Cadets98 Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 (edited) By the way, the answer to why Star was booed so much was because many other corps and the fans felt it was unfair financially or were jealous because Star was corporate sponsored. The general consensus was they had it easy because they had so much money. Not saying it was right, but that was the reason as I remember. Edited March 16, 2012 by Cadets98 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musclebud Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Agreed! I place it right there along with if Star and The Cavaliers had another week ... results would be same I have to disagree regarding that particular season. No other corps came close to them in demand. Cavaliers performed their show close to perfection. It's potential was maximized. Star had peaked much too early in the season leaving many of their later performances rather flat. Cadets still had a good amount of dirt in their finals performance even though it was totally thrilling to watch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWEST Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I have to disagree regarding that particular season. No other corps came close to them in demand. Cavaliers performed their show close to perfection. It's potential was maximized. Star had peaked much too early in the season leaving many of their later performances rather flat. Cadets still had a good amount of dirt in their finals performance even though it was totally thrilling to watch. I watched the PBS broadcast. Cavaliers were great visually, but there was a ton of fracking at the end. It left a bad taste. From a tv perspective, I thought Cadets won. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NakedEye Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I wasn't as surprised at the corps not winning as I was the GUARD not winning. While BD was good, with their dice cubes and sultry coed interaction, Cadets were simply mind blowing. The show was completely free of extraneous garbage, and the choices they made with costuming, colors and staging, plus the clever brilliance of the writing and staggeringly clean execution set a new standard. From the first of its kind silent flag feature (still widely copied), to the propellers, cloud flags and simple genius and sensitivity of the "flying" ballad, it had to be one of the most effective guard shows ever created or performed. Plus they pulled off almost all of it while running at breakneck speed across huge distances. They ended up winning the next year with another hard show that had more fluff and weaker execution, but this is the one that really deserved the trophy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 By the way, the answer to why Star was booed so much was because many other corps and the fans felt it was unfair financially or were jealous because Star was corporate sponsored. The general consensus was they had it easy because they had so much money. Not saying it was right, but that was the reason as I remember. Yes, they were corporate sponsored, but the corporate sponsorship was in the seed money. Bill Cook set it up like a business and the corps developed its own travel agency and bus lines. Madison Scouts used to send their buses to Bloomington for the winter and made money letting Star lease the buses. (Anyone who was on the DCM All-Stars trip to Miami remembers the Star of Indiana fiberglass signs placed over the Madison Scouts name to standardize the name and look.) I was in Bloomington for the Star of Indiana Mini Grand Prix, a go-cart race that lasted all day, the idea borrowed from Bluecoats. This was the corps' major fund raiser and the members had to work it. Bill was a big believer in people earning their keep. I still reflect on the talk of how much those golden chalices cost in the 1990 "Belshazzar's Feast" show. The word was going around that they came from Germany and were very expensive. I learned from the guard designer that the chalices were each comprised of two styrofoam planters of different sizes from Kmart, one for the base and one for the goblet section. They were attached to each other and then covered in gold contact paper. Total cost per chalice? Seven dollars apiece. I'm not kidding you. There was unfortunately a lot of false info going around about Star. True, they were started by a corporate entity. So was Spirit of Atlanta. Yet, people tend to not remember that. Bill Cook's dream was that corporate-sponsored corps would pop up around the country. Unfortunately, that never happened. Such corps were said to be in development in six cities, including Fort Wayne and Little Rock. (I don't remember the rest, but I was approached about working with the Fort Wayne corps.) None of these ever got beyond the talking stage. The kids in Star still had to work their butts off to perfect a show, just like any other corps. They slept on gym floors and had cold showers, just like any other corps. And the kids loved the activity, just like the kids in any other corps. What they had that many other corps didn't have was a founder with vision, and I still miss my good friend Bill terribly even eleven months after his passing. One tragedy of the Bill Cook experience with drum corps is that so many people didn't learn from it. There was so much to learn. Bill wasn't perfect, but he was the only Bill Cook we had. And he passionately wanted to have a positive impact on drum corps. