disko_stew

thanks to everyone involved for that special time we all shared in the lot at the econolodge. sometimes the most memorable moments come when we're not on the field. i never would've thought that standing on a green box in a hotel parking lot would be the time that i will remember forever about the 05 season. all season long i had been tearing up when we'd play 'precious lord' - the song is amazing and the story behind it is just gut wrenching. the first time i teared up was at the church gig way back in the early spring. and then the first time i saw ali's dance solo during the song. as the season progressed the song became better muscially and emotionally. at prelims on saturday, i teared up (yet again) at the culmination of an amazing season (and seeing my girl dance her heart out and share my passion for drum corps with me). but it was the standstill on sunday that did it... a season's worth of passion, put out by every member, in one final performance of our show music as a whole corps. it was all the memories at once: of the open house and so many new faces, of cold weather and then hot, of the church gig, of our field shows, of ali learning to do drum corps, of car rides and bus trips, of laughter and arguments, of life and love...it all came through in those 11 minutes in the parking lot as we performed our show. after what transpired on saturday night, the meaning of 'precious lord' rang true as laurie played her solo and i sang the words to the song in my head. by the time the whole corps was playing full-out at the push, i couldn't help but let loose a season's worth of tears - of joy, desperation, pride, relief, amazement, sadness at the kiltie's loss, and sheer elation at mcl's accomplishment and what i was feeling at that moment. i don't know if our performance was that amazing as the entirety of the season came out of my heart, hands, and tear-ducts, but it was all i could do to keep on conducting and not break down completely. thank you to all who were there in the parking lot. it is a moment that will live in my heart forever. -m

well, i was able to listen to it....took a bit to stream, even on my dsl. but really no problems. curiously, where were the mic/mics placed to record this? sounds pretty low and near the pit. some really nice sounds coming through. the ballad is great and strawberry soup is a drumcorps classic. really looking forward to sharing the hotel (that will be FUN!!!) and seeing your show twice. B) have a safe trip. -DM|MD

:spit: :spit: :spit: w/Stp: (sans stupid) i try to open up my place in chattanooga for members to stop by/crash at on the nashville-atlanta trip, but if this begins...my doors (especially to the bathroom) will be deadbolted shut! i do like the idea though.... :mmm: -DM|MD

:spit: :spit: :spit: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! it tells you that we need more vinnie! :mmm: -DM|MD

can i not sing out the alternative to this verse?? ^0^ you know, the one that is 'inserted' by those of us in the audience at the theater showings??? and yes, yes i did just type that.... b**bs :mmm: -DM|MD

cheers to you, paul, and the rest of lakeshore...that was well said. :mmm: while mcl was at minicorps last season, this is our first field show ever, first marching drumline ever, first colorguard ever, first class A finals competition ever, first good drum major ever...wait, i should take back that last one....shouldn't i??? :P i'm ready for one heck of a fun weekend: seeing some great drum corps, performing the heck out of our show, catching up with some old friends, having some good party time, and just soaking it in... i share your opinion too, paul...may the best corps win, may we all perform well and have a great time, may we all travel safely, and may we all use this first season as a stepping stone for future seasons of success! cheers! :mmm: -DM|MD

i'm ready!!!! ^OO^ looking at performance times, we should definately be able to watch your show on saturday! i'm really looking forward to seeing it again now that it is cleaned up. i haven't been to a rocky horror show in years, so i'll have to brush up on my 'time warp' moves! but i plan on time warping with you guys/gals anyway!!! :D do you think anyone would mind if i was doing the time warp in the stadium aisles like we used to at the movie theater? ^0^ have a safe trip up! :mmm: -DM|MD

sounds good to me. ^0^ bring on the after-party!!!! btw: i just noticed this thread. i guess it is kind of about MCL, so i figured i might just have to make a quick guest appearance. funny, isn't it reed? one small joke.......and we were just talking about this same thing with python last weekend... *flame retardant suit donned* dark horse?????? porn names???? bestiality??? what i am getting into here? well, i guess not going to orlando is going to put us on first, so maybe....BUT, if we are pretending to be southerners, wouldn't that put us in the "poll position" according to the south's 'national pasttime' - nascar? b**bs ^0^ practice, practice, practice! beatings will commence in 9 days...be prepared, we have NO time left to waste. (####, this flame retardant suit is hot!) :mmm: -DM|MD

