glory

Yes. Someone posted a video of Spirit playing "Let It Be Me" from 1979 in another thread. I watched it and couldn't wait for it to end - and not for the final hit. No offense Spirit. I loved it back in the day. Now it's nostalgia. It's great in its own context. It doesn't have to be great in comparison. That's why reviving the old programs is a bad idea. HH

Every time a question like this comes up I scratch my head and ask why. No one in his right mind thinks the Green Bay Packers could succeed today by using the same schemes that won them so many championships in the 60s. Why drum corps? I'd go so far as to say that if the Beatles were making the trip from Liverpool for the first time today, they'd be a novelty, not a sensation. Wear your outfit from 80s today and see what happens. You'll get some compliments. What you won't get is confirmation that 80s style can substitute for today's fashions for anything more than an instant. HH

I know I'm not the only one old enough to remember the Scouts marching a female (Carmen, 2005?). At the time, labeling her a "guest performer" was a convenient subterfuge on the larger gender issue. Perhaps no more because surely she showered during the summer. I'd argue the Scouts left the door open that day. Tough for a would-be all-male corps to argue now that it can't accommodate one man if it already accommodated one woman. HH

Realistic. Not derisive. Not in anyway. Though C2 won DCA two years ago was second last year, it's only realistic to understand that DCI is the big stage. By the way, plenty of Cadets vets (staff and members) on staff at C2. My point stands. HH

You're not serious. Instead of joining staff at Crown or Bluecoats, they should aim their career instead at a DCA corps. No. At best, thoughtless stupidity. At worst, more of the slanderous, negative double standard that permeates this thread and this board. HH

At one point? As in ancient history? YEA has had but a single DCI corps for more than a decade. Even when Crossmen were part of YEA, the scoundrels around here were squawking daily about preserving the separate identity and ... yes ... staff of Crossmen. The point being: Cadets senior staff was as consistent as nearly any in the recent drum corps past. Last year was the exception, not the rule. In fact, if what's been reported here is is correct, most of the Cadets senior staff will be back again this year. HH

Really? You know better. Prior to last year, the Cadets design team (Gino, Colin, Jeff, Jay, etc) was together what? A decade? And you know what happened last year. A death in the family. Money raining from Massachusetts. Among the reason why Cadets are leading staff everywhere is there was no room at Cadets for so long for young talent to move up. You people have this entirely backwards. HH

In a way, yes. Someone is holding a gun to my head, and I don't like it. If I want to stay apprised of the discussion about the Cadets in 2018, I have to suffer the malice of the many who use this thread for mayhem. Oh, they may pause occasionally for honest reaction on artistic topics. Mostly though, they're here as prosecutors of the inquisition - an inquisition that predates DCP and in which there was no crime and is no guilt. Blame DCP if you want for this stupid - and it is stupid - catch-all thread approach. I never understood why y'all thought this was a good idea. Then again, I don't agree with most of what transpires on DCP. The persistent negativity here makes me doubt whether y'all actually like drum corps. But that's where we are. If I want to know what's being discussed on DCP about the Cadets, I have no choice. You should be ashamed of yourselves. HH

First, "raid" was a term of art. Talk about too literal. Second, I was discussing the top 6 and design. It's gospel around here that the Cadets design emerged from the Byzantine church versus the post-Enlightenment revelations of the top 6. That's just wrong. There was plenty of bad design in 2017. Boston's sin is burning witches and amplifying voice. Bluecoats were crippled by a huge jagged scar. Cavies gave us cabaret with a space odyssey. Crown deconstructed the music. SCV gave us series of circles in order to match the notes mostly played by most of its brass line. And BD, while enjoyable, morphed mostly where few could recognize. Cadets wore robes. And they told us when the mass ended. Maybe not a not a vision handed down from heaven. Neither was it worthy of Hades. And certainly not the only design that could have been improved. Yet here - where the double standard is holy - it's what held them back. Have mercy. HH

Yes. Gino/Colin was over-simplifying. Same point though. A less experienced, less veteran corps literally lacked the chops for the top 6. Apologies if that simple explanation doesn't hew to DCP's orientation around blaming Hopkins, vocal and electronics (probably in that order) for everything that goes wrong. I say this not to X but in general. And to George D.: You know I'm right. HH

You must be so proud of yourself. When was the last time you liked drum corps? HH

Okay. But you kind of missed the point. HH

Really? Cadets design lacking so? Compared with the corps finishing above them? I didn't see it. What was the genius in the top 5 (or 6)? It's not as if Boston wasn't literal with the witches. Or Bluecoats who delivered a reprise, only this time with a giant, static black hole in the concept. Or Cavies with all that visual and vocal clutter allegedly aggregating to a manly theme. Or Crown who gave us a level of stridency in the closer we're at pains to forget. Or SCV who used - wait for it - CIRCLES to represent snakes consuming themselves while a tiny fraction of the corps covered the vast majority of the notes. Even BD, the lone show in the top six worth another watch - what was that? By the time the One-Eye Sailor rhythm passed, the metamorphosis was lost on all but the most knowledgeable fans. Not to worry in BD's case - an exception in the top 6 - the product was still good. My view? It wasn't design that held back Cadets. Boston's raid on Gino and Colin cost the Cadets talent, which cost them in the standings. Only a handful of vets return to the brass line for 2017, and you could hear it. The Cadets brass just didn't present the mature sound that the lines above them did. That deficit resounded across the sheets. Percussion suffered similarly, though maybe not as deeply. One final note. Many of you who are criticizing the Cadets design, and in particular the chorus, never saw the show live - or at least didn't see it live in August. It was a different experience live. It was a gorgeous blend of musical textures deserving of more credit than the closed minds of the acoustic past are willing to allow. HH

