Jump to content

Death of Corps


T man

Recommended Posts

I was concerned I would be entering the Thanksgiving holiday with the burden of having something for which to be thankful when your gift of Debbie Downer depression fell from the sky like manna from heaven. Now I'm going to have to re-read my liner notes for all those years to try to figure out how I somehow pulled a Seinfeld by writing glowingly about nothing. (Must have been hopped up on the after-effects of stadium popcorn fumes.)

As for 2012, learning that Satie's "Gymnopedies" has no melody and Crown visually looked like the after-effects of my intestinal disgorge has given me something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, which is the realization that I mercifully was not blessed with the same worldview that enlightens your take on the activity.

Only a masochist would return to be inundated with even more ennui after getting absolutely nothing out of drum corps for five years in a row. I guess I've got to admire your fortitude.

'Tis the season to be jolly officially starts in several hours. I hope you're not expecting Santa to fill your stocking with coal, because I think he's more environmentally conscious now and has replaced that good old standby with carbon offset credits.

No matter how bleak things look, I would never slit my wrists, so I think I'll do the next best thing and eat a bucket of worms.

Cheers!

If Michael Boo and Jim Svejda were commentators of DCI, I believe you would have interest in the activity rise over one summer.

Great stuff! hahaha! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah...sent a private message about that several hours ago. I was hoping he could change it before anyone else caught it. But the thought of a Chopin rag is as intriguing as that of a Joplin polonaise.

:p Twas the night before thanksgiving, and all through my house, not a creature was on DCP. The end ;) Oh wait, here I am :doh:

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Said...

Upswing from what? SCV's "Inventions for a New Millennium", one of the greatest shows ever, was just three years earlier. In the interim there had been such classics as Cadets' "We Are the Future" and "Juxtaperformance", Blue Devils' "Methods of Madness", and SCV's "New Era Metropolis". (I expect others might name Cavaliers' "Niagra Falls" or SCV's "Age of Reverence", as well.) And that's just looking at the highest-scoring shows; there were gems in the lower placements as well.(Colts' "Voices" in 1999, as hostrauser has repeatedly noted, is probably the best 12th-place show ever.) For myself, I think the music of "Frameworks" is pretty dull, and haven't listened to it on CD in some years. I agree that it's a visual masterpiece, and beautifully executed. But rather than this show (or "Four Corners", which I enjoy even less), I'd much rather watch, or hear, a third-place Cavaliers show, "Classical Innovations" (1999 again -- it was a good year), or what I consider to be the peak of total design for the Cavaliers, "Spin City", in 2003 (the only totally original corps score to approach the loveliness of Suncoast Sound's "Florida Suite", though it's totally different in style) and "007" in 2004.

I'm confused. By your account, the rules made DCI more like scholastic marching bands, and further rule changes (what did you have in mind, by the way?) apparently would make DCI more like other activities familiar to people outside the activity. Why would anyone want DCI's copy of something else? And in what sense would DCI "push the envelope", as you go on to demand, by changing to become more like something else?

But how much weight should we grant to the opinions of someone who's liked no Cadets show except "The Zone"? I actually enjoy much of that show, although not particularly the aspects that were enabled by amplification. (That's what you're referring to, right? The "drum-speak", which is OK as a one-off stunt but isn't as crisp as it should be. The "Bjork-speak", which is mystifying if you haven't seen the relevant clip from Dancer in the Dark -- and once you have, you realize how badly it's done. Perhaps the opening narration, but that's lazily enunciated. And the whistling, which is well done, but as an effect, I prefer the Cavaliers whistling in 2004. All made possible by one change, not "numerous" changes, to the rules.) But, score notwithstanding, if there aren't at least another dozen Cadets shows you enjoy, I begin to wonder if you really enjoy drum corps at all. Just in the past ten years, "Angels and Demons" and "Our Favorite Things" were first rate (many people would add "West Side Story: Celebration and Conflict" to that list, but like most 2009 shows and more than a few from 2010-12, I find the overused bass synth very annoying), "12.25" was highly enjoyable and "Toy Souldier" nearly every bit as much so, if you just don't look at Li'l Geoffrey. "Living with he Past" is certainly not unpleasant. The three recent Cadets shows that have the most detractors, from 2006-2008, come in for criticism primarily because of effects generated as per the rule changes you praise! And I haven't even listed all the great Cadets' shows from the 1990's and 1980's.

There was another rule change that took effect in 2009 that has certainly affected shows: electronics, i.e. synthesized sound. I would say that was a change for the worse, but your earlier comments would lead one to expect you to praise that for making drum corps less unique, thus more familiar to the non-specialist. Were it not for the flaws introduced by this change, I'd probably rank at least "The Grass Is Always Greener", "Ballet for Martha", "A Second Chance", "Into the Light", and "XtraordinarY" as modern masterpieces, and I esteem another half-dozen shows each of those years even when I wince at the synths.

