tommytimp

Best corps: 1983, of course. Best show: 1985, Superstar. I never thought it was possible to draw as close as we did with that source material. Most fun: 1986, when Pat Petrillo was hired to remind everyone that there was a drumline in Geneseo.

Since it's 1985... Suncoast. VK. 27 at Whitewater.

Will we ever get pictures? Or were the Irish Rovers right?

In 88 they finished 16th. That 87 corps was really good, though. Maybe not the most demanding show in the world, but they just kept getting cleaner and cleaner all summer. "Coconut Champagne" was a lot of fun OTL. As to the topic, the stats say Southwind. But I marched Geneseo 83 and you will never convince me we shouldn't have made Finals. I'd imagine SWind and Squires and all the others feel that way too. (About us, I mean. Not them.)

What is the flag story back there? Are those ALL affiliated flags or are some of them just block color silks?

Phantom in the 70s. (74 to 75-best upgrade in history, along with Bayonne) Geneseo in 1985. Argonauts a couple of times in the 80s, once quite memorably.

I said nothing about a comparison. I was mostly speaking to the progression of the sounds of the instruments themselves. Argonne's horn sound is much rawer, because, as I have stated before, the bugles at the time were made out of Scotch tape and old National Geographics, with one valve made from the fingernail of a witch. Despite that, those cats could really blow. The percussion is also interesting, with basic loose and low-tuned battery sounds for Argonne, the creeping pit influence on Guardsmen's arrangement with its wind chimes, sideline timps and tube chimes, to BD's late-80's Yamaha setup with a huge pit and swingin' toms. As far as a comparison, why bother? I've never heard the original, but I like all three of these versions. That's why I suggested that one listen to all three of these versions.

Listen to Argonne's version of Fanfare from 73, then Guardsmen's from 79, then Blue Devils 87 version and it's a great sort of physical timeline as to how horn sounds and arrangements progressed in the earlier years of DCI. (Although some would say Sandra Opie's hornlines were light years ahead of their time, so maybe the timeline gets screwed up.)

Love the opener. The drum solo? Feh. Who'd want to play 'Russlan and Ludmilla?'

Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway Harris. She's be great to talk to, would keep the space neat, and, you know, IF... maama mia. Failing that, just Christina Hendricks.

Fell out of the bad analogy tree and hit every bad analogy branch on the way down to the hard, cold, bad analogy ground.

It would probably be on your own time, but I'm sure you could get some time away to practice by yourself. (Two/three hours a day for meals, yes?) And tell your professor that the musical education you're going to get if you do march will compensate mightily for the possible lost practice time. I never met anyone who came back from a summer as a worse musician.

That's the first one that comes to my mind when I think of this topic, specifically the Northmen.

Whitewater and Dekalb. To watch and perform. Being in the stands at DeKalb for the runoff in 1982 and on the field for Whitewater in 83 are two of the greatest experiences of my life.

And a corps that size couldn't even crack the top 25.

1982. Check it: That's our friends the Saginaires, keeping their junk out of the pit so you can see the clearly-defined 20 yard box painted down front of the sideline.

It's 1984! California Dons:

There's a photocopy in the photos thread of a percussion sheet from late in the season with one tick on it, IIRC. I can't remember if it's Bridgemen 82, SCV 1975 or Caballeros.

That's 1981, and the "pit" didn't exist yet. But some corps were starting to ground their players just like that. Spirit had a timp player and two concert keyboards, for instance.

I'm sure they ticked, because even machines can tick. Anybody really think Garfield was perfect at Finals in 1987? That said, the 1977 Oakland prelim performance is unbelievable. Should have gotten them an exhibition slot on Saturday night. Or just let them warm up on the field for 15 minutes, then march off.

I'm not sure what Lee means by "legally," but he's a lawyer and I'm not, so I'm not going to argue with him. Boston used that there synthesizer at DCI in 1985, and were penalized but not D/Qd for it. In 86 we took the penalty for using a board, mikes and Simmons pads at the first two weekends of DCM competitions (remember DCM? I didn't think so.). We were informally told by DCI that when we got on tour we might be DQd at the whim of the contest director, so we dropped them. I'm assuming by "legally" that Lee means not penalized. LET'S FIND OUT...

Actually, most corps didn't really have the pit thing down in 1983. Garfield, Les Eclipses and Xmen are three corps that had a handle on something besides just a keyboard line and a timp player. That was my point. (Plus I didn't like Sky that year and wanted to rag them a little.)

More 1983. Sky Ryders. Not one of the more sophisticated early pit setups. Madison. Starting line. 27. The Spamalot medley I think. Teufels Blaues.

1983, y'all! Us'n, with commentary from my cat. SCV. Garfield. Rocky Point Holiday. My family's acumen at getting seats gets better with the passing years, yes? Great year to be that close to the 50. Lazy Clips, with one of the first sophisticated pit setups. Skajerk's boyz, Valley Fever:

I've always said Phantom 78 is the best show of all time, and I also lurve BD 84, but neither is on this poll. (Why) So I went with Phantom 89.