ScribeToo

I think it's just a different approach to the activity in general. Rather than throwing a final, complete product at you in May saying, "here. this is your show for the year.. now we're going to go out there and bust our nuts trying to get it all clean and peak in August. Scores will probably really suck for a little while but that will change and as long as we can clean this show, we'll be golden" there is a different school of thought that says in May, "here. This is the basic show. it's pretty simple right now but it's all the basics we need and once you have this mastered, we'll start tweaking it to add in difficulty and make it better. Stay on your toes. What we put out next week will not be the show you march all summer." i think the former approach had pitfalls like finding flaws in the design and needing to do rewrites in order to correct them.. which could put you further behind in the cleaning phase.. the latter approach could also encounter design flaws but the corrections could happen a little more seamlessly and without loss to any phase at all.. since you're cleaning and mastering a simpler product when the design flaws are uncovered. Stef

Are you new here? Cavaliers (and BD, and Cadets and just about every EXTREMELY successful drum corps in the past 10 or 40 years) do that every year. Sometimes two or three times. Long gone are the days of "write a show, learn it and spend all season cleaning it to "peak" at finals." Nowadays, shows evolve all season long. I am sorry for being so harsh but really, I have to ask; which is more ridiculous? The corps that do it or the fans who are just now becoming aware that it's been happening for most of DCI's history? Stef

Darn you Matt.. you out sarcasm'd me before I even posted!!

Are you kidding me? Watch or follow any college sports? Pro sports? It's the nature of the beast.

I think most corps who have found themselves in that situation do exactly that. It's the fans who get their BVDs in a bundle over it..

With success comes critique -- warranted or not. It doesn't matter who is in the pole position in any given year, that corps is going to be nitpicked and critiqued down to it's shoelaces. It's all in the game. DCP is just drum corps' version of the Enquirer. BD has survived worse, a little bit of criticism from the stands won't leave a dent. For the record, while I, personally, disagree with your assessment of both this year and last year's BD offerings, I'm pretty much okay with whatever ANY corps puts on the field -- whether I consider it "amazing" or not. I'm just glad they're out there. Stef

I think the mistaken assumption that a kid would just wake up one day and decide, "you know, I'm not getting what I want/need at xyz corps.. I'm going to go march Cadets..." is the greater issue with threads like this. People who want to presume they know what's happened based on the result (i.e., the corps experience listing in someone's signature) should probably take a minute after a show or during auditions and go down to where the kids are and actually TALK to some of them. I think the answers they seek are easy enough to find and kids are incredibly forthcoming. When I read the OP, I had no idea which parent (if any) being referred to -- I only figured there are a number of parents and marchers every year who change corps for whatever reason and that must have been the impetus for the post. I started thinking back over the last 20 years I've spent as a volunteer with various corps in different towns and thinking about the hundreds of kids I've met and known over the years and you know, I don't think I've EVER met a kid who wanted to march a particular corps just to win a ring. Sure, they knew if they marched BD or SCV or Cavaliers or Cadets that the odds were in their favor but the singular goal of marching there was never to win. If you sit and talk to these kids, you discover that they generally all fell in love with drum corps and with that love came a dream of marching somewhere specific. I don't know how many of you know it but some of these kids go to auditions at their "dream corps" 3, 4.. sometimes 5 times before actually making the line of their dreams. At the end of each of those first auditions, they were likely told to go and march somewhere. Often, they were even given specific suggestions of where based on what was known of the staff and strengths of the suggested corps. Craig L. said it best: The friendships and "family" you gain along your path don't go away when you go to a different corps. Going from a "small" corps to one of the "big boys" doesn't diminish the experience from the former. It can only enhance the experience at the latter. Stef

Maybe if you'd listened harder in one or two of your English classes.... Oh nevermind, it's not worth the trouble at this point..

Hm. I think I'm about as conservative as they come (I just don't wear it on my sleeve) and even I can reduce myself to listen to interesting radio once in a while (Cubs games are carried on WGN -- notoriously "liberal" talk.. but hey.. it's the Cubs). Give it a try sometime (This American Life has recently made the jump to television, too.. it's quite good).. you may surprise yourself with your capacity for tolerance -- I bet you won't burst into flames even once. Thanks for the compliment about the review, though. :) Stef

Yeah, I read a little here and there.. I suppose it's comforting, in a strange way, that some things will never change. Stef

Hey! I just read about that in a book this morning!

set to a beat or accompanied by music. How is that different from the music recognized as "rap?"

