BlooooContra

Yeah, there were definitely a few judging issues tonight. I'm just glad placement happened how it did overall. Phantom winning GE vis? Cavaliers winning GE music? Er... no. Bluecoats guard scoring a 17.9? The same score they had in Centerville on July 16th? Costanza had better hope we never meet in a dark alley. What an insult to Jamie Oakley's guard program. Somebody please fire this guy now... and maybe slap him a few times on his way out the door. However, brass and percussion scores, IMO, were pretty spot-on. Regiment had a great drumline this year. Unbelievably clean. Bluecoats taking 3rd in brass with Cavaliers winning the caption sounded good to me too.

Now I don't feel bad for having accidently body-checked Dennis Delucia at San Antonio in 2001 for trying to break ranks. Peaked early my @**. B)

Way to prove those Six Words right. Getting better every year for 7 years straight? Now it's time to extend the streak to 8. What color medals do you all want next year? GET IT, BLUE!!!!

Can Bender even count that high? :P

No matter the results, I've got Six Words that describe how I feel. Get it, Blue.

This being my first time I've been able to catch DCI at Regal, I was very impressed! It's late and I'm a little tired... sitting still that long is a huge feat in my book. :P Here are my thoughts on each corps. I'll try to keep it basic, brief, and BIASED. No punches pulled, but please read carefully before you try to flame it. Thanks! :) Southwind- Best non-semifinalist corps in DCI history. Great year for them and I hope that tonight's season wrap-up doesn't get those kids down too much. They did a #### of a job this season and really raised the bar for the organization, as did the staff. Capital Regiment- Holy #$%^&*, these kids are MOVING in the opener! I was shocked. Music in that tune was great. Heck, I thought that was one of the best single productions of the night. Thought the new unis work very, very well from a box perspective. Such a big step up from where they were just a few short years ago. You can tell the organization is all about challenging itself. However, I felt that the closer was an absolute bag of **** from a design standpoint. I'd have been embarassed to have done it on the field. Kudos to the members for pulling out the performance they had tonight. I hope the momentum can keep up into 2007! Blue Stars- Welcome back to Div 1. Just one question: where was the corps that did Blue Stars: Reloaded? All I saw was some sappy patriotic show that's been done eight bazillion times. Come on. Really? Seriously? Show designers- what's your deal? I think that deserves a slap for each person who agreed to put that concept on the field. Despite that particular atrocity, these kids came to play tonight. Strong showing by the hornline especially. They'll be knocking at the Saturday night door next year for sure. It's great to see some new (old) blood back in the mix! Crossmen- What an entertaining show. I laughed in so many places- these guys were clever, that's for sure. It was obvious that the corps dug the show they were given, especially that pit. Some nice, jazzy grooves in the hornline. Drums seemed to have a good show tonight. I don't think that the drill design is anywhere near where it should be to get them back into finals. Staff changes are a #####. I feel where they're at- been through enough myself. Once they get a solid instructional team there, Bones should be back. Until then, I'm happy with 14th place as long as they keep putting out entertaining shows like Changing Lanes. Colts- Kind of a pity that this show was done the same year as Moto Perpetuo. Think of it as SCV Lite. Wasn't feeling it at all really, but I'd chalk that up to extremely generic brass arranging. Felt like it was pulled from a 90s drum corps textbook. The version of Ride could have been much stronger, especially considering that tune was prominent just 2 years ago with another finalist corps. If you're going to repeat a tune that had seen daylight recently, you've got to really throw down... or at least tweak the heck out of the arrangement. Once again, I think the design team let the kids down with this show. I believe they've got talent on the same level as Spirit, but they don't have the vehicle to get them there. Spirit- Solid is my word to describe these guys. Music you can hum. Drill you can read. A concept that can be easily grasped. Good stuff. Some of the old school DCI throwbacks in the first movement were really cool. Couple little easter eggs in there. Great music selection. The flow into Blue Shades worked way better than I thought it would have. Solid 12th place corps. I felt that the design and performance were right there where they should be for a 12th place finish, which is by no means a bad thing with such a strong group of semifinalist corps. Glassmen- The "waltz" in 5/8? Genius. And as always (well... recent years), they Glassmen's guard is hot. There. I said it. :P I think they had a couple of wow moments, but not enough to really break into the next echelon of corps. I really like the recent trend in Glassmen shows- taking familiar, standard classical tunes and just standing back, poking them with a stick, and seeing what happens. Madison Scouts- Ok. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge stickler for shows being demanding. I don't give a **** if it's clean if it isn't difficult. Difficulty? Yeah. They've got it. More than they can handle, but it's admirable seeing them try. I give em credit. I've never, ever, ever been a Madison fan. I don't like this show, but you can bet that I respect it. Somebody needs to buy Myron Rosander a copy of Pyware 3D java so he can see the individual step size calculations. lol And maybe he could realize that he writes drill that's nearly impossible to totally clean (see SCV 01, 03, etc.). ...but I suppose that's a tangeant for another day. The Scouts were intense tonight, but if they weren't, the show would have eaten them alive. Boston Crusaders- I believe that Lil' John said it best when it comes to describing this show: "What?" Seriously. What were the designers thinking? Boston is better than the show they were given. It all seemed so arbitrary and aimless- just a big mass of counts, dots, and note heads on a page. Was it performed well? You betcha. I'd imagine that even the members are scratching their heads on this one. And all those props for one and a half effect moments? *sigh* Boston's gone from totally cheesy to totally out there. Please, design team, find a happy medium. Blue Knights- To me, this seems like a better thought-out version of Boston's show. No big underlying theme, but they really succeed, through design and performance, in setting an ambient mood throughout. I'll go on record saying that this is my favorite BK show ever. The little swirling circle moment was a really effective point. Visual effect seemed to be their strong suit this year. Carolina Crown- I think I "get" the show. I just don't think there's enough thematic material to really kind of justify what they're going for (if that makes sense). Hornline was crass during the opener, but really seemed to reel it in and deliver later on. Guard communicated their roles very well up to the box, something that definitely stood out throughout the show. Drumline wasn't a pretty sight- not sure what's happening there. That used to be one of Crown's strongpoints. It was like they were the little WGI corps. Now the horns have really stepped it up, which is good to see. Overall, a pretty solid package. Crown really seems to know what they're doing, getting a little better every year, no matter what numbers or placements might say. These guys are moving forward. SCV- They're back! Praise the Lord, they're back! I absolutely loathed 04-05 SCV. I thought it totally went against the innovation that they were bringing, especially in the 99-03 years. Moto Perpetuo is the deal. Great little easter eggs through the show. The field exit is total Vanguard innovation. I ate it up. Great stuff. Bluecoats- You're always toughest on the ones you love. :) I'm not sure what happened tonight, but it didn't feel like the corps I saw in Massillon just a little while ago. Ensemble vis was an issue, especially in the high brass. My buddy (who never marched DCI) who I brought with me was even calling stuff out. They've got the show. They've got the talent. My hope is that it's a repeat of last year- where we had a less than stellar quarters performance, then threw it down on Saturday night. This is definitely the year where they took out all the naysayers who've thought that Blue was a fluke in recent years. Here's to the Bluecoats tearing the house down in 07 with a medal at the very least. This show purrs. Next year needs to roar to get to the top. Cadets- I like this show. I'm a huge Cadets hater and I like this show. Why? I dunno. Maybe it's the crazy ADD 8 year old in me. Do I have issues with some of it? Yes. Do I think they take things a bit far at times? Yes. Am I disgusted that the hornline was nothing more than a soundtrack, prop, and/or stagehand the entire show? Uh huh. But somehow, I still liked it on the whole. They were light years cleaner than Bluecoats, and I think the placement was right tonight. If Blue can step it up, Cadets won't stand a chance. If not, then chalk up a 4th place finish to the maroon team. Phantom- Love. Those. Mellophones. This show does anger so well. The demons were slightly more feminine than they were scary, but Faust did a good job. Drill needs to be stepped up if they ever want a ring again. This show is so clean, but I don't think it's on the same level as BD and Cavaliers. I'm a little irked that they're all in the 96es. Blue Devils- Love it. No more shot notes. No more gratuitous screaming. No more easy drill. THIS is the Blue Devils I've been waiting for the past few years. The beginning of the show is amazing. Most entertaining snareline I've ever seen in DCI. Guard sells their image well. Wow moments are programmed well into the show- great pace throughout. I'm hoping they take the title. Cavaliers- Love the concept. Hate how thin it wears. To me, it's a case of too much of a good thing. They've clearly got all the makings of a great show, it just grates on my nerves a little bit. Dont' get me wrong- I'm still a big fan. My only other complaint is the music. Other than the little contra lick in the circle, the brass arranging is the most generic stuff to come out of Rosemont in a long time. It's just a soundtrack to their little factory. Maybe that was the point. i dunno. I just think that it should do a better job as a stand-along product that works in tandem with visual effect. Final rant: I just have to say it... Why on earth is it that they pick cool little historical moments to show before each corps, yet the Bluecoats get their freaking 1996 show????? GAH! DCI! Are you trying to make us look bad? People at the theater were LAUGHING at the show. There's a big reason why that design staff isn't around anymore. At the very least, give us 95. Maybe 01? 87? ANYTHING but 96. (...or 99 or 92)

