corpsreps

I'm going. As far as I know, it is just the three corps. But they are each doing their shows twice - I think judged each time - which is why each corps is listed twice on the DCI site. My prediction - after the first day of the season there will be no undefeated corps. Crown will win the first round but Cadets and Cavaliers will pass them on the second run.

I think the West has developed its own elite corps quite well. The G7 proposal was to take two of the other 5 corps each year and have them spend some time in California. Only 3 of those corps are from the midwest. The other two are on the East coast. So it isn't just the midwest who will not see their top corps for a few weeks late June to early July. Phantom did the west coast swing in 2008 and Bluecoats in 2009. I think it is great for the west coast fans to be able to see corps out of their area at least some of the time. Really with finals in the heart of the midwest, you will be able to see not only the top midwest corps at the end of the season, but also the top west and east corps. California fans don't get to see anyone at August performance levels, unless they travel 2000 miles or more. You also prove the G7 point that they are the draw when you say a show without Cavies, PR or Bluecoats is less valuable.

This discussion reminds me of the spring training facility Crossmen used a few years ago, prior to their Texas move. To get from the housing side of the street to the fields, you had to cross on a pedestrian bridge. That was fine for everyone except the pit. They had to cross the road pushing their equipment. Someone would stand on the bridge and look out for cars so they would know when to cross. Nothing to do with G7 but at least it is corps related.

But Jeff, you're forgetting about the marching bands. They can grow the future generation of G7 members. And the best part, is the tax payers and band parents fund that education and while they're working on getting good enough, they can buy tickets to the G7 events and their souvenirs.

Does anyone outside the G7 think this is true? DCI has a (slide #4, Assertion #1). No wonder the conclusions when that is your starting assumption.

I found this part of slide 22 really odd The context is with regard to the other pagentry arts (marching band, etc). I think I'd like this proposal better if they said that about the other drum corps and then build a proposal around that assumption.

My thoughts exactly. There was a lot more old stuff than I was expecting. Perhaps part of the reason people stayed home is they thought this was just going to be 2009 with snipets of the old. The older content was great and, while not the full shows, definitely longer segments than I was expecting. Last year there were a lot of complaints about the studio audience and the non performance segments. This was really just drum corps shows, some camp reports and Steve and Dennis talking. I loved the crowd reaction to the Vanguard uniform change in the tunnel. It seemed a lot of the people in the audience had never seen that before. When Steve said something about BD and the chairs being unique, the crowd immediately starting yelling back and cheered Dennis when he offered a correction. Overall it was quite good. I'm glad I went.

I'm going to King of Prussia PA - the number 1 theatre showing the Countdown according to the email from DCI today.

I'm going even though I have the DVD and experienced it all live but how often do you get to see your son on the big screen at the movies?

The information posted on corpsreps.com for Crown's repertoire came from what was publised in the most recent issue of DCI Today.

I have the Blue Devils show on Blu-Ray with their Blue Smoke disc. How different, if at all, is the DCI version of this show on Blue-Ray? Also, is the camera angle selections the same as the DCI DVDs or different? If it is different, I'd be more inclined to buy it than if it is essentially the same (with respect to Blue Devils).

The golden years were 2008-2009, the years my son won gold medals at DCI.

If there were only two marimbas or vibes, then sure play something different. But most world class pits have 5 marimbas and 4 vibes, plus a xylophone and synth. Would you really write 11 separate parts with no or limited doubling with that instrumentation?

DCI has been the second Saturday of August for quite a while. The 14th is the latest is could be. Last year finals on the 8th was the earliest it could be. So while it feels like an extra week, it isn't. The other factor in making it feel longer is that July has 5 Saturdays this year. But finals are when they have been for years. A threat to DCI is the school calendar. Colleges and High Schools do not follow the same schedule and can really differ by region. Our high school doesn't get out until the third week of June. It was a problem when my son was in high school because he had to miss the last three weeks of school, come back to take finals, and then go back to drum corps camp. With the snow days we are having this year, it could go even later. Getting a high school to allow a student to miss the last three weeks of school isn't easy, especially when it is to attend "band camp". At the other end of the summer, you have schools back in session in mid-August or earlier, not to mention places with year round school. I'd think it would be easier to convince the band director to allow a student to miss some or all of band camp than a principal to allow a student to miss the end of the school year. If you wanted to design a DCI schedule which did not interfere with anyone's school schedule, you would have to have two weeks of camp from the last week in June to the first week in July and then have a three week competitive season with finals the last weekend in July. Even then, I'm sure there'd be conflicts. Good luck to your son. I hope he gets to march this year with no adverse effects with school.

The one in the ballad was a chime scrape and the one in the beginning was a piece of metal pipe and a garden hoe.

My personal highlights for the 00s 2001 - Going to Buffalo for finals with my son and talking with Glen Paisley at the LVK booth 2002 - My son's first season with LVK 2003 - My son in II/III finals at the Citrus Bowl 2004 - My son performing in Denver 2005 - My son makes Crossmen 2006 - My son is one of the deejays in Crossmen's radio show 2007 - My son makes the move to Texas with Crossmen 2008 - My son's first DCI championship and high percussion 2009 - My son's second DCI championship and high percussion, an undefeated season, and age out Just what I thought. The 00s were all about my son.

The stands were cleared about 1/2 hour before the start of the first night's show. You're right on the lights - home side was out. I believe they went out during Colts and came back on during Scouts.

I've been to the Dallas show in the past and did Houston for the two nights this year. I'd go with Houston as I liked the facilities better (bigger stadium, not so crowded) and the drive was shorter to get to San Antonio. Though we did have that power outage that killed the stadium lights so a couple corps performed in the dark and before the show they cleared the stands due to a lightning warning (the sky was clear as could be - guess it's a Texas thing). The people who run the Dallas show always do a nice job, so really you can't go wrong.

I assume you looked on corpsreps. Try searching on just the composer last name. Composer names are stored in a semicolon delimited list with each item as "last name, first name." I take what you enter in the search box and search the composer field for that phrase.

The DVDs are shipping now. You can preorder anytime after the season is over. Typically they arrive shortly before Thanksgiving.

It was during the company front at the end of the show.

I believe you are thinking about Hornell. I don't see it on the schedule.

Renegades 2007 show with the caskets

Which audience perspective ought to be judged? Most of the audience is not high up between the 45s but that's where you'll find the judges - except those on the field. Why not have some judges down low? We've got audience down there. Lots of audience outside the 35s but no judges.

SCV went to Arizona and Oregon. BD didn't. I believe BD was involved in running clinics during those times. Not sure where you'd get the data - probably have to go to each corps site - but it would be interesting to add clinics and other public performances to the counts. Cadets do a lot of clinics too and some parades.