J, Unfortunately, this is exactly the sentiment held by a lot of people in the activity today. I recall, not all too long ago, comments almost verbatim as above WRT to some recent championship programs. The other side of it is that we, as fans, CAN expect a show or portion of a show to stand on it's own.. where we fail is in expecting the rules to comply with our personal preferences. Summer is a welcome break from real life!! Stef

oh.. here and there.. I travel by shadow these days. :)

I saw the show Sunday for the first time and I guess, if you want to compare a relatively bare-bones June show to the excitement and nuance of an August show then yes, I suppose Samurai (as it stands right now) could be called "monotonous and boring" -- but I think history tells us that the Cavaliers' shows are far from "complete" in June. I found plenty of "oohs" and "aahs" in the show on Sunday.. as well as lots of room for more. I guess I can wait to pass judgement on it until I see it again at the end of the season. For now, though, I like it. One other comment, if the worst show in any corps history places top three, I guess there isn't a whole lot that corps has to complain about. The same can probably not be said for the corps whose shows it beat out for that spot, however. I love drum corps season! Stef

I don't think it's me who was in the Zone this time.. besides, I didn't care for that show

Wow. What show are you people seeing? Did they just put on a completely different show on Sunday night than they have all season long? There were a few mentions of the woman's diagnosis.. of her family history of breast cancer at the VERY beginning.. I think once or twice more but there was certainly no "droning on" about breast cancer. She talked about the rest of her life much more and the emphasis seemed to be on how she discovered her own happiness as a RESULT of her diagnosis.. not about the disease itself. It was little more than MENTIONED.. Some of you people behave like all they did was repeat the words "breast cancer" like performance art, for 10 minutes straight. That's not the show I saw two nights ago. Stef

So.. were you going to put a little flag over the part where "respectful" begins or just let us guess? Stef

lol shut up! That's the first belly laugh I've had on DCP this year! :) Stef

I wouldn't take it to heart. Everybody's got their preferences. He prefers another hornline over the Cavaliers.. the judges are using a sheet of guideline criteria to base their scores on.. not just how well they like a hornline's sound or arrangement. That's the line that separates us bleacher dwellers from the pressbox people. We're driven by what we like. They're driven by a sheet of criteria. Stef

Is the "topic" truly breast cancer or is breast cancer just a vehicle used to highlight the theme of finding happiness or where true happiness lies? I think people hear the phrase "breast cancer" and automatically assume the show is some sort of statement. It didnt seem nearly that contrite to me when I saw it on Sunday night. I couldn't disagree with you more about the Cadets show feeling "long," either. I thought it was compelling and ended abruptly.. and short on time, IMO. The theme, to me, seemed to be more about a woman who spent her life trying to find happiness.. only to have something really major and bad (i.e., breast cancer) come along to show her that she had happiness all along.. it also seems to me that it pretty much parallels the lesson from the movie you reference above.. the level of extreme or the kind of adversity one faces shouldn't validate one anymore than another. Adversity is adversity and if you learn from it, then it's served its purpose. I could be wrong but that's just how I saw it. I don't know what all the fuss is about anyway.. it's just a show with narration. See it once and make your decision about it. If you don't like it, don't watch it again. Stef