If he's the guard judge on Saturday, I'll be happy with a 5th place finish and hope it doesn't drop to 7th when he gives us a 14. lol I'd all but count 4th place out with him on the panel Kinda like Charlie Poole back in 01 (01? I think it was that year) with our drumline. Or the judge that put Americanos ahead of our hornline in 2000. (who, of course, was fired later :) )

Word. BD finally stepped it up this year. Time for Phantom. 07 maybe? Right now, IMO, it's Cavaliers, SCV, Bluecoats, and BD who are standing out visually with their tough books. I'd put Madison in there too, but I haven't seen their show since the first week of the season. Dunno what changes they've made. Cadets and Phantom need to light a fire under their drill writers' respective *sses.

Having seen all 3 lines multiple times now, I don't think Phantom can touch the Blue teams in terms of difficulty, but on the other hand, I don't see the Blue teams touching Phantom in cleanliness. Gonna depend on the Saturday night judge's taste. Personally, I'd give it to the harder books, but that's just my taste. I like the idea of rewarding difficulty. If something is a 9/10 in cleanliness and a 10/10 in difficulty, I'd put it over the group that's a 10/10 cleanliness and 9/10 difficulty any day. Especially when it comes to visual... but that's another story. :)

AHHHHHHHH! SOMEBODY POST THE ACTUAL SCORES!!! ::tears hair out in frustration:: :P edit: in the time that it took me to write that- somebody posted them. lol Thanks!!!

It started in 92 in front of the Normal, IL stadium. Sly Sybilski (spelling?), if I remember correctly, was the driving force behind the idea while he was with the Bluecoats. Not sure how long he was around.

I spell Blue with 6 words. B)

Cavies 2000- Diamond cutter till the end of the show Bluecoats 2003- Squeezebox SCV 2003- Beginning of Orawa

LOL That night was priceless! I forget offhand who made the comment

The wrong color is usually red.... :sshh:

I'm speaking relatively, of course. :) I"m sure people in some random corps back in the 60s could make the 80s Bluecoats look like a cakewalk (and make us 00ers look like total pansies!), but I'm only talking about a certain era. Just saying that making finals by about a tenth, not really cutting anyone in the hornline at audition camps, and having an almost entirely incompetant vis staff sucked compared to how wonderful it was to march in 2005.

Since my edit button isnt' working for some reason.... And about the fans: I think Bluecoats and Browns fans are somehow related by ancestral blood. We haven't thrown beer bottles and inturrupted a game yet, but come to Massillon wearing the wrong color and your life might not be so pleasant for a night. lol Rabid bunch are we.... All in good fun, of course. :P Some interesting stuff has been yelled out at that show that wouldn't fly anywhere else, as recent attendees can vouch for.

And of course, the coach from the Browns went on to make the dynasty at New England. Everyone in the 90s Browns got a superbowl eventually... except the fans. Browns Suck. Indians suck. Cavs don't quite suck as much anymore, but still are nowhere near where they should be. BLUECOATS, on the other hand, sucked frequently just like the rest of the organizations from NE Ohio. When I marched in 2000, there was enough suck in the region to fill a small eastern-European country. Blue team's leading the rise back up. Now if the Cavs can keep on track, the Indians get back to their mid-90s greatnes, and the Browns... *cough* fold *cough*... NE Ohio will be a great place to be! B)

Take us with a grain of salt. We've waited out turn for a very loooong time and we're just maxing out the celebration now. :) Think of it as being similar to the Red Sox finally breaking the curse, only our curse was being looked down upon. Red Sox fans went nuts when that happened. No matter what place they end up in on Saturday night, the statement has been made to the DCI community. Personally, I don't care about the rest. We never demanded a ring. We always just demanded respect. Now I think it's safe to say that we have it. Life is good. I can just sit back and enjoy everyone this season, now that I'm not worried about my Blue team getting ignored or counted out. Lots of good shows out there this year, such a great time to be a drum corps fan! I'm so excited to see BD, Cavaliers, Cadets, and Bluecoats at the Massillon show this month. B)

