Gray3

Sounds good.

While I do believe that the visual is not what it was last year, a 5-point spread seems a bit much.

Don, are you causing trouble again?

I saw Spirit, Glassmen, BAC, HNC & PR this past Monday - HNC hornline is pretty good. Not much range dynamically, but they can play loud. The arrangements work for them and the ending should bring the house down at Finals. I like Spirit. I thin kthey have a decent corps that might be getting slotted a bit. They sound pretty good up close and personal and can blow the house down with Seet Georgia Brown - still. Their "Live,, In COncert" show is done fairly well (I could do without the synthesizer) but the drill still needs to be ramped up to give the kids a chance to move up. PR - oh my... The visual is not done very well this year. Not much going on that would make someone think anything other than *I think I saw PR do this in the 90's.* Sounds good (if you like to hear toungues hanging out of the baritone's bell) but the visual design needs major improvement.

Doing fairly well, Chris. Boxes around the house but dwindling. Wife still eneds a teaching job. Daughter Amalia is great - best part of coming home from work. I'm looking forward to seeing The Cavaliers' show in Atlanta, if I can swing the evening off from work. My sister and nephew have put their name in the hat to sell shirts for CPI during the show. Should be a good visit after my quick trip down to FWB to help put on the DCI show there on Monday. How's that for random thoughts and wanderings?

I give credit where credit is due but, this is DCI Finals retreat. It is not the f'ing military. This is not really that "important" of an event. The Cavaliers have always had a relaxed style regarding the way they do things - from walking on to the field to being somewhat relaxed at retreat. We shared some candy in 1992 - does that mean that we were wrong or disrespectful? Who's to say? You may think it is the worst kind of disrespect imaginable. I don't. I guess we both win this one. If the staff of the drum corps has no issues, then why is this even a topic on DCP? All of these kids display class. Why does "everything" that they do have to be done the way "we used to do it" or "old school?" This is not "your" drum corps anymore - let the current staff and members determine their own retreat behavior. I guarantee that The Cavaliers were not "mocking" BD. The entire corps (and the CAC888 corps) applauded BD as they left the field on Friday night. The Cavaliers don't take many things about the activity as seriously as other corps do. Who really cares? I guess those that are opposed to something different at retreat could leave the stadium before scores are announced. I just don't see why folks would waste time criticizing (or praising, for that matter) what a corps does at retreat. It isn't about the retreat, especially at Finals. It is about the end of a long, hard journey that some will never get to experience again during their lives. Leave it at that and give up trying to find fault with every little thing that kids do. They get enough of that in their regular lives. Drum Corps is not regular life. Hell, I thought VK was ROTFLMAO funny when their DM's brought out folding chairs. Why can't we see more of that these days? Although, to be honest, I love the Troopers DM!!!! To each his (or her) own.

I think the cleaning days give the kids more time to get comfortable with any changes being made to the shows. Learning and running through 10-15 new sets in the closer, and then performing them a few hours later can be difficult. The kids that get a day or two to "forget" the old drill and music and lock into the new stuff have a bit of an advantage, in my opinion.

No pressure, huh? I missed the step-over in Crown's show -again - last night. How did it look? (My wife just doesn't get that I should not be bothered when I have the door closed and the sound is up...) I hope I can get my step size figured out before I kill someone in the guard...

I am glad that this article has gotten a little bit more "airtime" here at DCP. Normally, I would not expect a mention of this type of positive message on the forum. Thanks, Vince, for letting the light shine on this article and getting more of the history of drum corps out there. Whether you marched one year or many, you should feel a strong connection to the history of this activity. It is amazing how strong an emotional connection marching members have for their corps

Now that is funny.

Any word from folks at the show about changes to any of the shows? Do The Cavaliers have a new ending? Does Phantom murder more slaves? Did The Cadets really water down the narration? Is SCV really that far back in cleaning their show? Just curious...

A great tribute to three great corps from a member of amother great corps. It's good to read stuff like that...

