oldtimedrummer

It doesn't take a green shirt to know what a "bag" sounds like when you hear one! It's also no secret that the "color of the uniform" sometimes gets in the way objective judging. :P I too am looking forward to hearing what Cassella and Ancona will do with the green team. IMO, that's a great combination and a great move for the Cavs.

I agree 100% that the Cavs pit is overated, but they still carry their percussion section. IMO, their battery is very average for a top end corps, but they always seem to get the number no matter how poorly they play.

I know there's a formula that determines how much each corps is paid per performance. The ammounts I'm not sure. I believe it includes how many times a corps has been a finalist, championships won, number of years a DCI member, previous years placement...... etc. I think this new formula was put in place a year or two ago. Maybe someone from DCI who knows exactly what the deal is can clear it up.

Sure, great pit, but did you happen to see or hear their battery? The times I saw them they had some serious issues for a top corps. IMO, Cadets, PR, and Madison all had a better battery.

I also think some of the movement we see in drum corps is due to ego clashes amoung staff and management. There are many micro managers out there who direct corps.

Well the rest of the show was a good burger, but the amped drum chant left me with a bad taste. :spit: I couldn't figure out what it had to do with their program concept. It just seemed like a cheap gimmick.

IMO, there were some absolutly great percussion books out there last year. I thought McNutt's "Street Fight" for the Madison Scouts was a ground-breaking masterpiece of a well orchestrated feature that clearly had MUSICAL meaning to the overall program concept, and had a solid three part musical form. Qualities you often don't hear. Probably the best part of Madison's show.

IMO, Bloo's amped vocal drum chant was cheese of the worst flavor. Otherwise, a very good show that was well performed. I was especially impressed with their brass sound.

From what I understand, they carried food and cookers into schools from out of a box truck. I can't imagine doing that for an entire summer.

IMO, Madison's show in 02 was like a piece of Swiss cheese, full of holes. Their visual package and guard were not good, not to mention the dirt in the rest of the corps. How can you run a top notch TOURING corps without a cooktruck? Scott Stewart did a lot of great things, but, IMO, a change had to be made. Thank goodness for Sal Salas (DCI Director of the year) and his talented team. IMO, it's just a matter of time before Sal &Co. have the Scouts back at the top.

Great point, Madisons drumline should be on fire in 06, probably in the hunt for top drums.

I didn't care for the Gmen shields from this past season. IMO, they were way too big and looked cheap. Usually the Gmen have a very classy look, but those overgrown cardboard shields made me cringe.

Sal Salas just keeps upgrading the Madison machine. Look at the improvement in their percussion section, from 12th to 4th in one year. McNutt and Moyer wrote a great book, IMO, some of the best writing in DCI, and now the addition of a quality guy like Myron!!!! If Madison can refine their brassline (Kings?) and continue to improve the guard they could be quite dangerous in 06.

Try this. In quaterfinals, the Xmen had a 15.85 and were 15th in drums. In semi's they had a 17.0 and were 13th in drums. Two day average of 16.45 for 15th in drums. IMO, a long way from ANY Beddis line I can remember. I will agree that the first year can be tough, so I'm not banging on Hazlett or the members, but the numbers are what they are. Certainly not what one expects from a corps with such a tradition of excellence in percussion.

Well, we can agree to disagree about Beddis and his style of writing. I enjoyed his writing but felt he needed a better pit book to support it. As far as Hazlett, I agree it's too soon to tell, but I certainly wasn't overly impressed with his rookie effort. Their score in quarters was dismal.

Just listen to 04 and 05 back to back and tell me they didn't feel the impact of not having Beddis. When's the last time a Beddis line had a 15.85 and was 15th in drums?

Gmen 2000 was a great Gershwin show IMO. My favorite.

Ok Lancerlady, I can see your point after re-reading some of the posts. Some did go too far. I think Rocketman is correct in that Bob played brass but I don't think he ever had any formal brass training. Ive always known him as a visual and GC judge. Bob has always been (IMO) a fair, stand up guy, but for the life of me, I just didn't get some of his calls this summer.

Charlie Poole and Bob Thomas judge different captions anyway.

Jan and lancerlady, Where's the personal attack? We're not allowed to voice an opinion about some questionable call from the summer? Wow, you sound like the thought police. If someone has an opinion different than yours or any type of questioning of the judges, shut the thread down. Geesh!!!! The judges names are all over the recaps, and I'm allowed to question why they make the calls they make. I have nothing personal against Bob Thomas. I've known Bob for many years and he's a quality guy, I just disagree with many of his calls from the summer, nothing personal.

Other then Shanefield, I'd get a whole new design team and keep them for more then a year. Maybe try to get Kitch back on board and I'd certainly rethink NOT having Beddis around.

I don't need to sign up to judge to know a bad call when I see one. It's not rocket science.

How could he be adjusting for inflation at $50 a ticket? Makes no sense.

Logic? I'd call more wishfull thinking in an attempt to make a failed point. I don't remember paying $50 a ticket in 1981. More like $10.00. Bottom line, the crowd was great this year. Look at the picture.

Don Ellis with a good vis package