Jump to content

bawker

Members
  • Posts

    14,453
  • Joined

Everything posted by bawker

  1. It seems like they found that one synth patch a few years ago, and have to work it in somehow every season. I get it, it's classical and you have to find appropriate things for the field, but, man, it always seems to sneak in there. However, if you want to really turn things on their ear with the new rules, go find yourself a classical pianist who can rip it up one year and make them the featured player. Better yet, do an organ show and play some Saint-Saens or Jongen. Anyhoo, perhaps the show will grow on me as the rewrites occur. Hill's arrangements don't give me any sort of visceral reaction (although I could really say the same about Shaw over at SCV this year as well), but I've always been a big Swan Lake fan.
  2. . . .complete with "artiste" character doing the narration, commenting on his woeful love life and his drug OD in the process. Cue lame "witchy" guard costumes in the final act! Well, at least we found something for Phantom Regiment to do next year.
  3. Yup. Cadets show will plateau in mid-July, I suspsect . . .and if Canton can clean it up, they can zip right on past them.
  4. Finally. No cute narration, no story, no attempt at a deeper meaning. Ever since about 2007, this is the Bluecoats show I've been looking for: music first, electronics integrated just about seamlessly (the pitch bend is genius) and letting the horn line blow the stands back. I would like to see this win . . .but even if it doesn't, this is one of the shows that will be defining for the 2014 season: there's really something for everyone.
  5. Fantastic show. Dark, ###### off, a G7 jab . . .sold! The bones are there . . .once the stamina starts building and this cleans up, it's going to be killer. Already up there with Coats and Crown for favorites of the season for me.
  6. Kinda figured this is Hop would play it when I heard the concept earlier; the narration is just flat for me, as it's a well I've seen too many groups (albeit not at the DCI level, necessarily) go to over the years. I suppose I am jaded a bit, but it feels like "Generic Americana Show #24" right now. The old chestnuts they reference in the music feel fatigued, and the book just doesn't pop for me yet . . .I do expect to find some things to like visually once the season gets going from what little that angle gives us to read from. I really loved the past few years (last year especially, I thought it should have been closer to the top), but I don't think this one is going to grab me that way.
  7. Agree. The insular nature of the marching arts (using the same judges or "the people are already in place") will just make this a bit more back-patting across the aisle then we might have seen previously. Hope that's not the case . . .but you haven't tweaked terribly much here; if anything, you've made it easier for someone to be a bit more lazy in their respective analysis by just glomming onto the "big moment" in the other effect area. Cesario mentions this as an evolution; I might be more interested if I knew what the end game to this was.
  8. . . .what bothers me the most about this rule passing is that I'm finding it hard to care. I hope that changes somewhat as the season gets closer; it's a weird feeling.
  9. Well stated. I'd trial the entertainment change for a year at some shows . . .couldn't hurt. I don't go to drum corps shows for concert band style playing or subdued reactions; I go for the emotional, visceral charge it provides. As for the instrumentation change, no thanks. You've had plenty of "palette additions" over the past decade, so figure out how to max those out first before crying about stifling artistic vision or whatever else.
  10. Always good to see DCE in action . . .thanks for the reminder. Enjoying Kidsgrove right now.
  11. Cadets 2013 show is amazing, and yeah, a great balance of old and new . . .however, as you're catching up, and with your aversion to vocals . . .well, you may want to stay away from 2007 and 2008.
  12. I second this . . .although I'm not sure who they can bring in to get those "fire in the belly" chart arrangements back.
  13. . . .well, yes, in the "Monster Cable" sense of the mess that some people try to foist on the buying public. However, I have seen a new HDMI cable (and I do the monoprice thing myself and buy 'em in bulk) fix pixelation issues. It's by far the cheapest piece to try to replace first, anyway.
  14. Great job, guys . . . the road that began with the "Music Man" show in 1990, through to 1993's Div. II championship, making Finals for the first time with "Stormworks" in 1995 . . . wow. History is made.
  15. I really think people would be amazed how many "problems" this would solve if it was to come to pass on the sheets. As much as we want to proclaim that drum corps is 50% visual / 50% music . . .well, people don't buy videos of silent drill run-throughs, but somehow, we all end up buying mp3s and CDs of show audio.
  16. Music GE slightly trumps Visual on the sheets. 95% of complaints about "modern" drum corps solved.
  17. Not even remotely the same. Santa Clara . . .if they make a run . . .is in a similar spot right now. I still think Cadets will win.
  18. . . .that's the line of the year so far to me.
  19. Glad that this is being offered, although I may not bite since it's just me as the corps nut in the family and I've already shelled out for the Blu-Ray FN package. Still, it's something to consider in the years to come to get the "Finals Watching Party" crowd back together.
×
×
  • Create New...