BigW

As I've said before, competition breeds excellence. Anyone who's scared of any corps out there isn't up to the task mentally. Respect opponents, absolutely, but fear of any competitor just exposes personal or organizational weakness.

I'm looking at a 96 recap. According to what I'm seeing-- Westshore strong 2nd in visual, down .3 to Cabs. 1st in Field Percussion up .8 on Cabs, who were 3rd. In Brass Ensemble and excellence-- Tied for 2nd, .4 down to Cabs. Dave had you 3rd, the Ensemble guy had you second. And I have said this before and will repeat it- Knowing what I know, and you know more or less what I know from this time period-- For Westshore to knock off Bush's hornline and tie Empire in these captions was VERY impressive. Empire's hornlines under Donny Allen were very well put together and airtight. Bush's hornlines werent as sanitary but always had great books. And teh Cabs under Mike Longdo were always in the thick of things- they could play and on any given day could beat any of the other hornlines, period. To have done what the Westshore hornline did ain't hay. And for people who criticize the "inside job", worry more about the Brass Ensemble guy who had Westshore ranked second. Statistical dead heat in effect. I see what you mean about Guard. In today's judging system it would have been a serious game breaker for Westshore. Also, I note a second in GE brass for Westshore, only really a nick under the Cabs. Another serious accomplishment. Cabs 3rd in GE percussion. You know, one could make the argument the hornline hung on tight enough for the corps to win... OR, and maybe some of the Cabs would get upset by saying this-- their percussion didn't get er done. Westshore's horns got it done more than Cab's Percussion, but from looking at the numbers, no one was really in the same ballpark as the Westshore Percussion section, No one seemed to be able to do enough damage control. THAT was the difference. Just my tuppence. And Believe me, I see people still angsty about 96. Psrt of it is that it's easier for most people in the stands to figure out brass excellence... but percussion's a scary and arcane art for most Joe Taco-in-a-bag-eaters in the stands. And for that matter, dare I say, more than a few judges. All I can say it had to have been one He!!uva contest, I wasn't around that season, I was mixed up with another circuit. Westshore did what was necessary to win. John and Dave didn't matter one bit of squat. The numbers are consistent with everyone else's.

I can't talk long- just grabbing some stuff from my apartment. Now you mention it- Judging was a factor. I don't mean dishonest judging at all. When you read how one of the reasons the Cabe didn;t come into DCA in '65 was because Mr. Costello had a serious concern the deck was going to be stacked against the Cabs, and that it took a lot of work from Vince Bruni and Dr. Sebastianelli to hammer out a deal acceptable to everyone, yeah, there were certain things going on. There weren't a lot of DCA Judges. Habits and patterns could and can be easily discerned, and well- if you wanted to choose a panel to get a given result, it would not be very difficult to pick the right combination of individuals. The judges would be just doing their job as they do it and as professionally as they did it- not trying to put a fix in, etc. The trick is to find a combinaton of people where there's enough of a loose cannon effect and people you know will call the show that happened that night, not what it was, not what it could have been when things are tight score-wise. My guess is that was part of how Sun won in 1977 by .05 and how Westshore won in '96. You had people who weren't afraid to judge as they saw fit and do their jobs in the right combination.

Well, it wasn't me that derailed the topic this time! It may be a bit before I keep going, I'm a bit busy this week. But-- there was a resistance to change at the top of DCA. Frank Dorritie said that when you box the champ, you just can't beat him by points- you had to knock him out. Sun and Reading managed to get a block of time in which they managed to knock down the champs, the Hurcs squeezed one out in 1981, but truthfully, they were cut in the mold of Sky and the Cabs in terms of the approach to the activity and fit into the more traditional mold. Their guard was innovative for the time- which helped, but still. Show choices and format were quite traditional in nature. Several corps came close to breaking into the top 3- the Les Dips, Rochester, but things happened internally to break the momentum, and while the Brigs and the Rebs ame close with top 3 finishes, they also couldn't seal the deal. This is what we faced. It was a rather exclusive club, and really, I am of the belief certain folks- especially after the boos we got at the Grand Prix- did not want us there- I believe we were thought of as nothing more than amusing filler for the REAL corps at DCA shows, or a 'dark horse' to gin up more buzz for championships and to create the perception there were many corps capable of winning the title. I've discussed how there were efforts made in this era to have shows where certain corps- including Westshore- were given clear shots at winning a contest or two during the season to increase the publicity and excitement. I also think there was an attitude that if you played the game differently- as Sun, Reading, and Westshore began to do starting in 1979 and worked at and finally got results in 1982-- that it wasn't cricket. I think anyone from the three corps in that period would quickly tell you they could and would NOT play that game, and that their corps were NOT geared experience and talent-wise to do that style of show and arranging. What were we supposed to do? Evidently, shut up and keep losing while trying to be something we could not be had we done that. I see complaints nowadays from certain corners about this issue in DCA. The more things change the more they seem to remain the same. You can read that stuff frequently-- "Everyone has to be like MBI and the Bucs to win." The correct answer would be that everyone needs to have the QUALITY they do to win. If you can get THAT- the show formats THEN become an issue. I just get tired of seeing that kind of silliness here. 30 years later, people are still wishing everyone played shows just like Sky, the Cabs, and Empire. If they did-- then these same people would accuse those corps of being shallow copycats and have even more of an excuse to ridicule them. Just needed to get some of that off my chest beofre I end up too busy to really post anything for the coming week.

