richburgher

It was a fantastic night at Harborcreek HS as a crowd of several hundred was treated to a great night of open class drum corps, while the corps were treated to upper 70s, overcast skies and and almost constant breeze that made the humidity an afterthought. Even the trains across the street timed almost all of their appearances around the corps' performances. There's a lot of quality drum corps in the open class so check them out before the season's over and show 'em some love! Genesis- "One Night in the Valley" was a great program to open the competition. Quality sound and lots of familiar tunes drive this show from start to finish. "Quien Sabe" and "La Suerte de los Tantos" get things going. With the guard wearing polka dot dresses and tossing flags of magenta, black, pink and purple blocks, they add some visual spice to the latin beats. "Autumn Leaves" is a hilight of the program with contras playing juicy bass lines. "Mambo Inn" brings the tempo back up and preps you for the big finish with "Malaguena". Hopefully this is the first of many entertaining years for Genesis. Spartans- "Fire Dances" is a classic Spartan show with lots of movement and visuals. Beginning in an upside-down Y formation, the guard appears from behind the corps in the neck of the Y wearing red and yellow tops with purple and gray pants and move to the spectator's left while the corps bows out in the opposite direction to create a great visual to set the tone. Spartans were easily the cleanest marching corps of the night and the guard's flags heat up in color during the program until bursting into flames by show's end. The brass and drums struggled musically but hopefully it was just a bad night. Clean music will raise the temperature on this show just in time for championship week. Overall a strong showing for the Spartans. Strangnas- Sweden's Stangnas is small (12 brass, 7 perc, 4 guard) but have big hearts. Literally. A member of the guard has a large one stuck on her chest as the show begins. Who is the object of her affection? The soprano player with his own heart of course (oh sure, she digs the soloist ) The multi-tom player is thinking the same thing though and his attempts and unrequited love turn into jealous rage and a final confrontation. Stangnas performs quite well with a fun show that includes a good drum feature and a boogie down brass line. The sop soloist has the chops (thus the guard girlfriend) and the show is an entertaining winner. Spirit fo Newark/New Jersey - Unfortunately, Spirit of Newark was unable to make the show due to what the emcee described as "internal problems". Hopefully things are ok with them and they will be good to finish the season. Blue Saints- Blue Saints' "The Struggle Within" features a good selection of Danny Elfman music that is up tempo and not too dark. The guard has several flag changes whose colors and patterns coordinate well with the music. The hilight of the show for me is "Ice Dance", with the guard's blue flags complimenting the Edward Scissorhands ballad. Blue Saints are not world beaters but you can see that the effort is there and they are working hard. They don't seem confident in their performance and I think gaining some would go a long way in improving the program. Keep plugging away and they will have their best performance by season's end. 7th Regiment- "Macabre" is no joke when your pre-show involves a dead body and a coffin. 7th has a big sound and they show it off in the "Danse Macabre" opener. Lots of body movements also add a visual element throughout. Things grow creepier when a guard member begins to dance with the body from the coffin, then the rest of the guard find thier own expired partners. The dance with the dead ends in a pig pile of the deceased partners on top of the drum line (!?). Serenada Schizophrena brings the show to an exciting finish. This show was one of the crowd favorites and the only thing holding it back is the dirt, which won't be thrown on 7th anytime soon as they push Spartans in the standing. Legends- Arches, fallen columns and stone walls set the stage for "Ruins", as the corps opens to the well-played calm of a new day that quickly decends into the eruption of "Vesuvius". The carnage continues during "Eruption", with the guard using mini volcanos as props. Calm returns during the Respighi pieces with large flags of cool greens and blues, but it doesn't last long as war picks up the destruction where natural disasters left off. Legends' guard costumes were the best of the night, wearing burgendy velvet single-shoulder tops with a flowing half-skirt that recall ancient Greek and Roman gowns. Sandal straps and arm bands complete the classy look and carry the show theme very well. The show is well designed but dirt in the music and guard hurt its effectiveness tonight. During Pins/Fountains of Rome there is a domino-effect sabre toss by the guard. The timing was spot on and when all the catches are made it will be a great moment in the show. "Ruins" is a show that can make a run if the details are taken care of. Velvet Knights- VK makes its presence known immediately with its playful pre-show interaction with the crowd and the drum line members running across the field during warm-up. "Magical Mystery Tour-2010 Edition" begins with the classice Beatles title chart and then heads south to the Caribbean, where bright, tropical colors, limbo contests and drink trays (another mimosa please!) parade around to the "Romancing the Stone" soundtrack. Later, "La Vie en Rose" signals the arrival in France, where the smittin drum major pledges roses and his love to everyone he sees. The tour ends with a can-can kick line to "Orpheus in the Underworld" and a big finish. VK was the audience favorite tonight with their seriously funny performance.

