kadune

Off night? Penalty? C'mon Recaps! (And BD's score)

My bad. But aside from the review section, it seems 70-80% of the comments about the Cadets are stemming from that, it's just what popped in my head as discussion matter; even though I should know better than to think people blogging live are going to comment than what people on DCP talk about (ie, the trite debates). There wasn't that much more said during BD's show; more pictures (obviously) but only 8 comments from "Go Blue" until the percussion coming back on, as opposed to the 6 for Cadets. (8:55-9:04).

Maybe because they can't comment on the narration in fear of being hailed hypocrites or just bad PR. But I'm not in the box with them, nor do I know them, so what do I know?

Looks like the Purple and Black took the Div III Gold in Pre-lims. Way to go!

Memphis Sound has rehearsed for winter/spring camps at Horn Lake before. I believe they held two camps there in 2005, actually. I'm not 100% sure about that though (about 90%).

Muse's Invincible: Lyrics for Invincible Snippet: During the struggle They will pull us down But please, please Let's use this chance To turn things around And tonight We can truly say Together we're invincible At one point in tour, our brass caption head sat us down and showed us the lyrics to Wicked's For Good.. talk about a tear gusher at the end of tour... Lyrics for For Good

Short of writing a review, the main thing that stuck out in my mind for the night was that the Eureka yell was louder than the Vanguard yell during SCV's show (at least from where I was)...

Well, the only time I've seen them before is on Encorps so I'm not entirely sure how drastic the change really is (I didn't mention this, but I'm only 18; I marched 2 years ago and want to march again, so I'm not keen on noticing changes since I try ultimately to enjoy the show moreso than analyze the show... I know you can do both at once, but I have a one-track mind... :) ) Um, basically it's a kind of teaser. They play a few chord progressions that you think could be the end of the show, and then they go back to some darker chords and repeat a few times, while moving around a lot both fast and slow, then finally end with a nice major V-V7-I progression... Musically it feels like a bunch of codettas added on what the closer was previously. But as I tried to mention earlier, I'm not so sure how much it was different than before; I just know that they spent their last few rehearsal days focused on this with only a few minutes of rehearsal on the show leading up to it.

