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Wog

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Everything posted by Wog

  1. Actually Tinker Mountain...viewing from the stadium looking slightly NE over the Hollins area of Roanoke.
  2. Not percussion...this is one of Crown's best lines ever. (noting SCV the top line this year)
  3. Being at NightBEAT and centerline... the whole second half of the vocals seemed way overshadowed by the brass/percussion in terms of volume (not that I mind that) but this does bring up the issue of the vocals now getting "lost" and loses the effect maybe. Also I agree with others the visual color scheme blends too much green and compared to other groups just does not pop for any cool effect. White/grey boards and green uniforms just too neutral for really any interest. GE good...Brass/Percussion good... Visual package design is the limiter and I feel 3rd is the ceiling for this show. (My thoughts SCV, BD, Crown, Coats)
  4. Big shout out to the Crown Percussion for last night... great run and I love the book this year!!
  5. This is one of the best new venues on the circuit. Very fan friendly with easy parking and easy to get into the stands. Also easy to watch corps in the lot.
  6. bad turkey ties and kissing your sister.... ugh how 'bout them vocals this year??!!
  7. New ending speculation... A Crown set appears only to deconstruct into a large STAR.... someone from the crowd yells "IT IS... YOU!!!!"
  8. At least you got to like the fact Crown plays last Saturday and Sunday coming up...it leaves some wiggle room to move up if they can just seize the moment :)
  9. For me 2009 is the benchmark for Crown's percussion... I think this might change this year. I get to see them live twice over the next week so very excited about that.
  10. ...and a part of me at times also thinks some parts of shows are just not judged... an example would be the Blue Devils a few years ago (2014??) and the guard being on the stage playing the tambourines. I recall a percussion judge tape where he laughed and said he would let "upstairs" judge that part, but I doubt it impacted the score either way.
  11. Look this year's main beef is not personally with the singer... no one is really envisioning that the rifle line encircles the singer, and then leads the singer off in handcuffs to the Stage Coach while the brass line plays the "Hallelujah" reprise... that is not what this has been about!! It is with the choice of the designers to use VOCALS not only once but twice in back to back music selections. Vocals are somewhat of a gimmick in DCI and therefore doubling down is more multiplicative versus additive in terms of striking a nerve for some folks.
  12. Nice work... to me it will be interesting to see how much in each caption there is a turnover in ordinal rankings as we approach finals. What I mean is that this year looks to be a year where no one sweeps the captions and in fact there could be some interesting bubbles up in certain captions with SCV and Crown to rob points away from Coats or the BD and thus still lends viability to a "Dark Horse" victory. So getting as many 2nd place caption positions as possible (to go with a few 1st place ones) could be a major factor.
  13. It is not about a "negative adjective" towards the soloist but rather about the negative points hurdle that the current format of the soloist will cause (loss of points opportunity from GE and MUSIC). The brand for Crown is the hornline and it is needed for Crown to place at the top. That won't happen hiding behind the soloist.
  14. The ending for Crown's 2010 Second Chances "rewind" deal is another example of a bad "forced" ending to an otherwise good show. (and for the record I loved 2009 and the context of its ending!!)
  15. iTunes now also has Championships audio for 2014, 2015, 2016. Note each year is broken into 3 segments for purchase.
  16. 1996 at Charlotte Memorial Stadium and BD winning to play encore in horn arc... F tuning with 1996 Ditty and then that first hit of the opener was a "WOW" moment I will never forget. They played their entire show and just flat out pinned your ears back. BLOOOO does a pretty awesome encore at Massillon... mixture of show music and tradition in horn arc. As to Pre-shows... if it is needed to set the mood... then why not judge it?
  17. So how does the actual "spread" fit in to phrases like "there were maybe 4 incredibly awesome sections above you" or "holy cow there are 6 amazing percussion designs & execution at this point of the year!"?? I get the fact we want to see who is the best in an ordinal ranking... but it also seems counter-intuitive that the spread on an "awesome" or "amazing" line can be such a boat anchor to the overall score.
  18. I give a thumbs up... so far listened/watched to multi-cam Bluecoats, Crown, and Cadets at Atlanta and thought the audio was worthy (at least in headphones). Video is good too...no complaints here. For the record I did not buy the "Live" package. Been waiting for On Demand to return...so I will take what I can get and certainly look for additional events and corps to be added. This fills a big void, especially if they can get Finals added later in the year.
