Brassman53

Because I was perofrming with Lambertville, I missed Archie, Reilly, and most of the Brassmen, sorry about that. But I thought I'd share some thoughts on the Corps I did get to see.... Audobon Chorus- Excellent rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Sorry didn't see you later in the show St Lucy's - Saw them reharse, and they really stepped it up come showtime. Nice hearing Conquistador ( one of my favorite openers of all time) again. The arrnagement of "More" was also very well played. I was particularly impressed by the percussion solos. really cool "down the Line' snare work alonf with very clean back sticking, and the quad player really added color to the mix.... Bracken- Wasn't expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised. Hornline had a nice blend, and the drumline had some nice old-skool solo work as well. Felt like I was listening to my old Fleetwoods. Really liked Sempre Fi- played it with the Earls of Bucks in the late 60's and it brought back good memories. Yankee Rebels- Much better performance than at their own show a few weeks ago in my opinion. Particularly liked the Miss New Olreans piece., as well as the great mellophone solo work throughout the show. Romeo Cadets- A qunitet of brass ( 3 sops, a bar and contra) that put on a very entertaining performance. They played pupular tunes that had the auience claping along. The Contra player had excellent range , and the bari played really sweet. Loved the triple and double tunguing sop work as well! Lambertville- well from my perspective inside the hornline, we did a decent performance. Solo work by John Arietano, Dan Buruschkin, and Marty Roche was right on. We got through the show without any major problems thanks to the excellent conducting of Ross Creveling, and we mananged to work in "Minnie the Moocher" and avoid disaster....Jamie, Jeanne and Kitty also did a nice job of anchoring the pulse on percussion. Brassmen- Only caught the closer ( West Point Cadets?) because we went on right ahead of them. the 12-13 horns sounded like 30- nice job. The tympani player was a show unto himself- great enthusiasm and rhythmic accuracy! Swing House- Man what fun!!! Exellent musicianship, great repertoire, and outstanding soloists- paticularly the sop/trumpet screamers. and trap player. Every tune had highlights. As a guy behind me said- "Man I could listen to these guys all night." Very exciting and musical. They've got a CD that will be coming out-it'll be worth it to pick up copy! RCC

I received my CD's today ( I ordered the complete Alumni set), and was pleased with the quality of the recordings overall, with one exception. Any of the corps that moved on to the track close to the stands, the mics captured the predominant sound of whom ever was in front of them. Apparently the techincians either had no way of altering the sound feed to present a more balanced sound, or didn't make an effort to so it, thus making for some poor quality show endings.

Great post. The bottom line is are both audiences (DCI and DCA ) being entertained? I think the answer is a resounding yes! So pick your pleasure and support it! RCC

