Jump to content

apoch003

Members
  • Posts

    1,495
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by apoch003

  1. Wow! Moe Knox (not - RIP). I haven't heard that in a while. How could we have left him out?
  2. Garry, Check the post dates. He said that before VK came back.
  3. Molds the kids? Honestly? I think it's 50/50 between the staff and the other kids. Seriously, the things I did for drum corps, was because I wanted to impress people, including acting and behaving just like the other dedicated kids there. But the leadership of the staff will always be remembered.
  4. I guess it wasn't Puppet. The kids worked in the hot sun all day. The kids slept on gym floors and in crowded buses. The kids put on thick, sweat inducing uniforms. The kids poured their heart and souls into the show. The kids then performed the show for the audience. The kids then went back to their gym floors or buses and ate a jello pudding pack if they were lucky. The staff taught the kids, then went and had self-congradulatory awards shows while drinking beer and remembering the good-old-days.
  5. I'm not saying they didn't get better. It's quite possible they did (in fact, I'm sure of it). However, everyone assumes that other corps (had they still been around) wouldn't have.
  6. How many corps were in DCI at inception compared to 1999? Captain Buzzkill, out!
  7. Sometimes, removing the colour altogether is the best thing.
  8. In MY day, we had camps in the Sahara and were given rocks to suck on! ...aaaaaaaaaaand WE LIKED IT!
  9. I gotta go with the great 27 as well. But I'd be sorely disappointed to them in todays day and age. I never NEVAH wanna see 27th amplified, and without a high marc time. NEVAH, I say!
  10. We had scenicruisers... P.S. Sorry Marty. But there is no way to save that picture. I really tried.
  11. Excuses... hmnn...what were DCI's excuses? The switch from 2 to three valve was so that a horn player could play a "D" below the scale. One note, and all of drum corps changed (I do not count piston/rotor change because that DOES seem like good evolution and it made no difference in sound). The switch from G to Bb was so that any band kid could come into a rehearsal and play the horn. Although how it's more difficult to play a LOWER based instrument is beyond me. Also, the manufacturers were already primarily making Bb horns. Thus, it was supposed to be cheaper (But now we know it wasn't at all). The switch to the pit from marching kettle drums and bells was a huge relief for those poor back broken kids. Also, Allowing the pit in and of itself created the ability to introduce different malleted instruments and new percussion choices. The switch from guard to dancers was due to a way of promoting a shows "theme" better. By using artistic dance. The cymbal line was removed because everyone thought the pit couldn't be heard. No really! Amplification of the pit negated having cymbals on the field, because now the pit could play the cymbals. The coolest kids marching, with flashy maneauvers and over the top performances are now gone. ...with a few exceptions. The biggest switch was marching styles and techniques. Although it was pretty cool at the time of the change... it shouldn't have been so drastic. The Judging system changed... and it's pretty messed up still (if you ask me). Every corps started with 100 points, and every error was a tenth of a point off that score. This created a Blue Devils that was so precise and skilled, that judges thought they'd better change the system (oh no! They're too perfect! what shall we do? I know! Let's not judge on error anymore! That'll mess it up!). Moving from the "tick" system, all of drum corps changed when Garfield came out with low marc time, and asymmetrical field design. Although impressive, it was still highly skilled. As the judging system began to be taken advantage of, posieurs fresh out of college suddenly thought they could write the music corps play, instead of basing a show on a theme (the 80's) or playing a show to a set type of events (opener, fanfair, concert, drum solo, closer: the 70's). The current effect of this new way of presenting allows corps to play to the judges, instead of the audience which paid to see them. A few eighth notes here, a big punch there, and let's set the mood of the show. Mostly, this is just confusing to the audience (Cadets planting a girl in the audience? SHEESH! Or talking all the way through a show to explain what they're doing? BAH!) or downright boring. Later years prove that corps can all do this style of "marching", which leads to lots of errors (rifle drops, flags not in sync, uneven "straight" lines, etc.) without any consequence. This style in todays corps, although fast paced and action filled, comes across as lazy to me. I see more than one or two mistakes in a show and the corps loses any interest I might have had for them. So what do we have? Movement not marching. Band instruments, not drum corps instruments (I didn't say bugles for all you passive-agressive freaks!) Amplified cymbals and no cymbal line. What is certainly more difficult, but looks sloppier M&M and GE. Horn 'music' which doesn't sound like anything more than a few whole notes with an occasionl punch to the audience. Is it still drum corps? Everyone says so. And I still go to every show I can. But no, it's music and motion, with style. I can actually see things on the horizon. Not Hoppy bringing saxes to the field or anything, but more realistic things... Like, boosting the contras with a bass guitar in the pit. Which would result in the contras being eliminated completely. At some point, the changes HAVE TO STOP. IMO, we're already well beyond the point of no return.
  12. I didn't say "Penalize". I said they could perform in exhibition. MikeD said the "P" word. What is this? "Pick on Apoch" week?
  13. We worked all winter as well. That's why an unfinished show in July is so alien to me.
  14. Why can't there be both? If I can teach a white man to dance, why can't I teach a noob to make music?
  15. Now that some people are (more eloquently) agreeing with my original point, I'll elaborate the simile. A few minor changes, over time, are unnoticeable. People can accept them better than changing the whole genre in one season. However, step back and look at the differences between then and now, and the picture is drastically different. There are now only 21 World Class corps left. If you have enough people in your corps to march "world class", and you march onto the field and suck, you're still in the top 25. The other side of that, is that DCI won't reward anyone that isn't in the top 12 anyway...anymore. This is part of the HUGE problem of funding to drum corps. I would have settled for just bragging rights and not all the money to the best corps back in the day if it meant we would still have lots of corps to watch in the future. In fact, I still would. But DCI has a rule of "win or die", and everyone has to pay for that. I understand that fundraising (lack of Bingo Halls) etc... are important as well, but so is that $50,000 first prize money. The whole system is geared to make the kids pay to be able to perform. The kids pay for the food, fuel, instruction, gymnasiums, all of it. DCI collects the ticket money the kids then earn by working so hard and performing. It's a pretty evil system if you really think about it. Speaking of "world class"... I DO wish DCI would QUIT CHANGING WHAT THE CLASSES ARE CALLED! I mean... Open, A class, B class,... to Division I, II, III...to A class, open class, and world class... all within my drum corps lifetime. It's ridiculous.
  16. Now we're quibbling over fantasy rules. I'm not going to do that anymore. You asked, I replied. I believe, logically.
  17. No. I'm saying that an unfinished show shouldn't be allowed to compete in the first place. An exhibition performance would be fine. Otherwise, the Cadets could take the field, blow one solid note, and walk away getting a higher score than the Blue Devils.
  18. No, they weren't. However, an unfinished show should NOT allow any corps to walk away with the first place finish. I don't care if it's VK, OC, or Blue Devils. But that's just IMO. I must say, that since the Sunday before, the show was definitely cleaner and better for what it was. However, it was also easily the most boring.
  19. The corps that the OP saw has an unfinished show in which the corps simply stops playing and walks off the field. They did this at the July 8th show in Hillsboro Oregon, and STILL won their division. Yet, the Velvet knights were better and wayyyyyyyyyy more entertaining (especially the Thriller dance) and took 2nd. The Spokane thunder had a full show and a tight, yet small, hornline and took 3rd. There seemed to be some politics going on.
  20. I wish you guys wouldn't ask if I'm sure of what I saw. Yes. I'm sure. ...and, what's an "upper tier" drum corps?
  21. The uniforms are part of the homogenization. That's all. It's all "in my opinion". You can have yours. I can also have mine. Also, I shouldn't HAVE TO SAY THAT every time I type something.
×
×
  • Create New...