bkbass98
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Posts posted by bkbass98
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4 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:
They really perfected their "disappearing corps" effect this year...Eat your heart out Phantom of the Opera!
Guess they finally figured out that wind (according to Curt Gowdy). -
On 5/11/2023 at 1:55 PM, 2muchcoffeeman said:
I'm rooting for BK and I expect they will be competitive, but "Unharnessed" seems such an uninspired name.
Unharnessed
Unleashed
Undaunted
Unchained
Unbreakable
Unmasqued
Unsquare
It's been dun -- er, done. Especially for a corps that has carved out a unique and successful space in the form by pushing thematic concepts to the boundaries of esoterica, "Unharnessed" feels like a sharp reversion to the mean. A generic selection from Central Casting.
Here's hoping the performance on the field makes me forget all about the name.
I mean…it’s a name. The show in 2015 was literally titled Because. That show turned out to be one of BK’s most beloved shows ever. *shrug*
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2 hours ago, supersop said:
Anything "NEW" is typically controversial in DCI. The list is long.
93 Star - "they never play loud, it's too controlled, the drumline doesn't play enough, etc etc etc."
87 Garfields perfect drum score .... similar complaints to 93 Star (same arranger)
88 Suncoast Sound - this show is OUT THERE and I loved it.
86 Garfield (backward company front - "turning their back on DCI" was the complaint)
05 Cadets - drumspeak feature
I love all of these shows for various reasons. Mostly because they pushed what was possible and acted as a springboard for what was to come.
Judges vs Fans?
Most Madison Scouts shows prior to 2004. They were almost always a fan favorite and often heard boo's at retreat due to scoring and placement.
BD "winning" all the time by playing to the sheets blah blah blah. TOo many haters with valid arguments (lol'ing at myself).
The big complaints of the past were often a comparison between valuing ART over History of what Drum Corps was or should be. Now the complaints are Art vs. Formula vs. What Drum Corps was or should be. Further current complaints are Entertainment vs. Design being rewarded properly.
I hear the following all the time:
"I miss uniforms"
"I miss drill"
"I miss complete songs that I can hum and enjoy"
"I just want to be entertained vs. having a message shoved down my throat"
Meh .... as time passes, history will judge everything differently. Attitudes will change as new things get dialed in and perfected. Experimentation, Execution and Entertainment is what made DCI great and will continue to do so. The big question is, in 20 years what will you actually want to go back and Watch or Listen to?
Last thought. I guess I look back at shows I consider a masterpiece (flawed or not) and feel there were more of them in the past compared to what we're getting now. That's a hard nut to crack and accomplish. The great ones are getting harder and harder to find.
lots to unpack there…good thoughts.Of course Star 93 is this entire topic personified. Never been a more polarizing show in the history of the activity. Also, first 3 shows I ever saw in person at a live show - BK93, Phantom93, Star93. Loved every minute of every one of them. Still do.
88 Suncoast was a little bit before my time but I could see people not taking to that one initially. Still, I’d think by Finals they would have come around to it. It was/is brilliant.
I’ll come back later for other thoughts, but wanted to speak (pun intended) to the Cadets 05 drumspeak bit - there were other instances that I can’t recall at the moment, but in WGI Percussion there’s a pretty famous moment from a fantastic Scholastic World Championship show by 2001 Mission Viejo (they of a young Mike Jackson and Co’s tutelage) that featured their snares doing, essentially, the exact same thing that Cadets would do in their 05 show. (Also, total aside…the epic Cadets quad “stands” feature in the brilliant 2000 show, totally done by Ponderosa at WGI in 99, but I digress)I think some of the pushback on the 05 thing was a growing concern from people that DCI was evolving into WGI, since they essentially were following the path of a WGI trend (also…Hopkins). Not that anyone still has complaints like that about DCI, as they’ve all clearly been assuaged over the years and we’ve returned to the normalcy of the 70s/80s, when people had no concerns about the evolving nature of the activity. 😎
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2 hours ago, KVG_DC said:
in 2014 her teenage son had undoubtedly seen much much more than that already.
