Mark G
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Posts posted by Mark G
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Crown shows how not to pander to trends as much as the other guys and why them that do are schmucks to do so. Bravo!
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Thought George Hopkins and his designers were overreaching last coupla years, but this year GH has got it right! LOVE all the audacity of this show!
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Here are the original lyrics to The Great Event, by Leonard Cohen:
It`s going to happen very soon.
The great event which will end the horror.
Which will end the sorrow.
Next Tuesday, when the sun goes down,
I will play the Moonlight Sonata backwards.
This will reverse the effects of the world`s mad plunge into suffering,
For the last 200 million years.
What a lovely night that would be.
What a sigh of relief, as the senile robins become bright red again,
And the retired nightingales,
Pick up their dusty tails,
And assert the majesty of creation!
Kevin! above and beyond! L Cohen is the the greatest greatest, but I didn't know that one
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Q: -btw, what does BK robot voice-over "next thursday night..." refer to -sounds like an sf novel or more likely a movie, huh ? thx
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In place and ready go to.
Kevin, would you be able to give us 2 or even 3 photos per show tonight ? -Mark
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Since I have a few hours to kill I've post my thoughts/predictions. My opinion only . . . I don't flame people for what they think, so please extend the same courtesy to me. Yes, I know all the performers work extremely hard all summer and should be applauded (and I do that). But it is a competition, so here goes . . .
Non-Finalists: Really loved some of the Open Class shows - very high level of creativity. Pacific Crest in particular was a highlight. Madison - all of the talent is there but they need to program better. Hope to see them rebound with a bang next season.
12th - Boston - Saw them in July and found the show to be extremely dull. Good for them for making the necessary changes to edge out Scouts for the final spot in finals. They truly earned this spot. I think they remain in 12th, but kudos to them for not packing it in after San Antonio. Coolest props of the year.
10th & 11th - Saw Crossmen in July and enjoyed the music book quite a bit. That said, after watching them again last night it didn't intrigue me as much. First viewing of Academy last night and was VERY impressed. Solid all around and a great conceptual vehicle to catapult them into the Saturday night show. Could feed off the audience hype and move up even further tonight.
7/8/9 - Blue Stars may have the most difficult and exposed program in this neighborhood. Crazy hard guard book which is coming together at the right time. If they can get a performance edge to them, they could finish at the top of this group. If they are even slightly off, they are relegated to 9th. Phantom plays the heck out of this show. One of the best ballads on the field this summer (and there are a crap-ton of good ones!). The visual program and guard programming seems a bit dated, but they perform the absolute snot out of it. The spread last night to 7th seemed a bit big, so not overly optimistic about their chances of moving up. Drums are fun to watch as well - GREAT performers. Blue Knights left me somewhat confused. I normally love their cerebral approach to programming, but this left me a bit flat. Maybe needs a second viewing. Very talented all around and I love the fact that they are willing to take risks.
4/5/6 - Cadets fell to sixth last night mainly due to the fact that they are still noticeably dirty in the visual caption. I completely buy this show all the way through the ballad, but they lose me in the closer. Kudos to them for challenging the performers with some of the most exposed drill of the summer. Guard continues to improve, but are sometimes overpowered (both musically and visually) by what the brass and battery are being asked to do. Deserving of the "most pages of drill rewritten" award for 2016. I honestly have not cared much for Cavaliers the past couple of seasons - and last night they were one of the highlights of the show. Well programmed and EXTREMELY well performed. Nice to see the green team get their swagger back. Was not shocked to see them move to 5th and if they can equal that level of performance tonight I think they stay there. The closer is one of the coolest things on the field this summer. SCV might have my favorite package of the year. It's just a show to sit back and watch develop - you don't need to look too deep to figure it out and they also perform the crap out of it. Best use of a mello section this year. The subtleties are what make it special. Congrats Vanguard - you get my fan favorite vote this season.
1/2/3 - Let's roll the dice again this evening and see what number shows up. I honestly thought Bluecoats would not be on top last night. The early electronic issues seemed to dull their performance level just a bit and it wasn't until mid-way through the ballad until I felt they got it back. Ballad features some of the tastiest trombone voicings of the season. They are asking the performers to do quite a bit in this show and the effort changes are numerous. Best moving corps out of Canton by a long shot. If they max it out tonight, I don't see anyone over them. Devils are another mystery to me. LOVED their show last year, but this one seems to be so similar to what we've heard over the past 4-5 years from them. Ballad climax is truly the highlight of the program (that soloist - WOW). Just perfection in arrangement and performance. I completely lose the guard in the show this year until the end when they are leveled on the props (which is VERY cool from a design standpoint). The program is missing something, but I'm not sure what it is. Still the best movers out there. I felt Crown's brass simply put on a clinic in semis. I'm amazed at the level of precision at every dynamic level. Sorry, but no one else plays like them. If they play like they did last night and are not up in brass performance, then something's wrong. Drums are better, but not at the level of Devils or Bloo. Guard was SMOKING in semis. The mass weapon statements are deadly accurate. Solid visually, but the program sometimes doesn't seem nearly as complex as others either in this neighborhood or even below them. If all three of these groups have their best performance tonight, I don't envy the panel. Just hope they rank them in the order that the performers are dictating.
My order of finish:
Bluecoats
Crown
Blue Devils
SCV
Cavies
Cadets
Phantom
Blue Knights
Blue Stars
Academy
Crossmen
Boston
The real winners tonight will be the audience. What a great year!
GEVisual, a very good post. I for one appreciate such thoughtful analysis in the forums every year. And I agree with the vast majority of what you say, including order of finish.
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Hey all.