First off, this is my first review and I tend to be a brass guy as I do play the trumpet; so if you want a comprehensive drum or guard review... you prolly won't find it here :). The venue itself was a lot nicer than last year's and larger. The stands were in the shade, so the first few corps played into the sun, but the field was mostly shady. It was windy and the guy behind me said it was affecting the flags a lot. I was on the top row right on the right (facing the field) 40. Hope you guys enjoy or get something out of it. I'll try to do a review of Denton, too. Frontier 54.0 Well, this was my first DCA show and it seemed to me that it was built around their sop soloist... he was an amazing player, but also about 70% of the sound of the brass line. It took me about 3 minutes to realize that they had no marching percussion. They were also slightly smaller. For their size, they managed to put out quite a bit of sound, but it did have a lot of individuals sticking out, but with a group that size it's really hard not to. Dan Potter misread the drum major because he/she turned around before their closer, so Mr. Potter said "from Dallas, Texas, Frontier!" twice. I probably would have done the same thing. I couldn't tell a lot about the visual due to the size so the forms had a lot of holes, so I couldn't tell from spacing. It sounded to me like the low brass especially had some feet in their sound. Southwind 73.25 I really liked the new uniforms. They were pretty sharp. My main beef with this show was visual dirt. In their opener they do a lot of pass-throughs, but their routes weren't clean as a few people bumped shoulders while doing so. One bit in the guard caught my attention: a blue rifle. It stuck out compared to the white ones. If there's some themal significance, I missed it. There were some trumpet blending issues within the section and with the whole brass line. They did have a better sound than I recall them having last year. There was a staff member at the top of the stands... he yelled loudly, and so did the crowd. They totally dug the Kentucky team. Mandarins 74.45 Man, those pole like props stick out. I could tell one of them was supposed to be Bamboo, but I tried watching the corps more than trying to figure out the props. They were the first group not to lose something. A guy from Frontier lost his hat feather, and a Southwind bari lost his shoe. My biggest concern was individual marching technique. It was not uniform, so I think it got in the way of the brass sound. They had ensemble balance issues when the brass was playing loudly. I noticed the guard changed uniforms, twice. Getting rid of the robe was a cool change, but I'm not sure I liked the pants they added on later. Also, I noticed one guard girl was playing pit percussion. I thought it was neat. Colts 80.6 Can you say plumage? They had huge plumes... I thought they were kind of distracting, but I did my best to ignore them during the show. I'm not sure I liked the new? uniforms too much... when they were backfield the red seemed to bleed off. They had a nice first hit. They were also really loud. I totally dug Lieutenant Kije Suite. The muted trumpet quartet with the trumpet visuals was cool. They were the first corps that I thought had a really good color guard utilization being within the corps, as opposed to framing them. Most of the crowd stood up to applaud them at the end. Crossmen 76.2 First home state performance. The crowd dug it. In their pre-show warm up, some guard members had a Texas flag and Crossmen flag parade down the 50. Oh my goodness... the capes were awesome. I loved the visuals they used with them on. And then the show began. The First part that really impacted me was the Russian Christmas Music company front after the Birdland section. Very nicely done. My biggest beef with the performance was the staff. Some of them ran down in the middle of the closer before the show was done. I liked them though, and had a hard time trying to concentrate on any one area to critique. (intermission) Carolina Crown 86.65 Um... I was in the parking lot during Crown's performance. I was listening to BD's space chords before I ran back to the stadium, which reminds me of my biggest complaint with the venue... during the earlier shows, you could hear the brass line warm up over the shows... For example, when BD was doing their space chords... was right at the end of Crown's opener... the guy behind me was afraid the chords would overpower Crown's ballad. From what little bits I could hear outside the stadium though, Crown sounded fantastic. Blue Knights 83.55 Loud opener. They must have had a lot of general effect. There was a lot of dancing. One of the soloists had about a 20-30 dance solo after he played. Very interesting. I also liked the Shakos on the feet. Very nice visual. Biggest concern with the music was the constant mf-f dynamics. There was very little contrast. Oh yeah, and they also move a lot at the end. and fast. I was impressed. One big problem that occurred during this performance was a stadium speaker (I think) malfunction. It kept cutting out and wouldn't turn off... quite distracting... more on that to come. Phantom Regiment 87.45 First thing I noticed, aside from the grey props, was the snare color. Very nice color. They were the first corps that I put my program and enjoyed. They were on fire tonight. They had a good show, and I don't think the scores reflected that. The crowd absolutely loved them. I loved the loud part in 1000 Airplanes where the brass kept going front and backfield with their horns. The flugel duet sounded really good, too. With them I actually noticed a lot of different colored rifles. I guess I'm old fashioned (or just out of it)... I thought the only CG tool that had different colors were the flags... Blue Devils 90.4 I watched BD rehearse today. They worked a lot on their new ending, and I think it paid off because they performed it pretty well. The crowd didn't like them quite as much as Phantom, but for me it was hard to tell which one I liked better. The only thing that really stuck out to me was one person stepped off early near the 50 when the hornline was in the rear about to come forward. Nothing too critical... kind of how I noticed their staff was. Their staff was very positive and gave positive criticism during rehearsal... but my eyes and ears aren't as trained as theirs. The Cadets 89.55 Remember what I said about the speakers malfunctioning? Yeah, I don't know if it was those or wind getting picked up in individual microphones, but Hoppy was getting mighty upset with something during the show, and I'm pretty sure it had to do with that, but with a show designed like the Cadets, it's very understandable why. The first thing that came across my mind with this show was another mental slip of Mr. Potter (I'm not trying to criticize, just reporting; I respect the man (I love field pass) and think that he's a great announcer) said that they had 8 World Champions.. a slip which he remedied after the performance. Before the performance, Mr. Potter announced the scores of the Houston show... I thought to myself that having heard that the Cavies broke 90 might have influenced the Cadets to perform a little harder, but they were probably so far in the zone (mentally) they didn't even recognize it. They were loud, too. I liked their brass line; couldn't hear any major tears or blending issues. Blue Shades trumpet soloist was playing pretty fine also. Last year the crowd response to the Cadets was a bit iffy. They seemed to buy into a little more this year. Much more applause for a well performed show. Encore! Blue Knights and Blue Devils played America... but I don't think they had two trumpet soloists play the melody at the beginning, but that might just have been my vantage point.. it sounded louder too. Blue Devils then played their encore... some 70s song that I'm too young to know about... my mother thinks it was Earth, Wind, and Fire. They then proceeded to play segments of their show before marching off. EDIT: I forgot to mention, BD played F (Bb) Tuning before they played the rest of their encore... very cool. Down in front were 3 alumni who came to the rehearsal who felt necessary to stand up and wave their arms asking for the hornline to play even louder... very funny sight to see. I would like to add a shout-out to the guy that sat behind me and my mother from Jersey. You knew a lot and were fun to talk to!