Well I finally pried my eyes open this morning after the LOOONNNGGG drive home last night and saw there wasn't yet a review of the Naperville show. I'll warn you now that this is probably going to get changed. Mike and I usually post our reviews in tandem because it seems, in my old age, I have become forgetful and he remembers things I don't always manage to remember. So once he gets home from work and sees this, I'm sure he'll either add his 2centavos or when I get home from work tonight at around 10:30, we'll edit this one. These are just my brief recollections (watch, it's going to end up being a flipping novel, right?) and since this is our first (and possibly only) show of the season this year, I might wax nostalgic about the friends we saw and the things we did outside the stadium. Just so you all know, it rained almost the whole way down to Illinois from our home in Fond du Lac. Mike was worried the show would get cancelled but I reminded him as long as there's no lightning or biblical flooding, the show would go on. We met up with one of my non drum corps friends for lunch at a little pub near the stadium called Quigleys -- of course the Euro Cup finals were on and the crowds were in full soccer game regalia.. it was a little like being the only non-drum corps fan at finals -- people kept shouting, all together, for reasons none of us could understand -- I don't mind telling you it was a little scary! The food was great and the beers were delicious! We sat down at our little table and when we turned around we, of course, noticed we had sat down next to folks I have known for years from volunteering with Cavaliers. Standing with them at the time, was the Old Man.. fresh from his book signing at a nearby book store and full of anecdotes and the kind of sarcastic, "should-have-a-cigar-hanging-out-the-corner-of-his-mouth-style" commentary only Don can get away with. They invited us to join them in the side room, reserved for the book signing after party (which consisted of Colt, Don and a few other folks who wandered in and out).. we ended up there later (with my non-drum corps friend in tow, making her best attempt to give the appearance of finding the table conversation interesting to her). After lunch, we headed over to the stadium to watch the boys rehearse and got there in time to see a bit of the set to set.. then a final runthrough of the show. I could go on about that (and will, given just a little encouragement) but suffice it to say, we were impressed. I'm not going to go through the threads and counter every comment I read that came back to me as I saw the show unfold in front of me to point out where the comments went wrong, but I will encourage people to see the show. It's really fantastic. They're obviously going to keep tweaking it (like they always do) and I'm sure the show will be quite different by August but man.. it's really something. I will mention that, musically, the show is particularly interesting to me. The corps does some really neat stuff with what I think is called "tone bending" -- I'm a musician and vocally, I do it often and without thinking about it.. but when an entire hornline does it, it's pretty freaking cool.... and yeah.. drum line. Holy crap. After the runthrough, we went back out of the stadium to the souvies and bought Don's book which he and Colt graciously signed for us. It was also a time for Mike to start seeing and reminiscing with some of his old corps buddies who were in town to see or participate in the CAC that night. At the Cavalier Souvie booth, I looked up into the face of a young man whom I'd watched grow up with the corps (Andy -- I think his last name was Bajorek?) and you really don't know how much volunteering makes a difference until you look into the aged-out, adult face of a kid you volunteered for and they look back -- even years later -- with familiarity and a big smile on their face... it's worth it. all of it. As show time came close, the dark clouds came in. The rain started to fall and everybody was dodging under the stadium to stay dry. It wasn't that bad and it wasn't that long but you could look out over the NW sky and see more coming so people were a little skeptical. The crowd was a little light because of the weather, I think.. but I guess that encouraged the 50/50 raffle ticket buyers to buy more over the course of the night because the jackpot was over $2000 (so the winner walked out with half of that!).. pretty sweet. Once the rain let up, people were heading in to their seats with napkins and plastic bags to sit on. We had the Blanket of Life with us so our bums were dry and cushioned all night long (just in case you were concerned). Pioneer was on first and I was excited to see Jackie Bilder on the podium. I got a chance to meet her and one of her best friends (he plays Mellophone and I want to say his name was Brian but I honestly can't remember) in January when they came to help me move out of my apartment in Oak Park and got sponsorship money and pizza in return. Those kids were amazing! Hire drum corps kids to help you pack trucks, folks. Their show this year is actually (I thought) a kind of departure from the familiar "all irish, all the time" pioneer shows. I know it's called "celtic reflections" and I know they play songs that have the word "celtic" in them.. but it wasn't another version of Gary Owen or Irish Washerwoman so I thought it was refreshing and well done. I think they have an ambitious show that was interesting and a large, energetic guard to frame and illuminate the program. I think they showed a little loss of stamina as the show progressed but it's June and that will improve. I also thing the minor brass intonation and phasing issues will be resolved by time, too. What will not be resolved by time is the Orange and Green flags. I know