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hostrauser

DCPi Forum Support Team
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Posts posted by hostrauser

  1. 17 minutes ago, Chief Guns said:

    Funny you ask. I was born and raised in SoCal and even I don't know where it begins/ends LMAO.

    If you ask people from Bakersfield, they consider themselves SoCal, but we say they are central which pisses them off. LOL.

    For me personally, on the 101 FWY, once you hit Ventura County, that's SoCal. On the I-5 FWY heading south, once you hit the Grapevine, that's SoCal. 

    But you can ask ten different people and get ten different answers LMAO. 

    South of the Grapevine/San Bernardino Mountains is Southern California. Anything in the San Joaquin Valley is Central California. Northern California starts with the SF Bay Area and the inland delta region, so around Stockton and North of that. My qualifications: Born in San Diego and raised in Sacramento. Spent about 17.5 years total in Sacramento region and 20 in San Diego region (two stints). So I like to think I'm bringing both the NorCal AND the SoCal perspective on this. :lle:

    • Like 2
  2. 1 hour ago, Chief Guns said:

    Question with Open Class.

    Is this saying that SCVC who scored 72+ last night...........will only improve one point the rest of the season............same with BDB who scored 71.700 last night, will only improve a half a point the remainder of the season?

    Gold who hasn't performed since Stanford due to Covid and Illnesses, and is 3-0 vs SCVC.......and 2-1 vs BDB in head to head competition, won't even crack 70 by season's end?

    1. Possibly the biggest weakness the algorithm has is time off. The longer a corps goes between performances, the harder it is for the algorithm to accurately make forecasts.  Gold and the Cavaliers have the two rankings with the largest margin of error right now.

    2. That said, I believe SCVC was 0-fer against BDB until this past weekend. They made almost a 3-point swing in just a week (from almost 2 points behind BDB at Stanford to almost a point ahead at Bellflower). The early season volatility in Open Class is even more extreme than in World Class.

    3. The SoCal scores this past weekend were badly inflated, and judges will leaving spacing margins at Quarterfinals. Corps surge past 70 (or even 80) only to fall behind that mark at QF almost every year. The scores for 14th and lower so far this season are quite a bit behind what we usually saw in pre-Covid days. Are those corps just a little dirtier than normal after having a couple of years without a full tour? Will they clean up and make a surge closer to the Top 12/13? We'll see what happens.

    • Thanks 1
  3. 29 minutes ago, crownisking said:

    Nah, fans were way more polite in 2017. Finals 2007 is the last time I know of. Things got reeeally ugly that year and I think some fans did some self reflecting after that. 

    Which is a shame, because those 2007 Cadets kids could really play. I felt the design let them down: the narration--instead of supplementing--replaced some of the necessary GE development that would have made that a championship level show.

    I know all of the BD and California homers around me in Pasadena were REAL nervous that night in 2007, because semifinals had been close and (musically) The Cadets were absolutely incredible at Finals.

    • Like 4
  4. Things are starting to settle down, and the early season scoring volatility is fading away. It will be interesting to see how the Cavaliers score in their first show back. But basically, I think the Top 4 are locked in (those four corps in some order at Finals) as are the Top 10. I think we'll have an interesting battle between Crossmen, Blue Knights, and Colts for the last two spots in finals. Someone is getting left out. As of today, it projects out like this...

