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A DCA weekend review


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So, I was all set. Fresh tablet, as I was covering prelims for DCW, 3 pens, awesome crabcakes in the councourse, and since they did not serve beer but instead had variations of Bud, I was going to have a great day writing, even doing 20 corps and 14 of them first viewings.Until...... So we get to the break after Kidsgrove and Empire, and I leave my stuff at my seat and go down for food. While down there I found out about the weather delay. Security, and I don't blame them, would not let me run up to get my stuff. Guess what kind of shape my stuff was in after the weather delay? So, this will be piece meal. As pages dry out and become legible, I'll write stuff for DCW first, then fill in hereAs always, I pull fewer punches here, so feel free to red mark me if you don't like what I have to say. However nasty pms/emails will bring hell down upon you! That said....LOVE the venue. 50 yard line seats, 27 rows up both days.

 

Alumni guys, I know I am one that always reviews you, however with Sadie's arrival in June, a weekend in Annapolis wasn't happening. Being that it's almost 2 hours from home, I drove down for prelims and finals. Had to miss the alumni show, so I do apologize. But prelims had an added bonus...Dad came along! First trip to prelims since the late 90's, and he loved what he saw. Got to see many faces, and got to see corps he only ever read about or saw when he'd borrow my dvd's. He's already asking if we can do next year like we did this year!

 

Excelsior: "All the Kings Men".....looked to be based on some form of video game, but reading the program when it dried out informed me it was about chess strategies. They had a huge pit which did not overbalance the corps,and they did their best to stage the brass in ways to make them seem and sound larger than they were. Storyline was hard to follow, but the white knight did win the fight. I'll be honest, they had some performance issues, but I'm willing to give credit where credit is due....the heat and humidity had to be hurting them. In fact the bottom bass struggled through the last half of the show, as he fought like hell to not go down.

 

Shenadoah Sound...big jump in performance in a week.Most of the brass to percussion balance issues were gone, and it was cool to see the crowd get involved snapping their fingers to help make rain sounds as the storm approached in their show. Honestly, I had them a spot higher.

 

Cincinnati Tradition: An Evening with Kenton was their show this year. I think and they and Sound knew what was coming, as Cincy opened with "Here's that Rainy Day". there were some dynamic balance issues in spots, and when they hit Malaga, the corps had some serious ensemble issues, possibly due to heat fatigue. Based on previous scores i was expecting a possible push for finals, but in fact I would have had them down to Sound.

Sunrisers.....I expected them to be a lot closer to White Sabres, but looking at the recap, it seems the field captions were what did them in. A nice rendition of Carmen, done to be recognizable without being just "another Carmen" show. brass was the first line of the day to really show some power, and it seemed up where I was the percussion was having a good day. A fun show to watch, and while not a finalist this year, the Sunrisers are still here and kicking!

 

White Sabres...The corps did a really good job selling their "emergence" from the graves at the beginning of the show. The show in general held together better than last week at Reading, and the return of bass 1 helped the percussion out a lot. The corps showed control where needed, but had some real power to go with some great solo work. I think one of them was named Allen. Actually, at finals I think 2 of them were named Allen. Good finals run, better than prelims. must be that "DA" magic

 

Windsor Regiment: taking music like Stained Glass and Angels In the Architecture, and using them with a small corps can be risky. At times, they delivered musically, and at times it seemed they were spread too far apart and it hurt the sound. The corps was visually solid, especially with the guard. In fact, the guard drew me in most of the show, and I may have missed musical moments.

Finals...better run, of course less heat and humidity challenges. Sound still thin at times.....I wondered if the staff designed for A Class or Open at times. some big risks taken for their size.

 

Carolina Gold: Good run at prelims. lots of percussion tastiness, and the guard's changing of the uniforms was hidden this week by a screen. At times at prelims, the brass sounded a bit gassed, but way better than last week, and really dominated in percussion as that sheet alone called the show ( ###### drummers). Seriously, some clever visual moments like the "shadow"drill and body at the beginning, and the integration of the guard at the end worked really well.

