Jump to content

Jeff Ream

Members
  • Posts

    111,602
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    794

Posts posted by Jeff Ream

  1. On 3/20/2024 at 7:54 AM, Keith Hall said:

    Unbeknownst to us....when DCI stopped using PBS that was the changing of show ideas for DCI corps. If you watched DCI on PBS you didn't see a 'theme" but you did hear a lot of recognizable music. 

    This is NOT "I remember when drum corps was drum corps" rant.

    I enjoyed listening to corps playing different pieces of music in their show. In the 80's we saw corps had to have a theme and even explain their concept (still do today). Who started this idea?

    Remember Blue Devils opening up with "Free" by Chicago and a concert of Mangione's "Legend of the One Eyed Sailor.' Later Mangione's "Chase The Clouds Away." Very entertaining!

    Today, although the musicianship level exceeds the level in the 70's and 80's (IMO), I find most corps boring muically and visually. 

    I watched Crown do a "parade at Disney Springs a couple of years ago and couldn't believe the guard CAN NOT March!!! They walked and talked with each other and wavered at audience. I don't recall seeing a rifle section spinning the same routine at the same time in a section. Today I see more individual work done probably to avoid mistakes. 

     

     

    ok so 88 and 89....hmm themes. Phantom of the Opera, New World Symphony...Les Miz. oh 90...Tommy, Bernstein, Carnival of Animals, Carmen...91...Miss Saigon, Cavalier Anthems, City of Angels...92...Songs for Planet Earth, more City of Angels...

     

    oh hell, 84...West Side Story.

     

    those were all years DCi showed part of finals live. 

     

    Themes had been building for a while. i think it was 1971....when drum corps died right?

  2. 49 minutes ago, BigW said:

    You can be my bodyguard! I'm really not that bad! 😋

    i just ignore people. i think the last time a fan got to me and i said something was some idiot...in a stadium not serving beer, aka JBC heckled teal Sound the year they had the rock band in the pit. Now i wasn't alone, but i knew who he was with ( a local legend in brass world) and stood up and the his friend to shut him up now. and you know the look i give with idiots, and they got it.

     

    he was quiet.

  3. 3 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

    A guy next to me drank seven beers in Foxboro in 05.  It was none of my business.  I did do the math on how much it cost to drink seven crappy beers In that place.  He’d ran up quite a tab. 

    you wwere in Scranton. if i was an issue with 2, that guy should have looked up 4 rows by the railing at the walkway, especially by the tunnel that led to the Stadium Club.

    • Like 1
  4. 10 hours ago, BigW said:

    I wish I could ignore idiocy. Ever since that one show BITD at Hershey where some cluck physically threatened me when I Blooed the Blue Coats and I stopped going to shows for several years, I really am half afraid of what clucks I'll run into anymore. If my Mom and sister weren't there, I'd have popped that jerk. There have been few times where I've felt comfortable to really appreciate and react as a spectator since then. Usually when there's space between me and anyone else like Clifton when I bought the VIP ticket and like three other people did... or when I'm surrounded by friends/bodyguards. I'll gladly go back to Dover. If I miss the late season all age-World class contest, really, I can work on my Historical gaming miniatures, take myself to a top-class restaurant, or make a road trip to a couple of museums up North to watch live WW2 tank demos. I figure it'll eventually pop up online and I can enjoy it in the safety of my room.

    maybe i'm lucky.....i've never had interactions like that. well ok once.....DCA in Scranton. i walked to my seat for finals with 2 beers. guy next to me started to complain loudly about "an obnoxious drunk next to me.". then as 2 of my group showed up, i handed them their beers and shot the guy a look. Needless to say i heard not a peep, even when i eventually had a cold one myself.

     

    but seriously if you let stuff like that affect your ability to enjoy it, you need to find ways to block it out. i'm not trying to be Johnny sunshine....anyone that knows me knows i see way too much stupidity in the world around us. I just find ways to block it out. Plus now when i am at shows, i have an adorable almost 12 year old to explain stuff to!

    • Like 2
  5. 1 hour ago, Triple Forte said:

    I’ve been going to Allentown since 1997 and I can say for sure Allentown recognizes and applaud’s excellence.  It is probably the most drum corps savvy and seasoned crowd the Corps face all summer.  
    Unlike Bando Crowds, there are no give-me’s  in Allentown. 😊

    J. Birney Crum....she don't lie

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
  6. 6 hours ago, flugelswerebugels said:

    In '79 and '80 the crowds at Allentown would chant "EAST EAST EAST!' It came off to me as a mix of support for Cadets/27 and hoping that BD wouldn't win again (which we didn't always do there at that time)

    the most ABBD crowd i've ever been a part of was in Indy in 2010. Literally people getting up and walking out when they performed.