I was gonna say, I’ll bet her teenage son disagreed with her assessment. -
Given that 2 of the 5 named are listed as Conductors while the first 3 are listed as Drum Majors leads me to believe that maybe they’re MM that will be relied on to conduct at specific spots in the show? Similar to the old school MM backfield conductor when needed BITD.
Or…I guess it could mean that, given the lesser experience of the 2 Conductors on their bios, they’ll be asked to conduct as a DM would but not necessarily have the administrative duties a normal DM would? Sort of like a DM understudy.Either way you slice it…yeah, that’s a lotta DMs!
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On 12/31/2022 at 12:54 PM, OldSnareDrummer said:
First time I've actually perused the membership. Did I miss Tom Float and Larry McCormick?
Fred Sanford and George Zingali also missing from that membership! 😲
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16 hours ago, OldSnareDrummer said:
Casinos. It worked for Marty Byrde.
Did it, though? 😁
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1 hour ago, RiverCityAndTroopersFan said:
Oops. There are so many corps called blue ___’s
man, don’t I know it. -
21 minutes ago, RiverCityAndTroopersFan said:
Also, Mandarins, Blue Stars, and Troopers used to have a fundraising battle called “The Battle of the Rockies” dci should promote more stuff like that
BK but yes your point is correct. And they were all still doing it as of this past summer. Never saw much from DCI about it.
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I might have forgotten to properly emphasize this the first time, but…
1987 SCV Russian Christmas Music Alfred Reed Good God Almighty!!!
88 SCV is my (first) favorite show in the activity as I grew up, but the first 3:35 of 87 Vanguard is the greatest single chart in the history of the marching arts. Speaks to how effing great 87 Garfield was.
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A little late to the party, but the BK (and drum corps) Family add our condolences.
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Got ####! How could I forget Down a Country Lane by 98 SCV?!?! (Mad MAD props to whoever suggested throwing the "Simple Gifts" quote into that arrangement)
Super duper runner up to Cavies for bringing Sparke's Dance Movements III. Lento (for the brass) to the field in the same year. Two epic ballad compositions done wonderfully by the greatest activity on earth.
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Is this one of those competitive inertia deals?
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Throwing a few more random thoughts in here - try to mix up the eras a little bit this time - with some more off-the-beaten path underrated ones:
-Scouts 98 “Rememberance” closer
-BK 15 “I’m Alive/Fly to Paradise” closer medley
-Bloo 06(?) “Distorted” opener chart
-BD 94 “Night Streets”
-SCV 91 “Fall of Saigon”
-BK 99 “Trittico” opener
-BK 93 “LITTLE GREEN MEN!!!” 😎
Again, too many more to mention, but Ill come up with some more I’m sure.
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Wait, I’m…am I the first to list SCV 87 Russian Xmas Music? Huh, didn’t expect that.
others:
-Puma/Rainforest, 92 Bones
-Canyon, SCV 99
-Channel One, BD 86
-Clair de Lune, Phantom 94
-Estancia, BD 99 (hot take alert…I prefer this treatment to PR 93. Still, that crab step wedge tho)
-Promise of Living, Cadets 96
-Cavies 99 closer treatment of Ode to Joy
-Farandole, Cadets 01
forgetting a bunch from BITD-
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On 10/15/2022 at 3:38 PM, FaustianMachine said:
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15 hours ago, supersop said:
Hmmmm. I can't believe that hasn't "leaked/dropped" yet.\
Maybe by morning.
4 minutes ago, supersop said:Still nothing ... I'm in shock ....
Someplace specific we should be looking towards for news? Or am I just an idiot and didn't read the thread correctly?
(Or both. It's probably both.)
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14 minutes ago, Orwellian Wiress said:
Holy crap it seems that high school band was a VERY different experience from drum corps🤣 I was not aware that breaking ranks had a different meaning lol.
It's more about different eras/generations than level of activity. We took things way the hell more seriously (I don't necessarily mean that in a glowing light) in my high school band program BITD than groups do now. It's just more a reflection on society (and I don't at all mean that in a negative light) and how people interact. Evolution of the activity and art form, if you will.
