mingusmonk

Actually, Johnny One Note covered 2 corps. The Bluecoats played it in 89 as well. But I'm sure everyone remembers that.

At Bluecoats, Sly Sybilski actually pretended like he was reading it right from the paper. Nobody pressed to read the "article." Just took the info and ran.

Pretty much a daily user by his own admission. What song are you talking about? Oh - and I have not seen Blades of Glory but I certainly plan on it. So those of you that are so "shocked" about it and that apparently prefer to have your comedy served on a silver platter by a butler, have at it. ^0^

Funny. The first time I heard it in a movie was 1998's Ronin, in which Katarina Witt's character was ice skating to the tune. Also, Brightman sang it with Bocelli.

Among others includeds the Bluecoats.

If you saw these corps at the beginning of '88, there was nothing bizarre about it. The Cavies Firebird show was tough and it was a real mess when the season started. I always say that it was about 3 years ahead of it's time. The Bluecoats show was strong out of the gate. Unfortunately, it didn't have much room for growth as the season progressed. Oh - and to stay on topic. I'll reserve judgement for the new program until I see it.

Wasn't there a baseball diamond show in Columbus, OH as well? I think I remember it from a hazy 1990. Maybe Cooper Stadium?

####, that bearded fella is one sexy beast. . . . . . Did I just say that out loud? . . . . Go get 'em Fred.

I may have been too harsh. While some of it is the program, I think I realize the other issue. While recently rehashing the late 80's, I see that I still have a remaining passion for the things that made me a fan of this activity in the first place. But that first year in which I marched must have jaded me a bit. Kind of a scenario of becoming one of the "wizards" behind the curtain changed my perspective and made me a little more critical. And since 90 was the rookie year, 90 in general takes the hit.

Wow. I participated is some of these yearly's but I guess I missed this one. Which is wild, because that was my rookie year. Much of '90 was a blur to me. There was just so much going on for a relative newbie. But I have a few distinct memories and comments to add. First, before the season even started, a few of us misguided midwesterners were sure that Star was doomed. There was audio circulating from a May camp where they couldn't even make it through a standstill run-through of the music. At the time, it seemed like sure death. Of course, knowing now how insane that book was, who could've blamed them for a few speed-bumps. It was scary. As a matter of fact, we (the Bluecoats) opened our season only .5 behind them. And our vis and drum books weren't even in the same league. So they obviously had much cleaning to do. We had our own issues. Bluecoats started the season with a 67.8, and immediately dropped to 64.3. We never broke 68 until the last week of June. I don't have lots of fond memories of the competitive aspect of 90. As was mentioned, there was a complete overhaul of our show just before mid-summer. Don't Get Around Much Anymore was an entire re-write. It went from a straight arrangement, ripped from a live Ella Fitzgerald version, to a freaking Samba. That was a tough learning experience. We really were fighting Madison every night in the midwest. And when we did a DCE stint, it was neck and neck with the Crossmen. We ended up dead center, finishing .4 behind the Bones and .5 above the Scouts. And nothing against Madison, I just love some of their shows, but if I never hear that program from '90 again, it'll be OK with me. Compared to the preceding and following few years, 90 is a big "huh?" moment for me. When BD hit the midwest, we had a similar experience to Bonfig. Everyone was anxious to see it. I should admit that the Tommy show is a big guilty pleasure of mine. Does it stand strong next to Channel One or When a Man Loves a Woman? Hell No, but I can't help it. But it was a let-down seeing it live for the first time. We were watching from back-field at Omaha, and saw them line up for that company front ... "A SON!!" ... but the crowd didn't seem to respond. Their ears should have been bleeding, but nothing happened except polite applause. We knew something was amiss. Another note about BD. Im pretty sure this is how it went. They arrived undefeated in the midwest at Omaha, NE with the closest competition being us and Madison. And the next day with the same bunch at Ankeney, IA. The following show was scheduled to add an undefeated PR and the Cavies to the mix in Stillwater, MN ... the last show before the convergence in Whitewater. But BD did not compete. I distinctly remember their drumline chilling in the "parking lot" with a cooler, just hanging and watching everyone warm up. Did my memory make this up? (After reading Ducky's post, I just checked corpsreps.com score database, and I think this is right. Cavies and PR competed at MN, and BD skipped). And regarding Star and their uni's ... they may have looked good, but they were too detailed to take to the cleaners. So by the time we trooped next to them at the US Open and a full summer had almost been marched, those things were ripe. Pretty sure it was 90 in Dayton as well, that we had a mix up during practice. PR was in an adjacent field, and our wireless PA's kept crossing signals. Half the corps would think the staff yelled CUT and the staff was freaking out. Or maybe not ... I have slept since then.