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) Hmm...I was there and I do not remember that. I was also 16 years old and who knows maybe I was one of them booing... Oh, I remember it clearly. And I remember talking about it with Don Pesceone, DCI's Executive Director at the time. It was in Ypsilanti. However; now I'm 56 and I'm in a hotel room in Indianapolis and wondering how I got here. Edited March 17, 2012 by Michael Boo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadets98 Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 I wasn't as surprised at the corps not winning as I was the GUARD not winning. While BD was good, with their dice cubes and sultry coed interaction, Cadets were simply mind blowing. The show was completely free of extraneous garbage, and the choices they made with costuming, colors and staging, plus the clever brilliance of the writing and staggeringly clean execution set a new standard. From the first of its kind silent flag feature (still widely copied), to the propellers, cloud flags and simple genius and sensitivity of the "flying" ballad, it had to be one of the most effective guard shows ever created or performed. Plus they pulled off almost all of it while running at breakneck speed across huge distances. They ended up winning the next year with another hard show that had more fluff and weaker execution, but this is the one that really deserved the trophy. I don't know much about color guard. But I know that that show put Jim Moore on the map. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadets98 Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Yes, they were corporate sponsored, but the corporate sponsorship was in the seed money. Bill Cook set it up like a business and the corps developed its own travel agency and bus lines. Madison Scouts used to send their buses to Bloomington for the winter and made money letting Star lease the buses. (Anyone who was on the DCM All-Stars trip to Miami remembers the Star of Indiana fiberglass signs placed over the Madison Scouts name to standardize the name and look.) I was in Bloomington for the Star of Indiana Mini Grand Prix, a go-cart race that lasted all day, the idea borrowed from Bluecoats. This was the corps' major fund raiser and the members had to work it. Bill was a big believer in people earning their keep. I still reflect on the talk of how much those golden chalices cost in the 1990 "Belshazzar's Feast" show. The word was going around that they came from Germany and were very expensive. I learned from the guard designer that the chalices were each comprised of two styrofoam planters of different sizes from Kmart, one for the base and one for the goblet section. They were attached to each other and then covered in gold contact paper. Total cost per chalice? Seven dollars apiece. I'm not kidding you. There was unfortunately a lot of false info going around about Star. True, they were started by a corporate entity. So was Spirit of Atlanta. Yet, people tend to not remember that. Bill Cook's dream was that corporate-sponsored corps would pop up around the country. Unfortunately, that never happened. Such corps were said to be in development in six cities, including Fort Wayne and Little Rock. (I don't remember the rest, but I was approached about working with the Fort Wayne corps.) None of these ever got beyond the talking stage. The kids in Star still had to work their butts off to perfect a show, just like any other corps. They slept on gym floors and had cold showers, just like any other corps. And the kids loved the activity, just like the kids in any other corps. What they had that many other corps didn't have was a founder with vision, and I still miss my good friend Bill terribly even eleven months after his passing. One tragedy of the Bill Cook experience with drum corps is that so many people didn't learn from it. There was so much to learn. Bill wasn't perfect, but he was the only Bill Cook we had. And he passionately wanted to have a positive impact on drum corps. I agree. The rumors about Star of Indiana's extravagance at the time was greatly exaggerated. To be fair and totally honest, their membership dues were cheaper. (But this should be regarded as a good thing. More kids can march.) After that though, the kids lived like every other drum corps. I marched in a small corps called Expressions out of Hammond, LA, and I heard all kind of rumors from my older friends in the corps about them eating steak and shrimp every night. When in truth, according to Matt Harloff, the food that Cadets ate in the late 90's was way more quality and more of it than Star's food when he marched. I remember asking my drum major in 1990, "What does Mene Mene Tekel Uphrasin mean?" He said it means, "We, we, spend a whole, whole lot of money, money." Yep, there was just a lot of hate back in those days. Now, we all miss them. Be careful what you wish for is the moral of the story. "Wish for." Ironic. <----Hey, maybe I could take Boo's job when he retires. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) However; now I'm 56 and I'm in a hotel room in Indianapolis and wondering how I got here. What the hell were you doing last night? Too much early St. Patrick's Day partying? Edited March 17, 2012 by Ghost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 ... <----Hey, maybe I could take Boo's job when he retires. I'm not planning on ever retiring, but you're welcome to it if I'm hit on the head by a meteor. Seriously, I'm having way too much fun and I LOVE what I do. But if I'm somehow unable to fulfill it, I sure hope others make themselves available. And if anyone out there is interested in helping DCI with its promotional efforts, please make yourself known now. Maybe there's something you can do this summer. I got my start by giving myself away for years and asking if there was anything I could do to contribute. At one time, I was just an annoying guy trying to wiggle his way into the activity. Well, that hasn't changed much, except that I can't wiggle through as many tight spaces as I used to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.