I think the days of guarding drums/horns, beat downs of people who dared cross your lane in retreat, etc...they were appropriate and, for lack of a better phrase, what we knew in those days. Now, things have changed and the world is smaller around us. You can take positives and negatives from that, but I gotta say this...my kid just marched in his first Finals contest (he's a freshman on his HS bass line...chip off the ole block, he is) this past Saturday, and the outpouring of support and hype from each program out in the lot for one another (like yelling, hooting and hollering for one another heading to and from the field) gave him one pretty memorable experience. Yes, he was hyped to have made Finals (big breakthrough for his/our young program), but the whole experience of how that felt to just be "in that company" and how supportive it was...yeah, that's exactly where the activity needs to be in 2022. And that's coming from an official (quasi)old guy who grew up in a much different era.
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1 hour ago, IllianaLancerContra said:
Add Anaheim & Troopers to that list.
Troop was definitely the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread title.
This seems like the appropriate summary of those days:
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9 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:
and thats not counting the brass re-entry section!
If there's any one moment from any one show from any one corps I could transport back to and be on the field for, just to experience it for myself...that's the moment. I can't even imagine the adrenaline rush that must have been pouring through those guys when that brass chord comes back in. I still have the hairs on my arm stand up every time I watch it again (and I've watched it too many #### times to count) and I wasn't even there to see it in person. Yes, the show was imperfect, the writing was unique and of-its-time and such...but ####, man. Sometimes groups strike gold and just define a moment in time. Bones 92 - Puma is it for me. (SCV 91's 12 second solo in the Fall of Saigon is a close second)
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Cavaliers won drums in 92. Star was 2nd I think (or maybe Star and Cadets t-2nd). Crossmen were elite but the ensemble and overall book wouldn’t hold up today. Most books from then wouldn’t. (There is one exception…more on that in a minute. You can probably guess who.)
I can only speak from my years of following the activity, but the lines that always stand out to me in my memories (and I’m biased in some ways) are:
86 BD
87 SCV
89 SCV
91 SCV and Cavaliers
91-92 Bones (2 favorite drum solos ever)
93 Star (and this is the exception, and also the 🐐)
94 BD and Cadets
97-98 SCV
99-00 Cavaliers
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On 3/21/2008 at 8:31 PM, idontwan2know said:
Talent is so overrated. Or at least talent as it is usually defined. Playing Carnival of Venice in an audition room bears only passing resemblence to what it takes to perform on the drum corps field at the top level.
I know I’m quoting a post from 14 years ago, but this one got me good as I read this thread today for the first time ever.-
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10 hours ago, corps8294 said:
I was told that Mark Arnold actually apologized to the corps for that 2001 show.
Couldn’t tell ya. I’m sure there were plenty of tough goodbyes that Friday night in Buffalo. It does strike me as a bit of out of character for Mark to, like, throw his design team under the bus. But I wasn’t there. I followed the group and went to many shows - had many guys I marched with who were still in the battery especially - so we’d talk. By the time I saw them for the last time in Murfreesboro in late July, they knew, so I’m sure it was a tough slog the last several weeks (again, especially what was expected for the corps coming into that season on the heels of the last 3+ years).
There’s certainly a reason they never went back to that well! 🤭
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10 hours ago, kdaddy said:
I asked Colt alum buddies when the last time Colts would've two-pointed BK. 1996 was suggested.
That would’ve been my guess. Alas, after a quick cursory search of the database, it’s the aforementioned 01 semis run. Colts then beat BK on and off during 02, and since then the two corps have had differing paths. As someone who marched (college and DCI) with many Colt alums, and who sent several students over the years to Dubuque (I’m from Missouri, so yeah, always been a good place to send kids), nothing but love for them and thrilled to see them making such impressive strides and ready to suit up for a Saturday night run again. Major props to students and staff.
What's your most Iconic "Company Front"?
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Since most of the others that come to mind have already been mentioned (although I prefer the 88 SCV diagonal company front to the one in 89), I'll mention a Cadets one that often gets overlooked especially because of the comparisons to 84:
The Officer Krupke "fake" company front was one I always enjoyed seeing in 94. Starts building right around the 10:30 mark.