Weaklefthand4ever
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Posts posted by Weaklefthand4ever
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On 7/11/2023 at 11:29 PM, Tommeee said:
I would also say, even if you don’t get it, you have to be OK with not getting it. Sometimes I watch them, and I think, “I have no idea what this is or what they are doing, AND I FREAKING LOVE IT!!!”
I feel the same during Bump. I don't get it....I just dig it. I don't find the show to be THAT avant-garde. Thematically it's beautifully written and designed. Would my father have loved it? Probably not. But then I think about him sporting his VK shirt and think...just maybe.
I would change the black robed priest thing in bump. There's so much going on between the hornline, pit and battery that the priests just feel distracting...almost out of place with the rest of the show. But it's early season and we all know the top 6 will change their shows 4 times before finals.
What is stunning to me is that there is just SO much more to grow this show. I can't wait to see what August will bring. Favorite show of the year.
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11 hours ago, bluecoats88 said:
The International was used to account for the canadian corps at the time of DCI's creation.
Yep. I remember '87 Dutch Boy was maybe 14th or 15th at prelims. I can't remember as I was busy lol. I think Canadian Knights were somewhere in there as well in semis. I remember maybe Connection Quebec or some such as well. There are probably more and I'm old lol.
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14 hours ago, Rocketman said:
Difficult? Yes, Musical? That's a hard no. Especially when playing with the brass. To the untrained ear (me) a lot of the percussion writing is as described, cram in as many notes as possible without regard for what the brass is playing. IF it takes away from the brass, it's annoying. I must confess that I do find Paul Renics writing to be most tasteful and generally not over written when playing with the brass.
So you are definitely hitting on something here. First you are definitely not an untained ear. Rennicks books are always well written to align with the brass. His books tend to be difficult but not overstated. Secondly, yeah this is the year of "RAM" in battery books it seems.
From top to bottom batteries this year are SO talent packed that it seems like a contest to see how many oddball hand speed changes, grip pressure changes, meter changes and cold attacks you can do. Listen to say....BD or Bluecoats. Packed with hard stuff. And once cleaned they will be absolutely buck NASTY. PR is a notch below those lines with the middle pack in percussion. Now listen to Colts. Understated, controlled, sickeningly clean for mid-July. And their book blends with the brass as does Bluecoats.
I think this year for PR is a year of many needed changes. Implementing all of them essentially in one season would challenge ANY corps. It took BD like 15+ seasons to get the balance right. I think in a year or two, PR will be back in the top 3 conversation.
I love PR. I always will. This year is one that we will look back on and say "This is where they learned to play the game instead of fighting the game." And to me, that's pretty darn cool to see.
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1 minute ago, KVG_DC said:
Dude....the "use the bread as a utensil on the corn" has been around for a VERY long time. I mean...maybe it's because I grew up in Indiana, but I don't even recall that from a movie because something like that wouldn't stand out.
😉
Similarly the open can on the fire makes total sense. I mean, have you never been camping with canned beans? Twist a coat hanger into a can holder and prop that baby up over the fire. Warm beans > cold beans.
It's the label catching fire in the house that worries me.I mean totally valid. I'm from Tennessee so all of our "genius" ideas typically involve beer and fireworks....together
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1 hour ago, MandarinMom said:
I have heard this over and over about both BD's and Mandarin's shows as well. You have to see them live. People don't believe the Mandarins are better this year because they have only seen videos. I can't wait until both corps start having competitions with different corps so more people can see them live and they are scored by the same judges. Maybe then they will stop talking about West coast inflation.
And that's a very valid point. Everyone here will tell you...I'm not as big on BD as many are. Their shows don't touch me emotionally like some other corps. But good GOD what they do...they do really darn well. You simply cannot argue the model that corps like BD and more recently the Mandarins have adopted. Their shows are well designed to the sheets, the performers are set up for success and they practice WINNING. Just because it's not my particular cup of tea is no reason to not recognize and appreciate the brilliance.
And BTW BD's battery is going to be straight up buck NASTY when they clean and peak.
I still dig Phantoms show more and Bluecoats I absolutely am shamefully pushing for to win this year. But that top 5 or 6 corps is just stunning. Why didn't we think of all this 'ish in the 80s when I marched?
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17 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:
That seems....unwise with the paper label still on the can.
