DCIHasBeen

Yeah, show went on. Vanguard always has great people working their shows...Really nice and friendly. Need a better stadium though... Alls I know is, when Vanguard hits the company front in "I Dreamed a Dream" at Finals, there will be much rejoicing and throwing of babies. This is the Les Mis show we've all been waiting 25+ years to see. This is balls-out drum corps.

I spoke to someone in the SCV office earlier, and they said the corps had been rehearsing on the field, and the show would go on rain or shine. I don't give a hoot about rain, I just have to hear them do Les Mis again...What an incredible show!

I prefer to think of it as the spirit of George Zingali looking down favorably on BK's efforts.

Okay, guys...It was only 2AM, and this guy was too pooped to P-shop. Try this one: Tough house.

I don't know what the VFX budget is, but this was pretty impressive.

<Gets flashback to scene in the movie "Drumline", cringes, goes back to RL>

Similar story with Crossmen back in '98, during the Rocco/DeLucia era...They were getting nailed by the judges for a drum break in the middle of one of the Metheny tunes...Even though it came right off the record. Personally, I would have just pulled a Woody Allen, told them they didn't know anything about Metheny, and they brought him to a critique.

It's not just the arrangers...Judges tell the corps to do stupid things as well. Classic example? When Cadets did Adams' 'Short Ride on a Fast Machine', at least one judge told them that the woodblock had to go! There are other stories as well...Drum corps is a medium that's good at bastardizing a composer's work, then making it it unrecognizable, which is why some composers (like Ron Nelson) don't want their material done by drum corps.

It's worth it to those who feel it is worth it. To me, all of the virtues found in drum corps can be found in other activities, at much more affordable costs. The activity itself has been largely unsustainable for years, and it's not going to get better. I think that's one of the reasons drum corps never got the kind of corporate support/backing that Bill Cook had envisioned would eventually become the norm: Cost per capita is too high, and it's easier to reach more kids, at a lower cost, by philanthropy to different types of arts organizations. Don't see that changing either. But for those who want to do it, the only way is to support the costs. It's not rocket surgery.

No. If Riefenstahl made it, it would be original, emotionally stirring, and worthy of a brilliant filmmaker (She is widely acknowledged as genius, who used her talents for the wrong side...) The BD spot his just a bad attempt by lesser filmmakers to copy the style/tropes of Network Sports. Big difference.

I don't think this has to do with arrogance from BD...It's the drum corps marketing equivalent of 'Monkey see, monkey do...". They think this is what will sell, and are copying Network TV sports programming...Without having the level of ad-minds behind it that the Networks do.

This isn't any more, or less, saccharine or cheesy than the average cliche sports show opener. What bothers me isn't the spot itself, but rather than the activity chooses to brand itself with network tv-type sports chestnuts instead of being original.

Best stadium food I've ever had...The garlic fries are to die for. Also great burgers.

Christmas in July never ends well.

Bayonne '85?

I don't think so...Once the field is leveled with band, DCI has totally lost its niche and its relevance.

Denver, 1977.

...And he's correct. But woodwinds isn't going to shift the balance...It just means fewer people will care because the product will lose the identity, and brand differentiation from marching band, that the few who are interested care about. The baby goes out the window with the bathwater. Sorry, George.

Wow...I thought the trend was more 'Moneyball', but this really sounds more like Steinbrenner.

At one point, at least on the East Coast, it wasn't far from street gangs with instruments. I know some guys from one of 'the' senior corps in '75 that never went on the field unarmed...like guns and knives. Seriously. At one of Bayonne's home shows in the late '70s, a couple walked into Boston's ranks, not knowing that Boston took that as a cue to start a brawl...The 'BAC's attacked the couple, including a pregnant woman, and were it not for the intervention of a couple of guys from Sky (who could have probably taken on the entire corps, since Sky was a notoriously tough crew BITD), it would have ended badly for the couple. Boston was really a bunch of fringe-type nut cases bitd, and that had more to do with them not making finals in the late '70s than anything else...That changed, in the '80s, though, with new management, and a much healthier outlook and direction. There's a story of legend involving the Bridgemen at the '69 Garden State Championships that involved a huge field brawl. Maybe one of my other fellow alums, who was there, could chime in. The 'good old days' had a lot of elements that weren't really all that good...But the music was great, and that's the part I prefer to remember!

Could change the economics considerably, especially if touring schedules were changed yearly so that different audiences got multiple chances to see the show 'live'.

Other than the prospect of a gigantic earthquake that could turn the Santa Clara Valley into Lake Tahoe West, I don't see any downside ... I mean, hell, after Birmingham, Dallas, and, <gulp> Jackson, who wouldn't want to come here for Finals?

Any Vanguard show with music from The Planets is going to be one I enjoy.

I go back to the early '70s...Really think the activity started getting interesting from a musical standpoint around '72...Hawthorne Cabs on the Sr. Level had a ground-breaking show, and then there was everything going on in DCI. '74 Vanguard changed the game, as did '76 Devils ... The '80s and '90s were magic.