Quad Aces

There was a new reality show on the NFL Network this Fall called "Football Town", chronicling a high school football team's season in Barrow, Alaska (located above the Artic Circle, and the northernmost city in the U.S.). I thought it was fascinating learning about life WAY up there, and for example, viewing preseason practices the beginning of August, when it was about 19 degrees F outside on a "balmy" Summer day, with the Arctic Ocean and its waves whipping up right next to their field during practice. SPOILER ALERT: the show kept getting more dramatic with the team starting off looking like the season would be lost, then eventually qualifying for the state playoffs, and advancing to the state semifinal game where they got knocked out. I personally found the show more compelling that they didn't win the state championship, being able to watch the coaching staff and players' reactions to adversity and how they handled it. I would love to watch a show that presents the reactions of the DCI championship corps (members and staff) and also the 2nd place corps' reactions, comparing and contrasting the two. I probably would find the 2nd place reactions more compelling viewing just like I did with "Football Town". I hope the NFL Network brings back the show next year, doing another season in Barrow or even somewhere else just as interesting.

Thanks for taking the time to look into the issue and write a good response!

This was the first Finals I had was ever at, and at the time, I was about the biggest BD fan there was. There was a huge hush in the crowd, as if no one could understand what just happened and everyone was just so stunned. It was actually a duet, and kudos to the other person of the duet for nailing their part (and the rest of the corps for the accompaniment), even though he/she must have been shocked and really caught off guard. I saw on here recently that the guy with the "Frack to End All Fracks" in question became a lawyer and ended up in jail for embezzlement or something like that (there was an actual link to the news story and not just rumor).

Does anyone know if the individual corps are still selling their physical recordings? Since a lot of the individual corps have their own recordings made and sell them as a means of making more income, I'm curious to know how they are handling this situation right now. I know BD has just made their Media Box offering completely free. What about other corps - are they still selling individual physical recordings? And, as the follow-up to that, are the individual corps recordings chopped up like the DCI recordings have been? My hunch is that their own recordings would not be chopped up, and that some corps are still selling, trying to generate more income while trying to stay under the licensing radar.

What an incredible story! Kudos to the dad for making the choice that he did. Nice tie to Madison as well. I actually once saw a competition high school marching band with a blind marcher. From the stands, I couldn't figure out why one student had a guide behind them, dressed up in uniform, but not playing an instrument. This guide's only role was to hold the student's shoulders and help the student get from dot to dot. I later found out that the student they were guiding was blind. In both of these instances (this one and the story above), I can't even imagine the challenge...

Can you elaborate a little on what involvement Wayne still has with the music these days? I was under the impression that he still did the brass arranging/orchestrating. Is that not true?

Thoughts and prayers go out to Jeff and his wife and their families.

I agree - MVT 3 as well. When I was fortunate enough to travel to Rome, I so wanted to get a picture by each set of trees depicted in each of the movements. The closest I got to taking any of the pictures was driving past the Villa Borghese while on a tour bus... :)

Did anyone say which part/movement of Pines of Rome they would be doing?

I agree - back to Cadets 2016... Looking forward to another great season from Cadets - I really enjoyed 2015, and would love to see their take on Pines of Rome (one of my favorite orchestral pieces).

Where I come from, judging a person before you even know them is defined as prejudice, and that usually isn't a good thing. Hmmm, I'm glad this isn't the only representation that I have of the Cadets or our military - otherwise I wouldn't have a high opinion of either one right now. Here's a question - are you replying to my insignificant and pedantic responses while you are at work? My tax dollars better be going towards something better than that... And I mean that literally (as pedantic as it may be).

That is literally not true. I don't know you from Adam, and you don't know me from Adam. Please stop making judgements about me without even knowing me. Besides, I wasn't the only one who commented (jokingly) about your use of the word literally. Go bother them for a while will you??

Really?? What exactly do I do all the time? I'm slightly disturbed and flattered all at the same time that someone pays this close attention to things that I write on here.Now that you took this to a whole 'nother level when I was absolutely kidding and trying to kill time by posting - so just because it's the Internet means one doesn't have to express their thoughts in a clear and effective manner? Uh huh, I get it - right... So all of the terrible writing that is seen on the Internet are examples of people just kidding - when the real thing is on the line and they really have to write something correctly they can?? Yeah, tell that to some of my peers that are English teachers today and witness people's writing skills on grand display (and by the way, I teach, but I don't teach English). Look, I appreciate your passion for all things Cadets and all things military. I read your take on the Cadets and learn a lot from it. But please relax about something when I was clearly kidding, mkay?? :) :) :) :) :)

Ok, you got me there :) Although Michael Jordan gave us some pretty good memories for a pretty long time. I worked at the old Chicago Stadium and the United Center back then - some really good times for sure!