Of course. We all can say moronic things. I know I have. I am surely a moron for posting at all on this topic. An idiot too. Stupid. HH

You could be right. I doubt it, however. I think the truth is more nuanced than that. I've been around this board enough lately to know nothing fundamental has changed. The biggest thing that hasn't changed is the posters who want it both ways. They want claim to support drum corps, or a corps or even the Cadets. They tell us they buy t-shirts or tickets as if their support is decisive. They sponsor a marcher as if paying for part of a tour gives them ownership. And then they look for scabs to pick. The sun can't set twice before any gossip is repeated and amplified as if it were true. They use cut and paste not as a way to inform but as tool for titillation. Not everybody. Not all the time. But some people way too much - especially on DCP and on the Cadets. HH

That's a pretty low standard, don't you think? HH

Again, I'm not sure that's true. I'm not sure that we love the same things about drum corps. Not you, Garfield. I'm not sure many posters on DCP actually love drum corps. It really seems to me that many posters here - now and through the years - prefer to run this activity down. And X's choice to ignore the essential qualifier is a great example. Here we have a director sharing his thoughts on his corps' triumph. He's thrilled and proud. Maybe he's a little sloppy in his language, but he's a drum corps director, not a novelist. And X reduces it to ridicule. Not in the third iteration. Or even the second. Right from the start. Ridicule. And you know what? This is a DCI Cadets thread. Making fun of him after C2's DCA win in a DCI Cadets 2017 thread is nothing but ugly. Doesn't even rise to the level of gratuitous. HH

I'm going to jump in here because I don't post very often and doubt I will be. You know the answer. Fair comment is fair. I'm not saying - I doubt anyone is saying - we can't or shouldn't comment on the public communications of Hopkins or anyone else. You know that. And I think you know we're talking about something else. We're talking about the quality of the content or lack thereof. HH

Mike, you did not offend me. No apologies needed. Just having a discussion. I hope in my zeal I did not offend you. I stand by my point, however. It derives from years of DCP reading in which Hopkins is treated like no one else. The standards for this site for how individuals should be treated have clearly and consistently been lowered where he is concerned. I would argue that they have been violated numerous times and that the participants on this board are culpable for allowing it to happen. I am not saying the post that launched me into this discussion today violates DCP terms specifically. What I am saying is it reflects a disposition among many posters to treat Hopkins in a way we wouldn't want for ourselves and wouldn't allow for others. There certainly is nothing else like it on DCP. Other posters, other people in drum corps aren't subjected to ugly and unfair scrutiny he is. You can say there is more material to scrutinize - and there is. But as I said before, he's only running two marching bands and making a difference in hundreds of young people's lives. The fact that he's transparent and occasionally sloppy in in language doesn't absolve us from our obligation to treat each other with respect. HH

So I'm the bad guy now? What's next? Somebody (you know who you are) going to call me a fanboy? A borg? Quoting myself for the record: This post (and those tagging on) is the peak of pique. In its complete disregard for the qualifier, it qualifies for moronic. Didn't call anybody a moron. Didn't call anybody trash. But also for the record, let's all agree the truth is a cheap commodity around here. HH

No collusion or conspiracy. Doesn't have to be. Yet the cadence is clear. The snarky snareline beats it out regularly with X at the center. And it goes mostly unchallenged because people like me don't come here much anymore. I used to average a post a day here. Now I bet I haven't made a dozen posts in the past couple of years. And it's because of trash like this. And you said it. You treat Hopkins like he's running for president, which he isn't. He's isn't asking to lead you. He's only asking to lead kids in two corps to a great summer and a great life beyond, Yet you give it to him everyday. Yes Garfield, it's all scrutinized as if it makes a difference to us. He (Hopkins) isn't making treaties with a foreign power. Yes Garfield, he's only talking about marching band. Some of you are smarter than this. Some of you aren't. The fact that Hopkins is verbose and transparent need not be license to find fault. Or even if it is, is it really too much to ask to focus on the words that actually matter? Case in point. He's celebrating C2's victory, and what are we talking about? A phrase out of context. Really? HH

My agitation is the problem? Anyone care to dispute me on the issue of DCP's fairness to Hopkins? Probably not. HH

Ah yes. The fairness appeal. Something never apparent when it comes to how DCP treats Hopkins. This wasn't one post in isolation. It's the same rotten mindset that has infected this site for too long. HH

Your post 1036 doesn't begin to explain or mitigate the deliberate, disingenuous deconstruction in post 1035. You can delude yourself. You can't delude me. Here we go again: Serving as the Director of The Cadets and Cadets2, Hopkins added, "In many ways, this experience is more enjoyable than the Cadets... "In many ways" need not even be "most" of the ways. The shame. I can't believe we are fans of the same activity. HH

Everytime I return to this site, hoping to have intelligent discussions about drum corps, I am confronted with trash like this. I can't believe that we are fans of the same activity. HH