Finals....no contest really. Gold really delivered

 

Govies: John Mayer is a class act. Christine says thank you. Next year, we MUST meet. Now on paper, does a show that contains Cole Porter, the Doors, Johnny Cash and disco sound good? it does if Govies do it. With their annual on field intro by John ( albeit interrupted by someone who wanted to dance with him), the Govies were off and firing with "Hot". Tons of fun, and Light My Fire worked as a ballad before it morphed into Rings of Fire, and props for throwing in a little Deep Purple. And...lol...the corps did the Hustle. So much fun, some good brass stuff, but it seems percussion was what really hurt.

Finals...cranked up the fun, but alas, Gold was on, well, fire. Still so, so much fun. You know how to design for A Class and should give classes.

 

Open Class to come....The Marines....they just get better!!! Incredible percussion section, great brass work, and of course the precision marching. battery was so zoned in it was scary, and easily the best bass tuning of the night. So thrilled to see them in attendance and would love for this to be an annual occurrence. Did I mention the battery was incredible??

Edited by Jeff Ream
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Shenadoah Sound...big jump in performance in a week.Most of the brass to percussion balance issues were gone, and it was cool to see the crowd get involved snapping their fingers to help make rain sounds as the storm approached in their show. Honestly, I had them a spot higher.

Jeff you have to take some credit for our big jump. Your critique of our Reading performance was spot on. We were listening! I would have liked to top Cincy but we were 0.4 short. My hat goes off to them, and Hairbear, we'll get you next year.

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Jeff you have to take some credit for our big jump. Your critique of our Reading performance was spot on. We were listening! I would have liked to top Cincy but we were 0.4 short. My hat goes off to them, and Hairbear, we'll get you next year.

you give me far too much credit. I'm betting the guys in blue gavemuch better input

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crap i went to add stuff and now it looks like ####!! mods...help? it became one long run on....how do I fix this?

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Jeff you have to take some credit for our big jump. Your critique of our Reading performance was spot on. We were listening! I would have liked to top Cincy but we were 0.4 short. My hat goes off to them, and Hairbear, we'll get you next year.

I agree with Jeff-- Thought you were up on CT as well. Great job, Dick, goodonya. I'll get my revirew up after Night SHift, at least some of it.

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ok take 2 without all the crap....reposted from before:

So, I was all set. Fresh tablet, as I was covering prelims for DCW, 3 pens, awesome crabcakes in the councourse, and since they did not serve beer but instead had variations of Bud, I was going to have a great day writing, even doing 20 corps and 14 of them first viewings.

Until...... So we get to the break after Kidsgrove and Empire, and I leave my stuff at my seat and go down for food. While down there I found out about the weather delay. Security, and I don't blame them, would not let me run up to get my stuff. Guess what kind of shape my stuff was in after the weather delay? So, this will be piece meal. As pages dry out and become legible, I'll write stuff for DCW first, then fill in here.

As always, I pull fewer punches here, so feel free to red mark me if you don't like what I have to say. However nasty pms/emails will bring hell down upon you! That said....LOVE the venue. 50 yard line seats, 27 rows up both days.

Alumni guys, I know I am one that always reviews you, however with Sadie's arrival in June, a weekend in Annapolis wasn't happening. Being that it's almost 2 hours from home, I drove down for prelims and finals. Had to miss the alumni show, so I do apologize. But prelims had an added bonus...Dad came along! First trip to prelims since the late 90's, and he loved what he saw. Got to see many faces, and got to see corps he only ever read about or saw when he'd borrow my dvd's. He's already asking if we can do next year like we did this year!