In all in the name that is holy in Canton. From the J Babe Stearn Center all the way to Souers Middle School. Please never, ever make the Bluecoats wear a uniform containing a shade of blue that is preceded by the adjectives Powder, Baby or Sky. EVER AGAIN! Thanks.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Gillespiana. Certainly there is a ton of soloing going out throughout this work, but between the 5 movements of the piece, there is more than enough quality jazz to put out a show. Also, irrespective of any corps doing this peice, I would suggest any fan of Dizzy, Latin Jazz, Schifrin's music, etc to pick this up as soon as you can. There was a remake of this piece with Faddis, D'Rivera, and others. It is also solid, and a little better produced. But really, look for the original.

Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington. You were on your way to the first drum corps show that I ever attended. Obviously I knew nothing about the plight of the modern day drum corps at the time, so I was oblivious. Hell, I couldn't have even described what drum corps really was yet.

Oh the stories. Unfortunately for DCP (but a blessing to my old pals), my marching brothers and I have this edict: "What goes on at retreat, stays at retreat." With the exception being social gatherings with aforemented pals. It's all talk and no documentation. But I will say, if you are parked next VK, and they are warning you that you are going to get them into trouble, you've probably crossed the line. And you probably crossed it long before you reached that point.

There must be something special about 88, because similar threads like this re-occur at least once a year. And I think I always end up repeating myself, so here I go again. I was in the middle of a teenage drum corps addiction at the time, so excuse me if this comes of as "fanboy." This is an Indiana kid's Midwest perspective on one of the final years of true parity in DCI. First show I went to was: June 20, 1988 / Mishawaka IN / DCM 1 Cavaliers 67.300 2 Bluecoats 66.600 3 Colts 45.700 4 Glassmen 36.600 5 Northern Aurora 36.000 6 Northmen 30.200 7 Guardsmen 29.600 ... where my corps-savvy band directors were shocked that the 'coats didn't win. And were also baffled by the Firebird show. If you are a relative newbie and you watch the DVD's and 88 Cavies seems a little out of place, just imagine seeing it nearly 2 months before finals. That show came a long way. Considering the OP was posting about change, the Cavaliers where definitely changing the activity here. This program was just a couple of years ahead of it’s time. Conversely, from a competitive perspective, the Bluecoats show was the opposite end of the spectrum and didn't have the meat to fill the plate at the end of the season. But it was a blast to see in June. This was also the first of about the 1 million viewings of the Glassmen over the next couple of years. By the time I was marching in '90, I was pretty much gigolo'd out. Then it was a Wash, Rinse and Repeat show, with some changes at the DII/III level: June 26, 1988 / Goshen IN / DCM 1 Cavaliers 72.600 2 Bluecoats 71.700 3 Troopers 56.700 4 Glassmen 39.400 5 Bandettes 26.500 6 Guardsmen 24.500 7 Coachmen 24.200 At this point, the Bluecoats had won me over. They had that attitude and a mellow kind of confidence. Not necessarily about winning and scores, but a swinging swagger. I should mention (and have done so before) that I marched Bluecoats a couple of years later, with many '88 alumni. They were a very tight bunch. I know they went through a lot that year, as did many with the drought at what not. For the next few years, the survivors of '88 were at the core of the 'coats. (odd side note: they all had a singularly focused, unified anger at Suncoast Sound which was beyond me. Now that those days are gone, any 'coats or Suncoasters care to share what transpired in 1988? Or maybe that was rooted in '89?) ===== So after a couple of weeks off, probably while taking Drivers Ed or something, a friend and I go with his parents to Dekalb, IL. We are surprised to see that we are sitting behind our mentor, Rusty Bottomley, who was there for prelims. He proceeds to tell us how shaky Madison was after their return from Europe, from where they had recently returned. I'd love to be able to say I was one of the few that predicted the 1988 champions, but after seeing them at DCM finals, I didn't even consider them in the mix. This was my first viewing of both Phantom and Star for the year (although I had seen some Star rehearsals). Phantom was rock-solid. A certain member of Star's pit once told me, when they first saw PR that year, and they opened with that crystal clean decelerating snare roll, he thought it was all over. That snare line was incredible. Ducky, maybe you can confirm, but I think I remember Dwight telling a story about having to march through the snare solo in the drum feature. And that Marty had to get on the PA and explain the meter and each beat so everyone could march in synch through that polyrhythmic conglomeration. The OP mentioned Star's pit. Much like PR's opening statement, how ballsy to do the Porgy and Bess keyboard parts worked up into a unison pit arrangement. Wow. Also to the OP's subject of change, that's all Star ever did. Star was a chameleon corps that did something completely different every year. 90 and 91 is the only time that Star hit the field and I felt like there was some kind of continuity. And after re-reading what I just typed, it sounds negative. But it's not. That was just their approach. July 16, 1988 / DeKalb IL / DCM Championship finals 1 Phantom Regiment 84.000 2 Star of Indiana 83.000 3 Cavaliers 81.900 4 Madison Scouts 81.400 5 Bluecoats 78.300 6 Sky Ryders 71.700 After another short break, we take a trip to the final Bloomington soccer field show. BD had been tearing it up all season long, so for us Hoosiers, this was a long awaited event. And boy was it worth it. I LOVE the 88 BD show to this day. I'm not sure everyone understands how hard it is to get 128 kids to swing and not sound like a wet rag hitting a wicker basket (the reason, I feel, why rarely anybody tries to swing at the top anymore). It's incredible how natural the jazz feel is. They were so tight, and yet swung so hard. August 10, 1988 / Bloomington IN / DCI 1 Blue Devils 95.200 2 Cavaliers 93.300 3 Star of Indiana 92.400 4 Bluecoats 87.600 5 Troopers 75.900 6 Quad City Knights 62.500 7 Beatrix 51.000 My final show of the year was forcing my parents to drive my pathetic corps-geek butt across Ohio to see the US Open finals. This ended up being a perfect microcosm of the close competitive nature of 1988. Prelims ended up: 1 Garfield Cadets 93.200 2 Phantom Regiment 92.800 3 Star of Indiana 92.300 Well finals were a complete shuffle. August 13, 1988 / Marion OH / U.S. Open Finals 1 Star of Indiana 94.300 2 Garfield Cadets 93.800 3 Phantom Regiment 93.300 4 Dutch Boy 86.000 5 Blue Knights 80.000 6 Colts 78.500 7 Glassmen 65.600 8 Spartans (WA) 65.200 9 Beatrix 59.600 10 Oakland Crusaders 44.400 Star really threw out an incredible encore. They were ecstatic back at the busses. We made some phone calls back home to some member's parents from a payphone (where were cell phones??) to exclaim, "They won the US Open! Their last show before Kansas City, and they are on top of PR and Garfield!" Fast forward to the craziest Semis / Finals in the history of DCI, and they had to be a little disappointed with 7th. But ultimately, it was really yet another step forward for Cook's crew from Bloomington.

