NakedEye

There's nothing wrong with the comment they put on the site. It was professionally worded and explains to users that it has not been the fault of the Blue Knights that the site has been having problems. No doubt there have been a few sorehead individuals upset because they couldn't gain access from time to time. "What's the matter with the Blue Knights?! Why can't they get their act together??!!! WAAAAAA!!!" Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine that happening? They didn't call out the hosting company by name, and it's completely within bounds to say you're having bad service when you're having bad service.

It's fun to see how the drills compare just from a pure design standpoint, once instrument staging and all the other effect stuff is taken out of the picture. Of course Cavaliers and SCV have great shapes and balance, but Blue Stars is really nice as well. The cyclist and arrow at the end is a nice tag. Cool to get a flat view of what BD does with the white poles and how they subdivide the space. Very interesting. Phantom looks about as expected - ok, but a little dull at times Cadets- I miss the Zingali/Sylvester days. What they do now is very fast, challenging and full of motion, but some of the elegance of form and flowing evolution has been lost. The forms that used to look like a piece of string that constantly changed shape were always so entertaining to watch. Who will be the next corps/designer to be known for drill? If Blue Stars keep this up, they get my vote. Great and interesting field coverage.

Ok, what I've never understood about the "choice" argument is that the people making the argument have never been in a position of having to make this supposed choice themselves. So, how can one be so sure of that? If a straight guy has the hots for Suzanne, is there a choice about whether or not to have the hots for Suzanne? If so, what's the alternative? "Choose" to not be attracted and sit in a darkened room alone instead? I don't get it. It is interesting to see how the younger generations now don't think about this stuff nearly as much anymore. Lots more acceptance for orientation, race, etc, and they find diversity to be comfortable and ordinary. They're puzzled when older people raise a stink about it.

A non drum corps friend who attended a show with me a few weeks ago said when the BS came out: "oh, now THERE'S a hat!" It wasn't a compliment. The new shakos look great! When they went to the white pants the whole look almost became too white. Congrats to the staff on the gutsy decision. It's ok. We still recognize what corps you are.

I would be very surprised if they don't have the drum major come out in the old uniform to conduct for finals, or at the very least show up in it for retreat/awards. For just the reason you mentioned.

This show strikes me as being much stronger than Faust, which seemed to struggle a lot in the early season and finally came together just in time. The BD show is phenomenal, and will be REALLY tough to beat, BUT, the thing Phantom has going for them is an emotional storyline (much more so than in Faust). With the way they are playing, that extra bit fire from reaching the audience might be just enough to pull off a surprise the last week. BD's show has great design and execution, but you don't really bond with the music or characters, There is chance that it might make a difference.

When they used to have the red plumes, they looked ok, if a bit odd. With the stiff white plumes they got with the new uniforms - yuck. So, they may lose a pinch of heritage with the change, but visually, it was an odd marriage already.

I think that is pretty much true and has been for ages, significantly predating the general softening of hostility in overall society that has taken place in the last 10 years (which is great). That being said, I'm curious if anyone was ever told "don't let me find out that you're gay." As a staff member, I did experience that. Not fun. This edict came down from the guy in charge of the financials for the corps. Insurance was set up through a Boy Scouts Explorer Post and at the time there was a lot of controversy about gay scout leaders. We are told at the very first staff meeting, in no uncertain terms, that if any of us were "that way" we needed to keep it to ourselves. When you're young and very new to dealing with your own feeling and realizations, that sort of thing can make a person very ill at ease. However, in a few months it didn't matter anymore, as I got hit on by someone on staff at another corps (who had the SAME insurance and nobody cared) and the fun flirtation we had at shows all summer made me much more smiley. That plus my corps was now rockin' with all the stuff I created for them. Policy? You can stuff your policy? LOL It retrospect, the whole thing is amazingly stupid, but as we age, we learn a lot about handing situations more effectively.

I actually thought the lime green looked really good in contrast to the kelly green on the corps and the grass field. However, a darker color on the lower half might have been appreciated and helped keep a few things more....secret.

Those may have been clunky, but they were completely appropriate. In the Martha Graham dance piece that Appalachian Spring was commissioned for, the dancers wore prairie dresses very much like that. It was Cadets' first use of individualized costumes, something that later became a trademark. Those dresses all looked similar, but there were actually a few different designs of them. I've always been impressed that they were able to do any guard work in those heavy outfits. Wind?! yikes!. And they used the full skirts to maximum and elegant effect. Hideous? Not!

