kiotad

You weren't the only one. Not too many dry eyes in the area I was sitting in.

Can't really remember the first year I went. It was early in my teaching career and after seeing that DCI vignette on the highlights show, decided to take the plunge. Well it's twenty some years later, and I am going to the last one. Didn't even realize it was ending until I got bored web surfing one morning and told the wife. She got us tickets, says they aren't great seats but I think that's beside the point. The point is I am going back after too long an absence. Great memories for me over the year include: - watching my then teenaged sister drool over the Naval Academy guys. - hearing the Yankee Rebels, my hometown corps, playing requiem for an era - watching my then significant other's, now wife, jaw drop when the first wall of sound from St. Joe's came tumbling down. - Westshore of course - seeing the Pickles in all of their various incarnations you get the idea, it will be a blast returning - one more time - to the Forum and reminding myself of what I love about the activity. [i'd take my twin daughters too, but at 21 months they might not be the ideal audience members...]

As part of the encore set absolutely...although it would be interesting to see what a 21st century visual mindset would do with it on the field

Without rehashing you are left with some more 'undiscovered' Lenny for the field. Is the drum corps fan base really ready for a show that would be more 'out there' compositionally than those of BK ?[ no knock on BK, as a musician/educator I love their stuff] There is some good stuff left that hasn't been tapped for the field but I think maybe a 'Lenny and his influences' show might yield better results.

To those fortunate folks who are there: based on what you've seen so far, any predictions of placement changes in the 8 through 12 spots?

Monitoring DCP, blue devils website and DCI. Watching Bridgemen/Boston Crusaders Through the Years vids and random years from the 80s through the oughts. Finishing up a drill for one of the high schools in the county I teach in.

In my ideal world it would end up: Phantom, BD, Crown, Cavies. Reality suggests this might be more probable: Phantom, BD, Cavies, Crown.

that would be what I was looking for. thanks

Okay. Haven't seen the show outside of the clip on DCI.org, and only saw this brought up in a show review early on in the season. Do the Conquest hits show up in the show? If not, is there a place somewhere in the show where they could be inserted without causing a severe problem? Not saying they necessarily need to be in the show, but it would seem like something was amiss if they didn't/don't put in an appearance. gil

It is an intriguing idea... having said that, it is probably impractical from at least two viewpoints: 1. the audience wants to be entertained, and for most of them that means the familar [or somewhat familar] 2. for every Saucedo, RWSmith, Bocook - among others - who have the ability to create memorable original scores from scratch, ther are at least ten to fifteen hack composers who couldn't create an original score if their life depended on it. [ask your local music educator about all the promo recordings they get every year that contain carbon copies of 'what was hot the year before'] gil

I've got '88 on video. It's high camera.

Anyone make it to Boston's Spring Fling yesterday? gil

August 3-Baltimore, MD 1. Star of Indiana.........87.0 2. Phantom Regiment...83.0 3. 27th Lancers............76.9 4. Boston....................72.8 5. Blue Knights.............58.1 6. Malden Diplomats.....56.9 7. Connexion Quebec....54.7 8. Kingsmen.................52.8 Drum Major: Phantom Regiment Drums: Star of Indiana Horns: Star of Indiana Towson State shows were always great for me because as a student, I always had the inside track to the 'prime' seats at old Minnegan stadium. Yeah the crowds were small but the shows were great experiences for those of us who went into the music education field and ran with the marching tech/ideas that we were exposed to. gil [who admittedly borrowed some of the drill sequences for his first college band drill and high school drills from some of those corps at the towson shows]

I like what I hear. Only thing that's bothering me is the Troika segment but that's a personal thing. The Lloyd Webber bookends work nice and the Bartok is a bear. Definitely one to catch on the field this season. gil

Yes soon time will tell all. Seems to be a number of corps who are being quieter than normal. Until the time comes however, it's probably best to leave some information at the door and not start the latest round of 'who is going to fold/fall in the standings' rumors. just a thought. gil