The weather's still looking good. Clouds have blown in and out all afternoon but nothing that looked like it was going to drop rain. Weather channel says 40% chance of rain but the future radar they have shows nothing coming through until well after the show's over. Bring a poncho and sunglasses in case both are needed but I think the rain stays away. Even though SCV had a good practice today I think PR stays ahead of them and Boston ahead of Madison. Earth-shattering predictions, I know. Off to the show.

Right now the weather is lightly overcast with breaks in the clouds, slight breeze and mid-80s. There is a t-storm at the IND-OH border but reports have it tracking south of Erie. If that holds true then we'll be good to go The show has only been rained out once ever so I say make the trip! On my way to lunchand SCV practice.

The weather was great. It was overcast for the entire show but no rain and it never felt or looked like it would. There was a stronger breeze early, which did give the Genesis guard some problems but it lightened up and I would be very surprised of any of the other guard said they had trouble with the wind.

Great show tonight. I was very impressed with several of the corps. All of the colorguards had trouble tonight with catches and synchronization and that was a bit disappointing for this time of the season. Still time to work out the bugs though.

When Lake Erie Regiment marched they began with the Bluecoats' baby blue uniforms and then got thier hands on Spirit's unis from the "of Georgia" era. It can't be that unusual for a new corps to get previously used uniforms to start with can it?

Arrived in Erie about an hour ago. It's about 80 degrees, overcast but not threatening with a decent breeze out. Weather channel shows no rain down the road so it looks like it's going to be a great night for a show! Tonight's line-up for the 7p show: Velvet Knights - Pasadena, CA Legends - Kalamazoo, MI 7th Regiment - New London, CT Blue Saints - Sudbury, ON Spirit of Newark/NJ - Newark, NJ Strangnas Spartans - Nashua, NH Genesis - Edinburg, TX

I already have tickets to the Erie show. I'm very excited about it since it'll be the first all OC show I've attended with a big lineup with some west coast corps to boot. You always hear good things about what OC corps are putting on but never get to see them unless there are one or two in the lineup for a WC show. Plus, the way the schedule has gone for the last several years, the stops in and around Erie and Pittsburgh have been very early in the season before most of the OC corps are on the road.

