glory

I guess you welcomed him to DCP in style. First post and the full treatment. Now, for the record, he didn't claim to represent every youth in our universe. Also for the record, it's worth noting (not dismissing) that the style was endorsed by youth, if not each and every one. HH

I don't know. The Eagles won the Super Bowl. The players surely did. Didn't the coaches win too? And the front office? And the fans? It doesn't feel right at all not to be inclusive. The Cadets. Members are Cadets. But does it really stop there? The parents who fund them, cheer them and love them don't have a stake? The volunteers who feed them, drive them and dress them aren't crucial? The staff who prepare them and push them to excellence and growth, they're not included? Or maybe the point is, we know we're sometimes being hurtful, so we create an accurate, though artificial, construct: We support the members even if our words (perhaps deeds) undermine the foundation on which they're meant to build. Don't get me wrong. It's a free country and a open forum. We are entitled to our opinions and to share them. I just think it's silly to believe you aren't harming the members when you bring harm to the organization. Not the Scherrs, per se. Just in general, which is my point. HH

No doubt WSS is critical of the society that created the gang environment and thus the gangs. Where i think Speilberg will struggle, and why I worry he'll alter the story, is WSS as it was written doesn't have the obvious establishment bad guy characters that Bridge of Spies did in the CIA guys or Schindler did in the Nazis or Jaws did in the mayor and business community. WSS has conflict with the establishment at its core. But the script is about conflict between the unfortunates. That's not what Spielberg does. HH

Can't imagine how Spielberg makes this one WITHOUT changing the story. All his movies are about the righteous man versus the sinister establishment. In WSS, Jets and Sharks are both wrong. Spielberg isn't usually so even-handed (or in the case of Munich, historically accurate). Nor am I sure the hopeful overtones of the ending will play to his taste. We'll see. Biggest concern might be the music. That score is one of the greatest ever (which is why I'm fine with corps giving it a go). Will he be content to let greatness be? Or will he muck it up? HH

Parents assistance? I've seen it both ways in my food truck service. One year we had a mother of a vegan come aboard a few times during the tour to prep vegan meals we could store and use later. It wasn't everything. But it was plenty. And besides, her daughter was one of the sweetest members ever, someone who never complained even when she probably had hoped for better. God bless her. Then there was the mother whose food truck time seemed devoted mostly to berating the rest of us for a number of offenses, most of which centered around not being creative enough vegetarian shoppers and cooks. Oh well. All in, I think we do a pretty good job. Is every meal a vegetarian feast? No. But neither can every meal be a feast for every member. Are vegan and gluten free a particular challenge on the truck? Absolutely. Chances are one of the four meals a day represented some sort of a compromise. Looking at that another way, three of the four probably weren't "compromises," which isn't actually terrible. HH

We have to be careful with "tools." The playing field isn't level (and never was) with a lot more than amps, mics and mixing boards. We know that some corps get new horns every year while others subsist on hand-me-downs. Some get prime staff and prime talent. BD and SCV can afford to run a corps year to year. Everyone else - everyone else! - struggles every day. The tools have never been distributed equally. That said, I am in total agreement that every tool should be evaluated by the judges on an equal basis. That hasn't been happening. Relying disproportionately on a mic'ed subset of the hornline can't count the same as a hornline in full. Doesn't make sense. HH

This is a big challenge. As a long time food truck volunteer, this is a constant priority and yet a struggle nonetheless. Over the years we usually had a dozen or two individuals every tour who were vegetarians or had specific dietary needs. We accounted for them each and every meal, but it was never perfect. Our failures were seldom for lack of consideration. There were times when our execution came up short. There were other times when certain individual's expectations just weren't realistic. Just like at home, sometimes the fridge isn't well stocked, limiting the options. Other times we nailed it (my vegan tofu masala was a big hit!). One of the biggest challenges we faced was protecting the "special" meals from those simply shopping for other options. I'm not blaming those on special diets. Nor am I letting the cooks off the hook. I'm just saying cooking for 200 four times a day isn't easy. Everyone - those with special needs and those without - has room to complain. Just be sure to thank the cook too. HH

The difference between the Bb change others like it versus electronics is how quickly (and well) the judges and their sheets caught up to the changes. I know you, Jeff, have been on that case from the start. When I was cutting slack for the poor use of electronics a decade ago, you were asking why the scores didn't reflect electronic performance too. I've caught up to you fully in the past year or two, in part because I think electronics have proven to be more opaque GE leverage but never a performance (or GE) liability. Something has to give. If it's not the way we use electronics, then it has to be the way they're judged. HH

I used to work with the former editor-in-chief of the Boston Herald, which was a pretty big paper back in the day. He would tell the story of one of the paper's columnists who used to say when things were getting dull that he was going to write about drum corps because those people get upset by every little thing. We know the people he's talking about. They might even be us. HH

