corps8294

Wow! This is more interesting than the Phantom/SCV percussion saga!

1988! That's the year they should have won (yeah, yeah, sticks and stones, sticks and stones all you Madison folk). 1989 was good; but there was a New World Symphony from Rockford that was far superior to the Andrew Lloyd Webber from Santa Clara.

When I first started in drum corps back in '82, the corps I was with was using Ludwigs. I remember those things weighing a ton and they used shoulder straps. The snares had the leg rest unit on the snares. So, yes, the corps I was with had a snare tilt. I'm just thinking in terms of what has "evolved" in terms of percussion equipment over the years and the sound, appearance, and quality associated with what has come around. All personal opinion. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Now back to your regularly scheduled Rennick program...

Too true!

Yeah, and the "revamped" Ludwig drums are far, far superior to Yamaha. Pearl and Yamaha are the standard. That's it and that's that. Mapex needs some time to prove itself. Ludwig=crap, Dynasty=crap, Remo=crap, Stingray=crap, Premier (current)=crap, Jupiter=crap, McCormick=crap, Slingerland=crap. Yes, I'm old enough to remember Slingerlands.

"Prize Patrol!" honorable mention: "Joe Bruno and I rule the world of announcers!"

Yeah it does! Kind of scarey. I'll give the guy credit for being all gung-ho and such; but, man, don't bite off more than you can chew! Change and growth take time. Look what happened to Magic of Orlando; wham bam thank you mam and their back big and now gone.

Crossmen 1990 all the way! Best drum corps version of Caravan, ever!

I remember them being quite small in the '80s and eventually fading away. What went down that caused all the anger?

I don't think we'll have to worry about SCV tilting their snares anymore. Hopefully they won't "Die Nasty."

Geez, and here I thought he was going to the New American Woodsmen!

Yeah, I can't see SCV with any but Pearl. I think they marched Premier in '85? It would be really odd to see SCV with another brand. There are just some drums that fit certain corps, and Pearl and SCV are a great fit.

The state of Wisconsin is doing quite well in the drum corps arena with the Blue Stars, Madison Scouts, and Pioneer. Hopefully Roman will get some things in check, bend a little on some things, and get that corps out of the one-and-done tier of corps during finals week.

Pioneer had very good drumlines in 1994-2000. I believe the split snareline year was in '98; with their pseudo-27th Lancer uniforms. Those were also some very big lines. I think, typically, 9, 5, and 5. Not sure how many were in the plate section. The '96-'98 corps were the peak of size and talent for Pioneer, in my opinion. But the programming, as usual, was thier downfall. They could have made a serious statement with the Riverdance show and the "Irish in your Face" program was dull and cheesy. The members of that corps deserved a show that was a lot more sophisticated.

Pretty cool, even though a certain corps that's currently having a lot of success in world class should have won that year instead of placing second! Anyway, this is great news! It would be awesome to see them grow and someday be up in the ranks of the world class corps with the rest of the corps from that first DCI!

Enough with the snare tilt already! It was cool and different when SCV did it years ago; but now it has become lame! Just another example of the copycat ideology that has spread through the activity.

...and bring back Thurston! ...and get rid of that ((bleepin')) snare drum tilt!

Yes, I do remember DCI Associate corps. And I would love for that era or heyday of drum corps to still be around. I also recall the days of A/A-60, Div II and III, and other Division I corps just trying to capture that 25th spot as it meant that you were in and considered one of the big boys. The drastic decline of corps from all levels has diminished the importance and prestige of that last spot in the old top 25, now 23 if I'm correct in saying. There are no longer corps fighting for that last spot and now whoever is sitting in that spot is considered a doormat, stepping stone corps, etc, etc, etc. There shouldn't be anything wrong with a corps being in that spot; however, when the organization is there year-after-year-after-year-after-year, that's when people start to criticize and make various commentary be it constructive, sarcastic, destructive, point blank, insightful, etc.

I could see Roman being the equivalent of John Kramer; "You think it's over because I'm dead? My legacy will go on!"

Actually, the "glory years" for Pioneer didn't start until 1990. Prior to that, they were small and got beat quite a bit. Loved the uniforms, though! The heyday for Pioneer lasted up until 1998; but programming issues caused thier membership and talent numbers to dwindle, thus resulting in a slide down the rankings.

The Blue Stars deserved to be in 7th place both Friday night and Saturday night. They were above and beyond better than the Santa Clara Vanguard those last two nights. A tenth of a point is little consolation on a placement that was earned and deserved. I wouldn't call it slotting so much as the judges being afraid to upset the status quo. Very unfortunate. Overall, this was quite a boring year, period.

Spirit of Atlanta = partially underhyped. One h**l of a talented corps! But the programming caused all that talent to suffer. What stuck out the most to me was the d**n "ICON, ICON...FORGING, ICON, ICON;" and that wasn't a positive. A lot of these extra sounds, vocals, and recorded vocals really detract from programs that could have a lot of potential. Jersey Surf = partially underhyped. Again, like Spirit, a very talented group of performers; but the programming hinders that talent. If Surf desires to climb upwards, they are going to have to move beyond Division II style programs.

I mean, I mean, I mean...

Carolina Crown = overhyped. They had a lot of momentum and anticipation coming out of '09 with a lot of expectations of gunning for the title. Talented corps; but not enough this and that to top it off. Pioneer = (sadly) overhyped. In some ways, I have pity for this organization. There was a lot of hype and support for Pioneer during the winter and spring with a larger corps and new programming. As usual, they found themselves in familiar territory at the end. Somebody always has to be the rock bottom; but, unfortunately, it's become Pioneer, consistantly, with a firm grip on that position.

The Blue Devils SHOULD HAVE lost a bass drummer on finals night back in 2000. I always wondered what happened to that kid when they finished performing that night.