This year is certainly not worse than any others, and I think many choices are MUCH better. For one thing there aren't any brown bird suits on the field... Hits: Cavaliers - super detailed Samurais BD - even in the day-glo colors. Perfect for their show Crown - earth tone crazy conductor suits. Bonus points for wild frizzy hair. Cadets - simple and classy purple. Sara Jones has good taste in clothes. Boston - outfit is a bit odd but the hair and face paint makes it. Very Buck Rogers. Crossmen - laser tag vests and cool pants. These outdo the Cavaliers' Tron outfits. Blue Stars - a bit obvious but they use them well and the sponsorship names on them are a fun touch Glassmen - Pee Wee! + ringmaster coats = very entertaining Some misses: Phantom - could have been stunning. Instead, adequate and nearly invisible due to the dull gray. Appropriate? yes, but a similar style could have been done with color choices that could actually be seen. Splash some bleach on them or something - it would be splotchy but would still keep them looking slave-appropriate and would brighten them up a bit. Vanguard (girls) - The guys make out ok in suits, then bright shirts, then overall blue. Girls have the raw deal here- their suits are librarian frumpy, then they have to wear a dress tied up around their necks for the whole second tune, with the frumpy skirt - adding tons of visual weight. The blue dress these eventually turn into looks fantastic, but the previous look is a bit rough. Colts: Bob Fosse with a giant sequined orange slice. Blue Knights: We've seen this already. Maybe they felt burned after ditching the blue dress/knight things midseason last year, and played it safe? On balance, I think there are lot more successes than failures this year. That's not always the case!

How are you getting religion out of their show? If anything it just builds on what they mentioned last year - choosing your response to situations. You can let a problem ruin the day, or you can look for something good that came out of it. "Sara" is pretty much doing that by talking about how she tried to find happiness in all these different ways, and at the end decided to just choose to "be" happy instead. Their dialogue is certainly clumsy, and the point is not really being presented in a crystal clear manner, but there aren't any saints for fishes involved. It's just about keeping an upbeat attitude - no big deal.

Oddly enough..they seem to have left out "Seasons of Love."

I understand your dilemma. It bugs me too, though I'm trying to focus on how they've done an excellent job threading it all together. That being said, they didn't just take music or drill moves that may have been performed by others, they took SIGNATURE elements. Stuff that these corps are famous for and always pull out when they want to salute their own heritages. Meanwhile, those corps are out there with clean sheet of paper shows (which is much harder than starting with a list of proven winners and refining them) and are in some cases being beaten with music/concepts that they themselves pioneered. It would be different if it was a non-competitive setting, such as an alumni corps, or even VK, when they used to do parodies of the bottle dance, etc. A parody is a parody, and recognized as a playful distortion. This doesn't feel the same. If there were parts of the show that seemed really fresh and original, maybe, but where are those? Instead I see a tapestry of other people's hard work and creative ideas, albeit a really well woven tapestry. Does the show stick with you? Of course it does! Several of the songs have been in my head for weeks, since they're all old friends. OH and they're LOUD too! But...hmmmmm...I dunno....

I believe they are just double-sided. They flip when they change the direction of the spin. Now whether different fabric is sewn together, or they are digitally printed, is for someone more in the know to answer.

I think that's gotta be it. When they first introduced the costumes, but didn't yet do the blue dress thing for the closer, I thought those flowery tops were really odd on the girls. They seemed to have way too much excess drapey fabric and made them all look rather......thick, especially in the abdomen region. Not so flattering. I was wondering why they had picked such a strange shape...until they revealed the dresses at the next big show. It's a cool and clever effect, with a side benefit of everyone appearing to lose 30lbs in about 10 seconds...LOL Don't be surprised if Jenny Craig tries to obtain patent rights to these..

There's always that extra something, whether it be complexity, details or raw power that separates the top three from the rest. I thought Crown going on after that pack pointed out some areas where their show isn't at that level yet, that might not usually be as apparent with them going on after weaker corps. Watching BD, Cavs and Phantom, you get a palpable sense that they aren't finished. The endings for all of them don't completely resolve and with Cavs and Phantom there seemed to be numerous other places where more GE will be inserted as they clean what they have now. No doubt Crown will do tweaking as well, but it feels like a complete package as it is now, and they may peak before too much longer. It's a really solid show, but there aren't noticeable gaps that look like placeholders. Perhaps I will be very surprised and wrong, but the Big Dogs are so experienced at doing the late season max-out that I if anything Saturday has inspired them to make extra sure the changes they have planned really take things to the next level.

