IMcomguy

That's the legend as it is told, indeed. I would be curious to see proof of this, as there are some shows not sponsored directly by said corps that also end up with the full kit and kaboodle each and every year as well. So all the sponsors got together and collectively decided to pay for full panels, why? I'll still bring back my original statement of not hearing an explanation on how this is deemed acceptable from an educational standpoint as the balance of feedback is way off. If it's because the money is fronted, so be it. But DCI should step in and create a level playing field for adjudication at these early shows especially. Again, it is the most crucial time of the year for so many groups developmentally. It really reflects poorly on the organization as there really has never been any public statement about it, yet the public can clearly see the disparity visible on the recaps by simply counting the number of judges on each sheet. It would be like using two umpires in MLB for the National League, while the American League games all get a full slate (or Yankees/Red Sox games only). Or just not providing any replay systems to NFL games that aren't on National TV, but only regionally shown....etc. etc.

Feedback is the life blood of these corps at this stage in the game.

Speaking of Whitewater -- pretty cool that SCV is heading out east early this year, as they'll be there NEXT WEEK!!!! Can't wait!!!

I like raves. I'm watching one on Channel 3 right now.

So accurate feedback during the early part of the season doesn't matter? Tell me you're not serious. This is THE MOST crucial time of the year to formulate and refine shows. Not after you've met up with everyone at a Regional. And plus, I'm not talking about scores, I'm talking about feedback. Feedback feedback feedback. What is and what isn't working. Every night, the boys on the coast are getting 3 additional tapes to listen to. Multiply that by 7 or 8 shows before they hit the rest of the circuit and you're talking 20+ additional critiqued views for opportunities to improve upon and make key changes to a show. Instructors of some other top flight corps are getting peeved and that's coming directly from the horse's mouth. I still haven't heard an explanation for why this practice of awarding the west coast with full panels every night is acceptable from an educational standpoint. And this is not about number of corps. There was a show in Muncie the other night that had 8 of the Top 12 FINALIST corps there and it was slated for a 5-body panel. My proof is listed above and the skewed listing is fact. I'm just asking why this can not be changed or at least made so it attempts to look a bit more balanced.

LOL LOL LOL. This might be the funniest question I've ever read on DCP (no offense). I realize you may have genuinely been asking. But yeah... no. They're definitely not. :) Yes, some do live out there. But there are still plenty of others who they fly in from well across the country still. So if logistical challenges were the issue, they would be making it a 5-person panel just like everywhere else and not bringing in other folks still. Trust me, I scratch my head just as much as you are with wondering how it all happens...

(Who can blame them, they get to spend a few weeks in sunny California and out of the rainy midwest/east coast...) In all seriousness, DCI needs to split this bill evenly though and make some executive decisions that benefit their other member corps from an educational perspective. This is not new to 2015. Ever since these limited panels were rolled out to save money, there has been an obvious slant towards where these limited panels are relegated to and where the party happens.

To demonstrate my point... so far this season... West coast: FULL FULL FULL FULL LIMITED FULL FULL Rest of the country: FULL LIMITED LIMITED FULL LIMITED LIMITED LIMITED LIMITED LIMITED LIMITED (Muncie, was scheduled for 5 judges before rainout) LIMITED LIMITED You have to think there are some staffers that aren't too excited to be seeing these random panels night after night after night (leaving out key feedback in captions like brass, or guard, or percussion) while the West Coast boys are getting full rounds of feedback at every single show they're at. There are corps out here that have YET to see a full panel after 5-6 performances, while there are corps out west that haven't seen anything BUT a full panel. I know, I should call the Whaaaambulance, right? Because this is just reciprocal value for having Finals locked up in Indy, blah blah blah. But at the instructional level, I would be a bit concerned. And I know some folks besides me who are out there teaching who feel exactly this way.

I'm hoping that the Bluecoats being pretty much without competition lately isn't going to affect them adversely once they re-enter the mix. That 75.70 is sort of a slap in the face to where The Cadets, BD, and SCV are at right now (77.5-79.4). And considering they've beaten the Cadets (and won brass each time), it's a little concerning. I know you don't judge scores from different shows, but you know DCI judges are pouring over recaps just like we are and are seeing this. (And sorry, but the Cavies being just 2 points off from Bluecoats, what?? Light years and completely different leagues IMO.) P.S. I'm really tired of the West Coast shows getting full panels every night. Come on DCI, spread it out and make it right.

Considering head-to-head they have been up on Cavies by as much as 5 points. And their average margin of victory over three meetings is 4.50, I don't think Crown has a whole lot to be worried about. They've taken some nights off while Cavies have had a couple shows with no competition (except for Cadets), so they've been out there by themselves. Thus their scores have "caught up" while Crown hasn't been out. Just FYI.

No.

Dan is a great guy, let me just say that first. You couldn't ask for someone better to represent DCI. That all said, the comment he made tonight about the "So you want to make money, eh?" to the Bluecoats DM when he said he wasn't going into music education, that may have been a little ill-timed with a crap ton of potential music majors in the audience tonight (this being a bando show and all). Just sayin'. Also, definitely the comment, brain-fart, WTF moment of the night was when he flubbed Cavies as being 2-time World Champions, and then 6-time World Champions, and then finally..... "oops..... I mean 7-time World Champions!" was kind of sad. I couldn't help but laugh really really hard. Sorry Dan.