Didn't come on here (just) to be pedantic - been on here for a long time. Besides, I did say that I was kidding and I did use the old school smiley face :) Was't that enough??Sheesh, lighten up - it is the offseason, and we've all got about 8 more months to rest up before we get mad and aggravated with each other :)

So you're saying Jordan Koenig is a horse?? You heard this LITERALLY from the horse's mouth :)Yes, I'm kidding (but the misuse of the word LITERALLY today is one of my biggest pet peeves in English usage - and it seems to be getting worse over the years. Now don't get me started on misuse of apostrophes - Bear's, Blackhawk's, Bull's, and Cub's (go Cubs!). That is all - carry on...

First, I'm really looking forward to seeing this show and what Madison can do with the source material (again)! Really liked the first version. Second, though - any thoughts on how the rights issues are going to play out? Given that SCV's Phantom of the Opera show was a big point of contention rights-wise even before everything hit the fan and DCI yanked all shows from their streaming archived platform, I'm a little surprised someone is going with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Seems like this one may be destined for an uphill battle to get the rights (all of the non-performance ones) secured, no? Then again, maybe EVERY show is in that category right now...

Don't know if this was mentioned or not already, but did anyone catch in the end-of-year DCI survey that was e-mailed out, a randomly-selected respondent would receive a copy of the 2015 DVD (as an enticement to fill out the survey)? Wishful thinking on DCI's part? I figure that or copy and paste from last year's e-mail and just change the date without giving it much though for this year. One way or the other, I'm really glad that I took my own personal videos at shows of the top 5 this year, in a season that could be one of (the??) best ever. Took the videos without any intention of putting them out on YouTube etc. And yes, I know that still violates copyright policy, but I'm really glad I did that this year, when there is a very real possibility that there won't be a permanent record of these shows from an otherwise amazing season.

So either the guy at the booth isn't tied very closely to DCI and was more of a volunteer and taking about something that he didn't know much of the truth of (pretty likely) or DCI still is not earning points in the consumer communication category. Either way, not so hot...

The "ALL the videos of the activity we love have suddenly disappeared" isn't exactly true. As has been mention earlier in this thread, pirated videos, the nature of which is completely ironic in this situation, still exist on several platforms. Past videos still exist - on physical media - and probably are for sale on eBay as we speak/type. STREAMING of old/current shows in our activity (except live performances) has disappeared - hopefully to return at some point. PHYSICAL media of this year's show and the ability to purchase physical media prior to this year's show has also disappeared (again, hopefully to return at some point). None of the above mentions the segments of shows that are backed out on the existing (or current, if this year ever gets made/sold) physical media due to copyright restrictions. I'm tired after typing that :) - see how confusing the issue is??

If we are to go off of last year, most show concepts won't be announced until mid to late May 2016.

How many years later then would people be clamoring for a fifth medal...then a sixth medal...then a seventh medal... You either cut it off at some point or you give everyone medals. All that being said, I'm pretty shocked as well that Cadets didn't medal, although that may be more to do with show design than execution.

I'm glad that people are discussing this (what else are we going to discuss now that the offseason is officially here? :) I first asked this question at the start of the weekend, and it took a little while to catch on here. Again, legitimate follow up to a legitimate design question. If Clara is entering the story from the outside world through the opening in the book, then that would mean the characters in the story also went from the outside world into the story through the opening in the book. Not sure if Snow White, Cinderella, the Pied Piper, etc, went from the outside world into the story, and I don't think that's what the design intended. I think the characters were jumping off of the pages into the story on the field, not entering from the outside world through the opening in the book. If the characters are jumping off the pages into the story, then Clara was doing the same, which doesn't make sense (IMHO). Like I mentioned originally in this thread, in ABSOLUTELY NO way am I criticizing a 10-year old who was completely adorable, and played her part in the show incredibly well. I'm just trying to understand the design choice to have her enter the story the same way as the other characters - doesn't seem to fit in an otherwise pretty flawlessly-designed show. Perhaps the staff should have had Clara enter the story in some other way.

The NFL is using gold number 50s in each stadium this year for Super Bowl 50. Being at Lucas Oil on Saturday night, I have to admit the gold 50s looked more like "worn-out" white 50s or "sand-colored" 50s. Perhaps due to the Lucas Oil staff painting the field at the start of Championships weekend and not touching it up during the weekend. Made for an interesting surprise to Cadets' staff when they were painting their tarps to cover up all of the yeardline numerals to change them all into the number 10, only to find out that the staff had to scramble last-minute to change one set of them into gold numer 1s...

Quick question: why is percussion the only category out of brass, guard, and percussion that gets two judges?