scalenesofar

I'm not sure about all of the solos Chip had, but I know he did "When A Man Loves A Woman" in 1992. As a former jazz student of his at JSU, I can only imagine how happy he is to be working with Blue Devils this year. Congrats, Chip!

I honestly think it is a feasible scenario, considering two things: (1) I know the kid and he's never been anything but classy, polite, and honest and (2) said lab was at JSU, and while the relationship between the corps and the university has essentially dissolved, there are a fair amount folks with ties to Spirit still at the university. The are only a few computers in the music lab, and people do forget to log out of forums often. As an alumnus of JSU, I have experienced this first hand numerous times both with DCP and the forum of the Marching Southerners. I'm not saying anyone's right or wrong, I'm just giving my two cents. As for the show, I'm really looking forward to see it. I wasn't on board with the idea of it at first glance, after thinking about, I have confidence that the corps has the ability to move in a positive direction.

I know you already mentioned him, but I cannot give enough praise for Dr. Chip Crotts. In addition to teaching a very good trumpet studio at JSU, he is also Director of Jazz Studies. Since his arrival at JSU in '02, he, along with saxophonist Mace Hibbard and bassist Marc Miller, have transformed the jazz studies program into one of the best in the southeast, with three big bands and several combos. It was something I was very proud to be a part of for five years. I learned a lot from Chip, and was very excited to see him work with the Regiment this summer. He is a true professional and treats his students as the same. I was thrilled that I got to spend my last days as a JSU student recording an album and playing at the famed Ona's Music Room in Birmingham.

I figured as much, it was just funny to see.

I don't know if it's supposed to be a joke or if something is wrong with one of the contras, but ... why is there a sousaphone on this clip? It really hurt my heart to see a sousaphone anywhere near a drum corps. I really hope it was just them trying to be funny, otherwise it makes me very sad. :p

Stranger things have happened in front of Mason Hall.

I'm just happy that this announcement has been made because the rumors have been flying around Jacksonville the past few weeks. From the get go, these moves seem best for the corps and the university.

The guy on the Spirit poster is crashing at my place right now. We had a bit of fun with him about it. :) They're all pretty great, but I voted for Vanguard.

Not only have I said this would be a great idea on here before, but I actually wrote a first draft of a horn book for such a thing last summer. removed media offer - TS

Has anyone else noticed that Pioneer is now at least 2 points higher than their quarterfinals score last year? Here's hoping they break 75 next week! I was surprised by how much I enjoy their show this year. It's just a testament to how great of a year this is, top to bottom.

It is in interesting to note that Blue Stars' wide 1.05 spread over Spirit was the result of one judge. (Before I proceed in this analysis, I'm going to take the time to mention that despite my local bias to Spirit, I am a fan of the Blue Stars. This is not an attack on anyone, just food for thought.) In the GE captions, Blue Stars had a .3 advantage. Add in visual, where Spirit had the upper hand by .4, and that put Spirit ahead by .1. This means that Blue Stars beat Spirit by 1.15 in music, while their former largest victory over Spirit in music captions was by .3 (in Wichita). Spirit had the upper hand in percussion by .5. Divide that by 2 and get .25, putting Spirit's margin of victory to .35. Here's where it happens. Since there was no brass judge, music ensemble was doubled, thus given the caption its worth at face value. The odd thing is that the judge was the same Dale Barnett that put Blue Stars in 7th in Broken Arrow (which was completely bogus). They were .7 behind Spirit, who was in 5th in the caption. This time, Blue Stars won the caption in the rain-shortened show and were a healthy 1.4 ahead of Spirit in it. Like I said, because there was no brass judge, this was the exact value of the caption, as it was not divided by 2. Because of this, Spirit's .35 lead fell to a 1.05 victory for the Blue Stars. I believe the Blue Stars' music ensemble score was a little high (maybe compensation for placing them in last the previous show?), but I'm not sure what to think about Spirit's score. I'm not saying the Blue Stars shouldn't have won at all. I think on any given night, either of these corps could beat each other. (Parity in DCI? Heck yes!) I just think without a brass score and with that interesting judging in the music ensemble caption, the battle between these two corps won't be over until the end. Whoever wins between this two, I won't be mad. They have quality shows and quality programs.

Now, I'm quite content with Spirit's score, (I jumped up and down a little, I'm not gonna lie) but I'm not sure they should've beaten the Stars by that much. Both had solid shows tonight.

It might have a lot to do with Blue Stars catching fire too. From what I saw from the comofrt of my own computer, they were really turning it on in San Antonio.

That is easily the craziest recap I've ever seen. And I love it!

Now that's a fine sounding band! In case you've never heard the Southerners, I will do my duty as a proud JSU student to spread the organization I am proud to call my family. http://www.marchingsoutherners.org/media This has every show from the Bodiford years (1995-present) as well as a few traditional things. The only thing could find on youtube was the 2006 show and a bunch of 20-J hi-jinks.