ssorrell

Spartacus is such an agressive show, perhaps they've hired Chuck Norris to come in an official play the part of Spartacus? Either Chuck, or Bob Barker...

Okay, so you're saying that... A. Phantom's 2008 production is not much different than their 1981 and 82 offerings? While using the same theme and music, the creativity for the 2008 production is much greater than the shows from nearly three decades ago. Creativty as a whole is much greater in this decade than what we witnessed in the early 80s. Back then, corps just played and marched without much, if any consideration for setting a "mood" in the stadium. Now...it's all about mood and atmosphere. B. A corps that uses the same theme of a winter drum line can't be creative? If you consider that they have to max the theme out for a full 150 member drum corps, complete with brass, guard, and a drill to fit a football field...I believe that yes, it is possible to be creative while using a theme from a unit from another INDOOR activity.

Cheese or no cheese, the show is just what the Blue Stars needed to get back into the Top 12 again for the first time in decades. Good for them. Personally, I thought the show was great. I didn't get too much into the theme of it because I was in awe of how great they looked and sounded and how far they've come in the last couple of years.

They beat them at ONE show in early July...a show in their own back yard. That's hardly enough precident to expect the same kind of thing to happen again this year, especially when it was but one show out of 20+ and in the end they were points behind those two corps.

Looks like a rough year? How exactly? Since 2001, they've placed consistently from 4th to 8th. As it stands now, they will likely finish this season in either 6th or 7th. How can that be considered a "rough" year? Looks like status quo to me, and in the company that they are keeping, that aint' bad at all. Sure, they were 4th two seasons ago and last year looked like they would have finished in the top 4, but staying ahead of corps like SCV, Cadets, Phantom, and now Crown isn't easy you know. For a corps of their caliber and recent rankings, if they were to suddenly fall into the 10-14th group, THAT would be a "rough" year. I joined Spirit in the early 80s, just after the corps finised 4th for a couple of years and was less than a point out of first in 1980. Two years later we started a run of 6th and 7th place finishes. I doubt anyone considers any of those "rough" years.

Looking at last night's recap, GE was a bigger problem than was Visual. Looking at the recap from Atlanta three nights ago, visual was a distant 5th place and over a point down to BD. But the Regiment pulled those numbers up...colorguard was only .3 down instead of .8. Visual Ensemble remained unchanged at -.7, and the spread in Visual Performance was cut by .2. While Phantom continues to win the Music captin by the narrowest of margins, these little improvements in their Visual scores will help them gain ground. But the GE scores fell somewhat last night...Overall GE fell from being only .35 down to being a full point down. I absolutely don't understand how Phantom loses GE Music to ANYONE, and they lost it last night by .4.

While JSU was the most popular college among Spirit members, 50-60% in the 80s from JSU is a hugely overstated. 25% or less in the brass line throughout my 4 years as a member maybe, but not 50-60%. And I was Personnel Manager after that and it wasn't any higher. In looking at my member group photos, it doesn't seem like we had more than a half dozen drummers from Jax State either, so that percentage was also around 20-25%. But certainly no where near half of the corps! And when I was at JSU in 83, we had 18 drum corps represented in the band at that time. Spirit and Madison had the most members in the Southerners.

Being a former DM, I was watching the timing issues as I am very familiar with them. After watching 20+ performances yesterday, I can't remember which one, but I do remember that one corps in the evening show seemed to offer their salute to start the show a little later than it should have been. Maybe it was Blue Stars?

Ha...neat idea. Maybe next year a few corps should entitle their show "Excellence in Mediocrity", then when judges comment that they aren't maxing out the performance captions or when there is a question in the quality of the design of the show, the corps can proudly announce that they are selling their show theme very well, in that they have indeed achieved "mediocrity" and thus should be scoring in Box 5.

Not a performance or show related memory, but a funny one that sticks out for me... I think it was 1984...on tour in the middle of somehwere... I don't remember if we pulled up to a gas station for fuel or what, but we unloaded and at least half of us walked to a McDonalds nearby. If you were around in the mid 80s, you would remember that we had many attractive female guard members. As a few of them were walking in the parking lot towards the McDonalds, a local made some lewd comments to one of our own. One of our percussionists heard the comments and responded to the unsuspecting male. About that time, another witness ran into the McDonalds and yelled "Hey Spirit...we need you in the parking lot...there's a fight about to happen". As the local guy and our guy continued to exchange words, all of a sudden about 70 guys, some as large as small pickup trucks, exited the restaurant to back up our boy. Needless to say, no fight ever took place. I bet the guy had to go clean his shorts when he saw all of us coming to the aid of one of our members. Here's a clue...if you are going to pick a fight...search the area for a convoy of buses and make sure that the person you are arguing with didn't step out with a family of 127 brothers and sisters. Much of my story could be paraphrased...it was, after all...24 years ago.

