troon8

Drums Along the Rockies, 2002. What a show to be my first live DCI experience! All I can possibly remember is the 02 Cavaliers, one week before finals. You've probably heard people fall over themselves with exclamations of wonder for that one and dismissed it as hyperbole. It is not. If you didn't get a chance to see that one live, you have my utter and complete sympathy. I had never seen anything like it before, and I still haven't since. I can't overstate how earth shattering it was to behold. Because of some lingering health issues, it was too late for me to jump in the action, but I got to live vicariously through my BK marching roommate the next few summers, and have been obsessed ever since!

I believe that prayer on public school grounds is legal as long as it's initiated and led by students. I think it must also be non-mandatory (as far as the school is concerned,) but I may be off on that. Certainly not a lawyer here, if there is one and I'm wrong, please do correct me!

There's a big big BIG difference in what the audience experiences between a corps playing music that originated as religious music for their show, (or even the Glassmen's decidedly non-sectarian "prayer" show, or the Cadets Christmas show) and a show performed by a "Christian Drum Corps." If you think that these things are identical in nature, I don't think I could convince you otherwise and would have nothing more to say about it. Again, I'm speaking about how the audience experiences such a thing, not the members that choose to be a part of it, whom I'm sure would have a fine time if it were a well run corps. I know which kind I'd keep an open mind about and which I'd walk right out of to go grab a hot dog. I go to DCI shows to be entertained, not to be preached at, (and I'm talking about preaching of the distinctly religious kind, not the Hopkinsology of the Cadets 07-08,) shared the gospel with, or taught lessons about morals through a religious lens. And if the purpose of this corps is to evangelize, how could they NOT do those things and be the corps the OP is describing? Negative all you want, that's just me.

:crazy:/> Fascinating. I learn something new every day here.

Effective at doing what? - entertaining the audience? - complementing the music and/or visuals? - recreating the original source? - provoking an emotional response? - provoking an intellectual response? - pleasing judges? - telling a story? - reinforcing a theme? (You get the idea...) Each of these questions has a different answer, and every audience member will answer each differently, so without a little more specification, the question "is it effective" seems pretty moot.

Wasn't me, but it was worth doing just to discover that MySpace apparently still exists. That shocked me more then any crazy judge tape...

I can only imagine what the shocked and horrified readers would say if they knew what blasphemies SCV was committing with a pseudo French flag while wearing the same scandalous outfits... :rolleyes: DCP Summer 2013 has been a great one for hilariously righteous outrage! Thanks for the laughs!

