MikeN

The scores are a good indicator of progress throughout the season, but they are certainly not the end-all-be-all of the experience. The 98% of time *out* of uniform is what drum corps is really about - the other 2% is a chance to play in front of crowds around the country who *pay* to see you play - that's how good you are. :) Go back and look at any of the "major" show recaps for Division I (Indy, SA, Allentown) - look at the percussion performance numbers. They used two judges for that caption at the big shows - look at the difference in scores - enough to affect placements one way or the other if you just used one of the judges on a night. That should be enough to show you that who you get does make a difference - don't place your "worth" on the opinion of a show's outcome. Your son's a part of the greatest activity on turf. :) He should be proud of the tour, his friends, and the fact that he's gotten to put on a show that few others will ever get to. Mike

Results Order of Appearance 2:30 Kiwanis Kavaliers 2:47 Pioneer 3:04 Troopers 3:21 Esperanza 3:38 The Magic 3:55 Pacific Crest 4:12 Southwind 5:12 Mandarins 5:29 Seattle Cascades 5:46 Capital Regiment 6:03 Crossmen 6:20 Colts 6:37 Spirit 6:54 Glassmen 7:11 Santa Clara Vanguard 7:28 Blue Knights 8:02 Boston Crusaders 8:19 Carolina Crown 8:36 Bluecoats 8:53 Madison Scouts 9:10 Blue Devils 9:27 Phantom Regiment 9:44 The Cavaliers 10:01 The Cadets 10:25 Last Score Announced

Division II Results Division III Results Order of Appearance 3:00 Lake Erie Regiment 3:16 Dutch Boy 3:32 Pride of the Lions 3:48 Allegiance Elite 4:04 Capital Sound 4:20 Revolution 4:36 Yamato 4:52 Raiders 5:08 Taipei Yuehfu 6:12 Memphis Sound 6:28 Jersey Surf 6:44 Oregon Crusaders 7:00 Impulse 7:16 Teal Sound 7:32 Fever 7:48 Blue Stars 8:04 Spartans 8:20 East Coast Jaz 8:40 Finale

Division II / Class A Prelims Winners 1972 No Prelims 1973 No Prelims 1974 No Prelims 1975 70.15 Greece Cadets Rochester NY 1976 74.40 Wausau Story Wausau WI 1977 70.85 Bengal Lancers Trumbull CT 1978 68.65 Black Watch Auburn WA 1979 63.85 Black Watch Willingboro NJ 1980 63.80 Ventures Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1981 69.25 Southernaires Kenner LA 1982 67.70 Dutch Boy Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1983 No Prelims 1984 87.60 Florida Wave Miami FL 1985 88.20 Ventures Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1986 92.90 Canadian Knights Peterborough ONT 1987 88.00 Ventures Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1988 90.60 Ventures Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1989 91.60 Ventures Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1990 88.20 Ventures Kitchener-Waterloo ONT 1991 92.70 Southwind Montgomery AL 1992 91.20 Northern Aurora Saginaw MI 1993 92.30 Carolina Crown Charlotte NC 1994 94.40 Pioneer Milwaukee WI 1995 94.30 Pioneer Milwaukee WI 1996 94.10 Pioneer Milwaukee WI 1997 93.50 Spartans Nashua NH 1998 95.00 East Coast Jazz Malden MA 1999 93.80 Patriots Rochester NY 2000 93.00 Vanguard Cadets Santa Clara CA 2001 95.60 Mandarins Sacramento CA 2002 97.35 Magic of Orlando Orlando FL 2003 94.70 Esperanza San Diego CA 2004 94.15 Spartans Nashua NH Division III / Class A-60 / All-Girl Prelims Winners 1972 No Prelims 1973 No Prelims 1974 No Prelims 1975 65.10 St. Ignatius Hicksville NY 1976 72.30 St. Ignatius Hicksville NY 1977 65.75 St. Ignatius Hicksville NY 1978 67.45 Les Chatelaines Laval QUE 1979 66.80 Ventures Kitchner-Waterloo ONT 1980 Divisions Competed Together 1981 70.50 Les Chatelaines Laval QUE 1982 67.00 Les Chatelaines Laval QUE 1983 No Prelims 1984 Divisions Competed Together 1985 77.20 Rebels Oshawa ONT 1986 86.20 St. Francis Xavier Sancians S. Weymouth MA 1987 88.30 Emerald Knights Cedar Rapids IA 1988 83.50 Emerald Knights Cedar Rapids IA 1989 85.60 Blue Stars LaCrosse WI 1990 87.90 Academie Musicale Sherbrooke QUE 1991 90.30 Mandarins Sacramento CA 1992 89.50 Mandarins Sacramento CA 1993 83.50 Blue Stars LaCrosse WI 1994 93.50 Blue Stars LaCrosse WI 1995 94.30 Academie Musicale Sherbrooke QUE 1996 93.40 Mandarins Sacramento CA 1997 94.20 Patriots Rochester NY 1998 95.80 Mandarins Sacramento CA 1999 92.70 Blue Stars LaCrosse WI 2000 90.55 Seattle Cascades Seattle WA 2001 87.55 Raiders, Bayonne NJ Bayonne NJ 2002 87.40 Revolution San Antonio TX 2003 88.75 Blue Stars LaCrosse WI 2004 84.60 Oregon Crusaders Portland OR

And quite honestly, if Memphis is the *lowest* scoring corps with an 84, then I'd say the division is strong from top to bottom. Mike

