George Dixon

Those "band kids" are our F-U-T-U-R-E And the BEST thing about "any of the YEA shows" IMHO, George

BS If two shows are equally "effective" but one is more demanding what happens then? And if drum corps should be judged as "entertainment" how come so many boring shows win over the years? And yes - thoughtful design matters - but it isn't the end-all end-all

Great review - some real interesting observations Totally agree on so many fronts I have to say "get out of my head!" Thanks, G.

Glad someone brought up 2007. Karma is a B&*@H

For me it's the visual vs. music thing. They tend to write the drill around the music MORE than the corps I prefer. Now I really enjoyed their book last year - but this year it's back to ehh on the music arrangement side. Visual arrangement is always top notch. And musically they are great at what they do. Just prefer Crown/Cadets and others on the musical arrangement side of the equation.

nothing bad to say about the corps of the past wish it worked the other way around some times... so much criticism about today's corps and programs

I'm not sure I totally agree that DCI's product is "mass entertainment" - I get what your saying but the DCI audience is pretty picky compared to the "mass American public" when it comes to music and especially marching music and visual arts. And I'd actually say DCI's "Product" is more about the marching members and their experience than it is about the audience. They obviously need an audience - and the bigger the better. Anyway - get where you're coming from - just see it a little differently. I hate "mass appeal" marching music. "I've got a feeling" makes me vomit. :)

Completely agreed. They are executing very well but the musical book lacks continuity big time

when you go into the webcast you just slide the thing back to where you want to watch - you can rewind. (is that what you mean?)

not loving this show this year - very disjointed with odd jumps musically -- seems like a step back from LY to the more "drill with musical accompaniment" of the early 2000's love their show LY so much... (All re: Cavaliers)

Crown's guard is their best unit yet!! Wow - may give Cavaliers & BD a real challenge. Great staging!! Nice job Crown.

Crown is looking GREAT tonight too! This DCI kids are fracking amazing!!

It will be hard with Cadets going on so early. Wouldn't be shocked to see them anywhere from 1-4 -- tough to go on that early and take 1st.

Cadets looked like a different corps tonight than in DATR - wow!! Still a lot of work to do but that show is starting to go to the next level :) Watched the past four corps so far and all of them look great for Mid July - positively GREAT!

No - not really. A bit tongue-in-cheek on my part... And I know folks thought BD should have won. I just disagree completely. To each their own. Cadets have a good shot of winning this year, at this juncture seems like it will come down to them, BD and Cavaliers.

Cadets have a good shot this year. DCI still owes them one from 2007. Don't think this isn't mentally in the backs of the dci judges community -- they got that one wrong and "they" as a collective group (IMO) know it. That aside - they have the horn line, drill and concept that can win, figure they will add even more meat to the drill and redo much of the guard book over the next few weeks. Need to make the end of the opener harder, fix some drill/guard placement issues in the ballad and fix the closer. It is too brief and needs a bigger ending. Do that and Cadets will challenge Cavaliers with BD in 3rd. Personally I think Crown is a "fix" for fourth with SCV breathing down their neck by finals week with their drumline leading the way. Bluecoats will finish probably next. Regiment might be the "wild card" finishing anywhere from 6th to 10th - a couple other corps could take them out finals week. For whatever reason (cough:visual program:cough) I get the feeling they will be passed by finals week. It's a great year - with a couple top notch shows. But like MOST years it will come down to Cavaliers/BD/Cadets...

BD Synth sounds way too loud too - I bet you it's where they have the mics for the live feed.

so many falls tonight during the cadets - and slips... Not good - hope everyone is ok! Sounds like the mics for the feed were parked right in front of Cadets Amp - way out of balance, hopefully it sounded a lot better in the stadium than it did on the feed. Bit of a rough outing tonight for them.

Not sure on Indy but if they could CLOSE a roof over Denver Invesco right now... that would be great!

It will be really interesting to see the spreads tonight at DATR - some nice battles going on score-wise up and down the ladder With the full panel and a top-notch panel I would expect a little movement and clarity to emerge as far as the gaps. Also with Cadets dropping some major changes in the last 2 days they may drop a bit - or surge, those things can go either way! Loving BK and hope they have a great home-town performance as well! Hopefully the weather will work out. Looking forward to the live feed :) George.

All - Haven't posted here in several years, and after this short contribution, I'll go back into lurk mode. The OP ask "DCP going down the tubes?" A provocative title, that's for sure... When I founded DCP we didn't have much. Frankly we had nothing, 3 members, a 9.99/mo web server account... A Domain name "drumcorpsplanet.com" and the tagline "this is a drum corps planet" But we DID have one thing: a vision. So let's dig out that original mental check list and see if its (so far) "Mission Accomplished", "Work in Progress" or "DCP going down the tubes" 1. Become the premier marching-arts discussion fan-driven website in the world. A. Mission Accomplished 2. Become a "fan friendly" site appropriate for users aged 14 and over (limit vulgarity, crude content...) A. Mission Accomplished 3. Use parallel sites focused on Percussion, Guard & Marching Band Activities to "drive awareness" about drum corps A. Mission Accomplished... but room for growth! Original premise was MBP would run about ten times the user base of DCP - just because of the vast number of participants in competitive marching band vs. drum corps. DCP has barely scratched the surface on MBP's potential we saw in the original vision. So tag this one "a work in progress" 4. Become "Self Supported" A. Mission Accomplished. When John bought DCP I knew at the time it was being transferred to a good steward. 5. Put RAMD effectively out of business. A. Mission Accomplished. I strongly believe it was a blight on the activity, hurting its image and damaging its participants, staff members and various member organizations. On the internet reputation is everything, and fleeting. RAMD was having a very damaging impact on the reputation of the activity we all love. 6. Build a site which would protect the copyright concerns of the drum corps organizations A: Mission Accomplished, DCP continues to do a terrific job of removing links of concern 7. Start a forum where true "drum corps nuts" can gather on the internet and interact, network, share, discuss and debate their shared passion without fear of personal attack, SPAM, etc... A: Mission Accomplished - but requires constant work 8. Disperse drum corps news and information with daily updates through links, original content, columns & member blogs A: Mission Accomplished, although the blog aspect has lost steam, and the original vision contained more video/audio and live webstream content - frankly DCI Fan Network is that missing aspect originally imaged for DCP 9. DCP Drum Corps Image Awards - annual "web awards" for drum corps related content. A: Was Accomplished, but I believe for only 2 years 10. Become a respected news, information and community hub within the "powers that be" who run the activity and its member corps A: Mission somewhat accomplished/work in progress. The powers that be read the site all the time, but actual participation has been limited. Instead they LURK. The origional vision included more live "hosted chats", guest columnists, etc... This sort of content remains more limited than we had hoped. So: a work in progress. So - overall - DCP has accomplished much. And no where on this list is DCP "going down the tubes" - discussions are cyclical - things will flare up, and then subside - happens in about 18 month cycles depending on the topic arc Yes - sometimes "loosely moderated discussion" can get a little messy... But oh it's so much fun, and so addicting! DCP has become a "daily destination" for much of the activity!! In closing, I wanted to add: THANK YOU SO MUCH to all the volunteer DCP staff, administrators, Moderators, Editors etc who give freely and generously their time, passion and faith. DCP has made a difference and continues to make a difference! And to John - well done!! Signing off: happy, proud and back to lurk mode, George.