Eric Molho

What a great deal for your members! I'm jealous Others?

Hi all, Minnesota Brass is in the midst of some research/benchmarking to help us plan for 2009 and beyond. I'm hoping some of you might be willing to share some info around dues. Specifically: 1. What are member dues for your corps (2008 or 2009-please specify)? 2. Do you have any special programs to help members pay off their dues? 3. For those with good memories, how much have your dues changed in oh . . let's say . . . the last five years or so? Would love to hear what the 'going rate' of DCA corps is and how much variety there is among our corps. Thanks! Eric

Most of your MBI fans will already be on the bus headed East during your last rehearsal . . . but that doesn't mean we won't be cheering you on in Rochester! Have a great wrap up in Minnesota and we'll see you out East! Three world-class drum corps from Minnesota . . . ain't life grand!

Well we can put a few facts into this conversation (pesky as they may be). The yearbook/program for this year includes paid attendance figures for the last ten years of finals. Here's what they say: 1999 (Madison) 19,931 2000 (College Park) 18,423 2001 (Buffalo) 16,505 2002 (Madison) 20,230 2003 (Orlando) 18,865 2004 (Denver) 22,047 2005 (Boston) 20,542 2006 (Madison) 21,236 2007 (Pasadena) 24,395 The attendance on Saturday seemed great. The low 20,000s sounds like a good rough estimate. Of course, this doesn't include past history so I can't chime in on the Montreal thread or late 80s numbers. I seem to recall DCI saying that in the late 80s attendance was in the 30k range but whether that's total or paid attendance I can't say.

FWIW . . . I didn't get the early notice you mentioned although I had ordered Super Three tickets for many years but was disappointed with the Fantastic 5 option and chose not to do that this year. I could be wrong, but I'd guess only this year's Fantastic 5 ticket holders got the early notice since those went through the DCI office and the rest of us went through Ticketmaster or other sources. I was hoping they'd give up on the Fantastic 5 but that's probably another thread entirely

Lee and Renegades, Sorry to hear that you guys had to deal with this. Sounds like you put on an awesome show. For what it's worth, things went smoothly (as they usually do) for the all ages corps performing at DCI shows in Minnesota. (Well, Mankato is about to step off, but I'm assuming things will go well there.) Perhaps its because we've been at these shows since forever, but we're treated as just another division (as I'm sure Renegades want!). We have our quibbles with DCI from time to time but we've never dealt with the kind of stuff you guys put up with. We get sheets, we get scores and we get our scores announced without any hoo-ha. Bummer DCI-Pacific plays by their own rules, cause it's certainly not the way the game is played in the Midwest. Eric MBI

Here's a quick snapshot of the D1 corps at Stillwater. The show itself was, as usual, pretty tremendous. Sold out crowd (~4000) plus several hundred general admission (backside) tickets. Beautiful, warm weather and a terrific line up. I'm afraid I won't say anything about the all-age corps or the Colt Cadets cause I didn't see their shows. I'm also not going to bother with much by way of critiquing performance because it's so early. Yes, everyone has lots of cleaning to do! Blue Stars I really enjoyed this concept show. "Le Tour" is about the Tour de France and it feels really well put together. The entire color guard is in biking outfits that look sharp and fit the program. The show opens with the whole corps in the side one end zone, stretching and warming up until they take off for the race. The music is warm and beautiful, with lots of tunes everyone will recognize. Rumor has it the corps is very very young and if so they must be very pleased with how solid things are at this point. I think a lot of fans will enjoy this show and it appears to offer the members and the creative team lots of fun areas to grow as the season progresses. Madison Scouts No doubt others have already commented on Madison's new uniforms. At first I really didn't care for them. They're very very dark. The black pants and field-colored jackets appears to make the corps look rather dull. I will say that there are a few moments where the look is very effective--rather classy and foreboding. The deep red drums also look gorgeous against this back drop. Perhaps the look will grow on me. The show itself was pretty rough. The music sounds very dark and perhaps felt more so since most of the it was unfamiliar to me. The color guard appeared to my non-color-guard eye to be rather weak (few impact moments, tosses or excitement). The drill has some cool stuff going on and I think they'll get some good response to those moments, but unfortunatley overall this show felt flat to me. Blue Knights I didn't understand this show at all. Normally I feel like I don't quite get a Blue Knights show until the third or fourth read but this year . . . I can't even remember much of what I saw. As usual there are gorgeous silks with high impact moments. As usual the corps plays a challenging book well. But for the life of me I can't tell you a single helpful thing about this show. Colts Colts show, "Night and Day" is nicely but together. It's got some lovely music and effective visual elements to bring across the rather straightforward theme. The music is very accessible and appropriate; the flags and drill are full of sun and moon images. Again it seems like there's a nice palette for the corps to work with and plenty of areas to continue to grow. Carolina Crown There was a distinct step change as we headed into the last two corps of the evening. (Crown actually performed last.) Carolina Crown's show is going to be a real crowd pleaser. It's exciting, beautiful and completely accessible. Lots of gorgeous symmetrical drill and fun general effect moments. The music is all classical stuff everyone knows. The concept for the show, however, struck me as a little problemeatic. It's a greatest hits of classical endings. And, particularly for the closer, it can feel a little hokey to have so many huge themes thrown at you all at once. Honestly, the last one minute includes the 1812 Overture, Appalachain Spring and the final chords to the Hallelujah chorus. Personally I think I would have enjoyed just ONE ending done well rather than flying through three endings. But hey, a lot of people will love this and there's no doubt it's a fun show. I look forward to seeing it again. Crown also did the encore (which I wasn't able to stay for) and it was all non-show music that the crowd loved. Phantom Regiment I have never seen the 'original' 70s Spartacus show but I've heard about it for decades. This year's show is thrilling, dramatic and absolutely riveting to watch. I'm very excited by the potential Regiment has shown with this production. This is a very literal telling of the Spartacus story (Slaves! Revolt! Love! Murder!) and it helps to have that basic story arc in mind as you watch the show. The music is dark and powerful. My one quibble is with the drill writing which once again leaves me flat. Seems like there are many more moments for visual impact but usually it's just the color guard carrying all the visual weight. There's some great interaction between the brass and the color guard and, I won't spoil it, but the murder scene really is quite dramatic! This will be a fun one to watch. Well . . . there ya have it. Hope it's helpful.

