chris7997

If we can have sexual innuendo in shows and wicked games, sensuality, killings, etc. I think we can put up with "let us pray" and a confessional. Let's be wary of becoming religophobes.

Crown's hats this year are certainly unique. Does anyone think they look too big? They look like they are too big for the marchers' heads.

All these reports about Bluecoats' show make me feel pretty, pretty, prettaaay good.

Ok, what do people think? Does Crown have a chance to win this year with this show? If it's light on GE, is that going to hurt them (esp. going up against hyper-GE Bluecoats?) Let's get real here...what is this show likely to place?

Show is very well done.

1 Bluecoats 2 Blue Devils 3 SCV 4 Crown 5 Cadets 6 Cavaliers 7 Phantom 8 Blue Knights 9 Boston 10 Blue Stars 11 Madison 12 Academy

GREAT! Can't wait.

Initially, my impressions of this show are less than enthusiastic. But I feel like this show might grow on me. It could turn out to be brilliant. Kind of like Bluecoats Kinetic...that show was at first..."what the heck is going on?" And then later "WOW, that's brilliant." But concerns about this show...1) HATE the ethereal singing...like nails on a chalkboard 2) The closer seems weak. Except for the musical demands, "there's no interesting WOW moment..." visually. It's just park and blow it seems at the end. It doesn't seem to have that, "You've GOT to see this! interesting drill maneuver or exciting general effect." Leave the audience wanting more visually. Like in Kinetic ... the color guard member being lifted up on the sphere thing. Something.

From Wikipedia: While encompassing a broad range of ideas, postmodernism is typically defined by an attitude of skepticism, irony or distrust toward grand narratives, ideologies and various tenets of universalism, including objective notions of reason, human nature, social progress, moral universalism, absolute truth, and objective reality. Need I say more? This is too much of what drum corps has become.

See previous post before you. I loved Tilt. It was great. But that doesn't negate my previous points.

It's Chris again. This blog topic's author. I love and loved the Blue Coats shows the last three years. And they were obscure. There wasn't much message (though they did communicate joy, elation, and overcoming struggle, I think). I thought Blue's 2015 show was brilliant. I liked it. And it was avante guard. Last year's world winning show was abstract and I thought it was awesome. If it is done well, I think it can work. People have a point that these are the shows that are winning right now. I get it. I'm not saying that we should eliminate all contemporary/modern abstract shows. I'm just observing what I see as a trend (or well established tradition?) as obscurity = better and a trend of fear in bringing up themes in shows that aren't dark, obscure, and eastern. I'm arguing that obscurity does not always equal better. And for more outside the box thinking (ironically) and shows with more meaning.

There is such a thing as bad art. And I'm not arguing for more arrogance, but for more diversity in show themes.

This is not a political argument. I'm not making one. People are making things political and reading into political things that aren't there. I don't blame you. We live in a hyper-politicized society...especially in America these days. If you boil my argument down to the essence it is this: obscure show themes (and likely obscure shows) are becoming cliche. People are growing tired of shows without realism and a message. Corps that do obscure shows think they are original by being "avante guard." They are not. They are being like every teenager who thinks they are being cool by wearing a nose ring when every other teenager gets a nose ring. And truth is not relative whether it's a personal taste or not. The truth is the truth. Whether I recognize it or someone else does doesn't matter. The relativistic responses, "that's just your opinion man!" may be true, but it also may be objective fact at the same time it's my opinion. I'm stepping outside myself to make an objective argument, regardless of my personal taste. I like diversity of shows. And the fact that people make the "that's just the way YOU see it man...don't force your values on us..." is EXACTLY my point. Too many people in drum corps are AFRAID of ANY value (unless it's eastern or dark or the "value" of vagueness itself) being inserted into any show for fear that it is being "judgmental."

Mingus, that's what I'm asking for. I want examples of why tolerance in this context is completely defined and accepted as having an Eastern, Dark, Obscure DCI show theme in your show. And why having a show with an actual message is so-called "intolerant." I want to know why corps designers are not more open-minded and tolerant of shows with a real message?

Like Western values? And what are those Western values, who decides them and how is that free speech if it's so limited to only a narrow range? Fair question. Freedom. Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech. Freedom of enterprise. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Liberation of racial minorities. Liberation of the oppressed. Western Civilization took part in the abolition of slavery. Democracy. Science. Technology. Medicine. But I'm also referring to Western (not eastern) music, art, writing, poetry, etc. etc. Western values of charity, temperance, etc. The list is huge.

I'm not judging the shows themselves. I never made that claim. Of course I cannot do that...no one has seen the shows! But I'm not holding my breathe that a show about an Ouroboros will not have substance about a snake that eats itself or an Enigma show won't be enigmatic. True, I agree. There are themes (which I gave credit to in my commentary) of heroes, current events, and nature etc. But they are often the exception to the rule...especially this year. But even many of those are often relativistic and obscure as well. I'm arguing that the scale is tipped in the balance towards esoteric, obscure, dark post-modern art...not in the other direction. It's been like that since I've been following drum corps in the 90s. We all know what I mean. I'm arguing for more tolerance and more balance.

Everyone has personal tastes. Even show designers. They don't want to control content? They don't have personal tastes? Clearly their tastes are for the dark and obscure. And it's becoming cliche. And yes, I and thousands of other drum corps fans are getting a little weary of their personal tastes year after year in 80% of the shows. They need to put aside their own personal tastes for once and bring more balance and open-mindedness to show themes.

