EuphKub79

I agree with you that the scat thing in Cadets show is a creative mis-step, as is the section where the girl tries to sing like Bjork... but the show is completely understandable and beautifully coordinated. It has enough other moments where they just a grand slam out of the park, that even if they kept it in, they would still be able to be top 3. I admit, I've hated the Cadets since 2000... I think they've piled more and more cheese on every year and this program finally gets them back to being the risk-taking corps they once were. One cannot crucify a corps for one or two bad decisions when almost everything else about the performance was THAT right. I don't think they're gonna win, but I predict that they WILL be top 3 :)

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How can you say something like "It's far too obvious the corps these days are playing for the judges and no one else." and then request that we not flame you?? Don't say things that are flame-worthy and maybe I won't flame you. ("Dr! It hurts when I do that!" "Then don't do that!") And quit projecting your own feelings onto the actions of someone you don't even know. Unless you personally know every designer and member in DCI, I don't think that's a fair assessment. Even if you've maybe actually taken part in the design process I could say that maybe you would have a leg to stand on. It's far too obvious to ME.. that you have no clue what goes into designing a show. The whole idea IS to pull an audience in, that's what gets you credit in general effect. So you've not only engaged your audience but you've also satisfied the judges. It's a win-win. It's a COMPETITIVE ACTIVITY... one that happens to have audience involvement listed as 40% of its criteria (GE)! Listen to a GE tape sometime, they will talk about engaging the audience and pulling the audience in ALL OVER it. Finally, I was in a drum corps not too long ago, and I can tell you that when I was out on that field, the LAST thing on my mind was the judges and the FIRST thing on my mind was that audience. So... it's far too obvious to ME that you are 100% DEAD wrong.

The DVD's do not contain the same broadcast, they show the full performances of everybody on them... that's actually quite a brilliant marketing tactic if you think about it... you can't just tape the corps off PBS anymore... you MUST buy the full performances from DCI. Gotta love capitalism.

WOW... does that mean we're going to have about 8 A class corps at finals this year???? Who's planning on coming Labor Day??

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Ok, I"ll do a mini-review... First of all... maybe I'm an idiot, but I was TRULY offended at the playing of our national anthem by a "legend of DCA" on the trumpet (I forget his name now) He jazzed it up, adding schreeching high notes and jazz embellishments after nearly every phrase. There are plenty of pieces of music you can improvise or take liberties with... the national anthem IS NOT one of them... IMO, it was in VERY poor taste. Now that I've gotten that off my chest... onto the review. Sunrisers... Not bad for their first year back, I can't wait to see where this corps goes next year as they continue to grow. WELCOME BACK SUN!! Skyliners... I must say this is the best I've seen Sky perform in my four years with senior corps. Very entertaining show as only Sky could do it. Color guard was the standout ensemble for them. Bushwackers... Again, since I've been involved in senior corps (since 2000) this is the best show I've seen Bush perform. Some minor breakdowns as the corps obviously ran a little low on gas at the end of this very effective and difficult show, but overall a superior job. I would look for them to jump ahead of some other corps next week. Caballeros... What few gliches in brass technique I have heard at previous shows were all but vanished last night. In years past I've always liked Cabs for their entertainment value, but this year they are running their butts off in the drill and doing it well! They still have some forms to clean, but once they do that, they are a shoe-in for DCA Champ this year, IMO. I thought they completely deserved to win by at least a point or more. Smokin drumline as well!! Brigadiers... Brigs are doing what they've always done, but only half as well (er... last night, at least). There were many individual breakdowns in music and form, and the show didn't really pull the audience in at all. Polite applause at the end in my area of the stadium. Brigs, I hope you all can get it together for finals or Cabs are gonna lap you. Buccaneers... Another corps who seemed to be having difficulty with individual breakdowns. Bucs were not on top of their game tonight, and sounded VERY tired. There were several tears between percussion and brass, and some sloppy horn moves from a corps who I know was performing much better 2 weeks ago at Kingston. Everyone has an off night sometimes, hope finals night is kinder to them. Hurcs.... Sorry Hurcs, my buddy was in a hurry to leave seeing as how we had a 4.5 hour car ride. But from what I saw at Kingston, you guys are shaping up nicely. I'll give you guys an extra-long review for finals, how's that? Can't wait for Scranton now!!!

