Vdad76

Nope, it would be Madison in 88. From the triangles that backed in to the the end of Malagueña, no one was in their seats in semis or finals.

I don’t think the current Bluecoats members feet will touch the ground tonight! The staff will have a job to do tomorrow trying to get their minds on business.

There are a lot of tears on that field. I really don’t care about the scores right now. We have a brotherhood in the marching activity and remembering the hours with mates, forever friends is something to be honored tonight. Who knows, with the pandemic and economy we could have lost the activity that we love so very much. Let’s celebrate this tonight. There is time to compete, but this is not it tonight, it’s time to remember the wonderful things we have all been through as competitors and friends.

I’m in tears, laughing and dancing to Hey Jude. My wife and dog think I’m out of my mind!

THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!!!

They never won. They were considered the favorite in 75, but were DQ’d after prelims and no score was announced. I have the prelims recording and I think they would have won. The horn line was better than anyone else and very clean!

That’s why it was so important for Scouts to have had such an incredible run in Semis ( and that scores weren’t announced after prelims or semis that year).

If you are looking for a best finals performance, look at 1974 Muchachos.

Madison’s best run in 88 was at Semis. Finals was great (good thing because SCV had a fantastic run in finals) but it was near perfect at Semis.

It’s not necessarily the formula works, but the system works. 2 feeder corps and they all help each other out. The kids that “graduate” to the next corps are inbred with what it takes to be a champion. These kids know what they need to do and fix in this last week. Then you take that experience and run over the competition with it. I coached track and field for 20 years and the teams that were the scariest were the ones who were in the pressure situations of having a bullseye on your back, because stress did not get to them. If you are going to beat the champs, you have walk over them and not let them up.

The corps that’s had the best performance so far is the corps with the most experience for the top 3 in that last few years - Bluecoats. I’ve felt like everyone has been pressing, maybe over-hyped and don’t know how to control and funnel that energy like Bloo and BD do.

I love contras!

I think Boston has too much for Bloo to overtake them. Bloo has a great ending to go with the rest of the show now, but Boston’s show has been so consistently great and has not really dipped at anytime, Devils have tightened up the show, made some great changes and are responding as they always do, with veteran poise.

My first experience was seeing (on 8mm) in my 8th grade year, our band director showing our band class the Troopers, playing Battle Hymn of the Republic and during their starburst drill in a competition. I was blown away. I had considered being a music teacher (my Father was a choral for 8 years, then became an elementary principal) and after seeing that film, I was all in on being a band director and someday marching in a corps. We changed to a corps style marching band, and I had a blast along with becoming a huge DCI fan (after my Senior year my Dad drove 5 friends and myself to DCI North in the summer of 76 at the Pontiac Silverdome and we watched as the Blue Devils laid everyone out with “Channel One Suite”. Went to Central Michigan University and had a wonderful time in the marching chips. Had two chances to march in a corps (Kilties in 78 and 27th Lancers in 80), but I was paying my way for the most part and I would have had to work for a year to pay for a year of school. I gave up my marching dreams, but CMU marched corps style and we played a lot of Paul Lavendar charts (before he joined Jensen music) and Jack Saunders was a great drill writer, it was close to marching in corps as I got and it was great fun. I became a band director, and in my 4th year we won a state championship in Michigan in Flight 3, after finishing last, 4th and 3rd in flight 3 the three years before. I was so proud of those kids we had increased in size from 21 kids in my first year, 48 my second, 56, my third year to 69, my fourth year. I was offered a job as a choir director in Missouri (Blue Springs JH) in 85 and we decided to move. With starting a family I knew more time at home was going to be important, but hoped I could enter back into the band realm after a couple of years. I loved the time at home but kept my band dreams as I wrote drill as a part of Orefice Visual Enterprize. I wrote for 6 to 12 bands every year, in varying sized bands, competitive groups and groups that wanted to do one show a year. I still write but do a couple of shows for the one show (District Festivals) a year, after 39 years of writing, it should be fun. I stayed in Choral Music for 27 years (20 years as the Blue Springs HS Choral Director with 4 years as the Assistant Activities Director for Performing Arts). My fandom for DCI has never waned and I still love this activity.

Phantom - they are back with the sound that makes me stand up and cheer! Crown - Incredible cleanliness and tonguing. Nobody else can play and march like they do. Bluecoats - They may be the most entertaining of anyone. Give them a theme and find a way of making the music work for it. Blue Devils - There is NO ONE that is consistently as good as they are and they brought their incredible jazz chops out this year. Moon River never sounded this good! Blue Stars - Aggressive and beautiful music that matches a show that is easy to understand. Wow what a concept! Colts - year in and year out this group does more with less, every year and are being rewarded for what they do this year with a wonderful show. Boston - Moving show, that breaks some barriers. Who would have thought “Can’t take my eyes off of you”, could be done in a tango! It is the single best arrangement in anyones show (with “What a wonderful world” that was incredibly wonderful).