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mfrontz

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Everything posted by mfrontz

  1. Thanks for the compliment, but marching has evolved eons beyond the early 90s. We could never have marched in 92 what people march today. But I will say that I would rather see less complex drill and hear longer melody lines.
  2. That Allentown Prelims show is the only time Crossmen ever beat BD outright. They tied that night at finals. Was Kathleen Clark the only female DM in BD's history? Also, note that 1991 was the last all-female guard in BD history. I love when the staff member says, "You three cannot be right and everyone else in the corps be wrong."
  3. I missed this last summer. Congrats to TheChezMan and all the inductees!
  4. I am really surprised this link has not made this thread so far...
  5. The 1992 Crossmen was my one and only season marching drum and bugle corps. What a magical summer. The corps was a solid veteran corps, yet there was a lot "new" that year, not least a contingent of hornline rookies who could barely play but were needed to fill out the line. We had an all-new brass staff, mostly culled from Star and Cadets, who brought a belief that if we only followed the "system," we would pull our weight along with our all-world drumline. The drill designer, John Milauskis, was in his first year with the corps - I believe he had previously designed for Magic. He brought along some folks from Florida. We had some more Florida folks who had marched with Suncoast before they folded. I remember the Friday night the hornline first played "Journey Under the Sun" in a junior high school gymnasium in Jerseydelphia. When we finished, we just kind of looked around at each other as if to say "did we just play that?" A staff member told us after that night that THIS moment could be what people talked about in Madison in August. The staff kept trying to show us the big picture - how if we took care of business on the practice field each day, we could accomplish great things. The design of the show was somewhat risky, as it included original and unfamiliar music, but it was arranged for maximum impact. The storyline was pretty basic - creation, beauty, conflict (the Rainforest), reflection on beauty, and a resolution that was not a "resolution." The unresolved ending led towards the plan for the next two years' shows and also reflected the care-of-creation imperative that was the desired outcome. But this show had a message without being "preachy." You can enjoy the show without analyzing it. All through the summer there was this sense of having an unspecified potential we needed to realize. Testifying to this potential, we beat Cadets of Bergen County several times in the early season, but could not defend our DCE championship of 1991. Preview of Champions was a disappointment, as we placed ninth, but the placement was never so much the issue as was the idea that we were underperforming. Changes were coming. The question mark at the end of the show was added, as was an attempt to add a VERY simple body movement to the ultimate hit in "Journey Under the Sun." When I think of what corps members do today with body movement while playing, I am amazed, as it simply was beyond our reach at that time. In mid-July, we were told that there were three corps we could pass up - Blue Knights, Santa Clara, and Phantom. We passed up BK in the last week of July and beat SCV for the first time in history on August 2 in Lynn, Massachusetts. Being a rookie, I could not understand the importance of beating Vanguard, but a volunteer who I was standing with while hearing the scores was nearly overcome with emotion. As is well-documented, we outscored Phantom for the first time on finals night. I think everyone who was part of 92 Crossmen is proud, not only that we placed in the top tier, but that the end product of what we did in that year has stood the test of time. Many corps were more technically accomplished, many scored and placed higher, but there was something just right about this show and this group of people.
  6. Cavies 1989. Not a great hornline, but an incredible drum line and great choral music from John Rutter's "Gloria" bookending a brooding, bombastic "Images Diabolique" as the percussion feature.
  7. It was the first year of Songs for Planet Earth (1992). I want to say that the ninth and eleventh were the notes that make that chord different, but I don't remember for sure.
  8. It must have been the same memo that said Vanguard was slotted to win in 1992.
  9. I think they have to go in a different direction. Maybe something symphonic without characters, but still with attitude and emotion.
  10. I wonder if this is part of why Star never got the love from the fans, especially after an incredible 1990 year. It seems as if there is part of us who cheers for the uniform of our "favorite" corps no matter their technical excellence. Madison is a case in point. Even after years of substandard performances you could always count on Madison having their identity as a rock-em-sock-em corps and people respond to that. If Star had worked on developing an "identity," maybe you would have had people saying, "OMG, Walton and Holst in 1998 - I LOVE when they go back to their roots!" But since Star never wore the same uni more than twice after 88, and never developed a signature "style," no identity development, and no fan base. It was always "you are soulless robots playing drum corps." Was this true? Of course not, the kids were kids just like all the others. But corps gain an identity over time, unless you go out of your way not to develop one.
  11. Go further. You're on to something. Even the 89 to 92 period, while groundbreaking in terms of excellence, was not groundbreaking in terms of (at least musical) programming. 89 was vintage 2-7. 1990 and 1991 could have been great Phantom or even Cavies shows. 1992 was, to borrow your phrase, cheesefest. Vintage cheese, exquisite cheese, but cheese. So 1993 is the ONLY year in Star's history that can truly be considered a departure from the norm, a drum corps show sui generis, as it were. But the fact that they left meant that we would always be left with 1993 Star, and assuming that 1994 Star, 95 Star, 96 Star would have been similar to 93, to the point that they would have surprised with something like that every year. Not necessarily true. They might well have played Malaguena in 1994. And then what would we all be saying about Star 93? It would have been a fascinating year, a ground-breaking year in terms of visual, but a departure from the norm musically rather than an unchanging trend. In other words, we would know what-might-have-been.
  12. "If you #### the bed tonight, I will kill you." (repeated for emphasis) -Our head visual tech after an uninspired rehearsal and warm-up when we knew all we had was an exhibition after a rain-out.
  13. There is no way to tell whether Star would have won zero or fifteen titles. All that can be safely said is that they would have been a major player each year. But I will disagree with OP who said that BD's brass lines benefited from Star's departure. BD took the Ott the year Star won ('91) and they tied in '93. The missing link was percussion. Scott Johnson took over the line in 1994 - their line had a disastrous year in 1991 (the year Johnson collected a high drum trophy with Vanguard) and had average years in 92 and 93. Another poster talked about Todd Ryan, who also began as BD's Visual Caption head in '94. He came from Star and may not have left (but he may have) if Star had continued to perform DCI. Whether or not the addition of SJ alone in '94 could have improved the corps to the point where they would have contended for the title again is interesting to speculate, but of course ultimately moot.
  14. Remembrance would have worked a lot better. I always thought that the 93 closer seemed an afterthought to Strawberrry Soup.
  15. It's because of their national recruiting base. INT is at nearly every show, every year.
  16. In keeping with INT's groundbreaking tradition, their 2009 presentation should be "The Serendipity of Chance: The Music of John Cage." This show would take spectator participation to a new level by allowing each audience at each performance, together with the contest directors, stadium personnel, and ambient noise from the surrounding area, to completely and totally determine the aural, visual, and total sensation experience of the show. Now THAT'S GE!
  17. Congratulations to Blue Devils. The difference between first and second in this activity is so small - you should carry yourselves like the champions you are. Who knows, A corps - perhaps Phantom scoring higher will work out better for you: instead of hating 'the corps who stole Phantom's title,' people may listen and watch, and appreciate what you did. But in any case, be proud. See you next year.
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