  7. On 3/19/2024 at 3:02 PM, BigW said:

    The "home town homerism" was so bad it left me demoralized after the last DCA show I went to. I plan on trying to go to the season end show because Crown et al will be present. I need to snag tickets when available. Hope I'm not too late. I had a Much better time at Dover where the audience:

    -stayed for everyone

    -appreciated everyone

    -and everything was complete- maybe not well polished in some cases, but enjoyable and watchable. 

     

    Off topic, I really, really liked Spartans. Well, maybe it is on topic- Their music wasn't normal fare, but it was wonderfully arranged, performed, and all made sense phrasally and went from one idea to another without feeling like one had ADHD.

    hometown homerism has always been there. and always will be. i personally don't pay attention to it and focus on the field.

  8. On 3/19/2024 at 3:49 PM, Keith Hall said:

    The Corps staff go to DCI Meetings and propose judging changes. The corps vote on those changes. WHY visual is more important than Music? I don't know

    here's the thing, and i am sure this will rankle several:

     

    once we got away from the drills of 1960, visual has evolved and become more important in the total package. by the time Cadets zagged, scoring had to zig. fewer of the old school compulsory drill moves ( color pres, concert, exit line etc) were gone. the visual got more creative. Now in some cases, especially with props etc has it gone too far? IMO in some cases yes. but to be anything less than 50% of the score in where things are now isn't realistic. 

    • Like 1
  9. 9 hours ago, TheOneWhoKnows said:

    Well at least in NJ, they’ve ruled that they are liable for the old organization. 
     

    I was more referencing the ability for people to sue in PA. It wouldn’t fly like this did in NJ because of their one time retroactive lifting of statutes.

    PA has upheld the statute of limitations in cases and anyone would have a hard time trying to get around that. 

    as it's been almost 6 years since hopghazi broke, i'd imagine civil cases in PA would already have been filed by now. but given at the criminal trial one witness that planned on testifying decided not to in order to just get away from it all, i'd say the PA options are slim to none

  10. 12 hours ago, HockeyDad said:

    Interesting reading. At this point, however, does the outcome have any effect on the future of the Cadets?  They seem to be in a place right now whereby a comeback seems highly unlikely, no matter what happens with the lawsuit. Unfortunately. 

    if they win, they still have no money or assets. and it seems 23 had finances in rough shape before this exploded. So it's possible, but man the amount of things needed to make it happen is overwhelming to think of

  11. 1 hour ago, Chief Guns said:

    It seems to be the opposite out here in California. 

    When we get Midwest/East Coast corps come out here, we treat them like rock stars as we are so appreciative that they made the trip out west. 

    well and part of that is because the East has always gotten West Coast corps. maybe not all of them every year til the current Allentown format went into effect...96 or 97 i can't remember. but we always got some. unfortunately the West rarely got east coast corps, so i am sure they were thrilled to see them.

     

    However being at pretty much Allentown back to the beginning, the hatred for West Coast corps is overblown. yeah the locals have had their love, but even cadets got their fair share of tepid response with some of the out there shows over the years. the YEA Borg was loud yes, but not that loud. but I've seen BD and SCV as well as others get some great reactions going back almost 50 years now.

    in 11 SCV rehearsed by me a few days beforre Allentown, with a show that wasn't beloved anywhere. during ensemble, the kids weren't connecting to those watching or the staff, and someone on staff told them "in Allentown if you play without passion, the fans will let you know it....with silence. They'll respect you, but they want you to give your all." And i didn't disagree with a word of it.

    • Like 5
  12. 6 hours ago, Chief Guns said:

    Outside of finals this past summer, I have never attended a DCI show east of the Mississippi River. Was there any truth to crowds back east purposely not rooting for BD or corps from out west in general?