There were a couple of hiccups during Bluecoats near the end (I'm on a 150 Mbps connection). Nothing traumatic. If you watched closely though, the stream did get about a second off just like it did the other night. It was much tougher to tell though without movement on stage. Following the drums and the DM showed this. It corrected itself a few times though. Again, if this happens while it's a field show, you can definitely tell. And I imagine with a soccer game, it wouldn't be a huge deal. Hopefully these things (and mobile support) will get worked out soon. Overall, it was an A-/A tonight.

I'll give you Cadets drums. They're insanity on grass. I was just wondering how you gathered it from this show tonight. Definitely agree regardless though. They need to be right there with SCV IMO.

Trust me, I'm not knocking the 80's/90's "Best of Cadets" playlist. And then some Tiger of San Pedro thrown in for good measure. Definitely much love. But it was glaringly obvious some of the performers were stretched with these pieces (wrong notes, lead trumpets not quite hacking it, etc.). The Bluecoats certainly had the dude that hungover, and of course Crown with the OOPS on a botched trumpet attack. But an A for effort and following through. :) If you take all 3 together, Bluecoats outshined the rest. We have Crown and Cadets flipped, but yeah, that's opinion. Crown was pretty beastly. I love the anger in the writing and the ballsy performance. P.S. How did you gather Cadets drums being better tonight when all they played were warmups? LOL.

The fact the Cadets did not perform their show (but only encore pieces which aren't rehearsed 1/100th as much), it was obvious that comparing the two wasn't going to stack up. There is no doubt the Cadets are phenomenal when it comes to brass as well. Crown is incredibly strong too. It's tough to really grasp the quality of ALL 3 of these hornlines based on these limited performances inside tonight. Yes, Crown and Coats seemed better this evening, but again it was for the above mentioned reason. When the Cadets come to play with their actual show, they're right there. Especially with that opener. Holy ####. All 3 are in honestly my favorite hornlines in DCI. If I had to rank them, which is an exercise in futility, I'd give BC the slightest of slightest edges simply due to the demands placed upon the performers throughout their show. Leagues, well. Maybe in volume this evening (indoors is fun)!

LOL, wait. They've met the Cadets three times head-to-head this year. Two of the meetings, there was a brass judge. And both times, Bluecoats beat the Cadets in brass. Sources: http://www.corpsfans.com/corpsfans.com/(S(ot25oensax3rv2vc0iduaa45))/Scores.aspx?ID=18998&mode=2 http://www.corpsfans.com/corpsfans.com/(S(ot25oensax3rv2vc0iduaa45))/Scores.aspx?ID=19002&mode=2 So it is very interesting that you believe they are "firmly" behind them in this caption and are sitting in 4th, yet the Cadets have YET to beat the Bluecoats in this area. (Have you actually seen this show LIVE and not as a keyboard warrior? Just curious.)

And to clarify, I am talking about the ads running "mid-show" by the way, between corps. Not the ones where it occasionally happens when you load the feed for the first time. That may very well be blocked because it's indeed pre-roll and not embedded.

No offense to you, but Adblock is not the reason you don't see the ads in the feed. It's embedded into the stream and there is nothing you can do (it's fed on the stadium end). The reason you were not seeing them but hearing them is because you were watching the High Cam feed which simply does that (at least until now). Same thing happened at the preview show. And they are not the stadium ads, they're the feed ads. It's just a setup issue they've got to work out. If you were watching the Multi-Cam feed you would have seen and heard them both. There was also a segment tonight where they switched over the multi to the high feed temporarily as they were fixing some things. This would have allowed you to see and hear it. ;)

DrumManTX and SuperOOK are both correct. It was Finals night they passed them.

Exactly as I figured. It was indeed working fine on that for sure. The Multi-Cam feed was just trash the whole evening though. What a shame. I think it's funny they run the commercials on the high cam with no video (LOL). You can hear them, but not see them. You always still see the stadium shot still. When on the Multi, you see all the commercials.... flawlessly of course. :)

The multi-cam was indeed out of sync the whole night. Even after reloading, using different computers, different browsers, upgrading Flash, everything. I settled on the high cam for SCV and BD and had absolutely zero issues. DrumManTX, did you watch on Multi or High tonight?

I don't believe this is the issue though. They HAVE digital archiving rights, it's under new media licensing that they've been obtaining for years. There are other issues at play here that aren't getting attention in this thread. I think I'm going to reserve other comments until things start to really unfold. I hope for nothing but the best for both WGI and DCI in this challenge ahead.

I completely think you're right on point here, unfortunately. But, this particular publisher doesn't necessarily control all of that. I think you've seen the removal of items that are in that publisher's repository specifically because of the case.

Thanks for this Jeff. Although I will make an addendum that this "publisher" is a new entity who has crafted their own rules for materials they merely inherited in a merger (ok fine, they gobbled it all up with their money...). But they are not acknowledging any of the former agreements, nor the payments already made for content previously. I'd love to see WGI, DCI, et al. fight this as best as they can. I realize it may make things difficult for awhile for the consumer, but in the end, we'll all lose if this doesn't come to a head. We all may lose anyway, so they might as well try, right? I don't think you can sue DCI out of existence if enough people come to their aid. Where are the alumni, the fans, the band directors, the students and parents? I'd join a group of supporters for this cause. Yeah, there are risks, obviously. But the litigious society we live in has proven time and time again that even the little guy can overcome. It's not always about the big corporations. A guy sued Microsoft and won an $11.6 million judgment earlier this year. Sure, he ended up with just $900,000 of that, but his tiny legal team defeated Microsoft's billions, just because a reasonable judge and jury came to the table.