silvertrombone

Get over it already. There's more money in the Internet if they get their stuff together on that...still can't do that right yet. /1970's, OK?

I do like how you worked that in there. :-/ 150 = bad. Bb = good. And the little rabbit trail I was going to go down gave me a REALLY great idea...thanks!

OP, I agree totally--would be a GREAT thing. And the WC corps that get nipped...well...oh well! Get yer stuff together, ya know? And I'd really like to see Finals move towards a Thursday night thing for obvious reasons...add it as a theater deal! Premier event of the year...needs to be live...40,000 in the stadium, another 40,000 at the theaters. OK, OK...live Internet makes more money. But adding a few more days to the season, as opposed to ending it earlier, allows OC Finals to be featured on what is the current WC Championships weekend. Bring the OC's to Indy on the weekend to duke it out, say the top 5 move on to WC 1/4's. Monday I&E, Tuesday WC 1/4's, Wednesday WC semis, Thursday Finals. Just a thought. But any attention and feature opportunities for OC's we can get I'm all for. I agree...time to eliminate the "Triple A" mentality towards the OC's. Look at BDB and SCV2 last couple years...wow! And they're not beating bad corps in Teal, Revo, Mempho and Citations!

Let's see...17 pages and two weeks since I saw the corps. Tough show to sell, kind of like PR's. Good corps, for sure, but three others in front of 'em and another climbing up their rear end every night. Gotta communicate the theme. But they had me from "Somewhere"!

Funny...I was looking at my old Sky scores from 92 and in MN a week or so before finals we were 0.1 back of Freelancers who placed 10th, I think? Dang it. I still root for Glassmen, Boston and Spirit to this day since they survived my SkyRyders! He was probably bitter over 91, if memory serves. Sky kind of snuck into Finals...couldn't have had anything to do with their new address or finals being in Dallas, could it? Poor Dutch Boy. Tell me Boston made finals in 94...that just wouldn't be fair otherwise. Beat me to it.

Well, I get your point, but....we're not quite THERE yet! It's nice to see the top 5 again so competitive...well, except for the one-spot that is! If BD had a lesser year than they appear to be having (and have had for the last...5 years??), maybe we'd be seeing some jostling of the ranks, etc. And maybe if things continue as they have in the top 7 or 9 corps for a few more years...not to mention the competition from 10-16 or so recently...there will eventually be a competitive environment capable of producing a 12-to-1 back-to-back years...but that's a while off yet! Too much experience out in Concord still in the staff ranks.

Well I was saying that after Dallas! Oh, sorry...I meant... While not yet in the books, it appears to be a lock for a Baker's Dozen in Concord.

Yowza...calm down, Big Un! Your guys are gonna beat my guys even if mine top out and your bottom out chewin' their cud!

Hroth, I don't get the question and I want Phantom to win every show every year! I have ties to the corps but was completely underwhelmed in Dallas. Maybe it would have been different had I been able to hear (feel?) the Buicks...but I'm not a very big fan of the Jupiter Bari/Euph horn(s) right now. Good for anyone else, this line was completely off in Dallas or the horn is in need of major attention. But the show didn't connect. I wouldn't have known anything about what was going on if I didn't know some of the (already obscure) story. Tough to portray. It would be a miracle at this point for the corps to place top 5. And remember, they never placed 9th in 98-99. This is surprising to say the least. Show, placement, etc. No. Several others deserve to win, not this show. Weird question.

Well, your avatar tells us that, silly!

Granny's got a point about HNC being dirt with tough drill and BD being pretty clean. Maybe Cadets pull it out Finals week. But Dev's are hot...it's theirs to win or lose. And its just too early to predict if one corps will smoke us Finals night or flame out after 1/4's...that stuff's just too hard to predict...character of a corps year to year, and all. After Cadets last 3 shows, you KNOW they want this one...close in 07 with one of the best CORPS ever...but that SHOW...ugh. They want this one...BAD!! That being said, I agree...BD is the team in the lead sled dog spot right now. Do they choke Finals night? Wouldn't be the first time they give it away the last weekend. And yeah, Cadets brass is back up to 07 level or close. BD a lock (in my book). Period. Cadets...unless Cavies turn one out. Cavies...unless Crown turns it on. Crown...unless I'm just wrong about SCV. SCV...unless I'm just wrong about SCV...too much talent in front of them. But yeah, 2-5 are gonna be fun to watch! Not quite as fun as the battle for 12...and 6-about 10 will be fun to see! If PR turns it on and "clarifies" its show, top 5 becomes top 6. Gonna be interesting!