wow! thanks for those! closing in some gaps, eh? spirit to gmen, BK to BAC, and coats only 1.1 behind BD. would love to see coats in 4th!!!! clean, clean, clean. :mmm: -DM|MD

thanks much for the kind words, scooter. MCL had a blast being there. honestly, we just want to get ourselves out on the field again and put on a fun, well-performed show. we are a (senior) all-age corps and have only been around for 2 seasons now, with this being our first field-show competition corps in DCA class-A. not only did we get to perform for an appeciative audience at jackson, but we were able to set-up our info table and hopefully make some new friends and recruit folks for next season and beyond. so many people in the region don't know we even exist and that they, too, can still march in a drum corps. -DM|MD ps: oh yeah, i really loved spartans marching technique, color guard and drumline...but i think OC sounded better from a brass perspective. congrats to all the div 2/3 corps!

REVIEW OF THE YEAR one beer to bawker at scranton. LOVED IT! thanks bawker. hopefully MCL will be there next year and i, too, can experience losing my hearing at the 2nd annual LMS-S! :mmm: -DM|MD

sounds good to me...i figured it was something to do with timing....thx madman and ddoy... about the tempos...bring it on! if 'liquid' gets much faster, my foot will fall off from tapping along! :mmm: -DM|MD

forgive me if it has been asked/discussed previously, but the recaps from the evening show in SA report that the cadets had a 0.1 penalty...does anyone know what this was given for? real speculations: the flying start/timing too much time getting on/off the field the door (wheels, etc) other equipment infraction the silly: the front-field DM not saluting (i know, the back-field one does) tony dicarlo waiting anxiously for a peek at the school-girl uniforms and forgetting to time the show (just kidding tony!!!) the guard wearing old-navy hoodies the not-so-bjork-like interpretation of bjork :P the illegal use of two-sided effects-heavy uniforms :P OR maybe they were penalized for confusing the judges by totally rocking their show!!!! ^0^ ^0^ i'm telling ya, i haven't been big on the cadets' total package the last decade (00, 98, 97, 95 are the exceptions that i like), but after seeing them in louisville and hearing this APD from SA, i LOVE it! EAST! see you all in m-boro! -DM|MD

thanks for a great review! glad to hear that the spartans, ecj, and surf are still going strong and putting out quality shows early-on. will be looking forward to seeing/competing(??) with them in jackson, tn on july 30th. i think we, MCL, go on last though? as an alum, and a fan, i hope that the patriots can get things reorganized and get back on the field again soon. -matt

cadets hornline was "not as loud as you'd expect"??? - were we at the same show? i am in no ways a huge cadets fan, but the end of 'bouree' (the jam section) was just killer and was probably the loudest section of any hornline the whole night. scv's hornline is much improved but their balance/blend were quite off. seems that the sops/trumpets aren't listening too well to the ensemble and are just taking off on some group dynamics way above the rest of the hornline. hopefully they can clean that (and the drill in spots) and put in the new ending to push for 1st in denver. maybe you were sitting off on the side a little, i was on the 45, first row club level. that could be the difference in our ears. maybe not. not trying to flame, just commenting. good review. -matthew dudek rochester patriots - drum major 1998 allegheny nightstorm - baritone/founding member 2000 music city legend - drum major/founding member 2004

i like the evolution and velocity into the triangle by the brass (not as powerful or as spread as in 93), but it isn't as exciting as last year's final set. and i doubt there will be any more big changes (changing the entire guard's staging/choreography/flag work IS a big change) in this last week. maybe some corps (can you hear me, scv??) will pull out some magic for finals, but i won't be holding my breath. -matt

