Tom D'Bomb

How confident am I in the DCA scoring system? Whaddayou, new? By the way - this is the Grand Prix thread .... I'm gonna bail out so people who were there can have it back.

So you think there's some magic point spread that will make Empire give up?

You're right... too many schools have been cutting music for so long that the only "instrumental" teachers left are piano playing chorus teachers.

Okay I'll jump in here... My biggest concern is the low number of kids playing horns (don't get me started...The Pentagon says only 20 % of vets will get a fellow American with a real horn to play Taps; what will it be like in 50 years?) Color Guard and Drumlines have Winter circuits, so I don't see a shortage there. More participants = more corps = more shows. That's my biggest concern. Concerns # 2 through 248 available upon request.

So you're saying, "... if the goal is to compete, then you actually have to be better than someone in order to get a higher score." Brilliant. Is this advice free, or should Roman send you a check?

Enough with the Tom Allen threads already !!!

"Scooter" is Chris Castellon: Musical Director for PTB, original Empire Statesmen (83-94) as soloist, instructor, caption head, and one of the originators of the famed Statesmen Winter Stage Show concept (with Pepe and the Brunis). He's also a well known pro musician in WNY on several instruments. VP of Coyote Sunglasses and the driving force behind getting this gig.

Glad YOU like it Fred... but some of the guys' wives have been nailing us for horn angles, stagger breathing, and excessive arm hair. Tough crowd. Note to self: Race Track surfaces are HOT!

Brother Jimmy has been pretty quiet on this subject. I'm guessing he needs some time to think about it.

Exactly

AND HOW 'BOUT THE GREAT JOB BY KEVIN GAMIN TONIGHT??? That's Next Level Techno-Journalism Magic 2.0!!!! The most comprehensive coverage of a July 4th drum corps show in history.

Either use your real name or give the VOReason character some time off. This thread is loaded with people who were actually there.

Yep - as I told some of the Empire guys - the last 19.05 is going to be a #####. Empire had a very organized off-season; the guard is light years ahead of last year; they had 60 plus brass all Winter; the battery retention the past few years has been outstanding, and the Pit is For Real. They should proudly accept their role as contenders in this circuit. But most noticable to me: This corps is loaded with performers who were "kids" a few years ago, but are now championship calibre competitive athletes. I think they just gave a lot of local drum corps fans a reason to pay 57 bucks for a finals ticket. ... It's probably easy to overlook them, but I've watched the White Sabres open this show for many years, and this is absolutely their best performance here in their history. .... The Grenadiers are better than last year, and their Percussion Battery is *this close* to being considered, how do the drummers say it? "Sick" Which, from what I understand, is a compliment to drummers and I certainly mean it as a compliment.

Jeff, just drop the VOReason character. You horned in on Allen Buell's post to promote this show. You can mess with me all you want... but when you start messing with good, honest people... well, they just don't deserve it (Empire OR Bucs). VOReason logs in at 12:43 AM Jeff Ream logs in at 12:46 AM Very sloppy. 7PM Growney Stadium St. John Fisher College Rochester, NY Come see Empire's best corps since 1998

I predict that you're an #######. I'm not sure David or Allen would want me to get involved with this thread but... This is a thread PROMOTING a show, and VOReason (legendary cheerleader of Blue PA teams) gets on here to rag on Empire's Youtube video from 3 weeks ago. That video was clearly posted by a proud family member, and not an official corps piece. (Do you really think they'll be using practice flags in competition, you idiot?). If you want to say insane things, do it on a "Review" thread (I should know). AND if you're half the expert you think you are, you'll notice that THAT performance (3 weeks ago) was about as good as Empire was in Scranton last year. I haven't seen any reviews of any of the other corps saying that they're 6 weeks ahead last year (and 30 members bigger). So... if you ask members of Empire, they'll grudgingly admit that they know who I am ... Let's see if the Blue Team wants to take ownership of VOReason's constant stain on their outwardly sportsmanlike reputation. This will be a very entertaining evening: along with the 3 competing corps, St. Joe's, Scout House, and Erie would score VERY high in Applause Meter Competitions. Good luck Empire! Step it up Vets - you know what I'm talking about. TA (not affliated)

This thread HAS strayed off topic, and I apologize. Good luck to all the teams - we need to pull together.

I'm taking a stand... Bottom line: I'm PRO-Applause.

Really? You think people only get Standing O's in their hometown? Westshore always got great responses up here. And Empire always got great responses in NJ. And the Bridgemen and Cabs Alum would be #1 and #2 in the DCA Applause Championships.

You're a one trick pony ... How are those "Golf Clap" shows working for ya?

And that's the point... this thread is (at this point) about letting people speak their minds.

If you taught somebody, you're qualified to judge. And I'm going totally on comparisons with those who have and do judge. Plus (Old School Warning) - it wasn't that long ago that show sponsors had a little pull. Micky Petrone would send the word around that we might lose sponsors if "entertainment" isn't rewarded. Oddly, the next week the judges liked the "entertaining" corps more than the "sophisticated" corps. (Is it fair? I don't know, is any of this fair?) So now someone will will say, "Oh sure, you just want a 'clap' show." To that I say, not necessarily... but how well are these "Golf Clap" shows working for the $how $ponsors? That's why the Ray Fallons of the world need to be heard.

C'mon, we need more free speech, not less. Keep the reviews coming. We should encourage more reviews and we should blast back more if necessary. If you do a review with opinions be ready to back them up. Heck, a guy a like Sayre IS qualified to judge DCA. Heck, Ray Fallon should judge DCA. Why not? Right now it's the same judges who go from DCA to HS band shows to Winter Guard; that's a pretty diverse population of fans. The judges need to know what the paying customer thinks. I even think all the judges tapes should be put on DCP within minutes of each show - THEN have the judges answer to DCP readers. The number of hits on this site would explode. Again, why not? We watch slow-motion, multi-angle replays of every blown call in every other sport. Again, why not? The same team has won every competition under the DCA banner the past 6 years; let the judges explain it... we aren't worried about upsetting the "competitive integrity of the institution" are we? What competition? Free and open discussion might help the next team get good enough to win one of these decades. (by the way, Empire has their best corps since '98). It doesn't have to be all controversial - it might even be educational (it might also be really, really mind-numbingly boring). This activity will disappear in our lifetime if we don't spice it up a little. Sincerely, TA (not affiliated)

Contraholic, For someone with the experience you have, I'm surprised you haven't figured out "derived achievement" yet. I will, however, say that YOU are winning this thread because you have used more words than anybody else. I stopped trying to figure out DCA judging a long time ago (even when I was with winning teams). But it used to be : "All things being equal," the corps that best engages the audience should win. Until somebody comes out just as big and just as prepared as the Bucs then all things aren't equal. By the way: How big are the corps? Did I miss that in one of the reviews?

Yeah - but what does this review have to do with 1981?

That was done because we always had too much show, and had to use the warm up time to make it all fit (that wasn't much of a secret was it?) - It was cool to hear the gun go off before the first big hit.