What Cadets could do ...

[salad315]

By the way, if DCI could rake in the money like High School Musical, we'd have hundreds of corps. Maybe it should be staged by the Cadets in 2009!

Ugh,...i finally saw that (well, like 25 minutes of it last night). I think I'd rather let drum corps die...

[HockeyDad]

10 pages of ###-for-tat. OP: your idea is interesting, but I think if they actually did it, the outcry would actually be Worse. Can you imagine the outcry of "pandering" for scores...... going for "sympathy", etc.. etc. I think the negative reaction would be ramped up more than it is now.

As to Hop retiring.......I'm probably his age. He Did do a good job of capturing immature emotions with this year's narration. Not sure how he did it, but it does come off as being from a very young person's perspective - very materialistic, very self-absorbed. IMO. That really turns me off. But, it's his baby - he can do what he wants.

[biffwah]

The Road Not Takenmaybe if Frost would have written the Narration??

Nahh... That's still talking over a wonderful corps.

Step awaaay from the microphone.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference

...Robert Frost

[DCIHasBeen]

10 pages of ###-for-tat. OP: your idea is interesting, but I think if they actually did it, the outcry would actually be Worse. Can you imagine the outcry of "pandering" for scores...... going for "sympathy", etc.. etc. I think the negative reaction would be ramped up more than it is now.

###### if they do, ###### if they don't ... There's going to be a lot of folks unhappy with the show either way. I'd just rather seem them take a shot at doing something that would allow them to connect with the audience in a meaningful way. Sarah Jones, Tom Jones, or the Emperor Jones ain't gonna' do it.

You're probably right, but I've always believed if you're going to go down, it might as well be in a blaze of glory.

[TealEuph7]

That's like saying Scott Stewart was always going to be with Madison or Jeff Fiedler was always going to be in Rosemont. Things change and the best change the Cadets could make right now would be to ban George from the creative process.

7th place.

As much as people are going to hate me for this, I think Contra Cadet is right. It's true that Jeff and Scott both moved on but George has just been such a huge part of the Cadets, their identity, and development that I can't see him leaving them for another corps. After all the criticism he's taken, I don't think he'll leave them for someone else. This isn't to say that Scott or Jeff were any less BTW.

[DCIHasBeen]

As much as people are going to hate me for this, I think Contra Cadet is right. It's true that Jeff and Scott both moved on but George has just been such a huge part of the Cadets, their identity, and development that I can't see him leaving them for another corps. After all the criticism he's taken, I don't think he'll leave them for someone else. This isn't to say that Scott or Jeff were any less BTW.

Frankly, I have believed for some time now, that for good or bad the Cadets Organization is held together by nothing other than the sheer force of George's will. When he retires, or dies, I think the organization will fall apart ... Maybe "Holy Name shall always be", but the Cadets die with the end of Hopkins' involvement. There's nobody in the World obsessed enough to do what he does.

Edited July 29, 2008 by DCIHasBeen

[silvertrombone]

I performed in a sort of make-shift symphony orchestra several years ago. Dallas' Turtle Creek Chorale teamed up with the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in a series of concerts and recording called "Sing For the Cure." The music was written by composers with history of breast cancer--either survivors or composers who had lost mother, sister, wife, etc. We had a full chorus (Turtle Creek Chorale and Dallas Women's Chorale) and much of the music had text as well.

Now you see where I'm going with that. Cancer, music, narration. Sorry, it wasn't the best music in the world, but that hasn't stopped Cadets recently, has it? Narration and "storyline" was kind of cheese, too, but that hasn't been an issue either.

Now here's my point. OP has a good point. The problem with Cadets recent offerings is that Hop has a degree in Non-Profit Operations, or some such--not theatre, literature or English. The people writing the narration portion of the shows are not doing a terribly good job, if they are professionals at it at all. The "Sing for the Cure" thing, as silly as it was, had some really emotionally powerful parts. This was an obscure performance series, but at least it was well put together. And the theme is roughly close enough to Cadets present offering that it could have been substituted in an interesting manner. I mean, at least as interesting as the last four shows have been.

And "Sing for the Cure" was impossible to be mistaken as insincere or contrived.

[silvertrombone]

As much as people are going to hate me for this, I think Contra Cadet is right. It's true that Jeff and Scott both moved on but George has just been such a huge part of the Cadets, their identity, and development that I can't see him leaving them for another corps. After all the criticism he's taken, I don't think he'll leave them for someone else. This isn't to say that Scott or Jeff were any less BTW.

Well, there are enough previous incarnations (names) that if Hop were to shut down shop on the way out the door, iit would be relatively easy for the next person to re-launch, say, the Garfield Cadets. And assuming that The Cadets still own all of the previous names, they could always launch "The New Jersey Cadets" or some such.

[salad315]

I performed in a sort of make-shift symphony orchestra several years ago. Dallas' Turtle Creek Chorale teamed up with the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in a series of concerts and recording called "Sing For the Cure." The music was written by composers with history of breast cancer--either survivors or composers who had lost mother, sister, wife, etc. We had a full chorus (Turtle Creek Chorale and Dallas Women's Chorale) and much of the music had text as well.

Now you see where I'm going with that. Cancer, music, narration. Sorry, it wasn't the best music in the world, but that hasn't stopped Cadets recently, has it? Narration and "storyline" was kind of cheese, too, but that hasn't been an issue either.

Now here's my point. OP has a good point. The problem with Cadets recent offerings is that Hop has a degree in Non-Profit Operations, or some such--not theatre, literature or English. The people writing the narration portion of the shows are not doing a terribly good job, if they are professionals at it at all. The "Sing for the Cure" thing, as silly as it was, had some really emotionally powerful parts. This was an obscure performance series, but at least it was well put together. And the theme is roughly close enough to Cadets present offering that it could have been substituted in an interesting manner. I mean, at least as interesting as the last four shows have been.

And "Sing for the Cure" was impossible to be mistaken as insincere or contrived.

I was really into your idea, then I realized why it still wouldnt work...why people would still call it contrived...because in drum corps, they give out scores. Whenever any corps does something like that to create emotion, there will be people that hate it. Not saying the cadets couldnt have done a better job with the cancer thing anyway (im sure they could have), but just saying that I dont think there was a real way to turn this around..

[amjn]

No...I never said this year was the start. We are actually in year three of the downward slide for the Cadets. 2006 is when the slide began.

So their Silver Medal in 2007 is a downward slide?

Interesting.

The Cadets, IMO, are doing "what they do." The Cadets will always be The Cadets and Hop will always be Hop. I may not be extremely fond of this years show, HOWEVER, Hop has done a fine job leading them. Who cares that they don't make top 4? Look at Carolina Crown, a few years back people thought they were a joke. Now they're dominating the field as one of the newest corps. Seasons come and seasons go. Look at Phantom, they've won ONCE. And it was a tie. Yet their regarded as one of the finest corps. Blue Devils 2005 was definitely not one of their best shows. So, they come back and win a Championship 2 seasons later.

I think I remember people talking about Hop leaving last season. So they won 2nd place. A well deserved performance for all you "non-narration" people. Narration works for them, it may not flow, it may not even make sense or "be drum corps" but it's their identity now. I don't care for it but I still enjoy The Cadets because, in the past, they have made me appreciate and see how hard they work. 9 World Championship Titles says a lot.

And narration will NEVER change that.