It's been since 2007 since I've seen a live show. I've continued mostly lurking on here, and went to the theaters a few times between then and now, but I didn't even watch any shaky cell phone YouTube clips the past year or two. So when my wonderful wife, who's had absolutely zero DCI exposure (aside from me telling her repeatedly how REALLY REALLY AWESOME it is,) offered to take us to now-somewhat-nearby Allentown for an anniversary gift, I nearly hit the ceiling in excitement. I want to note with some pride that I have scrupulously avoided reading (or watching) anything about this year's shows aside from show titles and repertoires. No, really! I welcome any and all feedback, even if we disagree, but please remember...it's all just opinion, folks. We were seated around the 20, and about midway up the lower level. I was quite happy with our seats, but be aware they were pretty low for getting a read on the drill. And away we go... PIONEER: No one is as good at being Pioneer as Pioneer is! One thing I admired about their show was that all sections seemed pretty well balanced in terms of performance - because no one section stood out as a weak link, the overall whole was greater then the sum of their parts. And you know what, something I was reminded of as we watched their drumline and guard warmup in the park...As easy it is to rap on these guys, even the lower ranking corps are still pretty #### impressive! CASCADES: Not a great night for them. Their first impact felt like it was barely half strength. The lack of colorguard is seriously hurting them. Seven is a number so small they did little to add to the show visually, through no fault of the performers. Not surprised they got passed by Pioneer. CRUSADERS, OREGON: But a GREAT night for these guys! I'm going to go with some critique first, but I don't want it to take away from how much we were blown away by them. The props are ridiculous. Fences. Lamposts. Coffins. Rocking chairs. Refurbished ottomans. Space Shuttle launching gantries. A complete industrial oil refinery...The show title and subtitle are ridiculous. "My Heart, My Battle, My Soul: A story of love, loss and longing." By my count, that's about a dozen or so words too long. There was a lot going on in terms of attempted story telling. A LOT. And I could barely follow any of it. The jazz funeral march (if that's what it was) in the background was intriguing, but I kept expecting it to take over what the rest of the corps was doing. Yet it didn't. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like that. But every thing I just mentioned as a critique are design issues. (Speaking of what I can only euphemistically call an different "issue" for my desire not to be banned from this forum for life, those uniforms...Seriously?!?!!) The performance was so strong it blew away any design issues. They were bold, loud, and proud! The first corps that wowed my wife, who stated "Wow, now that was a superior corps!" I couldn't have agreed more. JERSEY SURF: And now, for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...Surf, you gave me things to make loud obnoxious noises with for free. Therefore, I am automatically your fan for life. Well, they went all out with the soul theme, and made it as funky as Drum Corps could possibly be (which is all relative, but even so...) In addition to getting the crowd on their side, they certainly had a lot of great technical things going for them as well. Blasted us good with their spot on opening impact, and certainly didn't let up the volume. That electro horn thing was weird and wild. Keep getting your groove on, Surf! PACIFIC CREST: After the wildness that was Soul Surfing, I have to be honest, Crest's considerably more traditional show left us feeling pretty flat. The heart in the front corner was completely underutilized, and seemed to have been plopped down only to remind us that this show was about love(ish.) What I liked: Sonorous music, corps moved themselves with a very solid upper body carriage, giving them a tall look. CROSSMEN: What was their theme again? I was a little unsure...;/ I do get that a show about protest isn't going to be subtle, but the voiceover brought it way over the top. I enjoyed their drill very much, though, it had a good coherence to it (for lack of a better word.) They had one of our favorite guards of the night too, that did an awesome job filling out the field with really expressive work! BLUE KNIGHTS: Three cheers for my home team! Pluses...GREAT sound from the brass, loved the guard outfits, especially with the skirts. I'll spare you the obvious joke about wanting the narration to most certainly have no beginning and a swift ending. Beyond unnecessary, and quite cringe worthy. Other things - the details were killing them that night. A few too many really exposed guard drops, some forms that may or may not have quite clicked. About midway through a skirt came off somehow and lingered perilously on the 40 until the end of the song, very nearly causing a brass player to tumble. They're certainly getting there, and the show is by no means easy, but compared with Madison and the Cavies, they just don't seem to be quite on the same level this year I'm afraid. Still, an emotional brassline, and a joy to listen to! That ball is just so...large... MADISON: Hard not to love it. My wife's favorite of the night, and certainly one my top picks too! I was prepared to cringe a little at just how far they were taking the whole military theme, but honestly found myself loving it. Terrific integration of electronics, (more on that later,) and they the drill and visuals did a great job of focusing the eye. Awesome, awesome high energy guard! CAVALIERS: Keep in mind that the last show I saw live form them was Samurai way back in 2008...This is such a different corps visually. Fiedler's drill always had such beautiful unity and deceptive simplicity to it, but this time they were all over the place. There was just too much happening at once, and most of the time, I just wasn't clear on what to watch. This might have been different had we been higher, but it just plain felt cluttered at times. Enjoyed the creepy theme, I thought the cloaks did a great job setting the tone. LOVED the human pyramid...Brilliant! CRUSADERS, BOSTON: A talented corps to be sure, (I'm not percussionist, but their drumline seemed to be rocking it,) but even as passionate as the performance was, we were both weirdly bored (my wife visually, myself musically.) Again, that's 100% a design thing, not a performance one...it just wasn't my cup of tea. Still, the corps seemed exceptionally committed to what they had, and gave it up for the audience. (Trivia quiz for the corps history buff...when was the last time there were two corps with the same name but different locales competing against each other in the same division?! I'm sure I have no idea, but I'm curious!) CROWN. CROWN. CAROLINA. ONE. TWO. NEGATIVE TWELVE. BANANA... Because I really didn't want to put my biases on her impressions, I really didn't tell my wife a word about what was coming. I hadn't seen the show either, but I've at least heard of Phillip Glass and Einstein on the Beach, and was fully expecting counting and stream of consciousness gibberish. But you should've seen her bewildered look once the counting began...and her ears fly back when the brass opened up! In addition to just plain relishing that incredible sound, I very much want to watch this show again. Something about the music sunk deep into me, counting and all. I'd explain more if I could. I know the scores right now more or less indicate Crown could win it if there percussion really cranks it up. I very much hope that's the case! Oh, almost forgot: Uniforms, atrocious. Show, great! Oh, and if you're a fan of this show and haven't read or seen the very brief play, "Phillip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread," you owe it to yourself to do so right now. You won't be disappointed. ;) BLUE DEVILS: This was the conversation we had about BD immediately following their performance... ME: So what did you think of all that? HER: Well...it was avant-garde jazz... ME: Oh! You got it! HER: Yeah, but I didn't LIKE it! I will say I enjoyed this one more then a few of the past avant-garde explorations they've taken, maybe because I love Rite of Spring (thank you Walt Disney's Fantasia! Kept expecting giant dinosaurs to stomp across the field...) and recognized so many of themes in there. I'm not sure how I would've taken it had this not been the case. Visually...I know this isn't too new for them, but good grief, they ran around a lot. A LOT. Much more then they actually marched anywhere it seemed. The poles cluttered up the entire field to no end, and the guard throwing the balls to each other just seemed silly. But of course...their talent cannot be denied. I'm not only blown away by how they do such complex stuff musically and visually both, but by how easy and effortless they make it all seem when it's anything but. And that was that. Some general thoughts... My own placements, based 100% on my own completely subjective bias. 1. Crown (Barely, this was a tough call!) 2. Blue Devils 3. Cavaliers 4. Madison 5. Boston 6. Blue Knights 7. Crossmen 8. Jersey Surf 9. Oregon 10. Pacific Crest 11. Pioneer 12. Cascades The Mrs.' favorites: - Madison, Oregon, and Surf. About Surf, she said "That's the show I would've wanted to march for sure!" Her favorite guards were Crossmen, Madison's and Crown's. - Although bass volumes are waaaaay too high almost across the board, whether I like them there or not, compared with a few years ago, corps are getting SO much better at USING the electronics. I'm talking about the technical things, like levels, mixing, what patches and effects they're using, etc. I didn't hear a single mic frak of any nature, and when you compare that with when electronics was first introduced, that's amazing. Or maybe everyone just got lucky that night. - The corps that we enjoyed the most visually seemed to be the ones that put the focus on small to medium groups of performers the most. I have a theory that this actually had to do with our medium height in the stands. Call it Drum Corps Special Visual Relativity... - Also compared with a few years ago, the majority of corps seem to have taken the disgruntled fan complaints to heart and are playing stuff in a far more melodic, less overarranged way. So much so that the one or two corps that didn't seem to be in on this trend really stuck out. (I'm not going to name names...) I loved LISTENING to most of these shows just for the sake of enjoyable music far more than I can ever remember. Good stuff!