If y'all would, I've opened the "official" thread here. :) Many thanks! Mike

Division II Results 1 East Coast Jazz 94.450 2 Spartans 94.100 3 Blue Stars 92.600 4 Fever 90.750 5 Teal Sound 89.675 6 Impulse 88.075 7 Oregon Crusaders 87.875 8 Jersey Surf 86.225 9 Memphis Sound 84.925 Division III Results 1 Taipei Yuehfu 87.250 2 Raiders 85.900 3 Yamato 85.025 4 Revolution 82.875 5 Capital Sound 80.250 6 Allegiance Elite 79.725 7 Pride of the Lions 78.425 8 Dutch Boy 76.900 9 Lake Erie Regiment 75.400 10 Citations 74.500 11 Les Stentors 70.575 12 Cadets of New York City 70.425 13 Strangnas 67.225 14 Spirit of New Jersey 66.700 15 St. John's 65.925 16 Racine Scouts 64.775 17 7th Regiment 63.725 18 H.Y.P.E. 62.700 19 Targets 56.850 20 Blue Saints 41.425

The Saturday Allentown writeup got delayed due to web troubles (transmission lines were down) and was put up on Sunday. Giants Stadium isn't a DCI-sponsored show; it's a YEA show. That's why those were the way they were. Mike

Better write home to your mother... Mike

The Kingsmen forum has been unable to locate the initial post quoted on this thread, and the discussion (and people linking back to the original site looking for it) is affecting their site stability - something that we *don't* want to do. :( This topic is going to be closed, though I'll open a separate one for discussing the overriding issue. Mike

My blog entry back when about amps/voice: I stand by that - BD's announcer this year - not lame. His voice is right for the part. Cascades narrator? Wasn't selling the part - he sounded like an announcer on a commercial. Mike

Geez, you'd think that nothing good has ever been said about a drum corps on this forum... I *like* BD's show this year - it works, it really does. It's not going to be a championship show at the rate they're going (and we're so used to them being right up there in recent memory, when they're not, something seems "wrong"), but it's still one of those I'll watch / listen to in the future. Mike

The show feels exactly like "winterguard outdoors", and I can't even say that's necessarily a bad thing. Novel certainly, but not bad. Mike

Didn't like that show at all when I first heard it - very discordant, with many chromatic melodies - not a whole lot to latch on to. After a few listens, I warmed up to it... Now, I friggin' *love* that show. Mike

For the current top 12, in just my opinion, obviously: Cadets 88-92 Cavaliers 00-04 (though I also have to mention 88-92) Phantom Regiment 89-93 Blue Devils 88-92 Madison Scouts 88-92 Bluecoats 01-05 Carolina Crown 95-99 Boston Crusaders 99-03 Santa Clara Vanguard 96-00 Blue Knights 00-04 Glassmen 91-95 Spirit 99-03 Some of those weren't their highest placing, but to me they're the best shows. :) Mike

In broad terms, pre-95, though I can list a number of shows since that I liked as well. Mike

We have received $2175 from donors / advertisers to date, which means we still have $6325 to go. I did not pad these estimates - the $8500 we need is what we *need* to keep the site running for the next year and to give out marching member scholarships. Thanks to everyone who's donated so far - I've updated the list on our Campaign Page to show the full list of donors! We are looking for companies to advertise on DCP - if anyone knows / is in touch with such a likely firm, please let me know. :) Also, we have received a large amount of merchandise from YEA - Youth Education in the Arts to list on eBay as a fundraiser for us as well - I'll post details of those once they're online. Many thanks to YEA for their generous support! That's where we're at. If every user gave us 58 cents, we'd hit our goal with no problem. So you can see, every bit helps! Donate today! Mike

Well, I think Stef's a troll... ... troll-looking! :P Mike (Oh, I am so going to get it for this one...)

This is not a productive discussion, either on the members-getting-on-each-other level or the let's-bash-a-corps level. :( Topic Closed. Mike

Go Navy - Beat (in the absence of Army) Air Force! Mike

One of the things that, to me, sets the Cavaliers' drill apart from just about every other corps is that there's not a lot of "wasted" movements in the design. There's no random line of horn players being stuck outside of the pattern, and the patterns themselves logically flow directly from one to the next without transitional forms. Realizing that, I went back and watched the 2 to 2.5 minute clips (so about 1/4 of a show each) for the afternoon and evening shows, and I found only two other corps that you can say that about. First is the Madison Scouts, and I seem to remember that from seeing them live as well - there's a lot of triangular, "clean" forms that they have on the field. Very unlike the last few years (though 2003 - again IMO - had a much better drill design than 2004), and someone told me in another thread that they have a new drill designer for 2005. The other, surprisingly enough, is The Magic - in fact, substitute green for purple and you'd think you were watching a Cavaliers drill. (A bit dirtier, obviously, but in intent it seems very much the same.) Who did Magic's drill this year? It seems like they really got their act together visually. Even more than Madison, Magic's drill has the big block forms and movements that have been Cavaliers staples for a decade or more now. Anyways, just a random thought from watching the high-cams. I'm getting addicted to that view. :) Mike

11 1/2 Minutes: A Drum Corps Story We received a good number of submissions for this contest (details here), and the judges have picked the two winning stories! From: Kekasse From: ODBC Each of these members will be receiving a free copy of the 11 1/2 Minutes: A Drum Corps Story DVD. Congratulations, and thanks! Mike

Yeah, I assume that's so they can use the same link for each year. Mike

Sorry everyone - I'm still waiting to hear from our final judge - once I get that back, I'll immediately post the winners. Didn't mean for it to take this long - my fault. :( Mike

No biggie, but there's a recent thread on pretty much the same topic here. Thanks! :) Mike