Tad_MMA

Gee. Thanks, Dude. I was looking and ran across a bunch of junk I've hoarded over the years. I wasted an hour. Anyway, I found the official judges' recap for Finals 2001 (with each caption10+10 breakdown). I'll figure out something... I have no scanner.

Yeah, I'd go with VK '92. I'm trying to find a more rabid audience response DURING a piece of music when Brunhilde was chomped by the "alligator" (RIP, Curt Gowdy) right on the downbeat of the chord resolution. Sheer brilliance. Tangent: in modern times, who would have ever thought that a corps like the Glassmen, a TOP-FIVE team, would be gone? Which top-five corps (current or past) will possibly be the next to go?

And in Yippy, Star won all captions (3-way drum tie) including guard. As unpopular as that was, there was absolutely no announcement. Bad decision, DCI. Regardless of what anybody on this or any other planet counters, that 1993 show was a delightful SCREW YOU, DCI/FANS design, and nobody will ever change my mind:) But the Jackson 2nd place crowd reaction wasn't as boisterous as 1992's 3rd place fall.

In terms of 1988 reactions, after the dust settled and the PBS commentators were talking, the caption awards were announced--and barely heard under the chatter. There's a very clear moment when Best Color Guard was announced. The camera was fixated on a Madison guard member---a really big black guy with a huge face. When Phantom was announced, his jaw dropped and he stood there in a frozen expression. Priceless. (I really wonder how secret all the semifinal stuff was, as the Scouts did win guard on Friday night.)

Star of Indy received a lot of applause in Jackson '93. Had they not closed with Dance of Vengeance, it would have been hopeless for them.

VERY informative! Thank you!!! But no, Spirit was icky that year. Their color guard kept them in 10th (guard was not part of the 100 pts other than GE until 2000). They're lucky the Bluecoats were sloppy Finals night.

What WAS the program supposed to be? I know SS revisited the Florida Suite in 1989, but it didn't have the talent or zazz of 1985 (gaaaahhhhh! BRILLIANT!). Not to beat the horse, but the dramatic difference between the guards of 1987 and 1988 was unprecedented. Did Lowe "recruit" better or finally get the members to be a cohesive unit? The only other change like this I recall was Garfield's 9th place '88 guard that won in '89.

After their masterful 1986 finals performance, My Fair Lady was a musical letdown. Granted, Stan Kenton is very hard to get across to the masses, but brass and percussion were the absolute best in their corps history. Heck, they went on with FIVE corps to go and still won field brass (9.9/10) over BD & SCV ---both had incredible lines that year. I'm still looking for the Color Guard caption head and staff!

It was indeed a "Karl Lowe corps," but did he run the guard?

I could go on all day about the amazing construction of that show. Too bad they were on their way out, because with the right performance, holy Christmas! But my question pertains to the color guard. In 1987, their My Fair Lady show finished dead-12th in guard Finals night. In 1988, they were 2nd in semifinals and 2nd in Finals. Had DCI used today's criteria for captions, Suncoast would have won best guard in '88. Instead, the 6th place semi-final placing Phantom guard snuck in there on finals night (Madison won guard in semis and was 3rd in Finals). Who the how the what the heck? Who took over that program to get them that great that fast? I recall somebody saying something about a winter guard called Odyssey... That "Children's Garden..." show is so creepy (guard masks/costuming/movement) but one of the most creative endeavors ever. If you've never seen it, the whole show is on YT. Incidentally, they finished 4th in guard in 1989 Finals, which was their last appearance---after finishing 14th in QFs. And the recaps list the same judge (J. Gilbert).

Guard trophies for BD: 84, 86, 90, 92, 95, 97, 98, 99, 03, 06, 08, 09,10,11,12,13,14,15. (In 2004, they won guard in Finals by 0.3. If captions were averaged, Green won. If not, throw this one on the pile.) Ironically, 84 and 86 were AGAINST great Scott Chandler/Spirit teams. Before 1975 BD was not known for their top-3 finishes, either.

How does it? GE might be affected, but at regionals/championships, there are TWO drum judges. Granted, those scores are averaged, but check this from 2008: GE Vis GE Vis (Avg) Guard (Avg) Perc1 Perc2 (Avg) Phantom: 19.7 19.5 19.60 19.2 9.60 19.8 19.9 19.85 Devils: 19.9 20.0 19.95 19.9 9.95 19.0 19.0 19.00 BD won every caption except drums. In the averaged, weighted numbers, these are the strengths/weaknesses. So BD's biggest lead over PR was guard, and it wasn't enough. Take out that second drum judge (horns and guard don't get a second judge, do they?), and DCI '08 is another tie (assuming Drum 1 was the field guy). They DID take it out after that season (I wonder why...) but brought it back in 2014.

Cadets' history: after April Gilligan aged out in 1987, she joined the '88 staff--first as a marching tech and then as a guard tech when somebody left during the season. In 1988, the guard finished 11th in semis and 9th in finals (first half/half coed guard). She took over the program in 1989, and they won. Then they won 4 more times in the 90s. (How they lost in '92 and '95 will be my second question to St. Peter.) Alas, she never won another guard trophy after 1996 (99.9% flawless finals performance). But the point is that it takes one person at the right time in the right place to find that missing piece.

Yeah, nepotism is the easy scapegoat here. Their website lists KH as part of "movement." The obvious (to us non-guardies) flaws were in handling equipment rather than stiff necks. I'm sure movement and equipment are symbiotic, but their former caption head once said (on TV), "Manipulating a piece of equipment is the easiest thing I can teach." Boy, does the corps need that right about now.