Moreover, as others have mentioned, you overlooked what may be the single most popular drum corps show ever, "Spartacus", in a year that also featured a second masterpiece in "Constantly Risking Absurdity", the Cavaliers' best visual design in "Samurai", a supreme crowd-pleaser in "Finis", and two very strong second-tier performances in "3hree" and "Le Tour". Not to mention an unforgettable brass feature in "The Knockout"!

This may be the key section of your post. The first DCI show I ever saw was in 1989. These were the scores:

1 Cadets of Bergen County (93.8)

2 Madison Scouts (91.2)

3 Bluecoats (88.2)

4 Freelancers (85.9)

5 Boston Crusaders (79.6)

6 Florida Wave (78.1)

7 L'Insolite (71.7)

So what "imprinted" on me as defining DCI is Bluecoats' lush "My Funny Valentine", Scouts' enormous "Make His Praise Glorious", and the whole audience at Byers Field erupting together in a cheer at one moment in Cadets' "Les Miserables". But it obviously hasn't kept me from enjoying much of what followed, for more than 20 years, and once my tastes matured a little, I found that I could enjoy a lot of earlier drum corps as well, even when the drill was symmetrical and the pit was minimal or non-existent. (Similarly, although the first movie I ever saw was a special effects extravaganza in 1977, I grew to be able to enjoy vastly different films, and my three favorites now are a) from 1955-1962, b) in black and white, c) with no special effects, and d) in foreign languages with subtitles. But my love of Pather Panchali, A Man Escaped, and Yojimbo (not to mention some, gasp, silent films) doesn't keep me from still enjoying Star Wars! (Or to pick the top-grossing and Oscar-winning films of 2010, for a more up-to-date perspective, Toy Story 3 and The King's Speech.)

From what I've seen of BOA shows, I have difficulty believing this. Discussing "dark" shows recently, someone praised this year's Broken Arrow show, which placed second in BOA finals, so I looked it up on youtube. Though it's not wholly without interest, I was mostly bored. Maybe I'd feel differently if I saw it live? (I haven't seen the winning show, by Carmel, but I came upon video of a pair of 2012 shows on the Ohio Music Education Association circuit, by Grove City and Lakota West, that if less technologically advanced, showy, or even technically proficient, were much more enjoyable than Broken Arrow. It makes me wonder about the discrepancy in achievement I've noticed between the few bands that compete in both circuits is as much a matter of style as of quality.) This is more exciting than drum corps? (It's not of surpassing excellence: change the rules to allow woodwinds, and I would be shocked to see any scholastic marching band placing as high as 15th. That would be impressive, sure, but hardly a vanguard of the activity.) Anyway, most schools don't compete in BOA, so most marching band members aren't participating there anyway.

However, you are doing so in only the vaguest way. You don't say specifically what you like about "Frameworks" or "The Zone", beyond some "New! Shiny!" hand-waving.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If Michael Boo and Jim Svejda were commentators of DCI, I believe you would have interest in the activity rise over one summer.

Great stuff! hahaha! :laughing:/>/>/> :laughing:/>/>/> :laughing:/>/>/> :laughing:/>/>/> :laughing:/>/>/>

It would certainly rise with me commentating, but it would be due to morbid curiosity and people not wanting to miss me pull a Boo and have the FCC shut us down on the spot.

Edited by Michael Boo
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember when I had my first beer. :doh:/>

Really? I sure don't! :tongue:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Michael Boo for keeping us sane on DCP.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Michael Boo for keeping us sane on DCP.

I don't quite know how to respond to that, as I would never want to give an impression I believe that without me, the earth would start revolving backwards on its axis.

By and large, most everyone on DCP is rational, so when something happens to counter that belief, it tends to really stick out. But this is still an extremely valuable resource for the drum corps community and it always will be so.

I should add that I'm usually accused of encouraging insanity...which is good, too. :tongue:

PS: Anyhow, thank you for your kind comment.

PPS: Is the OP still among us? I've been imagining their reaction to whatever Thanksgiving feast they were at. I'm guessing it was as follows:

Valentines Day dinner brings? nothing

Memorial Day dinner brings? nothing

4th of July dinner brings? nothing

Labor Day picnic brings? nothing

Halloween trick-or-treating brings? nothing

Thanksgiving dinner brings? A turkey that is dry and overcooked, with no taste whatsoever. And a second helping of pie doused in whipped cream in order to make the color combination, with the cream atop the brown pie, look more like vomit.

Edited by Michael Boo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2007 Machine kicked Frameworks butt

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

BD is NOT a good corps.

"I believe it is peace in our time"... Neville Chamberlain, 1938.

"We will bury you"... Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev, predicting Soviet communism will win over U.S. capitalism, 1958.

"You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees"... Kaiser Wilhelm, to the German troops, August 1914.

"Read my lips: NO NEW TAXES"... President George H.W. Bush, 1988.

"It will be years - not in my time - before a woman will become prime minister"...

Margaret Thatcher, future British prime minister, October, 1969.

:ph34r: :ph34r: :ph34r:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...