Here's my review of last night's Pittsburgh show. I have to say that it was the fourth straight day of 90+ temperatures (10-15 degrees above normal) with high humidity to boot. There was also absolutely no hint of breeze all day, even on top of the ridge that the show location is on. How the corps practice all day in this stuff and put on their shows at the high levels they do is just incredible and will never cease to amaze me. It's days like yesterday that I would love to take my non-drum corps friends who think these are just really good marching bands to a show and say "This is what drum and bugle corps is about". Some of my general thoughts about the show as a whole: I thought all of the shows were unique and very entertaining. I didn't hear anyone say they didn't like a show. Everyone has holes and it just can't be from injuries. The recession must've hurt many potential marchers enough that they couldn't afford to march. Hopefully the corps can find people to fill in. Purple and gray seem to be very popular guard colors this season and lots of body movement in the brass lines. Crossmen- I know it's shocking to everyone that Crossmen are doing a Pat Metheny show but it's their "go to" music and it never disappoints. The drill is more demanding than last year and there is lots of cleaning to be done. The guard’s light blue costumes with circles and flags with circle patterns carry the show theme nicely and compliment the music while providing a nice contrast to the dark corps proper uniforms. The guard had a rough night but that can always be cleaned. Overall I liked Full Circle much better than last season’s show. Spirit- I really like the new uniforms for the corps. White shoulders, black trunk with a block of blue on the left chest. Forging an Icon is very industrial look, with large screens scattered about the field with pictures of gears, flames and netting on them. The guard wears yellow and red costumes and has several industrial props to use. The golden sledgehammers were my favorite. Pretty good sound from the brass and drums. Lots of electronic sound effects like clanging, clicking, drilling, etc and also the monotone words of “building” and “icon” used at the end of the opener. A solid show now but I can see it growing into something bigger and better by August. Madison- It’s what everyone wanted to see the Scouts do and they don’t disappoint! The uniforms look better on the field than I thought they would after seeing the photos on the corps’ website. I thought the short sleeves would look weird with the gauntlets but it’s no the case. All that’s missing are spats. The brass sound is nice and juicy but a little more restrained than I expected. I don’t know if that’s because I was in the top row or if they’re keeping it down a notch until things are clean and confident and they’ll unleash later. Drums sounded great. The guard wears gray pants (some with suspenders) and gray tees and tanks. There’s very little prop usage, just for soloists, small brass groups and for the guard to show off the Madison swagger. It is true that the show is lacking visually and a little slow moving (don’t worry, there is a fleur de lis) but it fits the music and really that’s what the show is about: the Madison Scouts being Madison. The crowd loved it and I can’t wait to see the show again next month. Phantom Regiment- “Into the Light” is a very interesting show. The formation begins in the lower left corner of the field on the near sideline and progresses across during the show, ending in the upper right corner. Kamen’s music may not be familiar but it’s not standoffishly foreign. Vaguely familiar might be a good term to use and it reminded me of parts of Phantom’s ’03 music. Brass is strong but I counted only 11 contras/tubas, a low number for PR. There was at least one hole in that section but the low, full sound is lacking as compared to the 16-20 in number that is usually there. The visual program is much better than last year with a lot of moving and morphing shapes throughout. The percussion is very strong and drives the music. The guard wears costumes of various purple shades except for one member wearing gold that plays a trumpet and calls the corps to come to him throughout the show (or is he a single horn line member wearing a guard costume?) and the first flags used have a single wedge of yellow. As the show goes on the flags show more gold and yellow wedges as they get closer to the light. After a thunderous end to the journey the corps reaches the light and calmly, quietly takes it in to end the show. Very well done. Boston Crusaders-Big sound from the brass as the fight for a very large Waldo-decorated throne takes place in this production. The opener is pomp and circumstance royalty as the corps advances in procession and the guard emerges from within them. Once everyone’s introduced the fighting begins between guard and corps over, on and around the throne, set to familiar music from Shostakovich. A love story evolves during Paganini’s Rhapsody (complete with a heart formation) but is then threatened by the rest of the power hungry guard. Love conquers all and takes the throne in the end in the triumphant finale. The guard is the strength of the show, with the ladies clad in regal purple dresses complete with small ruffs and puffy sleeves, and the lords also in purple doublets and jerkins. Flags also have lots of purple and gold colors with crowns by show’s end. The show ends abruptly and I hope that means a new ending is in the works. I don’t think this show will be as popular as last year but cleaning will go a long way towards making it a fan favorite. Cavaliers- A mad world it is, a post-apocalyptic, gun-happy, distorted pre-show with herky-jerky movement, rumbling explosions and freaky sound effects and sound bites. Cavies do turn up the volume this year (screamers too) and the tweaked uniforms look sharp. The guard costumes slightly resemble the samurai armor outfits but are ragged and recall the Mad Max/Thunderdome look. Tons of visual chaos throughout the program with pop art-style flags and rifle tossing. A large part of the show involves the infamous “This is my rifle” declaration from Full Metal Jacket, as part of the guard take arms against the freaky horde who threatens to end whatever normalcy and civility exists. During “Dismantling Utopia” the brass line gets to show its rifle work prowess in a great sequence of spinning and tossing with the guard while chanting “This is my rifle” excerpts (with a Stripes moment in the mix), all the while the drum line goes to town and ending in an over the top BOOM! “Smile” features the uncomfortably funny juxtaposition of the feel good music with a tribe of hockey-masked weirdoes as they meet the armed defenders for a climactic “can we all just get along” moment. Almost. In the end the Cavies’ new world order sorts itself out in the big finish. It’s a show concept that’s odd enough to turn people off but the Cavaliers make it a very fun and likeable show. Boston played the encore concert and included The Mamas and The Papa’s “California Dreamin’”, the Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff pieces from their show and Conquest. In the end it was another great night of drum corps in Pittsburgh.

The souvie truck knows all They gotta stick up for thier peeps.

Tonight's show was tremendous! I thought Cadets would win but Crown was the better corps tonight. No shame in that. Cadet souvie trailer blamed the loss on the electrical problems at the beginning of the show and having yesterday off after putting in a bunch of changes on Saturday. It's only week two and this battle just went up a few notches. Don't know what all the sniping is about but people need sit back and enjoy what's going on this season.