You mean you want to discuss the STILLWATER SHOW in a thread called Stillwater Saloon?? I posted a mini review in the reviews thread. Hope it's helpful.

Yes and Yes. Twins 6-1 YanksGO BRASS!!! :D

Just posted four tickets on E-bay--not an auction, just a flat price. $175 for four Friday night tickets in section E, Row 68. These are 50 yard line tickets, high in the lower deck. UPDATE: Tickets are sold.

Holy Crap is the opener fun! b**bs I swung by the end of rehearsal last night on a whim and I'm so stoked! The corps sounded great. It's hard to imagine an opener more accessible, more exciting, more DRUM CORPS than this one. WOO HOOO!!! Summer's coming . . . even to Minnesota B)

*shudder shudder* I remember my one and only experience seeing Prairie Fire in Terre Haute, Indiana. The longest drum corps show of my life. But that's not really in the spirit of the thread. :sshh: Thanks, as usual Lee, for a great reminder of what truly matters.

Actually, they had it in the show . . . briefly. At their first competition in Mankato the show had a quiet encore (think Cadets Appalachain Spring show) that occurred after the big blow-your-face-off ending. The fleur de lis was in the drill there. Two days later, at the Menomonie Wisconsin show, that soft ending was gone. Whether we see the additional ending with the fleur again . . . I guess we'll see :)

I was so excited to see this topic. Belshazaar's Feast is (IMHO) one of the most underappreciated shows of Star's repertoire. I'll take it over their championship show or '93 in a heartbeat. I actually got to see that show on several occasions. I remember watching Star in rehearsal at Memorial stadium (I think it was pretty early in the season) and trying to make sense of this thing. The section they were rehearsing (with the "mene mene teke" banners) just seemed really weird--both musically and visually. Some time during the course of the summer I found myself reading the book of Daniel on my way to a show (not often am I lugging the bible along to the stadium, but there's a first time for everything, right?) and I finally understood a little more about what was happening. Mid-season I caught sight of Star rehearsing and saw the members t-shirt that read, "Praise ye Gods of Brass" which seemed a bit arrogant but in retrospect was fitting both from the story perspective as well as their performance. Of course watching the show evolve and change as the season wore on made it more and more exciting to watch. By the time Buffalo came around I was completely sold on the show. The last two minutes are some of the greatest minutes of DCI history. One final comment: This show (like Cavaliers Firebird, Cadets Appalachian Spring, SCV's Pictures at an Exhibition) also introduced me, as a high school student, to a monumental piece of music to which previously I had not been exposed. I still listen Belshazaar's Feast (drum corps and original versions) to this day. Exposing the younglings to great music: Reason 4,357 to love drum corps! Thanks for starting this thread! :)