mfrontz

My review of the June 30, 2001 show at Franklin Field in Philly, from RAMD: To business: Jersey Surf - 8th - 56.2. Strengths: a good soprano soloist, good staging of a proficient color guard and nice choices of music. I've been waiting to hear "(It's Just) Talk" put on the field. Weaknesses: hornline is moving fast and it's impacting their playing negatively. But it's early. Drill is not written for the closer. Crowd was favorably disposed - a lot of parents and friends. Spirit of JSU - 7th - 65.5. Strengths: intriguing show theme with a variety of textures and some great impact points. It's a well-conceived, well thought out program which involves the crowd. Weaknesses: It's dirty. Crowd responded well to the program, as noted above. If they can clean, they will catch Crown. Carolina Crown - 6th - 65.65. Strengths: interesting and well-done use of tires (yes, tires) in the middle number on the rubber industry. Cleaner than Spirit. Weaknesses: the guard uni's and equipment for the opener are the same color. I lost the equipment in the uniforms. There are huge pieces of metal to the right of the pit for little good reason. The music is forgettable, the visual program unremarkable. Crowd response sluggish. Boston Crusaders - 4th - 72.90. Strengths: geometric visual program and an athletic, aggressive still all-female guard. They were throwing things the whole night. Solid drumline. Ballad is nice. A show of modern music that appeals to the crowd through visuals, numerous references to "Conquest," and simply projection of attitude. Body sculpting done well. Weaknesses: Brass will keep them in the middle of the pack. I really, really enjoyed this program, though. They had fans in the crowd who were not dissapointed. (break) Blue Devils - 1st - 81.65. Strengths: too numerous to mention. An especially beautiful ballad accentuated by the visuals. Weaknesses: I don't like the striped guard uniforms. BD's approach to costuming their guard seems to be to make them all unique. To me this makes it hard for me to see them as a unit from high up. Although I love BD, this show I did not like. They did not reach me emotionally from the field. They stayed on the field, I stayed in the stands. Cadets - 3rd - 78.85. Strengths: Moondance, which I love, and which I was whistling on the way home. I especially like the backfield part (don't change a thing, George!) and the transition into the ballad from "Hannibal." All captions, as per usual, are excellent. Weaknesses: This program is uninteresting visually. In order to make a piece like "Farandole" work, there has to be something extra - the visuals have to build the piece as much as the music. That is not happening right now. This show will peak at third place, if that. Cavaliers - 2nd - 79.65. Strengths: The Four Corners theme imbues even the most innocent drill move with instant meaning. The percussion feature is understatement which amazes. Who said you had to play five billion decibels to be exciting and enthralling? The Cavies' backfield playing is second to none. Great allusion to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" near the end of the show. The guard have two features in the show which would have had the crowd screaming had they been perfect. As it was, there were gasps and dissapointment when it didn't work. Weaknesses: Maybe brass, plus there's some cleaning. And the end will be rewritten, bet on it. In case you haven't guesses, they are my pick to win it all, unless Santa Clara has the show of the universe. Cavies over BD at Semis and Finals. Crossmen - 5th - 70.65. Strengths: EXCITING and appealing musical program. Excellent colorguard. Brass and especially soloists are picking up the pace. Visual staging of the colorguard is excellent. Feet seem to be moving better and corps as a whole seems much more at ease with themselves visually (Go Gary!) Weaknesses: the visual of the corps proper is once again unremarkable, although executed better than in previous years. The transition into the conclusion of the show, although tasty for the baritones, otherwise makes little sense. The home crowd fueled them, although with the way they're going, they will have a home crowd at Buffalo. They will place ninth and have the crowd eating out of their hands. My captions: Best overall show - Cavaliers Best soloists - Crossmen (sorry BD) Most attitude - Tie (BAC and Crossmen) Most room for growth - BAC and Jersey Surf Best crowd response - Crossmen (home show) Best use of tires - Carolina Crown Best drums - Blue Devils Most notes played - Cadets Most trap sets - Cadets again Best body sculpting - BAC A bit of advice: When you go to DCI East, get there early. Park. Watch the clinic, if there is one. Then walk up Spruce Street. Cross the U. of Penn campus to your right, wandering around ivy covered buildings and leafy, shaded pathways. Come to Walnut Street and turn left. Find a place to eat - for an inexpensive meal I recommend "The Fresh Grocer" at 40th and Walnut. A bit of everything - sandwiches, pizza, entrees, etc. Chip Frontz Crossmen 1992