I was just reading the Scouts thread about the corps seeking a male "character" actor for their show. Some think that their show is not working. Needs someone to portray their theme. Got me to thinking... ...Does Phantom need someone to dance around in all red and "be" the Red Violin? Just thinkin' out loud.

Hmm...needs a main character...show design isn't working right now. Maybe that's what Phantom needs, too--a character dressed in all red, including the nifty little head dress a la Faust, to portray 'The Red Violin'?? Sorry, don't mean to take over the thread...just thinkin' out loud...I'll go post it in the Phantom thread.

Hmm...thought this topic (not thread) was officially dead.

Well, seeing as how I've been the biggest Jupiter apologist on the Planet...and I'm the one who questioned the PR Bari/Euph sound...I think your reply is dumb. Oh...IMHO...forget to add that sometimes. I likes me some honkin' PR Buick sound, and I didn't get it this year. And none of us has a life...that's why we follow glorified marching bands. Be nice.

OK, since I started this whole commotion, let me clarify. I couldn't care less where the corps places in this discussion, OK? It was not my point. And it was not my point to say, "OMG...the corps isn't riding first place...is it because of the..." There's plenty of that discussion going on elsewhere. My purpose was strictly to point out, as G Bass said, "The low brass did not fill up the stadium." I said last year that I had the opportunity to attend Teal's May camp and picked up the bari and euph and tooted a few notes on them. But neither Teal nor Dave are the Phantom brass line, sorry to say. My observations were of one person--sorely out of practice!--playing facing a wall. Not quite a world class, defending champion hornline, ya know? I liked the tuba sound Teal produced...not sure if that was due to a highly talented section or the instruments. But nothing stood out as far as the baritones and euphs being sub par in quality. But Phantom's baritone section (euph's, whatever you prefer to call them) does not have the same foundation-rattling presence as in years past, for whatever reason. And if I'm Jupiter, I take note of this BIG TIME. Cuz if PR drops their horns and goes running back to King...well, suffice to say it ain't so good for business by any set of measures. My whole point was a sound issue...never a placement issue. Sorry to have been lacking in clarity.

Seconded. I went to a school that was in the same athletic district as Lake Highlands and Berkner, so we saw that stadium every year at least once. And I performed there with both corps. But gawd...since they built the 9th grade center in the middle of the old parking lot...ugh. Mesquite is the armpit of D/FW, but I have to give a big shout out to their stadium...10,000 home side seating, adequate parking, ease of access...MUCH better than LH. Friday night had noticeably fewer folks in the stands as Thursday. I don't know if that had anything to do with the corps in attendance, but the weather sure didn't. It was plum miserable Thursday. Overnight showers made it nice all day Friday and showtime was pristine. But I couldn't help but think that perhaps having the second show elsewhere might have been better for attendance. Maybe have night one at Mesquite's stadium and night two at Fort Worth's TCU? Kind of out of the way, both, but a wider attendance diameter rather than back-to-back in the same venue? I also would be interested to know numbers from the last 3-4 SA shows. My thought would be that if they continue the Dallas/Houston thing, how did being able to see all 24 in Dallas/Houston affect attendance in SA? I know that played into my reasoning for not attending Sat. I'm obviously biased...I like having all the corps in Dallas and Texas having a bigger role in the DCI picture...especially with Indy getting Champs for the next umpteen years. But I see there being some tweaks to this year's system going forward, and that could be a really great thing.

OK, so I'm a Buick...and a phan...and a honk. But I couldn't help but notice the decided lack of presence in Dallas Friday night of the Baritone section of Phantom Regiment. The opening setup with high brass on the left and lows on the right only accentuated it--high's sounded great! Low's, specifically Baritones, left something to be desired. This observation was seconded during retreat and Elsa when a former PR drum major said, "You're right--they just don't have that normal presence!" I suspect the Jupiter instruments as opposed to the members playing them. It's not like the guys sound bad, you just don't hear (feel?) that "Call in the engineers to re-level the stadium foundation on Monday morning" sound that we're used to. I mean 1993-ish where in the arc at the end of the opener the high brass had to be moved in front to be heard! Nobody seemed to reply to my long Dallas wrap-up post, so I'll ask here. Has ANYONE else observed this? I haven't seen it said elsewhere yet. C'mon guys, don't tell me the finance guy is the only one who heard this.