My thoughts are being presented from a brass player ( lead sop) point of view. I was seated high up on the 35 to the left of the 50 as you faced the field... Vigilantes-Pleasant suprise, Huge tight percussion battery that didn't overpower the 14 brass- nice balance. Some very talented players in this hornline. Loved the sop quintet in " "Don't mean a thing" Gold- Nice to see them back. Musically a depa-tre for them from their past productions which were more pop/roadway oriented. Highlight for me was their visual- very crisp forms- on par or better than a lot of Open class corps- they carried themseleves with confidence. Best number in my opinion was their second oiece which featured a cool pit intro. Grenadiers- Kenton music a good choice. Lots of field coverage.. loved the drum cadence coming on the field. Their guard was the best of class A- very confident. Nice three person mello section. Handled their feamures very well. Nice field coverage. Govenaires- Very Impressive , They have the total package, and you can tell they enjoy performing... Very well staged show, with some nifty body movement that enhances the production. very solid percusssion. 20 brass play really well as an ensemble. Great solo in "Lust" Love the arrnagment of "Hot for teacher". This is definitely their best corps since first coming to DCA. Well deserved title!! The big boys... Corpsvets- I had read they were playing a very controlled show- not tonight... the controls were loosened!! I thought the show got better as it progressed. My favorite was the piece that incorporated licks from " the Saints go marching in" very cool use of sections trading off licks back and forth. Outstanding sop solos as usual. Percussion seemed be struggling a tad execution-wise tonight. Overall a fine show.. Alliance- Man do these guys move. Very impressive jump in size and performance level over previous years. I had heard that this show was probably a little too-DCI-ish. Nah, the crowd got into it. Real strong percusssion, and some real nice brass impact points- all this while motoring high-speed around the field. A little more GE, and look out upper eschleon DCA! Bush- Loved the show concept and the music, really creative arrangements intertwining circus-type ( real and original) music. Percussion very solid- guard excellent. In my opnion the brass line was too contolled, and at times tentative. Play with a little more confidence ( yes I know the brass book was very demanding) and you're back in the upper tier hunt. Brigs- Nicely performed show that to me was missing impact points. The highlight was when the hornline laid contorted on the ground and played. Liked the way the "Common Man" theme was interwoven into the show. Percussion seemed very solid. Renagades- Love the new unforms. A few things stand out for me in their show... The Faces arrangement rocks, I love that tune... the new uniforms look great....Some outstanding solo work as well. Hornline volume was very impressive...Percussion also had a cool feature that had the plays kind trading off with one another. Nice job! Cabs- Who said these guys don't move? Only Reading moves more. This was one of those shows that just flew by. Very entertaining. Loved the Mis Abuelos with it's trade offs between sections. piece and th Rumps opening statement. Lead Trumpets were really nailing stuff tonight. I had them over the Hurcs and Empire. Empire- Highlight for me tonight was the Sing Sang Sung piece...They really rocked it. Don't know why people were bothered by the "pledge", thought it fit nicely. Very nice duet in the ballad. Overall a nice performance , but not enough typical Statesman wow moments for me. Hurcs- This is by far their best overall corps in recent memory. In the past they always seemed to be plagued by individual marching style issues, or brass not playing within the ensemble. Those days are gone. Very nice overall package presented. I just feel it's missing some impact points that would take it to the top. MBI- A complete package! Very impressive. All sections are first rate. Some really interesting body moevement throuout the show that enhances the production. The brass impact moments are many and very exciting. My favorite was Night in Tunsia. great arrnagement, outstanding playing! Bucs- Well I first saw reading in 1964. This is their best corps ever in my opnion. They have it all. No weakneses. I used to be a little disapointed that recent additions of this great corps didn't do much in the way of upper-register sop playing- well this year it's there, and very well done. I think that was John Molloy playing on both the trumpet and mello in a solo- very nicely done. As others have talked about they have an unbelievable quint drum feature , Holy bleep! The drill is awesome, just a great show overall, Congratulations!!! Rcc

Wow 15 lead sops!! The Bridgemen are jealous, we'll only have 11. You can never have too many lead sops! Good luck, have a great show! RCC

Speaking of combined corps, this is a little off topic, but does anyone remeber DCA Finals retreat in '89, when Cru and Steel City tied, and marched off retreat as a combined corps playing an "F" Major scale and a unison drum warm up? I was with Westshoremen at the time standing next to them. It was one of the funniest things I'v ever seen in all my years of drum corps ( which date back to 1960). RCC

I was fortunate to have marched with Blue Rock in '71 ( also 72 and 73), what a great year! I almost sat the year out. I had marched with the Pennsylvanians/Earls of Bucks for 11 years, and had decided to sit out '71 rather than go through another year of scoring in the low 40's and coming in last place. In early March I got a call from a guy who I had marched with in the Earls, who had gone down to Blue Rock. He told me they had really strong corps but needed another lead sop. At the time they had only 33 horns, but a dynamite drum line. I convinced my dad ( who was an ex drum corps guy) to let me drive the sixty miles to rehearsal ( fortunately we had a few other guys from the Earls to carpool with), and the rest is history. We won 24 of 30 shows that year, and lost two of them on flag penalties. I'll never forget the roar of the crowds that year-unbelievable- especially the Dream, I get goose bumps even today listening to that.... . I also remember standing on the starting line at CYO Nationals ( we faced the end zone that year) and seeing how tan the girls from SCV were ( SCV went on first of the big corps that year- that helped us beat them at CYO- the only tie that happened). Yes 1971 was a great year for drum corps, so many good corps that didn't even go to VFW Nationals that ( St Rita's, SAC, Cavaliers, Kilties, Des Plaines Vanguard, Bridgemen, Muchachos, etc)

Well I was standing on the track listen to SAC and thought the show flew by. It was great to hear all my favorites from back in the day ( like listening to my old Fleetwood's live)! The triple basses in Great Gates were a great addition. It's really cool that after all these years that the Sop line can recreate that unique "Golden Knight" sound of old ( and the low brass and mid-range are no slouches either). RCC ( an old Blue Rocker, now Bridgemen)

-You're marching in parade, and you see three spectators standing in clump yelling, "Play something", and you think, "Dummies don't you know that we're only gonna play where there's a big crowd". -You ride past a High School Stadium and think, "Yeah, that would be a good place for a Corps Contest". - You buy a new CD, and while listening say to yourself, " Yeah, that would be a good song for so and so to play". -You cringe watching a high school band whose trumpets are held at angles like a clarinet. -You do an imaginary "tick" motion whenever you here a brass player crack, miss a note or hand on to a release no matter what type of performance you're at

I used to eagerly await the "Dream" contest lineup lineup (and their ads in DCN with the "Corps to be announced") . The 1966 Dream was one of the best ever. I wore out my recording of the '66 Cavaliers, and as a 13 year old soprano from a little corps from PA, played along regularly with their sop solos in "Ain't Necessarily So".

