NakedEye

Everyone always remembers the importance of a first impression and how it can leave a lasting opinion of a person or organization, but sometimes forget a LAST impression can be almost more important. A fantastic performance by a corps can be wiped out by random idiocy an hour later, and since that's the most recent thing you saw, it will stick. Retreat used to be one of my favorite parts of the shows, both as a fan and participant, because for fans, you get to see a truly beautiful spectacle, with color and almost royal entrances and exits. As a participant you get to prepare something special for the audience to remember you by, whether it is a clever staging of the guard in the block that fits the show, the corps song or a particularly exciting snip of the field show. Then the crowd takes that away with them. I understand how it is not necessary to have them every show, as time can be saved, but I certainly hope they reinstate them at the major regionals such as SA, Atlanta, A-town at a minimum. The giant mess approach thing they've done for awhile is incredibly annoying and unprofessional and I'm really pretty shocked it's even gone on this long. Reflects poorly on DCI. Hopefully this year will mark a change of direction.

YAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!!!

And we never even found out how Sarah Jones finished off the 9 broken-hearted guys she dated...

At this level it does. The top 5 ALL have really complicated work and if ur not 100% on your game, someone can sneak up. The wildcard all this time has been Phantom, which was a slopfest just a few weeks ago, but has miraculously cleaned up. They also have the acting/theatrical layer of their work, which Crown has almost none of, and depending on how much a judge feels that relates to difficulty or effect, it could cause them to be favored by some. I thought 2nd was little high for them, but sometimes when the whole show is generating such a wave of insane energy, it will raise all captions along with it. I saw 2 BD drops: sabre girl (non-tossing, opps) and solo rifle toss, recovered in about 1 second flat. Also saw amazing crazy dancework that the close ups revealed. The guys starting in a push up position and launching themselves straight up with an added leg movement. Wild stuff! Crown has often placed behind BD & Cavs this season, and Cadets on occasion, when they hit everything. So it's just going to depend on if they really nail their show tonight. The wolves are in the bushes.

Nope. They would look 1/2 the size and make the show considerably less dramatic. The judges are certainly aware how much the white exposes error, and hopefully they do make a minor allowance for it. The corps has one more shot to march their cleanest show.

His voice is iconic, without a doubt. He can have the job until death and beyond. That being said, has anyone noticed that he seems a bit more "growly" than he used to be? Perhaps that is just age, but I don't remember, most notably Phantorrrrrmmmmm Rrrrrrrrrregggggimenttttttrrrrrrr!!! always being quite so...snarly. Always intense and forceful, but it does seem that maybe he has upped the drama factor just a bit in recent years.

woo...they grabbed 8th after a few weeks of being kicked around. For tonight anyway...

"No actual people were harmed in the making of this drum corps performance."

I think this show is really well designed, and hearing the description of it before the season started, I was prepared for a cheese-fest. It's not that at all, and while they use some literal elements, the use of color and staging is very nicely done. Most of all, it is engaging for the audience to follow the action. Best part I think is right after the use of the handlebar flags, they take them and break into groups of racers "riding" with the handlebars, while the music gains intensity. Lots of clever twists like that. The music is beautiful and sounds a lot like something you might hear during coverage of the race on tv. It just fits. And..the drill is fantastic! Compared to Bluecoats, who also take a literal theme approach, this show comes across as more successful. Not sure why..perhaps attention to detail in all the little elements? Even down to the sponsors on the bicycle outfits. They really thought through the concept. Is the most creative show ever? Probably not, but is it interesting and enjoyable, with some unexpected elements? Absolutely.

I was thinking the same thing, "wow he misses the end of the show." It fits the story and adds a little more flourish, but there's so much going on at the end anyway. Let the poor guy enjoy his final moment, which will no doubt be huge at finals. They certainly get the point of the allegiance switch across with the helmets, sash, etc. Perhaps he can just take his helmet off at the end too. Same symbolism, if a bit less....aggressive.

It's good marketing to generate buzz about a 75th anniversary season, when your staff will be at shows to actually talk to prospective members about it. They're setting it up to be a special year, and there is no reason to believe it won't be...a lot of history to celebrate. There must be a lot of kids who have heard about/seen the old Bernstein shows or at least knew the Cadets had had great success with that music. It's easy to forget that these kids were all in diapers the last time one of these shows was actually performed. So it's a way to jump start interest in auditions, as well as alumni contributions. Hardly disrespectful to the current corps - they're making tons of changes/cleaning to max out the current product, and it seems to be having some effect. Just good marketing. I would say great marketing but they had a few factual errors about Bernstein's date of birth, etc. in their press release, so that was a little sloppy, but mistakes happen...lol C'mon people.Wikipedia!!

