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No...the shape is an asterik, not steroids.

Glad to hear I'm not the only guy who yelled in a theater. It seemed pretty loud in mine though, but then again it was an enclosed room and I was pretty loud.... So ya, I'm down for the loudest vanguard yell. I think 04 will still win (best Vanguard yell EVER!), but I'll try. Not really a fan of the Eureka though....can we try to save our voices for Vanguard?

Keep in mind, you get points based on what you do well, not what you do wrong. So if the things going well made up enough points, then there you go. On that note, recovery is a major factor, so falling is one thing, but falling and getting right back into it is completely another. On that note, Cavaliers got a 29.30 in total Visual, and a 19.40 in Visual GE. This means that, even if you looked at it that they had falls and were dirty, they simply were the least dirty of all the corps last night. I understand the argument "how can there be a PERFECT visual score if there are falls/drops (2002?!)," but to say that corps A had a fall and corps B didn't, so corps B is the obvious winner kind of ignores all of the other aspects of visual. If that were the only criteria, wouldn't it make sense to just stand still your whole show to ensure a perfect visual package?

I think it'll either be Crown or Coats. Disney seems to like things that Disney would do as a movie, usually a fun story or kind of a weird "what the heck" thing. I think both of these shows fit into that category, but if it came down to it I'm afriad they may go with Crown.

Can someone post a copy of the quarterfinals line up, including times? I know I saw it on DCI before but can't now....

They've just been cleaning and adding for the past few weeks, and scores are moving up like crazy. I see BK getting a 92 tonight and heading into 7th for the rest of the week, and MAYBE pushing 6th. I've talked to a lot of friends there, and they are sposed to have a lot of surprises being pulled out, including a very clean version of the dance where they balance the shakos on their feet!

It was Cadets in 2000. The mellos do it too.

Am I missing it somewhere? Are I&E scores posted somewhere?

I'm pretty sure I've seen the requirements somewhere on DCI, but now that I think about it it might have been YEA! On YEA!, there are no actual requirements as far as experience goes, but there is a clinic followed by a test, and I guess at the end of the test if you have judged the corps you saw correctly with the YEA! standard, or however it works, then you are accepted. If this is YEA! that I'm thinking about, then I remember hearing that DCI is the same way. And you won't be able to contact DCI until a week from Monday, because they take the week after finals off.

Two shots every time you hear "drum corps international is proud to present" :mmm: Chug for the entire length of time Firebird is played. :mmm: One shot for every individual prop used, like easels and fences. :mmm: One shot for every phone call/text message you receive while you are in the stands. :mmm: One shot for every time you realize that playing all of these games at once was probably not the best idea in the world.... w/Stp:

To answer all of the questions I've seen, since I always like to throw in my $.02... Should take about 3.5 hours to get to Pasadena if you leave here around 9. If you get there early, the worst that happens is you hang out and eat some Tommy Burger or Cupids. If you're awesome (stupid) like me when I was driving there for PC, you can make it in just under 2 hours, but it's not something I recomend unless you have a secure life insurance policy... As far as anyone traveling to Vegas....best buffet in town hands down is Bellagio. Incredibly pricy, but last time I was there I ate 14 different types of animal! I didn't even know there were 14 animals to eat, but sure enough, I had 14! That right there is class. As far as a burger goes, Burger Bar at Mandaly. They are amazing...pricy, but seriously amazing. If you like Lobster, I recomend the lobster burger. It's just a burger, but it comes with a whole lobster and they put the burger in his claws you it looks like he's eating it. It's cute...in a morbid tasty sort of way. And if you're willing to go off strip and not looking to spend too much, my absolute favorite restaurant in this town (at least the best one coming to mind right now) is Firefly. It's on Paradise a block north of Flamingo, and is in a fun shopping center filled with bars, great restaurants and lots of people hanging out and having fun. Yollie's in there is great too (brazillian steakhouse), but Firefly...man oh man, I have never eaten anything there that was less than amazing. You could literally close your eyes and say "i'll take that" and it'll taste great. It's pretty much all appetizers, so it's great for sharing (and they are all about $5), and get a pitcher of sangreeya (spelling?). White or red, they are both great, and about three appetizers per person and you're set. And try the dates! If you're going to be at Red Rock give me a hollar, I work directly across the street in one of the offices. And as far as Geoff, you work at blue man group? What do you do there? I have a friend who is absolutely in love with the show, he'll be at the fan meet in two weeks. I'm wondering if he knows you. Do you know a guy named Micah? I went to high school with that guy too....I think he still works there at least.

