Tim K

I think if you talk to a 1978 Garfield Cadet or a Boston Crusader, they’ll say Kilties of 78. A Freelancer may agree, but that year everyone seemed to have Garfield or BAC as a finalist. I knew a few BAC folks that it took a long time before they wore plaid or sang “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve.🙂

I drive by Dilboy Field in Somerville, MA a few times a week. Back in the day there would have been a CYO, Eastern MA, or Mayflower Circuit competition at this stadium two or three times a month from late Spring until Labor Day. There would have been drum corps, bands, and drill teams competing. We can look nostalgically as this time as the good old days, but it was a time of change. Bugles went from rotors to one valve to two to three during this time. It still would have been Key of G. The pit came into being. Color guards were experimenting as early as 1975. Drills became more innovative. These corps, bands and drill teams wanted to imitate 27th, North Star, Bridgemen, Garfield, and Boston Crusaders, all current old school darlings thought back in the day they were cutting edge. Yes they were criticized, sometimes even called bands (with the exception of CYO bands which were always bands). I’d love to see a return to the old days: feeder corps not associated with school programs. Lots of corps at different levels. The shows will not be old school. They will reflect today just as 1976 reflected 76, 1985 reflected 85, 1991 reflected 91.

A quick check on DCX shows that Blue Devils have won ten titles since 2003. Of those ten titles, only 2014 had a two point spread between first and second place. In 2014 people were predicting “Felliniesque” would be one of Blue Devils’ most memorable shows, not that the show needs work as we’ve been hearing about BD this year. As someone who has seen a strong BAC live twice, the conclusion I am drawing is Bloo has to be very good this year, Crown is stronger than many of us thought, and BD may have a fight on its hands.

Musicians uniforms (brass and DrumLine) represent the sea, the guard and put the sailors. They worked well for me when I saw the show on Saturday and Sunday, maybe the close proximity of the ocean at both venues (less than a mile as the crow flies or better yet seagull flies) helped at least psychologically.

“Stars and Stripes Forever.” Boston Pops performs it best and it’s their most frequent encore. While Arthur Fiedler, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart have all recorded it, the Fiedler recording is still my favorite. 🇺🇸

I’m going to the Wakefield, MA parade. It used to be a drum corps lover’s dream. A few well known drum corps personalities call it home and one has been on the parade committee so we used to always have a great roster. That changed when the Bristol, RI show was canceled and the early New England shows were before July 4th. Cadets were in the Bristol parade this morning and I’m hoping they’ll venture to Wakefield like they usually do. Same with Spartans. Connecticut Hurricanes are frequent Wakefield participants and on occasion we see Les Stentors. My thought is Boston Crusaders has already left for Cincinnati. Who else we’ll see is anyone’s guess.

Your Latin skills are impressive and much better than mine. 🙂

Because I thought I was posting in the predictions thread! I’ve made the correction.

I had better do this before Crown, BAC, and Bloo face each other for the first time. Like many folks, I think the top 4 from last year will not change though the order may change. 1. BAC: might as well go out on a limb here. Objectively the show is in good shape for this time of year and it has a great deal of potential to get stronger. I think momentum is on their side. 2. Bloo 3. Blue Devils. This will be my eat crow prediction. 4. Crown. I also think this could be a mistake too. Crown’s first show May have scored lower than it should have. 5. Cadets. I believe they are a solid choice for this spot. I won’t see them again until August. By that time a great deal of tweaking will be done and it could be a powerhouse. People have commented the uniforms look like gym class. They look young enough to be skipping gym class, so if they do well this year and retain vets, watch out next year. BTW I say this as a joke. Cadets have performed some of my favorite shows and have loved them since junior high. 6 and 7 will be a battle between Mandarins and Phantom. 8. Blue Stars who appear to be the Green Stars this year, but I’m Irish so that’s not a problem. ☘️ 9. Cavies but if they are off to a slow start and anniversary momentum kicks in, I may be eating crow on this placement too. 10. Troopers: first back to back finals since 1985-86, before any current Troopers were born. 11. Colts. 12. Blue Knights. I haven’t heard anything regarding Crossmen though that may change after I attend a July 4th parade where I may run into a few folks with Crossmen connections, but for now I have BK returning to finals.

I put the wrong post in the wrong thread. Sorry

I talked to a friend this morning who was at the Beanpot on Saturday but watched Sunday’s show on Flo. He wondered if he saw the better of the two shows on Saturday. I felt that Sunday was the better of the two, especially the opening. The brass sounded stronger, percussion seemed strong as well, and the drill flowed. The rifle work was impeccable and fierce, but due to winds some of the flag work was off at one point which probably explains the difference in CG scores between Saturday and Sunday. In the end it is a different show in person and as I said in another thread Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy is probably not the best stadium for a live broadcast.

Though this can be said about most shows, BAC’s may be a show that has to be experienced live. I would also not think Veterans Memorial Stadium in Quincy would not have the greatest vantage points for a drum corps show to be broadcast.

Rain delay! All Cadets equipment is covers, the corps has left the field, and the rain has stopped! Of course if they had stayed on the field and performed, it would have been the Allentown flood. New England weather.🙂

I’ll have to admit. Sat night when I passed the snares warming up, my first thought was they have rehearsal uniforms. I was surprised when I saw they were the uniforms.