Excelsior: "All the Kings Men".....looked to be based on some form of video game, but reading the program when it dried out informed me it was about chess strategies. They had a huge pit which did not overbalance the corps,and they did their best to stage the brass in ways to make them seem and sound larger than they were. Storyline was hard to follow, but the white knight did win the fight. I'll be honest, they had some performance issues, but I'm willing to give credit where credit is due....the heat and humidity had to be hurting them. In fact the bottom bass struggled through the last half of the show, as he fought like hell to not go down.

Shenadoah Sound...big jump in performance in a week.Most of the brass to percussion balance issues were gone, and it was cool to see the crowd get involved snapping their fingers to help make rain sounds as the storm approached in their show. Honestly, I had them a spot higher.

Cincinnati Tradition: An Evening with Kenton was their show this year. I think and they and Sound knew what was coming, as Cincy opened with "Here's that Rainy Day". there were some dynamic balance issues in spots, and when they hit Malaga, the corps had some serious ensemble issues, possibly due to heat fatigue. Based on previous scores i was expecting a possible push for finals, but in fact I would have had them down to Sound.

Sunrisers.....I expected them to be a lot closer to White Sabres, but looking at the recap, it seems the field captions were what did them in. A nice rendition of Carmen, done to be recognizable without being just "another Carmen" show. brass was the first line of the day to really show some power, and it seemed up where I was the percussion was having a good day. A fun show to watch, and while not a finalist this year, the Sunrisers are still here and kicking!

White Sabres...The corps did a really good job selling their "emergence" from the graves at the beginning of the show. The show in general held together better than last week at Reading, and the return of bass 1 helped the percussion out a lot. The corps showed control where needed, but had some real power to go with some great solo work. I think one of them was named Allen. Actually, at finals I think 2 of them were named Allen.

Good finals run, better than prelims. must be that "DA" magic

Windsor Regiment: taking music like Stained Glass and Angels In the Architecture, and using them with a small corps can be risky. At times, they delivered musically, and at times it seemed they were spread too far apart and it hurt the sound. The corps was visually solid, especially with the guard. In fact, the guard drew me in most of the show, and I may have missed musical moments.

Finals...better run, of course less heat and humidity challenges. Sound still thin at times.....I wondered if the staff designed for A Class or Open at times. some big risks taken for their size.

Carolina Gold: Good run at prelims. lots of percussion tastiness, and the guard's changing of the uniforms was hidden this week by a screen. At times at prelims, the brass sounded a bit gassed, but way better than last week, and really dominated in percussion as that sheet alone called the show ( ###### drummers). Seriously, some clever visual moments like the "shadow"drill and body at the beginning, and the integration of the guard at the end worked really well.

Finals....no contest really. Gold really delivered.

Govies: John Mayer is a class act. Christine says thank you. Next year, we MUST meet. Now on paper, does a show that contains Cole Porter, the Doors, Johnny Cash and disco sound good? it does if Govies do it. With their annual on field intro by John ( albeit interrupted by someone who wanted to dance with him), the Govies were off and firing with "Hot". Tons of fun, and Light My Fire worked as a ballad before it morphed into Rings of Fire, and props for throwing in a little Deep Purple. And...lol...the corps did the Hustle. So much fun, some good brass stuff, but it seems percussion was what really hurt.

Finals...cranked up the fun, but alas, Gold was on, well, fire. Still so, so much fun. You know how to design for A Class and should give classes.

Open Class to come....

The Marines....they just get better!!! Incredible percussion section, great brass work, and of course the precision marching. battery was so zoned in it was scary, and easily the best bass tuning of the night. So thrilled to see them in attendance and would love for this to be an annual occurence.

Did I mention the battery was incredible??

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Open Class:

Renegades.......Roland can scream. Chris Nails can wail. At times the stars of the show added, sometimes it felt like maybe too much. very creative use of the stage to feature many sections, and the white guard uniforms worked well against the black. I thought the music choices were pretty cool, especially since the closer made me think fondly of Rhythm X indoor percussion in 2010. It did seem as if the corps still had holes which had to be a bummer, and there were some performance issues that held the corps back.

