DCI '88

[blublood]

That pretty much sums up my feelings about Open Class that year. BD was polished, powerful, and perfect, but they chose to stand pat - why wouldn't they? I would have hated to be a judge that year. Don P. was quoted as saying there were "6,7,or 8 corps under the right conditions that could win..." which was why they decided to go with the "Randomized" approach.

A-60 was a strange situation. You have to hand it to the Mandarins. We were beating them by 12 points on DCM sheets the week before DCI, only to lose to them by more than 10 points at prelims. EK was awesome, too! I still remember them playing "The Mission", otherwise known as the NBC news theme, and it was exact! I'd've given it to them.

A, there may have been some controversy about a Ventures penalty, but I loved L'Insolite. They were always one of my favorite corps after that.

Arrowhead had terrible acoustics, not to mention it was hotter than a snake's ### on pavement!

Thanks for the compliment!

That whole season was weird for the simple fact that BD, EK, and the Ventures all went into DCI with only one loss the entire season and ALL of them failed to win DCI in their respective classes.

Since I was in EK at the time, you will never know how much it hurt to lose finals to a corps you beat by 13 points 2 days before DCI. Truth be told, what happened that year was the real reason the Emerald Knights never reached that competitive level again.

Hey EK Bari,the corps ive worked with's director marched with you guys on soprano in 88,Dave Champion,remember him ?.Nice man.

[Lancerlady]

My favorite memory of '88 is VK playing Zorba.

I listen to that clip, close my eyes and see Anthony Quinn dancing.

Simply amazing moment that highlights a very good year in DCI.

Yes, I so totally agree with you, 'Zorba'..their version of 'Malaguena'...VK humor at its finest. I hope they vote for this one next time at the movies! That show was so well together, nothing "forced" it just flowed naturally...

[morganhill]

BD 1988, one of my all time favorits shows.

[toddcontra]

We didn't make finals that year, so I had great seats at the top of the stadium. I was totally satisfied with Madison's win, though I was rooting for SCV. The electricity in the stadium was undeniable!

[Ryan H. Turner]

I don't know how I missed this thread. It's sort of old!

In any event, big big big congrats to Madison for 1988's win. I was in my first year A.A. ("after ageout") from VK, and I was sort of miserable. I should have done what Bill Price suggested earlier in this thread and just doctored my birth cert--VK 1988 was a GREAT season for the corps and a great show. It was like 1987 on steroids. In any event, I flew out and sat with a southern California contingent in the stands at Arrowhead, and I can tell you that Madison ABSOLUTELY was on finals night, and in my opinion, deserved every bit of that championship. Man--talk about ELECTRICITY--it was unreal. I was sooooooooo impressed.

But SCV and BD. WOW!! What great shows they were. It was a great year to be a spectator I'll tell you, except for that whole "I still want to be VK's drum major" psychological problem I had. :-)

[MaxwellNotes]

Lets just all agree that 1988 was a special year for the activity. I love the fact that VK is mentioned here because they were one of the highlights of the year for me. Great show and great performance. I also really liked the top three, all were great shows, great performances and a great race to the end.

[tommytimp]

It was a great year, my age-out (which I blabbed on in the previous incarnation of this thread), but the Madison controversy interests me only in the draw and not the placement. I thought they won the night as well.

But look at the moment in between BD and SCV when Don Pesceone (ah, memories) is talking about the blind draw and you'll see what looks like some woman pointing at the box and showing Scouts' director Scott Stewart which number to pick. It always seemed fishy to me. Not a huge controversy, because they would have won with that performance if they had gone on before Pepe's National Anthems, but still.

[EKBari]

Hey EK Bari,the corps ive worked with's director marched with you guys on soprano in 88,Dave Champion,remember him ?.Nice man.

Yeah, I remember him. He was our soprano solist that year. The guy could scream on that horn.

[PR_ducky]

I was there, and due to the screwey way order was decided for finals, we (Regiment) went on in sunlight and got to watch most of the better corps.

SCV should have won. There 88 show was better than what they won with in 89.

Madison had an awesome 1/2 show. Malaguena was some of the best drum corps ever put on the field, but half a show shouldn't cut it.

Loved BD that year as well.

[tommytimp]

I think the first half of their show is great. Great keyboard work, and the fugue section is brilliant.