silvertrombone

OK, I finally got a taker on my Crossmen bet. I was talking smack that Texas' newest, latest attempt at Division I DCI would result in a 10th-place or better result in 2007. Boz took me up on that in the Crossmen thread and we have wagered a Dr Pepper. I say 10th, Boz thinks 12th or 11th tops. We are also working out details on a side bet on spread from 10th-15th--I'll keep you posted. He says 2.0 or less from 10th to 15th. I say no, and I wagered a 6-pack of suds based strictly on last year's 6.0 spread from 10-15. Still waiting to hear back from dcifan2002 on the Dr Pepper bet--he says single digits for Xmen, I draw the limit at 10th. DP on the line. So here's the deal, Crossmen--I hate to lose bets. Mostly because I usually do just that and it grinds on a man after a while. So since most of you are Texans, lets speak our language. I'll hang out the incentive that if you guys prove me right and leapfrog back into finals and secure 10th or higher, I'll ship you guys Dublin Dr Pepper to finals retreat at the Rose Bowl. For all the untrained, uninformed, and un-Texan, Dublin DP uses Imperial Cane Sugar, not that cheap corn syrup crap found in everything else. "Brewed" only in Dublin, TX, southwest of Ft Worth. So there it is--BOOM! Just think the touching story it will make on the DCI cinecast and telecast! Of course, if you place 9th I lose and have to both send you guys Dublin DP and dcifan2002 a DP--but I win the bet with Boz!! Any other bets? I can only take so many, so if someone posts one that you'll take, feel free. And keep it nice--this is meant purely for fun. (at least until Geoff deletes the thread for violating gambling laws, or some such) And no, I won't ship Shiner to the Rose Bowl, so don't even ask.

Boz, you're on! A DP it is--though I don't know how you're gonna get it to me ;) I'll pass on the side bet. I was really impressed with 8-15 last year, but it was my first year back after a long hiatus--I'll stick to taunting everybody about what Texans can do! Although I think that range may have been the most solid range in DCI. Edit: On second thought, I'll take your side bet on 10-15 being less than 2 points--pretty slim spread! I say wider than 2.0 based simply on results from semis (6 points +/-). Another DP? Or should we act our ages and say this one is for a 6-pack of suds? My favorite is Shiner Bock, for the record--available only in (you guessed it!) Texas! From the little brewery in Shiner, TX! Ask me before last season and I would never have expected the top three to be 3+ points above everyone else, so nothing is outside the realm of possibility! BTW, my comments about Xmen are not intended as a diss to any other corps that they will be leapfrogging over into 10th place, simply my arrogant way of saying that Texas, and Texans, are better. And the top 12 auditioning here backs up that statement, so nyah! Tell George DFW will welcome the Cadets any time he wants to change Congressional Districts and States again! So there you have it, Bones--10th place, I win a Dr Pepper from Boz. Win me that DP and I'll buy the whole corps one--have it shipped from Dublin, TX straight to the Rose Bowl for you! (somebody explain the whole Dublin DP thing to the young-uns, huh?)

