rainhead

Yeah, the Cascades are small and don't have any glorious competitive plans for the year. The main goal is to get them on the field and give the members a great experience so it can grow from there. Pat Seidling from DCI, said it best when he came to our camps, "This is a world class organization with open class members." (currently). It's not a problem to suffer a bit competitively as we rebuild, it certainly will be worth it in the future. The show is designed for these members to be as successful as possible. Cascades needs to be active and healthy so as to regain the trust of our own community, then the membership can rebuild. The NW region is huge with plenty of wonderful talent. There are a lot of nuances as to why DCI awards World-Class status to specific corps and we have to trust that there is a healthy plan to not lose the Cascades. It would be difficult to explain all the details, but simply put, the difference in the amount of shows and finances between open and world class is huge, a big decision maker. We're just glad to be back and giving the NW the opportunity to tour in World-Class. If we build it, the members will come.

But Cascades never seem to ever need mellophones, they duke it out every year for mello spots. What's with the crazy amounts of mellos in the NW?

Now that winter season is just about done. It is time for Summer! Cascades are having their first Guard audition clinic this coming weekend in Yakima, WA. If you are interested, come to camp! For more information, please go to: http://www.seattlecascades.org You can also find staff email addresses on this site if you have any questions.

kurt, drill designer here, ha. 49 allows for a block 7x7 and also allows for a wedge, very important. Divisible by 4: 16 trump 16 bari/euph 8 mello but 9 tubas the tubas can then be the odd section out, if you have to. fun fun

ha, what exactly do you mean? (set-up)

49 is multiples of 4 with the tuba section having one extra but the main reason is that you can make a block and a wedge with that number. We decided on 49 even if we get more because keeping this number allows for one less bus. If we go up, then we must go up enough to fill an entire bus or the organization finances will have less flexibility. We did add 1 snare, 1 tenor and 2 more pit to help accommodate the Thunder Percussion Taking 4 spots away from the guard. I have been very involved with connecting the membership, traditions, vets and vet status and all has been received extremely well by both sides during the last week. Everyone is super excited!

Some west action: Blah Dribbles Vana Clana Sandguard Bandarins Hack ata me ###imacades Blunder Pacifist Mess Boregon Pewsaders Oops'ers i see dots (abstract)

Cascades are doing great. They had a big snowstorm on audition weekend and only saw about half of what was expected. They are having mini auditions in all the local cities to help catch people up before the Jan Camp. The Cascades online sign-ups already have 15 Thunder brass listed. Heard that there will definitely be some Thunder Staff joining Cascades, but the details haven't been ironed out yet, so it is difficult for anyone to announce. I am very excited for both corps!

So nice to see the return of the green-blood members now on staff

Ron is my hero!

From Cascades Website: 2008 Program Announced Anyone who has ever taken a journey to the beautiful Pacific Northwest knows one immutable fact: you cannot avoid passing through vast, sprawling forest land to get there. It is everywhere around us. The cities and towns have been carved from it. It has been a source of survival, controversy, beauty, and danger for as long as we can remember. It is from this natural wonder and majestic landscape that we draw the inspiration for our 2008 show entitled: "Beyond the Forest." In many of our favorite stories, the forest is the sublime place that you must travel through to finish a journey, a tribal place where we fear the predator and possibly the ultimate destruction of fire. When the forest goes through its' great cycles, it might just be the winter chill proving that nothing's going to harm you and we will all live happily ever after - or maybe not.

Kevin, XP, IE7, windows media 10. Still not getting the stream Thanks for any advice. DCI charged my personal account 6 separate pennies, so I can tell it's trying!

Can't get the stream, boooooooo All links just bring me back to Account Info Snapshot, then the page stops loading. HELP!

