witchsbrew07

^ Agreed. Do you really think Cadets didn't want to have a good solid performance on Saturday too?

I love how everyone immediately assumes they know my favorite corps and who I disgust, not that it really helps my cause. A. let's make it clear that the cadets are the reason I started getting into DCI in the first place. B. There are no favorites: all those corps work incredibly hard and I find that different corps stick out to me each year. C. I apologize about the comment about the Spartans parents--I said what I meant, and it obviously doesn't apply to everyone. But if it makes you feel better to try and make me feel uncomfortable, fine. And by the way, congrats Spartans today. You kids really earned it. I am a newcomer to the DCP thing... is it normal that people can't say what they want and have their opinions respected at the same time?

Why not just meld div 2 and 3 together? It's not like all the div 1's are the same size either... and in the end, 2/3 are judged on the same scale.

It's hard to say. Last night was my first time seeing every div 1 corps, so these were initial reactions. I really have nothing against the narration by the cadets, in fact, I support it, since it really helps to explain what the show is. But I just find it very odd that the show sounds like one of those old after school specials on TV. We'll see what happens tonight, but like you guys said, it's only an opinion. It IS good to see that other people really do enjoy the Cadets this year and that we can bounce around our opinions. That's what really makes the activity fun to me ;) Edit: Something hit me after eating some breakfast. I hope you guys don't think I support the west coast corps because it says I'm from santa clara valley. I am a New England native, and have been a cadets fan loooong before I moved to the west.

Gonna keep it short and simple. Div 2/3 semi's PROPS: Memphis Sound for pulling that show out of the nowhere. Sorry to hear about the situation, hope you guys kick butt tomorrow! PROPS: to SCVC for delivering a much more solid performance than they had on Tuesday. PROPS: Spartans, your show is beginning to grow on me. Very impressive performance! FLOPS: ...but not so much for almost EVERY SPARTAN PARENT IN THE STADIUM. Way to be completely rude and leave before Jersey Surf performed. If it was about seeing your kids, you'll see them tomorrow... mini props: all the corps (especially VK) who did their best for their last show this season! Div 1 Semi's PROPS: Colts really impressed me tonight. Way to stay in for finals! PROPS: Just like their little brothers, amazing performance. Way to jump two spots too! FLOPS: I mean this in the nicest way possible but come on. Cadets... what were you thinking?? PROPS: DEVILS!! Way to be in an entirely different league than everyone else, despite what the scores say. mini props: Crown, Academy. Two corps I do not usually enjoy, but both were great to listen to. mini flops: Boston, and whoever judged Bluecoats brass. Boston just didn't do it for me, and for a corps (bluecoats) to go from 1st to 5th overnight in brass ain't right. They were much better than at least the 2-4 spots. I hope you enjoyed this presentation!

The same place you can experience "fourth show." Drum Corps Bell :)