i was just going to write a small review and piggy-back on someone else's review, but it got too long. i tried to whittle it down to keep it decent. i think this is my first quasi-review on dcp. like they say on larry king's show - "long time listener, first time caller"!! really tired after the last 3 days. music city legend rehearsed weds night in nashville after i worked all day in chattanooga. rehearsed thurs am and then drove up to murray for our show. we had a great show and had a blast! i left right after we were done for my 4.5 hour drive home to chattanooga to work at 6am friday morning. got home from work at 330pm, left for murfreesboro by 4pm (with girlfriend and another friend - drum corps newbie #1). ate on the way. passed out flyers for MCL, chatted with some good folks (check out our website), and headed inside with girlfriend's parents now on board (newbies #2 and 3). seats were the first row of club level seats on the 45. the club level was suprisingly full this year, while last year it was about 1/2 full only. great seats, great weather, and i was ready for some GREAT shows. i wasn't let down.... bluecoats (8) - really another step up from the previous year (as seems to be the trend among dci as a whole). i enjoyed the show, but still was left kinda flat. i love "ride" (opener after the jazzy intro) - an awesome piece with both fast, jazzy sections and a wonderful emotional slower section. good show, but it may not break 7th in denver. hornline seemed flat in sections and didn't seem to play "full-out". (i had them in 7th, but was wrong) madison (6) - the beginning was good, nice guard and nice development of the theme. the ballad bored me. too much backfield in the horns and the guard did not pay it off visually. malaga is a whole other story. good, solid closer. not amazing like 95 (i was there jumping up and down like the other 20-some-thousand), but still a fun and wholey entertaining closer. lots of dirty feet throughout the show - easy to see with white shoes. and a lot of upper-body control issues which affected the sound at times. keep cleaning. the crowd will love the end at denver. (i had them in 8th, but again was wrong) cadets - odd to see them on so early in a show. was expecting a fun show and they delivered. the "rocky" warm-up was cheesey, but FUN! the 2nd tune (i think 'bouree') was AWESOME!!! had the crowd going nuts. it WILL tear the house down in denver. guard was good, but like sean said, needs more weapons work. a fun show, even with the baton - entertaining, but distracting at the same time. ending was good, but not sure if the endurance was there to pull it off as powerfully as it could be. (i had them in 4th - finally a correct guesstimation!!!) boston - i appreciate what the kids do and how much they put into the show, BUT i really didn't like much about this show. right off the bat, the narration is bad and quite cheesey - people around me laughed and snickered. <**> i could only shake my head. the drill is rehashed from previous years. most of the visual impact drill is easy - on,2,splitting and contrary motion drill. we teach that to our small high school band. orange is the color of success??? (per their narration) - your corps colors are red/black!!! (i had them in 7th) cavies - now this is where the fun really begins. imho, no other corps has been close to cavies in visual design the past 4 years. and this season doesn't have quite the same flair, but it is still awesome. the beginning was soft and scv's adagio/power chord warm-up was easily heard from the parking lot. :P the music was awesome and i really loved it. whistling is neat, 'cuba' is a crowd-fav, and the trickle-down triangle was the move of the night. got a huge ovation! dirty feet in the ending after that move. clean it up and have a shot at devils. but it may be a long shot with how good bd is! (i had them in 2nd) phantom - good show. different music, but really enjoyed it. some of the tunes were familiar to me. last year was much more emotional and that stroing of emotion just didn't come out tonight. all sections were strong. (i didn't think their guard was 8th out of 8 like the judges placed) drill is hard in some sections and you can hear it in the sound at times. company front was awesome. i don't know if i like the guard staging at the end - so far back on stage right - maybe by invading the triangle, they could add more effect/color to the end with their bright flags. keep cleaning and add more passion to the show. (i had them 5th) scv - been looking forward to this show all season. didn't disappoint. opening was awesome. loved the scv attitude. guard was good, but for them to push for a 1st/2nd place finish, they need to clean up the drops and some of the flag work. drumline is amazing. pit did a good job, but seemed overpowering at times. i think the pit mics picked up hornline sounds at times too and that lead to an unbalanced hornline sound. the ending is strong with the attraction theme completed, but a soft ending after this would add more depth/emotion to the show. keep building scv. push for denver!!! ^OO^ (i had them in 3rd) blue devils - amazing show. this is my favorite devils show since 95. just awesome. the total package. GE out the wazoo! get on the train!!! all aboard! (and i am usually not a huge bd fan!) a few drops in the guard, but those will be fixed, no doubt. some dirty feet which will also be cleaned no doubt. with more cleaning (and there actaully is room to clean more) this show should win at denver. i can't see cavies or scv catching them. (or cadets either, for you cadet junkies) the drill may seem easy, but there is some serious exposure and demand. and they march so uniformly it looks easy. hornline is amazing, as usual. screamers seemed a bit off at the beginning of the show, but recovered well for the "hit" section. awesome show. (i had them in 1st - NO DOUBT) encore - america/canada seems to be lacking some of the "oomph" of the old version - was still good and i didn't notice any terrible screamers hanging over either. thank you!!! devils took their concert arc and blew down the house. check out the warm-up clip on dci.org's live events page. standing ovation for the warmup. it was awesome!!!!!! then they played through their show and had a BLAST!!! the drumline and hornline was both hyping up the crowd and the crowd returned it to them tenfold!! what a great, fun encore. multiple standing o's and tons and tons of cheering. even my 3 newbies we cheering loudly! i look forward to more of it in denver blue devils!! overall - great venue, weather held out, great attendance. the amps were fine except for the 2 points above (boston and scv). the baton was distracting, but impressive. devils should win in denver. as i mentioned before, i took my girlfriend (her 3rd year in a row for the murf show) and 3 first-timers. they all had a blast. NO ONE of the 5 of us liked the narration. one of the newbies even said it was "horrible and made me feel like a child - i know what colors/emotions are. why couldn't they just bring out the colors alone, it looked cool, but sounded terrible." the newbs all had a good time and said they'd come back with us next year. although my girlfriend's dad kept asking if anyone had "scored a touchdown yet" :P see you in denver!!!! ^OO^ :mmm: -matt dudek rochester patriots - drum major 1998 allegheny nightstorm - baritone/founding member 2000 music city legend - drum major/foundning member 2004