Oh no, you're getting way too deep. I LOVE Sully, I think he does great work. An has a serious amount of moxy to boot. The hambuger is just an old '97 joke. Back to the Xmen: I never suggested the work by the tech staff or kids is a problem. I'm sure there is a great up and coming vis tech who is living the show every day who hates that part of the show and other sections as well. Chill Bones Fans, they might make finals.......calm....... Sorry to #### in your Cheerios Fortunately for me, I get to go to work now. By the way, my teaching history: Spartans, Marauders, Madison, Cascades. Your concern over Xmen Reviews comes nowhere near the garbage I have to endure about Scouts.

PISSING MATCH! fight, fight....... Not ignorant, this is my first summer off, I have been teaching drum corps for last 20 years. We are talking about the Perc feature, yes? Not the entire show. 2 sym blocks of brass doing arm gestures, guard in a center back block, perc up front. Clearly says, no one is inspired. The show & perc section deserves much better than that! It was said that, "to think that something that Marc has written is not inspired is absurd." I think that suggests that everything Marc writes must be great, don't you? Valium, Lexapro, something, get help. I love my corps too & hear a ton of extreme critique about them and always will. It doesn't ruin my day.

Yuppers, not inspired, and have you seen Marc's Seattle drill? Not inspired either. Please people, just because he is Joe Blow, doesn't mean everything he does is brilliant. Marc, if you're reading this, you still owe me a hamburger!

It may be getting better, but...... Face it. Indy sucks. I know many who are seriously hating on DCI about this decision. Best Drum Corps growth in the last 5 years? West Coast Indy for 10 years..... ugh. stupid. What ever happened to Kansas City? Yes: crime, humidity uninteresting city but at least it is more central.......

What a beautiful day, typical portland summer, 80's no humidity. Sorry Phantom about 2005, sucky weather. I read in an Idaho review their concern about DCI and Indy. I completely feel your pain. Such a wonderful treat to have a great variety of corps in Oregon, we will never see the likes of it again. The Oregon/Washington fans loved seeing all the corps from across the country and the stands were packed! My guess is around 3,000 people? MANDARINS: Very tasty, as should be expected. The group was polished and healthy, but as been said by other reviewers, not very memorable. I too was concerned as to the use of the poles. I mean, it worked as an element to run around, but it should have had a conclusive gimmick behind why they brought them out at all. They need to wrap this show up with a bow and part of that would be figuring out a finale with the inclusion of a cool idea with the poles. CASCADES: Hometown crowd loved them, brilliant guard! Hate the black shoes though, tan would be much better. The music is nice, not memorable at all, upper voices have some rough moments. The music seems more exposed to error than the pay off for doing it well. Perc seemed like an after thought and wasn't very inclusive. Why is the Perc standing in a silly line in the back during the ballad, the corps isn't good enough to not have them contribute visually somehow. Drill was the worst part of the production, made them look small and weak. Marching is VERY decent. Overall, they seem much healthier and I'm very excited for them, GO GUARD! CROSSMEN: <EDITED for a Crossmen Fan> Marc wrote the drill, it must be brilliant! <END EDIT> GLASSMEN: They have a real presence about their theme. The guard interpretation and visual structure is very healthy. I also did enjoy that I heard hints of melody during the show. The Glassmen-wedge-icon-drill moments were lost on the NW crowd (as we don't ever see the Gmen in these parts) but I certainly enjoyed it! Great job, clean and professional. BLUE KNIGHTS: FABOO! Loved it loved it...... This is true Blue Knights. Very strong program. Great music with kickin' brass, so many lovely moments musically and blended into the structure of the program with ease, Great pacing, sophisicated, elegant, I was enthralled. One of the best guards from them to date. The brass movement is spectacular! The trumpets with the barrel turn into the ground, FABOO! You are smokin' hott. VANGUARD: I about peed myself as the guard was sinking on the poles during the first impact, Brilliant idea! I completely dug the show. I was hoping for more from the cymbals, I mean, the audience is set up with so much tension with the whole cymbal entrance, don't we deserve some relief with the cymbal "V"? Give it up! I'm always amazed that the SCV themes get a bit vague, but they consistently have such excellence, charm and bright micro concepts that move so elegantly through the production. Another endearing show, great job! CADETS: Perfection is entertainment. They are so clean that you cannot deny them their glory. Great entertainment by the performers. The narration is not a problem for me. I'm only bothered later when it gets really loud, building tension, complicated, loud and then we CAN'T hear the words. The "I'm a band geek" section: I can totally see what they are going for, but it's not pulling on my heartstrings just yet. I wanted them to take me there, hmmmmm, what's missing? How about bringing us back to the "one-person-flag" from the beginning and a soloist who isn't part of the "community" and then we accept them during the finale. A real emotional reason for the celebration. Nice stuff, performed amazingly well, but the intellectual design is not finished. I really enjoyed all the corps even though I am offering a critical critique. I will treasure seeing these great corps in my hometown forever. I never thought I see the day that Hopkins was walking across Portland, Oregon turf. Alright P-town, feel free to contribute........

