ordsw24

I still believe this is the show to beat. The show has excitement and a lot of difficulty and some great effects, and is a crowd favorite. There is just a lot of wow factor imo that I believe come finals, will bump their GE scores and make them a true contender. It's funny how two threads have emerged almost simultaneously, one questioning BD's scores and show and the other questioning the hype surrounding Crown.

Phantom '89, mostly because it opened one of my all-time favorite shows ever.

I haven n-o-t seen the show lately, but the drill really made me go hmmmm in spots (again, this is before any changes they may have made). In spots, it made little impact, and did not seem to fit with the music, and also was not complex or engaging enough -- in some parts of the show woefully not engaging enough. It w-a-s just not on par w/ top 6 corps' drill at the time imo, and I believe underlying structural design problems are very difficult to make up for in performance. Also, the music book is not as logical or well-thought out as in years' past imo either; it's not a tight, cohesive package this year but is rather disjunct in spots and somewhat disparate in terms of style and periods w/out being properly put in context to make sense or be tied together, at least not to *me*. I do not believe the theme or idea itself was necessarily a bad idea. It fits w/ many other Cavalier themes over the years imo... but it could have been approached a lot differently musically and thematically, though, as I see it. I personally (not a designer; not as talented as anyone out there for sure) would have explored the idea of both becoming famous overnight, as the theme implies, and just as or perhaps more importantly, explored the loss of this fame. I don't get any idea of loss in the show at all; the idea of being the center of attention and all the crazy mania it brings, and then being abandoned by the press and fans; that idea could have been developed more imo. On the other hand, perhaps doing this would have been more feasible and appropriate for a WGI show rather than drum corps show. Either way, I feel the theme is lightly introduced in the beginning, but not really developed further throughout the show in ways I could sense or clearly read. Again, I have not seen it for over a month so I may be totally wrong on every front based on changes they have made. I also hope they add more signature "wow" moments by finals, as another other poster in this thread suggested, to create more impact. This could really make a difference in GE and my reading of the show. I also expect their guard to rise from their current 9th place position. I would not have rejected the idea outright if someone had told me before the season began that Cavaliers would be 9th place in mid-July... certainly did not expect it; but it was not out of the realm of possibility... but I honestly, barring something major (scandal, major illnesses, etc.) would have never believed their guard would also be sitting in 9th place. I'm assuming they have made major changes and will clean up in the next few weeks and go up in the rankings by finals. Either way, I can't wait for Cavaliers 2013. They will have a major chip on their shoulder and something to prove.

I agree about the stigma attached to a corps that folded mid-season. They can always re-brand themselves... companies do it all the time. Valujet crashed in the Everglades and re-emerged as AirTran.

Anyone who believes BD has this wrapped up is incorrect imo. Crown easily has the show to take it. And I have to believe they will clean it up. They have a month. It's not like DCI is 3 days from now. It's an amazing show. It reminds me a little bit of Star of Indiana at the height of their run. The Cadets are rising, too, and Phantom is always a dark horse. I like BD's show, and it's solid in every respect. I just have the same feeling about Crown's show that I did about Cadets last year....just seemed like the show to beat despite the scores.

Crown's show is good enough to win imo... it has the difficulty, the GE, and just looks, sounds, and feels like a DCI champion show imo.

I agree w/ the original poster. The same thing is happening at BOA. It annoys me that all of the top bands write these ridiculous woodwind runs into their shows, as if just to be competitive. It's like some obligatory thing, and more times than not, such woodwind roller coaster mash-ups do not fit w/ the rest of the score and seem to be thrown in just to prove they have the necessary chops to do it. It's like adding fast scales to an otherwise great musical piece, and in so doing, making it less musical. With drum corps, I notice that some corps' pit does the equivalent -- passages of crammed in roller coasters that overpower the show in parts and don't fit with the overall musical mood or concept. I won't name names, but one corps in particular is really guilty of it this year, and I believe it distracts from the show quite a bit. I noticed it full-on the second time I heard their show, and it's glaring and quite detracting to an otherwise extremely musical horn book.