Show step off times are based on the time zone that show is in. so yes, those are for Pacific times

Dance class at Blue Knights I know was encouraged between camps, and Rob Billings, one of the greatest visual instructors I have ever known, teaches dance classes in Denver when he's not working with the Blue Knights (many who live in Denver go to them frequently). At Pacific Crest dance wasn't really talked about, but at least when I was there we were pretty cut and dry with just the marching. When we started learning jazz runs though, the whole staff kind of dropped out and the only ones who stayed were the guys who marched Blue Devils, and they treated our jazz run and the stretches/techniques leading up to it and executing it as a dance rehearsal, which is something I didn't really pick up on until I got to Blue Knights. Then it all made sense what and why they were teaching that way at PC.

I personally don't see BK beating Phantom, though it has happened and could happen again. But SCV, I really see BK making that final run and pulling another upset on finals night to pull into 7th. On a completely unrelated note, holy crap, is that Jason Shin? Man, I haven't heard from you since Foxboro! Also, hey Biggs!

89 was a great year. I personally will always feel that 89 SCV was far too close to 88 SCV, as I view 88 as what a show (any show) would look and sound like at the beginning of the season, and after some tweaks 89 was what it would look like at the end. But disregarding how I feel about the two shows compared to eachother and everything that happened during the season, looking at just the show, it's an emotional and wonderful show! It was magical, it had every little piece perfectly tweaked to sound just right and look just right. The music is so great anyways, but because of all of the emotion and the crowd reaction and how well they sold it, you can hear the words, you can feel all of it and it just becomes so powerful! One of the greatest things ever in drum corps is the company front at the end, right after the euphonium solo, because they are wailing, honking those horns like there's no tomorrow, and you can't even hear them because every person in that audience was screaming and throwing babies and embracing that emotion that every person in that stadium felt, it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. They didn't even have to march, they could have just kept walking straight into the audience, and not a single person would have noticed anything but how great that whole night felt. On that note, I'll add that Phantom Regiment had their absolutely best performance in history (even better than 96, 03 and 06 I'd argue) and the crowd absolutely felt exactly the same way as they did for SCV. But think of a show that is that strong, and really that ended up just being the warm up act for SCV. I'd argue that both shows had so much emotion and passion that it was the emotion that won it all that night, and I personalyl believe that if SCV had gone on before Phantom, the crowd and judges would have had the exact same reaction for Phantom that they had for SCV, and Phantom would have won. So going back to the question, 89 is such a great year because there was so much perfection and great great feelings on the field that night, the whole night, even from the coked up dude who hacked the solo in BD. Actually, I'd argue up until the note he was feeling even better than the rest of the world did that night (though I heard he actually never did drugs, that was just a rumor)