Phantom '93: Fire of Eternal Glory. It builds and builds---the hornline stops in the wedge, there's a quick cutoff (to breathe) and 14 G contras lay the rug for that gorgeous C-major chord. Like running through a carwash. My favorite BD guard moment. Ever: 2002, halfway through the show. The horns segue into that lay-down jazz section while the silks do a windmill-like arm/flag spin. Holy wow!

Exactly. But maybe a book with a little pep in it;)

I've never understood why the Cadets haven't used the potential of Jay Bocook. The man writes original music all the time and has been with the corps for decades. He knows the style, the other designers. Why not write original music? Jeez, man... take velocity, pathos and room for drum stuff, throw it all into a pot and give us an exciting, completely new production to go where none has! (Just get somebody in there who knows how to actually clean silks).

Again, I'm not begrudge their (or Star's) wealth. Have at it! But as someone pointed out to me, who got credit for all that blinky blinky SCV did? GE? Analysis? No, G(eneral) E(lectric) did. And that's not on the sheets. Come on, Vanguard, you're 0 for 15 in the 21st century. And one bronze.

"Jim Mason's psyche in 1992 For Jim, 1992 was a pivotal year because the show was designed for a broad audience appeal and the result was a hostile crowd. At that time, he decided to explore different directions. His frustrations led him to the 1993 Medea program be cause he wanted to give the organization a vehicle where they would be in control of their performance from beginning to end. Looking back at Medea, there were no opportunities for the audience to react until the show was over. This concept made some of the audience uncomfortable and created even more controversy. I guess that was Jim's vengeance." At the audience's expense. We don't travel across the country to pay for shows where participants see us as nothing more than a hissy fit. You know, even Marc Sylvester said it on TV in 1991 as the Cadets' drill writer: "...those moments that are uncomfortable to you? Grab onto them; those are the best ones." No, they're not. Cadets went from a "safe" show (1990, 1st place) to those "uncomfortable moments" to 1992's GE-winning, audience-loving 2nd place show. If those are truly the "best ones," why sandwich them between shows with comfort?

Both, I'm sure. They did start out VERY fan-friendly. They were so beloved with their Disney show... the next two were frought with overspending on props, so by the time they became serious about their music, the seed of "too rich" was already sown. Really, what did SCV do differently than that this year? They certainly didn't spend money on marching/brass techs. It was on light bulbs and bigger trucks in which to haul all that stuff. But I guess $anta Clara gets a free pass...

I never hold back. (Cappybara): "BD 2012 was literally a show meant to sound bad to our ears. I don't think Star 1993 was an attempt to #### off fans." In 1991 at Preview of Champions, the loudest BOOING I've ever heard came when the Cavies were announced in 2nd to Star (after finishing TWO POINTS behind in prelims). Roman Festivals was fairly accessible in terms of music (and much demand/nice writing for the judges)---more than Belshazaar's Feast. Star went on to win DCI that year. SO...to "make nice" with everybody, Star did the 1992 patriotic show. It was received the same way Cadets were with their mess last year: they dropped to third in Finals, and the crowd went absolutely APE$HIT. (Granted, Star '92 had a bad Finals performance... there are marchers seen out of step on the video in their final company front. Out of step!!!) SO...the attitude was, "Pi$$ on the fans. We tried to make nice, and you still didn't care. So we're going out with a bang." Jurassic Lancer, that's great that you liked it. I remember that year like it was yesterday; those crowds did not. The judges loved all that Philip Burton movement crap, but all it did was alienate the one-show-a-year ticket buyers. Great color guard, though.

Repeating myself: Star 1993 has a huge cult following now---mainly by "younger" fans who never had to sit through it live. I saw that show at DCI North, Preview of Champs (2x) and Jackson, MS (3x). The Barber parts were compelling; the Bartok just stunk. Audiences never warmed up to it. At least those at those six BIG shows. How that corps swept GE Brass in Jackson stymies me and is a perfect example of why ticket sales dropped drastically during the 90s. How don't care if Barber and Bartok wrote the ###### show themselves---it was NOT compelling to its audience. Oh wait... they threw in a fast, furious, tonal two-minute finale to generate applause. I'll always carry a grudge to Jim Mason and all those designers & staffers for using that show to flip us (the paying audience) the bird after we cheered them dropping to 3rd w/ their pandering "patriotic" 1992 show. Nobody will ever convince me that wasn't their entire motive for '93.

1)The Jim Gaffigan Show 2) Falling Skies 3) The Last Ship 4) Clipped Fear the Walking Dead was a boring disappointment. Boo.

The Caption Awards have changed so much over the years. Initially, whichever corps made the least amount of mistakes was the Visual ("M&M") winner. Then they added in a buildup # (Analysis). Then the all-buildup Field (10 pts) and Ensemble (10 pts). Whichever corps won the 10+10 Finals night got the trophy (ditto drums/brass and 40 pt GE). In the awful 6-panel system of '88/'89, there were 3 GE judges (Vis/Perc/Brass) and 3 Performance judges (same). Although there was a (finals only) GE Award, they stupidly added each performance number to its GE number to get caption trophies. In 1993, the Cadets won drums in Quarters and Semis. All of a sudden, Star wins the trophy in Finals. Fair then---not today. Plus, the Brass/Guard/Visual trophies (and drums---after both judges are averaged) are now ONE number. DCI feels that one Finals number does not a Caption trophy make. The Founders *is* all one night, but it's the accumulation of ELEVEN judges. In 1990/1991, DCI DID average Q's and S's to arrive at seeding for Finals. 1990 was interesting, as there was lots of movement 3-6. Listening to the caption awards this year was interesting; BD wasn't leading in either Guard or Drums. Given their dominance last year (not seen since Star 1991 winning Qs by 2.1 and S's by 1.5), it turned out to be a fairly exciting finish.