kac

We had police escort from the stadium to the park for our guard warm up block before prelims in Birmingham in 1990. The cops walked right along with us. They kept at least one officer with us during our warmup and escorted us back to the stadium for the prelims show. I believe we also had a police escort out of town that evening for our buses.

Bolding is mine. And that's the reason why I think so many of the alumni are happy with this year.... regardless of numbers and placements. We've been waiting a long time for the Crossmen to return to their signature sound. They finally have a staff that brought back what was missing!!! The trick now is to not mess with the formula so much in future years so that they continue to take steps forwards, rather than backwards. To me, this year is another beginning for the corps.... similar to how '88 was for my generation.

I'd have to agree with your post. From what I saw last night way down on the 10 yard line, Devils were the cleanest, then Cadets, then Cavies. I have no complaints about the traffic flow leaving the show this year. Much better than some other years! Took the sneaky back way out to 52 and was home well before 11pm.

Keeping an eye on the weather- hopefully the storms will roll through before the show....

Me, I'd get there in the early part of the afternoon, go to the diner for a late lunch/early dinner, then kill some time watching corps warm up before the show starts. The earlier you get to the stadium, the more likely you will get a parking spot not too far away. The parking lot at the far end of the park near the volleball courts is full before 3pm due to the Crossmen and Field of View alumni picnics, so I wouldn't even try down there if you don't plan on going very early in the afternoon. If the forcecast calls for rain, then bring rain gear! There's no shelter to speak of in the stadium, and the show will go on. I remember sitting in a downpour during the show in 1993. I think Cavies were on when the skies opened up. (someone please correct me if it was Madison, but I'm pretty sure it was Cavies) No one left the stands during the performance and we all got soaked. (except of course for the ones that had rain gear!)

94 Lancers for me... Here's my question: Who saw both 1980 Spirit and 1994 Lancers in person? Which one was louder?

I'm sure I should know this, but when do they start having the full judges panels for shows this year?

I haven't been in this thread all year so I went to the show last night knowing nothing about Madison's show. I thought it was great!! Until they got to the closer. I expected this huge ending that was both musically and visually spectacular- like the rest of the show was, and it just didn't happen. It doesn't seem like they are capitalizing on the strength of the guard by putting them all on percussion and having no one on the field doing equipment or movement for such a long time at the end of the show. It felt very disjointed, so I do hope that they find a way to integrate it better with the earlier parts of the show.

There was another fall too, wasn't there? Saw a few near-misses too. Lots to clean everywhere, but that's what June drum corps is, right? Kudos to the percussion judge that gave BAC's end snare a set of sticks so that he could finish the show after their line fell down! It was wonderful to hear actual full melodies in drum corps again!!!

Had the clip playing this morning from that site not to be named. 92 is definitely in there at the end! Scotty was the best! I'm glad they found a way to honor him this season.

There are a lot of non-food things that they'd like (especially mid-tour) that don't require as much coordination with the food truck: black socks, sunscreen, new toothbrushes, lip balm, etc. Seriously, if you could get black socks in bulk for a low price, kids would be thrilled to have them. I give out care packages to random marching members and the sunscreen, spray cheese, candy, etc is always overshadowed by the fact that they have new socks! If you can go and volunteer for a day, that's sometimes better than just bringing food- especially if they are short staffed that week. The corps would appreciate you washing dishes or making a bread & milk run too. If you absolutely must do food, definitely talk to the tour manager well in advance. Then they can work your gift into their schedule.

What about us guard people whose favorite colors fall under "anything sparkly"... you don't have shiny, or "glitter", as a category. I'm not sure I can vote. lol

See, this is what I get for not actually reading the jr forums more than a handful of times a year. I may have some kids for you..... Eta- from a recruiting standpoint, it may benefit you to announce the staff members. I can think of kids right now that I'd potentially send to the camp for the experience, but how can I send kids when I can't even tell their parents who is on staff or what their qualifications are? KWIM?

Rudy is great to work with- I hope that this staff has a very productive season!

If you love cymbals and want to audition for the 2011 Crossmen Cymbal Line, please go register on the Crossmen website and register for the audition camp! They can't field a cymbal line without members, so go audition! Thanks everyone!

I support the Crossmen Cymbal line!

I'm having a very difficult time not replying in this thread today. Cymbal lines matter. They aren't any more disposable than any other section. I'll be waiting with my pitchfork.

You missed the best part then! Not that I blame you though!

No, it was Montclair. Train tracks next to the stadium. It was also the first time I ever considered not picking up a piece of equipment due to lightning.

Wait, do you also have the recording of us singing the show under the bleachers in the rain? I don't know anyone that has that but it is one of those days that one never forgets...

Abbievillekid- There was more criticism offline than people posted here this year. Did you notice how eerily quiet the Crossmen threads were this summer here on DCP? It isn't because people don't care anymore, but because the alumni have learned that DCP isn't really a venue for change with the corps. Having a huge thread from this summer chock full of complaints wasn't going to help the corps, nor was it going to fix anything. On another note, you all may as well start lobbying for someone other than Thurston. He has a young family and is very involved with his kids lives. I highly doubt he's going on tour all summer anytime soon.

Thanks for the review! Safe to assume from your review that Blue Stars weren't dropping the no-hand flagwork like they were in West Chester? I so wanted to be impressed with it at WC and just wasn't since some members couldn't hang onto their equipment. I'm glad then to hear that they've figured out how to do this so that they aren't dropping it next week at finals.

About a minute of Phantom made the local newspaper's video stream today: http://dailylocal.com/articles/2010/08/06/...a8335913347.txt

I'll be there Saturday night. If I'm looking at my tix right, we are on the 50 way down in the front. Section G row THREE. Low number seats. Maybe I should bring ear plugs. lol (and of course I'll be at the usually haunts in the park with the other Crossmen Alumni!)

A 30-40% chance of rain on weather.com is the same as a 10% chance of rain to me. That hourly percentage is very rarely right it seems. We had a 30-40% chance of rain on Sunday and it was sunny all day- no rain at all.