Wow, I didn't see that this post got so much longer. My thoughts on a few people's comments, and I'm not entirely sure if they were answered yet. By the way, I mean no offense in any of this, I really am just stating a personal opinion that may have some holes in it. As far as the scoring sheets go, we all know that a D2 sheet is somewhat easier than a D1. Not a lot, I'm guessing here, but I'd say about 15 points (ie a 90 on a D2 Sheet = a 75 ona D1 sheet). That could be wrong, but it's how I always viewed it. Ya, its cool when a D2 corps says "hey, we broke 90," but there is still a comparitive level. The only important thing is that there is a consistent sheet for the whole season, so progress can be measured. As long as D2s were ranked on the same sheet all season, even if it is the D1, then that's fine. And D2 corps would just get used to saying "awesome, we broke 80 on finals week" instead of saying 95. It would still mean exactly the same thing, and that's fine. As far as money is concerned...ok, again, not trying to step on anyone's coat tails....you're right, people do not go to D2/3 shows like they do for D1s. But there are a ton of people out there who go to D1 shows JUST to see the Cavaliers and the Blue Devils and those other corps we all know are going to probably win. But people still go to the shows, and aside from the people who sit in the lots, watch all of the drum corps, and that is how corps below the upper echelon get recognition, gain popularity, and exposure. And exposure, from a marketing stand point is always good! So now (example) Southwind just performed a show to a Cadets fan, who now thinks "man, Southwind....I've really never seen them before, but man, they put on one heck of a show. I think I'll buy a shirt, and maybe audition there," and more people keep doing that, and boom, southwind eventually gets more money and more people auditioning and in five years they are a power house too. so now the D2 corps, who do put on great shows, are again playing for the Cavaliers fan because now on finals week they are at the same show, and now you have Cavaliers fans getting more and more excited about corps they've never really seen or heard of because they used to be all the way across town. Hey, in 05, D2/3 was in another state! I say this part all goes back to money because now DCI has more corps at their shows! 35 in quarterfinals instead of 22. They can rightly charge just a little more for tickets, even if it's only $5 or $10 more, but that adds up so quickly and the money works its way out! So the pie may have more slices, but it got bigger too. And by the way, the more corps the better. First place is impressive, but first place out of 35 is WAY more impressive than first place out of 22.

Careful with that...goodsearch kicks charities off for doing that Well, this is assuming that it's just you searching. Then, ya, it's a lot of work to make some money. But everyone uses search engines, at least almost everyone. If you search just two things a day, which is almost nothing, you're not really going out of your way. Especially if there's a toolbar right on your computer while you are on DCP. Plus it's a great way to find past DCP threads. Just search the title of it or a phrase you remember was in it and it comes up. But they have a breakdown on their site, and annually if there are 10,000 who do 2 searches a day, that's $73,000. DCI Finals has over 35,000 at the event. That's just at the event, and it doesn't even include the corps, nor does it include the people watching in the movie theaters. But think about that, if 10,000 = $73,000, then if JUST the 35,000 did JUST 2 searches a day and nothing more, that's over a quarter of a million dollars put into the activity EVERY YEAR! And that's only if all the people that happened to be in Pasadena next week just look up 14 things a week. Imagine what could happen when everyone asks their friends who really know nothing about drum corps, or family or whoever, and just say "hey, you're searching anyways." Most of my friends don't actually like drum corps, but they have to search online, for school projects or to find a friend's phone number or movie times or whatever....so why not try to help out something that one of their friends loves! Obviously this can't be any corps only means of funding, but there is so much potential here! Sorry, I get excited.

