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Tad_MMA

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Everything posted by Tad_MMA

  1. I didn't read much of the replies, so excuse any redundancy: The failure of the 6-panel judging system reared its disgusting, ugly head for the second (and last) year. There just wasn't a proper way to reward achievement by delineating half the captions. Under the '87 or '90 systems, I'd bet the farm that SCV would have won '88 and Phantom '89. Judging was so iffy in 1989. There is no way in Heaven or Hell that Phantom was only 0.1 better than SCV in Brass Performance. No way. I'm a brass player, so I won't add to the comments on the 0.5 Percussion spread between them in Finals -- close in Quarters and TIED in Semis. Cadets' brass certainly kept them out of 4th. That watered-down score was painful to hear at times. Does anybody have the juicy truth as to why Michael Klesch left after '88? And I know that George Zingali was near the end of his illness, but he did write two stunning drills for Star ('90-'91). I wonder why '88 was his last chart for Garfield...
  2. Corps merely picked music according to their individual identities. Now, the music is secondary to the theme announcements, the posters and the costuming. And corps identities have gone by the wayside.
  3. The (even more) crazy part: those 5 threepeat misses scored an average ** .46 ** behind the winner -- and two of those were 3rd place finishes. I've asked this question for 12 years about the 2008 results: how much of that vociferous applause was for Phantom winning and for BD losing? That .025 was the only thing keeping BD from a 4-peat (in '78, it was .35 preventing a 5-peat). Wow.
  4. I WOULD love to know specifics. I was there and have watched/heard the show many times -- I don't recall any tear. All I remember was that on Thurs/Fri, they absolutely OWNED GE...Saturday, for some reason, they finished 2nd in both captions. Now, Cadets 1996? YIPES. (And if you ask the 1985 members, Candide started with a HUGE tick, but other than a drum fluff on one beat, nobody else noticed.)
  5. Wait .WHAT tear? How have I missed this for 20 years?
  6. Cadets (Hopkins) admitted openly that the idea of the show (it HAD changed names pre-season) was unclear and fuzzy. He made it sound like they had no idea what they were doing -- and that certainly reflected in the members all season. They didn't look or sound like a 10-time champion. The drama (TV execs loved this crap) with their Guard Sgt having personal issues and leaving the corps for a while was really bad. Is GH Hopkins still dating that disaster of a guard caption head? (Yes, I'd say it to her face.)
  7. I am 100% convinced (not 99%) that COTC was the beginning of the end for G. Hopkins. The Cadet organization was utterly embarrassing. How much more interesting would Bloo vs Blue been?
  8. When/why did Tom Float leave? Was it around that 1991 debacle? If BD had Star's exact 3 drum scores that year in Finals (remember: 10 each for Field, Ensemble, GE), they'd have scored 96.8. Star won w/ 97. Between that, '81 and '08, BD left 3 Golds out there. Add: I just looked up Scott Johnson. BD Instructor: 1978-1989. Then something happened when he rejoined in 1994, when they finally won High Drums after the 1987-93 dry spell. Just curious.
  9. " McIntosh is in his 17th year with The Cavaliers, having served as percussion technician, caption manager, and as a member of the design team since 2010." Meanwhile, in 2026... ๐Ÿคฃ
  10. Then there is the other way 'round: in 1981, SCV won DCI over BD by 0.3 (w/ a 0.2 penalty). BD's comparisons: BRASS: +.65 G.E. : +.5 VISUAL: -.05 DRUMS: -1.6 <--- yikes
  11. Guard was eye-popping, too. I remember going to the Cincinnati area for a show and watching the guard rehearse the BWBB ending (those silks!). It was mesmerizing. Over and over again. Calling out individuals who were mere millimeters off. I always switch to the guard cam on the DVD. ๐Ÿค—
  12. And one last thing: Do you honestly believe that TJ Doucette and April Gilligan would have stayed at (respectively) BD and Cadets so long merely because they're women? In the 90s, there were no better people cleaning DCI guards. Period. They won ALL the guard trophies from 1989-1999 inclusive. Add the evil males of Scott Chandler and Jim Moore, btw, who were invaluable. Ok, I'm (probably) finished. And why hasn't April been inducted into the DCI HOF? Boo!
