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BrassMan09

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Posts posted by BrassMan09

    Bridgeport

    in DCA All-Age Corps and Alumni Corps Show & Event Reviews

    Posted

    What a great show for the fans! It's awesome to see the corps so prepared this early in the season.

    Just a quick take on what I saw at the show.

    Bush -- Great to see them still out there. I do wish they would go A class with their size but I guess with all that pride it's hard to do. Show seems above their heads but in true Bush fashion they will be fighting for a finals spot in the end.

    Empire -- Entertaining music book and DM for sure but them seem to have only 2 volumes, back field and LOUD! I wish their visual book matched the music book though. Transitions seem very forced and unorganized. I do believe if they can fix their visual issues and shape the music, this show will grow on me by the end of the season. By The way, their Cg uniforms are hot :-)

    Bucs -- Best show that I have seen from them hands down! The staff change is working for them. Show is fresh, fan friendly and very entertaining. Brass and percussion books are off the hook. Color guard is going to be awesome by the end of the season and the drill is the best that I have seen in DCA. If they can clean this show, this will top any other show they have produced!

    MBI -- I can't wait to see this show at the end of the year. Fun show to watch with a lot of great execution for June 30. Brass and percussion seem very strong, Color Guard seems a little smaller then last year but can be very supportive to the concept once it's developed. They do have a few CG transition to smooth out but I am sure that will be done by September.

    Hurcs -- Very entertaining show, really like the music. Brass seems more prepared then I remember. Percussion seems a little over balanced but if they fill the brass holes we might being hearing a whole different program. Love the Color Guard! They are so good. I am concerned that the brass and percussion staging seem to be second fiddle to the CG. (could be the holes) Looking forward to seeing this when they are full!

    Cabs -- This one was hard for me. I really dig what they are doing but you have read through dirt. I think they are trying to be like Reading (from a demand stand point) but they are very sloppy right now. Don't get me wrong I love the show for what it could be. In my opinion they are staged very well but the corps needs to get better at what they are doing. If they can get their members to understand the show from a cleanliness and emotional stand point they are going to be very very good!

    I want to say thank you to all alumni corps. It is awesome and a honor to watch you all!

    Here is my ranking of the night:

    Bucs

    MBI

    Cabs

    Hurcs

    Empire

    Bush

    Hurricanes Color Guard

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Well, I am glad to see that other folks on DCP felt particularly put off by how much of an embarrassment the Hurricane's Color Guard was at retreat! I support the members having fun at retreat because this is the end of their summer long journey, but there is a line. When there are members making an absolute fool of themselves (including tossing around what appeared to be a toy sword) during the announcement of scores from A Class into the lower half of Open Class, that is where I think you start to look tacky and unprofessional. You did not see a hint of professionalism in the group until they announced them in 4th place with no captions! I guess that is when it got serious for them.

    I don't want to take away from their accomplishments during their performance, but sometimes it takes seeing a team "off the field" or out of the performance aspect of this activity to see how much they should be respected. Spinning a clean, well written book, tossing and catching 6's and 7's, dancing like no other doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you cannot be a modest performer in a loss. AND COME ON NOW, falling to ground, hyperventilating and having a temper tantrum because you didn't win high guard, get some therapy (which was witnessed)!!

    This activity is about giving what you love to do most to the audience...which is why I think groups like Reading, MBI and Empire get kudos from me. They don't get the highest amount of points, and they applaud, chit chat and support the group that does! WHO CARES?! At the end of the day, this is just some instruments and flags on a field and cancer still does not have a cure!

    This post was great! Thank you for being honest and not sounding like a know it all!

    HURCS organization should be very disappointed in the way the CG acted on the field during retreat. To be honest I was walking outside the stadium and all I could here was their staff yelling and cursing at the top of their lungs how they got screwed.

    What is sad is, the HURCS CG is great (finals night the weapons were rough) and all I'll remember how they acted on retreat. It's to bad they were taught that way.

    What was great about retreat, were the Reading Buccaneers! They even win when they come in second. Not taking anything away from MBI (and I did think they should have won)but I was supper impressed on how the Bucs reacted on finals night! Congrats to the entire Buccaneer family, you are in a league of your own!

    Can't wait for 2012.

    2011 Prediction Thread!

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by BrassMan09

    I know it was a month ago, and a lot has happen since then but Reading did beat MBI by a little more then a point and half. I am sure that both corps have gotten better and are working hard!

    It will be interesting to see how MBI does going on after Reading and how the judges will react. History says Reading is always good Prelims night but not great. Can MBI make a push Saturday night? Now Finals night, Reading has owned.

    I think Empire is the dark horse. I don't know if they can beat Reading or MBI but if there is a corps that knows how to perform finals weekend, it's Empire.

    Hurcs have a wonderful Guard and a very good Percussion section, will their Brass hold them back. I don't think so. I think their music book will help Hurcs stay in 4th.

    Cabs, the little engines that could. Not sure why, but they had another slow start to the season but gaining lots of momentum. I'm afraid the weekend off will cool them down.