I have a few friends that march(ed) Cavaliers, and I went to a camp a long time ago. My impression of why they are similar to BK is the use of the knee. They really embrace knees a lot more than most corps. The forward may not be as noticeable to some people, but the backwards especially. The nice thing about the knee bend, from what I've seen working with visual programs at a few schools and being in a few drum corps, is that it blends very nicely with a plie jazz run. If you're doing a straighter leg jazz run, like BD, obviously it wouldn't, but I know a few corps that march straight leg and jazz run in plie. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's definitly more noticeable when your end points have their knees bent because they are bookin it. A lot of corps have just gotten really good at either masking that, or working it in so that it looks intentional. The differences between BK and Cavies is a lot though. Keep in mind, I'm getting a lot of this from one Cavies camp and talking to friends, so if I am wrong I apologize. Moving forward, on the beat, Blue Knights keep their weight over the front foot (so the body makes a straight up and down line from the top of the hed to the heel of the leading foot, with the back leg straight and back at a 45). Cavaliers are basically the opposite, with the weight over the rear foot, straight line, with the lead foot at the 45 from the body. The actual movement between the two is incredibly different. At BK, when moving, the foot takes all four parts of the beat to travel forward, "pulling" at the knee. On the "and" count, the toe is completely pointed straight down and the knee is extended forward, giving off that knee impression. (This following part never actually made sense to me, but it was how it was taught to me and I'm sure I am missing something...) At Cavaliers, the four parts of the beat are spent rolling the back heal upward, and nothing else. This is what confused me, because it doesn't seem like they would be traveling between the beat(which they obviously do). A visual tech at Cavies told me once "yes, Cavaliers are known for having some of the best toe height in DCI, but we are more proud that we have THE BEST roll up in DCI." So basically, a Cavalier would take a step forward with the front foot, and "e and uh" would roll the heal upward and extend the knee forward, while the weight remained over that back leg. Then on "two," they "flick" the read forward, toes high, and the process starts again on the other foot. It's my opinion (which also could be wrong...I'm way too afraid of fights on DCP) that this is why many people say Cavalier technique is different between one marcher to another, yet DCI still scores them very high. A visual instructor, one of the best in the activity in my opinion, told me once that there are two types of choreography in drum corps....visual and dance. The difference was that a visual everyone would do the same "image," so all of the images would match. Dance, rather, is based on "effort." So if everyone is putting the same "effort" into it, even if the angles are different, it is right. A visual would be "everyone point your left leg at a 45," and therefore the person going at a 55 would be wrong. A dance would be "everyone lift your leg as high as it can go." So everyone lifts their leg, and because of flexibility it's angles all over the place...but everyone is doing the exact same thing, because they are going to their absolute limit. And I am fairly certain (again, speculation) that DCI judges are trained to know the difference and judge for what it is supposed to be. So going back to Cavaliers, because everyone's knees are at different heights from the ground and bodies are built differently, this is a matter of "effort," as the angle of a knee at the mid point of heel flat and heel as high as it can go is going to look very different between each individual marcher. K, I've been writing too much. Time to get back to work. Man, I like visual too much....

Nah, I see PC making it to 79 tonight and I think Madison's gonna be right on that 80 bubble. I also think you're about a point too high for Phantom (though I would love to see that score from them!

I'm going with a guy I marched with for two years. We have truly terrible seats (long story why, but it involves an ex), so we'll probably be sneaking around trying to find better seats, just like in 04 where we had no seats! I'll be in a Blue Knights jacket, he'll be in a Blue Devils jacket, and we'll both have Desert Fire shirts on. That's the best I can say for my seats.

Random update, somehow yesterday we had over 100 searches, which has never happened in one day for us before. Not sure if any of you helped, but I'm pretty sure a few did. Thanks guys!

It is going to be pretty awesome, I'll admit. I'm just really surprised DCI's doin that. I've personally never seen the C corps actually perform, I wish I could make it to that show, or D3 finals. I heard there are kids in there who are 6! But ya, going on right after the A corps to a home show packed stadium...they are going to have one rockin night!

Lineup 7:15 p.m. 1. Mandarins 7:32 p.m. 2. Cascades 7:49 p.m. 3. Troopers 8:06 p.m. 4. Crossmen 8:23 p.m. 5. Glassmen Intermission (20 minutes) 9:00 p.m. 6. Santa Clara Vanguard 9:17 p.m. 7. Blue Knights 9:34 p.m. 8. Bluecoats 9:51 p.m. 9. The Cadets 10:08 p.m. 10. Blue Devils 10:25 p.m. 11. Blue Devils C 10:35 p.m. Awards Ceremony 10:50 p.m. Encore Blue Devils & Santa Clara Vanguard Just saying....doesn't that seem a little late for BDc to go on?

I really like BD's show, and Coats and BK's shows. Oh...wait....

Just to clarify, it is by no means the only non-green football field in the US! For anyone who's ever been to a high school in Las Vegas, there isn't a single green anything that survives, and our football fields are mostly brown. But in terms of it intentionally not being green, then yes it is probably the only one. K, I need to stop being, well, me... B)