TheBigShow

I have it on good authority that the judges were told to disregard the TOC scores while judging this Championship Week. A lot of anger has been stirred regarding the most previous TOC panel and a certain "celebrity" judge.(Who practically called the show) Why do you think they took that recap off of dci.org? I wonder what lengths people would go to in an attempt to "stack the deck" in their favor. Particularly at their own home show???? Also, new this week, a number of people from the cavies' rehearsal site are telling me that the boys in green are ON FIRE!!!!! WATCH OUT!

Which ballad? The 1st, 2nd or 3rd one?

As long as we can all agree it's definitely not going to The Cadets

The Blue Devils care……of this I am certain.

True Top 3: 1. Cavaliers 2. Cadets 3. Carolina Crown Bottom 3: 1. Blue Knights 2. Blue Devils 3. Santa Clara Vanguard

It's unfortunately apparent that the "powers that be" at The Cadets are trying not to upset the alumni and "purists" with this whole uniform thing. The uniform change in 2005 was well accepted because of how well it really fit the concept of the show. There's no doubt in my mind that the design team wanted to go "darker" for the demon team and "brighter/purer" for the angel team. While the Maroon and Cream colors are contrasting, it doesn't quite speak to the extremes of good and evil. How much more effective would it have been to have an All-Black Cadets uniform with maybe maroon trim to outline the traditional uniform to represent Demons and an All-White Cadets uniform with the Maroon trim outline to represent Angels? It really just seems to me that they stretched the comfort zone of those who want to keep the tradtional colors just a little too much. Better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. They should've just gone all out and gone Black vs. White. When I think of Maroon vs. Cream I think of my Grandma's furniture. It's affecting the visual possibilities for this show, and it could end up hurting them in the long run.

Music you have loved since MIDDLE SCHOOL. Hmmm.......Seems appropriate since the early videos of their music are an outright slaughtering of standard band works. I really hope they aren't expecting to make finals this year.

AMEN! This would be more of a detriment than an advantage. The OC experience is SO much different from the WC experience. The Open Class corps often have lower quality instruction. Overall, it's a tougher time and not always a positive experience. MORE IMPORTANTLY! Experience in an Open Class corps does not, in any gauranteed aspect, automatically prepare you for a G8 corps. I know plenty of people who have had multiple years of OC experience and they still could not cut it at the "G8" audition. The operative word being AUDITION!!!!! There is a process where the top organizations eliminate people who are not qualified to march in a G8 corps. It's called the AUDITION! The audition processes for these corps is quite extensive. They usually have plenty of people to choose from. Previous drum corps experience only goes so far. I've seen drum corps rookies march and play circles around 3 year vets. There is no reason why a wonderfully talented individual should be forced to waste a year of marching because of a "one year in Open Class" rule.

I also have to agree with the previous statements that this is NOT really as much of a problem that it's seeming to be. I understand that there are neighbors that get annoyed with drum corps practices on occasion. During the many years that I marched, I believe I recall complaints from 3 or 4 people? Perhaps corps staffs and directors are not being sensitive to local noise ordinances. That is definitely something that could cause rehearsal facilities to be lost. Unfortunately, there are corps out there that have no form of respect for the facilities or their surroundings. They ruin it for everyone else by doing stupid things like rehearsing past local noise ordinance times, not cleaning the facilities before they leave, accessing areas in the facilities without permission, lining and rehearsing on fields that were not approved for their use and many other STUPID offenses that are making rehearsal facilities less and less available. However, I do not believe in any regard that we are in any kind of crisis. As for metronome alternatives, you gotta go with the BOSS Brain Beat Cranial Implant 6000.

If he's a veteran member, ask him what is on his pre-summer Wal-Mart list. Chances are if he's done this before, he knows exactly what he needs already. Help him to check off items on that list, because it can get QUITE pricy. I recall my first pre-summer Wal-Mart trip running about $300. Besides that, the inexpensive stuff that was mentioned before is perfect. Give him pictures and SEND HIM MAIL! There is nothing greater than having your name called at mail-call.