    Since I have seen the top 5 here are my prediction on them, I don't want to guess on what I have not seen:

    Prelims

    Bucs - 98.1

    MBI - 97.4

    Empire - 96.1

    Hurcs - 95.3

    Cabs - 93.9

    Finals

    Bucs - 98.9

    MBI - 98.1

    Empire - 97.2

    Hurcs - 95.9

    Cabs - 95.2

    High Visual - Bucs

    High Guard - Hurcs

    High Brass - MBI

    High Perc - Bucs (I think this will come down to the front ensembles)

    High effect - Bucs

    Safe travels to all!

    • Like 1

    August 13th Predictions

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted

    Toms River, NJ

    1. Buccaneers 92.1

    2. Caballeros 87.55

    3. Fusion Core 83.0 (I think their score would be higher if they were in the open class)

    4. Carolina Gold 81.95

    5. Bushwackers 73.95

    6. Sunrisers 69.25

    Cicero, NY

    1. Statesmen 89.35

    2. Hurricanes 87.85

    3. White Sabers 66.95

    4. Excelsior 62.40

    • Like 1

    grand prix

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted

    People can have a show that's a worse run than their last one for a lot of reasons. Jeff's spot on. I think people expect growth every week- but if you want growth, you have to EARN it. Something that some people miss the boat on.

    At each show there has been a different Music Ensemble Judge. So no mater if the Corps improves or not the "new judge" does not have any reference to what the Corps did at their past shows.

    Plus I'm glad to see that the judge or judges are not looking at recaps.

    Pushing the Envelope

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted

    There were some visual ideas borrowed (ie: the straight leg marching by the hornline). The idea of a Rome show just gives the strong sense of being borrowed, ESPECIALLY when you exclusively use music that has been used by the only other two shows dealing with Roman ideas. Maybe if new music had been picked it would not have been so obvious, but that with the some of the visual ideas taken is why I feel like it was too much of the same.

    I did think that of all the guard uniforms in the three Roman shows, the Bucs had the best one. Like I said, I thought they deserved to win, as they certainly had the best overall package to offer. I feel like my statement would gather more debate if I said, "groups in DCA have pushed the envelope of the activity the most for having the most original ideas!" It simply is not true. We can come up with examples on both sides (DCI and DCA), but if we were keeping a tally of who has borrowed more, the answer would be DCA.

    With that being said, I think our activity has created this habit. We create the world that we live in and it seems that doing what others have done is what is getting rewarded. If I was a design staff in DCA, I would probably do the same thing, because that is what gets the job done.

    Honestly, this is my opinion and it is very obvious that there are people that do not agree, but honestly, we keep talking about selling tickets to shows, and I am not sure if what we are doing now is really getting the job done on that front. I think moving Championships is certainly going to help.

    The straight "German Leg" is commercial and recognizable -- I think it was just a marketing brand for the show concept.

    I believe there is a market for what DCA does -- The crowd wants to hear recognizable music and I believe the top 6 does that.

    Something to think about -- Who really pushing the boundaries in our activity? I'm not sure according to your definition but I would say go to BOA's and see how fresh the top 15 are.

    Maybe Bucs do push the envelope for the weekend activity maybe they don't?

    PS. I agree moving finals will help a lot!

    Pushing the Envelope

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I would think the Bushwackers in the late 80's early 90's.

    Cabs in the 70/80's (before my time)

    Brigs late 90's early 00's.

    Empire for always pushing entertainment.

    Hurcs Color Guard of the last few years.

    Reading's Programing, Percussion and Visual Design over the last 6 years.

    Reading

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by BrassMan09

    Twice actually. Lost guard in Lewisburg. Lost Ensemble Percussion subcaption in Kingston and has lost the field visual subcation a couple of times too.

    So your "sweeping every caption" comment was more than spoken hastily. It showed your complete bias towards Reading. AGAIN.

    According to th recaps Reading has lost CG once, GE once, a sub caption in perc 2 times, brass once, and field vis once but never lost a caption 2 shows in a row. Now what about every other Drum Corps?

    With that aside, we have no clue whats going to happen until Saturday and Sunday. Each show has its own dynamics! Kind of useless for DCP to try guess what is going to happen. Fun yes but really doesn't mean anything. Let the Corps perform, Let the judges judge and the audience to sit back and watch a great weekend of Drum Corps!

    Best of luck to all!

    Scranton show

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted · Edited by BrassMan09

    It seems a little strange that no one has posted anything about the show in Scranton this Saturday. Anyone going? Any thoughts on how this showdown of 5 of the top corps from last year is going to go?

    OK, I'll start...

    Buccs 94.683

    Hurcs 92.500

    Cabs 91.910

    Empire 91.824

    Bush 88.585

    Not sure of scores but here are my placements:

    1.Bucs -- strong over all, but can be dirty

    2.Empire -- this group can really perform

    3.Cabs -- weak colorguard, but strong music ensemble, drill holds them back a bit.

    4.Hurcs -- strong colorguard and percussion, weak brass -- I think the brass will hold them back

    5. Bush -- don't count these guys out!

    Who will win

    in DCA - All-Age Corps Discussions

    Posted

    I will go with Empire :-) I think MBI will have another long Bus trip home.

    I am going to predict that Empire will give Reading a run for their Money this weekend in Lewisburg. Did anyone see Reading this past weekend? There are no reviews up from that show.

    As for the A class I am not sure. I don't know enough about these groups.

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