Finals....more energy, but possibly lost some clarity, but still a fun show

Bush:....the show had potential, but seemed designed for way more horses than the stable had. I did really like the opening hit with the musicians on one side of the field and the guard on the other...really made em look big. Chester is tough for a large corps, and here I felt the corps suffered because it seemed as if it was written for more, and thinness came through the sound. Perc really good but at times over powering, but what a cymbal line! The spread in percussion and the visual captions alone got them in 11th.

The Kilties: This was a fun show. However, it had some issues that looking at the recap seem very evident. Visually, the demand was not at the level of anyone else in the show. Lots of holds and scatters, and high velocity seemed very sparse. The drum solo with sop soloist accompiament ( which could not be heard well) seemed to gon way too long, and percussion performance was dead last for the show.

It's time for the Kilties to make a choice. if they want to be a finalist, the visual package and percussion performance has got to improve. yes, they have fun shows, and they can be loud, but it's been a lot of the same for many years now, and except for last year when there was only 11 corps, they have not made finals.

Atlanta CV: fun show, and it was clever how they worked back and forth from Queen to classical. Loved the "keys to the castle" eqiuipment, and also enjoyed the use of the castle gate. Some real power from the brass, but some severe percussion issues held the score down. Fat Bottomed Girls was a riot, as were the Angus Young uniforms the men in the guard wore in "Bicycle"

Finals...run seemed about the same. No major design flaws, just performance issues that held the score where it was.

Fusion Core: saw em last week, loved em. Saw em this week, loved them more. So many nice nuanced 'mob" touches in the show, and the brass had serious power for their size, especially the mellos in "Scootin". of course, the "death" of the Don was well done and the corps embraced their character development. percussion and guard seemed to be the 2 issues holding the corps back from moving up.

Finals: what a show! A guy near me joked " ah a Jersey corps, they know how to do the mob", and boy, Fusion peaked on the right night.

Empire: When they got tothe first hit in 'Very Good year"...wow. Can't Buy me Love was a lot of fun, and the drum solo with Blue Man antics was fun, but did seem to drag a little.Nice touch adding the water drum gimmick even if it has been overdone in DCA circles over the years. great mello solo in All By Myself, and of course what vegas show is complete without girls that disappear and reappear elsewhere?

This was fun show, but it did seem like been there done that, especially following Kidsgrove at finals who...well...Empire'd the crowd. the drill seemed very compact and safe. Easily the most buzz all weekend was that Kidsgrove should have beaten them both days.

Finals...tough following Kidsgrove, but Empire never goes down without a fight. Small issue when the magic trick didn't go off as planned and you got a Biopgraphy behind the magic special moment

Kidsgrove Scouts: the talked about corps of the weekend not from Reading PA. A great Egyptian show, with several great middle eastern grooves in the percussion. lots of faced paced drill, show stealing guard moments, and some serious brass power. The only corps to receive multiple ovations, Kidsgrove came to play, and drum score at prelims aside, could possibly have been scored too low. Ok, I'll say it, they should have been a lot closer to 5th place.

finals: even better performance...they lit the crowd up!

C2.....they look like the Cadets, and at times, played like them. strong percussion, and a ton of visual demand. Probably too much. Enjoyable show, but after Preilous Skies, it kind of just hung there, never really going out to wow the crowd until the very end. One can't knock the corps for their skills, as they had a lot, I'm just wondering if some more 'oomph" into the show and a more achievable visual book could have taken them past Hurcs.

Finals...better run. I'm sure the prelims delay hurt them some

Hurricanes: The British Invasion indeed. God Save the Queen had a great intro, and all throught the show you head snippets of Crown Imperial making the 27 fan in me happy. great percussion, always a show stealing guard, even got the crowd to sing along to "Downtown" both nights. It seems brass is the caption that needed the most work, but...I mean come on....the show had an Austin Powers section bay-bee! Yeah!

