kbbandman

Title card Format Drama Created by Glen A. Larson Lou Shaw Starring Jack Klugman Garry Walberg John S. Ragin Val Bisoglio Robert Ito Joseph Roman Country of origin United States No. of seasons 8 (1st season extended into 60 min format) No. of episodes 148 (List of episodes) Production Running time 60 to 90 minutes 60 minutes (syndication) Production company(s) Glen A. Larson Productions Universal Television Broadcast Original channel NBC Picture format 35mm film 4:3 aspect ratio Original run October 3, 1976 – September 4, 1983

I tried watching Multi-cam for the whole show on iPad to Apple TV. Not one video glitch (first time this season).

I think the ending will make more sense by this weekend - there is a reason that they are in that form at the end. Bit of an homage to a past SCV ending.

Wow! I probably would not have noticed that until I watched the Bluray this Winter. Thanks.

VOD's from SA are up, and they are working great. For me, it makes a big difference which browser I use on the streamed vid's. Safari worked the most consistantly. Firefox skips a lot on streamed videos, Chrome was inconsistent, and I never use IE if I can help it. Personally, I would pay the same FN fee for fewer live feeds if they were higher quality.

Mine was good until Mandarins came on

I think maybe we can cut rainshdw08 a little slack, considering: 1. It is his topic (he is the OP); 2. He has been very generous with his time in terms of providing weather forecasts for many show sites this season; 3. He is actually a "weather guy" if I am correct, so his thoughts about weather might carry a bit more weight than the average Joe. Also, maybe it would be best to let the mods decide what is and is not appropriate.

My wife thought our fire alarm was going off!

Is this official?

I agree (but it was 2010). I only remember that because we went there instead of going to Indy - ooops. There actually was a tornado about 5 miles from the stadium IIRC. I liked the stadium though - right up to the point where they had to pull Phantom off the field - and that was all she wrote for that contest.

Just for giggles, I took the score graph from the Blue Knights website, and drew a line from the 1st score to last score for each corps. Then I extended the line out to project where they might be by Indy. Here is how it came out: (note: the graph only shows WC corps) 1. BD (no lines cross theirs) 2. Crown (parallels BD - about a point below) 3. Bluecoats (passes Cadets around San Antonio) 4. SCV (passes Cadets around Atlanta) 5. Cadets 6. Cavies 7. Blue Knights (passes Phantom around San Antonio) 8. Phantom 9. Madison 10. Boston 11. Crossmen 12. Blue Stars 13. Spirit 14. Colts 15. Oregon Crusaders (passes Troopers around San Antonio) 16. Troopers 17. Pacific Crest 18. Academy 19. Mandarins 20. Jersey Surf 21. Cascades 22. Pioneer Will it turn out exactly like this? I doubt it. (obviously not if you include Open Class). But it was interesting to see the overall trajectory of the scores over the course of the season.

Apologies to you - the comment (which I am modifying), was intended for the designer, rather than the members. I think it is their (the designer's) job to take in to account the body shape of members when creating a uniform/costume.

