Cleveland1

Crown- new stuff added recently including closer. Bloo- new stuff added recently. SCV- new stuff added recently. BD and Crown should be closer to each other after tomorrow and SA. Phantom has been catching up to and might pass the Cadets, i don't see the Cadets as racing with BD/Crown at this point. with the changes applied by SCV and Bloo, i could see them pull up closer to the Phantom/cadets race, possibly surpassing either or both. Cavies have been gaining recently and passed BAC, and probably won't be retaken by BAC. can they catch up to Bloo or SCV? i don't know, but it could happen, but i don't really want it to happen. BAC, i love them and their show, I hope they stay in the top 8, but Madison is right behind them. But i don't think we will see SCV/Bloo really catch up to the cadets/Phantom until Hotlanta, at least. as much as i love changes and think they will improve both shows, i don't see them jumping over two points to catch up to the Cadets and Phantom over night, but we will see. Either way, shaping up to be an excited season.

Wait for it....wait for it.... New ending. Bam. No they aren't peaking. And haven't performed since Sunday right?

Here is my two cents when it comes to amplification and pre-recorded voice overs, or voice overs in general I guess. Amplification of the pit, useful at times. Adds power. Amplification of trumpet solos....not necessary. What happened to screaming trumpets? They still have the chops, but every time a corps uses an amplified trumpet solo it makes me giggle. Baritone solos, maybe can be helpful. Voice overs, dumbest thing ever. I can't stand it, usually. I really like blue knights using bonnie boy at the beginningg (and end) of their 2011 show, it fit, and wasn't a distraction from the show. But the cadets have a history of doing it, and it annoys the hell out of me. The zone, gah, ugh, bleh. And now BD and the cadets this year. if the audience can't "get" your show from the visual design and music, then I guess you need to have a pre-recorded message to explain it to the audience. In the Blue Devils case its a frenchman that talks for over half the show, and I can't tell if its supposed to be louder than the corps. For the cadets it is using the peanuts' recording. We get the show is about christmas, the voice over doesn't add anything unless a person was sitting there thinking, "hm, they play a lot of holiday music, but I don't understand the show". And then there are the cavies and blue knights. The cavaliers' show is starting to grow on me a bit, it was laughable in akron. Now I can enjoy it, the camera clicks, although fitting, are silly. And now I just enjoy the show instead of trying to compare it to a more serious tone like. 2010. BK, I actually enjoy the opening of the show. I think the design staff did an amazing job with it. The synth is quite over the top at times, but like with the cavies, now that I'm not trying to be serious about it, its enjoyable. The star trek reference, makes me laugh.

I am so pumped for the live webcast from Houston tomorrow. Can't wait to see what magic shaw can do. I feel so lucky to see this in person at allentown, nj, prelims, and finals this year. And it would just be icing on the vanguard cake if it improves their GEM, MB, and MA scores enough to rocket them into the top 3 past phantom and the cadets. But the scores don't even matter to me when it comes to scv.

Last year SCV was in 7th place at this time and over 2 points behind Bluecoats. we know who won between them in the end. I wouldnt count the Cavies out of the top 6 yet, or even boston for that matter. lots of season left.

There is a difference between being mentioned, or seriously discussed. mentioned, yes it has. its been brought up, shut down almost immediately. its like the US congress, we have a deficit...if its an issue, lets raise revenue, but as soon as serious loopholes are mentioned, or the idea of actually raising taxes is mentioned, its immediately shut down.

Lots of good examples you bring up. Comparing it to baseball is a fair assessment, in a lot of ways. You see the Yankees have won an outrageous amount of championships, similar to BD. Except in baseball attendance is up overall, you wouldnt know it by going to an indians game though. Will DCI die? everything will die eventually, given enough time. the AFL died, ABA died, etc. But it can't stay the way it is, and that's the point you are bringing up. That is the point that Horge Gopkins (George Hopkins if you are inept), brings up when he mentions adding woodwinds. The thing is, everyone realizes there is a problem. But when a solution is presented, everyone throws a fit. Should they add WW? that is up for debate, or it should be, instead of cast as a nonoption as it has been for years. They should make their own championship venue, after a while they would bring in the income from that instead of renting out places, for example. But things cant stay the same. all options should be on the table.

