MelloPrano

I mean the top corps have always been fed by corps who place lower, when members decide they either aren't being challenged or want to compete at a higher level. This was the case pre-dci. My old man marched Kiwanis Black Knights in the 70s and they fed a bunch of the other midwest corps members, even know of at least one who went to the Troopers. That's just how it is in a voluntary competitive activity, when you aren't contracted to stay at your previous corps, you'll be tempted to go somewhere where your talents are more appreciated. Junior corps were just a way to engage local kids in drums corps and season them for the Sr. Corps, the ones that have stuck around have done so because they either manage to be competitive at their level or are very well managed. Frankly, I don't see that changing in the near future.

I know the Cedarburg show is considered a home show because it was started by Layton Olsen, who's son marched Scouts. As such, the Scouts are generally treated to certain perks surrounding the show such as staying at the show site and being treated to a feast of a lunch after the 4th of July Parade. As for South Milwaukee, I thought that show was put on by, if not in conjunction with, Pioneer. I always thought it was their HS, not the scouts.

Lets be honest: you have to find the happy medium. If a show wins on entertainment merit alone, you no longer encourage the activity to innovate, which I guess some people wish we were still in the 70s. I don't think the 'wow' factor would exist anymore if corps weren't allowed to experiment with new things until something wonderful came out. You also shouldn't be able to win on pure difficulty, talent, and innovation alone. The activity would stop being entertaining if being entertaining stopped being rewarding. You need to fall somewhere in between:;push the envelope while still pulling on the heart-strings of your audience.

You're not giving a lot of credit to the body motion during most of the "park and blows." The only true P&B moment is the Malaguena hit. All of the other ones have some kind of dance or body motion involved. I can attest that, after hauling ### for five minutes straight, trying to get you body to calm down and execute moves unlike anything you have to do conventionally while still playing challenging licks is certainly no easy task. I know that maybe that's not what you meant, but all I'm getting at is that a lack of marching does not equate to a lack of motion. And, more likely that not, anything that is sort of stand and blow will probably end up with some kind accentuation by the end of the season. The judges call it "multiple responsibilities" and it earns you kudos in all departments.

The Scouts this year have a rotating company front while "The Great Gate" So the perform a great gate while performing The Great Gate!

Easy one: The Manhattan Scouts

As a recent ageout of the scouts.i can attest the emotional response of crying during a performance. There was not a scouts performance this season that I did not get choked up for. Granted, I had a multitude of feelings going through my head each time, the most prevalent of which were: "#### I'm proud that I'm a part of that organization" "I'm so happy with the direction the creative staff is taking this corps." "I marched with those soloists, and there they are, being incredible." "Why the Hell couldn't I be a year younger and march with them?!" And that is not to mention the incredibly emotional nature of the music they performed. i dont see how anyone can help but be.emotional seeing their boys go to work, especially when their work is so #### good.

Awesome, IMO. It represents a truer spread based on each caption's success. At least a nod to reform from the recent accusations of 'slotting'.

If you think the visual book is easy you haven't seen the show recently, they have tripled the amount of jazz-run moments and high demand visuals since about a week or so ago. Also, it's harder than you'd think to dance and play, at least harder than putting one foot in fron of the other (or behind, for that matter), and they do plenty of that in slaughter.

Well, i was making a joke, but i agree that kid is a phenom. I'm pretty sure that BD has nothing to worry about when it comes to phantom. I was at the show and it felt like they were having an off night, bits of dirt where there should be none. Definitely nothing to worry about.

Well, when a 12 year-old can play with your line, how can you be surprised?

One of the benefits of being is a University of Missouri fan is the Brandt announces Marching Mizzou. College MB doesn't hold a candle to drum corps, but his voice does add a certain flair.

Then you're too young to remember the Scouts playing Rhapsody in the 70s? Some of us were thinking the same thing when Phantom played in ought-five. Governaires, interesting arrangement of Night in Tunisia. Always love the screaming.

Well, Jim is a huge proponent of ensuring that the pieces that are selected for performance by the corps are given as much musical credit as possible. In case you didn't notice this year, the men are playing "Rhapsody in Blue" not "Aire on themes from Rhapsody in Blue." Obviously you can't play 15 minutes of music in 5 minutes of show, but you have to admit, it's a much more faithful interpretation than a lot of selections in modern drum corps. No one looked at it and went "Which section can we butcher to make a trumpet feature that is harder than the orginal music?"

It was also on the 07 corps to learn two shows and still make a decent performance by the end of the year.

You're making a lot of excuses. I think Saucedo's novice status makes him a marvelous judge. He doesn't adhere to the rules that most fans complain about at no end. I find your assessment to be exactly what is wrong with judging. You are blatantly endorsing cross-captioning. The ensemble is a judgement of how all three parts of the musical ensemble blend with each other, not with themselves, that is why there is a percussion caption. If there was less brass-to-percussion phasing in one show it deserves a better ensemble score even if the drumline had a worse night. What you suggest is that the ensemble judge is judging the interior quality of each section in spite of the judge already assigned to them. Frankly I think you're trying to excuse the score discrepancy between your corps and the next one. While I am all about hating my corps' score for being too low, you're being too bold in criticizing the next corps up for scoring better. Love your corps more, don't hate the next one up.

Scouts were not top 3, the group he was referencing. They did receive a sanding O, as well as many more mid-show responses than anyone around them. Though that might just be the nature of the show shining though. In regards to the audience's response to the G-Men, I'm sure the men of Madison would feel very bad if they knew their show was making the crowd too anemic for the more delicate shows by giving them things to cheer for at more than just song ends.

I'm not trying to be a homer, but this was one of the more difficult shows in DCI this year, particularly the drum feature to the end. I believe what you mean is that they should work hard on making the show seem harder than it really is, which PR and Cavies historically do a great job of, and that Scouts and SVC do not. I'm not trying to knock the difficulty of Phantom or Cavie's show, you don't get into the top five doing stuff that is easy, but it certainly has an effect of being much easier than it looks, and props to them for it. I believe alot of the Scout's drum feature drill (most of which was 4 to 5, with direction changes every 6 counts at 195bpm) effect was lost by the members being so spread out and not really crossing in front of each other and creating that opposing motion that adds alot to the appearance of velocity. Along the same lines, SCV did alot of extended blind moves into non-curvilinear forms, which is very very difficult for only marginal visual effect. These are just examples of how some times corps can cross the line from smart drill writing to just plain hard drill writing.

Eww green pants and black shoes! *shudders*

I'm actually aware of at least three blue star vets who are trying out for madison this summer. Has something to do with the scout's new trumpet tech, I imagine.

Madison's makes for a good tat as well Examples: http://photos-554.ll.facebook.com/photos-l...540093_1817.jpg http://photos-162.ll.facebook.com/photos-l...079613_6127.jpg http://photos-458.ll.facebook.com/photos-l...760415_1278.jpg the middle ones mine. I also dig crowns logo for it's simplicity yet still neat affect.

Give Jeff Spanos some credit for the Scouts. He cut back the spending huge amounts as the new exec director. I think he cut back spending to one third of what it was.

It's joe in his "diapered" green shorts, and he is so catching crap for this. Hehe

It's caption supervisor, not caption head. Ed Perry, the head from last year will be coming back