    98.573 Carolina Crown
    98.167 Blue Devils
    97.175 Boston Crusaders
    96.246 Bluecoats
    94.444 Santa Clara Vanguard
    93.183 Cavaliers
    92.108 Cadets
    90.685 Blue Stars
    89.131 Mandarins
    88.183 Phantom Regiment
    84.222 Crossmen
    83.675 Blue Knights
    83.094 Colts
    79.795 Madison Scouts
    79.057 Troopers
    78.684 Music City
    76.371 Academy
    75.018 Jersey Surf
    73.512 Vanguard Cadets
    72.137 Blue Devils B
    71.443 Spartans
    71.159 Pacific Crest
    69.649 Gold
    69.373 Genesis
    66.609 Columbians
    65.229 River City Rhythm
    64.917 The Battalion
    62.706 Golden Empire
    62.465 Colt Cadets
    60.401 Louisiana Stars
    56.814 Heat Wave
    56.118 7th Regiment
    54.503 Les Stentors
    50.589 Blue Devils C
    49.811 Raiders
    48.534 Impulse
    • Like 5
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  5. I would love to see a drum corps tackle this work, especially the first movement. The last 80-90 seconds of the first movement I think could easily be written to be a DCI closer.

    It's Hindemith, though. You'd better have some guts to dive into the deep end here.

    I can never remember how to embed video because I only do it once a year or so. "Pittsburgh Symphony" by Paul Hindemith.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmRo1yQoKWE

    • Like 2
  6. An unexpected thunderstorm power outage caused a bit of delay, but I didn't forget! The early season scoring volatility continues:

    97.922 Carolina Crown
    97.323 Blue Devils
    96.043 Boston Crusaders
    94.623 Bluecoats
    92.554 Santa Clara Vanguard
    91.313 Cavaliers
    89.235 Cadets
    87.272 Blue Stars
    85.829 Mandarins
    84.349 Phantom Regiment
    82.514 Crossmen
    80.028 Blue Knights
    78.460 Colts
    76.213 Madison Scouts
    75.624 Music City
    75.167 Academy
    72.698 Troopers
    70.960 Jersey Surf
    68.552 Pacific Crest
    67.405 Spartans
    66.117 Gold
    65.744 Blue Devils B
    62.986 Vanguard Cadets
    60.612 River City Rhythm
    58.571 Columbians
    58.189 Colt Cadets
    54.005 Heat Wave
    53.443 Golden Empire
    52.812 7th Regiment
    45.806 Raiders
    44.326 Impulse
    44.085 Blue Devils C

     

    • Like 7
    • Thanks 2
  7. Just when you thought it was SAFE to go back into drum corps...

    *cues Jaws theme*

    ...Hostrauser is here to show you that everything I know about drum corps is wrong!

    > Wait

    > Phil, that's supposed to read "everything YOU know about drum corps is wrong!" You were supposed to edit this! What do I even pay you for?

    > What?

    > Oh. Right. I don't pay you. Wait. Then what are you doing in my house?

     

    Only a fool would try to make predictions based on the first few shows of the season. But I am that fool! I expect the spans will tighten up in the next few weeks, but (unsurprisingly) the Blue Devils have come out hot and look to be the corps to beat. I think it's safe to pencil them in for a 27th consecutive medal.

    98.317 Blue Devils
    96.434 Carolina Crown
    96.243 Santa Clara Vanguard
    95.988 Bluecoats
    94.339 Boston Crusaders
    91.561 Cavaliers
    89.443 Cadets
    89.167 Mandarins
    88.466 Blue Stars
    88.052 Phantom Regiment
    85.801 Blue Knights
    82.586 Crossmen
    81.684 Colts
    81.371 Academy
    80.833 Madison Scouts
    77.863 Music City
    76.465 Pacific Crest
    74.540 Spartans
    73.534 Gold
    72.631 Jersey Surf
    61.536 Golden Empire
    60.563 River City Rhythm
    59.951 Colt Cadets
    59.405 7th Regiment
    50.421 Impulse
    • Like 5
    • Thanks 3
  8. On 9/2/2021 at 4:09 PM, Continental said:

    I still don't understand how this was achieved and I know it's been done on many entertainment shows.

    I don't see that anyone ever actually answered your question. There is a velcro strap or button snap on one (or both) shoulder(s). The light blue is the "inside" layer and the brown was the "outside" layer. They are sewn together at the waist. The guard releases the attachment on the shoulder and the top half of the dress falls down, revealing the blue underneath. The brown on top blue beneath section that had been covering waist-to-shoulder before is now the blue on top brown beneath skirt from the waist down.