  19. Just "Technically Interested..." Here is a pic...
  20. Last night at NightBEAT I had seats on the 50 yardline aisle about halfway up the stadium and a member of the Coats percussion staff (the guy that plays the set in the Lot videos) sat next to me for their show... he had an app on his phone he played with the entire time where he was adjusting the BPM to match the show (although it appeared he was slightly ahead a few seconds)...and he would slow or speed up 1 or 2 BPMs accordingly... did this almost the entire show. He had an earpiece in. What was he doing and is this related to the Pit or was he only checking the battery timing?
  21. DCI.org just put a link up for some 2014-2015 APDs and some 2015 videos.... it is a start!!! :) See the FAQ https://marchingmusicdownloads.com/faq/
  22. The Cadets last year played first at Winston-Salem (NightBEAT) and left right after performing. Hopkins was pretty vocal about that (meaning "unhappy" and that it possibly breaks momentum from previous night??). This year's NightBEAT schedule seems about right and giving the nod that it is a home show for Crown (maybe SCV on first is out of place though). Should be based as the most recent regional and the home corp should play last for home fan value.
  23. I will jump in with a pure “DCI fan” perspective… noting I never marched nor am I affiliated to any corp but have followed DCI since 1986 and watching Spirit of Atlanta win at Parkersburg, WV with that incredible big “Southern style” hornline. From that moment I have been hooked on this activity. Since the mid-90’s I will consider NightBEAT as my home show and an event that cannot be missed. This show has routinely had several of the top corps attending including the dream lineup of 1997 with the Blue Devils, Cadets, and SCV headlining in a scoring shoot-out. Now with NightBEAT being a TOC event… from a fan getting to see only one show a year live… this becomes extremely value added in a line-up that is guaranteed to be incredible. From a venue change and larger crowd… holding NightBEAT at Wake Forest University was a brilliant move. Much better acoustics and easy for the fans to get into and out of the stadium (compared to Charlotte Memorial Stadium). Record crowd hopefully translates to better revenue. A couple of points on the line-ups and performance order and retreat: 1. I am a huge fan of “In the Lot” warm-ups… so having the Blue Devils or Cadets perform 1st gives a very rare opportunity to go watch them perform outside the stadium before the big event… in this case seeing the Cadets play Mahler and Rocky Point this year in a close range horn arc was just plain “ear-phonic euphoria!!” Without this quirky rotating performance order… where else can you experience this PLUS see the entire event line-up?? 2. Noting point 1… there is missed entertainment in the parking lot!! 3. At the expense of point 1… I really would prefer having a order of performance based on the previous regional’s scores. Maybe a slight modification would be to allow the home corp to play last regardless of regional score. It seems the corp directors (Hopkins??) and even fans seem to want this. Keeps the competition better aligned to "scoring groups" and I think allows a better "air" of scoring tension. 4. The 2014 line-up for NightBEAT missed having the Bluecoats… a big disappointment considering their historic run. Is there a need to drop a corp during the season for scheduling? I agree it gives others a chance… but does get into what does a TOC invite mean? 5. There is a need to improve INT…fans don’t want to pay for memory games and such…my suggestion is possibly schedule another event the same night as the TOC and go to a “Live” video cut in on the big screen at the TOC stadium. Gives folks and judges a chance to do what they need but also keeps some entertainment value going for those staying in the stands. 6. Finally… bring back the full encore for the winner or at least schedule a corp to do this… I have great memories of the Blue Devils playing “F Tuning” plus their full show in arc and pinning the crowd’s ears back. Phantom Regiment is another that always puts on an incredible encore. Again… another shot at improving entertainment value while waiting for the scores or getting value from the winner. 7. Lastly…the TOC seems it wants to exist as a “fan favorite” contest yet has failed to do so at the moment… there needs to be a way to tie in the fan’s sentiment…I acknowledge some of the previous attempts to do this but I do think some additional experiments are worth trying… maybe giving out a code in a select few programs, or having a small “fan” panel, or having the crowd cheer to set the order of the “cards from the memory game” and then give a small kicker to the “fans choice.” Either way… get the fans involved in the final outcome. Bottom line is that there is value to the TOC shows from a fan’s perspective and I will definitely pay to see this style of event.
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