dapperpoet

Just to state the obvious: Lots of work to do here. Boston's farther along.

Awesome job BAC! Huge upside to this show...wow. Playing to all their strengths.

I realize this is, in the words of Paul Simon, "The age of lasers in the jungle, lasers in the jungle somewhere..." But I am still amazed that I can watch my kid 2k plus miles away on my high definition tv and nice stereo system here in my living room. We live in an amazing time.

BD has its pre-season recording up on Mediabox. Wow. Wow. Wow. Make sure your hats are strapped on.

Moderators: At what point does someone's overwhelming negativity and self-proclaimed "button pushing" become detrimental to the goals and rules of the site? I have no dog in this particular fight, I'm just commenting on years of reading this person's posts. I'm all about free speech. I'm not all about nastiness for the sake of nastiness.

*sigh* Goodness.

My son had his heart set on marching Cavaliers. When he was 16 he went up there and it was not a great situation- he got forgotten at the bus station, his horn got damaged, and when he got there, he found it wasn't a fit at all for him. Nonetheless, he got a callback to a second camp. However, he just decided that marching DCI wasn't for him- then I got him hooked up with Spirit (the brass caption head worked here at Auburn with me). He marched with Spirit for two years, Boston for a year, and now is in his second summer with Blue Devils- and is having the time of his life. I know people might criticize his jumping between corps, but because he is a music education major, I have encourage him to learn as many different ways of teaching and doing things as possible, and he has done that in spades. My advice? There are a lot of open doors we never see, and it only becomes clear later when we look back how easily we could have done something else and been as happy or happier. If you really want to march, there will be, as others have said, a spot for you somewhere.

My son gets on an airplane and heads for Mars tomorrow. He will be marching his age-out year, and I find myself pretty weepy about the whole deal. It seems like it was just yesterday when I was driving him to Jacksonville AL for his first camp when he was still 16. Drum corps, irrespective of where loyalties/preferences/tastes lie, is a fabulous thing for Thomas, and for thousands of kids each summer. He has literally grown up, one rehearsal, one run through, one performance, one bus ride at a time. He started as a boy, and now marches his last summer as a fully grown man. All of you who teach, who direct, who volunteer, are owed a great debt of gratitude by parents like me. We put our children into your hands, and you have earned our trust. I hope every single kid, no matter what judges sheet or someone screaming in a crowd or here has to say, gets to experience a summer of fun, of growth, of excellence, and, every now and then, of the transcendence and beauty that drum corps can bring into this often fractious world of ours. Good luck to everyone! Wear sunscreen! Find that quality within yourself that allows you to know that sometimes limits aren't limits, and there is always a little something more that you have deep down inside yourselves.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion. Party on. My issue is- look how many times in this thread you have enthusiastically and repeatedly (as you said) told us that opinion. If you say to me that you don't like my shirt, no big deal. If you say it 50 times at the top of your lungs, maybe I do think there's something else going on.

No, you'd be wrong. That expression actually came from my boss at a radio station where I used to DJ, and I agree with him. I am, however, by most definitions, an elite pompous ###, so okay.

Well played, sir.

One question: If DCP had existed in 1975 or 1985, how many people on here would have insisted that Corps X should never play the shows that everyone now says are the classic, ground-breaking shows. I think it is true that your favorite music is what you listened to in high school, and it seems to often be true here that people want Corps not to innovate, not to evolve. Their favorite corps music is what they first encountered in an audience or on a football field. There might be a hard corps group of people who would drive across the country to see G bugles and marching tympani, but there's always a group of people who push to return to the old days in any venue- sports, politics, civil rights, on and on. It's all over this website- look at the long thread where people want corps to march THE SAME EXACT SHOWS they had marched before. Ten years from now this show will be one that some people insist that BD emulate. And they won't. And that's why they are elite.

Exactly, all the mainline (read Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Lutheran, Catholic, Mainline Baptist, etc.) churches are 1/2 to 1/3 of the numbers they had at their height, which was the mid-sixties. VFW, American Legion, Shriners, Elks, Optimists, Lions Clubs (not to mention the Elks, Order of the Odd Fellows, and on and on) are in the same, if not worse boats. Ever notice how the Shriners who are in those little cars are all in their 70's at least? Interestingly the Rotary Club is having an explosion of membership...in China. Little Leagues are going out of business everywhere. The reason most often given is that the social pressure to belong and conform was a product of post-war America and all of us who had the "Question Authority" bumperstickers are responsible. Interestingly, more people report having community consciousness and being spiritual than ever before. With all of that said, I think it is amazing that marching bands and drum corps are flourishing at the level they are.

Deleted for stupidly not reading post above for content. Mea culpa.

Awesome- a scathing review, an unequivocal pan of a show no one, least of all the poster, has seen. BD hate reaches a new low.

No blue-colored glasses. Blue eyes. And I was right.

Let me get this straight. You're criticizing the WRITEUP of the show announcement? Quite a year indeed.

Really? I'm surprised after reading the thread that you have said that. Again.

Let me be the first then, to give it a total endorsement. I win.

All of this geographic talk is interesting but ignores some important factors: 1. Indianapolis is world-class convention center. It has the hotel rooms, the restaurants, the infrastructure to handle large gatherings (like the Superbowl, NCAA Championships, Big Ten Championships, Pan-Am Games, BOA...not to mention the Indianapolis 500). 2. There is a large, committed marching fan base both in Indiana and in near adjacent states. In addition, schools, facilities, and so on are available close by in Indy, Carmel, Bloomington, etc. 3. Say what you will, Lucas Oil is a very nice place to watch anything. No bad seats, protection from the weather, brand new facilities, almost no security problems, great parking, and so on. Having been there the last 3 years, I can say that I encountered no one who was unhappy about the place who was there. Of course, this is not a scientific sample, but many of the anti-Lucas folks on here seem to have not been there. "I'll never go to finals in a dome...Allentown is much more pure..." blah blah blah. I think the attendance and enthusiasm for DCI in Indy has been proven, and at some point people will just have to say, "They were right, I was wrong."

It's a good question. I think that kids who play in the state baseball tournament are more likely to see who's playing at a higher level and try to emulate them. The same thing goes for kids in very competitive marching bands- they're the ones who are likely to seek out youtube videos, likely to go to Gadsden and Atlanta to see shows and so on. Someone who plays for a few hours a week and puts on a little show at halftime doesn't live in the same world and is less interested in excellence- My wife teaches at a very good high school and when my son marched BD this year exactly two out of the 150 kids she teaches (and she has almost all the kids in the band) knew what that was. I guarantee you at a comparatively-sized HS in Indiana with a competitive marching program that would not have been the case. Knowing about excellence in marching points kids in the direction of DCI and wanting to march themselves.

Having grown up in the craziness that is marching band in Indiana, and seen some of the great programs in Ky, Ohio, and Texas (not to mention Broken Arrow, etc.) I think that one of the things that hurts marching band in Alabama (where I currently live and work) is that there is no state marching band competition. Everything is about HS football, and the bands are just adjuncts to that. I sincerely hope that you can get Southwind revved up again. I'd like to help get things started by offering to buy one of those funky pointy shakos they rocked in '05 or '06.

Yeah, why take the time to read a thread before commenting on it?

The one my kid is marching for, whichever it is...

Ceci n'est pas une pipe