rkarlsson

Cedarburg (Grafton) had a GREAT audience! How come those folks couldn't drive a few miles to attend the South Milwaukee show? I really shouldn't complain about silent audiences TOO much, because this is the first year that I haven't constantly been complaining about rude people who talk during performances. Every crowd I've encountered so far this summer has been angelic in that respect. Either that, or all the rude people were sitting by someone else for once, haha.

I was at the show and heard what the announcer said. I totally forgot about it until right now when I saw this thread. I thought that was a really weird thing to say, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones who cringed. That's pretty offensive to all the Div 2/3 kids who are working just as hard all summer to put out a great show. I wonder if he realized how dumb that was after it came out of his mouth? I kind of doubt it, unfortunately.

Flat crowd syndrome was experienced in South Milwaukee last night. I don't like flat crowds. They make me look obnoxious, lol.

I was there--Pioneer was awesome! Go Pio! And everyone else was awesome, too! :) Great show, but chilly weather.

Oh wow, Whitnall High School is pretty close to me. I wish I had time to go check 'em out! I was at the Cedarburg show and personally I felt a bit let down by their show. Of course, we couldn't really see much drill (even from the top of the stands), and I'm sure it would have been more exciting had we been able to actually see the complexity of it all. The music just didn't leave me with much of an impression. My husband, on the other hand, really enjoyed their show a lot. The encore sure about blew my face off, though! That was much more exciting than the actual show. Those guard unis were terribly distracting, IMO. I VERY much enjoyed the Colts' performance (was my first time seeing them this summer). I was also very impressed with the work Pioneer has done since Lisle. I was honestly a bit worried when I first saw that show in Lisle, but they have done a great job with it and I thoroughly enjoyed it last night. Tremendous improvement! Hope they keep it up. Overall, it was a GREAT show, and I'm really looking forward to South Milwaukee tomorrow night.

I can assure you that Pioneer has NOT gone inactive this year. I was just at their spring open house!

Kenosha, Wisconsin :)

According to Mapquest, it is about 37 minutes from my house in Milwaukee to the theater in Kenosha, WI. That is definitely an improvement from driving to Lincolnshire, IL, like we normally would. :)

I believe I read somewhere that there will only be 3 DCM shows this summer. I am in Milwaukee and I am not sure what big DCI show you are referring to (maybe I am too young to know?), but maybe you are talking about the big DCM Spectacle City show in South Milwaukee? I do think that show is still on for this summer because I just looked at the website and there is a new date set for this summer, even though the corps info hasn't been updated from last year yet. I sure hope it is on, because I always have a blast there! Last year's show was almost monsooned out, lol, but luckily things cleared up *just* in time and it was great (although very wet!). If you are closeby, don't forget there are shows in both Cedarburg and Madison right around July 4th. I believe Pioneer also has their home show in Milwaukee in early July. Spectacle City show in South Milwaukee :)

Thanks for the link! I am impressed. I, too, loved the Northern Star clip. It's really great to see the activity is growing in Europe. Maybe someday my Finnish husband's friends back home will have some clue what the heck he is talking about when he talks about drum corps, lol.

I am so sorry that Pioneer is going through this. It sounds like Curt was a very trusted, well-liked man. It must be awful for the members and alumni to learn of these allegations. I'm from Milwaukee and I was so shocked to run across this in the paper the other morning. I had seen it on the local news the previous night, but didn't put the name and Pioneer together in my head until I saw the article. It's so scary that we have to be suspicious of the people who appear to be so good and genuine. What a shame. If he is indeed guilty, I just hope and pray there are no more victims outside of the family (as if that's not horrible enough). I don't think this will affect the Pioneer organization negatively in the long run. These days everyone knows that predators are out there and could be involved in any of their children's activites. It is probably inevitable that most of us have had contact with child sex offenders and don't even know it. It is scary, but all anyone can do is make sure their kids are aware of the danger and that they know to talk to someone if something someone does makes them feel uncomfortable. It is a sad reality. I don't care how nice a person is, though; once they have sexually assaulted a child they deserve to be locked up for the rest of their life. We will have to wait and see what happens with this. I'm a huge fan of Pioneer and wish them the best through this tough and sad situation. For those who are interested, here is the newest article, which tells what led to the arrest. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, 12/30/05

Balloon accident

Personally, I love what Pioneer does and can't wait to see what they come up with this year. Here's a little more info from their website: "We had a tremendously successful set of meetings this past weekend, with all members of the Design Team contributing. One can't help but feel excited about the direction of our 2006 show, "Emeraldscapes." A heartfelt thanks to those who attended and to those who made the effort to contribute musical selections for review. We were able to outline a firm skeleton of the program from beginning to end. Although at this time we are waiting for the music rights before an official announcement of our repertoire, we can say that the show will be a mix of original materials from our arrangers Rick Kirby, Dean Adamczyk, and Paul Rennick. Additionally, a very fresh and contemporary string piece will be interwoven throughout the entire show, creating a haunting thru-line that ultimately leads us to a driving and climatic closing production based on the same piece. The corps will use the illusion of 12' metalic copper poles to create different 2D and 3D "scapes" throughout the program. The musical content and tempos will be agressive and ambitious. Think 210 Beats Per Minute for the last minute of the show!! More importantly, the show design progression has been truly fantastic. With the visual elements being considered as part of the process as opposed to as result of the music construction. Furthermore, the enthusiasm demonstrated by the members of the Design Team is undeniable and undoubtedly will produce a cutting edge show that corps members can embrace and love. You do not want to miss out on being a part of this production!"

