barigirl78

Crossmen made their move tonight. Bravo. Today, the Spirit, tomorrow....

BOOOOOOOOONES!! Making a move just when you needed it. Also, happy to see the Crown up there.

Is this the same Jill Moyer who was a Crossmen drum major years ago and who's brother is a pitcher for the Phillies?

I think the thing to remember is that these scores are not too far apart and you can never tell until all the corps are in the same competition. Go Bones. Just focus on what you have to do. Upward movement in the rankings is within reach. If not, have a good time out there. The crowds are reacting, based on the last video I saw.

Just for my own edification, what does Sara do when she comes out angry? "Goddam it! Stop asking me these stupid questions. I want to hear the ensemble."

I generally agree with this. Shows of yesteryear were written with "crowd moments" built in--an awesome soprano solo, a big ending to songs followed by a pause, a company front that actually lasted for more than a few steps before changing into something else. That being said, I've been at some shows where there was crowd response in the middle. Give the crowd something to respond to and an opportunity to do so, they will.

Also, 1980: http://www.crossmenalumni.org/pages/1980s.html

The recaps are up and there's good news there. They beat both the Colts and Spirit in visual GE. Also, in Visual Ensemble Comp. In visual, they beat Spirit. The music captions hurt them the most. But, I think that's something that can be worked on.

I would love an explanation from DCI as to why the Denver show's recap can be up despite the show ending later and the Orlando recap is so slow. Does anyone know?

The video is up already at the Fan network. I just watched it. The show design continues to evolve. The performance of the drill is greatly improved, but it can get better. I haven't heard the hornline play this forcefully in years. There were a few goosebump moments. for me. The crowd really responded several times. They put in the changes to the ballad. I like the arrangement. A little nerves did strike the soloists, though. That part can definitely improve and, with the right performance level, it will be another goosebump moment in the show. They really are pushing it and working hard. I still think this show can lead to higher results than the last two years. May I add that even though this is a Crossmen thread, the fact that the Crown moved ahead of the Cadets is pretty exciting. I really like the Crown's show and it gives one hope that there can be movement in the rankings. That's something that is relevant to the Crossmen discussion. If the Crown can move on the Cadets after many contests of being behind them by several points, it is possible for the Crossmen to make a move too.

No recap yet at dci.org. It's less than the point from Spirit. Spirit's scores have been kind of flat over the last five contests: 72.8, 73.2, 73.7, 73.75, 74.475 Maybe they can be caught. But, we have to wait until Tuesday night to find out.

The results tonght from a Crossmen perspectve aren't qute what I hoped. But, it gives us a perspective on where the judges are placing the Crossmen right now.

I didn't mean to imply we'd have another rain-out. Things were similar in Toledo. We got dumped on just 30 miles away by some storms and the corps had a little while practicing, but the show was fine. Clifton looked bad until about an hour before the show. It just would be nice if there weren't a threat of it hanging over them. I'm staring out at a beautiful sunny day.

Indeed. Before this little hiatus, the Bones were about 5 points behind BC. If they can hold that relative position, they can slip in ahead of Spirit and Colts. The show changes hinted at on the Crossmen.org may help make that happen. I'm hoping for a little better than that, though. Dare I say something closer to the Glassmen? Ahhhh, but the current weather forecast says "Scattered Thunderstorms" with 60% chance of precipitation at 7PM. Those Texas kids probably have never seen so much rain or generally cloudy weather all their lives. These kinds of forecasts have persisted over the course of this tour. Please let this show go on without interruption.

The bummer here is that while the other corps compete in the next few days, the Crossmen's next competition is Saturday. I was really hoping to find out where they stacked up before then. I know they get practice, but competing provides feedback. This may have been the only show canceled so far, but a lot of rain has followed them on this tour to interrupt practice.

I'd like to see something interesting happen tonight. My interest in drum corps ebbs when it becomes utterly predictable. Whether it's the Crossmen beating Spirit or the Crown beating Cadets or any position of a corps vis a vis other corps changes, it makes the activity more dynamic. Of course, the Crossmen doing well is my biased preference.

I'm really anxious to see the results of this. In Madison, the Bones were only -1.1 from Spirit. -1.6 from Blue Knights. -2.9 from Glassmen and Blue Stars. It would be nice to see them move ahead of at least one of those corps. Being in the same show is the only way to really compare the corps. They've been competing with Boston, but the distance between them has gotten wider since Madison.

Over the last 3 competitions the gap between the Cadets and the Crown have narrowed--from 3 points, to 2.1, to 1.15. I'd say the possibilty is there for the Crown to close the gap further. It would be really exciting to see them catch up completely. That would cause a bit of a stir and it's always exciting to see some movement in the rankings. We'll have to see. Even to close the gap to less than a point would cause some buzz, I suspect. Boston has been a bit of a rut with their last three scores all in the low 77's. Rather than gaining on Crown, they'll lost ground over those three shows. Maybe they are due to break the rut tonight. The Crossmen actually did regain momentum in Clifton. If you look at their last six scores, they went down in score only once and that was in the show before Clifton. I'm hoping for another advance, but whether they close on Boston will depend on what Boston does. The Crossmen's improvement show to show has been more of a steady climb than something that's occurred in "leaps and bounds." If they can keep doing that, with no lulls or backsteps, it may be all that is needed to end up in a good place in August. We shall see. (edited to add) Of course, I wouldn't complain if a Crossmen "leap" or "bound" occurred tonight.

That was a nice moment and it got a nice reaction from the audience. It's one of those things that makes you wish the audience wasn't then distracted away from the corps.