What exactly was "early 90's" about BD's guard? Bright colors? They make use of some really interesting staging while selling the show with their customary high level of execution and tons of personality. The oddity of the concept may not appeal to some, but I find it highly entertaining in a Cirque-like manner. Much like them, the weirdness makes you pause, but it also all holds together really well within the theme. Nothing is random. It all flows back to the main idea. They also toss consistently higher than everyone else. Most of the rest have a few 5+tosses in, but it seems like almost ALL of BD's tosses are in the ozone layer. Amazing level of achievement. Crown's show is extremely well performed, but nothing ventures out of the safe zone. It's all music everyone already knows and has an attachment to, so they start with a built in fan base before playing a note. The drill doesn't take any chances. It flows nicely and has difficulty, but pretty much moves around in a centralized space. The guard has a fantastic level of execution, but it's just.....guard: standard equipment and movement sequences. Busy sabre work in the ballad. The most unusual thing they do is dance with conducting batons at one point. Take those out of their hands and that choreography would work for half a dozen other shows that were performed tonight. Is it all really well done? Sure. Is it unusual or innovative? Not in my opinion. It's a very polished version of ideas we've all become comfortable with. Blue Devils are taking some risks and then totally committing to the ideas and selling them forcefully. I think that's put them ahead and will keep them there.

This is my favorite BD show EVER. It's just such a cool concept combined with music that seems far more emotional than much they've done in recent years. Am not convinced that their guard is not made from some advanced lifeform that surpasses the level of evolution of the rest of us. How many sixes did they throw in that show?!

WOW they really kicked up the intensity of this! I love it now! Some meaningful changes that really added to the emotion..VERY cool. VERY exciting. Also looks like they tied a knot in the shoulder drape on one side, so it doesn't hang as oddly as it did a week ago - they are doing the details! Definite dark horse, methinks.

Besides the fast and furious ending drill/statement, they have made a few key changes in the narration: She no longer talks about being a woman in a man's world on Wall St. - a definite improvement - and the thing about "how many hearts did you break?" is new as well. The show seems to be ALMOST working, instead of seeming to be a disjointed misfire a few weeks ago. Ending is not pulling emotion yet and the introduction of the yellow happy flags while playing driving Wall St. music still confuses me. The happiness question doesn't really get resolved. "Everyone has a right not pursue it." Hmmm ok. I found earlier parts of the show much more engaging than they were before, and the guard has cleaned up 300% since Orlando. Now..if they can just connect the final dots of the story...

I could see BD, Crown, Bluecoats or maybe a few others winning this. Phantom seems a long shot, due to the content. Despite the violence in Disney's own productions, it seems unlikely they would want to see headlines about them endorsing "a band show depicting throat slitting" the next day. There is always a group of people who try to make an issue out of everything, esp. when it involves throwing rocks at Disney.

I think they were just supposed to be more "street kids" as what they wore was trendy urban kid wear at the time of the early 90's. I was way over the WSS idea too until I saw that news item today and thought it was interesting. If Phantom can murder left and right, they could throw in some gang violence for a few GE points..lol

I think George H. mentioned WSS in his blog as a joke, but....now comes word of this: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/119539.html The show is being revived on Broadway in '09, for the first time in years. AND...it is promised to be a radically different staging, with spanish integrated into the book and score, and a much more realistic portrayal of the gangs. They'll be more violent instead of a bunch of sweet dancing guys in tight pants. Soooooo, Cadets presenting this for their 75th suddenly doesn't seem like such a dusty old idea. How could they make it radically different, besides the obvious - narration? Hmmm. The increased Spanish angle opens up some fresh possibilities that could take it in a new direction from the 94 and 84 versions.

I agree with this. I enjoyed the show a lot, mainly because of the performance quality, but I'm still not getting the "crazed conductor looking for a perfect ending" theme that they say they are portraying. Yes, the guard is dressed like crazed conductors, in a very fun manner (love the hair), but...they just did their regular guard stuff. There was no moment that I noticed with any of them trying to conduct the corps and go from this..no This...no THIS!! or any other way of explaining the rapid shifts in music. Perhaps that will still be coming, though the ballad broke the mold more than anything, as it's mostly one piece with a little WSS thrown in. Right now, it is not very clear, in contrast to BD, Cavs, Phantom or even Cadets, who are making their concepts pretty obvious, whether you like them or not. It's GOOD, but strikes me as falling just short of having that extra level of intellectual design built in that usually places at the top. Time will tell.