i somehow feel like i should put my $0.02 in here: IMHO, i think it is quite ok for the crowd to yell "VANGUARD" at that spot in the show. i have had former corpsmates and friends who have marched scv and just about all of them say it is a HUGE hype when a ton of people yell "VANGUARD!!!!" at that right spot in the show. maybe not as effective with just a few people yelling, but still a cool feeling none-the-less for the members. and i, for one, am all about adding to a corps member's hype during/before a show. that being said, i am also for yelling "go ______" BEFORE or AFTER a show. i think it is rude to do it during a show, especially during a quiet moment - prime example: "CRYSTAL!!" in scv '00 - totally ruined the transition from adagio to the closer. THAT is what i am against when it comes to yelling. i will be there yelling for my past corpsmates and friends marching in various corps this summer, but i will NOT yell anything during a performance; except at any, and ALL, applicable baby-throwing moments! :P b**bs and shouting anything rude or demeaning during a corps performance should be reason to be removed from the stands. <**> no doubt. i agree with tracey's original post about that part. see you all in murray on the 28th and murfreesboro on the 29th and then at finals! -matt dudek rochester patriots - 1998 drum major allegheny nightstorm - 2000 founding member/baritone music city legend - 2004

don't appologize one bit. i didn't take your comment offensively and i know that no one else in the corps will either. ALL feedback/reviews are welcome. after all, we do drum corps for our own personal satisfaction and for the crowd! all i was trying to say is that we are on a tight, tight, tight budget and are trying to look as best as we can within our means. i think the sashes look okay, but hopefully as we can do more fundraisers/add more corps members we will have more of an opportunity to purchase "real" drum corps uniforms. i didn't think your comment on our sashes was negative or rude in the least. thanks for the input and hope you can come see us again! -matthew www.musiccitylegend.org

thanks so much for the great comments. i try to have fun when i'm on the podium while also being professional, serious, yadda yadda yadda. really, it is all about having fun and loving what you are doing. so thanks for the good words! about the sashes on the uniforms: we have spent out-of-pocket money on just about everything this year from driving to shows, brass instruments, food, and especially uniforms. we are trying to look crisp, clean, and professional without having to spend a fortune on uniforms. i understand your comment though. the sashes can be a bit rough looking and are not always identical on each member. we'll work on it! thanks again for your comments. and YES, your opinion is important!!! glad you enjoyed the performance and good luck to your daughter this year. i have a friend in the phantom guard as well. -matthew dudek

thank you, jjeffeory. i truly appreciate the comment on my conducting. we had a great first performance *ever* and i know we are all quite proud of what we have accomplished so far! b**bs -matthew dudek