No its not--who couldn't use a couple more quality leads? We had the same issue with Sky when the corps was in Texas from Hutch in the early 90's. I'd put the talent of that corps when we were mostly 18 and 19-year old rookies up against anybody, and I'd be willing to bet the Xmen this year are the same if not more so than we were. For one, Xmen has far more finals placements than Sky to that point, the activity's performance level is well documented here, and Texas has grown a whole lot since the early 90's which means our talent level (already the best anywhere) is much higher. So what does this all mean? It means that Xmen will have a very young, but VERY capable corps this year. And if the members stick around for a couple years, WATCH OUT!! But will they have anybody capable of giving 84BDSop a run for his money? Probably not. Hence their appeal for leads. You don't have to have spectacular, solo-calibre leads to have a great hornline. But Marching Band in Texas is completely different than DCI--it takes DOING it for a year to know what the heck you are DOING. SkyRyders in 1992 had Paul Rennick over drums, Bill Watson over brass, and Garrett Decker over guard--not bad!! Take those three and put them with a top corps and you'll get some pretty nice results. Put them with rookies, which most of us were, and you miss finals. But our members that year, by the time we all aged out, included two DCI mellophone I&E champs, one Baritone I&E champ, the '93 BD baritone show soloist, the '95 (right year Jason?) Scouts mello soloist, and members of every top 6 corps at the time. Keep a log of the '07 Xmen and what happens to them. I imagine most this year are about 18-19 with a few younger and a few older. Many may depart next year for "greener" pastures (no double-entendre intended--only meaning higher corps), although Xmen seems to be maintaining a better connection to its past than Sky did, so you may not have such bad returning numbers. All you naysayers have faith--these are the same Texans who fill your corps in PA, IL, CA, and WI, just a year or two younger. Go Texas! And kick butt, Bones! 10th or higher, but if you don't get there don't worry about it--just come back in '08 and don't go march somewhere else. The story that you write now will be legendary in the history of DCI. Sky '90 was 19th and missed semis. '91 jumped into finals, but we couldn't hold on. You guys pick up where we left off and show them what Texans can do!

Just all you jumping on the bandwagon in March remember--you heard it here first! Way back in November when it was announced that they were moving down to Texas! I called 10th or higher, dcifan. I'll take 10th if you'll take higher and wager a Dr Pepper on it! (been waitin' on someone else to pop off about placement!)

iPods, cell phones, laptops, Dr. Beat, radios (on-field type), mp3's, etc. And Honda is working on a walking robot--can marching be that far behind? Sorry, Boo--couldn't resist! Carry on.

Careful, mello. Somebody who aged-out before you grew out of diapers can stand a little bit less sarcasm and witty wisdom. I didn't read all his comments, but having a 20-something call out someone closer to retirement than to your age reads rather poorly. Just be careful. The thread is 21 pages strong--no need to start slinging poop now. (and if I'm off on my math, sorry to my fellow Sky alum! ) Reply: And sometimes it does. "Respect your elders" comes to mind--applies here. In this case, you get what you give. Nuff said.

Ahh, The History Channel--the one thing that I miss about television and cable!! Their stuff is usually superb. In the early years (1995-1997?) they were kind of the Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt channel, but their programming gained such an audience that they decided to expand their offerings! Pretty cool stuff.

Oooohhhhhhhh!!!!! You hit the nail on the head! I have some REALLY cool ideas for visual/GE stuff for this! Cavies, Phantom, or other? I say Cavies b/c of the green, though they could easily fit it to their style. Would take too long to explain PR doing it. Maybe just the black uni's, maybe the emotionless expression of the actors in the movie and the corps on the field? 2 points: 1.) Prokofiev is not new--but great music!; 2.) Why am I saying Phantom in the same sentence as Judas Priest and Matrix Reloaded when I am a PR guy and a classical type??? Any of you head bangers out there familiar with the new Judas Priest album I mentioned to start the thread? Geezers from the 70's?

Spending your summer rehearsing 12-hour days, sleeping on gym floors, riding on buses with 45 other sweaty people, eating mass-prepared stuff, scrambling for a plug to recharge your cell phone: Priceless!! Anybody contact Mastercard yet?? These rates are amazing--it cost in excess of $2500 to do Phantom over 10 years ago including a couple airline tickets from Texas!

Don't know how many of you have ever performed the Vader March in a symphonic setting or a whole lot of John Williams' music, but it is some hard snot!! Lots of 2 against 3 stuff like Mozart (duple/triple I mean). I know Hollywood isn't exactly the most played stuff in your typical college concert band or symphony orchestra. Great call! Dan Farrell, are you reading?

Yeah, my guys up in Rockford could give that a go--they have a really great record following up defunct corps!

Yeah, get them to go to a rehearsal, too! "I can't believe you guys PAY to do this! You're all so sweaty--and BUFF!" Yeah!

Nancy, tell us it ain't so!! And you didn't miss much at prom. You saw a whole lot more on the bus, on the floor, and in ensemble rehearsal! So did us guys.

