jthomas666

I've always loved that show.

If you want to judge a DM based on a short clip of video, let's consider Will Pitts, conductor of Phantom Regiment in 2008. Clearly he didn't care how his corps did; he looked practically dead, ;)

Slightly off topic, but 1984 was the only finals I was able to attend in person. Absolutely incredible. As it happened, I was sitting next to a couple of high school band teachers, and they were generally as stunned as I was by the level of performance.

I hear these things are keyed in G...

I'm an old timer, and while I agree that music almost become a secondary consideration, I wouldn't want the pendulum to swing that far back. Gimme complex, fully developed music, and I'm a happy camper. I'm, still not entirely sure what the Cadets 2005 show "means", but dear God, that ballad is one of the most incredible things I've ever heard.

2006 PR -- sopranos moving over to baritones for the ballad 83-84 PR -- Tenors switching to snares for the end of 1812 (The recordings do NOT do it justice)

This. Cannot figure that site out at all.

2005's Rhapsody had an homage to Singin' in the Rain, even though they playing nothing from that movie. THEY JUST DON'T LEARN, DO THEY?!?

ET leads an intergalactic revolution: Into the Defiant HeartLight

Swap the helmets for berets, obviously.

Your theme, clearly, is schizophrenia. ;)

I wouldn't mind hearing about this as well, please.

The percussion was unreal from top to bottom. I'm pretty sure all the players had to shotgun a six-pack of Red Bull before each performance, 'cause that's just some Guy Fieri off the hook insane stuff going on.

Don't know how I missed it in 2010, but I'm certainly making up for lost time. It kind of went like this: Saturday: bored, search for shows on the site that must not be named. Found a clip of the ending to Into the Light. Watched about five times in a row. Sunday night: got the audio and video on the Fan Network, put on my iPod Monday: Lose track of how many times I listened to it at work. I'm still not sold on the middle part of the show--some ideas that just didn't quite coalesce (but some really sick drill moves). But sweet mother of God, the opening and closing are glorious. THAT'S the Regiment I want to hear! Today: Ordered Kamen's original piece on Amazon.

I've got Spinal Tap's recording of Stonehenge...will that do? ;)

Fluid?

Brass books that get me all moist and tingly (off the top of my head, hardly a comprehensive list): Spirit 1980 27th 1981 Cadets 1982, 1985 PR 1993, 1996 BD 1988, 1989 (I'm listening to these to a LOT lately) Crown 2009

Phantom Regiment: Bump the hornline up a bit in size. Bring back Jim Wren as brass arranger and let him go nuts. Canning the current set of program coordinators might not be a bad idea, either.

How do you restart a new corps? :)

An intriguing scenario, one that highlights what might be a fundamental problem with the current scoring paradigms. Back in the 80s, you had corps in the lower part of the top 12 winning percussion titles (I'm thinking specifically of Bridgemen and 27th Lancers). That sort of thing seems to be virtually impossible under the current scoring--if you are in 12 place, no matter how good you play on finals, they may not be able to fully award you because they have to leave room for the remaining corps.

Why go to the trouble of changing when the judges will give the title to BD regardless?

I don't think anyone denies the performance level--it's insane. But when I see the show, I see a lot of visual sleight of hand that makes the show look more difficult than it really is. Bottom line--BD works the scoring sheet better than anyone.

Ah, yes, the giant phallic symbol. :) Seriously, that's what it looked like. And, I suspect, why they changed it.

27ZL's closer, Zombie Boy, will simply have people falling apart.

27th Zombie Lancers You know you'd watch.