blueorginal

Interesting the Performance Order in Dallas: 6:30 Gates Open 7:30 Showtime 7:40 Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps 7:57 The Colts 8:14 Capital Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps 8:28 GLASSMEN Drum and Bugle Corps 8:45 Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps Intermission 9:15 Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps 9:32 Blue Devils 9:49 Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps 10:07 Santa Clara Vanguard Encore and America/O Canada Wonder How following the two blues will affect the score of SCV.....

Sorry for the double posts.......somehow the "process" keeps snarfing on me can't decide if its DCP or my Connection Interesting the Performance Order in Dallas: 6:30 Gates Open 7:30 Showtime 7:40 Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps 7:57 The Colts 8:14 Capital Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps 8:28 GLASSMEN Drum and Bugle Corps 8:45 Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps Intermission 9:15 Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps 9:32 Blue Devils 9:49 Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps 10:07 Santa Clara Vanguard Encore and America/O Canada Wonder How following the two blues will effect the score of SCV.....

I love the chart Randomguy...... gotta love crunching the numbers.... As I made a post earlier showing recaps...... while the score from 1-6 might be 1.5ish when you look at the individual numbers its alot closer than that......

The purpose of the poll isn't necessarily geared towards bluecoats......I would of posed the same question and comments just replacing names if Madison, phantom or cadets were leading off the 2nd half of SA show after the break..... Maybe I should of phrased it as will the judges let any corps leading off from the break set the bar and give them a true score or leave room on the sheets for "preconcieved" notions that the next 5 corps are better and therefore will need room to score higher.....

Going on after the intermission is both a plus and minus in this instance I think it could be a plus for Blue so they can show the judges what they have and then have PR, MS, etc follow to perform to that level or not....on the other hand if Blue would come out smoking and do a 90 point performance would the judges give them that or knock it down to a 88.5 to allow room for the other corps to hit 90...

My wish list and has the possibility to happen..... 1) Cavaliers 2) Cadets 3) Bluecoats 4) Blue Devils 5) Madison Scouts 6) Phantom Regiment 7) Carolina Crown 8) Boston Crusaders 9) Blue Knights 10) Glassmen 11) Spirit 12) Mandarins

Having seen Jester in Riverside, I can say the kids were performing to their talent level, they put out a okay sound for a new kid on the block, and most important the kids seem to enjoy themselves..... The down side is for the size of corps, talent level and newness of competiting to the kids I think the staff made some "misjudgments" in the type of music they should play and style.....hopefully this has been a learning experience they will build on.... I think the people with the most negative feelings of Jester are ones that are comparing them to Top Twelve standards of show design. Kudo's to Renegades for their actions and support of the activity. One note: ATTENTION JESTER STAFF..... when you name a corps something that denotes fun, whimsy, entertainment etc....please take that to the field.....and leave the obscure oddity etc.....to other corps.....you only start a corps once and have a very small window to define and clarify your corps "style" As a fan I'd love to see more fun, whimsy, and entertaining corps on the turf....:

Been thinking of Blues "DCI" history so since they first made Top 12 what corps haven't they beat....and to my knowledge it comes down to SCV, BD, PR and Cadets..... If memory serves me they beat Cavies in the late 80s at a early DCM show.....

In watching the clips for Cadets/Cavies/Scouts and Bluecoats....I get the following impression... On viewing all them....it seemed like a fairly quiet crowd for all corps..... For those with season pass.....do a couple excercises ....watch the snippets with the sound off then just listen to them and not watch the visual.....think you'll see that all of these corps are alot closer when you look at them that way than the current "gaps" are showing...... The gap between cavies down to Blue seems a bit high....I would say a 4 pt. would be closer to what it should be with cadets and scouts 2 back if that..... All corps had spacing issues.....even cavies didn't seem on their clip to be that "crisp and the "circle around the ladders" seemed a bit off.....amongst other things like "straight lines" Blue had some problems that were noticible but none that the other corps didn't have....still Blues horn sound is just a joy to hear..... Scouts have a very trumpet heavy sound but thats also what makes them the scouts....Cadets still not sold on this horn line.....one time its sound is vintage cadets next its a bit harsh.... Sidenote: out of the other clips I think Crown is going to end up leading that pack and push the other corps ahead of them by finals....very nice horn line and book...spirit will be tons of enjoyment by finals.....boston...show just sorta sits there right now....kids don't seem to be projecting the energy....capital has the potential....but not sure they can catch up.....crossmen....good show for the talent out there but seems a bit bland....glassmen....show people will enjoy....good solid corps but not a "memorable" one.....probably make top 12.....Southwind....once its clean definetly a semi-final spot could be a surprise by end of summer.....Magic...good entertaining show...just needs more emotion and impact to move up on the rest of the pack....Colts....sleeper of the group....dirty dirty right now but if they clean it up they'll jump quickly into the fight for the top 12.... Just my observations...... b**bs