OK, really now--how many of you, your best (most) memories are of bus rides or down time or even snack time after the show? Maybe it's just me, but most of my memories are of ensemble rehearsals. I've told my story about seeing PR in '91 for the first time in rehearsal IN THE RAIN finals week, so maybe I'm just biased. But rehearsal time took the cake. Hate run-throughs--especially the dreaded Double! But that's where the camaraderie and friendships were built for me. And we got to look at Stacie Wells and Tracy Supan in bikinis! b**bs :o ^0^ ^OO^ :OT: Edit: Forgot sports report--what ever happened to Dick Trickle??? You know, I was looking through the NASCAR section several years later and our boy Dick won pole in some race somewhere--kept that!

Kind of disappointing to see that any of you expect anything from Hollywood but fluff and buff! Side note: Even the "good" movies aren't really all that good anymore. That's because sometime during Clinton/Bush, Hollywood skipped from entertainment into the activist business. So much for entertainment and history!

Sorry, didn't you say that you couldn't wait until a corps did this again? If I got the wrong person with the wrong comment, sorry about that!

Wow! Now that's inspiring. You know, the funny thing is, that's the same reaction DCI fans have to what is done on the field. The deal is, in both cases, the musicians are thinking, "that's easy!" After all they do it 45 times before lunch every day! But the result is still just as...Wow!! And so is the other video! Actually, I think the black and white is better. He seems to wear a smirk in the leather. A well-deserved smirk, but the B&W seems younger and fresher (in Joe Biden-speak, cleaner?).

$1 to Dan! I always get a kick when people reference PR '94. But I'd have to agree with BlueByYou--Malaguena is pretty special. Agree with Hrothgar, too--I'd love to see someone do this again. Maybe Scouts? I kind of fantasize about an opener of Malaguena going into El Amor Brujo (Love the Magician--the opener is kind of lame, hence Malaguena). Ritual Firedance is the most known piece in this, but there's a really great ballad piece in there, too, as well as some good material for drum solo and other material. Nothing like getting the fans out of their seats during the opener! PR '93 did this and the rest of the show was on fire b/c of it. Didn't hurt having the crab and Fire of Eternal Glory following!

If you missed the above, go back and see it! Too funny. For all of you who have listed anything to do with high school, teenage years, marching band, band camps, etc.--that doesn't count! Not by a long way. Girlfriends? Boyfriends? (funny, I don't remember any boyfriends being listed...hmm) C'mon, you gave up one and got three in return. I saw you! I still know what you did last summer... Cars? Puhlease. You were upside down in an '84 Pinto--doesn't count. You'll remember the smell of diesel and how much room there was between your knees and the seat in front of you the rest of your life. I'm 6'5", so I gave up knee room to march. Work? I'm working now, and wouldn't go back for a million bucks, but while you're there enjoy it--you'll be in the next cube in a couple years and we can talk DCI all day every day. College? College is always there. It's like government--once it's there, it never goes away. It only grows. Kind of like the crystal in Superman Returns--it just eats everything it comes in contact with and makes it into a part of the college. If you have to take a semester or two off to march, DO IT! I took a semester off to march Phantom and wouldn't trade it for the world. Put me on the 5 1/2 year plan but I'd do it again. Actually, I would do it twice again to march '93 and '95--didn't age out b/c of school. ALWAYS MARCH YOUR AGE-OUT!! D1/D2/D3, Championship, top 3, top 6, top 12--whatever. ALWAYS MARCH YOUR AGE-OUT!! I've still got a box of crap I have to get to Finals one of these years to drop off on the field. If for no other reason, march your age-out so you can leave this crap on the field. I've moved four times and taken it with me. Obsessive. Actually, I'd probably just take a couple years off after high school, work, earn money, march, and maybe even be able to afford a GEO Storm (well, it looked cool back then!). MARCH MY AGE-OUT, and then get on with life. Oh, and this is a personal bias, but don't major in music. Don't flay me for saying so, but it pays nothing unless you're at the Symphony level and then it becomes your JOB! (ach!) If you teach, you have to deal with 8th graders all day (see brad's youtube video above). If you do neither, you have a bachelors degree that looks really good on the wall, but that's it. Take a couple years, march in a corps or (get this!) several corps for a broader experience (and more jackets/t-shirts!), then go major in something boring like engineering that pays really great so you can afford to give to all these bums seeking sponsorship every year and go to DCI Finals and afford the tickets to watch them!! Like I said, personal bias. But unless you teach marching band in Greater Indianapolis, it might be kind of hard to go to Finals on a Music Educator's budget. Hope you marry Bill Gates kid. Money, I guess, is the only thing that I gave up to march. And that's the easiest thing in the world to give up when you're young. <steps down from his soapbox>

