bssop97

The Dothan, Alabama show should be interesting tonight. Menagerie is throwing in some changes to our show tonight and we will see how the judges react to them. The brass section and percussion has went through some major rewrites and actually the brass section has started a "new" basics program that I've been doing with Mystré. Menagerie is a little ahead of their brother corps in terms of overall execution. I feel they are better marchers and have a better battery while Mystré is the guard/brass powerhouse. The shows couldn't be any more different. Menagerie is an upbeat and lively with beautifull ballad. Mystré's show is dark and fast with only one upbeat (in terms of sound) section. Basicly, Mystré is about the story and the showmanship. Menagerie is about the execution. Next week I will be with The Parliament. They are comming along slowly, looking right now to be a solid lock for semis. If the rest of the corps can get to the level of the Guard and Drumline... WATCH OUT!!! That line and pit is throwing down and the guard has one of the top scores in DCPI. I know the show well, Mystré busted into the top 4 of FDCI in their 3rd season performing Standing Stone. The Parliament is doing there own spin on it with a different order and a different movement added to it. Also... Yeah... Ummm... We are busting out some mics in the closer for some vocal work!!!! That will be in around Regionals.

7

From a brass guys perspective. 1. Cassella- It's musical and it grooves 2. Thom Hannum - Listening to his lines is like listening to good jazz. It's understated and brillant. 3. Yoda- Some of that late 80's SCV stuff... oh my. 4. Tom Float - Can I have more flams? 5. Mark Thurston - I love the 90-94 X-men lines.

Really... I learned about tanking quick... It was only a runthrough too. I just didn't play it to prove the point that I wasn't the one playing out of the ensemble. Maybe it was that I brusied the instructors ego.... "Shannon, you where to loud again". Me: "How? I wasn't playing." I took #### for weeks. Hey... They found the culprit the next day though. ^0^

Oh my... Yep there are fools... Its just drum corps.

So did our shows get rained out too?

Starting in DCPI 7, Mystré will be on 100% Yamaha equipment. The corps will be using Yamaha Brass, Percussion, and Electronics. The deal was inked yesterday and corps director, Shannon Jeffreys, had this to add. "We are excited to have the deal with Yamaha for the next season. Curently the corps is still on G's and our pit percussion is getting old. Also we have big plans for next seasons show. It will be the 3rd and final chapter of the Vegas Trilogy. Part 3 will also be the most controversial, yes... we will be amped up and vocal"!!!

My point is this... It can be done and be creative, this wasn't it. You said: True... Just because you use it, dosen't make it creative. That was 1/2 the point of my post. What else was there to assume? The other half of my point is... When somebody does it WELL... It will be something and people will no longer object.

The members will also get judged on the product that the staff puts out.

So if one chooses not to use it... Then they are creative? Give me a break. <**> BTW... next time, read the whole post.

I guess I'm one of those that have been pushed to the "Dark Side". Vocals and amps no longer bother me. I guess that's the creative side in me coming out. Was I emotionally moved by the vocals...? No. Did it touch me intellectually...? Nope. Did it put up a reaction like the dissolving company front in the 87 show...? Not yet. What did I get from it...? We are using it because we can. It was trite not groundbreaking or creative. There will be a show in the future that will use the "new" elements available to the designers that will hush the critics up. This show is not it.

That's an improvement over the last show... 3 point + jump!!!!!

Mystré should have their full show on the field by our next performance. The clos r has the meat of our drum book and shows off the guard, this should bring up our scores a point or so. I`m going to go hook up with Menagerie and implement some changes to their program that we should have in before the weekend.

The rain is well off to the west (Alabama) and north (east Tennessee).

Last second change with show titles... The Face-Off sounded like a show about hockey.

Rain looks to be to the north of Columbia... Wait, I'm an idiot. The show is tomorrow.

CoCo Rooos!!!