I'm not big into conspiracy theories. However, I believe that some DCI judges are hesitant to put corps like Blue and Phantom ahead of corps like Cavaliers sometimes. Obviously, not all judges are like this, but like we've been told all these years- if you want to hang with the big boys, you have to stomp them, not just play at their level. It's taken Bluecoats 7 years of rebuilding to get an ounce of respect out of the DCI general public (obvious exceptions here too). How many times did DCP predictions have us in 11th or 12th after finishing 7th the year before? It's easy to count out the kids without any rings in their history. The judging community is really interesting to watch this year, especially seeing how corps like Phantom, Blue, and Cadets flip-flop in captions so much. To me, it's a very good sign that some people in green polos are getting the b*lls to give the numbers to the underdogs when they deserve it. Personally? I want to see the Blue and White teams in 2nd and 3rd this year and in 1st and 2nd in 2007. It's kind of like wanting the Patriots to not make the Superbowl. I love Cinderella seasons. B)

Preach it, brother. BD's got some bad mofos in the vis performance department. Now only if their drill designer would grow a pair and write for the amazing talent that corps has. Before the flaming starts, notice that I'm 100% behind the kids on the field, and am only ripping on one guy. :)

I did :) I stand by my word. Is it easy in the grand scheme of things? oh heck no Is it easy compared to some of what the other top corps' lines are throwing down? Yep.

Loud. :) Not the visual wow that I was hoping for, but I heard rumor that it wasn't 100% done being tweaked. Effective enough for July 12th though.