Super quick shout out before bed... Was there in Allentown and my wife and I were both completely caught by surprise by how great they were! Felt they had an super strong night. Way to go!!

From weather.com - "Expect occasional thunderstorms to end by 3:30 pm." "TODAY - Variable clouds with showers and thundershowers, mainly this morning. High 79F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%." More importantly.. "TONIGHT - Widely scattered showers or a thunderstorm this evening. Then partly cloudy. Low 59F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%." Don't count the show out yet!

How about each corps director just rolls a D20 and the highest number wins the championship? It'd save a lot of time, money, hassle, and debate.

I'm wondering what the Colts would look like with black shoulders instead of white, although the white does at least draw the eye upwards in a good way. Bluecoats look pretty sweet in the drawing, but I'm underwhelmed by the photo...guess we'll have to see if they fit different, as was mentioned. I second that their 2007 and on version was by far the best. And like was said with the Troopers...The rest is classic, clean cut, but not too stuffy, why on earth the ugly leg thing?! It's like they're trying to remind us that despite the simplicity, they know it's the 21st century where such wild shapes are permitted. So not necessary, ugh. Mandarins - hot stuff! But I wonder about the transition to black on the side looking a little blobbish from a distance. (Wow, those are some unhealthily skinny gals in the Cadets color guard...;)

I'd mandate a total random draw to determine order of appearance at all major regional shows...including championships.

(I'm with the ones who think this is a bunch of baloney...and this is just one more reason.) If you go on a web forum entitled Drum Corps Planet populated entirely by current Drum Corps members, Drum Corps Alumni, Drum Corps staff, Drum Corps fans, Drum Corps auditionees, and Drum Corps member relatives to ask "What are some reasons I should support my kid joining the activity you are all so fanatic about?" you've pretty obviously already made up your mind to do so. That's like going on a crazy cat lovers forum and asking "Should I get a cat? I'm just not sure..."

If either of them are looking to emulate the movie, they'll feature two important things: 1. All soloists will jump into the stands and play their horns so close to the faces of unlucky audience members that they'll leave imprints of their bells. 2. A horn player performing hideously out of tune and well beyond the natural range of their instrument, whose sound can best be described as that of an angry walrus kicked in the 'nads for any of Javert's (Russel Crowe's) songs.

Dada, Part Potato

This thread is a quirky relic.

