Bridgeport

[moe]

Was anyone at the show?????

I thought there would be a review by now.

Anyone.........

[Buddyscudder]

yes, i was there.

To start out let me say I marched mellophone with the Hurcs '04-'07.

DCI corps Teal Sound from Jacksonville, Fla opened the show in exhibition. Their show was "The Velvet Rope" using modern pop. Very entertaining and enjoyable. They used amplification with 2 guitars and a bass guitar plus a trap drum set.

Other than backing the Tubas with the bass; which in my opinion was not necessary; the amplification brought nothing to the table. Not a top ten corps this year.

Please understand that I don't usually do reviews and have no notes and it was a great day on the boat on Long Island Sound today (Sunday) if you know what mean.

5th. 60.913 Rochester Crusaders were very small, 18 brass?, due to graduation as announced by the announcer. Long way to go to make top 10, 11, 12.... you get my meaning.

4th. 68.4 Bushwackers were small also, 24/26 brass, though I know they tend to keep holes for returning DCI brass in August.

Challenging book, don't know if they can acheive it in time. Should still make top 10, just due to their past history.

3rd. 70.363 Corps Vets were awesome for this time of year. Great sound, very clean, great sound and balance, still some visual problems, but the crowd loved the southern style, especially "Geogia On My Mind". Definite top 10 this year, maybe top 6, IMO.

2nd. 75.9 Caballeros very predictable "spanish" show with very predictable lack of movement. They did take top brass, by .5, but see my first sentence. As usual, you know they will be contenders, but come on guys, you have to start marching.

1st. 77.525 Hurricanes. Not what I expected to see this early. Wow what a show! Talk about velocity, their opener is amazing!

Great show concept carrying forth from their journey West from last year. Unbelievable dark sound from the low brass (think Phantom Regiment, with apologies, afterall I am biased) which features 10 contras with a "Teddy feature" , which all of you DCA vets should understand. Overall the brass was balanced throughout, though they ran out of gas at the beginning of the closer. However, they reached back and finished strong. A great sign for any corps.

They took top guard, percussion amd visual.

This was the first time they won the Parade of Champions since 1982 but I have feeling the drought is over for the future.

Hurcs, Cabs and Corps Vets were all very entertaining and I look forward to seeing them in the future and to seeing their improvement, which of course is a certainty.

[Phalanx]

hahaha I liked the review buddy. Clearly biased, but you didn't pretend it was anything else.

I'll just offer a few brief words... The CorpsVets were awesome! Georgia on my Mind made me wish I was from Georgia. Cabs were solid. Even though I essentially know what the show will sound like every year, I always enjoy the product they deliver. Also, I actually thought they were moving quite a bit. To me it seems like they move a ton, but don't actually go very far (from side to side). I really loved Con Te Partiro, though the tone quality wasn't that good at times, but I think ballads are the hardest to play well at the first few shows. I'm pretty sure it'll be a force to be reckoned with by finals.

Hurcs were good. That colorguard is just phenomenal. Their perennial weakness, the hornline, was the only caption they didn't take. 10 tubas are nice, but only 8 were on the field for most of the show, and that feature they had was... iffy. That being said, they ARE vastly improved. I just checked their website for the brass caption head to see where the improvement came from, and that Mitnik has brought them lightyears ahead of where they were last year. I just hope the hornline isn't banking on the other sections to prop them up, because a certain corps from Pennsylvania will just annihilate them when they see each other if they do.

[Kamarag]

yes, i was there.

To start out let me say I marched mellophone with the Hurcs '04-'07.

DCI corps Teal Sound from Jacksonville, Fla opened the show in exhibition. Their show was "The Velvet Rope" using modern pop. Very entertaining and enjoyable. They used amplification with 2 guitars and a bass guitar plus a trap drum set.

Other than backing the Tubas with the bass; which in my opinion was not necessary; the amplification brought nothing to the table. Not a top ten corps this year.

Thanks for taking the time to review Teal Sound's program. It's always nice to see folks comment on exhibition corps.

As a member of Teal Sound's brass staff I do want to make one important clarification. At no point does the bass player ever double the tuba/contra part. There is one bass line where the tubas reinforce the bass guitar line, in "I Feel Love". While some people might say "what's the difference?", to us that is a pretty big deal. The bass guitar is the "lead" at that point, with the tubas in support. If we were into doubling, you wouldn't have heard the tuba feature in Part 2 played like it was last night :)

The intent of our design team was to use all of the tools available, and that includes the use of electronic instruments. In fact, The Velvet Rope would not be possible without them. Most DCI corps that are using electronics are using them in a very conservative way. For us, we wanted to put out a very high-energy, high-entertainment program using contemporary pop and rock music. The best way to accomplish this is to blend drum corps with a rock band (you noticed the band...that's a real band called Emberlake).

We know not everyone will like or appreciate our show or our use of electronics. And that's ok. As the fantastic Barum crowd proved, even the "old guys" can appreciate our entertaining program (four standing ovations are proof positive). Out show is still drum corps, and has plenty of "drum corps moments". We just also have some really cool non-corps moments as well.

