On the 50
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Posts posted by On the 50
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1 hour ago, keystone3ply said:
In the FAQ section from the 2008 article that @Jeff Ream shared, Memorial home or concert side side seats 28,000. But given that Lucas Oil is an indoor facility, I would think that the turf replacement would run pretty smoothly. The foundation & drainage system is probably in pretty good shape with minimal repairs? Most sites quote a 3-6 week install.
Our new HS turf system install only took about 8 weeks but that was tearing out the Bermuda grass, top soil, & old drainage system. Then the new concrete rim, barriers, foundation, & drainage had to be installed before the turf. They also had to dodge thunderstorms in May & June.
The 2008 relocation was also the new construction which rarely goes as scheduled. So hopefully the 2024 project will mostly be a turf replacement. 🤷♂️ But I could also be an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about. 😁 But I'd rather be in the 'ole oil can.
I don't believe there is a drainage system in Lucas Oil despite the fact it has a retractable roof. I remember hearing that during the debate as to why the roof remains closed for DCI in the early years. There has to be less than 10% chance of rain before opening the roof can even be considered.
Also, the turf was replaced before the 2018 season if I remember correctly, so this isn't their first rodeo. Of course that year they didn't have to deal with removing big pools from the floor.
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Top snare? You building a Scottie?
The snares typically run from approximately 8 o/c to 2 o/c. This makes it easy to reach the snare throw-off with the left hand.
Shawn
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There is a lesson to be learned here from SCV and Cadets that I think everyone is missing:
Don't finish 5th at DCI Finals.
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The company that I assume made the Troopers' "Sun" prop is going out of business.
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First live drum corps show: 1980 Finals
Been to every Finals since 1983 (including Celebration year in 2021) - 1984 and 1986 were as a member of Phantom Regiment.
41 years in all!
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Here is something I just posted on Facebook, but I thought there might be some folks here who would enjoy my review of Finals.
Well, it's been a week since DCI Finals, so it's about time for a recap! This was the 41st DCI Championships (including the Celebration year in 2021) I have attended. Looking back, I'd have to say that, top to bottom, this was the most enjoyable collection of shows during Championship week I have seen in at least the past 30 years! I never would have guessed I would be saying that at the start of the season, but so many shows really came together during the last two weeks. Congratulations to ALL the performers, designers and staff of all the corps who came to Indy!What can you say about the Blue Devils? Another undefeated season (called it in June), their 21st DCI World Championship title (out of 50 that have been held - a CHAMPIONSHIP average of 0.420), and, incredibly, their first three-peat. "The Cut-Outs" was a monster, one of their best shows ever, and demonstrated why they are so difficult to beat - there is nothing, no caption that could be remotely considered a weakness. The music book was especially good, including personal favorites "Caves" by Cody Fry, "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" and one of the greatest ballads of all time, Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." And in a year with so many outstanding guards, they took the Zingali back to Concord. A special mention to the quad line, who even after losing their section leader midway through the season was still the best in DCI. Congratulations, Blue Devils!In 1993, the Star of Indiana was misunderstood and under-appreciated by a large segment of the drum corps community. Now, that show is looked upon with reverence as one of the greatest and most influential shows of all time - really decades ahead of its time. I believe that the Bluecoats shows last year and this fit into the same category (all second place finishes as well). While much more popular than Star was in 1993, a lot of folks don't seem to "get" what the design team in Canton is doing now. The, let's say, "unusual" costumes, extensive use of narration, frequent ostinato in the brass and electronic sound manipulation are not everyone's cup of tea. I will say that these shows have had to grow on me, in part because of they way the shows evolved over the course of the season. But I think it takes multiple viewings to fully appreciate what is going on. And that is one mark of a great show - that you enjoy it more the more you see it. "The Garden of Love" is certainly a great show and may very well be my favorite of the year, as "Riffs and Revelations" was last year. Such great music yet again, even though