Having just sat through the Dallas version of the Texas swing, here's what I saw/heard. That's a sumation at the moment! Two points up on the field with no serious challengers at the moment, somebody had better step it up tonight in San Antone or it's as good as over. Heck, BD even SOUNDED like BD...literature, that is. Cavies appear to be headlining the race for 2nd. Wasn't in the stadium...didn't see ya! SCV appears to have the crowd-pleaser of the year...now it just remains to be seen if this is the year Fiedler works his magic on Vanguard or if he needs another year to get "his" system in place. But the shows...goosebumps...especially the company front just before the end. MORE, please!! As in, I'll take as much of that as you've got to offer! Blooo, I didn't see you...sorry! But about the funniest thing I saw this week was Bluecoats in warm-up. Across the street from Lake Highlands HS is a nice sized Dallas City Park on the other side of which is residential, single-family development. Blooo hunkered down FACING some poor guy's back porch. I don't know if the guy living there was alum...didn't see a tub of cold ones for staffers, but might have missed that! Can you imagine sitting there, eating pizza ordered out, turning on the tube...and then all of a sudden a World Class hornline asserts its presence?!? I mean...I'M into that...but the average person...whoa! I spent a bunch of time out in the parking lot and shooting some video for a story I'm doing...I'll give you all the link when that's ready...favorable to the activity. But I missed all of the early performing corps...sorry, guys...my focus this time out wasn't on the shows. Now, FRIDAY was a different matter. I shot some vids of Spirit out on the tennis courts then headed in to see the corps...after all, MY guys were here Friday! I came in during Pacific Crest's show, which would actually have been the first time to ever see the corps. Sorry I missed you, guys, but it sounded good from the concourse! Wearing a PR 2006 "Summer of Faust" shirt, a fellow further up the ramp shot me a thumb's up, so I walked up to chat. I left his name at home, but he's apparently a travel agent and specializes in DCI Championships events. He had some good deals so if anyone is interested I'll post his contact info later. Fun conversation...he says he has t-shirts from the 70's and 80's...pretty fun couple of moments! There were some comments from the "Old School," seated behind me, regarding electronics. But I have to say, I liked Spirit's handling of it! The vocals were during the pre-show, and anyone who can't get over that needs to just chill. I don't remember anything during the show that stood out that would offend anyone but that 70's crowd...nothing will satisfy you guys. Spirit sounded/looked good. The battle for 12 is once again the sector of the activity to watch. I also had a nice conversation with a neighborhood resident watching Spirit warm up and had to once again tell how my Sky 92 corps started out down 7 to Spirit of Atlanta and stormed back and ended up above them in the end...so I'm obligated to cheer for them now since my Skyryders are gone. Nice lady. Always a fun story. Crossmen has been a little bit immature since moving to Texas. But this year's corps seems to have enough vets and enough experience, especially after last year's battle for finals, to have turned a corner. This isn't just a group of elite Texas band kids...this corps is a drum corps! Of course, a few 70's Xmen behind me had different things to say. Apparently the 70's corps still has these guys beat...what do I know? Also, one of the musical moments of the week was "Medea" in Bones' show. I texted medeabrass after the performance: "Bones...Medea...Nice!" Star vet that he is, he replies: "I didn't even notice it." Honk. Glassmen/Boston/Blue Stars had some *interesting* fluctuations in GE Vis scores the last two shows from Mississippi to Houston to Dallas. Interesting in that Glassmen miraculously leapt to first in the sub caption and placed last of the three when Marie Czapinski wasn't judging. Hmm...it appears that "Cavaliers Bus Mom Wannabe" isn't entirely accurate...it's just an overall midwest bias, not only an anti-Phantom thing. That's reassuring. Three good shows. I have an apology for the Blue Stars. I was the dufus that showed up towards the end of your visual rehearsal at the stadium Friday wearing a PR 2006 t-shirt. Not a good idea the day after your historic victory over PR. Congratulations, and my apologies for choice of shirts. Oops. I was filming some videos for a story I'm doing and didn't feel like driving all the way out to BFE to get it. The staffer who asked that I shut down the camera was very understanding when I explained it was for the news. I needed some sweaty bodies in all-day rehearsals and yours were the closest. Remember my thread about the 'Spartacus Effect'?? I'll guarantee you that one person heard that audience reaction last year if nobody else did, and his initials are GH. Cadets' WSS is not the 94 WSS, which I really, really love...even though I never beat it! But this corps is good. Some tweaks to the show are in order. The short snips of verbiage don't fit right now...they distract, not enhance. Either lose them or make them work. Best description: This isn't the 07 show, and it isn't the 08 corps. Something of a mix of the good parts of the two with a real book. Brass was awesome. Drill was spectacular. Not August spectacular, but July spectacular. This is a show that can go places. Happy Anniversary, HNC! Crown is quickly becoming a crowd favorite. And I have to state categorically: Donnie Van Doren, I CAN be bought! And at this point, after playing Claire de Lune last year (PR 94) and Somewhere this year (Sky vet), all it will take to win me over into honk status would be a good, old-fashioned redition of Amazing Grace. Do that in pre-show sometime when I'm in attendance and you've got me! Crown is good. REAL good. I don't think this is the vehicle to take them over the top, since BD appears to have that locked. But it could be a real nice introduction into the 2/3 spots. Now, Cavies and Cadets aren't going to roll over, but this corps can compete with them and has shown that all year. Cadets show still has some issues, and Crown, if it can convey its theme a little better, will do just fine. But it is clear that Crown has arrived! Now, I took Phantom out of order for a reason. From the moment I heard them I was kind of underwhelmed. The strength of this hornline has always been the baritone section--they don't call 'em Buicks for no reason! But something ain't right in mudville. And quite frankly, I'm a little bit surprised that nobody has said so around here yet. What happened to the PR Baritone section?!? The way I see it, there are two potential explanations. The first is that Jupiter's baritone and Euphonium need some serious attention. The slightly less appealing explanation is that the section took a noticeable dip in talent. I doubt that the latter is the case, because its not like the section sounded BAD. They just lacked that "RATTLE THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF THE STADIUM" sound that is so revered and causes small children to wet their beds and small dogs to cower at 1,000 paces. Quite frankly, this is a BIG problem and needs to be addressed QUICK. Suggestion: Trade out the horns. Get Kings, and quick. This would not be unprecedented, at least if you consider professional tennis. It is quite common for a player to sign on to represent one racket, but play on another manufacturer's product. If you see a 'W' on a racket's strings, then the player represents Wilson and plays on their rackets. No 'W' for Wilson or 'P' for Prince? There's a sponsorship thing in place. Maybe this will cost money. In which case, Jupiter probably eats the expense. But the corps needs horns out there that make them sound good, and right now the Jupiter horns need some attention. These are first- or second-gen horns and, unfortunately, they just ain't Kings. Until that gets rectified, get horns that feature the talent you've got. At least, I hope that's the issue. But I sat next to a former PR drum major during retreat and I pointed out the lack of baritone sound, and after the New World and Red Violin excerpts, they said, "You're right!" Elsa was disappointing. This is a real matter. Discuss. I'll be interested to hear if any of you who have heard/seen the corps have noticed this, and if so, why you haven't said anything yet. I think I've probably shown a willingness to step out and say such things. And it is a LOT easier to remedy the problem if it's the instruments. Let me be VERY clear, though, that these are good instruments. We're just talking about the defending champion WORLD CLASS D&BC. ANY high school would do well to have their brass performing on these instruments. The level at which this discussion is taking place would only affect...MAYBE...8 or 9 ensembles in the WORLD. And NONE of their titles end in "Marching Band." So none of this bashing Jupiter. The tubas are great horns...trumpets, too. Mellos? WOW!! Perhaps the best mello section I heard. Not sure if that's JD's writing, JD's teaching, the Jupiter horns, the talent of the section, or my biased ears. I heard Teal in May 08 on Jupiter horns...even had the opportunity to pick up the bari and euph and blow a few notes. But neither Teal nor I are at the level of the defending champs. Some tweaks are necessary. Get on it Rockford...you made the switch...now you've got to deal with it!

