Weaklefthand4ever

Yeah I don't think a pre-recorded voice will ever beat a live one. As I said, if it works, it's pretty #### cool. If it doesn't then it's exceptionally awkward. I'll also agree that it comes off flat most of the time. And we all loved Fran announcing our shows!

The gold banding SCREAMS Troopers. I love that look.

2014 Bluecoats comes to mind. It came out pretty well at finals. I also noticed 2019 CV at DCA finals but it sounded pre-recorded. Is that allowed in DCI or am I missing something?

If the corps name comes in just a second before the opening hit, I actually like it. It's a little over dramatic but it still gets me.

To Tim K's point.... "Well what did you expect? A happy ending?"

I would think we can all agree that there are plenty of examples in the world of unhealthy ways that love has been expressed. The "how" is the important part. I personally didn't find the show to be that far over the top but then I admittedly didn't like the show all that much. Different folks will view it different ways I suppose.

Very good points raised. I think you're right as far as a value system in the current judging situation. My HOPE...HOPE...is that we will eventually swing the pendulum back to a balance of the two. I think in this world, as in so many things we've seen on the outside, the theatrics just get old after a while and lose their flavor.

I think that's part of the key. You still support the activity even if you don't necessarily agree with the direction of all the moving parts. I can get behind that 100%. I don't absolutely LOVE the new show design in a lot of cases, but I did notice something. I have sat and watched many a show (including ones I marched in,) on youtube with Britt. I'm 48 and she's 29. What I can say as an absolute is this: She is MUCH more interested in the newer "format" of shows than she is in shows from the 80's and 90's. Today's design holds her interest more and she is the epitome of the casual fan that we are looking for to put butts in seats. She has no drum corps background...just some HS band. She can appreciate what we did but it just doesn't light the same fire as the modern concepts of design do. It's an interesting tug of war to be certain.

I think that's a fair statement. I would certainly say that especially in the tick days, standing out of the formation like a 3rd nipple was a lot more damaging score wise than it is now. Scoring seems to be more "big picture" oriented. I would also say that when you get up into the top 3, there is more forgiveness for some fuzzy brass and percussion moments than there is in the bottom 1/2 of the top 12. But that's only my opinion. And I think we've talked before about the growth potential of a show point wise. There is a LOT of growth room design wise in many shows while at least to me, it's more difficult to grow a brass or percussion score by large numbers. Brass and percussion folks know what something SHOULD sound like I would think. It has to be harder to figure out the subtleties of a "show concept" design wise.

You two are both too funny to get old so don't sweat it LOL.

I'm tired enough that I actually thought about that for a second......

Think of it like this man...we've all probably had worse nicknames in our lives, including you LOL. Mine was "Guido" for a number of years and to this day I still can't figure out exactly why.

I have to look at home and see if I have the CD for 65' Royal Airs. I KNOW I've heard that show and I have a ton of stuff on vinyl that was converted over to CD. I would definitely have to agree with the other 3. Downside -Up is still my go to when marching band people say that their kids high school band is better than any DCI corps.

I feel like when we have discussions about drum corps being a rich kids game, etc etc., this is really what we are thinking about. Even when I marched in the late 80's, it was still a "show up, work harder than anyone else and LISTEN, and you'll end up where you are supposed to be." I really believe now that the level of talent and the difficulty in design and what the MM's are having to execute 1. Makes it easier to be picky and 2. Makes it necessary to be picky. If someone wants to argue with me they can, but I would urge people to think about something first. Those who marched in 60's and 70's laid the foundation for us that marched in the 80's and 90's. We then laid new building blocks for those to follow in the 00's and through today. The progression in design, difficulty of drill, electronics etc etc etc is natural. We shouldn't be ashamed of what drum corps is today but rather embrace it and have pride that WE HELPED BUILD THIS. The young men and women are not more talented today than they were "BITD." They do the same things we did...work hard, trust their staff and push themselves to do things they didn't know they could do. I draw a parallel (as I usually do...and yes, I know it's annoying,) to billiards. I played at the pro level for 2 years...a miserable 2 whole years. But I can tell you this. The greats of the 60's through the 90's were no less talented stringing 8 or 9 racks together then the cats now are stringing 8 or 9 racks together. People say that today's top players would wipe the floor with 80's players. The technology has changed in the tools we use now. It's not a different level of talent it's just a slightly different game. The guys (and gals) who played on tour in 80's and 90's laid the foundation for the folks playing at that level today. Yeah we had bigger pockets in the 90's. We also had shafts that were made of this amazing stuff called wood which would deflect the ball off of it's target line. Now they have smaller pockets but shafts made of carbon fiber which don't deflect. Slightly different game...same talent level. I'll try not to digress anymore today but I can't promise anything because it's 8am and I'm at work..on a Sunday.

I think a great example (that I can think of,) a corps playing the same piece back to back and getting it right the 2nd time. As a young fan and then an MM, I was not very amicable to it. As a much older fan, I can sit back without all of the emotion of "who I want to win / place" weighing on me. I would have to agree too that a hometown advantage is something that shouldn't be dismissed. 1991 was what...Dallas if I remember right? No one was going to beat Star that year IMHO regardless of the venue.