The mind bender is a good analogy. I already think I'm nuts for getting out on the field again. However, all of this is so worth it. My wife even gets to be a groupie this time around.

What do The Cavaliers call us? The Age Out Corps?

I have to believe that my wife is giving way more rope than I deserve to march with the CAC. She is even willing to be a volunteer while we are up in IL and IN in August. I have not gotten the "bill" for all of this yet, but I am sure it will be significant. On another topic, I have some small "prizes" for the best - loose term with this group - golf group on August 5. I'll give them to you that morning.

Ditto for you. I'm not sure what your intent was with your response. You come across as juvenile and unwilling to accept that 2 people will have different views of the same show.

The best for me, even though I never got to hear it from Jeff personally, was the "Zip up...., gentlemen." quote.

I see the possibility of Cavaliers and Crown catching up to BD. Crown's drill isn't as clean as the other's but their horn line is pulling them along. BD always has the brass, but Phantom might pull that one off this year. There are too many horses in this race to call BD the winner now.

I am in for the Annual Midwest Alumni "Combine." I haven't been to Dekalb since DCM Championships (remember that?) in 1992. If you are in the area, go see what the "CavaJama" deal is all about. You will get a close up of the Samurai show as well as some great Cavaliers memories from guys who were there the first time! Come on out and enjoy a relaxing evening with The Cavaliers. There won't be any reviews to write, just you and an hour or two of drum corps fun. The entire process has been great for me. I have rekindled friendships from 16 years ago and made new friendships that mean the most to me. My wife will get to see me perform live for the first time - now that's pressure! Come on out and check out the passion, fun, excitement, sweat and maybe a few tears during the evening. You won't regret it! See you there!

1) Cavaliers 2) Blue Devils 3) Cadets 4) Crown 5) Phantom Regiment 6) Santa Clara Vanguard 7) Bluecoats 8) Blue Knights 9) Boston Crusaders 10) Blue Stars 11) Glassmen 12) Crossmen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 13) Colts 14) Madison Scouts 15) Spirit 16) Pacific Crest 17) Troopers 18) Academy 19) Mandarins 20) Pioneer Guard - Cavaliers Percussion - Phantom Regiment/Cavaliers/Blue Devils (1st - 3rd) Visual GE - Blue Devils/Cavaliers/Crown (1st - 3rd) Ensemble GE - Cavaliers/Cadets/Crown (1st - 3rd) Brass - Crown/Cavaliers/Phantom Regiment (1st - 3rd)

I agree with most regarding the Cavaliers - seemed off this evening. Lots of individual errors. They have added tons of little things since their show in Michigan City, IN on the 6th. Remains to be seen if they can clean and add more stuff to make the show pop more. The percussion and the pit are amazing. The horn sound (not all the fault of the microphones) seemed a tad off tonight too.

I am looking forward to seeing all of these shows later this summer. I heard from several friends that saw the Cavaliers dress rehearsal last night that they are at around 268 charts - that is crazy!!! Those same friends have said that have heard good things coming from PR folks lately, also. I think they are further along design wise than they normally are at the beginning of theseason. Hopefully the kids will only have to learn one show, instead of tons of rewrites.

It is not about beating the Cadets or Blue Devils.....

I drove a little with Bill Dragland last year, I think. Maybe it was 2005? Bill was great to spend time with, although CPI is his and Dan Horst's baby, sorta, if you can get Don Heitzman to stop worrying about everything while the Corps is out on the road. Great stories about the old days from Bill and Dan. Rudy usually rides along with the cook truck and does whatever he is asked. I have met him before and would have a great time hanging out with him. I have pictures from the last three summers that include these folks, too. Maybe I should branch out and drive the green van or get my CDL and hang out on one of the busses for a week or two one summer. The drum bus scares me a little, though.

You should call my wife and let her know that me being gone for 10 days is an OK thing, since I have a 7 month old daughter. (Future Phantom, maybe????)