Who are you voting for?

[DCI dad]

Blue Devils-2007

Cavaliers-2006

Crown-2007

Phantom-2005

Spirit-2006

Cadets-2005

I too prefer the "Classic" approach for two reasons.

1)I have been lucky enough to attend finals for the last 3 years, so I saw all these live.

2)I enjoy seeing excellent moments in drum corps (and yes, some of those happened in Legacy years)

Consider a Countdown of the greatest high notes featuring: Scott Dean(2000's) & Hunter Moss(1980's) etc.

How about the loudest shows of all time? Greatest drum lines?

What do you think?

[Buick]

2007 Cadets

2007 Phantom

2006 Cavaliers

2006 Phantom

2006 Bluecoats

2005 Phantom

I wonder how many other people chose Phantom for all 3 years

[jjeffeory]

There's no "Bait & Switch". There's just switch.

Maybe it's not a trend, but rather as I see it, those older, grainy shows look like crap in a theater. It's not the fault of the show, but the medium, and the reality is that a show on film, squeezed into a TV, and then stretched back out for a movie isn't so pretty.

Sorry; I'm all for the historical eras, but its sour grapes to suggest that using newer material is a slight. If anything, show whatever sells tickets! The newer material has all been recorded in 5.1, and is much better suited for theatrical release. Sucks, but that's the truth.

The current shows look like crap in the theater as well. It’s fuzzy, up converted, standard definition stuff, and it just doesn't look that good. The sound is a little better. I've been in 7 different venues across the country (Appleton, Racine, Cleveland, Irvine, Baton Rouge, Burbank, and Las Vegas) for this event and the quarter finals event. None of them have sounded the best, or even as good as a home theatre. It’s not DCIs fault per se, more likely the theatres just don't treat the event that well. Of course the older shows look worse. The masters probably have been sitting around decaying and VHS doesn’t hold up well over time. That's why we should take better care of the masters and get them digitized as soon as possible. This is a common problem for movies as well. I wish we had more money to properly conserve our heritage…

At any rate, I'm not sure if I'm going to go to this event or not, but if I do I go to support Drum Corps and I won’t NOT go because of the quality of the image... It all looks like crap. It all doesn’t sound as good as it could at home…

I will say this: “Geesh, they could have at least included this decade.”

I voted:

2007 Carolina Crown

2007 Bluecoats

2007 Colts

2006 The Cavaliers

2006 Phantom Regiment

2005 Madison Scouts

I would have voted:

1990 Star of Indiana (One of the all time best horn lines, concept, and show)

2005 Madison Scouts (Under appreciated show)

2007 Carolina Crown (Great Sound, great theme)

1993 Blue Devils (Great musically)

1988 Santa Clara Vanguard (Most theatrical and satisfying version of Phantom of the Opera on the field)

1985 Suncoast Sound (Just for the cool musical moments)

And just because I criticize the quality of the product doesn't mean that I'm anti-DCI. I'm simply commenting on the quality of the product presented in the theatre. Nothing more, nothing less...

[jjeffeory]

This new format is a wise move on DCI's part, I think. I'll be surprised if turnout isn't higher than it was last year...and the people who show up are more likely to be long-term fans, not fans who will soon walk away from DCI because of impending changes. Just my guess.

My perspective is that last year was the worst attended year for this event, so anything is likely to be better. Perhaps they should have tweaked different aspects of the countdown do get attendance up? Maybe they should have not permitted repeats from previous years? Maybe they should have permitted a corps to be included more than once? Maybe they should have covered this decade?

Edited February 28, 2008 by jjeffeory

[jjeffeory]

Every single one of those classic shows are available on DCi.org or on the Legacy DVDs. It's not like DCi is hiding them from anyone. You can't expect one event like a countdown show to be all things to all people. Every Friday, DCI does a Flashback on historic corps. Do you look at the on a regular basis? I think that does a good job every week exposing kids to the past.

I own the Legacy DVDs. It's not about getting to be able to see the shows. It's about socialization, and seeing if other people like some of the shows you like, even if they aren't brand new. Some people will not give the older shows a chance until they see one. I see the shows on DCI each week, and they aren't really showing the best shows IMHO...

[jjeffeory]

Then that is what the market will decide. If they don't want to seek them out on their own...let them enjoy the modern shows. It's no fault of DCI that kids don't care to watch yours and my "glory days". They are in their own glory days. Let them have their era. We'll always be important to the activity and we'll always never get enough play on shows like the countdown. But the fact that there is a countdown and there are kids to go and watch it speaks volumes to the legacy and importance our our marching years.

Let's not bring "market" discussion into this. It's a directed market, instead of a natural market. If they wanted True Market, they would take the 6 highest votes and play that regardless of who was picked. They've chosen to limit the selections and eliminate natural forces...

At the 7 places I've been all around the country, there have been young and old people attending. Frankly, in many places, there have been more older looking people than younger.

[jjeffeory]

This Countdown has 36 choices. I'm sure you can find something you like in the last three years.

DCI sells coke on the DCI.org website in the form of downloads that anyone on earth with a computer and an internet connection can access. Again, not every event DCI puts on is going to be a 50/50 split of old vs.new.

Did you enjoy the Kingsmen at finals last year? How about Scouts the year before? Vanguard in 03? St; Joes? Bridgemen at Allentown? DCI pays a lot of homage to corps of the past. Here's one time when they don't and somehow they've done you wrong? Come on.

You don't get it.

[jjeffeory]

I just voted for the following (in no particular order):

With only 6 corps supposedly making the cut, will DCI:

1) have a lot of interviews and commentaries to stretch this out to at least 2 hours?

2) surprise everyone by adding a bonus of the two corps that finished 7th and 8th in the voting?

3) add a couple of "Classic" corps of their choosing to appeal to a broader audience? (maybe one each from the 70's, 80's, and 90's)

Just wonderin'.

Option 3 would be WONDERFUL. It would make many people happy! That's a great idea.

[jjeffeory]

Not everyone will ever be happy about the choices... you can make all the people happy some of the time, or some of the people happy all of the time.

Anyhow, if more people attend, we'll know that changing the format a bit is good. If the attendance goes down, well, we'll know it's fans of the prior material that are buying tickets.

Frankly, it's like any other movie. If you think you'll have a good time, go! Otherwise, no big deal.

It's a big deal because if it fails this year, there likely won't be a next year, and fans of the prior material will lose out. Then again, I'm caring less-and-less.

[byline]

It's a big deal because if it fails this year, there likely won't be a next year, and fans of the prior material will lose out. Then again, I'm caring less-and-less.

There's another possibility: This will catch on like wildfire, and DCI will say, "Hey, nobody wants to watch those old shows anymore." And then they will never be part of the countdown again.

(Not so farfetched given this: "Legacy" recordings thread)

It's just like education and journalism: Sometimes you've gotta tell/show people what they need to know, not just what they want to know. But that seems to be happening less and less nowadays.

Edited February 28, 2008 by byline