Can't wait for scores!

Their design is silly. Their execution due to talent pool will keep them in the top 8 in the end, although I think it will be a battle. If the staff and the members like the show, so be it. But as a dci fan, its one of the least enjoyable shows I've wittnessed from a top corps (apart from BD).

There isn't anything legally wrong if dci or any corps did endorse a religion. That being said, if they did in today's world I think a lot of members would be left out.

This thread peaked my interest. My two cents. Dci is, as far as I know, a non-religious/areligious organization. Sure there can be some corps that have religious roots, sure some corps can be sponsored by a religion like the Holy Name Cadets for a period of time. But on the whole, especially now, it is as secular as an organization can be. It runs during the summer when students are on break and the football stadiums are open. It conflicts with the islamic holy month of ramadan. But there hasn't been any issues. Possibly in the 70s and 80s when the nation's youth was more religious on average there would be some corps with their holy roots praying or something, but now with over 20% of the current generation of marchers identifying as nonreligious, a great many more that hold their religious views loosely, I don't see a lot of corps members trying to have their corps go to masses or services. A corps can, and I think should, allow members to do whatever they want in their free time such as bible studies. But I don't think most of the members participate. I agree that it would be silly if the corps had to drive each member to their denomination of choice, respecting jews from Friday night to Saturday night, muslims on fridays, and whatever. They sign the deal knowing what it takes, the commitments, etc.

Yeah crown! Way to get it!

Not as cool as last year with Madison doing empire state of mind while the fireworks went off in the background.

Corps would figure it out, how to win with huge corps that is. They would essentially be taking members from other corps. The gap between the best corps and everyone else would become massive. Corps like the cascades, teal sound, would probably have to fold. Sure it would be hard to clean, but a 350 member BD will be better than a blue stars corps with 150. Also regional corps would fight for even more members in small markets. With 3 corps in wisconsin, would blue stars fold if their best members went to madison? Phantom v cavies in illinois. BD and SCV. I don't see expanding size helping anything. The size is fine as is.

Yay its july, where we can actually compare corps' scores following july 14th.

We need the sport to be advertised by celebrities and such. Or the president. That would get a lot of press if the president of the united states loved dci and went to finals and what not.

My understanding is that it was conflicts in the corps. Although I'm not a member of the cadets organization so I could very well be wrong, and am open to the "real story", whatever that may be.

After having seen almost all of the corps either live or online via the fan network, I can say this is not going to be a disappointing season. The problem is if a person expected the same thing as last year where almost every show was awesome. When it came to the top 12 last season there was only one corps that I wasn't excited to see in Indianapolis. I knew not to expect to have the same feelings as last year, because it is rare that happens. But that doesn't disappoint me. It is my own opinion though but hey, everyone here seems to post it. But there are a few shows this year I am really not a fan of, being polite about it. I sit there bored and wonder when the shows will end. While there are a few shows that I can't wait to see live, since I'm from ohio I haven't gotten to see the west coast corps yet live. But comparing to last year, some shows I like more, some shows I like less, for each corps. As I said, I loved almost every show last year. This year I like SCV and spirit more than last year. While I enjoy crown's show, I preferred watching rach star. Bluecoats is a wash for me as I grew to really enjoy the show last season. Boston's show is one I like, but revolution was one of my favorites from a season ago. BD I thought I would love, but seeing it on the stanford webcast it seemed messy and cluttered, while the french accented voice over for 75% of the show is annoying. Cadets and cavies went downhill in my opinion, and I didn't have much hope for them before the season either. When I heard about the cadets DM leaving, and the turmoil within the corps about the show, I feel even less compelled to give it a sympathy vote because its about christmas. Blue knights I enjoy visually, musically it seems like it belongs in a corps that places in semis. I really loved english folk songs last year though. Madison won the crowd over last year, this year they try to do the same but adding nostalgia. I love a lot of their show, the pinwheel and all, malaguena seems like it was an afterthought though. Blue stars, idk, the show doesn't do anything for me. Phantom I loved last year, this year I find myself liking it but I don't desire to see it like other shows or like last season. When it comes to the "almost" corps of last season, I was impressed with the glassmen. Troopers were okay. I haven't seen crossmen or colts yet. So that's my 2 cents. Enjoy.

