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I'll be talking about this very thing in my three blogs on DCI.org this week. I interviewed George Hopkins in Allentown about this and he explains that people have had incredibly visceral reactions to the show, reactions the corps staff did not anticipate. While the plan was to have the two sides take turns winning, the way the show has affected several people has forced a reconsideration of this idea. Bottom line: Angels rule and no fans will be flinging themselves off the balconies in Indy in despair. I'll present the details of how this transpired in the three blogs.

By the way, I'll have two guest bloggers joining me. The first is Thursday when old friend Bob Fields sits in. Bob got me into writing for corps publications in the late 1970s and was my mentor. Bob was well known for his "What's Happening" column in Drum Corps World. On Friday, I'll be joined by Michael Reed, writer for WGI and BOA and a close friend. As Bob did in getting me into writing for the marching activities, I got Michael started with both WGI and BOA and have been delighted with the results. I think these two co-blogging experiences will be fun for me and the audience alike. Saturday is still being formulated, but I think it will be a solo effort.

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Who could have expected people wouldn't accept evil as the moral equivalent of good?

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The time for experimenting with demons winning has passed. Early in the season or even an early regional might have worked, but at this poit in the season The Cadets should not mess with the winning formula. Just keep cleaning.

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It would...however...be ironic if Cadets changed and had the demons (devils?) win...and then the BD reallly do win the whole thing...? I say keep it the way it is...

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I love the Cadets show this year (first time since 2003). One thing I remember, and I'm not sure if I just missed when this idea was nixed, was that Hopkins said that the Angels and Demons were going to prevail on different nights. So far, only the angels have prevailed, and I just assumed that the demon win was saved for finals night. I would be disappointed if the demons never won, because this is a great opportunity to differentiate themselves from a number of shows were "good" or "light" always prevails at the end making for a nice and Disneyfied ending.

Ex. #1: Phantom '06; Faust did not win at the end of the story, but won at the end of the drum corps show.

I say a little prayer for Devils.

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I love the Cadets show this year (first time since 2003). One thing I remember, and I'm not sure if I just missed when this idea was nixed, was that Hopkins said that the Angels and Demons were going to prevail on different nights. So far, only the angels have prevailed, and I just assumed that the demon win was saved for finals night. I would be disappointed if the demons never won, because this is a great opportunity to differentiate themselves from a number of shows were "good" or "light" always prevails at the end making for a nice and Disneyfied ending.

Ex. #1: Phantom '06; Faust did not win at the end of the story, but won at the end of the drum corps show.

But seriously...

I think I missed something. I went to the Clovis show and don't remember seeing either angels or demons prevail. I watched a few clips on... (well, let's just say that I watched a few clips)... and didn't see any prevailing. What am I missing?

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But seriously...

I think I missed something. I went to the Clovis show and don't remember seeing either angels or demons prevail. I watched a few clips on... (well, let's just say that I watched a few clips)... and didn't see any prevailing. What am I missing?

In Atlanta, the angels pushed the demons down at the end of the show (12:45 or so, if you have the FN feed). The video director missed the effect due to a close-up on a tenor doing very little worth noticing (typical), but you can kind of see it. :-) It was much more obvious in person.

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<snip>

I interviewed George Hopkins in Allentown about this and he explains that people have had incredibly visceral reactions to the show, reactions the corps staff did not anticipate. While the plan was to have the two sides take turns winning, the way the show has affected several people has forced a reconsideration of this idea. Bottom line: Angels rule and no fans will be flinging themselves off the balconies in Indy in despair. I'll present the details of how this transpired in the three blogs.

<snip>

I'd really like to hear details and examples of how those people reacted. Were the objections religious in nature? It must have been really bad for the Cadets to bend. I consider Cadets to be on a very short list of corps who call their own shots without letting outsiders tell them what they should or should not do.

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I'd really like to hear details and examples of how those people reacted. Were the objections religious in nature? It must have been really bad for the Cadets to bend. I consider Cadets to be on a very short list of corps who call their own shots without letting outsiders tell them what they should or should not do.

I think you read that the wrong way. An "Incredibly Visceral Reaction" probably means that some people reacted in such a positve way to the show as it is that they couldn't imagine changing it. Besides, as others have stated, why mess up what works. GE is not a problem for them, so why take a big risk on GE (that could end up being worse), and set themselves back even farther on the cleaning front, which is by all accounts their biggest hurdle to clear....

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