2muchcoffeeman

Clearly you've never experienced the BucEe's men's room. Count yourself lucky.

My point being, the stadium authority and the school districts are independent agencies, each having no leverage upon the other. Whether DCI signs, or does not sign, a contract with the stadium authority, that act by itsellf has no impact on whether DCI is happy with the housing situation.

Oppenheimer: the original Big Loud and Live

Yeah, I think 1 month is the smallest bite you can take.

Well, you can have huge unresolved issues around housing availability with a stadium, or you can have huge unresolved issues around housing availabilitywithout a stadium. Neither is ideal, but the former is preferable to the latter. They're solved independently.

Checking in from 38,000 feet, just off the southern coast of Iceland, trying to lasso the Sun. Should be on the ground by the time Pacific Crest Steps off. You folks will be my eyes and ears until then. Here's to everyone having the run of their lives today.

You fell off the cliff at "money train" Appearance fees don't move the financial needle at any WC corps. If only it were true.

Ohio was Union, thus the 11th Ohio was Union, yes.

I still think they've got something more in mind for that rope, and that sun, and maybe that DM, before it's all over

The situation: Same house, same (fiber-optic) internet hookup (1GB download speed). Two Roku sticks, each attached to a separate TV monitor, one upstairs, one downstairs. Both connected to the internet router via Eero wifi acces point. The house has one Eero extender. Roku A; TV A: When watching Flo (either high-cam or multicam), the sound/image matches at first, but quickly the video image falls behind the audio, by several seconds. There is no discernable visual "slowdown" of the performers on the field; all looks to be normal in terms of speed of motion, sticking velocity, flag movements, etc. It's just that the visual timing falls further and further behind the music. Roku B, TV B: All is normal. No problem. Visual and audio are in sync from start to finish. So here is my very technical question: WTF?

I had the same sensation watching early-season Cadets in 2019. Busloads of talent pointlessly pushing barges all over the field and a constant island-hopping of sound from one small ensemble to another. Eventually the creatives got their hands around the production and honed it into something less unruly and more focused. They landed at 9th that year. Maybe interesting: The name of the Cadets show in 2019, "Behold," was about as non-specific as you can get. Just about any thought can live under that label. Cadets took it in the direction of fanfares and processions and constant new shiny things to look at here and there. The job of the season was to take something wide and shallow and fashion it into something narrower and deeper. Interesting, then, that Blue Stars give off, to some, a similar chaotic vibe, but are doing so under a thematic concept that is not the vast ideascape of "Behold," but rather is associated with, of all the esoteric things of the world, the uber-specific absinthe ritual. Talk about narrow and deep. And yet. The lesson? If you're like me and believe that the theme or device upon which you hang a show is less important that what you actually do in the show, then Cadets 2019 and BS 2023 are primary exhibits in your case: similar outcomes from opposite ends of the thematic spectrum. Call the show whatever you want; attach it to whatever idea, broad or narrow, that you like. Be as specific or metaphorical as you please. None of that matters when the curtain goes up. The production has to have a logic unto itself, and it must communicate effectively on its own terms. The sheets triangulate at this with concepts such as "effect" and "analysis" and "content" that everyone strains to define, but ultimately rest upon, at best, a well-educated and -trained notion of clarity and coherence.

Congratulations to Troopers, who achieved their highest score of the DCI era tonight. >"<

Troop coverage was a mess

This is true and yet Allentown is still the best atmosphere for DCI ever assembled.

Yeah, yeah, and Spartacus 1981. But those were the exceptions that proved the rule. Santa Clara won in 1981 with a show named . . . nothing at all. BD won the next year with a show named . . . . And, yes, we're old! Anyone marching DCI today has known nothing but productions that come with labels on them. But even today, as I mentioned in a show thread somewhere, look at "The Cut Outs" and try to find a "story." Cut-Outs is a device, not a theme. It's a label, not a narrative. BD 2023 could have called this show "Wacky Shapes" or "Primary Colors" or "Try to Beat This" and, in my theory, they would be getting exactly the same scores they actually are getting today because the design, content and performance of the show on the field would still be the same design, content and performance of the show on the field. The BD production of 2023 has internal logic and coherence, and that's all that's needed. If, somehow, you never heard or learned of the name of BD's show by the time you plopped into your seat, you would get to the last note of the show and say to yourself "Yep, that's a winner." If we're going to be fair, the same should be true for Madison. The big ol' ball on the field should make sense unto itself and to whatever is going on, on the field, for the 10+ minutes it is out there. Whether it does, or doesn't, evoke a sense of a "Sound Garden", whatever that even is, should be immaterial. Judges (and fans) shouldn't hold it against the Scouts if the show doesn't conjure up a literal garden of sound just because that's the name on the program.

Makes we wonder whether judges even care what the show is called. If the Scouts had called their show "Garden of Sound," or "ACME drum corps show" or "X" . . . . would it be making any difference in their performance ability? Any difference in the ability of the performers to communicate with the audience? Any difference in how they are being adjudicated? I'm not saying design does not matter. Let me be clear: Design does matter. A show needs to be cohesive. It needs to be intelligible. That is not the same thing, however, as saying a show needs a narrative, or even a label. A ball rolling around the field doesn't necessarily need to add up to "sound garden." The ball rolling around the field might make complete sense if the show had no name at all, and in theory anyway, the score should be the same whether the show has a name or not. By that same theory, MC should be getting the same scores for its show design regardless of whatever name they put on the program. Time was, not so very long ago, that DCI corps did not give names to their shows.

Giving a corps a score of 100.0 is another way of telling the performers "It is not possible for you to improve." That seems counter to the educational mission, and is, in a strange way, a downer of a message.

Baby blue was a good idea in 1978 and it's a good idea now. It says drum corps

Presenting their 2024 production, "Cruel Mistress," .....

The final 60 seconds is the best so far this year. My guess is they keep tweaking it little by little, to peak during finals week

That sun is coming down on Friday night

Very effective transition here

Poor tubas ... stuck on props, hit in the horn with the rope ...

Health reasons?

Yep. Baby needed to be burped or something. All good, for now