Word on the street is that when the Alamodome scandal occured last year, DCI was offered use of the new Cowboys Stadium by Jerry Jones. DCI declined, and opted for Judson. This sparks an idea. Why not move this large regional event to Cowboys Stadium? It is definitely a venue that is more tailored to the spectator.(being new) Also, you would still get the same amount of(if not more) people attending the show. Imagine the action shots on that mammoth jumbo screen!

Of course there would be some sort of exception for front ensemble? Or maybe even an exception for the Blue Devil screamer that just stands around for a majority of the show and demonstrates no real marching ability? Those people get no red shirts.

Now that shows have been announced, more interestingly accurate predictions can be made. 1. CAVALIERS - Notice how very little is being said about this show via the website? No extravagant videos promoting the show, no movie trailers with special effects, and no talking heads prematurely trying to convince you of how the show is going to be a masterful artwork of brass, percussion and silk. Sounds like they're going to let the program speak for itself. And only the Bad### programs "speak for themselves". 2. BLUECOATS - The increase in auditioning talent will serve the Bloo team well in presenting not the most entertaining, but one of the cleanest shows of the season. 3. BLUE DEVILS - The only reason that they're ranked this high is because of the wealth of talent from top to bottom in the organization. History repeats itself when you do the "melodic" style shows with source music of a "fading" artist. Remember Billy Joel and Jethro Tull? If the Devils don't perform the mess out of this show, they can look forward to another one of those participation medals that they got in 2005. 4. THE CADETS - No doubt this will be an entertaining show, but the powers that be at The Cadets usually have a knack for laying on the cheese pretty thickly. The source music is exciting, but there is no previous indication that the maroon platoon will be able to really do the music justice. 5. SANTA CLARA VANGUARD - With as much as SCV is usually criticized for their lack of "getting it together" in time, I have no doubt that they will get things done in a timely manner. The show will be finished, but in usual fashion, it will not be completely clean in time for the big show. (no pun intended) New staffing could also hinder the progress considering the fact that I'm expecting the balance between brass and percussion to be way off. 6. CAROLINA CROWN - This show very well may be the fan favorite, but it will be really hard to compete with the other programs in the activity. I have no true justification for Crown being this low, it's more a product of the rest of the activity being better rather than Crown being "not good". 7. BLUE STARS - Momentum is on their side, and I wouldn't be surprised if they turned a few heads and made a mess of my predictions. Besides that their ultimate success is still a work in progress. It's just a bad year to try to be jumping people. 8. PHANTOM REGIMENT - Does anyone have any kind of justification as to why Phantom is going to be any better this year? Their source music contains pieces that could very well make or break you. (emphasis on the BREAK) You might as well be playing Mozart or Grainger(ouch BK). Lots of individual interpretations out there of how this music should sound. Good luck! In the words of Metallica......"And nothing else matters"

One of the "Top 8" corps having open spots at this point in the season is DEFINITELY something to read in to. Having spots early in the summer is not unusual because of injuries that might have occured during pre-tour/rehearsal. Mid to late season opening spots are usually filled by veteran members that did not march and are still age eligible in order to have someone with experience to come in and learn the drill quickly. At THIS particular point in the season for "Top 8" corps, having openings in the hornline likely means one of two things: 1. There was not a substantial number of people that auditioned, causing there to be a lack of resources to draw from. 2. The talent level of the auditioning people was not specifically high. More often than not, #1 is the case, but it could also be a combination of the two. "Top" corps have TOP audition numbers. They'll usually accept the number they need for the hornline PLUS alternates just in case you have last minute issues. Without large audition numbers, you do NOT have alternates and more importantly you sometimes do not have enough people to fill your spots. Draw your own conclusions about what happens when you have a very limited pool of talent to work with.

Really??? A vast majority of drum corps members are in University Bands at some point or another. In that regard, Drum Corps are largely comprised of University Band members. In essence, you're saying the University Band members don't have grit and determination. Are you confused? Do you think that University Bands practice primarily indoors for only a few minutes at a time? At the same time, a large portion of University Band members don't do drum corps because they either can't afford it, they play the wrong instrument or they don't have the time during the summer. Drum corps members aren't bred at a private location, raised like Spartans and brought to DCI auditions when they come of age........THEY'RE MARCHING BAND PEOPLE! To answer the original post, any Band with money,a talented staff and people who want to march, could make a great Drum corps.