I haven't seen any attempt a review, unless it is somewhere I can't find. I'll attempt one. This was an interesting show to attend. I had some newbies with me and some people who hadn't been to a corps show in years. Two of us were corps vets and have followed the activity in recent years. This was my 2nd live corps show this year. The other vet was at his first. There was a feel to going back to the past by having this show in Clifton instead of the Meadowlands. I'm pretty sure I've been on this field in competition. The crowd was as diverse as you could get. All age groups were represented. As I saw the locals walk to the show with their stadium seats in hand took me back. By comparison, going to Meadowlands shows had a cold, less intimate feel. There were often spaces in the stands. Here, everyone was closely packed and talked freely with one another. OPEN CLASS The corps here were the Raiders, Spartans, and Jersey Surf. The Spartans came out first. Compared to World Class, the numbers were small, but they were game. My newbie friends, who had never seen ANY corps, were already impressed. The Jersey Surf are huge in comparison to both the Spartans and the Raiders. They have a nice and entertaining show. We all enjoyed it. I'm glad there's a local corps in Wayne, NJ again. (remember the Saints?) The staff is giving them a challenging show and they are working hard. CROSSMEN After an intermission, the Crossmen came out. Because they had a lot of time to set up, their front ensemble played "Across the Universe". Unfortunately, the announcer was talking loudly over most of their playing. This was the 2nd time I had seen the corps live and I visited them during camp. I really like the program this year and they keep adding to it. The color guard is really developing. I wish DCI would put up the recap scores because I think the Crossmen Guard may have been better than the Crusaders. The Crossmen have a smaller hornline than the other competitors who came on after them, but they are putting out a nice sound this year. The drill design is crisp. I may be biased as an alumnus, but this corps is doing really well this year. My newbie friends loved it. CRUSADERS My 2nd time with the Crusaders. They have a loud, booming hornline playing a nice "seat vibrating" show. I like their show a lot, though it doesn't appear their guard does as much as the Crossmen did. The ending got a lot of response from the crowd. CROWN First time seeing the Crown. Wow. I love the musical theme. They always play a challenging book and they are extremely entertaining. Newbies amazed. I want to see this corps again. And again. CADETS I said nothing to my newbies about my opinion of the Cadets show. I didn't want to influence them in any way. They had enjoyed everything so far. What can I say? My friend said, "I don't get it. It didn't make any sense. It was distracting. It was stupid". The crowd applauded, but not as much as one would expect at a "Home" show with many alumni there. The show just doesn't do the talent of the corps justice. Yes, the storyline and narration is "stupid", but it also destroys any flow the show might have. Talk, play, talk, play, talk, play. Choppy and jerkey. The quality of the writing and performing of the script just doesn't match the rest of the corps. It doesn't work. I know the pro-Cadet show will say something like "Can't you notice that the kids are playing their hearts out?". No, it's hard because the show doesn't let you. Besides, with the exception of a drum feature, I don't think they are playing anything as cool or engaging as the Crown's show. The Bridgemen gave a fun exhibition and my newbie friends got an image of 70's drum corps. Then the scores. During the retreat and they reintroduced the drum majors, something was strange when the Crown got more applause than the Cadets. The strangest thing that happened was when it was announced that the Crown was in 2nd. Boos were heard. The man behind me said, "It's pretty bad when you get booed at your home show." The crowd was booing that the Cadets beat the Crown. I know I felt that way, but I was amazed to hear it in Clifton, NJ where the vast majority of people in the stands were Cadet alumni and North Jersey fans.

I just came from the show. I went with some drum corps newbies. They loved the Crossmen. It was a good performance, but there is stll so much more they can improve, I can see them improving so much. Everytime I see them, they've added a little bit more. They are playing much louder than last year, which is great. I loved the beaming smile from the drum major at the end. It was genuine. They are proud and enjoying themselves. Good stuff.

The Muchachos

First of all, thank for your comments about the Crossmen. But, I want to address what is really the problem with the narration, in my opinion. When we evaluate a musical program or a visual program, we are very critical of the design and the arrangements. For instance, If a horn arrangement isn't particularly well written, the corps suffers for it in both audience reaction and scores. If it's not performed well, the corps also is marked low. If drum corps is venturing into audio and visual storytelling, it also should be evaluated on the critical basis that we evaluate plays, TV shows, or movies. Instead of an arrangement, we now have a script. Instead of horn playing, we now have acting. Instead of general effect, we now have the question of whether the characters come off as realistic. Is the storyline believable? In my opinion, no. Is the script good? I think it's appallingly bad. This person, Sarah, doesn't talk like anyone I know or anyone that comes off as real. I use the example of the segment in which she talks about her career in advertising. I work in advertising. I've know women with families who work in advertising. No one talks like this or describes their career in that way. It rings false and that's how most of the script comes across. I decribed it elsewhere as a Lifetime movie as written by an 11-Year old or a story of life written by someone who hasn't lived one yet. I don't believe for a second that Sarah is a real person. I could also discussion the execution of the reading of the script, but you get the idea. You say what that the point of the show is that the external cannot bring happiness. That's a very preachy thing as if we are getting a lecture from the pulpit. The subject of what makes us happy is highly individualistic. If a drum corps wants to enter the world of script-writing and play-acting, the execution of both better be up to the execution of other aspects of the show. In the Cadets case, it isn't. I have serious doubts that the football field is even the forum to attempt it. It's just not what we are good at.

The way I worded it made it sound like that is exactly how I was going to say it. It isn't.

I'm wary. I think the corps has huge potential this year. But, the pace at which their scores are increasing each day can't be sustained (if you put them on a graph and did a linear trend through Indianapolis, it will be a 104. Not possible). So, I am preparing myself for either a re-adjustment when there is a larger show against more corps or a slowdown in the pace of the daily score improvements. I hope by saying this, I'm not disappointing anyone or coming off as a non-fan. I am really buzzed by the corps, but I'm just wary about this early season scoring. We also don't know what will happen when full judging returns.