Here's partial review of the corps I was able to see.... Since I sat 2/3 of the way up on the 25 yard line, my perspective will be a little different than those in the prime seats.... My comments are presented from a horn player's point of view... Hurcs- best I've seen them in a long time..Liked all the musical selections and thought the transitions were very effective. Epecially enjoyed the "Hang'em High" licks as well as 'Billy The Kid". This is the best marching Hurcs corps I can remember. From where I was sitting however you could hear a lot of individual horn issues. Drum Line also had some mudiness early on (snares), but seemed to get cleaner as the show wnet on. in contrast the breass seemed to lose some steam at the end. Guard is very active. Corps is much improved I had them fourth. Bucs- Moved like a well-oiled machine. Very solid across the board. I noticed their trumpets seemed to be playing a little more upper register stuff this year, and are handling it quite well. Ode to Joy was a standout. Could go unbeaten once again. Empire- Percussion to me was really cookin'. Guard uniforms were kind of blah. Liked the use of the show/movie posters to introduce the tunes...Pero was on fire! To me they had the highest enrgy level of all the corps I saw tonight. Very solid brass line. Loved the music, but I felt the transitions between tunes was kind of choppy. Lot's of potential here though. One cool thing they did while trooping the stands was have the snares turn toward the crowd and 'throw down" - a real treat. had them third. Bush- I really like their "Gypsy" Music it's really catchy. When they get all the new horns added in-look out ( at one point about a quarter of the hornline sat out portions of the show. Like somebody else mentioned their guard was really athletic. They also have a lead trumpet or two who was absolutely nailing any upper register stuff they attempted. Don't count these guys out of the top five! Cabs- saw then end of their rehearsal, where they were seriously running out of gas in the brass line. I thought...hmm are they gonna have anything left for tonight? Well they certainly were re-energized. Percussion was cooking the whole show. Strongest section of the brass line right now is the trumpets. In my opinion the Mellos need the most work, especially since they have some key features. Loved the rotating circle during the Rumps Wheel. Guard seemed really on their game as well. Don't know if they have enough to make a run at the title but knwoing how hard they work, they'll give it their best shot. Final overall thought- to me everyone seems better prepared at this point in the season than in the past. Should make for a great championship!

Let me preface ths with some background info- I've been marrching since 1960 ( yeah I was young-7 years old at the time) 1973 Santa Clara Vanguard On tour with Blue Rock that year (a down year for us) in Butler, Pa, when I saw Santa Clara for the first time- unbelievable! We stood there with our collective mouths open. I had never seen anything like it! They opened with a piece I had never heard of, but that night we were alll humming it on the bus on the way to US Open. When iIgot to Marion, OH, I immediately called my dad up ( who started marching in 1938) and said, "you gotta go see Santa Clara in North Jersey this week, they're incredible! He goes to the show (He's a WW2 vet and a Military Style Drum Corps guy), and when I call him from Whitewater he's raving about SCV, going nuts on the phone. Talk about crossing generational boundaries! RCC

Your group has some very talented performers. I snuck into your rehearsal room to get changed before competing in the soprano individuals, and heard your guys practicing a Big phat Band Tune- Good Stuff! I also heard your Mello and Contra individuals- very impressive. Unfortunately due to our rehearsal/warm up schedule I missed your ensembles and mini-corps, but based on what I heard in Harrisburg last year, I'm sure they Rocked! RCC

Just to add a little more to the tale of the '57 Legion Nationals... my Dad was a member of the Levittown Lovers Sr Corps ( Instructed by Reilly Raiders legend Frank McCormick) who entered the prelims with only a long enough show for prelims ( back in the day when you only had to do a 5 minute show for prelims). As the corps started getting DQ'd it became apparent that the Lovers had a shot at the finals, so legend has it that they were practicing that day attempting to put an 11 minute show together for finals. Fortunately ( or unfortunately as the case may be), they fell a few places short of finals. That year was the Lovers only competitive season, but it sure provided them with some "war' stroies to share to this day... Bob Cook

Heard Boston from the backfield ( I march with the Bridgemen and we were on after right you guys), and you sounded great!! Loved Conquest with the DM nailing the heck out of the solo that used make make draw drop back in the day. Company front looked Tickless from my vanatge point.... RCC