    BD definitely on several occasions. not so much others. VK of course universally loved. but BD 08-13 was generally under loved by many fans period, and Allentown was no exception. At least as i could tell there was no serious hostility like booing ( except maybe when scores announced), but the standing at the end was people strecthing or getting up to leave, and not because the shows wowed them. Feilliniesque was like the BD reactions of years gone by ( aka 80's and 90's)

    • Like 4
  13. 7 hours ago, BigW said:

    Indeed. A case study could be the whole DCA "communication" semi-subcaption. I asked people involved that I respect that should have been able to give me a clear answer to me about the caption that weren't really able to. They obviously needed to interpret what the sam scratch it meant since they were having to put numbers in the box.

     

    From my observation, and this is my personal impression- it just ended up being a parroting of the actual what/how main caption numbers, or an average of the two. Last season- and the last season it will ever be used-(for which I believe Jeff is thankful, myself as well) judges finally seemed to have a better understanding of what the intent was and the numbers finally began to have some actual independence from the main section of the caption.

     

    What do I think, and mind you, this is what I think for what it's worth:

    1: it was a well-meaning but not a great attempt to try and come up with some kind of an excuse to give Effect more weight and try and give some kind of nod to the audience.

    2: I also think it was an attempt by some competitors in particular that figured that their pandering to the audience was their specialty, that they had a monopoly on it...and that the "Blue Team" (emphasis the DCA Blue team) didn't have a clue and that this would easily reel them in. This was a pretty huge mistake on their parts. The Blue Team folks don't live in a bubble, they're not fools, and they can read the sheets and the rubrics. They made adjustments and pretty much won Communication while it existed. It reminds me of when the Electronics rules in DCI were developed and voted in, The Bluecoats pretty much said, "We didn't vote for this, but we're not going to sit back and not do it. We're going in whole hog, we'll figure it out and do it better than everyone else." Certain groups who hoped to get that "unfair advantage" (1$ to Mark Donohue) got knocked on their bohintis/Badonkadonkas (1$ to Tiny Tina)

     

    7 hours ago, BigW said:

    Indeed. A case study could be the whole DCA "communication" semi-subcaption. I asked people involved that I respect that should have been able to give me a clear answer to me about the caption that weren't really able to. They obviously needed to interpret what the sam scratch it meant since they were having to put numbers in the box.

     

    From my observation, and this is my personal impression- it just ended up being a parroting of the actual what/how main caption numbers, or an average of the two. Last season- and the last season it will ever be used-(for which I believe Jeff is thankful, myself as well) judges finally seemed to have a better understanding of what the intent was and the numbers finally began to have some actual independence from the main section of the caption.

     

    What do I think, and mind you, this is what I think for what it's worth:

    1: it was a well-meaning but not a great attempt to try and come up with some kind of an excuse to give Effect more weight and try and give some kind of nod to the audience.

    2: I also think it was an attempt by some competitors in particular that figured that their pandering to the audience was their specialty, that they had a monopoly on it...and that the "Blue Team" (emphasis the DCA Blue team) didn't have a clue and that this would easily reel them in. This was a pretty huge mistake on their parts. The Blue Team folks don't live in a bubble, they're not fools, and they can read the sheets and the rubrics. They made adjustments and pretty much won Communication while it existed. It reminds me of when the Electronics rules in DCI were developed and voted in, The Bluecoats pretty much said, "We didn't vote for this, but we're not going to sit back and not do it. We're going in whole hog, we'll figure it out and do it better than everyone else." Certain groups who hoped to get that "unfair advantage" (1$ to Mark Donohue) got knocked on their bohintis/Badonkadonkas (1$ to Tiny Tina)

    i have used this example before, and hopefully the days where it comes up are soon gone.

     

    i sat right in front of the judges at Readings second home show several years ago. you could hear the judges. and one GE judge was raving about how the "audience' was getting into the corps performance as it related to the communication sheet.

     

    the crowd wasn't doing jack ####. yes home town homerism was in effect most of the night 9 but 2 corps in particular got great reactions)....but not this corps. and this sheet called the show. and the "audience" wasn't pleased, because the corps that did communicate lost. 

    and oh man, the results the next weekend were explosive when things shifted in terms of placement. After that i reached out to someone and got an actual copy of the sheet. it was pure GE speak. All of it. and audience as mentioned applied to the judge, not the fans as all PR stated when explaining the change.

     

    in the history of stupid sheets for judges to use, this is the tops. and it came at the expense of field visual which led to serious sloppiness that was noticeable upstairs, but couldn't really be addressed because thats nt what the upstairs sheets were designed to address.

    • Like 4
×
×
  • Create New...