Finals....good run, had the crowd with them, and this time, didn't bring more rain.

MBI. very fun show....you had a getaway car with working headlights and bullet holes, you had Roger Grupp with his trusty horn and a tommy gun. Kick ### percussion section was featured a lot, and the guard did a lot to tell the story, but too often I felt the guard and the car became the focal point, and the brass and percussion were relegated backfield to be "role players". With limiting the field that way, it seemed the corps didn't have as much velocity in the drill, but they did fill up many holds with some good body work.Don't get me wrong...I loved the show. But i think it could have been a little more.

Finals...corps really ramped up and did a great show. in many years this show wins.

Caballeros...loved the show. great solo work ( and thanks for cutting off with the corps Frank), and a wonderful guard, this corps needed one piece to move up...percussion. A very aggressive book that at times may have been too aggressive for their own good and led to clarity issues. Especially enjoyed the groove portions of "Pie Jesu", and the corps fought and clawed their way to tned though the final push still seemed a tad flat.

finals...better run, probably due to no delay like prelims had. percussion number held them back.

Bucs: What more needs to be said? 7 of the last 8, and IMO, this was the best of the bunch.incredible guard, brass and percussion, marched their ##### off with a wonderful show. First hit in Warm Colors served notice so convincingly my dad turned to me and said 'they win with room....lots of room". Dancer in the Dark was gorgeous and the percussion threw down...the uniform change was handled so well, as when the brass was changing, they left the field totally for the percussion and guard. pit? to die for.

finals...even better yet except for a few moments of percussion fuzziness. 99? yep. Bucs raised the bar yet again

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and you didn't have to sit behind Cossetti.......who brougtht a booster seat :thumbup::thumbup:

Open Class:

Renegades.......Roland can scream. Chris Nails can wail. At times the stars of the show added, sometimes it felt like maybe too much. very creative use of the stage to feature many sections, and the white guard uniforms worked well against the black. I thought the music choices were pretty cool, especially since the closer made me think fondly of Rhythm X indoor percussion in 2010. It did seem as if the corps still had holes which had to be a bummer, and there were some performance issues that held the corps back.

Finals....more energy, but possibly lost some clarity, but still a fun show

Bush:....the show had potential, but seemed designed for way more horses than the stable had. I did really like the opening hit with the musicians on one side of the field and the guard on the other...really made em look big. Chester is tough for a large corps, and here I felt the corps suffered because it seemed as if it was written for more, and thinness came through the sound. Perc really good but at times over powering, but what a cymbal line! The spread in percussion and the visual captions alone got them in 11th.

The Kilties: This was a fun show. However, it had some issues that looking at the recap seem very evident. Visually, the demand was not at the level of anyone else in the show. Lots of holds and scatters, and high velocity seemed very sparse. The drum solo with sop soloist accompiament ( which could not be heard well) seemed to gon way too long, and percussion performance was dead last for the show.

It's time for the Kilties to make a choice. if they want to be a finalist, the visual package and percussion performance has got to improve. yes, they have fun shows, and they can be loud, but it's been a lot of the same for many years now, and except for last year when there was only 11 corps, they have not made finals.

Atlanta CV: fun show, and it was clever how they worked back and forth from Queen to classical. Loved the "keys to the castle" eqiuipment, and also enjoyed the use of the castle gate. Some real power from the brass, but some severe percussion issues held the score down. Fat Bottomed Girls was a riot, as were the Angus Young uniforms the men in the guard wore in "Bicycle"

Finals...run seemed about the same. No major design flaws, just performance issues that held the score where it was.

Fusion Core: saw em last week, loved em. Saw em this week, loved them more. So many nice nuanced 'mob" touches in the show, and the brass had serious power for their size, especially the mellos in "Scootin". of course, the "death" of the Don was well done and the corps embraced their character development. percussion and guard seemed to be the 2 issues holding the corps back from moving up.