  13. And using California as an example doesn't do you any good. Or haven't you seen the videos of the filth -- and I mean FILTH -- littering the streets and sidewalks? Yeah, CA sure knows how to legislate for the greater good. #hit_a_nerve
  14. Fine. Push DCI into quotas. Once women are 51% represented as caption heads, you'd better make sure blacks are 13% represented. What about Jews? 2% down the board. Muslims! Atheists! Trans men/women! Look, how many straight white color guard designers are out there? It's so tiring.
  15. And to reply with a positive vibe: 1985: I start here, as it was my first year seeing live shows. This is my paradigm for a drum corps show. 1986: Most powerful and visually dirty show ever (until Phantom '08). Terrific music. 1987: Wow. Just wow. Even though Hopkins elevated himself to Program Coordinator, he met w/ M. Cesario (already at Phantom) who gave him the opening and closing. 1988: Underrated. The musicianship was stunning. Performing after Madison was a curse for anyone. 1989: Awesome July; disappointing August because it was so watered down. Highly entertaining, though, with an amazing guard. 1990: First time since they won that they recycled material. I didn't like that, but the show was great fun. (The reverse Z-pull makes for an interesting, yet simple, backstory!) 1991: First third is amazing. Then it lost energy. Guard, though. WOW! 1992: Saw their first show, and they were god-awful. Three more days in August, and they would have won. There's not a bad moment in this show. 1993: In. Your. FACE! Wow. 1994: This was the WSS show Hopkins wanted to do in 1984. Just watch the awesome Guard. 1995: One of my favorite shows, front to back. 1996: Their best guard (mmmmaybe 1991, but still). 1997: Amazing drill, (too) hard music. Wonderful stuff. 1998: One of their cleanest efforts. Wonderful score. 1999: Mixed review. It's a 50/50 love/not like. 2000: Their most crowd-friendly. Fun, fun, fun! See, there's much to love. Just not lately.
  16. I feel you, Dawg. I really do. In the 80s and 90s, the Cadets' field entrances would give me chills. I just knew the audience was going to be wowed. Enter Century 21, and this $hit happened: 2001: Juxtaperformance: (noun) (vulgar slang); "We have no idea what to do, so let's just grab unrelated tunes with no transitions and give it a 'clever' title." 2002: A pale reenactment of the 1995 greatness. "We matter more, because New Jersey is close to the World Trade Center." 2003: "Our Favorite Things?" Santa Clara's/Madison's favorite things. Then "Rocky Point Holiday" which stopped dead halfway through. 2004: Jethro Tull. I (literally) fell asleep at the Indy regional. That was a theme chosen more for a corps trying desperately to make Finals. 2005: Zone/Door: Without the performance level, that would have been hopeless. 2006: Zone Part 2. See above. Yipes. Remember the atonal (accidental) singer? 2007/08: So much narration that my head almost exploded. 2010: The stupidest concept sadly involving a corps member: "Little Geoffrey." Totally forgettable show with a great drill. 2012: A very high DCI muckety-muck said to me, and I quote: "Only George Hopkins can completely phukk up a Christmas show." 2013: Musically stellar; visually an absolute mess with those giant whateverthehells. 2014: A talented corps interrupted with lifeless music and narration. Sadly, their last good color guard. 2015: That uniform. 2016: "Clash of the Corps" was a national embarrassment for the 82 y.o. corps. I will go to my death convinced that this was the last straw for Hopkins. 2017: Leonard Bernstein's "Mess." 2018: Made me remember how great -- and missed -- 1993 was. 2019: Sadly, I thought, "Thank God they aren't at the Akron T.O.C." I wonder how much alumni support they've lost. I really hope the best for them.
  17. Other than for childlike attention, is there any reason you'd say this without mentioning names? C'mon.
  18. (At 11:15 -ish) He yells, "I'm enjoying the hell out of this music!" followed by him screeeeeeaminggg "WOW!"....WOW!" Can the drummers hear him? Are they paying any attention? I remember watching the Field Drum judge in 1986 practically inside BD's snare line during the feature. At one point, he turns around (facing the crowd), laughs and just shakes his head (and gave them a 9.9 out of 10). I wonder if that's an encouragement to the line.
  19. Aren't those the same two words in play this year?
  20. You stopped short of 2008, where he had Phantom at 19.8 and BD at 19.0.
  21. Remember how c-c-cold it was in Madison for 1992 championships? We had to go into town and buy cheap sweatshirts. Global cooling...global warming...climate change... Don't let them fool you. It was Big Oshkosh B'gosh getting a cut.
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