My review is posted now :-D

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Would love to hear some thoughts on how all the corps did! Hopefully see ya'll at Toms River and finals! :D Ed

*roll eyes* do your talking on the field, take it from someone who learned the hard way. A good concept shines through without having to be explained with words, so just keep it allll on the field. Ed

Well I guess it's true what they say about opinions eh? :-) Ed

Something I forgot to add... What the HECK did Bucs get penalized for ???? Were they over time or what?? Ed

Ok ok ok, I was talking mainly about the horn/drum line because that's what I pay attention to the most, but you guys still don't venture out of the 30s much and I would be WAY more impressed with the corps if they spread out a little bit and gave the show some ensemble difficulty, ya know, put a little danger of phasing in there. I just fundamentally have a problem with groups who box themselves in with props, I see a lot of marching bands do this and I want to choke the designers because, in my opinion it isn't a smart design choice. Just me though. Also, I think it would be way smarter to have those props either be more prominently displayed or have them move beacuse after the first two I never noticed anything happen with the other two, I totally lost interest in the concept. Maybe it was where I was sitting. Ed

Wow, I didn't realize how far it is from Balitmore to Clifton. With the schlep plus traffic, it took me almost 4 hours!!!!! Oh well...got to the show late and missed Hurcs and part of Sky... here are my observations.... Sky... 63.1 (2nd viewing) From what I saw at field level and heard, they have come a long way. Looked like they plugged in a few more people and are defeinitly sounding much stronger since Reading's show. Was trying to scope out a good seat from the ground so I had my back to them, didn't see much visually. Personally I thought your sound alone warranted a larger jump but again I saw next to nothing, only heard. Bush... 75.95 (2nd viewing) Brass line is sounding even more balanced than at Reading. Almost no inidividuals sticking out of this horn line EVER which was something I noticed with nearly everyone else. Again, I thought the scores at this entire show were low (except Brigs) Percussion has come a LONG LONG way since Reading, ten thousand times cleaner. I'm pretty certain this show will be top 5. Visual is coming along, much better than at Reading by far. Seemed like some changes were made to the book, maybe I was loading my camera while you guys were performing at Reading or something but I thought I saw some drill rewrites in there. If that was the case, I liked what I saw. This show is slowly growing on me, did you guys cut out part of Firebird? It seemed a little less repetitive than at Bucs's home show. Brigs... 85.05 (1st viewing) Ok, this is not the corps fault, but I think this number is ridiculously high. This was the first time I actually sat down and took a good look at what the Brigs do on the field, and I must say this... BRILLIANT design. I've never seen a corps get so much GE out of so little movement and I don't mean that as an insult. I hardly saw anyone take larger than an 7 to 5 yet it was still entertaining to watch (and for me, that's rare) Guard was very clean but again, they aren't moving a terrible lot. I can see why Brigs took drums tonight, but with Bucs in the running (and from what I hear about Empire) they may have some serious competition this year. The pit and battery have some licks but neither ensemble is where it should be to warrant this scoring. Drill execution isn't quite deserving of this score yet either, still have some major feet/spacing issues. But then again, when you clump 100+ musicians in front of the back hash that's what you get. Which brings me to only major complaint I have with the show... You have a whole 100-yard field, you have 130+ members... USE THE FIELD. I didn't see anyone venture past the 30s and it would add some variety and interest to your visual program if you moved around the field more. What can I say, the cleanest corps wins. Bucs... 79.50 (2nd viewing) Sorry to do this to my own corps but... I had them third behind Cabs again, barely. The show was most certainly cleaner visually and musically BUT... the energy they had at their home show was extremely diminished. Still some tempo issues from the musical ensemble but it was greatly improved over last week. Only one major place the whole corps seemed to fall apart was towards the end of the fast section in App. Spring for about 15 seconds. Also, there were a few feet I heard in the horns tonight. Ensemble Visual was much better than at Reading... everything looked more uniform especially horn moves and feet but there are still some people "peddling the bike" on their back up step. I hope Bucs took marching execution because there are some stumblers in Brigs and Cabs as of yet. Color guard has a tough book... a book that might need some watering, especially weapons. I noted LOTS of individual mistakes and inconsistancies tonight from the guard tonight, also, when are you guys getting new unis? Aren't those the ones from last year?? I didn't like them then and I don't now. I am kinda bored by their choice of flags. I mean, we see two sets of american flags and everything is red white or blue. It's a patriotic show yes, but maybe something different for App Spring? Percussion, I think has the most musical book in DCA. I really thought the seciont stepped up tonight. Lots of the ensemble tears between pit and battery previously heard at Reading are being alleviated. I hope the scores were close!!!!!! Big leap forward this week in cleanliness now get that energy back up!!!! Cabs... 78.45 (2nd viewing) I think I'm going to like this show a lot come Scranton, but it doesn't do a terrible lot for me yet. Good ideas, great design, they just need to clean up some more. Percussion was certainly improved over Reading. Like the drum solo work a lot. Music ensemble had a few ackward moments, like in Pines, the brass and percussion were about a 1/4 beat apart from each other for awhile. Love the flags in pines. This show makes me really want to go look for some Muchachos shows on MP3, very very nicely written horn book with some sophisticated and creative chord changes. Definitly a breath of fresh air for the Cabs. Didn't notice much visually beacuse I moved down to the side lines to get my face peeled off by their horn line. It's fun if I only do it once a season. :-) Again, I thought this score was a tad low in comparison to Brigs considering the strides that were made this week, but that's just me. Well, I'm pretty sure Brigs will take yet another title, but as for the rest of the placements this year... your guess is as good as mine, can't wait for Scranton now!!! :-) Ed

