Blue Devils 2013

[Stu]

I agree. Its hard to fault the Blue Devils staff for designing shows that wins Titles.

If they lost with these shows, then naturally they would perhaps rethink the direction their shows have taken of late.

The audience is a total non factor in the scoring in DCI Drum Corps these days. What the audience likes or dislikes is irrelevent, no matter what Cesario wants to tell us. The BD show is designed to appeal to the narrow appeal of approx. 50 people. And BD tends to know their "audience" ( 50 judges )and what they tend to like and reward. They design it to appeal to these 50 people, then execute the hell out of it by practicing with more practice time by competing in upwards of 35% less shows than their top tier World Class Division competitors. Its a formula that works. So I see no rationale to be critical of a Corps that knows how to appeal to the audience that counts and turn a deaf ear to the audience that doesn't count. Now that these shows are winning, I can easily see a couple of other Corps now developing shows similar to BD that have the judges almost wetting themselves in approval, while most other normal people in nationwide audiences continue to be frustrated, made to feel inadequate, and become totally lost re. the show theme, music, visual, and what the hell its all about.

Yes-sir-e and whoop-de-doo for them on figuring out who is actually relevant and who is not relevant within a competitive entertainment operation such as DCI!!!! And good luck on a multimillion dollar per year Major League surviving when the irrelevant paying public greatly diminishes leaving just those paid relevant judges watching the shows. Sort of like the NFL Superbowl with just the teams and refs and no audience (because they are, as you say, irrelevant to winning the title).

Edited May 18, 2013 by Stu

[euphplayer07]

I talked to a buddy thats marching there and they had under 30 brass players this week.

Is that only for high schools and lower? How many members are local high school kids (in A Corps) that would be affected? My guess is not many.

[Kamarag]

Not every movie has to be a low-brow Adam Sandler comedy. Not every movie has to be a Michael Bay Armageddon explosion-fest. Some movies can be incredible and successful by tackling more complex, difficult, or intricate themes. Schindler's List. Million Dollar Baby. Slumdog Millionaire. Literally hundreds of others. Those movies aren't there for audience applause. They aren't necessarily there to make a zillion dollars at the box office. Dollar intake does't equal success. It's no different in DCI (or DCA for that matter...ask the Reading Buccaneers).

It's almost as if the Blue Devils don't WANT to be like other corps...

[Tim K]

Not every movie has to be a low-brow Adam Sandler comedy. Not every movie has to be a Michael Bay Armageddon explosion-fest. Some movies can be incredible and successful by tackling more complex, difficult, or intricate themes. Schindler's List. Million Dollar Baby. Slumdog Millionaire. Literally hundreds of others. Those movies aren't there for audience applause. They aren't necessarily there to make a zillion dollars at the box office. Dollar intake does't equal success. It's no different in DCI (or DCA for that matter...ask the Reading Buccaneers).

It's almost as if the Blue Devils don't WANT to be like other corps...

Interesting analogy between films and Blue Devils, however Schindler's List, Slumdog Millionaire, and Million Dollar Baby were all box office successes, had great audience appeal, and did win the Oscar, and I'd venture to say were not complicated films to decipher. I'd call them the Cadets, Phantom, or perhaps Cavies as far as drum corps equivalents are concerned. Blue Devils would be an Ingmar Bergman film--you know it's brilliant, you know attention was paid to details, and no expense was spared, but you may need to see the film multiple times to undertand it. For me, Cabaret Voltaire required seeing it five times live as well as multiple DVD/Fan Network views to "get it."

However, whether you admire Bergman, love Spielberg, or find a Farrelly Brothers' film the best way to spend a Saturday night, in the end it's all a matter of taste.

[paulymo]

People who keep saying that I (or others) am "slamming" BD because they are successful don't get my post. I marched BD for 6 years in the A Corps and 3 years in the B Corps... I want nothing more than success for BD and love the fact they have 15 Championships. I hope they win it this year and next and next but it doesn't mean that I have to "love" the music they play. Like me, many people have one shot to see a durm corps show and have to drive several hours to see it. I don't want to be told the show is awesome after you see it five times live and several more times on DVD. I want to go to a show and be singing the music on my four hour drive home. Last year, I went and watched Cadets practice for about an hour and was singing their show in my head for days. A lot of people bashed Cadets show last year but it was great to enjoy and sing the music. As someone said, I hope drum corps realizes they have gone away from their formula that works for fans and gets back there to be more successful than they were before.

[Slingerland]

However, whether you admire Bergman, love Spielberg, or find a Farrelly Brothers' film the best way to spend a Saturday night, in the end it's all a matter of taste.

There are lots of films that are respected or even 'liked', but not necessarily loved. I respect "Fanny and Alexander" (keeping this in the Bergman vein), and am glad I've seen it - but it's nothing I'd take to the proverbial desert island, because it wasn't any fun to be with.

Last year's BD show, as well as 2010 and 2009, were in that same mold. They were carefully assembled, detailed to the nth degree - but in the end, they were just kind of dull. It's certainly not a matter of anyone asking for "dumber' shows - it's just a matter of asking for shows that don't take themselves so seriously, given the lack of gravitas that an outdoor drum and bugle corps show can generate in the first place.

[Jeff Ream]

Devils Phenomenom of Cool, 1930; Cadets Angles and Demons; Regiment Spartacus 2007; Cavaliers Machine, 007, ... nay sir it is not as a much of dichotomy as you have stated. And while all of these shows have musical, visual, and emotional 'depth', notice how simplistic in communication transmission all of these show designs have (to the audience).

your argument dies when you lump in 1930.

[Stu]

Schindler's List, Slumdog Millionaire, and Million Dollar Baby... were not complicated films to decipher.

Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! They were 'Depth of content' films, yes, but not complicated films to decipher. It appears to me that the current trend of the Devils, and apparently the judging 'tastes', are moving into the realm of something similar to Complicated Art Film; which is an intricate part of our culture, but it is also a genera which has little paying audience following. If the Devils want DCI to be an esoteric Art expansion venue that is fine I suppose, but it is not congruent with the desire of DCI to be a Major League with paying audience expansion. For that Major League Paying Audience Expansion to occur the DCI shows need to be like Angels and Demons, Spartacus 2007, Machine which certainly had 'depth of content' but they were just like Schindler's List, Slumdog Millionaire, and Million Dollar Baby, not complicated to decipher.

[Stu]

your argument dies when you lump in 1930.

Ummmmm... really? It was 1930; Stock Market Crash; Great Depression; Music of Hope; how is that complicated for the audience to decipher? In 1930 everybody in the entire world was affected; and most everybody in the entire world today still has knowledge of the Great Depression. This is opposed to the Dada movement; where only a very select few were involved at the time and very, very, very few know about that movement today.

[flammaster]

I am so thankful for the Fan Network as i now no longer have to sit near any of you dullards.