Wadep66

My predictions: 1) Cavs 93.2 2) BD 92.9 3) PR 92.1 4) Cadets 91.25 5) BC 91.05 6) SCV 89.25 7) Crown 87.55 8) MS 86.8 I think all the shows are going to look way different than a few weeks ago, even quite different from last weekend. A lot can happen in a week when you rehearse your *** off. And, finals are becoming a reality for the corps members instead of being a distant thought, so the adrenaline and intensity is going to be increasing.

Star's space show was in 1986. That was a weird one and featured silver wigs on the guard, very unusual guard props and some crazy drill. Star's 1990 Belshazzar's Feast show was a bit edgy for its time. Featuring the biblical writing "mene, mene, tekel upharsin" on a large banner. Crown's 1996 show featured the large chess pieces and was rather abstract. The Cadet's 1986 show where the guard never appeared until the end of the show, and they used very unusual stretchy visual accents (I wouldn't call them flags) was also very out there.

^^^^Right back at you. TTU Chemical Engineering 1990 here! I wish I could be there. I always thought Tech would be a great place for an event. Lots of facilities and friendly people. My predictions: 1) Cavs 93.2 2) BD 92.9 3) PR 92.1 4) Cadets 91.25 5) BC 91.05 6) SCV 89.25 7) Crown 87.55 8) MS 86.8

<**> Certainly dissapointing to see that some people relish the misery of others. I would be sad for any corps reguardless of how much I abhor the show to see them have a crash that would cause that kind of a scoring drop. Some petty people around here. I hope it is in jest.

Dane Cook "Amps? I say f--- amps. If you know me, you know that I say F--- amps. Bring another amp on the field, and I will stab you in the throat!" "Now let's Tarrantino this thing back to the beginning and ditch the amp" "Look now at the field. Look d----it! And sit down! " ^0^

I think this is the key. You gotta constantly be getting the best talent. If you look at the years that Glassmen, BAC, and even corps back in the 80's and 90's like Suncoast Sound and Spirit of Atlanta came close, you have to hit it on all cylinders simultaneously just to be in the top few. Meaning, you have to have great depth in your corps and have a kick-butt design, AND have the best staff, AND it all has to click in order to win. Last year PR put together what I thought was their best complete package in years. They finally had a visual program, were clean, a great guard, and a fantastic music book. They just couldn't get their performance captions high enough to win it. I don't see PR winning this year either, because visually, the show just isn't there., but the performance captions are good. If you look at the caption scores from last night, you'll see that the Cadets are outscoring them in the visual caption already. PR does too much posing and ballet steps and too much tightly clustered drill that looks like previous shows. Corps like Bluecoats have been clean for the past several years, but the shows haven't had the "knockout" quality that you get from BD, Cavs, and Cadets. Madison is another good example of show design inconsitencies that have people thinking they're on the way up, just to go back down again. In short, the phenomena is similar to the college sports teams like LSU, Tennessee, Duke, etc. that keep winning because they have been winning and therefore keep getting the best players and attracting the winning coaches. I'd love to see PR, Bluecoats, or Crown win, but I think it will take several years of consistent builds to do it. Bloo stands the best chance of being the next new corps to win.

:( As much as I adore the Cadets, I have to concede that the 5th place finish is not a conspiracy or the result of trying to teach George Hopkins a lesson. I loved last year's show. This one is leaving me not knowing what to think. Looking at the scores, its clear that the GE category is wearing them out, but the performance Brass and Ensemble scores are as well. I don't think the brass judge is holding them back because there is too much stuff going on or because there is a singer. I remember similar complaints from the Cadets staff in 2004 about the brass scores. I haven't seen the show live, but in watching the Season Pass video, it looks like a lot of mess that has yet to be cleaned up. The percussion feature is too long and the show essentially stops progressing with everything that is going on with the benches. The first and last halfs of the show don't seem related at all. The second half is a championship caliber show. The first half is plodding and attempting to set up a story that just never goes anywhere. Last year's show worked because the dream idea tied the music and visual together seamlessly. That isn't the case this year. The shows today are being rewarded for continuity, excellence, and excitement. There isn't the kind of continuity with the Cadet's show needed for it to win. The kids can clean and bring the scores up significantly, but sadly I don't see them placing higher than 4th at finals. I do think it is capable of beating the Bluecoats, but the PR production? I think Phantom is too clean and the show works too well for the Cadets to pass it. I hope I'm wrong. THere is nothing wrong with loving this show, or the 20th placing show, but as much as I want it to be, I don't think this is a championship winner. My $0.02

Agreed. I think they're good, clean, powerful, and impressive, but their shows BORE me every year!

HOLY CRAP

I think we've discovered our existential ####. ^0^ We'll all be tied to a chair in front of a computer, trying to watch a show that will never come up. Guess I won't see the Cadets until Madison. Arggh.

Now the camera wont work. Great. ^0^

Now that's funny there, I don't care who you are.......

Look at the page where the streaming is accessed from. The "EVENT WEBCAM" would be the webcam. Click where it says shots from the box and gametime commentary.

:P Hey, at least the Miss America pageant is on CMT. They'll be doing the talent portion shortly. There's the perfect opportunity to pick apart aplified singing!

I've been thinking for a while tha Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis would kick ###. The Phantom Regiment or the Cadets could pull it off quite nicely.

Okay, so this is my first ever post. After reading for several days and seeing yet another Cadet praise/bash thread, I had to jump in. To frame: I am a huge Cadets fan. Ever since I saw my first show in Atlanta in 1984 I have been hooked. Part of the reason is the innovation, but I think more it is the committment to excellence no matter what the idea is. I must agree with lots of the points about the shows being masterpieces. The style of the corps is similar each year, but most every show is a completely new direction. I must admit sadly, that when I saw this show named "Part II", I thought "they just doomed themselves to a loss at championships". How different was the 2004 production of Jethro Tull tunes to 2005's show? And in 2001 the idea that the theme is that there is no theme. 4 completely unrelated pieces of music that could easily have won the Championship again. How tiring it is to see other corps doing reincarnations of their shows. When watching this years Blue Devils show, I couldn't help but notice how similar it was to "The Phenomenon of Cool", down to some of the drill and guard costuming. Sitting in the stands in 2003, someone next to me referred to the Cavaliers show "Spin Cycle" as "Recycle". I couldn't agree more. I for one don't want to see the same thing over and over. I have DVD's for that. You either like being on the bleeding edge of innovation, or you hate it, and that's where I see this discussion repeating itself ad infinitim. I am very glad to see that many who don't care for the show still think that it is a valid entry and that the kids are performing the crap out of it. Even the aforementioned shows of which I spoke received enthusiastic standing ovations from me because of the very same thing. Face it, if DCI stops innovating, it will die out. So voice your opinions and things that remain unpopular and that don't get rewarded by audiences will die out. Remember the huge props spectaculars of the late 1980's (SCV's magic acts and Russian characters and Star of Indiana's Circus animals)? Many said that was the end and everything had gone to the dogs, but here we are 20 years later having the same discussions. Those of you who love what the Cadets do, keep on. Those of you who don't, please support the activity and the kids and give them a chance next year.