there will come a day when orange is not a flag color anywhere on the Pioneer field but this is not the year. Loved the show otherwise and think they scored about right. Madison was next and I've been hearing a lot of buzz about their uniforms and their show design and their marching and their playing and blah-de-blah-blah but you know, I never saw pictures of their uniform and I hadn't heard anything about their show other than reviews and I have to say I think the reports of their demise are greatly exaggerated. First of all, I really LIKE the uniform. I know it's a weird green and it blends into the field but I liked it. I thought the way it fits is unique and makes them stand out -- i think they look like no one except the scouts. I also like that it wasn't distracting. I also thought the guard's flags were spectacular. I loved them ALL and thought they were well suited to the kind of mod-ish feel to the show music. I will say, though, that there needs to be a change to the guard's uniform -- or rather what they do with it. Maybe the jackets should be left on? Most of the time it was alright but I will just say, there was a lot of moobage out on that field after those jackets came off. If there was ever a call for men to wear a "bro," this may have been it. As for the show design, wow -- light years ahead of last year. I think I read somewhere that someone thought it was over their heads -- absolutely not so! This is a show that's going to be fantastic and is WELL within their abilities. I think the downfall of the show at this point of the season (at this early date) is that there's SO MUCH DETAIL in it already. I think they would be scoring better right now if they had left off some of the little detailed nuances until the drill and visual timing basics were firmly in place, then add those in later. Right now I think there has just been a lot of stuff thrown at those guys all at once. They're almost there, however and I think they will begin to pull away from the tail end of the pack very soon. I think the hornline sounds great but the drumline needs some ensemble work. I also thought at the end of their show that an entire section was sharp -- I kept hearing the pit under the upper brass and it sounded like they were out of tune.. could have been my vantage, too. Either way, I thought the show was really good and if they clean what they have before adding any more, they could make some surprising moves. They had a lot of visual issues tonight and I was not surprised by the score they got. Blue Stars were up next and as much as I liked the two-toned jacket/pants combination last year, I think I much prefer the all white pants. Those kids look about 10' tall out there. I thought their guard uniforms looked a lot like the Spin Cycle uniforms from 2003 and then I thought to myself, Well, i guess nobody is talking about how obscene or disturbing these uniforms are because some of the people wearing them have breasts. Both Mike and I really liked this show. I love how they have chosen music that doesn't actually tell the "story" of the Tour de France.. but kind of pays homage to the reverence the atheletes within the sport of cycling have for the Tour. I was really moved. I also thought their version of Le Vie en Rose was one of the most beautiful moments of the night. A little choppy at first -- just long enough for me to think, "oh I wish it was just a little more legato.." and *boom* they changed over to this gorgeous legato line.. absolutely beautiful. I also liked the flags with the handlebars on the end.. I thought they were an interesting piece of equipment that was used well and delivered a visual impact. Their hornline is just sparkling and their drumline is showing signs of greatness.. the first two pieces of the show felt a little frantic and out of control.. but they pulled it together about halfway through the second tune and really just threw down the rest of the program. It's an impressive product that is designed well and placed right about where I thought it would (though I was a little shocked by the spread). Spirit came on after Blue Stars and had a pretty good show. I know it's called Peri-4-y.. and I know what that is.. and I sort of get the idea of the four colorguard in the different colored uniforms who mostly stay at the 4 corners of the performance area.. but I didn't get the show. I wouldn't mind not getting the show if the music and visual was really great but that wasn't there either so I really didn't have much to grab hold of. It was a nice show.. the hornline was really good and the musical selections, while not especially memorable, were performed well and would probably stand alone nicely. I was also not surprised by their placement. Their performance level was about on par with Blue Stars but I thought the content was not. We got a 20 minute intermission after Spirit during which I sprinted to a nearby tavern to use the ATM so I could get some show dogs and drinks. I got back to the tunnel just as Blue Knights were starting their show. The vantage from the base of the stands is about 10' above field level so I didn't get to see a lot of the vis design - which I'm sure was great. What I could see from where I was, though, I liked a lot. MUCH better than last year's show, IMO (I'm one of the few who didn't really care for last year's BK show).. I loved the little bits of the past that seem woven into this show. The guard not only wear the dots on their uniform, they also show up in some of the flags and the guard uniform itself is even a blast from the past (the all white uniforms of the mid/late 90s).. there was even a little snippet of Trittico in the mix.. I grew up in the southwest of the mid-80s and where I came from there were drum corps kids wanted to march, and drum corps we didn't even think about