HOOKEDBYLEGEND78

Brass soloist is in more of an orange color. I referred to the guard girl who comes out of the tunnel at the end of the show in yellow/gold.

Isn't the guard member in gold at the end of Phantom's show this year the same person who was Spartacus' love interest who had her throat slashed? If so, has she come back from heaven to lead Phantom to the promised land?

Yes. Factor in: 1) the nature of the drill which is emulating a rapidly evolving/changing organism - so this is pretty much non-stop, 2) the relative closeness (some may call this lack of simultaneous field coverage, but I do not) of the corps as they migrate across the field which should allow easier scrutiny by the judges, 3) the only scatter drill is to start the show coming in from off the field, 4) white pants and shoes for exposure to visual clarity, to name a few. Wow - to think we are even talking about Phantom possibly having the hardest drill on the field today. Never would have happened a few years ago. I think the execution of BD's show is stellar.

Boston had new leadership take over a few years back, with this being their 3rd season at the helm. I think they have done a great job in making this corps much more competitive scoring-wise, and with (at least to me) more crowd pleasing shows. I wonder if they had performed the 2010 show (same everything, just transport it back in time) 2 years ago if they would be scoring over 93 right now? Part of that has to do with increased competition across the board. Boston is doing just fine, IMO.

At Buffalo: 1 Blue Devils 97.050 2 Boston Crusaders 90.950 3 Troopers 84.200 4 The Academy 83.850 5 Spirit 82.300 6 Cascades 76.600 7 Pioneer 75.300

1 Blue Devils 97.050 2 Boston Crusaders 90.950 3 Troopers 84.200 4 The Academy 83.850 5 Spirit 82.300 6 Cascades 76.600 7 Pioneer 75.300

And now, Phantom Regiment presents "Into The Night...."

Voted trumpet from 2007, since I played trumpet and soprano. That character is repulsive to "us'uns"! Tie for second between Sarah and whoever "swallowed that an hour ago" in 2006. Bleah!!!

1 Carolina Crown 93.350 1 The Cadets 93.350 3 Phantom Regiment 90.900 4 Blue Stars 90.550 5 Blue Knights 86.950 6 Crossmen 79.750 7 Jersey Surf 74.750

Lots of great ones already listed that I totally agree with.....BUT, there is (at least) one glaring exception! BD 1982, end of One More Time Chuck Corea!

I'd be cool with that.

SCV changed pants on the field in 1985 and 1986 - from dark green to white. Very cool, especially with the increased tempo the low brass had during their pants change!

Sounds like Freelancers 1985.

1 Carolina Crown 93.150 2 The Cadets 92.000 3 Phantom Regiment 90.750 4 Blue Stars 89.800 5 Blue Knights 85.950 6 Glassmen 84.550 7 Crossmen 79.100 8 Jersey Surf 72.850

Kudos to you for a great Sixteen Candles photo and reference! Now work in a response from the judges, based on Long Duck Dong's drunken comments "Automobile? Lake! BIG lake! No yankie my wankie, the donger need food!" Maybe more to the point would be a "That you?" / "Yah, that me." interchange between judges and corps staff?

Glassmen in Hattiesburg last night had an 84.6 (went up 1.1 more tonight), and the Colts had a 81.2 (went up 1.4 more tonight). Having no corps like PR, CC, BD or Cadets above them may have caused some of this, but the G-Men generally deserve a score in the range of these two shows. Seeing the scores for the Colts these 2 days seems to make that appear reasonable.

And the Roy Orbison..... That's high quality DCI. I was thinking of Little Jeffery more like Adam Sandler's Billy Madison character. And the use of the Little Jeffery flags were very brief and well-timed.

Great question. I've never heard a response or statement from a director or arranger as to why they feel the "need" for synth bass like how it is being used in many corps today. Another question may be, would corps be penalized by the judging community for not having synth bass as part of a program in a 2010 show? Would not having synth bass be considered "too old school" and not keeping up with the times? As far as textures and colors of sounds, I can understand some experimentation with synth bass - given this new freedom corps have the ability to use. However, I do not personally care for these electronic sounds in my accoustic brass and percussion also known as drum corps. Sometimes, things such as chocolate and peanut butter go together and complement each other and create a great new taste (like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups), but sometimes two things that are both good by themselves do not fit so well together (shrimp and motor oil - not so veiled BP reference). That is my perception of synth bass with drum corps. I also re-iterate that if I were a marching brass player today, synth bass would irk me to no end. All of that work - yet covered or smothered by synth bass - grrrrrr!!!

