OrlandoContraAlum Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Agreed, was a very good crowd. From the field, it looked as if only about the last little bit of the right side of the stands were empty. Fun crowd to play to as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbell211 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 From looking at the recaps, I saw where Crown's guard was first as well as their brass. I knew their guard would do well but their brass must be really good this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearlsnaredrummer77 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I was also at the show and have to agree with most of the negative comments regarding the Cadet's show. I'm a long-time Cadets fan, at my first show ever, I became a Cadet's fan-that was back in 81. But I have to admit, that the narration kills the show rather than enhances it. Furthermore, it even exposes the weak parts even more. There is no "flow" at all and it seems only a collection of various ensemble "riffs" (played extremely well) and then some bizarre discussion of a woman's breast cancer interspersed. It is not entertaining, it is annoying. My husband, who is relatively a drum corps newcomer, but enjoys everything from the smallest Open corps to the BAC, DCA corps, and Alumnis absolutely refuses to watch the Cadets again. It's that bad. Maybe there is a way that narration can be used in a drum corps show, but this is not it. It was banal, seemingly had no point, and utterly confused and confounded the audience. The shack in the middle of the field where "Sarah Jones" or whatever her name is sits is even an eyesore. It looks like a trailer park in the middle of a drum corps performance. Moreover, there was no mistaking the trite conversation of "Sarah Jones" for anything written by Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde. Around me I heard numerous audible disapproving comments-mostly that people didn't get it at all. It didn't come off as "artsy" which is what I think the Cadet's staff is hoping-rather it seems Jerry Springerish. Considering all this, the Cadets got a very lukewarm, polite response the audience. It's a shame because the Cadets have in place the talent, staff, and creativity to win a DCI title-but not with this show. While I'm writing all of this, I want to stress that the corps members played their parts with skill, handled their equipment well, and marched in the manner of the champions that they are. However, I do not see how this show can win a DCI championiship. Sadly, the staff/management is squandering these youngster's chance (time and money) to win a DCI championship in pursuit of a wrong-headed "innovation." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCFAN Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 The last couple of years I had the Blue Knights as my hot dog corps, this year it's the Cadets. At least for me and my wife on Saturday we got an early start on our trip home. I will not watch the Cadets this year since it is what is slowly killing drum corps and driving the fan base away. You ask why I want to watch a show about the issues we all face with every day life, I go to a drum corps shows to be entertained to escape those realities for a few hours. Stop supporting the Cadets and than maybe they will listen to the fan base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudes Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I found the recap... World Class First Places GE Visual - Cadets GE Music - Cadets Visual Performance - Cadets Ensemble Visual- Cadets Colorguard - Crown Brass - Crown Ensemble Music - Cadets Percussion - Cadets Open Class First Places GE Visual - Surf GE Music - Surf Visual Performance - Surf Ensemble Visual- Surf Colorguard - Spartans Brass - Surf Ensemble Music - Surf Percussion - Surf Looks like surf and cadets dominated... spartans and crown ruined clean sweeps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetman1287 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Oh my, someone is going to walk out on a show, it's THAT bad. It's ONE show. Be happy that the rest aren't infiltrated with what you see as the downfall of the activity. I'm going to wait until after the July changes to see how the show flows. So far, I'm liking 2007 more, but most of the recent Cadets shows look very different from June to August. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bersurkman Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 I am not a Cadets fan, but I watched the show with an open mind. Actually, I spent the entire time listening to the music. I tried to tune out the narration and just try to enjoy the corps' performance. I don't even remember what the narration was about. I found that the show was performed well. There were some identifiable horn errors, nothing that can't be corrected. I do agree with a lot of the other posters that the show has no flow. IMHO the music seems to play like a movie score. A lot of incidental music follow by impacts. I will not say that I will never watch this show again, but I genuinely prefer to watch Crown, BAC, Xmen, and Surf more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 (edited) I was also at the show and have to agree with most of the negative