Geeez. Not exactly the news I wanted to end my day with. I was so excited to read on DCI.org about Blue Stars moving up, and then my happiness was quickly stomped out the second I got to the part regarding the Troopers situation. What a blow. I feel it was in bad taste for this to be included as a small blurb in a release congratulating other corps. Especially since the details offered were so....sketchy, at best. Looks like we'll have to wait to get any solid details about what really happened, but I really hope that whatever the reason this happened, in the end it will turn out for the best and the Troopers will make a strong comeback in Div 1.

Yay for Blue Stars! Best of luck in 2006! :) And yeah, it's really exciting for Wisconsin to have 3 Div 1 corps now.

Pioneer and Capital Regiment.

Wow....that is VERY cool. :)

Nice job, Pinwiz. I couldn't agree with you more.

Done! :) Great idea!

Overall a very nice job. Some things could be better, but I'm not really complaining. Nothing can ever please all the people all of the time. The thing that really surprised me, was not seeing The Cadets' whole show! It never even occurred to me that the winning show would not be shown in its entirety. I was pretty bummed, especially since some of the best parts were not shown. I will get over it, though, once I have the DVD. :P I didn't have a problem with the insider stuff at all. I thought the segments were very well done and interesting. I see I wasn't the only one having problems with the sound quality. I was constantly turning the volume up and down. That was annoying, but still....not a huge deal. I do think there should have been some mention that there are lots of other corps out there beside the top 12. And like some other people have mentioned, they really should have done better telling where the corps are from. That way, people who are interested will know if there's a corps near them. At the same time, they could have explained that kids come from all over the country (and beyond) to join a particular corps. This is not an activity where the majority of the kids come from the city a corps is based in. That way people understand that even if there isn't a corps near them, they still can be a part of this! I think that most kids who tune into drum corps on tv and decide to continue watching probably think it's really cool, yet they assume that this is something they could never be a part of themselves. They don't know that these are everyday normal kids out there doing this. We need to find ways to let outsiders know that they CAN do this, too....and point them in the right direction to find out more. Otherwise they will turn off the tv when it is over and forget all about it. And as many others have pointed out, it really needs to be emphasized to the uneducated viewer that these are only short clips of the corps' programs. But really, I am very impressed with the ESPN2 broadcast. This was a great starting point and I'm sure it will continue to get better. Thanks to Tom Blair and DCI for putting together a great show. I hope after tonight there are some new fans out there!

That is wonderful. I know their help will be so very appreciated by those poor people who've lost everything, and also by those people like me, who watch from afar wishing there was more we could do. Go Troop!

The Cadets and SCV.

In Milwaukee, year-round schools are becoming more popular at the elementary and high school levels. I think it stinks. And the "normal" schools don't get out until late June as it is. I've read in the paper that some suburban districts are considering going year round now, too. I don't have kids yet, but I am really scared that by the time I do have school-age children, they will have no choice but to be schooled year round. I think this is definitely a threat to drum corps. But what do I know...maybe kids really do better in school without having a long summer break. I suppose education needs to come first, but still, it's a shame. There are so many experiences that kids will miss out on by not having a summer vacation. There are many educational experiences outside of school, too.

When I went to my first show of the season in Lisle, I was completely STUNNED by Pioneer! The corps was easily one of the most improved this year. I had the chance to see the show several times during the summer, and each time I was so excited about the progress being made in all sections of the corps. There's really nothing that I didn't like. The guard was wonderful and it was great to see them constantly improving. Definitely one of my favorite shows this year. I can't wait to see what Pioneer does next year. As for the uniforms, I like them. Something new would be nice though I guess. :)

Blue Devils take the cake on this one. I couldn't help but cringe all through their show (both times I've seen it). I swear I could actually feel my blood pressure rise because I'm so annoyed by that whole deal. I think Seattle's narration was good in that it gave me a better idea about what the show was about (I've only seen them in Indy before this and they didn't have the narration that night). BUT, having said that..I still really disliked it. I think it would have been okay if it didn't go on and on throughout the whole show. I was feeling a little cheesed out by the whole thing. The Cadets' voices were actually pretty cool I thought. I don't think many people in the Lincolnshire theater agreed with me on that (was not a very Cadet-friendly crowd AT ALL), but ohwell -- I enjoyed it, so poo on them. :) The Bluecoats' drum speak was well done, too, I thought. I got to the theater early and had the opportunity to hear a good explanation of it on the Field Pass before the show began. I think hearing the idea behind it helps. I'm not completely against narration. I think it can be done well to enhance a show, but like someone else already mentioned, if a show DEPENDS on it, then there is a problem. Case in point: Blue Devils.