1. What would you pay? $29.99 - $34.99. The fact that this is lower than the $50 that many have thrown out there is much more indicative of how my current financial situation intersects with my desire to watch Finals on my computer than my excitement about DCI Finals in general. 2. Will this lead to a smaller live attendance? I feel that if it did, the numbers would be negligible. <1000. Possibly only a few hundred, because as mentioned by others, many who want to go will likely go anyway. Regardless, I think the numbers would be low enough that it'd be difficult to say with any sort of certainty that the dip was only caused by this. 3. Would the availability of a live broadcast NOW result in a cancellation of your plans to make the trip in person? Wasn't planning to go this year, but if I were, it wouldn't change my plans, even if offered for considerably under $50. 3. How many would actually buy into a broadcast like this? I'm more pessimistic about these numbers then some. For the first year, maybe 5,000 at the very top end. I'd expect this to raise as time went on, especially if word got out that the broadcast was done well, with minimal glitches, was an excellent experience overall, and a great value. 4. Will this hurt DVD sales? If anything, I think it could slightly help them. If after watching, I saw that I loved many shows this year, I'd be a lot MORE likely to spend on the DVD's, not less. 5. Is it time to attempt this, given the economy, financial stability of corps, etc.? Most certainly! If anything, it should've been started some years ago! ...but that's just me.

Amps, electric keyboards, voice overs, woodwinds, whatever... It'll be the day that a corps marches on to the field wearing Crocs that will send me bolting out of the stands and running away from the stadium, screaming and tearing my hair out the whole way.

Think this will make CNN's website like when the original G7 kerfluffle broke out? (Sadly, I couldn't find an old link to the story, but people will back me up on this...it was there!!!)

Alot of this advice has already been shared in various threads by others, but I thought I'd lend my own voice of non-experience to the mix. When I was about 19 (a year or two older actually, but close enough) my drum corps experience consisted of cheering at a handful of shows and living vicariously through the stories of a roommate that was away marching that summer. I got in my head that I wanted to make a fictional movie about DCI, and that it would be the BESTEST THING EVER. I wrote a few rough pages of scripts and notes, but decided eventually that this wasn't the endeavor for me. (Trust me, it's best this script never saw the light of day ;) What I did not do was put out a press release, start thinking about producers who would be willing to give me millions to make it, and announce that I had already cast a number of top Hollywood stars. What would I have done if instead I wanted to manage a corps? I'd make a few phone calls, and see about volunteering locally. Get some behind the scenes exposure and try to intern in a corps office, and along with them on tour. Maybe even send out some emails and see if I could sit down to lunch with a director. See if they'd let me sit in on board meetings. Learn as much of the nuts & bolts of the admin and business side as I could. Many on this board would probably love the chance to be handed the keys to a new Ferrari of a corps and get to design their dream shows for them (I mean, I certainly would!) Many would love to be able to say "I direct a drum corps." and be the one giving those inspirational pre-show speeches at the gate. But you just can't start that way, whether you want to be DCI director, an astronaut, a NFL quarterback, or a Fortune 500 CEO. Dream big, of course, and don't give up...but even dreams have to begin with small steps, and I'm not talking about creating a Facebook page for your brand new World Class Finalist corps.

Cue the "THEY'RE NOT A PERFORMING GROUP, THEY'RE A DRUM CORPS, YOU IDIOT NEWSPEOPLE!" comment in 3...2...1...

I had the good fortune to see him perform two years ago when he was ninety. NINETY! He told the audience he even had a BROKEN FINGER that night, but he was still absolute genius. Rest in Unconventional Time Signature Peace, Dave.

Oh man, where to start... 1. First, with the DCI inside joke - "Hashgate 2007: Song & Scandal" 2. The "too risque for the field" category - "Let's Get it On! The Best Music of Adult Films" 3. The "far too pop culture contemporary for its own good" - "144 Notes/Measures/Drill Sets/Members: A Twitter Tribute" (Featuring moderately discolored pseudo-retro flags to symbolize InstaGram) 4. Finally, the "this is kind of the direction we're headed anyway, so what heck" - "#AbSTrActi0n~{%*]: Possimpible Unrefudiated InfiniEtudes" Actually, I'm not going to bet that we'll never see that last one on the field...

So Drum Corps will have gone under the following sequence of evolution... Carrying bulky percussion equipment around Keeping bulky percussion equipment in the pit Letting a robot carry bulky percussion equipment around The next step...Marchers carrying a robot carrying bulky percussion equipment around and around the pit? Or maybe using a robot to carry around players and instruments in the pit?