And once again...going back a couple of years...why the change at the top?? Are we still sold on the replacement? After all, his former employer went and robbed Cavies to replace him...interesting statement, eh? 1.) And you are??? 2.) And that would be??? 3.) And that would be necessary b/c??? Calm down. And 90. Inconsistency is the plague of this corps. See also the swings from 89 to 97, the drop of 98-2000. I thought 05-08 was a trend. It's a shame to waste a perfectly good drumline, eh? And yet...there's BD once again...right at the top of the heap. Might Rockford ever turn its gaze to Concord for an example? I still haven't seen this show...maybe I'll pop into PR's housing site this afternoon...so I'll reserve judgment til tonight. But scores are not promising. Now, maybe my phellow honks got spoiled last year, and maybe we ALL took 05-08 to be a trend?? And it's still early...where was the corps in Texas last year?? Granted, there appear to be problems. Hopefully management will get their stuff together, because...boy, don't I look like the genie in the magic lamp...this is a management issue. Calendar management. Staff management. Strategic management. Etc. The first problem that needs to be solved...is that the same old keeps recurring...every...single...year! That's BOD, not Executive Director. I mean, maybe it's ED, too, but the fact that this is a 20+ year trend says...it doesn't ORIGINATE with this ED, or any of his predecessors. Regiment has enough alum all over in the right places that these recurring problems with specific captions (Visual, GE) are unacceptable. Brass writing seems to be pretty strong...maybe tweak the programming here and there...after all, when Faust isn't Faust, Spartacus has a lot of non-Spartacus and the Red Violin has a lot of non-Red Violin selections, there's a LOT of room to work as far as selecting stuff that works. I agree...this show smacks of a need for a top-notch guard or it flops. Selections that are not related and don't portray the story rely on the guard to do so. That requires a staff to pull it off. 18-21 y.o.'s can't design such stuff when their primary concern is keeping hydrated, staying awake and getting showered and off to the show. That's design, and that's, like...MARCH, not July. Just sayin'. I'm still looking forward to this show. This is indeed an ambitious undertaking--the type of offering I would hope every champion would undertake...not just try to do the same thing over again and take another ring away from the experience! But it still has to be executed. And like OP said, that is clean, clean, clean! Go, corps! Make us proud in Dallas tonight--Marie Czapinski won't be in attendance!

