Weaklefthand4ever

Unfortunately, I think that's the truth Stu. Amazingly, gamers are actually making real money off playing video games. Oddly enough though, in my own little bubble, pocket billiards is going through a resurgence. Pool halls are starting to go to non-smoking and laws have changed to allow "kids" to be in the rooms again. Most of the best players in the world are now younger guys. 20 years ago, I would have been considered to be in my prime age now at 47. Bad comparison, I know, but it's an interesting parallel.

All very true Ghost. I think the ESPN 2 thing was really wasted to be honest. They played finals in a odd time slot if I remember correctly, it was a delayed broadcast. I think part of the key, as has been discussed ad nauseam, is for DCI to do whatever they can to fill the seats with fans FIRST and foremost. If that means that you significantly cut ticket prices for students, then do it. I get that money will be an issue with doing that. But if you can't fill seats, you won't attract sponsors. The how is always the hitch in the giddyup.

I've always waffled back and forth on Blast. Depending on whom you speak to, Blast was either a brilliant idea to bring marching arts onto a small stage with small ensembles and maximize revenue presenting something people had never seem before (shiny new stuff.) OR, Blast was play thing for Bill Cook to prove that he could once again re-invent the wheel. He and his corps and staff changed the face of DCI, Blast changed the face of stage entertainment within that niche. It was WGI (or what would become WGI,) combined with Mini-Corps / Soundsport at it's absolute best. Unfortunately it ran it's race as well. I think people are too finicky outside of our activity to make it mainstream. I have always thought that the way to make the activity grow is to find corporate sponsorships first and have those mainstream sponsors drive forward the activity. I just don't see the activity going the opposite way and attracting sponsorships which would then make the activity popular. HOW....now that's the question isn't it?

I don't necessarily disagree with that statement Stu. I think it's in the way that it's done which is the source of contention in all reality. Drum Corps has always failed in it's ability to adapt with changing times. I think that much is obvious. Kids now have choices of what to do with their summers in ways that (for good or bad) have changed the dynamic. Even when I was coming up through DCI, there were SO many more corps. Band programs were huge here in the southeast and in the north and mid-west. Kids are staying inside now. There are a lot of things that DCI needs to explore in order to make/keep drum and bugle corps relevant. I think THAT we can all agree on.

What did you think about the Brass Theater / Canadian Brass / Blast angle?

Now THIS I would agree with. I do have some insider information as it were and what you say here is accurate. After 18 years, Disney did indeed have to make an evaluation of what was worth spending money on and you are correct. Let's face it, live entertainment in the park does not DRAW people to the park nor does it KEEP people in the park. It was more about live entertainment in general than it was as being specific to the drum corps activity. As long as we're clear on that I completely agree 1,000,000,000% with this post. P.S. - You're correct on Future Corps starting after Epcot "opened" by a few months. Though in reality, Epcot didn't truly open to the public until late October. A lot of things were still in flux (entertainment wise) when it opened as Disney corp was still holding on (foolishly) to the notion that Epcot would truly become a self sustaining "community."

Reminds me of that blue and black oyster pearl back in 70's and 80's. The lines are just less defined. I was lucky enough to get a hold of a bunch of large fleck white pearl drum covering from Slingerland about 20+ years ago and am holding onto it for a special kit. It was so different from the Ludwig pearl.

Wait, wait , wait a second. Future Corps had absolutely NOTHING to do with drum corps as has been discussed ANYWHERE in this thread. Encorps Entertainment and the future corps group was meant as a small ensemble group and was created for the opening of Epcot. It ONLY ran for 18 years for goodness sake and ended because Disney decided there was no reason for it to continue. I agree with a lot of what you say sometimes, but that's a stretch just makes not a #### bit of sense.

I can see your point. And to be fully transparent, JD Shaw might just have a lot more talent than Pitt's does overall. I don't KNOW that is the case, but some people are just better at their craft than others. I think of things as 5 year plans most of the time with things like this. To come out of the gate firing would have been amazing but I just don't know if it's realistic in most circumstances. This year is pivotal IMHO for PR and Pitt's. Let's see what happens and hope for the best.

Oh absolutely. The TDR was a great drum for it's time. Once the mid to late 80s hit things got more even across the board. Pearl had the criterion, Yammy had the field corps and premier had the resonator. The ludwigs were ok but they were just too #### heavy and I know we had trouble keeping them tuned up. Changing the gut to aviator cables helped a little though since they couldn't stretch in the heat. Sometimes you would pull them off the trailer and throw the strainer up and the guts were a few milimeters away from where they were when you cased the drum. Then came Kevlar and my hands started to look like gnarled tree limbs after about a year of ritualistic drum punishment. Wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Is that a blue oyster marine pearl I see? If so that's freakin' smokin' hot.