Lets say that the premise is correct. Football in this nation no longer exists as it does today. There would be a massive drop in the appeal of football in this nation if it were flag footballish, high schools that couldn't fund the program with ticket sales would likely give up on it. Stadiums would be used for soccer, which could be the saving grace but i doubt it. Without the abundance of stadiums to use during the summer, the amount of shows would be limited. this is good, however, since there would be a massive drop off in talent in the first 10 years. Most of the smaller corps would likely fold just because they couldn't field a corps, or their shows would be severely limited like the Blue Saints, and would be left to local shows with local talent. (Not a bad thing in itself). Of the larger corps, several would stay on top, the problem comes with competing for local talent that is now more rare. BD and SCV, Cadets and Boston, Phantom and Cavies, Madison and Blue Stars, and more. The talent pool would be smaller, so many of these corps would not be able to compete at the same level, some might form supercorps out of necessity. I doubt the Colts would last long, nothing against the colts because i am a fan, but they would be trying to get talent with top 12 corps like Madison, Phantom, Cavies right by them. This is just one example of many. DCI would have to change many rules, possibly lower the amount of corps members? Focus on regional championships and not world championship? They would need to get a stadium, somehow, preferrably in St. Louis as this is the "center" of the nation in terms of population to make it as easy as possible for all fans and corps to get there, although Indi is pretty good as well. I wouldn't say that Drum Corps would die, but it definitely wouldn't continue to exist as we know it today. But football will not leave this nation. Although many high schools are struggling with economic issues, football programs are largely overfunded but some are able to return a profit for specific programs, but not for enough schools however. How this issue will be sorted out, i do not know, but even if at a high school level smaller schools are not able to provide a football program, and a top notch music program, there will still be music played and people who know how great DCI is, and at the college level and pro level i do not imagine football ever going away, and the music programs as well.

I consider this to be wishful thinking at best. I would love it! But DCI is spending a lot of money and time building the city of Indianapolis around DCI, the culture, the festivals, the week long event, being HQd in Indi doesn't help in moving either. I wouldn't be super surprised if at the end of their contract they move the location, but i think that DCI would prefer lucas oil for a long time.

Mars really wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't make sense with the overall "theme" of the other 3 pieces, being airy, good, positive. Not aggressive and haunting like Mars. It also wouldn't make sense as part of their Old, New, Borrowed, Blue. Since the only one left is Borrowed, (Jupiter according to SCV is their Old) Mars as the Borrowed would be, silly.

In the last DCI season ever.... 1. BD will finish 4th (or lower) 2. Blue Stars will, unfortunately, not make finals. Glassmen will return to the top 12, Spirit will stay 3. The winner will be a corps that has never won....Bluecoats 4. SCV will be higher than BD for the first time in a while, at either 2 or 3 Thus sayeth the gods

I had gone to a DCI show, in massillon, in 2006. Although i enjoyed it, i never got excited or really into DCI until the 2009 season when i went to Big, Loud, and Live. Ballet for Martha was my favorite show, i loved it, amazed by it. and so it goes, i suppose. been addicted ever since.

2 of my friends are marching Glassmen this year. Not like you care, but it could be described as "news".