1.5 point flip from MS to Houston, two nights, Glassmen the benefactor...betcha if someone else was judging GE Vis at Houston...all other factors the same...a certain surprise result goes the other way. I'll take a look at recent numbers and get back to ya on that. Now, now...I'm a Phantom honk, but even the most ardent fan/phan of any corps has to recognize that there are certain judges that favor one corps over another. Phantom has them going both ways, I realize. In fact, one of my good friends is one of those with the "Good Side" of the Force. I'd like to think I have a pretty decent objective voice on this topic based on previous comments. Different panel = different results = bad thing. Do you think Phantom would be sizing for rings had Czapinski been judging GE Vis last August? I doubt they would have been in 2nd or beat Cav's all week..."the streak" would be well intact. Do you counter??

Wow. They still let that person judge GE Vis. Amazing. Mississippi, GE Vis, Kyle Miller Blue Stars, 17.0 Boston, 16.6 Glassmen, 16.0 Houston, GE Vis, Marie Czapinski Blue Stars, 16.5 Boston, 16.7 Glassmen, 17.0 All I've got to say is that if I'm Glassmen, I want Czapinski judging GE Vis at the big shows from now on! And if I'm Phantom Regiment, I want to... A.) Figure out GE Vis, and B.) Make Marie Czapinski go away...like...permanently! You'd think the gal would at least take a look at recaps from two nights earlier...1.5 point swing between Glassmen/Blue Stars? I mean...REALLY?!? Well, at least analyzing judges' recaps, head-to-head and judge-to-judge will be fun the rest of the season! I forgot to mention the Czapinski/Lo Effect the other day when I stated that the rainouts wouldn't affect much going forward...then there's the issue of T-storms in Dallas yesterday/tonight! Yikes.

Perhaps the biggest "holy ####!!!!" moment, but the biggest "bull ####!!!!" moment remains 1992 finals...bigger crowd. 'sides, and not to take anything away from Stars...it was cool when Blooo topped BD and Cavies couple years ago...Crown beat PR two years recently and PR whooped 'em at the end. As much as I hate it, PR seems to kind of blow off Texas, not really wanting to put its best foot forward down here. Their choice. Personally, I'd want to show off in a market like this. Apparently, barely winning by 0.05 is good enough, and losing in Texas doesn't count in their eyes. Again, that's just my $0.02. Congrats, Blue Stars! Maybe if I started honking for Brad Green's team PR would take note and move their calendar up two weeks. An alum can dream, right?

Good thread, given all the rainouts. I have to confess to being a little bit out of the loop this season. Mostly due to discovering Mafia Wars, I suspect. Which corps have been off for a few days? Someone REALLY OCD could post the shows and dates the scores are from...I get into that sort of analysis! Thanks.

Simple answer? MAYBE it affects where they go on at SA and Atlanta. MAYBE it continues to affect their start times up until Allentown. But it ends there. Everybody goes on in two nights. Everyone gets judged by, IIRC, the same panel. It's all good leading into Indy. And even if by some strange set of circumstances it persists to Quarterfinals, its done that night. Everyone goes on the same day, before the same crowd, on the Big Screen, with the same judges. Done. Semis goes off without a hitch. Now...toss in the conversation about certain judges and when/where they judge and how when paired with rainouts that affects matters and I'd REALLY like THAT conversation!