READER'S DIGEST VERSION from a guard staffer '94-'98 Consistent Staff New guard staff started in '94 to rebuild guard program. Guard staff very close to drill design and drill writer Mike L. Guard Staff fought Scott constantly on just about everything, every year. (God Bless the man, but oh, do I have stories) '97 smokin' guard. Scott disliked pirates and matadors. '98 Weak theme, Guardstaff+Scott+Disagreements, Chad Duggan had enough. (Scott demanded that guard wear corps uni, guard staff tried to make best of non-themed show) '99 Chad done. Rest of guard staff trying to keep alive, but tiring. (Scott wanted guard to look like Scouts not anything JCS, Kurt begrudgingly drew old '84 guard uni, Scott said yes) '00 Kurt done. Rest of guard staff trying to keep alive, very tired. Visual staff falls apart along with Van from Brass staff, etc, etc..... I do not dislike Scott Stewart, I was just very frustrated with him. It seemed like he did not trust us to make any good decisions for the image of the corps.

So cords, a red lamé sash and sequins ARE masculine? In what way is this new uniform feminine? As an old Mad Guard Staff from the 90's, I think your "is it masculine?" argument is trite. I've heard it over and over. They are a bunch of guys, it already IS masculine naturally. The uniform is mostly dark green with broad shoulders, it's more masculine than lamé or a scarf.

I think they look just fine.

Loved it! Had a party, turned the basement into a theatre, projected it on the big screen, made lots of food. good times. Why the hell spend your money and vacation time on Dayton, Ohio ever?

As far as I know, The Northern Lights D&B Corps (WA) never had a competing corps. This is why Randy & Jim Baierl took over their non-profit to start the bingo for the Every-Body Winterguards. Why no one ever changed the mission statement of the Northern Lights to not be "Drum & Bugle" I do not know.

AMEN Ben! I feel ya...... God Bless Randy & Jim Baierl for giving us ALL a great opportunity & experience.

Just to clear the air a little bit: Washington State's Northern Lights D&B Corps Non-profit was taken over by the Every-Body Winterguard people in 1993. This collective started a bingo under that moniker in Longview, WA while the winterguard ran in Portland, OR This group then took the helm of the Argonauts Youth Band and changed that name to the Northern Lights Youth Band In 2001, the Every-Body winterguard was renamed the Northern Lights Winterguard with a huge change in staff and philosophy starting in 2000. From 1994-2001, the organization did serve anywhere from 50-350 youth per year (that is a guestimate.....) And they did continue to support many other non-profits in the local Longview Community. It is a shame that they couldn't even continue to make a World Class Winterguard work or pay the back taxes that they owed with that sort of money coming in. Most in the Northwest are glad to see it go, trust me, it became very shameful. The local circuit shows wouldn't even let the winterguard perform last season, because NL refused to pay the membership and show fees, ugh. Bye bye NL. :P