I went in 2004 when it rained out... the attendance was actually really good back then. I haven't gone since because I actually marched and I went down to Texas the following year, which is why I didn't go tonight.. I'm going down to Texas tomorrow... The coolest, yet bizarre thing happened in relation to this show... The local news station showed 2 minutes of Pioneer's show on the news tonight. I missed the story as I was flipping through channels, but caught some of the show, very cool. Usually when the TV stations cover these events they mute the band and do a voiceover :-\ And as for the person that said Arkansas's not a very big drum corps state... The Van Buren Division II/III show is one of the loudest and most responsive shows I have EVER been to, performing or viewing. While I haven't been to a complete NWA show, the VB crowd is VERY appreciative of Memphis Sound (probably because a lot of area bandos go to Memphis to march since it's the closet corps in the vicinity). However, VB and NWA are on the western (northern side, both of them) side of the state, so I can't really comment for the rest of the state...

During 2005, one of the guard girls finished the book during a long ride to a show site and got quite upset about the ending and was in tears, but I can't remember how she said it affected her performance that night. So, assuming she's not one in about 2,000 (give or take... a lot) performers, I imagine they'll be a few that will be swayed in some way.

I waited for recaps, and apparently it's a completely different judging panel than the night before (K-Zoo)- could've been a few first reads, or maybe just an off night.

My apologies, I was reading all 7 odd pages of the thread and it kind of meshed together and blurred. I was not intentionally trying to change or alter what you said to a different meaning. I'm happy that they're improving though. According to the show review they had a good sound going, and it's nice that they can bet rue to their name! :)

I'm extremely happy for Mempho's performance tonight. I marched in 2005, and hopefully will again (although moving/college is making the logistics of marching anywhere a hardship). LancerLady (and others), when we marched in '05 a LOT of emphasis was placed upon history and tradition (though our Latin show didn't exactly cry bluesy to me, in my meager opinion), and a lot of folks were upset when the corps song changed. I was under the impression however that this year they did change Can't Help back to it's original arrangement, similar to MB3's version from before my time. Personally, I think concern is a great thing, but when a lot of things are outside the control of people involved- fans and staff alike, it's hard to understand what happens. I do not know why the corps has done a lot of moving, but I do remember that some of the Memphis School District's rules were very tight. And as for challenging/ruining tradition, I personally wouldn't say that one year of changes would completely abandon it. While I haven't heard or seen the 2003 show, it did not sound (from the names of the pieces, not the music) like a bluesy song. However, 2004 was Elements of Blue. As previously mentioned, 05 was Latin. '06 was Shades of Blue. I don't mean to be offensive and I hope this isn't misconstrued to be, but I don't think you have to pay homage to roots every year to be considered very tradition-based.

Part of the reason for the small Newnan crowd, in 2005, was that it had been raining loads the days before the show and the field was roughly 5% grass, 95% ankle deep mud.

Why? He has as much right to propoe it as anyone. Well, now that I think about it, that comment made more sense when I was typing it than it does in retrospect, but what I was trying to go towards is to see if there's REALLY an interest in it (which with a 10-10 tie, you'd think there would be), someone else could propose it. Yes, Hopkins is the most outspoken supporter of it, but there might be a better chance of it to pass if someone else with a big name (Fiedler, Gibbs, et al.) proposed it; from my limited scope, it seems like a lot of fans are simply against Hopkins, and maybe it's because he simply is the most vocal while the others remain more conservative in their proposals. I guess it would be more of a political move for Mr. Hopkins than a real idea that would change it. I just thought maybe it would hold some sway with voters/fans who decide to spout off their opinion.

I think the real test for electronics would be for Hopkins NOT to propose it next year; if it was truly a tie, then others would/should feel just as strongly, and should take the iniative to raise it, not just one man...

Thank you, Chris! Alan has definitely been the most influential teacher I've EVER met, in any field.

Crable, Alan. :)

Who cares? Yes, Drum Corps is more work and time and effort than most (if not all) Marching Bands. Yes we know the difference. No, the general public does not. No, the general public does not care. The general public is probably 90+% of the people in the world. Why waste time on debating something that you know the difference too, but most others don't?

Since the thread asks for music... Cavaliers: 2005 Blue Devils: 2006 (close, I liked 05) Phantom: 2006 (by far) Cadets: 2005 SCV: 2005 Coats: 2005 Crown: 2005 BAC: 2006 Glassmen: 2006 Madison: 2005 Magic: 2006 Blue Knights: 2006 Crossmen: 2006

1. BD. It takes something to be the bad-###es of DCI. 2. Scouts. Brotherhood.

Better now than in April, no?

I heard that on tour in 2005. The same guy that said it also liked to say "You know what assuming does? It makes an ### out of you and me!"

From AA: "Quit sucking, and let's GO!"