Amazed&Stunned

Not all source info is correct. Sorry.

Oh yes. I had to go back to the source. Turns out my buddy does not know Sylvester from Sylvester the cat. Now I hear the redo was done by the same guy who used to write Cadets 2 . I did not get a name so do not take my info as gospel. It is what my friend told me. Good Luck Cadets. The next two nights are going to be big.

The Vanguard is the one group that can stand above the others from pure performance and power. All captions can be the best in the business on any night. The issue is effect. They have settled into third and they will need something to get back the .5 or so they have lost over the past weeks. With the people they have on staff, there is enough creative power to make the changes but this is a challenge at this point. No question, the issue is visual design. I think in an effort to not be like the others, they turned their back on the "follow the leader run" but the question is, what did they replace it with? If you are going to stand, you better still be entertaining me at peak level. And yes, the attempt at monochronism, if that is what the tarps and uniforms are, is not the best idea. I will see them in person in a few days but on television, as all have said, the entire corps is a wash. BD made some changes and I would say, much to the chagrin of Bluecoats fans, that they are the favorite now. The effect numbers are only going to move forward. The door has been opened. SCV needs to disrupt what is happening. Can we "bring it" tonight? Do not wait too long.

Good jump in the effect captions for the Cadets . We will get a better feel for where all of this is headed tonight and Sunday. Anyone hear about an accident a night or two ago? I saw a picture of a Ryder Truck with the roof pretty much torn off the front. What I am hearing is that the 12 foot truck tried to get under a 10 foot bridge. As you would guess, it was pretty severely damaged. No one hurt but from the picture, I would say that the truck is going nowhere. I imagine a rental was called into duty for the last few weeks. I am not sure what the truck was used for? Props?

I am wearing my Mandarins t-shirt from last year ... sending some positive Vibes. I look forward to seeing them live in Allentown!!!!

So I heard they talked Marc Sylvester into taking the trip. He does not want his name out there but a friend on site gave me a call. Of course, I asked my buddy if he had ever met Marc Sylvester before and he said no. He did say there was a guy up top managing the rehearsal but he did not know for sure who it was. I guess you call that an unsubstantiated report. I will try to get info. My friend is on tour driving for a corps and was over the University for a bit this AM. Blue Devils are on site also.

I sure hope the kids got enough sleep. They had a drive to Hattiesburg so I imagine if they were in bed before 4 am it would have been a good trip. And then up at 7:30 am. Whoa! Does not DCI have some rule about sleep now? I know Hopkins used to have the corps up and at breakfast at 8am after a 6am arrival. That was a point of big criticism. I guess to make the changes you " gotta do what you gotta do". And today is a show day, so there was no travel last night. Tonight the Cadets have a decent gate time of 8:52 pm and they are on site, so they should be well prepared. Looking forward to hearing about the performance. With the Mandarins and the Blue Stars on either side of the Cadets this could be interesting. Anyone have the judges list for the evening ?

Seriously .... the battery plays without brass for 70% of the show. The visual support - Ugh, the Brass - I can't remember. It is astounding. Oh, that Tom feature was incredible but the show is NOT balanced.

I have never heard a show with so much percussion .... WOW !

IT matters NOT, what is said. The member corps rule DCI and today, there are more have-nots than haves. Nothing will change. And BK and BS taking over the Phantom and Cadets spots gives all hope they THEY can do it too. No one will ever make a change to diversify the level and intention of the activity. Gibbs and Hopkins were the two personalities that spoke openly of a different vision and both are gone or looking to be gone. Change is needed but a long as DCI can break even, the corps accept that they will operate at a loss, and enough corps stay afloat, we will continue the current Indy based methodologies. So G7 or G4 or Q18 ; it's not going to happen.

Agreed Terri but that is the look they are going for. What else would it be that they are doing? Cadets circa 1800? And what about the American Eagle? Sorry. It does not make any sense at all. Of course, this is drum corps costuming and not all needs to make sense I guess?

The problem is, this corps can't leave the past. YES, they want to embrace costumes but they need to have braids, and plumes, and American Eagles on the front? What is that? A costume? A uniform? An attempt to keep some old time alumni happy? Have you ever seen a top hat with a plume? It looks like , and I am not being facetious, a top hat with a marching band plume attached to the top of it. If you really wanted to go with the "steampunk" look than do it. Why such a terrible mix of style? Now this below would look cool but I would have to ask, what does this have to do with the show theme? I am just confused.

The idea of exhibitions perhaps is a challenge. I wound wonder about the attendance. It's like Ice Champion tours. Folks in the US like to see competitions. But the understanding that the top 6 are different than the next 6, and they are different than the next 6 makes some sense. Alas, do the corps think this or deep down, do all believe that ONE day it is possible to claim a championship trophy? Think about Open Class. Some years ago, the scoring was changed to create a system that would be more about the performers and would work in a scale that would have groups go home with a reasonable score and evaluation. As it turned, out the Open Class corps themselves chose to be evaluated on the same scale as the top groups in the country. Today, as an example, the Blue Devils Open Class Corps is judged against their World Class Corps. Why? Looking across the activity, does it make sense that corps with a $.6M budget compete against those with a $2M budget? No. But we do. The long and short of it, we should be looking to new alternatives but the draw of the fraternity holds everyone under one umbrella.

This is hilarious coming from you. For the past month you wrote about the great things going on. You have defended the show, you have given your insider information regarding the firings of designers and the great additions about to come. You had this corps targeted for greatness. They had a clean slate, new team, and great leadership. This was going to be the year. Alas, at the first show it was clear they were in big trouble. You explained they were behind. And now, after close to a month of berating anyone who dare comment regarding their dislike of the program and the potential for the performance, you explain that the activity is about friendship, travel, and the value of hard work. As my daughter says to me "REALLY". As I pointed out before, the brass line is not doing well. If we look at the scoring of last night and look to who else is in the mix, the Cadets are looking at 12th in Brass. And as for visual design, I also see that they can place 12th. Once that settles in, MA will drop, the guard will have a tough time placing anywhere near the top 6 and the overall outlook is in the lower levels of the 12. Like I said, thank God for the percussion line. Ironically, the front and center positioning of the percussion from a design standpoint ( visually and musically) is part of the problem. The show is way, way too tilted to the percussion line. George, drum corps does teach many lessons, that is for certain. But kids deserve the chance to achieve and what people have tried to say on this board from time to time, is that the Cadets simply did not receive a product they could use as a vehicle. This is what we are seeing now. The ship may turn, and the designers might create something special with what they have today, but time is running out. There are tons of miles to navigate from now through Indy, there are not a great deal of rehearsal days and the end result seems more and more obvious. Your comments that we need to focus on the great activity of drum corps and leave the competitive discussions to the side, is interesting. Perhaps this is good. I just wonder where this broad view suddenly arose. You have been so competitive, so interested in the placing, and always cheering on the new regime. Did something happen in Broken Arrow that changed your view?

What about that brass number? That looks like big trouble huh? and the visual design judges all placed them 8 of 9. Thank God for the drums.