Not fair, Garfield (Jeff too?). More than half the DCI directors voted for electronics. Hopkins isn't that influential as evidenced by the many, many proposals he submits that aren't enacted. All the many directors who voted for electronics voted for it because they wanted it, not because Hopkins is so persuasive. Ascribing A&E to one person is a convenient canard, not the truth. We know better. HH

I've pondered this for a while. And here's my view: That apathetic paying customer has always been there in drum corps. It's one more unique characteristic of our culture - a chip on our shoulder and a propensity for drama and complaint. That curmudgeon will remain to annoy some of us for a while. And when he goes, he'll be replaced by another such apathetic customer, this one with a new reason to feel offended. It's who we are - or some of us, anyway. HH

If you're saying scoring reflects GE/art more than it should, then we agree. If you're saying the level of performance isn't adequate, then we disagree. For me, 2017 was an unfortunate example of judges rewarding bad programming with inflated GE scores and with GE creep into performance categories. Too many of the top six had programs that didn't challenge the brass appropriately (SCV, Cavies). Others had serious design flaws that got a total pass from the GE judges. Performance, however, continues to reach new levels of excellence. That's one thing I can't dispute about 2017 and the overall trend.. HH

It's official. The Cadets 2018 thread is back on track. Let the manipulations, rationalizations and prevarications begin again. (no disrespect for MotoSurfBass intended) HH

I am proud to disagree with the effect judges consistently. Having the power to assign scores isn't necessarily the same as being right. HH

You liked that? Have to say it was among the biggest head scratches of the summer for me. Audio and visual just disconnected, so far as I was concerned (versus pitch blend where audio/visual blended). Wasn't just Bluecoats. Several corps were guilty in my court of not syncing sound and sight. HH

For the record, I saw the Coats many times last summer and recognized all that the show was (and wasn't). What's undeniable in this context (a complaint about the 2017 drum corps summer's sinister-seeming themes) is the single most obvious design element that Canton put on the find was a huge dark slash that severed the field. Whatever else the design was, there was a giant, jagged structure in black. The music and the moves were what they were. That enormous shadow was too. And before you accuse me of missing the Bluecoats' point, don't bother. I got it. I got the show. I also got it that there was more than plenty of darkness to go around in DCI last summer, enormous black slashes included. HH

The trend I most want to see changed is the one where judges don't differentiate when the bulk of the brass line only plays half and whole notes on the move. Any remotely challenging passages are stationary. Cavies and SCV were among those benefitting from this largesse last summer. Of course, the amplified brass choir was another multiplier for SCV. How do we level this playing field? HH

Dark. HH

Dark. HH

Or maybe it all emerges from the same place? Art reflects society. Always has. Always will. Not conceding anything on Cavies, however. The only thing funny about that show is that someone thought it was a good idea. HH

While "meaner" might not be the right term, the author is surely correct in observing the prominence of darkness and even ugliness in drum corps content last summer. BD was a pleasure. But after No. 1, there wasn't much joy to be found at all. Certainly not SCV with its snakes. Or Crown with one of the most strident finishes ever. The joy the Bluecoats might have brought was literally cut by a giant black slash. The Cavies put primordial and arachnid on the field (along with a general mess). Boston burned witches. Cadets had some of the rare beauty on the field (after a fall). It was mostly more of the same all the way to Scouts for whom "mean" is probably the best we can say. A common mood seemed to be shared among the design teams last fall. Someone near me in the stands in Indy suggested that mood reflected the drum corps community's reaction to the storm surrounding the presidential election. He might be right. In any event, I hope we've moved on. HH

I tend to think the show is under-remembered versus under-rated. The show was much-loved at the time, which makes its low profile more incongruous. I suspect it's ignored in part because of the style shift but also because there are so few videos available in the public domain. Could it be the copyright police crusaded against this one more aggressively than others? Whatever the reason, the show's fame was constrained by availability. For a large segment of fans, if you didn't see this show live, you didn't see it. That might explain why it garners so little comment. Too bad. It was a great show. HH

No doubt that you're correct that current marchers aren't uniform in appreciating every element of the current style. No matter though. Time and style march on. HH

So you don't like vocals. Or electronics. Or props. Or the uniform trend. My advice would be for you not to mistake the kindred spirits among the backward-biased band of baiters on DCP for reassurance that next summer will bring you a quantum change in direction. I thought the Cadets were great last year - at least within the limits of their abilities. I know most of those who sat near me in the stands - in Indy and elsewhere - agreed. HH

I would bet that a majority of the fans who viewed BD's show this year didn't know the opener was an old school nod, that they thought only that they were watching something different. Heck, as someone who's had Legend of the One-Eyed Sailor echoing in his brain for more than 40 years, most of the old school elements of that show weren't obvious to me. DCP conventional wisdom would have us believe that nothing done again could possibly be done better. That's wrong on so many levels. I, for one, will tell you Malaguena didn't peak in 1988 with Madison. But putting taste and preference aside, drum corps fans born after the tic's demise deserve to hear great charts too. HH