I'm a bit of an outsider b/c I marched a while ago but I hardly see the activity as hanging by a thread. In the past 10 years, DCI has introduced Fan Network (watching live shows and downloading shows -- not sure if these are marketed and branded under separate names), a very novel approach to reaching out to audiences. If a Regional approach to the tour schedule were to be introduced, the FN could play an even bigger role in engaging audiences throughout the country who are unable to see the a more full slate of corps. Furthermore, the whole idea of expanding the movie theater concept is relatively new (past 10 years?) and innovative. As I have experienced w/ WGI, it's much easier to download shows as opposed to ordering bulky VHS/ DVDs and waiting for them in the mail (not that DVDs aren't still an option), and DCI developed and powers the system WGI uses, so they have obviously done something right. Also, the pageantry arts appear to be growing in other parts of the world -- videos posted to Youtube prove this to be the case, so DCI has room to expand internationally even if its domestic operations is strained by current economic conditions. Opportunities have to be created, and this is one area of potential. Technology and growth overseas are just two areas of potential for growth and stability in DCI. As with everything else, the drum corps activity has an optimum, or equilibrium number of member corps. Someone mentioned that no new corps were formed over the past year, but that no corps folded. Perhaps 45 corps is exactly the optimal number of corps the activity can sustain right now. I believe 20 or so World Class corps is totally viable. WGI World Class Independent has held steady around this number give or take 3 units for many years. Some groups fold, others take their place. There is only so many instructors, talent, resources, and membership interest to go around. Just like w/ an organism in nature, before DCI dies any sort of outright death, it will attempt to evolve in order to survive, and DCI appears to have been doing this. People make it sound like a dinosaur of an organization. With the development of the Fan Network, increased corporate sponsorships over the past 10 to 15 years, changes to the touring schedule and scoring system, and rule changes regarding electronics, it has shown it can evolve, innovate, and adapt to changing circumstances, so there is every reason to believe it can innovate and evolve going forward as needed. I am usually a fairly pessimistic person, but if THE worst economy in the history of the activity AND near record high gas prices haven't crushed DCI and member corps by now, barring a bigger economic crash, I don't see DCI dying anytime soon. In fact, if and when DCI does die, we will all have much bigger things to worry about because it will probably mean the end of the dollar and wide-scale economic collapse.

edited for clarity and content. :)

The U.S. aspires to freedom of religion. To many, this also means freedom from it. The military has a lot of "non-denom." religious programs and opportunities, but the NY Times did a pretty big and quite shocking investigative spread a few years back about the Air Force in Col. Springs, and how a Lutheran minister who was not an Evangelical Christian was forced out -- initially fired w/out recourse -- basically b/c she was too ecumenical and too accommodating to non-Evangelicals. Creating some sort of official 15 min. "reflection time" is rife for one religion or view point to attempt and ultimately succeed at, from various, well intentioned and subtle means to the not-so-subtle, dominating over other, minority faiths. The article in the Times also mentioned Jewish members of the AF in Co. Springs during this same period who experienced a pretty shocking amount of anti-semitism when they bucked pressure to join Evangelical prayer groups conducted on military grounds in full uniform, in pretty blatant violation of official policy. I am clearly not arguing anything this severe would happen in a DCI corps, but I'm totally saying something on a much smaller scale could happen that might alienate certain members. Let's be honest and realistic here: a "reflection time" could easily end up sounding and looking and feeling Christian; prob. Evangelical Christian, no matter how much one might try to ecuminical-ize it and with every best intention of being all-inclusive. One could argue all day whether that's even a bad thing, or unfair to members of other faiths (I believe it is) but this is the reality of how it would likely break down. This has been my exp. with these types of things.

PR is fielding the best guard they have ever fielded imo, def. their best all-female guard. For me, this show is shaping up to be as epic as 1989, which has consistently been voted one of the best shows of all time. I never tire of watching that show when it pops up on YT. 2012 has the same sort of feel as '89 to me... full of many great moments, and flows really well. I can't wait to see this show in August after it's been tweaked and polished and all the final elements have been added. No matter where PR places this year, like their '89 show, this is definitely going to go down as one of their all-time best imo.

Garfield Cadets completely rewrote their entire show from beginning to end visually and ended up fourth place in 1988. They started the re-writes early in the season, however, and practiced insane hours doing it, and had really strong percussion scores that season, as well as good brass scores, to boost their placement.