BD Didn't call their Euph players "Monster Men" BITD for nothing. I can tell you working for UPS helps build the muscles that help to carry the horn.

Jim, Ben, Scott, Check your PM, please. Next week could be tricky for me to post here, I'll try and check my personal E-Mail and the site when I can. Doing some craziness next week as well as work. Everything's very cool, just kind of different.

Question, Jeff- is there any good footage of the Def Leppard drummer out there? Never seen him play, I hear he still kicks ###. My guess is he's got a very well thought out kit which gives him access to things easier for his remaining arm, and he has extra foot pedals to compensate. If I ever teach a kid who needs adaptave equipemt, things like that are always good to see what is and can be done for starters. Speaking of kids who need things adapted for them-- I worked with a young man that happened to have Down's at Ephrata. Played the Gun Drum on sideline. Being the techie/clean up freak I am, I watched him once early on in a run through and in percussion sectional. Has the music with him, etc. Real legit parts, not fluff, the young man NEVER put a note out of place. And you know-- a person with the Gun Drum/Concert bass could really blow up stuff if they were. I never worried after that. As for the Marimbas, who liked making stuff up that didn't look like anything on the score...... THERE, I worried. Great kid, great member of the band. One of those people you value having known and worked with because they made ME better for knowing them.

And with the tick system, depending on how nasty a judge wanted to be... that's a LOT of ticks...

In any event, Ben-- (Hey! I made a bad pun and I didn't even try to!) DCA tickets are a good value (Hint-hint!). I keep preaching this in my reviews. The ticketmastermonster and online sites have made for a field day for scalpers, etc. The only way to fight it is not to go. So, you gonna head to Downingtown? I'm trying to secure my ticket for it, right after I post this. I can hardly wait to do the review. I just hope to God everyone does a great job, If some of them do not, the bitter tears and boo-hoo hooing from certain corners will make me feel like the Grinch when he talked to his Dog after he robbed everything outta Whoville. "Dude.... he even stole whe Roast Beast, man..." Personally, I want an electro-who-cardio-schnook to play. I could enter it in DCA mini-corps. I remember telling Chris Schell if you're gonna go the Grinch, you NEED one of these that works, and that I would build it. She decided to bag the project.

Money can be an issue- I wanted to see Rammstein last year but for 85 bucks a ticket and well, worried I'd get moshed to death or something, it just wasn't gonna happen. Luckily, and contrary to some of the whingers here on DCP DCA tickets are very affordable. Some of them think every show should sell 'em for 5 bucks like the Barnum Festival but they seem to convienently forget the festival sponsors heavily subsidize everything to ensure a big turn out and a great time is had by all--- they're not trying to make money for a corps or charity or trying to avoid losing their ##### like Ray Eyler and Dave Pomponio did fronting the money for that late season DCA show before championships in 81 in Bensalem. I still remember Dave telling me with beer in hand afterwards, "Ray and I lost our ##### on this"...... Just do a YouTube search for "Till sets himself on fire" and you should get the general idea of the coolness that goes on with Rammstein. I did that once to see what I'd get and the Sydney footage is quite good.

Hmm, the latest concert stuff I was at were some of the US Morglbl performances with Christophe Godin on Guitar and Ivan Roughy on bass- There's some audio and video of both out there on various sites, I think it'd be appreciated by people here. If yah don't find it, I'll bring my autographed CD's to the Summer cookout. "Jazz for the Deaf" is a great album in its own way. They're great guys, very accessible, talked some shop with them and learned a lot. Helps to be friends with their US agent. Otherwise, I went to see Cinematic Titanic at York. Most of the old MST3K team there to heckle a movie called "Rattlers", about nerve gassed rattlesnakes coming through the drains of bathtubs to bite women taking bubble baths and blowing up motorheads working on their cars instead of listening to their moms.

LOL. Well, the DCW reporter called him "Rick Lee" and claimed he was in our corps. or was he just some guy that ran on in one of our uniforms, grounded 4 Tymps and just jammed with us for fun?

