kcbari

It seems that Star United won again...that's all I've gleaned from some Facebook friends...

...and thanks for including something about our Star performance as well...we had a great time preparing for the show and were so pleased with the audience reception...

We had fun, played well and loud where instructed...it was an amazing experience...definitely helps closure for having not aged out in 1990 with Star after marching '89.

The mello solo was there from '87, and Denny was in the pit...

Up until about 1992, there were hornline members in Star that could not read music (and many woodwind transfers)...but the Donnie technique stuff created hornlines, not soloists, so Star sounded as it did. Come see us perform after semis are over...we're a little bit excited to play one last time...

I tell my kids that appreciation is recognition of the worth of something, but that like is a feeling of wanting to experience more of the same or of similar. (I explain that I appreciate country music, but that I do not like it.) I appreciate the amazing talents of the current corps' kids, and I appreciate the abilities of the designers...but I don't like much of what I see or hear. Particularly hear...I have had no desire to listen to the entire top 12 for a LONG time...a few corps shows stand out (2006-2008 PR, 2008 CC...uhh...that's really about it for recent years), but I just don't like many of the shows these days as musical performances, so I don't seek out any more. I am bothered by the WGI-ification of the activity, but I'm still of the vein that the activity originated as a musical experience that has added visual components...when he visual component has become the driving force, well then, I'm just too interested in shows that stay in my head as musical experiences...ones I like. The best example I can think of from my personal experiences came in 2003...the biggest audience reaction of the night at Finals came for PR...because they forced the audience to stand out of sheer gut reaction...no appreciation there until after you realized that were you standing and had no recollection of doing so...just like when I saw Vanguard in 1986 and knew I had to march drum corps so that I could do that to people... Anyway, I have been spending my money on stuff that I like, and I wish the kids in the activity all the best.

I voted years ago. I have not attended a show since 2004. Why bother? The shows are just WGI shows expanded and with live music. At best,they are BOA shows done very well. If I want to see excellence in those realms, I can attend their shows. The kids marching now are better trained and better prepared to produce their product than ever, but I no longer care about the product. As I tell my students: "Art started in the heart, not the head." When crowds no longer react from emotion, but rather from intellectual appreciation, I feel we have lost something special.

It's me.

Conspiracies abound... http://www.bertisevil.tv/pages/bert000.htm

Congrats to all the groups...wish I could have been there. A special "WooHoo!!!" to my Star buds!!!!

I already did review them, and got a good laugh out of the frozen mentality and sour grapes you display. In addition, check your spelling on "condescending".

Considering the tack you have taken to question the artistic integrity of Star United and of the members themselves, that is an interesting statement...one might go so far as to call it hypocritical...and I do.