Blow out the candles BUMP!

I vote HNC just because they've had three days to rehearse whatever they changed from last week. They're at Harborcreek HS on the east side of town today. Drive east on Rt 5 (8th Street) if you're starting in town). If I remember correctly the football field is right by the street so they would be hard to miss driving by. Crown's at Maplewood HS, which is south in Crawford county somewhere (never been there). My big fear is the weather tonight. It's beautiful right now but weather channel's calling for 50% chance late this afternoon and 60% chance tonight. The local weather guys are saying just a chance of rain/t-storms today. Cross your fingers and hope this isn't the first LEF rainout since '94.

My thougths on the show tonight (technically last night now): All the shows are good and they all performed pretty well tonight for 1st week. The one negative was that the pit amps were too loud for almost everyone and the bass enhancement from the synths is very annoying and distracting. Cap Reg's show about storms is a good one. The hurricane piece should look and sound really cool when it's cleaned up (was this their first or second show of the year?). I would like to think the Colts could definitely make some noise with their show. Unfortunately, I was distracted by the staff member giving instructions to the sound man DURING THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' SHOW! "Too loud." "More marimbas." "Take the marimbas down." "Bass is way too loud." "More marimbas." "Trumpet's too loud." (Why are they miking the trumpet solo? Unecessary.) Where was I? Oh yeah, "More marimbas." "Bass is too loud." And, of course, "More marimbas." He said that so often it could've been a drinking game. That aside, Colts have a good show. Seems like a lot of drill in the front third of the field with a couple company fronts early. I think this is Glassmen's best show since Beethoven. It has teeth and an energy (maybe urgency is a better word) that they haven't had the last couple years. Volume is definitely higher. The new uniforms look ok on the field but I don't think they're as good as the last version. Boston's got something going with thier show. Lots of seductive play between the colorguard members, especially with the apple. The apple bite sound effect was too loud and sounded really cheesy. The silver accents and sash on the uniform make it a little too light but the tassel is a great old school touch. Crown: Wow! It's a show that I got the "must see" vibe about already. More big sound and they keep getting better. Guard performed better than at Annapolis. Cadets' show is classic! The ending will be unreal when it's clean. I think they had the least intrusive synth moment with the jazz piano spot (I feared the worst when I heard about this being in the show) but the bass groove throughout the entire show was too loud and annoying. The spread over Crown shrank again to .7 but how much of that was Crown gaining vs. Cadets performing the end for the first time? Crown's encore includes Boogie Wonderland and a major soul/r&b hit from the late 60's ro early '70s (the title escapes me and it's killin' me) that they just turn the brass loose on at the end. Great night all around.

When I called to order tickets back in late winter/early spring it sounded like tickets were selling well. Not having the show last year really sucked.

I'm in downtown pittsburgh now and the weather's fantastic! Why didn't the school district think to upgrade the pressbox facilities for wireless communicaitons and/or internet as part of the renovation they've been doing to the high school for the last 3 yrs or so (rhetorical of course)?

Even though the thread is basically over I thought it was worth a mention that I was on the dci shop today and noticed that they no longer have the individual legacy dvds available for sale. The only way to get them is to buy the entire set at $449 or buy the entire archieve collection for $699. FN may be the only way to go if you don't have a grand burning a hole in your pocket.

Thank you for mentioning that! Last night was the first time I've seen the show and either I missed that or the director did and I've spent all day trying to figure out why he killed the emperor for killing Sparticus. It goes back farther.

Good point. The balloons last night are a great example of this. Granny Smith's idea is intriguing.

Totally agree. An option on the dvd settings menu that would allow PIP to be turned on/off and the ability to pick which camera view to see full screen and which to be inserted would be fantastic.

Monday, August 4, 2008 Toledo, OHSummer Showcase Place Corps Score World Class 1 Phantom Regiment 96.000 2 Glassmen 88.300 3 Blue Knights 87.650 4 Madison Scouts 85.000 5 Colts 83.550 6 Pacific Crest 79.950 7 The Academy 78.100 8 Pioneer 74.950

Cream-Sunshine of your love?

Pittsburgh Mills. Corps shirt TBD

Uh-oh! I've struck a nerve. Time to go underground

How is it that INT always finishes in the middle of the pack at regionals but never qualify for finals? Something's not right there.