Here are a couple of non-finalist shows which are really fun watches... Spirit Troopers

Did you tie up your phone line in early July waiting in endless online queues to download audio recordings of early-season shows (at 56.6 kps) on this thing called Napster? After all, the mid-season CDs wouldn't be out until East... Did you argue on RAMD about banana weapons, and George Hopkins's idea that DCI should eschew rifles because they were redolent of violence? Were you hyped for (and disappointed by) the 'judge-cam' for the percussion field judge? If so, you may have been a DCI fan in 2001! The one thing we knew going in is that there would be no ties for first. Fearing a disgruntled fan base, DCI decided that GE would be the tiebreaker (I think?) in case of a first-place tie. I don't know what would have happened had the corps tied in GE. It's possible that I'm wrong. I saw three shows this year, all at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. At the early-season show, Cavaliers placed second to Blue Devils, but I had this feeling it wasn't going to be that way when finals rolled around. Sure enough, the Cavaliers 'cornered the market' on the high DCI ranking come Buffalo time. J. Birney Crum stadium was undergoing an extensive renovation, so Philadelphia was also the site of DCI East. Loved all the offerings. Phantom and Festive Overture hit me where I live. Vanguard brought us into a 'New Era.' Crossmen! 'Late Night Jazz' was cookin'! How about that Cadets drumline and the flugel soloist for Glassmen? Boston with John Adams and 'Gabriel's Oboe.' Carolina Crown rolled tires on the field. And more! Did you leave Buffalo (or turn off the PBS broadcast) satisfied, ready for a fall of band and football, looking forward to November auditions, with no idea of what was about to happen in our country and the world? If so, you were a DCI fan in 2001.

My son played cello for the CYO in 2019. He was sorry to miss out on DCI, but had a great summer.

Of course, the biggest deal of the season was the migration of the DCI World Championship trophy to the East. The Garfield Cadets, powered by George Zingali's path-breaking drill, jumped from 3rd at Semis to 1st at finals. Perhaps the greater miracle is they did it in the last year of the tick system. I think I heard a story that Boston Crusaders mixed it up with some Miami toughs before/after prelims? If you were there in 1983, or know someone who was there, please share. If not, listen, watch, and learn, as I will be doing!

That's what I heard.

Remembering that both 2014 and 2015 Crossmen had timing penalties at Semis because they had major technical issues delaying both semis shows. Without the penalties the scores would have been: 2014 - Crossmen 12th 86.45 -- Colts 13th 85.35 2015 -- Crossmen 12th 85.275 -- Troopers 13th 83.800 (Xmen would have tied for eleventh without the penalty).

Maybe if you hadn't been gorging and drinking you would have scored higher 😉🍺🍤🥓🥩

I just listened today to Bluecoats. Do you know who wrote their drumline? Obviously it wasn't Thurston but I feel like it's a Thurston-inspired vibe. Then again, it was jazz(y)...

The Blue Devils and The Cadets introduce any-key brass hornlines. The rest of the DCI world will follow suit soon after. With Niagara Falls, The Cavaliers break new ground on a design philosophy which will win them five championships in seven years. They tie with Cadets, whose visual and musical pyrotechnics are stunning. Nevertheless, ironically, it is The Cavaliers who 'are the future.' Methods of Madness is one of my favorite Blue Devils shows. Bernard Herrman and (mostly) Hitchcock. Evocative, mysterious, and thrilling. Santa Clara and the Age of Reverence. Barber's Adagio for (still G bugle) drum corps. Listen to that baritone line. Utterly spellbinding. After oh so many years out of the conversation, Boston Crusaders opens the broadcast on Saturday night. 'Red' captures the D.C. audience. Close behind them are the Blue Knights, a strong corps in this era. Phantom goes beige and modern. Still solid, but the beginning of their rise to the top is a few years off. Glassmen come home to America and Gershwin. Crossmen are clubbin', and Birdland is back again. Madison still with great performers, but design-wise can't make the turn into the new millennium. Crown and Bluecoats make Saturday night with modern show themes. Southwind comes oh so close to making finals; Pioneer places sixteenth (their highest?) and Vanguard Cadets puts two corps from the same organization (YEA! doesn't count) into semifinals. There's more to talk about I'm sure. But that's your job. Ladies and gentlemen, 2000!!!