Does the corps or guard reference Andy Warhol in any way? I hope they wear Andy Warhol wigs and sunglasses. That would be hilarious. The negativity on here is just a case of early-onset Schadenfreude. I have watched plenty of shows in early season in years past that ended up doing well and thought...what is THIS? Even Cadets last years...if the videos are still available on youtube...you will find quite a few negative early season comments from posters predicting they weren't going to do well. Some posters called it right, but I remember others saying it was boring or visually not up to snuff or the guard was a mess, etc., and look what happened.

I had a fairly long response all written out, but it's just not worth it. Know when to keep mouth shut, I say.

Not another 9/11 show. :( The Flight 93 show was good, I have to admit. However, I believe any 9/11 show runs the risk of teetering on the edge of emotional pandering solely based on the subject matter's very nature. I'm not stating a show about 9/11 automatically qualifies as emotional pandering. It's just...well... how many times to do we have to pull the scab off with another 9/11 tribute, television special, Broadway show, movie, etc.? More grating to me is that certain Americans seem to wear this 9/11 badge, waving the "woe is us Americans, we are so persecuted" flag. To me, that kind of attitude is so incredibly arrogant, especially since many of these same people who've adopted such an attitude tend to come from more advantaged backgrounds and so, generally have had a pretty good life in terms of standard of living, security, and comfort. In fact, one bad day in our history is nothing compared to the incredible suffering that has and continues to go on in the world, from disease, to the grinding poverty of living on a dollar or less a day with no access to clean water, to civil strife, etc. The list goes on and on. So our nation experiences one really, really, bad day and now, for some people anyway, 9/11 has been turned into some central part of our national identity. I realize many people suffered greatly that day in a variety of ways, but in the larger scheme of things, one dark day in our history does not and should not turn us into a slighted nation that feels victimized. I realize there are many ways to approach an artistic handling of 9/11, and I'm not criticizing any particular show. I'm also not suggesting any 9/11 show this year or next, or five years from now necessarily seeks to wear the badge of victim-hood described above, but 9/11 shows in the pageantry arts generally work to feed the victimization beast, unintentional though it may be. This is especially true since the subject matter has been tackled before... it's like, um... enough already, thank you. On second thought, perhaps there *is* room for another 9/11 inspired show, say, one about the 19 hijackers... a show from their perspective, perhaps? (I assume this hasn't been done yet, but who knows... don't go to many shows anymore). Yes, it would be incredibly controversial, but it would also be wildly thought-provoking and fresh. Granted, perhaps it would pander in another direction (borrowing obvious controversy), but at least it would be something bold. I'm certainly not saying the hijackers deserve a platform, but what about exploring their mindset.... tackling what would cause them to do something so heinous? That's something we as a nation fail to ponder enough imo. But back to my original point... there's only so many ways to re-package a day we've all lived and re-lived so many times. It's kind of like the old argument about guards who wear masks or heavy make-up and how much GE credit they should be given for the expressiveness the masks or make-up help to convey when these units and designers are essentially letting the piece of costume or paint do the work of expressing. In this case, a show about 9/11 is kind of like the mask because such a theme does a lot of the work automatically by setting an audience (and judges, too) up for a reaction that is quite easy to evoke based on the powerful emotional responses that day created.

Thanks for the clarification. Looks like the hijackers have won. :D I think it makes sense he would not teach winter guard at the school he makes his day job living at... kind of like keeping your spouse away from your mistress. For those in the know, is he purposefully keeping things low(er) key these days (not that OP hasn't been good, because they have had some great years), or might we see him attempt to mount another scholastic world guard on par with BK sometime in the future? I realize he had a fairly large staff at BK and had some big name consultants helping him out here and there, but BK was really his brain-child from what I heard....the guy is definitely something of a genius. I know the activity has changed a lot since the mid to late '90s, but I'd love for him to create a BK 2.0. I could go on and on about how much I loved that guard, for all sorts of different reasons. The first year they won SW -- 1993....huge shift in that class. You only have to watch shows from 91 or 92 in SW and compare them to shows in 94 and 95 to see the enormous influence they had on design and focus on movement. No, they weren't the first unit to stress dance or incorporate multi-focus elements into their shows, but they pushed the boundaries of those elements in incredible ways.