BTW, no I'm not marching, despite what my signature says. I haven't logged in this account in like a year and never bothered to change it. Also, quick comments about my reviews: I might skip a few. I don't mean to offend if I forgot what a corps show was, so sorry! :) Some of my comments may be negative, sorry that I can't be a super positive guy about everything. And if anyone disagrees with my review, I blame the people all around me with their CELL PHONES RINGING. Thank you for ruining about three different shows for me. <**> Last but not least, I'm a drumline/pit guy. SO HERE IT GOES! Citations: Last I saw them was New London. If I remember well, not much was changed. They kind of remind me of a smaller East Coast Jazz (with the infamous Charley Poole drum solo that has been plugged into as many ECJ shows as I remember...) Didn't leave me a lasting impression, since most of the music sounded the same to me. Smoking drumline though, for that size. Velvet Knights: OK, so, I've never seen this corps live before (I am waaay too young for that! haha) but I've read up enough on my history to know what they are all about. This corps had it all-a VANGUARD yell (which scvc was missing?), megaphone tubas, and a race. Hilarious. Loved the music and the everything. Impulse: Also didn't really leave me a lasting impression. When I heard what they were doing, and know the corps has hella talent, very surprised to see the corps perform like it did. Maybe they had an off day today. Nonetheless, nifty show idea. I can't wait for a Div 1 to take Nubuo Eumatsu's (sp?) music to a hella good level. Oregon: I don't remember much except their pit. Otherwise they were good. Dutch Boy: Also saw these guys in New London. VERY DIFFERENT from last I saw. They had some good vocals. They were a very good example of how vocals can add to a show! Helped me notice the two rockets launching in the show! Haha. Very good all around, I loved the ending in particular (the pit playing twinkle twinkle little star... how cute :) ) Revolution: Umm, they were good! I recall clapping a lot, but that's about it. Sorry! (It's been a looooong day!) Fever: Very solid performance. This was the first fever show I have liked in a few years, so give it that, I think we can all expect a good finals week from them. Scouts: WOW! I was very impressed with their pit as well as the rest of the corps. Shame they are competing in an "international" division, because they can definitely handle themselves into the top 3 for div 3. Memphis: This corps shocked me. Back when they were marching on I didn't think they looked very large, but they proved me wrong. Very loud and effective. No doubt in my mind they are the div 3 champs! DIV 2! Raiders: Nice show idea, but there was nothing new to me about it. I've seen many renditions of WSS, and well, I think they were all better than this. Mostly because Raiders tried to shove ALL of the different themes into the show, which is too much. They were okay, overall. Vanguard Cadets: WOW! I saw a youtube clip of them way back in June, and my my has this corps improved. Drumline was excellent. I feel like the corps is going their big brother route (how the show ended remind people of anything?). Hornline still has more work to do in the tuning area, but the show was designed very well. Lots of great pit moments. BDB: I was sold. The drumline and pit were both very talented. Brass and guard good too. Like Fever, I'm not usually a fan of BDB, but I was very impressed with the show this year and I liked the tunes a lot. Placement was a tough call though... many of my neighbors thought vanguard was better but I'm not really sure about that. But I definitely think the scores should have been closer than what they were. And probably higher. (on both) Teal: omgomgomgomgog. AMAZING EVERYTHING but drumline. :/ I really hope the line was having a bad show, because the snare line was like... July dirty. I did notice they are fielding 9 snares though, which is way too much, but whatever for them I guess. brass line was amazing though. I agree with the GE scores, but not the perc scores. Sorry teal! Surf: I don't want to start fights here, but I think they'll end up on top all week. Very solid performance, brass = omg loud, drumline was by far the tightest I heard that night. Even the pit was top notch, I think the best in this division group. If they really fix up their visual package, they are bringing home that gold. btw, this is the show that a cell phone went off RIGHT AFTER A HORN RELEASE FOR A SILENCE EFFECT IN THE BALLAD. THANK YOU! Spartans: Now, when I saw them at New London I wasn't very impressed. Seeing them now, much better! They are definitely a contender for the top spot, but so is teal if they can clean up that drumline. It's hard for me to judge spartan's shows because their shows usually sound the same to me (way to rip off corps, Key!). I will admit, it's a good show, much better than previous Key originals, but I still liked last years show 10x better. This is also the most I have ever seen the pit play--my regards to them. So to sum it up, yay drum corps, boo cell phones. Don't be that guy at the next show, please!

Order (I only saw Carolina up) 1. Phantom 2. Cavies 3. BD 4. Bluecoats (even though I didn't like the show it was goooood) 5. Vanguard 6. Cadets 7. Crown Favorites were... well... I dunno. I liked everyone that I saw except the Cadets. Something about DCI and dancing bunnies on the field just doesn't seem right.

America O' Canada... duh.

Personally, I'd love to see EA put out a drum corps version of their sports games... DCI 2006 they'd call it, or something... right? I'd imagine sections have stats, or individual players, or techs/caption heads etc... you could make your own of the same (like making football players in madden). That would be hilarious. But I would buy it.

Do I even dare...? That studly SCVC drum major!

Glad someone else understands what I'm saying :)

I think more than just "BDB drums" had an off night in Bakersfield. Since the majority of the same corps from PP were also at KK and bakersfield, not to mention bakersfield was INCREDIBLY HOT (anyone else in the stands could agree with me, I think), it's no surprise that the corps that night did not perform to their full potential. Anyways, to stay on topic. My top 11 or whichever still stands (Academy, ECJ, SCVC in top 3, BDB, Spartans in 4 and 5, no specific order, and I can't recall where I put everyone else but it's probably right)

I find it ironic that in the last show SCVC beat BDB in every caption that you posted and yet they are still behind BDB because of General Effect. However, thanks for the update! It's nice to finally see Academy in the picture. I guarentee that gap between SCVC/BDB and Academy will close up as soon as both of those corps get all their Colorguard material learned (which seems to be the case for the low scores, if I'm not mistaken). Can't wait to see ECJ, Spartans, and the rest up there too!