My wife and I attended the Drums Along the Columbia last night. Background: I am a band director of 30 years, and my wife has extensive experience in color guard. Disclaimer: It was a long, hot day, so this may be a lot of gibberish. Also: I miss Thunder, and I hope that they will be able to return in some fashion next year. The Venue - Fran Rish Stadium (Richland HS). Stands faced West - directly at the sun, so we were feeling like baked potatoes on the aluminum stands. Weather - The temp was about 100º at start time, with a light breeze from the North. The 1st 3 corps were hard to see, because they went on before the sunset happened. We thought that all of the corps suffered somewhat from the heat, particularly after a few days of cool weather on the "coast" (that is what we "inlanders" call everything west of the Cascade Mountain Range). This was especially noticable with the younger, less conditioned groups. Eruption - Bonney Lake, WA. This was their third and final show of their first season. (It is good to see newer corps in the Northwest - I sure hope they will continue to grow). 12 Brass/Full Battery/4 Guard. Their show was "Burdens of Brilliance: Inside the Minds of Mozart". The drill was mostly sensible for a starter group, but the music seemed to be too difficult to pull off, especially with 12 brass. The small guard appeared to be self-choreographed, and did not do much to enhance the show. Also, unless you are familiar with the movie "Amadeus", I think you would be pretty lost trying to follow the theme. That said, I think that the audience appreciated the fact that they are brand new, and gave them a nice ovation. Score = 43.70 Columbians - Tri-Cities, WA. This was also their third and final show, and their home show. Their were quite a few alumni from the "old" Columbians. (The original Columbians existed from 1955-75). This is their second year out, and they have shown a lot of growth in size and maturity from last year. 34 Brass/Full Percussion/15 Guard. Hope to see continued groqth next year. Score = 55.40. Cascades - Seattle, WA. They have had a change of management (again). The show is called "Turn". About 30 brass/Full Percussion/16 Guard. Doubling the size of their guard from last year helps visually. The design is stronger than last year, but it is obvious that there are quite a few members that were recently added, because there are a lot of "chokes" on most drill moves. Musically, they just lack confidence and endurance, and this will hopefully be fixed by Indy, as this show could take them a bit farther than last year's. Score = 58.00 Intermission - too long, but at least the sun was down for... Oregon Crusaders - Portland, OR. The show is called "Nevermore" and is inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe poem "The Raven". Parts of the poem are recited (sounds like James Earl Jones) during the performance. I was really looking forward to this show, based on clips I had seen, and the fact that they are fielding a full 150 members. For my taste, I thought that the electronics were overdone to the point where it got in the way of enjoying the corps. This show seems to have a lot more meat to it than last year's. Their marching is pretty horrendous right now, which also had an effect on the sound. Overall, visual is not a strength for them right now. As is typical of NW corps, they are getting a very late start - largely due to the fact that High Schools don't get out until mid-June. If they can fix their feet, I do see this show climbing quickly. I thought the score might have been a bit high tonight. Oh, and the guard outfits - um, not so flattering for the heavier gals).Score = 68.00 Crossmen - San Antonio, TX. When I first saw this show on Fan Network, I was concerned that "Alma Gitana" wasn't going to work for them, because 1) not all of the music seemed to really fit the theme, and 2) the drill seemed pretty congested. Those problems still exist, but the visual is becoming more effective, and the show is starting to grow on me a bit. Possible shot at 12th slot at finals, but probably not higher. Score = 72.90 Santa Clara Vanguard - "Scheherazade: Words 2 Live By". (Full Disclosure: I have been a fan of SCV since 1975, and our god-daughter is aging out with them, so my objectivity may be somewhat compromised). To my eyes/ears, this show is a big step up in complexity in the horn book, and the drill as well. The first hit, with the much-discussed 24 trombones, is creating the desired effect. What a sound! We watched them rehearse earlier the day of show, and it was apparent that they have already made a lot of adjustments/additions to the show in the last week. It will be interesting to see what they do as far as adding more time to the show, as it currently comes in at just over 10 minutes. Based on what I have seen from the 4 corps that are currently scoring ahead of them (in seperate shows of course, and based solely on Fan Network), I think this show has the potential to medal in Indy. My request: Please turn down the "thunderous goo" - you have a great tuba section, so don't drown them out with the bass patch on the synth. Score = 82.20 Really looking forward to Indy - this is the 1st time I can remember that all of the top 6 seem like shows I can enjoy. Great competition - it looks like a lot of close placements. Blue Knights - Denver, CO. "That One Second". Tough for them to go on after SCV. I thought their score was a bit high (too close to SCV), especially in the visual captions. I really like their music a lot, and they seem to be performing at a higher level than last year at this point. My wife pointed out that their new uniforms kind of wash out, and there is not enough color to provide contrast. On Fan Network, I was impressed with how clean their drill looked a couple of weeks, ago, but in person, there is plenty yet to be done. I think this show could be done very effectively without any of the narration or props (flats), and it would be just a really good drum corps show. Score = 78.80

It is actually the Boeing Renton plant - if you look farther in the background, you can see the tops of some of the HUGE buildings that are part of the facility.

RE: EnVision software - I have used it, and found it to be more intuitive than Pyware (think Sibelius vs Finale, Mac vs PC). It was pretty glitchy on Mac at first, but they have been very diligent in their efforts to stabilize and improve the product. It also has some advantages in terms of getting the drill to the end user.

Another option might be the just completed renovation of Husky Stadium (Univ. of Washington). They lowered the field, and removed the track - seating is much closer to the field now.

If I heard correctly, it was announced at the SoundSport demo on Finals day that Railmen were going to be a SoundSport group in 2014.

BTW, I was in the Royal Lancers/Third Regiment (Fall '74-Summer '77) with Greg Hall, and I agree with what you say about him and Sunset HS Bands!

Also Kamiak HS from Mukilteo has done quite well lately.

I went to a HS in Portland in the late 70's. At that time, we had an instrumental program that included jazz band, 2 concerts bands, an orchestra class, and even a music theory class. Numbers went from about 70 my freshman year to 45 my senior year. Adams, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Grant, Madison (my school), Marshall, Cleveland, Washington, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, and Benson - all of which had band programs. At one point, all of these schools had marching bands in the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade. 4 of these high schools don't even exist any longer, and none of them have band programs. Beaverton (West of Portland) has been the gold standard in the area for a long time, but I have heard of cuts being implemented there as well. It made me sad to look at the PPS website and find that all of the band programs are gone.

I was at the show, and the crowd response for SCV was much greater than for Crown.

When I say "Music Major", I am referring to those who are typically performance majors. For example, my undergrad degree from Univ. of Washington was a BME (Bachelor of Music Education), and I graduated through the College of Education. Those who were performance majors received a Bachelor of Music from the College of Arts. So yes, the education track is somewhat different than the performance track, at least in my experience. I think it would be interesting to see a breakdown of Music Ed vs Music Performance majors in the different sections of various corps. Not that I am willing to invest the time to gather all that info.:satisfied:/> Circling back to the original topic, BITD (70's), you could see the transition from instructors who were FMM's to those who were band teachers/music ed majors. As I recall, there was still a lot of animosity towards drum corps from the old guard band directors during that period. I am also wondering why having Music majors would be a thing to complain about. Maybe it is the idea that having higher level musicians somehow chased out the "regular" drum corps people?

I think it might be useful to make a distinction between "Music Major", and "Music Ed Major", because they are not the same thing. I spoke to a staff member for Bluecoats last summer who said that about 1/2 of the hornline was Music Ed Majors.

Bump