Looks like he both teachers there and is getting involved w/ their winter guard program: http://www.leroycsd.org/news.cfm?story=52835 http://www.leroycsd.org/JrSrHigh.cfm?subpage=205739 I have to say... the mysterious illness aside... I am super excited it appears he is developing another scholastic unit. Bishop Kearney is still my favorite all-time guard ever. I can't get enough of their shows from 93-97. I hope he puts together another blockbuster program.

total thread hijack but leroy...same leroy high school all over the national news about those 11 or 12 students (all female but one) with some kind of weird mysterious neurlolgical disorder similar to Tourette syndrome. erin brokovich thinks it's pollution from a train accident many years ago while some doctor on fox news believes it's complications from a staph infection. scary stuff. also, isn't this the high school vincent monacelli (bishop kearney fame) teaches math at? does he work with the unit from leroy at all i wonder?

Hoy again... I was wondering...is there no official extant recording of Eastridge (NY) High School's 2000 SW performance? As has been discussed in at least one thread on here several years ago, the show was disqualified, but I wasn't 100% certain if this ruling happened before or after videos for that year were produced and shipped. Thanks in advance for any info on this. :D

haha yeah knew all that, just couldn't remember if he did Tate, too. for some reason i thought maybe it was some other big name in WGI. i like tate's musis but beyer 95... I honestly thought it was something along the lines of Reich/Glass/Adams/Riley etc.

Thanks. Is Scott Chandler the designer who composed Tate's music as well (in the late 80's when they got third and then won)?

Greetings, I took about a month off, but I'm back watching shows on the WGI Fan Network before my subscription expires. I'm trying to get my money's worth. :D I was wondering if anyone knows what music Beyer uses in their 1995 SW show "Joan of Arc." I am especially interesting in finding the music they use in the last part of their show. This was a great show btw, esp. the ending! Beyer is one of those guards that was always on the edge of glory...had some really great years but never took the crown. I've thoroughly enjoyed watching this guard grow through the 90's and really like their minimalist style. Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone who knows what music they used to end their 1995 show. Ryan

I don't know that so many guards are folding as much as scaling back. Perhaps WGI will begin to mirror BOA, with more units attending every other year. This would especially makes sense for high schools that have percussion and guard units since travel is so expensive. I've been amazed WGI has been able to continue to grow pretty steadily throughout its existence, when parts of the country have been in a slow but steady economic decline basically this entire time. WGI is a very intelligent and responsive organization. One thing they have always been good at is sharing fundraising ideas among schools and units. If independent guards can make it through these tough times, so too can high school guards, albeit w/ more parent involvement and fundraising efforts.

Don't even get me started on MFA's web site. I was logged in to the db but every time I tried to post a message, I got an error msg that I was not logged in and needed to sign up. I thought maybe you had to sign in twice, once to view, and again to post, so I tried to create an account following the site's prompts to a T but not only did this not work (three tries) but each time my message was lost as well. Also, why do they not post scores on their own site? They used to. Now it seems you have to go to their student chat db to get any scores. They are so ######## and paranoid about giving out scores. Really, they should just make all their shows all exhibition if they are so placement and winning/ losing averse and call it a day. Everybody gets a trophy! Everyone's a winner! I really dislike that whole random finals performance order, too. I can think of two bands offhand that were in first place in semis, had to perform first, and lost... Reagan and the Woodlands. No surprise there. How can anyone remember a band two or three hours later to compare them to the other top band(s)? I understand mixing it up a little bit, but having the possibility of the top band performing first does no one any favors except for the band that ends up winning because they got to perform at 10:00 instead of 8:00. Anyway, I wrote to them about their web site and never got a response but in their defense this is their busy time of year.

Thanks again guys. Were either of you there or did you watch online? Any thoughts on whose guard was best? I think MC had new guard staff this year. IMO they have fielded some very strong guards over the past 10 years. Were they as good as past years? Thanks for any input. Wasn't able to make it this year but in some ways BOA is my favorite pageantry event.