comments regarding the Cadet's show. I'm a long-time Cadets fan, at my first show ever, I became a Cadet's fan-that was back in 81. But I have to admit, that the narration kills the show rather than enhances it. Furthermore, it even exposes the weak parts even more. There is no "flow" at all and it seems only a collection of various ensemble "riffs" (played extremely well) and then some bizarre discussion of a woman's breast cancer interspersed. It is not entertaining, it is annoying. My husband, who is relatively a drum corps newcomer, but enjoys everything from the smallest Open corps to the BAC, DCA corps, and Alumnis absolutely refuses to watch the Cadets again. It's that bad.Maybe there is a way that narration can be used in a drum corps show, but this is not it. It was banal, seemingly had no point, and utterly confused and confounded the audience. The shack in the middle of the field where "Sarah Jones" or whatever her name is sits is even an eyesore. It looks like a trailer park in the middle of a drum corps performance. Moreover, there was no mistaking the trite conversation of "Sarah Jones" for anything written by Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde. Around me I heard numerous audible disapproving comments-mostly that people didn't get it at all. It didn't come off as "artsy" which is what I think the Cadet's staff is hoping-rather it seems Jerry Springerish. Considering all this, the Cadets got a very lukewarm, polite response the audience. It's a shame because the Cadets have in place the talent, staff, and creativity to win a DCI title-but not with this show. While I'm writing all of this, I want to stress that the corps members played their parts with skill, handled their equipment well, and marched in the manner of the champions that they are. However, I do not see how this show can win a DCI championiship. Sadly, the staff/management is squandering these youngster's chance (time and money) to win a DCI championship in pursuit of a wrong-headed "innovation." The good news here from The Cadets perspective is they can be thankful this is a Drum Corps show, and not a show in a theatre or on Broadway. Otherwise, with this almost universal dislike for this " show ", the bankers would have called in the loan, future shows cancelled, the performers, set designers, directors, producers, etc sent home, and security would have locked the doors to the theatre. But it's not. It's just Drum Corps, and The Cadets can still continue this summer tour with the their Pursuit of Happiness, ( or Pursuit of Hoppiness whichever you prefer to call it ) Edited July 7, 2008 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDWEX1117 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Personally I thought Crown should have taken Cadets, but still congratulations to all corps for a great night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiid Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 (edited) disclaimer: i am a huge cadets fan and i loved the '07 show. I would agree with others that the flow of the 2008 show has a very broken up feel. However, I offer this perspective: The narration of 2007 was less "story"-centered and offered more of an overall look at the thoughts and experiences of corps members. Was it Shakespeare? No. Was it cheesy? At times, yes (specifically the narration at the start of the closer). Was it delivered professionally? No, but I believe the corps members did very well with the lines that they were given. These drawbacks considered, I firmly believe that the narration of '07 had a great give-and-take with the music; accents both visually and musically were woven in very well with the dialouge and I found this to be highly enjoyable. I know that not many share this view, but that's the great thing about opinions :-) Now, as for the 2008 show, I feel as though the approach to narration is completely different from 2007. The "story"-centered, individualisitc nature of the show, naturally leads to a more episodic feel (wrapping up an entire lifetime in 11 minutes, can have the tendency to give you that rushed feeling :-) ). I was not "confused" or "confounded" as other posters implied was the feeling of the audience (maybe some, but not all). I feel like the Cadets staff has accomplished exactly what the show says it will do: follow this woman through her adult life, in her search for a happy life. Is this search fulfilled with education? No. Partnership? Love? Children? Work? Power? Money? No. Turns out happiness is a choice and sometimes it takes a monumental event, like the threat of death, for us to realize this. Is this an absolute, universal truth? No, but it is a view presented by the staff and in my opinion, delivered clearly. As for the impact points, volume and the overall "drum corpsy-ness" of the show, I would agree that yes, the narration does take away from some of these elements that would otherwise be more abundant in a traditional show. However, these are not the only reasons I go to see a drum corps show and I am happy that The Cadets can offer an effective vision of what else the activity can be. **edited first sentence for clarification** Edited July 7, 2008 by Wiid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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