A few quick thoughts from being at the show last night. 1) Dang, was it humid! Ugggghhh! 2) The overuse of low-end synth bass has got to stop! There are many fine brass lines / brass moments that are being swallowed up by this "thunderous goo" ($1 to whoever coined that phrase a few weeks ago). 3) Favorite overall program of the evening for me was Phantom. However, their brass line seemed much more restrained than typical for them. Starting their production hidden from the crowd, behind the wall at the end of the stands, was awesome. There was an open gate located where they finish their show that I thought they may go through to play that last chord from behind those stands - maybe that is coming later??? Drill is major improvement - very nice! 4) Little Jeffery = Adam Sandler of DCI. Liked his character much better than I thought I would. The flags with his pic on them are funny. 5) BD has released more power from their hornline - due to the new horns or a new approach - I am not sure which, but I do like that. However, BD is one of the worst for too much bass synth. If I was a member of that rediculously talented hornline, I would be ticked! Field coverage is outstanding. 6) Glassmen have possibly their best show design ever. I have tended to appreciate G-Men the last several years, but not like their programs. I do think the program this year is very appealing. 7) Troopers have got to clean up that marching! Intervals like that will not allow a return to Top 12. Brassline very restrained. Come'on Troop! 8) See my earlier post about Crown. Wonderful, wonderful brass sound - just need every individual totally concentrating from start to finish. 9) I would like to see all electronics removed from DCI. However........ I must give Teal Sound props for how they are using electronics along with the theme of the show along with the brass arrangements. One of the best thought out shows - meaning it was written for the age and talent of their corps, and has a nice "identity factor" to the show. I was very, very pleasantly surprised. (Still wish there were no electronics in DCI, though.) Not surprised to see Teal above Mandarins (no disrespect to Mandarins in that statement, either). 10) Cool people in the stands around me. 80 year old gentleman to girl around 5 years old - pretty awesome to see people have passion for this activity like that. Ready for HOTlanta (in the A/C of the Georgia Dome)!

Exactly!

BD is rediculously talented and playing at an amazing level. Could not hear the individual errors like I could with Crown, but BD's music program is not constructed with that same kind of exposure as Crown's show. It will be an interesting finish to the season!

A few quick thoughts from being at the show last night. 1) Dang, was it humid! Ugggghhh! 2) The overuse of low-end synth bass has got to stop! There are many fine brass lines / brass moments that are being swallowed up by this "thunderous goo" ($1 to whoever coined that phrase a few weeks ago). 3) Favorite overall program of the evening for me was Phantom. However, their brass line seemed much more restrained than typical for them. Starting their production hidden from the crowd, behind the wall at the end of the stands, was awesome. There was an open gate located where they finish their show that I thought they may go through to play that last chord from behind those stands - maybe that is coming later??? Drill is major improvement - very nice! 4) Little Jeffery = Adam Sandler of DCI. Liked his character much better than I thought I would. The flags with his pic on them are funny. 5) BD has released more power from their hornline - due to the new horns or a new approach - I am not sure which, but I do like that. However, BD is one of the worst for too much bass synth. If I was a member of that rediculously talented hornline, I would be ticked! Field coverage is outstanding. 6) Glassmen have possibly their best show design ever. I have tended to appreciate G-Men the last several years, but not like their programs. I do think the program this year is very appealing. 7) Troopers have got to clean up that marching! Intervals like that will not allow a return to Top 12. Brassline very restrained. Come'on Troop! 8) See my earlier post about Crown. Wonderful, wonderful brass sound - just need every individual totally concentrating from start to finish. 9) I would like to see all electronics removed from DCI. However........ I must give Teal Sound props for how they are using electronics along with the theme of the show along with the brass arrangements. One of the best thought out shows - meaning it was written for the age and talent of their corps, and has a nice "identity factor" to the show. I was very, very pleasantly surprised. (Still wish there were no electronics in DCI, though.) Not surprised to see Teal above Mandarins (no disrespect to Mandarins in that statement, either). 10) Cool people in the stands around me. 80 year old gentleman to girl around 5 years old - pretty awesome to see people have passion for this activity like that. Ready for HOTlanta (in the A/C of the Georgia Dome)!

I was at the show last night, on the 50, 28 rows up. Crown had the purest overall sound, BUT had several individuals who were not locked into the performance at various times. With the extremely high exposure to error that Crown has in their show, it was very easy to hear those mistakes. Hopefully, everyone will get focused and perform that amazing brass program from start to finish. I expect nothing less of this great corps, and look forward to hearing them again live on Saturday.

O.K., I told you so!