I live outside of Boston and it’s clearing a bit. The rain was steady and heavy earlier though it didn’t last long. Since then any rain has been light. How long that will last is another matter. The farther south you travel, the better the forecast. Quincy is the South Shore but it’s the northernmost city of the South Shore. We’re also talking about four pretty hardy corps and there is historical precedent for rainy night and Quincy, as recent as last year and the judged show went on.

Just looked at the weather reports for tonight’s show. I’m liking Channel 5 WCVB’s forecast better than Weather Underground. Same lineup as Beanpot. Any thoughts on the evening?

Though prayer never hurts, for me when it comes to weather, Murphy’s Law usually applies. If I have an umbrella and rain coat, it doesn’t rain. Case in point: at the Allentown deluge a few years back, my umbrella was in the car.

My favorite posts always begin with “I just got home from the show…..” and I did just get home, I missed Crusaders Sr. I got delayed arriving due to a draw bridge being up. So much for a short cut. 7th Regiment appeared to be a bit larger this year. They are sporting new uniforms that are a bit of a departure color wise. The show is incomplete but they had friends in the audience to cheer them on. Spartans drill was very good, guard was strong as is usually the case. The brass has potential but I found at times it was restrained and at times drowned out by the drum line and pit. I do think it will be a force when the OC tour begins. I was impressed by Cadets. There is more body movement in this year’s show and plenty of moments that will bring crowds to their feet. They also worked hard to sell the show. I’m thinking they’ll be a solid 5th place in Indy. Boston Crusaders did not disappoint. The color guard is already near perfect. The musical book is challenging and varied from classical to popular (Dropkick Murphy’s) to whimsical (the sea shanties). All the basics seem in lkace but the show will be so much more as the season progresses. The audience was very happy with the score. The Commandant’s Own was a welcome treat and well received. The Latin jazz pieces were the greatest crowd pleaser. Their percussion joined BAC percussion for the encore.

Tomorrow night’s show from Quincy will be broadcast on Flo but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it taking place, at least from a competitive point of view. The weather forecast is pretty lousy.

Though it has a small field of competitors, two in World, two in Open, I’m surprised that a few hours before showtime there is no thread for the Beanpot in Lynn. The weather is fine but a bit hazy due to Canadian wildfires. It should be a great night for the show. I expect Boston Crusaders over Cadets and Spartans over 7th Regiment though I’m looking forward to seeing Cadets and predicting where they’ll end up in the overall mix. It will be interesting to see both OC corps, hoping that 7th Regiment is a bit bigger this year. The Marines will be an added plus.

Like others have said, the greatest overall company fronts were those of Cadets, for me Madison is a close second. My goosebumps moment would have to be SCV’s performance in Lawrence, MA in 2013. It caught me by surprise and blew me away. Though it’s not a strict company front but has company front features, 27th’s wheel always impressed me. I can recall seeing early season shows where you knew the potential but they had lots of work to do, 1979 in particular, but no matter what the wheel was always perfect.

I think they do. Personally I like what I see and at heart I’m a bring back the red and black kind of guy, so that’s saying a lot. The musician uniforms make up the color of the sea creating a backdrop and the guard tells the story. At least that’s how I see it, but no one has ever consulted me on uniform design, or any design for that matter.

The competitive season is shorter, but some corps had move ins around the same time as previous years so early season preparations may be the same, at least for some. Judging from some DCP posts, some corps are finished with the basics of their shows. My thought is we will see corps more ready to compete this year. They key will be in whether or not a corps needs to make major revisions as opposed to adding things and layering. Revisions take longer and a shorter season could be problematic.

It’s hard to predict. Even the smallest issues can cause problems on the 95 corridor and the summer can be the worst time for problems. Corps heading north for Allentown that are stopping in Maryland, New Jersey, and Massachusetts would probably not go through Philadelphia. They would go right to New Jersey from Delaware. There may be some rerouted traffic bypassing Philadelphia, but the usual route to go is 676. Allentown to Indy would not involve 95 through Philadelphia, or at least I don’t think it will. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part. I have to be in Philadelphia in early August and then I’m going to Glassboro. After Glassboro I’m heading back home to Massachusetts. Maybe I’m just hoping traffic will not be a disaster.

This is an interesting question. Overall I do not think drum corps has gotten better over the past let’s say ten years. This is not a slight. The young people we see on the field are the best the activity has to offer and they are amazing. There have been innovations and changes such as in uniform, amplification, prop use, etc., but these things make it different but not necessarily better or worse. I think individual corps improve and some decline. I don’t see that changing in the near future. Regarding Blue Devils, I think in the past ten years or so they have become consistent. We see less experimentation as we did in shows such as “Cabaret Voltaire” or “Rewrite of Spring” but there are more unforgettable and impactful moments. This has made Blue Devils more popular with the audience and I feel has decreased the hatred of the Blue Devils. While Blue Devils is still a destination corps and perhaps the most competitive corps to join, they have also nurtured more veterans. I was told this was intentional and a way the corps reasonably knows what to plan for the following year. So are we seeing a better Blue Devils, hard to say, but even if someone says no, we’re still talking about a powerhouse. Is the corps more competitive? Here I would have to say yes. Blue Devils knows how to win.