lasallejr

Ditto for me... As a clarinetist, I never gave a real thought to marching DCI until my final year of eligibility. I learned to play baritone a little over a one-week period with the intent of trying out for Spirit in 1988, but I chickened out. Becoming a charter member of ALLIANCE in 2005 fulfilled a dream for me, and I have enjoyed DCA ever since.

Congratulations on making Open Class finals! As a charter member, I couldn't be more proud of how far this group has progressed in such a short amount of time. Kudos to all of the staff and performers - you are doing an awesome job!

They are already showing up on the DCA web site.

I agree that the fates of ALLIANCE and Chops seem to be aligned. From our first DCA Championships in 2005, when we met you all at your buses before prelims, we have had a kinship of sorts. Drum corps is a fraternity, and I consider the great people at Chops, Inc. my friends - I wish you success always.

Congratulations to all of my family at ALLIANCE on an incredible season. I am very proud of all of you for the work that was done to make this year a success. As one one the charter members of this organization, I know how dedicated that the management has been to deliver a high-quality product to DCA while offering the performers a unique and challenging field program. This is a difficult thing to accomplish, but this year's group was truly something special. I'm glad that the months of hard work paid off for this very deserving group of performers and staff. I wish that I could have been there to see ALLIANCE perform in person, but I was definitely there in spirit. I also applaud the other Class A corps for their continuous progress in developing top-level marching programs. The bar gets raised every year, and that is good for the entire activity. Congrats to Fusion Core, Chops, Inc., and SoCal Dream for your finalist performances this season. This was a great year for DCA - I can't wait to get my DVD!

Safe travels to all of you - I wish that I could be there. Have an awesome weekend in Rochester!