Garrett Decker! Wasn't he with us at Sky '92 also? Bill Watson and Paul Rennick, too! Wow. Yeah, '93 was a totally different look other than the uni's. Also the first time the corps didn't win M&M in like a bazillion years. More time was taken for "dance" and "individual movement" and we did the same "crap" in 94. A few corps were really starting to experiment with that then, and everybody is into it now. '94 seemed like we added a lot of jazz running, too. Rehearsed it in brass block one day--yuck! Talk about wasted. Middle of season, you're in great shape and they start making everybody jazz run. I felt like my legs turned to jello--I don't envy the contras!

So, I've been seeing some pretty good posts in the other thread, if not sarcastic references to pop music and drum corps performances. So how about it? There is some pretty good stuff out there that would make good shows. Pink Floyd, et al. So how about it? Artist, song(s), full show if you like, and corps to perform it. You can get as elaborate as you like. I'm not too into pop music, so I'm not familiar with all the music, but silks and guard unis and other props can reference the songs, groups, etc. Let me have it! For starters, Judas Priest's (latest?) album from a couple years back--"Hellrider" from the album "Angel of Retribution." Phantom Regiment, of course! http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Retribution-Ju...485&sr=1-11 Yeah, yeah--pop music, Judas Priest and the Phantom Regiment? Take a listen. It's a stretch, but they've got JD--he could arrange it--WOW! Edit: On second thought, might require a return to the black unis! Chains and leather and all the other gear? Or too far out there? Edit2: On third thought, after buying this album the other day (first pop album I've bought since 'Thriller' in 1984! Vinyl!), I have to say that Rennick would have a field day writing for the bass drums if Phantom were to do this. The album's first song, 'Judas Rising,' is incredible! And I'm a classical type!

I never saw the movie--what was the soundtrack to "Brokeback Mountain" like??? That's new! <retreats hastily to an undiscovered island in the South Pacific with flame retardant gear into steel-reinforced concrete bunker> Edit: Rut-Roh--thanks for the '99 Cavies referral--I was out of the activity and still haven't seen it--I'll check it out! (see, I'm not anti-Cavies--just like a good joke every now and then! Have to respect quality.)

And therein lies the problem--not many people still around to be thrilled when Phantom Regiment plays their music! Nice thing is, even when it's slaughtered with a silly theme, everybody recognizes Beethoven! Now, don't go and hijack the thread just because I say Beethoven was sane. Arrogant, but sane. I'll bet your corps didn't have to pay a penny in royalties, now did they? Another corps did some silly theme using the 9th several years ago. I keep waiting on Cavies to do a Beethoven theme--wow! (Note: I didn't say Phantom Regiment) I have a whole CD collection of music in the public domain that is fair game for DCI. And wouldn't you know, some of it is actually decent music, too! Something you can hum to and remember after one viewing! This SHOULDN'T be a big issue, but if you're wanting to play new music by a composer who is still kicking, it probably is. (What is the obsession with "new?" What about "GREAT!") Maybe if MOST of them would re-learn what a melody is and write music that audiences WANT to listen to, it wouldn't be a big issue when the top 12 plays their music. We'd recognize it, they would get more exposure in a 3-month season than in a 30-year career, and we'd talk about their shows on this forum long after they were dead! And they'd make a little bit of money when a corps plays their show, but they'd be able to RETIRE when the marching bands get hold of it! Cindy McTee has made a career out of silly little junior high tunes composed in rapid succession and mass quantity. But I couldn't name one of her tunes if I had to. OK, maybe "The Red Pony," but I'm not even sure that is hers. Re-visit Cadets '92-'93. Very good adaptation of pretty decent "new" music. 2-1, and two very good shows to boot. Must be 'cuz the composer is from Texas. I don't see why this is an issue at all, actually. Composers should GIVE their music to drum corps to play for just that reason. When corps perform music, high school band-O's perform their music. If not in marching band, then on stage. And there is no shortage of quality bands able to pay the royalties to buy music for performance! Think of it as free advertising. Orff, too--can you imagine how many bands would want to perform Carmina if they saw Phantom Regiment perform it? (just had to put that in there) Dang, I hate having such a good business brain sometimes. (humble, too!)