Alright just like getting to the show, I'm late with getting this out. Teal Sound Magic Southwind I missed due to the fact that my car broke down and my hour and 1/2 trip became a 4 hour trip :( Spirit - I saw them Tuesday and there run was better that night (actually much better). Some first show butterflies. What I did notice again was that I did not like the staging at impact points in the show. It seemed to me that having the corps a little father up will do some good. Covering the field is a good thing but having your park and bark section behind and around the back hash isn't a good thing. I'm sure these things will change. Box 5 is in this hornlines future. Phantom- I dare anybody to look at the male guard members and not think "Bring out the gimp". Ok.... Show... That's right. I like the 1st half a ton! It is so agressive and the hornline will knock you back a few rows. The ballad on seems to slow down and the closer didn't do anything for me... Was it perfomed well... OH GOD YES!! Effective.. not yet. For me is that it is like a few ideas thrown together and nothing reached a climax. The closer felt like several endings. That said, I didn't like Phantom's show last season tilll they put in the rewrites. I feel we are in for the same thing this season. The talent is there just not the total package yet. That being said, they where still my favorite of the night. Cadets- I like to see people push the envelope, I really do. If I'm not comfortable during a show, then it is my type of show. That being said Bravo! for trying something new HOWEVER the show stinks. The corps is sooooooo good but the design is just...well.... designer masterbation, it's only good if you are the designer. The hornline plays very well and the ballad can be something IF they took out the vocal. It's not the fact that they are using voice (I don't mind vocals), it's the fact that it covers up all the moving lines in the brass book... oh and don't get me started on the mix of the vocals (I run live sound)... yuck. Drumline can play but the book sounds like its been done before, and it is a constant ram session and not at all music. I will not see this show again to 1/4's and I hope that it is better. To what the other reviewers said, the applause was polite at best and delayed, honestly the most unusual reaction I've ever seen. That said... They will still be top 3, they really are good.

Mystré is proud to announce their DCP-I 6 production and follow up to their DCPI 5 production "The Big...". The Showdown... Warm up: Slither - Velvet Revolver The Escape: Slither - Velvet Revolver Atonement: Atonement (from The Bourne Supremacy)- John Powell The Challenge:7/29/04 The Day of (from Oceans 12) -David Holmes The A La Menthe (from Oceans 12) - Nikkfurie The Face Off - Chase/Face Off (from The Italian Job) - John Powell Corps director, Shannon Jeffreys, has decided to give a description of the show. "The show actually starts out with our warm-up with last seasons "tag" from our closer which is Silther by Velvet Revolver. What makes this warm-up an important part of the show is that it is note for note and dot for dot the same as our last seasons closer. I'll tell you it is exciting to see wailing sopranos and fly drill for a warm-up! The catch is this, we have the corps playing and marching it to the back sideline... A totally new vantage point to the audience!!! To add to the evil setting, in the places where guard members died in the drill, we placed body bags to represent the fallen gang members from last seasons show. The audience will discover that the bad guy was crouched behind the corps and he saw the Lady in Red shoot her former lover and take the money. With the shoot from her gun, the show begins!" "We decided to use Slither as the opener since the setting is the same as the previous show but we are doing more of the song instead of a short tag. During this section called The Escape, the guard starts to arise out of the body bags and the bad guy attempts to make run at the Lady in Red in order to get the money. The song ends with the corps lined up one the 50 separating two rival gangs. One is the Lady in Red's gang the other is the Bad guy’s gang. They look at each other in a "we will meet again" demeanor and the show goes on from there." "I'm going to go in really deep with the rest of the show but the second number is about the Lady in Red atoning for her lovers death and is the ballad section of the show. The Challenge portion of the show is where the rival gangs try to one up each other. This is my favorite section of the show and has the The A La Menthe (aka, The Nightfox in the laser field)as the feature. I'm telling you, that section is wickedly fast!!!" "The closer.... not going to give anything away yet but I will say that it is very percussive and a visual bloodbath"!!!!

This clip is better... http://www.billandellie.com/sounds/Messiah.mp3

Ok... where is the shade at?

Somebody just spoted me $50... I'm going.

The Cadets 76.7 Phantom Regiment 73.1 Spirit of JSU 67.9 Southwind 60.1 The Magic 57.6 Teal Sound 51.3

LOL... This vis staff was talking about driving to H-ville to get some Dreamland ribs while they where at Brewer.

I might be there