Here's an interesting video. I doubt many of us have almost 90 minutes to spend on this, but it might be fun to bounce around to a few spots.

@MikeN, what did you think of the 1999 Cadets of Bergen County?

As I mentioned in the OP, that may be my fave moment of the show.

I'm the ex-execu-essecutive di-BBBRACK-tor (pause) of the Ss-Santa Ccccccla-RAH V-vanguard.

In my corps the horn arc volume levels were p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff, 'Green Light' (loudest with good tone quality and intonation) and 'IT' (loudest possible, designed to stretch our Green Light capabilities.) Was always a rush to play 'IT.'

What ending do you remember?

Holy mackerel (H/T Steve Rondinaro), I just watched Spirit of Atlanta. What a great show with some smokin' soloists. That mellophone solo in 'I Loves You, Porgy' is right up there with Barbara Maroney, IMO.

Finally, the one @84BDsop has been waiting for... Atlanta, Georgia. Grant Field on the campus of Georgia Tech University. I bought BD's and Garfield's 80s CDs while I was on tour in 92. So I am most familiar with those shows. Barbara Maroney plays two of the most iconic solos in DCI history. The incredible Zingali drill and an in-tune, balanced and incredibly powerful hornline power Garfield to a one-tenth victory, as some remember all too well... Blue Devils. Utterly amazing. I love La Fiesta, but it is the ending to 'Latin Implosion' which gets me every time - the open voicing, the soprano solo and contra descending scale... Mysterious and epic. Then there's SCV with the ground-breaking Hardimon percussion feature and the Ott-winning hornline. Spirit of Atlanta playing Porgy and Bess. Suncoast Sound remembering Vietnam. And many more memories, which can be told best by the people who were there.

You're saying the Devils were behind it?

No shame in that. 'You Are My Star' was a great show.

From the 'It's not too dark to do another run' department - Lights go out around 6:25 of the video

The Blue Devils and the Vanguard tied at finals, to a chorus of 'ESS-CEE-VEE! ESS-CEE-VEE!' Cavaliers innovated, classically, Cadets took us to New York, and Glassmen were still in gold. Madison were hometown superstars. Blue Knights played Trittico, Phantom Tschaikovsky. Boston joined us for finals and they haven't left. Crossmen were clubbing, Crown was a split personality and Colts were vocal about being in finals. This was the year the live broadcast came back to PBS, to be with us for a few years. And of course, it was the last year of only G bugles, although to be completely honest, it was the move to three-valves that pretty much changed the soundscape - fight me. I saw no live shows in 1999. My son was born in February and I was doing Clinical Pastoral Education during the summer, which was punctuated by a couple of deaths in the family. DCP is proud to present, 1999!

From my show review: 'CROSSMEN: Watch out Phantom and Glassmen. This show is much more demanding visually and musically wise than last year's seventh place offering, and it's also better executed. The key will be this: can the Crossmen get the opener, "Heat of the Day," to groove effortlessly and consistently by finals week? If so, then look for them possibly to debut the TV broadcast. Of course, I haven't seen either Phantom or Glassmen, but Crossmen look great and deserve the scores they're getting. Some phasing problems tonight in "Heat of the Day:" again, this will be key. Bones are marching what I believe is the only flugelhorn section in DCI this year: five horns which have some very tasty but extremely exposed parts, including the opening soli in both the opener and the ballad. They were a little bit tentative tonight: they need to be spit-clean. The program as a whole is enormously satisfying. The horn line packs a wallop - those who say they cover the drums too much at times are right I believe. The guard is very aggressive and use these great ten-foot poles in the balllad: when they spin them at the push, the reflections from the lights make this wonderful effect. Strawberry Soup works. Ten years after I marched, my heart still goes faster when they take the field; and it's especially great to see them doing so well this year and over the past few. Second Div. I: 77.40'

You don't happen to have the tape from the recording device you wore, do you? 🙂