Ok, I might as well do a short review too. Taipei... Really enjoyed this corps. Having a few execution problems, but I'm not really sure why they were so far below LVK. I personally thought their color guard, brass line and feet put them about 1-2 pts ahead of them, but that's just me. LVK... They're getting there, not a big fan of their uniforms, they don't read very well from far away. I like the idea of the show... took a different approach than Cadets to this music, but the execution isn't there from any of the sections. I"m sure this show will grow a lot and it'll be good to see it. Keep plugging away! Spartans... Very solid corps, was impressed with the cleanliness BUT... clean does not necesarrily equal exciting. If they were going for SOME kind of effect or emotion, or something to tie the whole thing together it was lost on me. I didn't think anything during the performance other than "Well, that's pretty clean" Did I miss something?? Surf... Interesting concept, but here's the thing... a good concept show does not have to be explained ahead of time. If I had not been told that this show was about kids doing various activities (sports, etc) I would have had almost no clue that it wasn't a literal West Side Story show and would've been even more lost. Percussion wasn't bad, color guard was GREAT, brass seemed a little excessive in the blaring department. Could stand to tone it back a little bit and not sacrifice the quality of the sound as much. It's WSS, it's still symphonic. Seniors... Corpsvets... Liked the brass sound but the volume wore thin on me after their first number. It's ok to be loud, but not all the time. But that would be my only complaint with the show. This show is 100% old-school southern drum corps, loved it when they played Spirit's arrangement or "Georgia" off the field at retreat (or something DARN close to Spirit) Nice show, liked the visual stuff that was going on. Hurcs... Everyone's right, definitly improved over last year. The only issue they seem to be struggling with is stamina in the horn line, by Ballet Sacra you could tell some peopel were not playing all the time. I'm a big fan of that closer, like I said, just need to do a lap or two around the field at practice to get your energy up :-) Sky... Gotta admire their spirit. A lot of holes and sub-par color guard staging really hurt this show a lot. Much of the good work is lost and the transitions off the field are painfully obvious in a lot of spots. All I can say is thank goodness the performers are doing a bang-up job of selling this show. Bush... Definintly deserved horns, best balance and blend of the night. The only thing this corps needs is better feet, especially expanded step technique... it's really hurting the sound especially with a horn line of that size. Cabs... Wow, this sure isn't the Cabs I remember! But it's still good. Definitly the best drill I've ever seen them perform, lots of very interesting forms an impeccable staging (ala Mark Sylvester!) This should be an absolute (pardon the pun) blast to watch at DCA!!!!! Bucs... All I have to say is d###!!! I watched Bucs do their afternoon run-through at the end of rehearsal and it was ROUGH. You could tell everyone was exhausted and that it had been a VERY tough day. However that tough day translated into one smoking performance! I was actually kinda surprised to see them overtake Cabs, especially by the margin they did but it was a very pleasant surprise. Percussion caption was well deserved, I didn't see the recaps yet but I wouldn't be surprised if they took GE Vis and Individual Marching as well. Awesome show tonight, would love to see more junior corps as DCA shows. They seem to do well on their sheets.