My commentary and response to these corps very well thought out and detailed show theme descriptions released to the public is not a commentary on the shows themselves ... of course...because no one has seen the shows. My commentary is on the show theme descriptions. But we all know what we are talking about with esoteric shows and I'm not holding my breathe that the actual shows about an Ouroboros and an Enigma will not have actual show substance about an Ouroboros (!) or not be...shall we say...enigmatic! Surprise. DCI fans are allowed in a free country with free speech to make value judgments about show descriptions. I think open-mindedness and tolerance of shows that promote Western values in DCI with real life show themes that people can relate to is not too much to ask...and should be valued in the DCI community.

I know this will take heat, but there is free speech in this country...and hello...this is a blog/opinion forum...so I'm going to put my opinion down. Phantom, I'm not digging your show theme. "This seductive, powerful character begins life solely as an invasion of mind, but quickly becomes something more, blurring the lines between beauty, madness, and desire." - Phantom program description Gag. Of course we have to "blur the lines," right? That makes, what...our show "cool" and "hip"? What is this...50 Shades of Grey?! We have minors in this activity. And I'm concerned about the culture these dark, esoteric...and now seductive (!) show themes create within drum corps to young people many of whom are under-aged. "Oh Chris, you are such a teetotaler and old fashioned." Maybe. But at least I'm original in my desire for original show themes and not tired worn out cliches. And I'm tired of the cliched show themes of dark, esoteric, and seductive. It's lazy creativity.

Now Phantom. Here we go again. Like I said, drum corps cliched themes have got to be dark, eastern...and now "seductive!" All for what? To be "cool"? "Blurring the lines" according to their show description...of course! Gag. What is this Fifty Shades of Grey?! We cannot make any sort of value judgement or have any redeeming qualities to our shows...dark "madness and desire" have to be the order of the day. What kind of culture is this promoting in drum corps where we have minors participating in the activity? "Oh Chris! You are being too much of a square teetotaler...get with the times man!!!" People may call me unhip and too old-fashioned, but I'm making a counter-cultural argument against these disconcerting show theme trends towards darkness, obscurity, and now seduction. "This seductive, powerful character begins life solely as an invasion of mind, but quickly becomes something more, blurring the lines between beauty, madness, and desire." - Phantom program description

I know I'm going to take heat for this...but so it's Metamorph (is that a word?), some Serpent that eats itself, just the title "i"...lowercase! Not uppercase! (with an eye image), Enigma, and a semi-Satanic (partly being funny here) "Wicked Games." It's as if we are afraid to make any value judgement whatsoever in our show theme, and if there is one...it's got to be dark and Eastern. Dark, obscure, esoteric, enigmas are what these initial show concepts seem to be about. There's no balance to this with shows that have true meaning and are uplifting year after year (except for Crown, The Academy, and at times others). I get you can't be "Disneyland" and "Pollyanna" ever year and in every show but too many corps are force-feeding us post-modern baloney devoid of substance that leaves people scratching their heads after the corps walks off the field. "What was that?" is what we constantly hear in the stands at a show. And I'm sure it's partly to show how avant-guard and "sophisticated" we are being. "You just don't get it Chris. You just don't SEE what's there." No I don't. And neither does most of the audience. You can be sophisticated and entertaining. You don't have to make your show as unclear as a stained dirty glass. And shows can reflect real life. They don't always have to be abstract obscurities from the ancient world. How many inspiring topics could you do this year that could actually affect people's lives? What about stories that draw attention to the beauty in the world, like natural beauty (natural parks or nature), a husband or wife who volunteers to serve his country and leaves his family, a story of kids making it out of poverty from the inner city, a theme about redemption from drugs or alcohol, current news events with inspirational examples. The ideas are endless. Drum corps and art doesn't just exist for art's sake. It exists to inspire, to motivate, to draw our soul's out into a cause bigger than ourselves. To uplift our spirits. No to leave the audience more confused. That is a waste of art, in my opinion. Instead, it's a snake. An eye. A Wicked Game. An enigma. Shows that are so out-there in theme (I should have consulted my ancient mythological dictionary from college just to remember what an Ouroboros was), that we're wondering when did Western Civilization leave DCI? I get that too heavy a dose of saccharine shows and crowd pleasers ad nauseaum can make one feel ill. I'm not asking for more of those shows. I'm asking for a decreased dose of shows with no real vitamins in my medicine. Or at least some meaning to draw out from the abstract. I think that will make everyone feeling better.

Now Phantom. Here we go again. Like I said, drum corps cliched themes have got to be dark, eastern...and now "seductive!" All for what? To be "cool"? "Blurring the lines" according to their show description...of course! Gag. What is this Fifty Shades of Grey?! We cannot make any sort of value judgement or have any redeeming qualities to our shows...dark "madness and desire" have to be the order of the day. What kind of culture is this promoting in drum corps where we have minors participating in the activity? "Oh Chris! You are being too much of a square teetotaler...get with the times man!!!" People may call me unhip and too old-fashioned, but I'm making a counter-cultural argument against these disconcerting show theme trends towards darkness, obscurity, and now seduction. "This seductive, powerful character begins life solely as an invasion of mind, but quickly becomes something more, blurring the lines between beauty, madness, and desire." - Phantom program description

Those runs are amazing. Good video. Makes me miss those long summer rehearsal days. I feel like this could be a point-counter point show with William F. Buckley ..."DCI dance movements vs. marching...what say you WFB? Will this affect the future of DCI?"

The suspense is killing us here. It's June 1...eagerly awaiting Crown's announcement.

I feel like Crown is my adopted corps. I grew up in the Bay Area and never felt fully connected to either BD or SCV, although I respected them tremendously and still do. I feel like now that I'm living in the DC area (no corps), Crown makes a great adoption corps. I remember in 2000, when I marched, they were playing the mask of Zorro...I think they were 1/4 the size of what they are today...a bit rough around the edges...but you can still hear the makings of greatness even then.