OK. Sorry for the jopke. Seriously now. Celebrating the collaboration and partnerships of composer Bill Conti and Sylvester Stallone. Music from the Rocky movies and the under-apprecated film from the prisoner of war / soccer genre ... Victory.

Or something to do with sweatshops?

That is not really the case though, is it? If that was your intention, you would have been better off sending direct emails to the corps designers. You certainly would have had success in reaching more of your intended audience. What seems to be the case, is that your intended audience is the DCP Forums. In which the percentage of DCI designers in attendance is debatable, but it certainly cannot be a very complete representation. I took your context of "me to them" to be more of a literary technique than a literal "TO: FROM:" letter. An approach that, in said context, appears to have good intentions and carries a positive message. But it is what it is - a message to the forum. No need to be sly about it.

They didn't call Brian Coley hammer hands for nothing. (among other assorted nicknames which will remain unmentioned).

This thread needs more pics!

Except Louis' not alive. :P Haynes has guested with the Allman Brothers the past couple of years as well. Anyhow. 91 crossmen. Hated getting beat by them, but loved the show.

Click Here for a quick search of Metheny at CorpsReps.com

Funny. Mackey actually has an old blog post about Heap. Excerpt below. Click the link for his post, entitled, Imogen Heap of Crap.

Nothing like a faux program announcement to get the juices flowing.

He loved it. His son marched Phantom. He took many-a-student to their first drum corps experiences (including this one). Quite a few kids graduated from his band and went to Star, Bluecoats, Phantom and others. But there is no way in hell he would have let drum corps affect his high school band program. Nobody ever marched corps while in his band. And if I had missed any band events while trying out for corps during my senior year, my grades would have been severely affected.