Last I heard SCVC wasn't having any more number issues than any other typical division 2 or 3 corps ;) That aside, I do think ECJ proved last year that numbers don't mean anything. They just mean more feet to clean! With a lot of the west coast corps being in "questionable" positions I think we will all have a stronger idea of placements after this coming weekend, it being Vanguard's and Fever's home shows (I think?)

1 through 3 (in any order) East Coast Jazz Academy Vanguard Cadets 4 through 6 (etc) Blue Devils B Spartans Oregon Crusaders 7 through 9 (etc) Teal Sound Impulse Jersey Surf 10 through 11 (etc) Memphis Sound Colt Cadets Brass: East Coast Jazz or Academy? Persussion: Vanguard Cadets Colorguard: Academy I can't remember what other captions they give awards out for. However I have a feeling this is going to be an even BETTER year for division 2!

I'll just include everyone down to madison 1st BD 2nd Phantom 3rd Cavies 4th Cadets 5th Vanguard 6th Blue Coats 7th Madison Argue all you want, but keep in mind we haven't even seen a first show yet, and it's all for fun anyways. For all we know Boston and Crown could break top three!

Then again... you can fit about 30 massachussets in California, so I'm not surprised with ECJ's situation, James :P

Brass: 24 Trumpets 13 French Horns 15 Baritones 10 Euphs 13 Tubas 75 Brass Percussion 8 snares 4 tenors 5 basses 8 pit (4 marimbas, 4 vibes, xylo and aux for 7, timp for 1) 25ish percussion 30 guard (i don't understand how guard works so i can't split this up) 130 members

Honestly I didn't even know Div2/3 existed until a local one opened up. And since then that's all I've marched! I wish they would have atleast mentioned the top 3 of each or showed a glimpse of div 2/3 finals (like how sometimes on epsn they show other games going on real quick). Just to show there are other things going on. There is a "AA" League for Drum Corps.

I hope someone is seeing a running pattern... 97 and 04 Spartans win 98 and 05 East Coast Jazz wins (even though 99 was a "tie" ECJ did come out higher at quarters) 99 and 06 While it was Patriots (I think) who won, they don't exist anymore. So, prepare for impending doom, whoever it is in 2006. (maybe it will be the academy... since when does a corps last very long in Arizona?) and then 2000 and 07 - SCVC. They'll probably be there. It's in SoCal right? So your answer - Yeah, I bet academy will win. I bet Spartans and ECJ will be on the rebound from the past couple years like they always do. There's 200 dollars right there. Pay up because I need the money :P EDIT: Just apoligizing if I don't have my facts straight about the previous title runs.

Interesting topic considering I think SCV just hired a battery guy who's only done indoor? None the less, I've always found indoor drumlines to sound much more solid, of course, this probably has to do with the tuning. I think of indoor percussion as "crazy" drumline.

I don't think you understand... the numbers mean nothing. clearly lines have been better or worse and the numbers do not show it. I can think of a million examples but I don't think the end result is worth it.

I have to agree that the throwing of baby Lino was the best thing in the world. I really hope it's on the DVD for grand finals. Other things... playing at New London. What an amazing crowd. Maybe because a lot of us Nutmeggers march for Spartans or East Coast, but none the less, it will continue to be my favorite show ever. And not to mention the "wait...your brother marches Spartans?" I got from at least half of my corps, members and staff. heh. It was amusing the first ten times I said it.

I'm not sure I agree with you Mike. I think yes, Blue Devils are all about ramming as many notes into a single beat as possible, but for groove... that's all SCV's drumline is (that, and musicality, I think). However, Cadets are definitely a happy medium between the two (fun note ramming and a hint of groove). EDIT: Mike, if you are looking for "jazz groove" maybe you should check out BAC. Rich Viano seems to put out quite an amazing book, and every new year brings a drumline to him more capable of playing it.