it was all unfamiliar, phenomenally arranged. They put a huge chunk of the show on the shoulders of flugelhorn and trombone soloists, and they were nails every single time. A subtle detail that I think went unnoticed by most - the majority of the ballad was completely unconducted; in fact, the drum majors were sitting on the podium. Incredible! Here's hoping that the Bloo team stays intact for many, many years to come!I must admit I thought Carolina Crown was a little boring in the early season. Boy, did that change by the end! Atlanta seemed to be a turning point, and their push to Championship week nearly overtook everyone. Strong in every area, their percussion and guard have made great strides and were among the best in Indy. But Crown hangs its hat on its brass, and their Semifinals performance may be the best I have ever heard in drum corps. Simply stunning, jaw-dropping! "Echoes of Camelot" was a medieval feast for the eyes and ears!Many people thought this would be the year the Boston Crusaders would break though and win their first title. If you had said at the beginning of the year that this show wouldn't even medal, you would have been laughed at. All the elements and momentum were there, and the show was outstanding, but the competition was just too tough. It would be hard to ask for more than their performance for the ages on Saturday night though. Everything clicked, and in a Finals night switch, the "White Whale" got the last word. Another amazing guard that probably would have won in any other year. Based on the Finals performance, this show should have medaled. As it is, this must be the greatest 4th place show of all time. Way to go, Boston!To say The Cadets have been through a lot the past several years is an understatement. They certainly appear to have found their right footing and be on the way back to the elite level. Anchored by an outstanding drumline, this was another show that came alive late in the season, particularly, believe it or not, when they added the narration. I'm still a bit nonplussed about their "uniform" choices (track suit last year, shorts with leggings this year) but "Atlas Rising" certainly rose to the occasion in Indy with excellent and highly entertaining performances. Bravo!What happens when you put the best show design in your corps' history together the best hornline, percussion and guard you have ever had? You get the 2023 Mandarins. "Sinnerman" was an eye-opener from the word go, and they performed and improved throughout the season like they belonged at this level. A fan favorite all year, they marched, played and literally "spun" their way to sixth, by far their highest placement ever. Congrats!Speaking of fan favorites, my beloved Phantom Regiment won that award in the FloMarching poll yet again! The design team led by Tony Hall was not afraid to explore new territories both musically and visually, and "Exogenesis" delivered even more life to the corps' recent ascent. The improvement in the guard this year was particularly impressive. However, I must say that their performances in Indy were marred by the worst offense of "thunderous goo" by far in the history of Lucas Oil Stadium. It detracted from otherwise phantastic performances by the members. It didn't seem to be an issue at other venues throughout the summer, so I don't know what happened. They must get this figured out going forward. Still, another big step in the right direction! SUTA!The Cavaliers celebrated their 75th Anniversary with a show that both looked back on their rich history and incorporated modern elements. The result was a show that brought a lot of smiles from old-timers like me that recognized the many references to shows past. Huge congratulations to the Cavaliers' percussion section for winning the Sanford Award for best percussion, an incredible feat considering the corps placed eighth overall. The snares in particular just refused to tick after mid-July despite having an incredibly challenging book. "Where You'll Find Me" was a fitting tribute to Cavaliers' past while hopefully establishing a solid foundation with a largely new staff for the future.The Colts achieved their highest score and placement ever this year with "Where the Heart Is." Nothing fancy or flashy, this was a well-crafted and very fan-friendly show that the members could execute at a high level. It's hard to go wrong with Pat Metheny, and Colts had perhaps the best arrangement of the many tunes of his used in drum corps this year. Loved it!The Troopers proved that last season wasn't a fluke with another aggressive, energetic show that kept your attention throughout. "To Lasso the Sun" will be remembered for the prop of the year, the mesmerizing "sun" that I'm sure one of the staff saw in someone's yard and said, "We can make a show out of that!" It kind of got beat up during the tour and didn't always work right, but it was a definite "Wow - Cool!" The percussion section was very strong yet again, and the elevated harmonica(!) solo was a real highlight. The late season addition of the sunburst and the traditional Troopers drum major to successfully lasso the sun brought everyone to their feet with one of the loudest ovations of the evening. Well done, Troop!The Blue Stars show "In Absintheia" was a bit a of a head-scratcher for me. As someone who doesn't drink, I had no idea what absinthe was or its history. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, particularly the music. Props to the baritone soloist with the incredible tone, and a special shout-out to the kid from Blue Devils B who replaced one of the injured tenors mid-season. He joined the corps after BDB's season ended and learned his second show of the summer in just a few days!The battle for the final Finalist spot was one of the most intense in many years, with Crossmen, Pacific Crest, The Academy, and even Spirit of Atlanta in the conversation late in the season. But the Blue Knights surged at the end to reclaim a place in the Top 12. "Unharnessed" was one of several shows featuring chains, so I don't know if this will become a standard piece of guard equipment going forward. The opener of Verdi's "Requiem" was powerful and brought back memories of 1979 SCV, and the interesting percussion sounds and instruments were appreciated. Welcome back to Finalist status, Blue Knights!I would be remiss if I did not mention the Marine Drum & Bugle Corps (still on actual G bugles) who got the show off to a phenomenal start Saturday night with their best show in memory. With over 80 percent of their membership now DCI vets, the performance level has gone to new heights. The percussion section in particular was just stupid good with a killer book worthy of the best DCI lines. GREAT job, and THANK YOU for your service!In addition to the fantastic Top 12, the other World Class corps were all very entertaining as well. I especially liked Genesis' AI-inspired show - funny! There were also several very good Open Class corps (congrats to the Spartans). The Troopers Legacy corps which performed after Semifinals was a real treat and better than expected. And of course the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps was incredible as always - I wish they would come to Indy every year!One of the best parts of going to drum corps shows, especially DCI week in Indy, is seeing old friends - most of whom I don't get to see otherwise. To everyone who took time to say Hi, shake my hand or share a hug, thank you for helping make this one of the best DCI weeks ever! I can't wait for next year!-
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Last year ALL of Prelims was streamed, and I believe that is the case again this year.
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9 hours ago, dcifanforlife said:
Cameras are not allowed in Lucas Oil during DCI week. Only photo's taken with your smart phone.
That has not been the case in the past, and it is not a stadium policy. I have not seen any communication from DCI that cameras would not be allowed this year, and there is no mention of it on the Event Information on the website.
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4 minutes ago, jasgre2000 said:
This is a bit off topic (forgive me), but, for reasons I can't quite remember, I missed watching anything from the 2018 season in real time. Managed to track down videos from most of the finalists, though, and was watching them this afternoon before the show started. 2018 was a freaking amazing season and I really regret that I missed it. So many corps doing really unique shows that parted from their usual style. Babylon, of course, was incredible. But so many of the other finalist shows were also amazing. I particularly loved BK's arrangement of Rite of Spring. Haven't been able to find a good video of that one though, just a rehearsal video.
I'm tempted to buy the Blu-ray, but am worried that a lot of it will be silent. Has anyone bought it and able to comment on quality?
Its a shame that, after all these years, DCI still hasn't found a way to get the archive back up. Seems like they've given up on ever making it available again. And with the death of the Blu-ray's, it seems like a lot of those amazing past shows are just going to be lost to history. There's got to be a better solution.
GET THE BLU-RAY!!! There are some edits, but totally worth it. Babylon on its own is worth the price of the disc - the finest DCI work Tom Blair and crew have ever done IMO. The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is jaw-dropping!
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All tickets have been sold.
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I have 8 extra DCI Prelims tickets and 4 Semifinals tickets in my Friends of DCI block in Sec. 140 for sale. Asking face value - $79 each + $7.00 Ticketmaster fees per ticket for Prelims and $109 (+ $7.00) for Semifinals. PM for specific seat details.
Shawn
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3 minutes ago, DrumCorpsNutt said:
Yes, it makes sense that it is compression. I guess my question then is...what causes it to pules every 2 or so seconds, rather than every frame being equally compressed? It can be very distracting.