Okay here’s my review of the Riverside Show. So got in the car and left beautiful Palm Springs and 100 degree weather for the hour drive up to riverside…thought about wearing jeans and packing a jacket but weather said it would be 80s and just into the 60s so I decided not to…. big mistake for this desert rat. Got to the new site of the show…. decent stadium one of those with the stands raised about 5 feet off the ground before the first row then about 4 rows then about a 12 foot wide walk way then stands rise another 4 feet and second tier starts…. I parked my butt on the fifty first row of the second tier…. had gone with notion of sitting top row to see visuals but once I saw the field really poor shape surprised there weren’t any tumbles during the show. I’m not one to remember entire shows so I’ll just give my over all impression and opinions. All the corps: the kids performed what they were given and gave it 100% effort. One thing I noticed a lot of “original” music shows…. is this a hint that its getting too costly for most corps to license the music and we should expect more? Oh and the little rifle boy (think it was SCVC) rocked…. clean and only about 3 feet tall. Weather: Was beautiful in the 80s when I arrived but boy once the sun went down and the winds kicked up the temps sank into the low 60s probably 50s with wind chill fans were dashing out for sweaters etc…. me I just mumbled and cursed myself for wearing shorts…. plus side when I returned home to PS it was still in the 70s awww the desert… Hawthorne Gold Ex.: Good inaugural show for this corps, decent sound a lot of nerves you could tell but a good first effort, larger size than I would expect for a corps in their first show. Most memorable thing for me in this show was the 13 sets of vibes/xyl/bells in the pit….had some nice moments. One side note on this corps is that is part of a high school program….wonder if that could be a wave of the future…. Dream, Sr. 58.740 Well the seniors showed up…..enjoyed their warm up of Magic Mystery Tour reminded me of VK eons ago….start of Dreams show seemed to have a lot of nerves soloist had some tonal problems (upon thinking entire corps had issues very beginning I tend now to think it was because they were trying to play very softly) but once they turned up the volume they were wailing….great licks throughout the rest of the show has potential come DCA they just need lots of cleaning and some chart clean up. Jester 29.500 Ambitious program for the corps but thing with some minor revisions and drill work and cleaning they will improve scorewise quickly….great effort from the kids and they enjoyed performing….staff just needs to work with them on performance and clean. Mystikal 52.000 Okay small hornline but MAN DID THEY FILL THE STANDS WITH SOUND…. Great second year for this corps….great solid fundamentals in technique, show is written within the talent level, drill is very well written and corps fills the field when needed and good forms through out. A lot of cleaning and filling in a few holes and they certainly will be one of the top Div III corps Impulse 63.450 Well I think this show is either gonna be a love it or not show for a lot of fans. The good….kids having a ball out there, show has potential. The bad the arrangements of the incredibles etc just are lacking in that just when they should be wailing away after a build up they stop and go into a drum feature….just didn’t do it for me. But still thought they should of beaten the Vanguard Cadets. Hornline demonstrated a good range and drums held their own. Drill needs some cleaning and some restaging but think with practice and cleaning they’ll jump past SCV cadets and blue devils B. Vanguard Cadets 63.500 A lot smaller than in years past. The kids have talent but this show surely doesn’t give them the vehicle to show it. Drill is lacking and the hornline while good in parts just didn’t seem to be able to project the music to draw the fans in. Color guard and drums performed well and had some good moments as well as the horns the show as a whole just seemed lacking in something. Blue Devils B 67.550 Okay Horn line had some good licks a lot of Loud hits walk hit walk etc BD style from last few years, Guard was okay needs a lot of cleaning. But the drum line stole the show…some great licks and moves that were totally sick….Corps has potential with cleaning but definetly isn’t a “flowing” type show but enjoyable none the less. The Academy 75.600 Okay this corps isn’t your mothers Div II Corps it’s a solid Division one and man did they fill the stadium with a lush full LOUD sound. In all honestly if they would have been on I sheets I think they would of challenged for second…they were cleaner than most of the corps there, the show flowed, they got a spontaneous standing O (first of the night) they had the crowd buzzing and full attention throughout their performance. Guard has some outstanding moments, trumpets some great licks and lush bottom to the hornline….This organization is on the right track. Esperanza 61.550 Small than previous years but sure they will pic up a few bodies as the season goes on. Hornline has potential but at this stage are tentative and a little “gun” shy. The guard while not as engaging as last year is still very good abeit dirty they are doing some creative stuff but you can tell its very early in the year…will give them a few weeks and see where they are at…..if they clean score could jump quickly….if they are unable to clean then it will be a long summer. Mandarins 65.950 Actually had Mandrins above PC tonight. They had a good command of the field but while missing the drums from the past few years this years corps has a good solid hornline that filled the stadium with sound. Uniforms are still one of my favorites although on a side note I wish guard was in a brighter version of the corps proper…you tended to lose the guard within the corps and miss a lot of good work. Marching was acceptable for this time of year and good form. Drums had some great parts and features throughout the show. Pacific Crest 66.250 They are attempting to make a big leap this year I hope they are up to the challenge that their designers gave them. Overall the show was rocking during the first half then energy fell off and show seemed to drag until the end ….(hence why I thought Mandrians would overtake them)) First the guard, Its good…..its really really good….they are very engaging (think cadets perilous skys show)… they really draw the fans in with some of their interpretations of water….well integrated throughout the show and get the theme of the show across to the audience. Drums solid drum line execution will tell the tale for them clean clean clean and more cleaning and they’ll help push the Corps to higher scores. Brass: Some great dynamics out the kids, a number of holes tonight, Show has the potential to take them into semi-finales and judging by early scores maybe a shot at finals night. (side not the mirror things have potential but migh have to go away....and whistles at the end need to go away) Santa Clara Vanguard 74.450 Okay SCV has always been one of my favorite corps (even tho I bleed ohio Blue) But I am writing this review with taking the rose colored glasses off. Oh were to start…..hmmmm okay SCV has had a few down years in their history that they finished 7th etc (Planet show in the 70s, Recently Not the Nutty Nutcracker)….I really think this is that type of year for them. Okay on with the review….First note: Guard did almost no work during all of RCM…. Overall they are big, the guard uniforms are classy, the horns are strong and drums are cooking…. BUT…. they just don’t have the “IT” factor, they didn’t take the field like they owned it, they gave off the aurora of any of the bottom top twelve corps….nothing special….the crowd had a ton of SCV fans and they made a lot of noise but still Academy got more natural eruptions of cheering than SCV did tonight. I thought they were scored a little high. Okay, musically the show is solid with the exception of Russian Christmas Music, I think by end of season it will be totally rewritten…right now it ebbs and flows without exploding and the few times it explodes it doesn’t last…I was expecting more of a Impact on RCM ending with mid voices running wild with notes etc…but its very “safe”. The guard has talent and some good moments but not integrated into the show well at all, One point the entire guard is 15-20 yards away from the corps field right 20-goal line and horns/drums are closer to the 50…..forcing you to watch one or the other…..throughout the show the staging is odd trumpets in right area of the field middle voice center field and lower voices on the left with about 10-15 yards between them…sound suffers cause of this and guard is somewhere you never get a full integrated corps picture until the last note of the show where the guard (finally after most of RCM standing around) does some twirling in front and behind the corps….I think if BD were competing tonight SCV’s score would of drops a little lower They have a lot to clean up and I have no doubts they will make finals but I think they are right now a 7-9 place. Other observations is during the “conflict” the guard again is miles away from the corps proper with bombs going off and sirens (think Miss Saigon)…. just didn’t have a impact on the crowd (except for all the SCV alumni and fanatics)