Gotta be 2010 PR for me. Just a beautiful show.

Those are freakin' amazing! Just not in a good way.... P.S. LOL @ Remo drums. I remember a line I taught having those once. I think we collapsed 3 shells in one day.

I mean...I'm going to have to see it on the field. But honestly, it kinda looks like the cone of shame I put on our chiweenie when he decides to eat his own tail...

That should be our official DCP shirt to wear at shows LOL.

I would say that design wise, he definitely doesn't shine like some of the more experienced designers at the top of the heap. But to be fair, he also hasn't been doing this for 20 years either. He needs some seasoning. I like what I see (hear) from them this year as far as the brass book. The battery book seems a little heavy handed but I also have only heard anything of it in a 40 second snippet and then a standstill with HORRID acoustics for marching percussion. I'll withhold judgement until I see the entire package. And who knows, in 5 years or so maybe we'll be using phrases like 'Another brilliant Will Pitts design / arrangement." I always look at stuff like this and kind of circle back to my own experiences in building cues. I've had people come to me and hand me a cue that I built in 2005. Back then, I was proud as peach of that cue I'm sure. Every time this happens, I offer to buy the cue back and make a new one which is at least equal in design at no additional cost to the customer. Then I take that old cue and I BURN IT. We grow in art as we gain experience. Let's give the cat a chance. Just MHO

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I would happen to agree on this one though until I see it come together in more than a 30 or 45 second snippet, it's a little hard to really say yes or no on a particular show. The trend for a while seems to be to write books that encourage ramming as many notes with as much hybrid sticking as possible into shows and to do it with as much exposure as possible. Maybe I'm wrong in that and I'll probably catch #### for saying it but, even as a drummer it's gotten a little tedious. The last time I heard a good battery and front ensamble book from end to end in a show for PR was 2010 (IMHO.) I brought this up in another thread, but I believe it's worth mentioning here as well. With field judges now relegated to the sidelines and box (though Jeff mentioned a zone so there may be SOME field presence,) will this force corps to change the way the percussion book is written? Exposing the battery up front to max out the percussion score could also encourage more 32 counts of "thuderous goo" moments (2 points to Hockeydad) for that purpose. Please note I am not a judge. I have never been a judge and have no desire to do what they do. Nor have I been a writer at the DCI level. I'm just an old drummer. And I like notes too. But ONLY if they make sense in the ensemble.

I'm really curious to hear how the drum books read. So far I've heard individual lines but the only two groups I've heard within the entire corps ensemble have been Boston and Phantom and both sounded sloshy to me because of the venue. It's going to be interesting to see if the books get watered down this year or if the battery comes up front more.

It's shaping up to be a really good year for some amazing brass lines. I look forward to finally seeing everyone live in one place in Atlanta.

AND he got stepped on!

Yeah not exactly my cup of tea. It kinda looks like a bug and a mouse had a baby with a bowl of tropical flavored starburst. That being said, did it detract from the show and did it look cool from up top? I was pretty neutral on it.

You win. Period. LOL

It hasn't ever been immune. Didn't percussion judging have to change when we transitioned from East Coast to West Coast style? The sound is completely different through the instrument. I remember Joe Wormsworth doing a clinic way back in the early or mid-80's and trying to teach us all this "crazy east coast stuff" with super high moeller technique. When the trends change, the judging community would HAVE to adjust to that. So yeah, it's subjective from judge to judge to a point. I'll give that one to Stu and some of the others. BUT.....it's subjective within a certain pre-determined set of criteria. If you were to bring in someone who had little to no experience with that criteria, then you open up the floodgates and the possibility of major swings occurring without any true justification become possible. I don't want #random24thplacecorps from last year suddenly at the top of the heap because they're playing "Hans Zimmers Greatest Hits" and some yahoo judging just can't enough of "The Hans." This argument about what is and isn't subjective is idiotic. Like almost all things in performance based judging, trends drive scoring. As the performers change and trends shift, so does the judging. I've known a LOT of DCI judges....even ran over one once who managed to miss an entire tenor line heading towards him. So far, I have yet to see a single secret handshake, collective tattoo or strange torchlight meeting with goat skulls and black cloaks among the judging community. We all have our ideas, opinions and hang up's. Please..let the horse stay down. It's deader than Elvis. EDIT: Please note that the dead horse above is not representative of any single or specific poster(s.) No cartoon horses were harmed in the drawing of this meme.

Exactly! There are parts of the show that made me smile and there were parts that didn't do it for me. Percussion features in that setting always sound like shoes in a dryer because you can't ####### hear anything except for "duzgida hugida ga-gok!! (echo for 3 seconds) and trying to listen center is just a silly dream. I do like what I'm hearing and am very hopeful.