Well, it's quite complicated, but has to do with how compression is done. Instead of encoding all of the information in each frame (uncompressed), there is a reference frame every so often, and subsequent frames are compared to that reference. In high efficiency compression codecs, I believe over 95% of the original uncompressed information is thrown away. That doesn't happen without a cost.
Here's a more detailed explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding
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16 minutes ago, DrumCorpsNutt said:
Selecting 1080p instead of auto makes no difference...the same "pulsing" occurs either way. It isn't an issue or glitch with the app used, I believe it is a transmission/compression issue.
It's a video compression artifact. In order to stream 1080p60, you need a LOT of compression. I'm sure if you could get your hands on the original file (assuming it's archived in ProRes or something similar), it would look fine. It would be nice if, after the season, there would be "high quality" option to download rather than stream.
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The stadium (Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University) is one of the best in the country to see and hear a drum corps show. No track, turf field, concrete and aluminum stands surrounding the field that hold sound in without echo or excessive boominess, somewhat steeper pitch to the stands for excellent sightlines - it's hard to beat. Also in the middle of a college campus, so no major highway or train noise. So happy that this has been a staple of the DCI tour nearly every year since 1999 with one of the best single show lineups every year outside of the regionals (similar to NightBEAT). Looking forward to Friday night!
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These tickets have all been sold.
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I have 5 total tickets available on the 50, lower section, and will split if needed. Perfect for sound. PM or email (drumdr@lighttube.net) if you would like to discuss further.
Shawn
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I have had some folks back out of the DCI Southeastern (Atlanta) show, so I have 5 extra tickets. These are 50 yard-line seats in the lower section (Sec. 116). PM for specifics. Asking face value - $83.95 each including all those wonderful fees.
I will be at the San Antonio show today, so I may not be able to respond immediately.
Shawn
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25 minutes ago, Sutasaurus said:
Anxious to see what’s been tweaked since Muncie. I wasn’t expecting the salute change from night before last….but I liked it. Seems fitting. Layer,layer,layer.
Yes! LOVED the new salute!
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1 minute ago, regimentlvr said:
Yes, but last year the kick halt was in for show 1. I really hope they make it in this year, I look forward to them every year.
The kick halt may be somewhat out of place with the bent knee technique. We'll see . . .
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15 hours ago, Chief Guns said:
At the moment no I don't think so.
Currently they are at Chowchilla High school in Chowchilla CA, about two hours south of Sacramento. They will be there till the 21st.
Family day is June 24th.
I stayed in Chowchilla in 2011 en route to Yosemite. In the middle of nowhere with like one restaurant in the town and a strong odor of livestock. Hope things have improved there, but if not, at least there are no distractions for the corps.
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1 hour ago, Kopeck said:
And in Horicon, Wisconsin.
Those are not mosquitos in Horicon. They are small blood-sucking birds.
I remember our #3 bass in 1986 telling us that a bug flew in his mouth during a show, so he just ate it and kept going. We were simultaneously disgusted and impressed!
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4 hours ago, Algernon said:
synth "operators" are members performing on the field and thus under 22.
I think there may some confusion. Synth PLAYERS (in the front ensemble) are all of course members and 22 or younger. The SOUND BOARD operator, who handles the mix/amplification, is generally a staff member.
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On 11/28/2006 at 9:36 PM, somedude said:
i met a member of the BlueMan Group in vegas who marched with the Cadets...don't remember his name though (yeah, he actually did talk to me after seeing the drum corps jacket i was wearing...shocking, isn't it?)
That would be Clem Waldmann, who marched tenors with Phantom Regiment in 1984 and Garfield Cadets in 1985. He was the drumset player in BMG.
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1 hour ago, theonlyfizzle said:
Blue Devils 2023 show teaser
Performing their 2023 program - "Dismembered" - Drum Corps International is proud to present The Blue Devils!
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Murfreesboro show
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
It's seriously one of the best shows on tour. You're getting the Top 8 corps (plus Music city), outdoors in a FANTASTIC sounding stadium, great sightlines, and a capacity crowd. This is often where corps will debut their "new" ending to the show as they head to the stretch run. Outside of Finals, it's my favorite show of the year.