Here are a few of my observations on the evening performances of the 2008 DCI Southeastern Championships. I watched the show from Section 223 of the Georgia Dome – high enough to read the forms while being away from the torturous noise of the arena’s lower level seating. While this is not an ideal listening venue for the marching arts, it is probably better than enduring the muggy heat that we had in Atlanta on Saturday. Crossmen: 12th Place – 80.75 The manipulation of Holst’s “The Planets” is an interesting musical concept, and the arrangements used in this show were sometimes interesting. Visually, this corps does a lot of things well, and the color guard was quite effective at times, especially at the beginning of the performance. While this effort was far superior to their prelims show, The Crossmen’s “Planet X” left me a little cold overall – competent, but not spectacular. Glassmen: 11th Place – 81.80 This is now my 3rd viewing of this show, and somehow it gets less appealing every time that I see it. Clearly, the performers have bought into many aspects of this concept, and “Kar-ne-val” is performed with fire, especially by a very strong percussion battery. Unfortunately there is some overbalancing by the percussion at the end of the show, when the brass seems to run out of gas a little. The color guard is effective, but the trunks provide too much field clutter in my opinion. Like many G-men shows of the past, I just wasn’t buying what they were selling. Boston Crusaders: 10th Place – 83.125 In my opinion, “Neocosmos” has a little bit of growth opportunity left going as the corps heads toward Indianapolis/Bloomington. The performance level is very balanced through all sections of the ensemble – there just needs to be some consistency. Personally, I thought that Boston’s prelims effort was better than this one. The musical fragments from “The Matrix” were a good idea, and the color guard continues to be a strong point. Blue Stars: 9th Place – 83.175 One word sums up my impression of this corps – maturity. By far, “Le Tour” was the most polished show from any of the corps that played into the evening session. The brass book is classic, and the musicians understand how to play with that round symphonic sound that other musicians love to hear – the reason that we have loved Phantom Regiment for so long. Other than some cleanable visual dirt, I was floored by the performance level of this group. I am very interested in how they will place by the end of this season – thanks for giving the audience a great effort! Blue Knights: 8th Place – 85.95 Creativity and originality are at the root of artistic expression. One thing that makes the drum corps activity so special is the incredible talent of show designers to create complex concepts and find ways to convey these concepts in an entertaining way. The Blue Knights are always interesting, but “Knight Reign” tries too hard to be different, in my judgment. While the body movement, strange marching style, and custom-painted flags are all intriguing, these aspects of the performance robbed too much of my attention from what the corps was doing musically this evening. The performance was clean, but there was no discernable dynamic contrast in the brass and percussion book – it was just very flat to me. Santa Clara Vanguard: 7th Place – 88.10 “3hree” is a good concept, but you have to wonder if this particular idea is being overused (Spirit’s “Pe-ri-4-ry”, etc.). However, I liked this show a lot in a broad sense, and it is one of my favorite visual books of this year. Technically, it needs some cleaning, especially in color guard and field percussion. I thought that the uniform change by the guard was very creative. My scorecard had them beating the Bluecoats this evening. Nonetheless, this was a good effort for SCV – not a lot more to say about them. Bluecoats: 6th Place – 88.975 I was in high school during the early 1980’s, and I heard some fairly pathetic attempts to translate the music of the “Rocky” soundtrack to the field. I am happy to say that the Bluecoats finally got this right with “The Knockout”. The color guard was not as strong as in prior years, and this probably affected their score. The brass was also not at their best, but they still performed the music well. Overall, this show made me smile – good job! The Cadets: 5th Place – 91.375 Yikes, this corps can play! Yes, they can march too. The last minute of “…and the pursuit of happiness” is vintage Cadets – moving in close quarters at a frenetic pace. Thankfully, the narration has been reduced to a minimum so that the performance of this group can shine. With some cleaning, they may be able to gain a spot in the rankings, but it will be difficult. Carolina Crown: 4th Place – 92.625 The brass line that we have come to know and love is alive and well this year, and the percussion battery is still on fire as well. With that said, “Finis” is not as cohesive a concept as the prior three Crown programs. However, there are some really good musical moments. I would have expected a more expressive Claire de Lune than the one that I heard this night, but it may have just been a slightly flat performance. I don’t see how this show can go much further over the last couple of weeks. Phantom Regiment: 3rd Place – 93.375 Wow. From an aesthetic view, this was one of the most powerful examples of musical theater that I have ever seen performed on a football field. This was more than a musical performance – there was a true effort to connect emotionally to the story line of “Spartacus”, and the audience was rewarded with a magnificent example of how far drum corps have come in their ability to do much more than play and march. Certainly, this was a fine follow-up to “Faust” and “On Air”. The brass was extremely effective, especially the mellos. The percussion was very clean – it is easy to see why they have consistently topped the rankings this year. I was left overwhelmed with the power of this show, and I can’t wait to play it over and over when the DVD arrives. Cavaliers: 2nd Place – 93.775 Once again, the Cavies have found a way to connect so well to a concept with 2008’s “Samurai”. I understand the criticisms that have been levied by others concerning the musical book – while there are not a whole lot of notes played in this score, it totally captures the mood in the proper way. As always, the performance level of the guard and percussion was strong. Brass performance was very good as well, but not as dynamic as in some prior years. Yes, the ninja move of having people jump over one another is great, but there is not a lot more originality to be had in this visual program. They are right on top of the Blue Devils in the standings, but it will be difficult for the Cavies to overtake BD with this show. It is quite possible that Phantom will leapfrog them by the end of the season. Blue Devils: 1st Place – 94.525 Emotionally, I just did not connect with “Constantly Risking Absurdity” in one sitting. I found the musical book somewhat repetitive, though it was very well performed. Percussion and color guard were excellent, and the guard uniforms were a good complement to the visual package. But the drill just didn’t work for me, and the oddity of this program just seemed to try too hard. I know that it was supposed to be odd, but that still did not allow me to really enjoy tonight’s show the way that BD usually entertains me. I’d love to see this show again to get a second read. This corps is always hard to beat at the end of a season, and I am certain that this year will not be any different. But it will be wise for BD not to overlook Phantom and Cavies as the year comes to a close.

I joined Alliance last year at the age of 37. It was the first time that I had participated in any drum corps activity. I had been a life-long fan, but other obligations always got in the way of me joining a corps. I'm very happy that I finally got off the fence - last year was one of the best experiences of my life.