marching -- not because they were bad but because they weren't SCV or VK or BD.. BK, for us at the time, was one of the latter.. and I never thought I would be nostalgic about the history of BK.. but I was. It was cool to discover how important BK really has been to my drum corps experience after all these years. Again, not surprised by their placement but a little surprised by the spread. After BK was Crown and I didn't know what to expect from the long list of music in the program.. but from looking at them as they came on the field, my attention was grabbed by their awesome plumes. I REALLY like the beige or gold or whatever color you consider that plume. I thought they looked fantastic and added to the overall visual impact of the forms they make on the field. The name of their show, "Finis" should have been a dead giveaway to the premise of the show -- especially WITH the list of music they use.. but it wasn't until after the Candide that the smile crept across my face and I said to mike, "this is brilliant.. the best part of some of the best music ever written.. all woven together into a big drum corps love fest.. it's all payoff!" I don't know who was saying their transitions are choppy or awkward because they were great.. I also loved the layering effect they had in the ballad -- melting west side story with claire de lune.. it literally took my breath away.. the second big beautiful moment of the night. Enjoyable.. crowd-pleasing.. championship? No, probably not.. it's missing something I can't quite put my finger on.. but it's going to be a lot of people's favorite show of the year.. placement AND score were just about right IMO. Cadets came down the ramp next and for the mom who posted worried about her son's safety.. please don't worry. I assure you there are plenty of well behaved and respectful people in the stands this year. Naperville was no exception. I didn't hear any jeers or boos at all either during setup or during or after the show and they got a nice round of applause, too. I think there's a local boy in your corps guard. Now.. about the show. (everybody's on the edge of their seat for this, right? Does she like it? Does she hate it? Is she one of "us?") I like the narration. I like the storyline that's accompanied by the music tnat compliments the emotions being talked about. I think they play extremely well and I think they march extremely well but I was not all that inspired by the visual design.. I felt like the drill had to be designed around the stage .. not that the stage was incorporated into the drill. I also found myself watching the action on the stage more than I was paying attention to what the corps was doing when they were doing it. That is to say, I found the stage play more compelling that the field show. Does that make sense? I thought the acting was great and I have to silence the critics of the male actor right now. People are saying he doesn't have an NPR voice.. do any of you ever listen to NPR? Has anyone else ever listened to the show "This American Life?" That voice is perfectly suited for that style of NPR show which is what, I think, they were going for. That said, I think if they lost the narration and the stage play, I would not find this show as entertaining or as good. And no, I do NOT think a show NEEDS to be able to stand on it's own without narration anymore than I would expect a show to be able to stand on it's own without the horns or the drums or the guard. When you design a show, you design all of it, not just pieces that you stick together with duct tape. I also thought the show was short.. I think it's not finished yet and they will start scoring closer to the Cavaliers when it's finished. That's all i've got to say about that. I will say that Mike saved his hot dog to eat, symbolically during this show. So while he was IN the stands, he still says Cadets are one of his hot dog corps. *sigh* boys. Now.. the hometown boys.. MY boys.. I'm a fan and I'm not shy about it.. the Cavaliers were up next. I was excited to see the show in full uniform since I'd only seen it in rehearsal earlier.. I thought they actually had a better runthrough than show, though. (there. I said it. I think they had an off show). I heard greater intensity and saw crisper forms and better visual (and musical) execution earlier in the day and because of that, I think they faltered a little in scores. I did think they probably would have broken 80 last night if they had had a better show. I will tell you that the pit has changed uniforms. They aren't wearing the greens anymore.. they have taiko drummer uniforms they wear now and it looks great (I'll bet they are a lot cooler, too!).. They also added helmets on the opening fight scene duet.. and the beheading produces a head!! It was awesome (even in it's off-ness). After the show, we moved closer to see the CAC perform in standstill.. and Mike was all swelled up with pride.. just like every other Cavalier in the audience, I think.. They look impressive in those green satin tops and the guard is wearing the white vest and aussie familiar to fans from the 70s and 80s.. they performed familiar music and some familiar guard work, too.. no drill this time.. they wanted more rehearsal time together for that.. :) Can't wait !! 888 After scores were announced, we chatted with some of the guys we knew in the CAC.. snapped some pictures.. then headed for home.. ahhh.. drum corps season.. Stef

Is this the guy? Musicians in Buffalo ca 1979

Did somebody say MORE PICTURES???

I think he's helping out with teaching the show but that part of it will likely be done by the time the heat of the season is in full swing. Try as they might have, I don't think any of the CAC guys has been able to talk him into donning a uniform and climbing the podium (yet, anyway.. here's hoping!) Stef