Edited June 29, 2009 by Kamarag

[TrishDish1002]

Hurcs were good. That colorguard is just phenomenal.

Amen to that! I texted my friend and said, "Hurcs guard is 10 times better than last year and last year they were really good!" They oughta be glad this isn't winter guard and there's no chance of being promoted! LOL

Bush and Cabs' guards have a lot of potential too and Corps Vets guard was a nice surprise!

[TastyWaves]

Thanks for taking the time to review Teal Sound's program. It's always nice to see folks comment on exhibition corps.

As a member of Teal Sound's brass staff I do want to make one important clarification. At no point does the bass player ever double the tuba/contra part. There is one bass line where the tubas reinforce the bass guitar line, in "I Feel Love". While some people might say "what's the difference?", to us that is a pretty big deal. The bass guitar is the "lead" at that point, with the tubas in support. If we were into doubling, you wouldn't have heard the tuba feature in Part 2 played like it was last night :)

The intent of our design team was to use all of the tools available, and that includes the use of electronic instruments. In fact, The Velvet Rope would not be possible without them. Most DCI corps that are using electronics are using them in a very conservative way. For us, we wanted to put out a very high-energy, high-entertainment program using contemporary pop and rock music. The best way to accomplish this is to blend drum corps with a rock band (you noticed the band...that's a real band called Emberlake).

We know not everyone will like or appreciate our show or our use of electronics. And that's ok. As the fantastic Barum crowd proved, even the "old guys" can appreciate our entertaining program (four standing ovations are proof positive). Out show is still drum corps, and has plenty of "drum corps moments". We just also have some really cool non-corps moments as well.

Right on man!

[Buddyscudder]

Kamaraq,

Thanks for bringing me up to speed (said with a red face). The crowd certainly did enjoy Teal Sound's sound, as well as the overall performance. Good luck to your corps this season.

Edited June 29, 2009 by Buddyscudder

[Buddyscudder]

One thing I forgot. The encore! Now I know that every corps sounds great in the arc, read as not running baskward or sideways or even forward at 180, but we really got to hear what the Hurcs will sound like on the field in the very near future.

They opened with "Mariah" then followed with the full show. No running out of gas here. What a delight! Then the contras, all ten, came forward and then "boom-boom, boom-boom-boom", unfortunately on bass 4 due to a broken bass 5. The crowd already on it's feet seemed to grow taller as they anticipated their beloved "Mag 7". The contras reinforced their anticipation with their opening notes and the mello line played the "Hang 'em High" solo en masse. I was really looking forward to hearing Pete Prophe alone, but it still gave me goosebumps. Thomas Greenhalgh delivered the trumpet solo and the crowd went crazy! Kate Soccia, who took top DM, looked great as did the guard performing behind the corps. Also,

kudos to the percussion line, who took top honors as well.

My one chance to play a victory encore came in Maryland in 2006. Unfortunately, there were thunder and lightening storms, hmmm, sounds failiar, so we performed to an empty parking lot and the heavens. Still a great feeling! Hopefully there are many more ahead for the Hurcs.

Walk proud and think of thunder!

[ech2os]

One thing I forgot. The encore! Now I know that every corps sounds great in the arc, read as not running baskward or sideways or even forward at 180, but we really got to hear what the Hurcs will sound like on the field in the very near future.

They opened with "Mariah" then followed with the full show. No running out of gas here. What a delight! Then the contras, all ten, came forward and then "boom-boom, boom-boom-boom", unfortunately on bass 4 due to a broken bass 5. The crowd already on it's feet seemed to grow taller as they anticipated their beloved "Mag 7". The contras reinforced their anticipation with their opening notes and the mello line played the "Hang 'em High" solo en masse. I was really looking forward to hearing Pete Prophe alone, but it still gave me goosebumps. Thomas Greenhalgh delivered the trumpet solo and the crowd went crazy! Kate Soccia, who took top DM, looked great as did the guard performing behind the corps. Also,

kudos to the percussion line, who took top honors as well.

My one chance to play a victory encore came in Maryland in 2006. Unfortunately, there were thunder and lightening storms, hmmm, sounds failiar, so we performed to an empty parking lot and the heavens. Still a great feeling! Hopefully there are many more ahead for the Hurcs.

Walk proud and think of thunder!

Now if Reading would play Syliva everything would be right with the world :)

Interesting that you made the comment about Hawthorne not moving........I have only seen the Youtube upload from the show last weekend, but in my opinion (and I have said this on here many times) Hawthorne moves so much and so quickly that I feel their scores have been impacted negatively over the last 5 years. From what I have seen over the last 10 years, Hawthorne has been the corps upping the tempo drillwise, but maybe I am just not seeing things clearly.

[The Drummer]

It was a great show Saturday night! We look forward to a review of ALL the corps including ALL of the exhibition corps also. They all work hard and deserve to be recognized to. It is their only satisfaction other than the applause they receive from the crowd.

Thank you.