    Here are examples you can watch to see how it works.

     

    • Thanks 1
  9. 11 hours ago, Ghost said:

    Stopped off in Tuba, AZ, on our way home and it was like we stepped back into last Summer.  Masks required, most fast foods were drive-up only, and the gas station we used had a door monitor checking temps and only allowing so many people in at a time.  Tuba has the largest Navajo population within Navajo Nation and they may be experiencing an increase in people with C19, or maybe they're not interested in vaccines.

     

    Early in the pandemic, COVID spread like wildfire through the Navajo population. Their response is how everyone else's response should have been. 91% of the Navajo Nation is now vaccinated with at least one shot, the highest rate in the world. Yet they continue to take these precautions, because they are smart.

    All Native American populations taken as a whole make up the most vaccinated demographic in the United States.

    • Like 2
  10. 19 hours ago, Smug Trumpet Guy said:

    I thought the only person pushing for boringwinds was he who must not be named.

    The last woodwind proposal I'm aware of was introduced by a member of DCI's Board of Directors, Kathy Black. It passed the initial voting caucus 19-12 before being defeated in the final vote.

    Woodwinds in drum corps is an inevitability. DCI wants it, and multiple member corps do, also. It's only a matter of time.

    https://www.dci.org/news/2020-dci-rules-congress-proposals-at-a-glance

  11. I was introduced to drum corps in the early 90s, and I still love the way the music books were arranged in that decade. But man, I go back and listen to the CDs from that decade and all of the horn lines, even the best of the best, sound AWFUL. Those G bugles were just an abomination. Moving to Bb brass was the best move DCI ever made. It was immediately apparent by 2002, when the Cavaliers horn line that year (with its wonderful intonation) sounded 1,000 times better than any previous horn line in DCI history. And brass has just gotten better and better ever since. More on that in a minute.

    The 2000s are probably the best decade for visual design, to me. Michael Gaines, Myron Rosander, Jay Murphy, and Jeff Sacktig (amongst others) achieved the perfect blend of marching drill design and theatrical staging that made drum corps so unique. Since then, I feel the marching arts have evolved a bit too far into the theatrical staging arena. Unquestionably, what is being performed now is ridiculously difficult, but I miss the days of 120+ kids blazing across the field at 200+ bpm while playing. The 2000s were the apex for that. I also liked the percussion design and performance the best in the 2000s, but I'm not a percussion expert.

    The 2010s, by far, have been the best decade for brass performance. It's not close. The corps just keep getting better, and better, and better. Corps in the 10th-15th spots are sporting brass lines that would have been Top 5 in prior decades. The emphasis on musicality over raw power has disappointed some older generation drum corps fans, but to me it's a thing of beauty. The technical ability of today's performers is just insane.

    So yeah, my favorite decade? Every decade I've experienced, pretty much. I don't expect that to change.

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1
  12. 9 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

    Honestly....i don't see a change until someone gets seriously hurt.

    We're already long past that point. Candice Lee of the Blue Devils suffered a severe spinal injury in 2014 (after falling from one of the ladder props, wasn't it?) and temporarily had no movement from the neck down. She spent almost a week in the ICU and had several months rehabilitation, but I believe she was able to walk onto the field with the corps at Finals that year. 

    • Like 1
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    • Sad 3
  13. Sun Prairie has a fantastic newer stadium, just be aware that it's off of Main Street and not actually at Sun Prairie H.S.

    Cedarburg has a decent smaller stadium, but as others have said you'll be in direct sun the entire time. Cedarburg is actually a nice little touristy town for such a close suburb. Lots of boutiques and cafes on Washington Avenue.

    As I live closer to Cedarburg, that's probably where I will go. But if I had to travel from a distance to either site I would choose Sun Prairie.

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