CD and being able to listen to it in CD players and rip it to whatever bitrate they want. I'll be pretty disappointed if I'm forced to download APD's and then convert one lossy format to another lossy format to play it on my ipod.

I would love this exact order of finish for Saturday night. I don't like the chances of it happening though.

DUH. That's why you move it around instead of leaving it in the same place for ten years straight. That way it's close to more people at some point in those ten years.

Looks like the Indiana and upper Midwest people are loving this because it's close for them. Yeah for all of you, but it's not close for everybody. I'm pretty bummed because going to Indianapolis isn't really that exciting year after year. I can see why DCI would want to do this, but locking in a longterm contract for a stadium that's not even built yet is a huge risk. I think it's crappy that cities like Madison won't be hosting another Finals for a LOOOONG time either. Oh well, what's done is done.

I'll be there with my fiancee'. I don't know any of the answers to your other questions though. I've never gone to the DCI movie events because they've never done them in Tulsa before.

My high school used to host Black Gold's home show every year and we could work at it. I was an usher. I think Vanguard and Scouts were there. First show I went to and just watched was that same show in '93. I loved Blue Devils that year.

I know exactly what you're talking about. Had a few experiences during retreat with a certain corps and their cocky, ######## horn sergeant that really changed my opinion of that corps. It had been one of my favorite up until our first show with them. It was pretty disappointing. I don't even want to know what would have happened to me if I had acted like and said the things this person said. I've also known people that are not like that who have marched at the corps so I know they're not all like that. You just have to question why they would allow that behavior to occur.

Nice post, Chris. I know what you're talking about when you described how you felt in San Antonio. I had those exact feelings when I saw the 2003 show for the first time. It was a run-through in Leander, TX and when they did the Canon reprise, I actually was almost overcome with emotion. They were back and I couldn't have been more proud. Thanks to all of the volunteers and board members that kept Phantom Regiment going. My fiancee' didn't know anything about drum corps before last Summer when I took her to her first show. Now she's a huge Phan and listens to drum corps in her car, watched the web stream from San Antonio and Atlanta with me, and has a decent amount of PR attire. I took her up to this year's show of shows and the 50th reunion and she now understands how much drum corps and especially Phantom Regiment means to me. Hopefully some day I can give back to the corps even half of what they have given me. (and I was only able to march one year! I can't imagine how connected the people are who marched for more than me)