Finals: what a show! A guy near me joked " ah a Jersey corps, they know how to do the mob", and boy, Fusion peaked on the right night.

Empire: When they got tothe first hit in 'Very Good year"...wow. Can't Buy me Love was a lot of fun, and the drum solo with Blue Man antics was fun, but did seem to drag a little.Nice touch adding the water drum gimmick even if it has been overdone in DCA circles over the years. great mello solo in All By Myself, and of course what vegas show is complete without girls that disappear and reappear elsewhere?

This was fun show, but it did seem like been there done that, especially following Kidsgrove at finals who...well...Empire'd the crowd. the drill seemed very compact and safe. Easily the most buzz all weekend was that Kidsgrove should have beaten them both days.

Finals...tough following Kidsgrove, but Empire never goes down without a fight. Small issue when the magic trick didn't go off as planned and you got a Biopgraphy behind the magic special moment

Kidsgrove Scouts: the talked about corps of the weekend not from Reading PA. A great Egyptian show, with several great middle eastern grooves in the percussion. lots of faced paced drill, show stealing guard moments, and some serious brass power. The only corps to receive multiple ovations, Kidsgrove came to play, and drum score at prelims aside, could possibly have been scored too low. Ok, I'll say it, they should have been a lot closer to 5th place.

finals: even better performance...they lit the crowd up!

C2.....they look like the Cadets, and at times, played like them. strong percussion, and a ton of visual demand. Probably too much. Enjoyable show, but after Preilous Skies, it kind of just hung there, never really going out to wow the crowd until the very end. One can't knock the corps for their skills, as they had a lot, I'm just wondering if some more 'oomph" into the show and a more achievable visual book could have taken them past Hurcs.

Finals...better run. I'm sure the prelims delay hurt them some

Hurricanes: The British Invasion indeed. God Save the Queen had a great intro, and all throught the show you head snippets of Crown Imperial making the 27 fan in me happy. great percussion, always a show stealing guard, even got the crowd to sing along to "Downtown" both nights. It seems brass is the caption that needed the most work, but...I mean come on....the show had an Austin Powers section bay-bee! Yeah!

Finals....good run, had the crowd with them, and this time, didn't bring more rain.

MBI. very fun show....you had a getaway car with working headlights and bullet holes, you had Roger Grupp with his trusty horn and a tommy gun. Kick ### percussion section was featured a lot, and the guard did a lot to tell the story, but too often I felt the guard and the car became the focal point, and the brass and percussion were relegated backfield to be "role players". With limiting the field that way, it seemed the corps didn't have as much velocity in the drill, but they did fill up many holds with some good body work.Don't get me wrong...I loved the show. But i think it could have been a little more.

Finals...corps really ramped up and did a great show. in many years this show wins.

Caballeros...loved the show. great solo work ( and thanks for cutting off with the corps Frank), and a wonderful guard, this corps needed one piece to move up...percussion. A very aggressive book that at times may have been too aggressive for their own good and led to clarity issues. Especially enjoyed the groove portions of "Pie Jesu", and the corps fought and clawed their way to tned though the final push still seemed a tad flat.

finals...better run, probably due to no delay like prelims had. percussion number held them back.

Bucs: What more needs to be said? 7 of the last 8, and IMO, this was the best of the bunch.incredible guard, brass and percussion, marched their ##### off with a wonderful show. First hit in Warm Colors served notice so convincingly my dad turned to me and said 'they win with room....lots of room". Dancer in the Dark was gorgeous and the percussion threw down...the uniform change was handled so well, as when the brass was changing, they left the field totally for the percussion and guard. pit? to die for.

finals...even better yet except for a few moments of percussion fuzziness. 99? yep. Bucs raised the bar yet again

Edited by Jimbalaya
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and you didn't have to sit behind Cossetti.......who brougtht a booster seat :thumbup::thumbup:

note to self....atBig Sounds,Sadie sits right behind Jimbalaya. She should be kicking bythen

:devil:

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