Another great Spirit memory, or two...or more...all stemming from the close friendship that developed between Spirit and Garfield in 83 and 84... If I remember correctly, it all began in 83 when the Cadets lost their equipment truck while on tour heading into Toledo. They showed up for the show but didn't have their horns, drums, or guard equipment. So, they borrowed ours. Keep in mind that at that time, we had some rather old horns that were not in the best shape. I can't imagine playing a show with someone else's equipment, but they did, and they rocked the place...winning of course. A few nights later, they returned the favor by playing a "private" concert in the parking lot after a show for us...they had rounded the buses up so that there was limited access into the area. They formed an arc and played their entire show for us. Standing in front of that arc listening to Rocky Point and Berstein's Mass was unbelievable. Then a few nights after that, we played for them in the same manner. It was such a high to have a corps that was running for the championship standing in the middle of our arc cheering us on like high school groupies. The next year, we shared our favorite chart, Georgia on my Mind, with them so that we could play it together throughout the summer. I don't rember where, but we played the chart together and as the DM, I was front and center...talk about power...OMG! Those were some great times, and frankly, that's what drum corps was all about for me.

Not to be too picky, but there are a couple missed years here... Hmmm...We didn't do Devil Went Down to GA in 82...our drum solo was Blue Rondo a la Turk. Maybe 80 or 81? Ricky...was DM in 81 and 82 and both years he presented the corps during the company front of LIBM. Not 1980...he was sop player that year. Yeah...I was just looking over that year this morning. Odd. They started off beating the Cadets and keeping close to the top, never more than 3 to 5 points behind the leaders all year. They beat Madison, Suncoast, and Star all year...until Semifinals, when their score dropped to the level it was at 3 weeks prior and all three corps just mentioned jumped ahead. 6 days before finals Spirit was 1.1 down from the Cadets, then on finals night a full 10 points. How's that possible?

Wrong on all guesses Sue...it is 1982. Day show...perhaps Allentown prelims?

My favorite Spirit memory... Back in 83, we had a huge return of vets, even after the lackluster 1982 season. We hired some new staff and designers that would end up giving us what we needed to return to the middle of the pack and threaten the top tier every now and then. We felt like things were going to be different and we knew that our show was better, but you just don't know until you get on the road. So, the tour began... On our first meeting with a corps that we had our sights on, Madison Scouts, we were just under 2 points down. The next meeting...1 point. Then at DCI East prelims, we finally topped them. I remember the joy that overcame us standing around in the parking area at J Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown as the word spread...we knew that we had overcome the hurdles that plagued us the year before and we were on our way to being strong again. It was indeed a proud moment, because if you beat the Scouts in the 80s, you had to be good. Of course, in the end the Scouts overtook us and stayed there...but we weren't far behind, and Spirit stuck right there with them for a good fews years after that. Funny to note that our score for 7th place in 1983 wouldn't even make finals today.

Ummm...no. Ordinals...it's all in the ordinals.

And last night Phantom won BOTH brass and percussion. It has been a back and forth thing with Phantom and Devils...one winning horns one night, then taking second the next. One winning percussion one night, then losing it the next. And the same for Music Ensemble. But Phantom has yet to take BD in Music GE. I think Phantom might just catch up to BD as they clean later in the season, but for the moment they are not gaining ground, as they are and have been for a week now, between 1.5-2.0 down on average (actual spreads have been from .95 - 2.2).

Bad ideas? Thinking that we (the Spirit staff) could design and sew our own uniforms in 88 and 89. They were okay designs I guess, but the material used...well, let's just say if you were in the upper deck of any stadium you could tell the sex of the members of the corps proper from the way their uniform fit their bodies. Another bad idea from that same era...thinking that Spirit could successfully pull off a space themed show. (And I'm as guilty as anyone for that as I was one of the two people that said that Interstellar Suite would make a great drum corps show. I still think it would...just not Spirit!)

Yeah...I guess that's it. However, the OP didn't mention that record score anywhere in his post, so who knows. Maybe we were left to figure that out ourselves, only I didn't make that connection.

The top 8 (as ranked from the previous weekend I believe) have an automatic spot in finals and will not perform in the prelim show. And don't believe the info on Ticketmaster or dci.org...they are not listed in reverse order of performance...they are in alphabetical.

Curious to know...why the title of this thread... #3? WTF?

If there is any corps out there that has the power of a 70s line, then I'm more than ready to hear it! Woot!

What some corps would give to have a slow start and still be looking at 7th place possibly...

Or Suta? If you find out...tell us all! I tell you what...you gotta give those corps credit for keeping those secrets under wraps for years...decades even.

Maybe the Hutchinson score was a bit too high. Up until that night they hadn't broken 75, then they pop a 78+? A correction was due. Not to mention that there was much more competition in Denver than the shows leading up to it, and when you have more corps to rank and rate within a particular grouping of corps, the scores will likely be conservative. Surely you're not trying to compare scores from one year to the next? How long have you been around this activity? and a 5 point jump in June has been pretty normal for years...decades even. Cut and dry? Consistent? the Tick System? Meh... 1980...tick system...27th Lancers, June 21, score: 77.40 One full week later, June 28, score: 73.05. How's that possible? It was the Tick system! Another fine example...Spirit, 1982, first show on June 17, 65.65. the next night, 68.80. And the next...71.90. A 6 point jump in just 2 days. And yet another...Spirit again, 1982...July 29, 82.40. August 7...again a full week plus after that score...72.50, a 9.9 point drop. Yeah...the tick system was SO much more consistent, wasn't it?

I can't believe this question got passed over without anyone responding... Many people have called them the "Boston Area Crusaders". You'll find more older fans using that term than younger ones. And it certainly isn't a secret that only members know.