Tenoris4Jazz

In 1987 I saw the show in Sevierville where the Blue Devils won. I sat in the 10th row right around the 50 for their encore (horn arc only, no marching). Those were G bugles and it was so loud it literally hurt my ears. Loved every second of it!!!

Similar question... did I hear correctly at the theater that one of the guard members for BD who aged out had spent 15 years in the organization? Jeff Kievit marched with the Muchachos for 14 years and thought he had the longest tenure in Jr. Corps history, but that was all actual field and parade time. Did someone actually spend 15 years marching in the C, B, and A corps???

This is interesting to me. At my theater watching prelims, the overwhelming response was that it was a cheesy gimmick and they were trying too hard to make up GE. I thought it was just the person I was talking to, but another 8-10 people said the same thing. My initial reaction was just "How young is she????".

If you've never read the stories of Spirit's "birth", go find them and read them. IMHO, what made Spirit "Spirit" was Freddy Martin and Jim Ott. Freddy was the engineer and Jim was the engine. Everyone who played under Jim will tell you they would have gone to the brink of death to play for him, to make him happy about their performance. In a way, what Spirit was meant to be, what it looked like it was going to be, died that day with Jim. The future, the identity of the corps even, was ripped away from them very cruelly. Freddy managed to rewrite their identity and had some very good success in the 80's, but the momentum that was there from 1978 until July 8, 1980 went away and was never to return.

Oh, now you're gonna make me open up the excel sheet and start entering formulas!!! I actually broke the recap down into "Content" vs. "Achievement" scores to try and get the picture from a design vs. execution view. Devils were higher in design in all three captions and execution in 2/3. The only one Crown won was GE achievement, which I think everyone would concede. I see that as BD pulled their show together better and performed it better technically, no small thanks to an unreal effort from that drumline.

I'll throw my 2 cents in on this, since I'm 1) an accountant, 2) a statistics nut, and 3) a drum corps fan going back to the early 80's. I've been tearing apart the recap sheet since Sunday AM. What I noticed was a lot of 1st place scores on BD's sheet regardless of the actual numerical score, however close they might have been. If you win 12 subcaption scores by 99-98, that adds up. Crown had only 8 subcap victories, so there's a few tenths right there. BD's edge in visual was negated by Crown's edge in brass and MA. But as an accountant, I look at the final gap and the percussion gap and go, "That's it, right there." Devils won percussion by 0.7 and overall by 0.6. Throw out the percussion score and Crown wins by the .1 gap in overall GE.

Okay, this just helped me to decide where I'm writing the first check after I win the lottery. I'll just bankroll a new board.

My bad... I got the percussion and GE awards mixed up.

Why? Neither one of those shows got close to the crowd reaction that BD or Crown got.

I had to stay off the forum because of bandwidth issues (darn kids watching old Pink Panther cartoons all night) but I have to say this is the most awesome finals I've seen since my first one in '84.

cd's and bluray are going on my wish list for Santa

Not since '91

Yep. Best year of DCI in ages...

My 2 year old is asleep on the sofa and the 4 year old and 6 year old are going to sleep upstairs. I'm missing out on 280 watts of stereo to let them sleep.

Should be 140 seconds, at .1 per 10 seconds over

1. Yes, but I don't see them advancing a spot 2. Maybe... 3. I'm calling for a tie between the top 4!!!!

Well, this place is full of us old farts, so pick your poison!

Unfortunately, they're counting on you to want it so badly you'll do it at the last minute. I wasn't going to the theater show this year, but after seeing everybody at the Ga Dome, I had to. Of course the theater ticket was only $12.

That's when I turn and tell them "If you want that thing to still work in 30 seconds, turn it off and put it away." Of course I'm six foot and 290, so when a 15 year old looks at me, fear is the usual response.

Where the h#ll are the parents??? I was surprised there was nobody under 20 at my theater, but school just started this week so I doubt anybody was allowed to go out all night on a school night.

That all depends on where you sit at a show. If you sit down closer, you see individual people and more of the detail. I sat 15 rows up at the Ga Dome on the 45. You can't see the forms, but you get your face peeled off by the sound! The direction of the shots last night was pretty bad. Two or three close ups per performance is enough. The rest of the time should be mid range shots that show particular areas and high cam.

I listen to old DCI shows all the time. I own the Legacy cd's and have every Finals show from 1972 to 2006. I just listen, because I'm at work, or in the car, or doing yard work and can't watch. Within the last 10 years, it became less enjoyable because the sound went from 95% of a show to about 50%. I walked out of the Ga Dome in 2011 pi**ed because I didn't enjoy any of the music from the top corps. Well, the sport has fully transitioned to where you HAVE to see a show to really enjoy it, and that's a GOOD thing! If it detracts from the live performance to make the show "listenable" years later, then don't worry about it. What DCI has become is EXACTLY why the original 7 broke away from the VFW/American Legion and their iron fist of rules and requirements. These kids are creating ART... #### good art. It's a multimedia age and DCI is embracing it 100%! I cannot believe the level of performance and achievement this year all the way through the top 15, and they're not the same styles. Everyone is different and that's amazing! If you prefer the old stuff, do what I do and buy the cd's and dvd's and play them from September through May. Come June though, whip out the credit card, buy yourself some tickets and see it live, even if it's in a theater. You can still fondly remember what drum corps was... but to not embrace what it has become is just a waste.

To add to this, why must they do close ups on the singers? They're singing, we get it. Show what's going on around them please!