Need to wait for the latest version tomorrow. My understanding is they cut the entire intro and start at the big hit, that used to be American Elegy but is now Simple Gifts. The story then becomes a reflection by Sarah on her life, after the birth of a granddaughter makes her pause and reflect. George H. mentioned the axing of the radio intro in his blog a while back. They started out with too many ideas for the 11 minutes and have been gradually peeling the excess away.

They already dumped the whole radio show intro. It's gone.

Why do I feel like those are discarded lyrics from the Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy is talking to the Munchkins? lol

Numerous others have already posted extensive and well thought out discussions about the script, with many constructive ideas for how it could be improved. Some of them may have even had an impact on the actual product. Please...NO MORE!!

I think around that time, George mentioned in his blog that even his daughter was asking if they could play a "best of Cadets" show in '09. So everyone may be weary of "fighting the good fight" and ready for a bit of a break and enjoyment for the anniversary. Sometimes its good to go home. Also they are human, so it must be at least slightly irritating that Crown is beating them with....Candide of all things. I mean they owned that piece for years and won two titles with it. That's my speculation, but how could you not be just a little cranky?

Yes, very clean. Super clean. But the music is zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I just watched it again to see if I had the same reaction as years ago and....yes. It may appeal more to those who really enjoy the technical side of things and are all excited about foot position, etc. Same with people who really enjoy wind ensemble music. I don't fall into either of those categories and the show felt really dry and passionless to me. Also not a huge fan of the crushed velvet pagan suits or whatever it is the guard was wearing...lol

I was there too, as well as seeing that show multiple times during the season and I don't remember that being the reaction at all. People loved the show, as it was a build on the 92 show. Similar style, just taken at even faster tempos and with crazier drill. Phantom DID get the biggest reaction, because they were completely on fire at finals, so the two after had somewhat less response, however everyone around me jumped up for Cadets. Perhaps you were just sitting in the sourpuss section. It is easy to imagine that as 99 degrees and rained on doesn't make for an audience full of the happiest campers.

I agree with all of this. BD is throwing WAY higher than everyone else. It seems almost every toss is a 6 or above. Crown is excellent and doing hard stuff, but it strikes me as very conventional, especially the staging. The flags are very often in some sort of frame around the corps, they do the required sabre + interpretive dance work in the ballad, etc. After repeated viewings both live and on video, I don't see what they are projecting that screams Crazy Conductor other than the outfits. What they do ls fun, but BD's guard is really selling the Absurdity idea with their constant 'balancing' and all the other unique twists they throw in. I always respect their guard but sometimes feel there is too much dance or too much non-visual impact weapon, but not this year. The whole show is a joy to watch and they put so much personality into everything. If Crown takes the quality they have and combines it with more risk next year, they could walk away with the trophy, but right now, I still feel it is BD's to lose. On another note, Cavaliers should get a prize for most demanding work while wearing a cumbersome outfit. That is a lot of stuff they have on.

Phantom sticks to classical, but they mix it up style-wise. Some of the pieces they used in, say 93 and 03 were technically classical, but more modern, such as the Hermann film music. Irish is fine, but if Pioneer would take some more chances with it, rather that rely too much on well-worn standards, they might make a move. They could pull some stuff from The Cranberries Irish rock band even. Just something different!

98 Cadets - Stonehenge. With the exception of the ripple flag thing they did in the corner, which was genius, much of the show seemed really drab and the music was kind of a downer. It just struck me as being very stiff and I had trouble getting into it. I usually love Cadets, but this one is low on my list. Also, and I know this is blasphemous, but I'm not a huge fan of 89 SCV. Mainly because I LOVE the 88 version. There was some better execution in 89, but visually a lot of it was a pale imitation of what they had done the year before, and it was no where near as theatrical or emotional.

Yeah..too bad the Holy Name Cadets couldn't have been founded in a different year, so that the 75th anniversary wouldn't coincide with the passing of electronics. Oh brother..

Wow that sucks. My father had something similar and it can be a bad scene. I hope the kid recovers completely from it. Sounds like he has many great opportunities ahead. Best wishes!

It will be interesting to see what the reaction is to Simple Gifts..certainly it would seem to get the crowd going. Taking out that first 45 seconds axed the part of the narrative that bugged me the most - the boy doing the radio show opening and the poorly spoken transition into the stuff about the Harvard class, etc. It was so clunky that it ruined any establishing mood. Since none of it really sounded like a radio show anyway, hopefully this will have cut the idea down to the bare bones, and it all might flow and make more sense. Gotta give em credit for not clinging on to something that wasn't working, at least in this instance.

I don't think it has a famous reference point, but is more "what kind of man can you make out of PVC pipe?" It conveys that risk of falling idea, the way it is posed, but their options were pretty limited when starting with a fixed number of straight lines and one big circle. It really doesn't look like Keith Haring. His were more outlines than stick figures, and they always have "boogie lines" showing motion around them. I love the big stick man and it's really fun that the one the horns/drums form has now started to move his arms and legs. Bet there will be more of that before finals.