Finished my 3 hour drive back to Kent thanks to the lovely construction that's popped up in Ohio this year. I'll start with the usual disclaimer: 1. I'm biased. 2. I like certain things. 3. I hate certain things. If you have any discrepencies or complaints about numbers 2 and 3, I suggest you refer to number 1. :) With that said, on to the review! My seat was great- right on the 50, just a few rows from the top. Good crowd, though a little reserved. What can I say, I prefer the raving lunatic alumni (myself now included!) that tend to inhabit shows like Massilon and occasionally Toledo. I like my drum corps crowds rowdy and ready to give it up, as long as it doesn't reach the levels of the Normal, IL show. Show started with the Dublin Taiko Drum Enselble. Man, I thought my old high school was broadening its horizons when we added our jazz band. I dig the traditional writing. Takes guts for those kids to perform in that kind of medium to such a large crowd of strangers. Kudos. My only suggestion would be for the Master Drummer to have arranged or written a piece for them to be more engaging and entertaining for an audience. Go against the traditional grain for one performance and maybe reel some new people in. They only got polite... and fairly confused/awkward... applause after a couple of the tunes. Couple of those kids were really performing the #### out of their set. Some of the heights reminded me of BD's drumline. B) SOUTHWIND- Duality is yet another step up. They were a hotdog corps for me since I started watching back in 99 (liked 00's music, but didn't like their total lack of fast tempo and vis demand). 2005 totally changed my mind. Loved them then, and by the end of the season, I can see myself loving them again. The staff has clearly raised the bar for the corps. The members are doing a good job of chasing that standard. Some of the music fell flat on my ears- very little grabbing moments. Visually, these guys found their strong point. Effective drill writing sold the concept without having to go to great lengths. Rather than having a nebulous idea, it was more like "Hey. Check it out. There's two of everything... and they're different." Simple, yet effective. Glad to see SW on the rise. Oh, and the orange bodysuits? I'm sure some of the male corps members dig em. But for real... fluorescent orange? Is this a tshirt from 1991 being reincarnated? ::quickly re-hangs up my Saved By the Bell poster::: Note to DCI: save your headliners (Blue and Phantom, despite it being Cap Reg's turf. isn't the Crew Stadium show their real home show though?) for the end!!! You don't have Jay-Z as an opening act for a local band just because you're playing in the local band's hometown. I understand the reasoning. I just don't like it all that much, solely because I hated to see a bunch of people leaving the stands early. Holes in the audience are about as much fun for performers as holes on the field. BLUECOATS- Um... did somebody say this show was too clean? Man, do I ever disagree. They're clean for July 12th, but peaking early because of lack of demand? Put the crack pipe down. Color guard seemed to have a good show tonight. Very well written visual book by the guard staff. Drumline was throwing down notes like mad, lots of tasty licks hidden in the show. Percussion writers like Mike McIntosh (and I'd put in Jim Cassella as well) write such musical drum books. I love it that their notes aren't just arbitrary. The drumline adds a lot of depth to this show. Horns were quiet, as Bluecoat hornlines post-2001 always are until the end of July. Drill-wise, holy ish. This show has the individual demand and the ensemble effect to take any visual caption on finals night... if it gets clean. That's what's going to decide whether or not Blue walks out of Madison with a colored medal, a ring, or a generic finals medallion. Mark my words: this show won't peak early. Plenty of changes going in still, and besides, it's too freaking hard to get clean early! PHANTOM- Do I almost always hate Phantom shows? Yes. Do I loathe most classical music in general (despite my 4 years as a performance major)? Yes. Did I actually dig a good portion of this show? You bet. Phantom was ANGRY, which I totally love in a drum corps. The mellos did what so rarely gets done right in DCI: play the instrument like it's a french horn, and play it well. Great quality from them at loud dynamics. The new ending seemed more confident tonight. Not the WOW I was expecting, but the corps seemed to keep momentum going really well from start to finish. Meaty horn book was definitely appreciated. Visual demand is up from last year, which was nice to see. Color guard put on a fairly bland show tonight, but something tells me it's more the writing than the performers. Drums were sooo clean! Being a drummer as well as a brass player, it's fairly obvious that the book was written to be clean. For what they're scoring, I don't think there's enough demand in there. Drumline should be in the top 3 in August, but without more difficulty, I don't see a drum title, as long as another line or two gets clean as well. It would be like BD winning ensemble vis over Cavies. Clean, yes, but where's the demand in comparison? Can't wait to see how Phantom's show turns out in the end. Very exciting music throughout most of it (contras, watch the release in the ballad!!!!). ...and I totally thought that those guys in the guard were going to make out with eachother. Anybody else get that vibe? :P (...and if you're going to flame me on that comment, for the love of God, have a sense of humor. I know it's coming. lol) CROWN- Nice little opening drill to introduce the theme. This show is all about guard. Hornline vis demand is way up from past years, but please, SOMEONE teach those contras how to jazz run properly!!! My stadium hotdog (which gets a solid 86.4, taking the captions Performance Bun and GE Deliciousness overall) nearly came back up when I saw them. Just a pet peeve of mine from my years of marching. Heavy instruments aren't a good excuse to not be able to run all over the field as well as everyone else. Drumline didn't stick out as a highlight as much as some Crown lines have in the past (i.e. 2001). Guard was a blast to watch. Though I don't care much for the show overall, some of the cheesy, tongue-in-cheek stuff that they did was really entertaining. Kept the show moving. From the perspective of performing to the box, they were the best guard tonight, though from a sheer technical/spinning perspective, Blue's got them beaten. Should be a solid 6th place contender. Comment of the night goes to the guy sitting a few seats down from me. Crown finished. He sat in silence with her friend. He then looked at his friend... looked at the field where Crown was leaving... looked at his friend... looked at the field... looked at his friend again with a perplexed look... scratched his head and simply said "Why?" Got a few laughs. GLASSMEN- I loathe Beethoven. To me, he's become such a cliche that his music has become unlistenable (to me. I'm not speaking in a universal here). With that said, the segment in their show where Beethoven goes deaf is sheer genius. Holy freaking crap. Way to go design team. If it were drawn out just a little longer during the dischord, I think it would go over even a little better. Glassmen are definitely here to compete this year, and might even be a top 6 contender again. Being from Ohio, I'm all about it. Europe didn't hurt these guys a bit. CAP REG- Sadly, I received a bit of an emergency text message right before they were going to perform and had to leave early (Ya, I know I was one of those people bailing early, but I was extremely bitter about it!). Heard bits of the opener on my way out. All I'll review of them is their volume, which was nice and really freaking loud. I heart powerful hornlines. All in all, I'm soooo glad that corps outside of the Big 3 (or so) can be just as entertaining these days. Visual demand is starting to become a standard in DCI, which makes me really happy. Everyone was moving tonight, no doubt. I probably won't see another show until Massilon, but I'm definitely glad I made the trek down south tonight. Didn't see a single show that I totally disliked. Everyone had at least a couple of moments that made the 11 minutes totally worthwhile. B) (edited for spelling)

During my time at Bluecoats, I marched with former members of the Cavaliers, Blue Devils, Cadets, Scouts, Crown, Boston, Glasmen, Blue Knights, Colts. Just about every finalist corps other then Phantom and SCV. It's funny seeing what makes people go to one corps from another. We had a 3 year Cadet vet choose to age out with us. We had a 4 year Colt vet come march in 05 to get a taste of the Top 5, as well as the corps his older brother marched 5 years before, only to go back to the Colts this year to age out in his original home. As for corps attitudes towards eachother, I think it varies greatly. Some corps get along well. Some corps can "tolerate" eachother. Some corps can't even be civil to one another. I'd cite examples, but airing dirty laundry in this thread doesn't sound like such a good idea. The point is, when it comes to all of these things in DCI, there just aren't any universals. Sometimes, people just do weird s***. :)