Been watching the scores from Orlando til last night....looks like the judges have moved the "top 4" into Box 5 but they all seem reluctant to push PR, Bluecoats and madison into that box also (bostons tip toed into a few box 5s but slipped out next show)..... so took that exciting WOW there's 8 corps within 4.something behind 1st in Orlando to oh just 4 corps within 4.something..... For example the score improvement from orl to Altwn: Cavs +1.925, Cadets +1.6; PR +0.5 Bluecoats 0.725 Crown +.075 Personally as a fan at this point in the year watching the shows I feel that its still closer from 1-8 than they points say and should of stayed closer with the middle tier nudging up as they clean which They have more obvious flaws to fix than a 90 pt show, and when they do it makes a huge difference, but once you hit that box 5 you have few flaws to clean....so scores really should just "creap" up but seems BD and Cavies are being moved already to the middle of box 5 so in 15 days they can top out. Then again it could be a consipiracy theroy #8392 that while in the old days a champion could win with a 92-93... but now DCI has the judges thinking in terms of 1-2 place has to be 97-99, 3rd 95-96.5 4th 94-96 5th 90-93 6th 92-92, 7th 89-90 etc so that in the last two weeks of the season they start slotting corps to scoring brackets..... ^0^ Talk amongst yourselfs But this is all just my own opinion

Looks like the recaps show that there wasn't the "3rd" percussion judge at the show last night could be a point that scores were off