And yet genius at the same time. Like the whole butter on the bread and then using the bread to butter your corn on the cob thing. I think that was in E.T. if I remember correctly. God I'm old....
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42 minutes ago, oldbandguy said:
I believe that should read "Btw, defending DCI Fred Sanford award winning percussion can you chill please. Geez"
They're already sounding pretty darn good and it's June. There are some sections where they maybe could back the ramming down from a 10 to a 2, but they're clean-ish. Bass drums sound excellent.
I want the ensemble entrance in the balled to have a tad more groove up front but if that's the June version on that battery...Sweet Baby James they're gonna be beasts.
Front ensemble.....gorgeous musicianship. You can hear the solid technique coming through in the musicality of your playing and your book is wonderful.
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1 minute ago, Hook'emCavies said:
I respect it. Just not my type of beer.
And i absolutely appreciate that respect man. It ain't gonna be everybodys bag. Hey if you make it out for DCI SE I'll buy ya any beer you want brother.
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38 minutes ago, Hook'emCavies said:
Those uniforms...... they are.... well, they are uniforms.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM. I guess being an old hippy just makes me dig them. Thematically they make perfect sense. I will say I'm not digging the guard uni's as much as the hornline uni's and I think it's that solid fusia color. It's missing something (maybe a touch of bluecoats blue.)
This show is staggeringly good already. "45" is just tasty. Battery sounds great tuning wise and their pretty darn #### clean for being June.
This show has a tremendous amount of potential for pure, unadulterated, kick assery.
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6 hours ago, PRomoter said:
You know that ending is going to be a wedge. It’s fan service, but who cares! The stadiums erupt when they do it. Would be a nice joining of the past and present.
I'm curious to see if they at least add a kick stop in the next week. That 1st show and score deserve the reward to the mm's.
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1 minute ago, BlueStainGlass said:
As long as todays GE judge isn't scoring it lol
Instantly you would drop to 8th place out of 4 corps.
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Blue Stars....I love you cats man. That's a nice show you have. Battery you cats have got your tuning as darn close to perfect as I have heard in a LONG time.
Great ballad....just great.
I have but one request:
The giant, black tubes. Please for the love of the universe, build some small ramps, flip those bad boys nose up facing the stands and blow the horns through them like they're a frikin' Alphorn. You will get like 4 trillion GE points from me.
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25 minutes ago, DudleytheWest said:
Don’t let stupid people confuse you. Remember, 99% of people on here have little clue what they are talking about.
Of course there is tons of growth potential with this show.
Agreed. There is a lot. I will say that Stars might have had a tad more growth potential with what we saw tonight. But that's my opinion and shows will change 25 times by August anyway. It's too hard to judge this early. I dig the show. A lot.
Had a tiny bit of phasing from the front ensemble at one point but VASTLY better than last year. The battery is young and PR needs to rethink the battery tuning I feel. The bass drums were completely lost in the rest of the battery, snares sounded great at the edge but the open notes sounded wet. Tenors seemed quiet.
Hornline sounded great. I liked the contra feature but wished it were a tad louder. Some clearly great moments and parts that WILL be moments from that hornline. Very mature.
Guard. Holy %&^# where have YOU cats been hiding at?? Some REALLY cool guard moments. For once I will agree that the guard uniforms struck me as blah and I do see were people are saying they disappear.
I dig that you're using the props and much better than in past years. I really want to see some color on those ramp/flower petal/leftovers from the set of the movie "Contact" thingies.
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Just now, kdaddy said:
Had to delay my viewing of Blue Stars... LOVE the ballad to the end musically.
I've liked Blue Stars shows for years up until last season. This one will have to grow on me, I fear.
I was thinking the same thing. THE BALLAD SOUNDS LIKE A BALLAD! (And yes...the snozberries do taste like snozberries.)
I think the giant spoon slides are thematically interesting....I'll leave it at that. Great drum tuning. Snares had some fuzz in a few places but it's early.
I think the show has a higher top end than PR but not tonight. Still though...mad ❤️ to the Stars.
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OK I gotta be the first to say a dumb drummer thing. Blue Stars.....that is some of the best battery tuning I have heard in YEARS.
Really nice opener from the horn line. I'm definitely going to follow these cats this year a little more closely
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17 minutes ago, KVG_DC said:
One question.