I'd have yelled back at him! Something like, "Bob, if you tick me off now, you get floaties in your gravy!!" I think that might qualify as "most emotional reaction," no?? I shouldn't tick Bob off--I owe him a Bud.

Bingo! VK '93, if I remember correctly, had a killer drumline--placed something like 3rd??? Caption head by the name of Paul Rennick, me thinks. His drum lines at North Texas just follow him around. SkyRyders, VK, Crown, Phantom--cultish. Actually, just plain cult. But they're awesome and they always have been. No diss on VK, but they're horns were not 3rd place calibre, so they missed finals. I'm going off of hearsay so don't quote me on the details, but Raphael's point exactly. Another couple of thoughts...if fans had 20 points to award, where would '06 Cadets place? Now again, I was right there with the 6 year old in that I "got" the white rabbit and Queen of Hearts, etc. Actually, I kind of missed them not having a Cheshire Cat! But a great deal of fans did not appreciate this show as much as I did. If those 10,000 got to award 20 points, where would such shows place? How about Star '93? Great show, lots of love these days, but something tells me it would have been much lower than 2nd by far more than 1/10th of a point. I spoke of the points difference in June and on Finals night elsewhere. Quick review. Phantom started out 4 points down to BD, 3 points down to Cavies, 2 points down to Cadets. They passed BD Finals night, finished up 3+ points to Cadets, and missed Cavies by 0.35 or some such. Where would they have been scoring in June if fans had some say-so? Where would Cadets have been placing? Some of you have ignored my "Don't say 'it can't work'" statement. Someone else suggested texting scores via cell phones. Hello? How many of us DON'T have those? And I promise you it could work. It's called statistics, folks. And if you haven't studied it or taken a college math class yet, please don't discuss that which you don't know about. I suspect each corps would have a glob of dots concentrated around 0 points, a mass of dots around 20 points, and a glob in between. Everybody would have their lovers and haters. The winner would probably have a larger middle glob favoring the north side of 50%, the lower placing corps would go down from there. If you don't know what I just said, take stats. Look up standard distribution, the equation of a line, and variance. Now, do I know HOW it could work? Nyet. We from North Texas aren't smart enough for that junk--or bored enough! That's what some MIT or Cal Tech Math professor would be for. That's the kind of drivel that gets those guys going and keeps them up at night--numbers! I read a book a while back on numbers--the author practically ejaculated just talking about them. That's great! Put some bell curve together in a laptop, have the text messages come in, delete the high 30% and the low 30% to get rid of all the lovers and haters of any particular corps, then run some fancy quadratic equation and have the computer spit out the results. There would be room for the fans to express their approval, yet room to massage the numbers to get rid of bias (either direction) and see what the fans truly like. Statistics. It's like Algebra only more advanced. So if you're one of those that ever sat in 8th grade Algebra class and said, "I won't ever need this crap," please register for stats some day. Interesting stuff. Very applicable, believe it or not. Even in drum corps scoring! Not hatin', just sayin'. Jofus--uniforms--right on. Raphael--I must be dense--what do you mean with dirt?