Sorry I haven't been on here yet. I got hit with a monstrous migraine this morning and wasn't even able to sit upright until about 3. I'm fine now and am preparing to head to the stadium. I plan on covering any corps remaining after I eat brunner (breakfast, lunch, AND dinner).
Kevin, enjoyed your running commentary and photos all day yesterday.
A very good year this year. (Only show I've made this year has been Chester PA, last Thur.)
So at 5:30 yesterday I broke off from following the DCP commentary to go to my local theater off union square nyc; (always has been a good venue; this time fine also. About half full; crowd restrained but nonetheless not unenthusiastic, as usual here). -I resumed and caught up on the rest of the prelims thread this morning, great to relive and remember, the day after!
Very brief opinions: -heartbreaking it's between Scouts and BAC for 12th; I thought BAC were better, but a tie would be great and solve the problem! Top 3: -To me, Crown is so much better overall in brass and drums execution and difficulty, and drill as well, than the other top 3. BD seems to be in an off year; Coats yes are off the charts in GE, I really love what they've come up with and I do want to see them get a first title.
Thanks again, Kevin and all.
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I read this thread earlier this morning and enjoyed the discussion however exercised! Me, I can understand the Cadets' staff's decision not to take on Stalin's genocidal purges in a drum corps show! -But Maneuvah, you clearly did get under Hoppy's skin: -what else could the completely black uniforms be but an acknowledgement of Shostakovich's inspiration/subject? And the Cadets are even risking their GE score and a chance to win in making this very eloquent gesture.
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Thanxs for the tech input, Soundman G.
It was hard NOT to think about the sound problems all through our broadcast (Union Sq. regal NY); I heard nary a tenor drum all night, except for the occasional big feature, and marching bass drums were virtually just as inaudible. Just judging from that, what percentage of a full hornline sound were we actually getting? We sure got an overpowering level of pit, and I've never heard concert bass drums live shake a stadium like they did in the broadcast. Then upon learning later how spotty the sound was for the live audience, in the stadium itself, I was, frankly, completely nonplussed.
Good thing, then, that SCV came through so utterly stunningly all the same. So good it was a wow no matter what. And, was that Rodney Learned on snare in that Kilties klip?
But anyway, if movie theaters are showing broadcasts of live event pop concerts, dci, and even opera in their theaters these days, don't they at least have a good range of intelligently preset EQ modes to switch between that could at least reasonably well compensate for the different types of sound each might require? And couldn't dci also at least pre-provide specs or a spec recording for this purpose? What kind of "Live Event" are we paying for?
Peace,
Mark
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What about an all Cole Porter? Anybody done that?
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Was that Rodney Learned on snare in that Kilties clip?
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50, not a DC parent, marched '71-'76, forgot about it, started looking in on PBS broadcasts late 90's; since '05 have attended a few shows and movie theater events, as well as online FN broadcasts. Yea!s: Allentown; most FN livecasts, FN "legacy" archives; Nea!s: Giants Stadium this past Sunday (I still hear everything accompanied by a 3-second echo)
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Someone said to me a few weeks back that they don't go on DCP because, "DCpr's are a bunch of high school kids." I want to prove that person wrong because I don't think the users here are that young.
I think there are many older people on this site then people think.
Out of curiousity, which age category do you fit in? And please don't lie.
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Anybody know, are there or will there be any of the on-demand videos of this season's competitions in multi-camera format, the same as what we see in most of the live 'casts, or will they all be in single camera format, as they were last season? Thanks
Best and Worst Uniforms of 2018
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Seen on the field: (Clifton show) 'Coats, Crown, Boston, Cadets, Spirit
Seen only in the movie theater or on video: SCV, Devils, Cavies, Phantom, Blue Stars
'Coats: Very very good uniform/costumes. Very innovative. Seersucker suits with porkpie hats, in various blends of light blue and off white with various patterns or no patterns that vary throughout the drum and hornline completely randomly. Off white berets for drums. The pit is dressed in all black turtlenecks with berets, and wearing sunglasses. They probably snap their fingers when they're not doing anything else. The whole thing might seem some sort of cliche of a fictional 50's jazz scene milieu, but it doesn't bug me in the least, because, it's extremely well done show-biz. Brilliant. Guard is mostly in mauve, and the drum shells are the same mauve color. Again brilliant. They are selling the hell out of their whole package. This is the show to beat this year. This is the best show out of their last three by far. They seem to have cannily chosen to out-Blue-Devil the Blue Devils style-wise, and I think they have cannily succeeded. Best
Boston: These guys are still on a terrific tear this year! Wow! If they're allowed to, they really should jump another place or two in the placement hierarchy. Seeing them immediately follow 'Coats at the Clifton show was just wonderful; they more than held their own, another verification of how good they have gotten. Uniforms/costumes: -this is the most audacious costume choice this year that actually does work. The whole musical corps wears a form-fitting outfit of purple and yellow that leaves their shoulders and arms completely bare. No headgear. It works very well for the show.
Cadets: Gotta be the most bizarre uniform design ever- they sorta look like frosted and decorated marching cookies with matching shakos and plumes, except... could they be on acid or ecstacsy? Worst
Crown: Hard to figure what they're doing this year- the outfits seem to portray then as bugs, with bug abdomens below their waists
SCV: They have been my absolute favorite corps for decades, but in the last few year they have forsworn their vaunted classicism in pursuit of the gold. For shame. What's become of them? This year looks as dreary as last year. Uniforms included. WTF?
BD: They are what they are. But do they always have to be the leader and win even when they are as routine and mediocre as they are this year.
Cavies: They are back on track on all fronts.
Phantom: I guess the hoods are alright
Blue Stars: no comment