WHERE ARE THE DINOSAURS?
We're watching PR on Flomarching lol
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15 minutes ago, Hook'emCavies said:
Needs more contra
Have you got a feva'?
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And with a score of 99.78....99.78...Intermission
It must have been the perfect forms and lines. The simple,yet beautiful spacing between performers almost creating nothingness
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18 hours ago, KVG_DC said:
ooh those are niiiiice
That finish is awesome. These companies have gotten so much better at these fade finishes and now that we have super hard waterborne top coats like Brite Tone back on the market, it's game on. 15 coats of that stuff I bullet proof (not literally but trust me. I use it on cues now so I don't get blood poisoning.)
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9 hours ago, bkbass98 said:
According to a couple of comments I found on Reddit and BK’s instagram…no idea if this is for real what they do. Definitely a first in my years of following the activity!
Think of these as the bass drum version of roto toms. These are sealed airtight and the members can change the pitch of the drum by blowing into the pipe and can maintain the pitch by blocking the hole with their tongue. Pretty neat stuff!
That would be very cool...very,very cool. A one way valve with a bladder that inflates WOULD act just like a roto-tom (ahhhh how I do miss them so) and change the pitch pretty dramatically. Certainly a "one season wonder" instrument but super cool. I don't envy those bass cats. All season people are gonna be coming up to them saying "Bruh...can I blow in your bass drum?" Nope!!
The coolest we ever had were the telescopic legs. We also had posters taped to the inside of the drums and you could look through the air vent and see the poster. Ludwigs had like 974 vent holes back then.
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On 6/22/2023 at 3:54 PM, gbass598 said:
Trying too. I don't think there is an expectation for them to be a huge player in the marching market but just to have a presence. I'm supposed to see a new snare drum at some point.
I mean honestly, the Resonators were a good marching snare. Light, good projection and a nice strainer setup that was pretty easy to tune. I heard tell that replacement parts were a pain but I never confirmed it. Didn't Premier invent the free floater? I still have my 484.
BTW played on a Premier Resonator kit once. Meh
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4 hours ago, PRomoter said:
I spent my entire time getting ready for work this morning talking to my wife about how this show is bittersweet for me. I want them to be successful, but I know that means I have to give up the kind of show I love for what will be successful competitively. I may not like what is competitive these days, but I want the kids to have the incredible opportunity that is PR, and you can’t have an incredible opportunity if the corps no longer exists because it can’t compete. I believe this show will be very competitive, so I am very happy to know the corps is headed in the direction needed to continue operating into the future. But, I will miss what I loved about who they used to be, and will go through the growing pains to learn to love who they become.
You know I was thinking about this and I 101% get it. I also think that MY natural reaction if I were running a corps and watching my competition shift to writing to the sheets, would be the exact same as what I think we are seeing....overcorrection. We see it daily in corporate training. You aren't meeting the numbers but another line of business is, beg borrow and steal their ideas to try and course correct. Then once the dust settles and you have SOME positive results, you step back and reassess what actually worked and what was just plain dumb luck.
PR will not beat BD (or Bloo) playing their game. They have to try some new things and then write their own game.
Just MHO
P.S. Be kind as I am a drummer and you all know how fragile drummers egos are. (I'm joking of course)
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4 minutes ago, RebelGTP said:
Does it make me a Dino if I yearn for the uniforms of the 70's and early 80's?
Not automatically. Now if you still HAVE pieces of your uni from the 70s / 80s.....you might be a Dino. I still my my nasty old sweat bands from 1987 and my bibbers.
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Phantom Regiment 2023
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
I think the wait is worth it....I truly do. When I first saw the Flo free show opening night my first thought was "Are those <GASP> electronics I hear??!!" That's a huge jump by itself. They're evolving right in front of our eyes. I laugh as I say that because of the whole dinosaur covering the props thing.
Every show they move up by almost a point and a half to two points. They're on track to peak in August. Get the battery cleaned and you're top 6....maybe 5th. The best part is that much like Bluecoats, you can see mm's are bought into the show and they're enjoying performing it. That's what it's supposed to be about. That's why so many of us marched...why so many fans are still fans of the activity decades later.
You have a very nice corps PR. Absolutely ❤️ and dig you cats with all my heart. You're on my daily YouTube search list lol. See you in Atlanta!