Maybe it's time I get some things inserted in here since the timing is too good. Some people may wonder why in God's name I do reviews. A fair question. It does have to do with Superman, more than one might think. One reason is Fred Mowbray. Rook, Ben, and I used to seek out Fred after shows to see what he thought. He was always encouraging to us, and I think very fair about us in DCN and DCW. He told us when we needed to keep pushing, and to keep working hard. Sometimes, I think there are some people out there that might get encouraged by something I say. I hope they do. I also hope some people wake up and smell the coffee of reality I might hit them with. Another is Rickie Lee/AKA Superman. HOW!? I'm sure someone may ask why the heck this connects. It's easy. When we started this roll in 82, we'd be pouring through copies of DCN and DCW for any comments we could find and pics. We wanted to see if we were getting any spin, any positive stuff out of the articles. One DCW article in particular obviously had more than a bit of a smack in the face for us on Bus One when we were reading it. We read this article, which waxed poetic about The Cabs, and about their show, all it's numbers contained within, etc. We read about Sky, and all of their marvelous show covered in marvelous detail. Then, we get... "The Westshoremen have Rick Lee(I remember they got THAT wrong), who is a show in and unto himself." The rest of the stuff about us can be summed up as: "Oh yeah, by the way, the Westshoremen won handily." Okay.... basically, the writer didn't tell anyone a ###### thing about our corps except for Ricky Lee. Not a thing about the new direction for our corps, the wonderful arranging, the better horn line, the jazz formatted program, NOTHING except for Ricky Lee on the sideline. Needless to say, a few of us were not amused. I thought about that for a long, long time- and I decided to write reviews here, since I wanted to make sure some of the guys and gals in the trenches that don't necessarily get any mention that deserve it in DCW articles get it. According to that DCW article and the way that guy wrote, Ricky was a one man wrecking machine keeping our corps at the top, the rest of us and what we were doing was irrelevant. Whomever the author was apparently ignored the other 120 of us and what we were doing for ten minutes out on the field. I try to avoid that kind of thing when I write here. Anyhow, I gotta get my Wagon in at 8 AM so I need to stop now. More later....

Bingo. A lot of kids are using Open Class experience as the stepping stone to World Class now. You have to take the path that either you want to, or perhaps presents itself to you for a lot of kids.

A good point, Tom. Easier to try and relate based on box placements. Which brings me to a serious question- Will DCA ever show sheets to the public as DCI has done with their new ones so someone could figure out where the boxes are or publish where the heck the box numbers lie? Without that, it does make any "predictions" and such beyond ridiculous, which is why I avoid any of that kind of stuff...

Well, we did talk about that awhile ago- It was a bad moment the Crusaders are still not happy about- for them to have rewrote the show that year and have a go at it was an achievement in itself- had things been in place from the start with them, maybe 1979 would have been better- maybe they'd have had a crack at us and the Hurcs. Anyhow, lest I forget, I'll get these shots from this year's Profiles in Music up. Jeff, you have my permission to use tham and post them to Facebook, It's my pleasure. I may still have more of things from the last Serenade, I'll keep looking and getting them up when I find anything I find good enough. This is all I have. I didn't get any good opportunities to compose pics and take more things of quality this year.

Bill's arrangement for Alumni was really nice, at least I thought and still think so. I have a version of it in my head that's way different from either the original or Bill's, but prolly way too fast and modern-hipster for anyone's taste. I'm thinking a temp of 160 and a 4/4 feel myself. It's more than out of the box.

Obviously no beef, Marwan. More like chikkin plucked from the depths of the Mediterranean. The Zucchini ribbons sound delicious! Got any!? I'm eating off the Turkey Hill Rollers of death today on the way to work. Pray for me, please.

IIRC, Dan, YEA! management also made sure they were within the rules as constituted by DCA, which are also created by its membership. If they DCA voting members feel that it's wrong or not within the spirit of the circuit they'll look at being more specific about the issue in the future. They're doing absolutely nothing wrong in that regard at this point. Why harp on it? There are other things one might have a legitimate bone to pick on, but not that issue at this point in time.

Also with Smoothie, remember many if not most corps recycled some music from one season to another. Smoothie was recycled from '78 as well as the Impossible Dream....

There was a reasoning behind it, Ben. Ray told us the idea was to show the corps was capable of performing well in multiple genres. Something some of the ones above us-Sun and Reading excepted- really didn't push a lot of. The idea was to get a good score in Music analysis in doing so. The problem was that we really didn't get any credit or recognition for it, and the GE numbers stalled. Lesson learned- never write a show primarily for analysis numbers. Yet people still do it....

I told the kids at Harrisburg High when I ran things it was what I was, I couldn't help it any, it wasn't my fault, and they'd just have to bear with me and the problem as best as we could. Most of them smiled and got it fine. Two words for me, and yeah, it is what I am: Premium Saltine.

All I can say for fact as best I knew it was that we were very happy to have ANYONE on board the ship with us when I was in. We were an EEDC.... If you wanted to do it, welcome aboard. In some ways that kinda bit us in the tuckus in '83 when we got a few great people from elsewhere and some flat out ringchasers to boot that offset the good people that came on board.. We HAD guys later on while I marched-- Novelle (how's he doing, Boom!?), Jim the cool Bari dude who always had the cool hats, Alvin Pulley, Fred Pye, etc.-- I think in '84 we may have had some guys sign on in percussion Boom would know better that I really didn't get the chance to know. I'm unsure...

Earlier posts are right- make comntacts, ask questions, get answers. To me, find where you are happy and feel you are wanted and you fit in. I've been thinking about that on a personal level and my career the way it went, and that's something to keep in mind. If you have several places that make you feel that way, you are indeed blessed, even though the final decision might be tough.