My thoughts

[Blackstar]

Just got back from the picture show. Less then 20 people in house. First time at this location. I noticed some trends this year, uniform changes on the corps proper, several corps not fielding tymps and way to many props, not a lot of playing while moving. I also wish they would cut down on the amplification. Many times the trap set overpowered the horn line.

PC is serious and if they keep going their going to scare some top level corps.

Troopers almost made me jump out of my seat. Wow

Crossmen, had to follow Troopers which after such an emotional show it was hard to do. I had problems with the level of amplification in the pit. Especially the trap set. As a former Crossmen it hurts me to say they didn't move me.

Bluestars, liked the show thought they kept their placement.

Spirit of Atlanta, Still hate the uni's but liked the show. Wish they did more of Sweet Georgia Brown.

Boston, first uni change and loved the way they did it. Great show. I was disappointed when I first seen the grey jackets but very pleased to see the red by the end.

Blue Knights don't remember much of the show.

Cavaliers, I wish they kept the cloaks on the while show but liked the transition. But I wonder why they placed so high. I think if another corps did this show it would be a 10 to 13 place show. I felt they played and marched it very well but its not an 8th place show.

Madison, Loved the show wish the guard had different color camo's. Also liked when they sang "You'll never walk alone" and alumni stood in the stands and sung along. I was worried about the boys years ago with the low placements, then with the ugly Mexican wrestling show but they are definitely back.

Phantom, okay this is were it gets ugly. During the intro Rondo mentioned the all girl guard. My daughter made the comment that they are all blond. Then I noticed that they were all white. I thought no big deal it happens. But then I noticed a lack of color throughout the corps. I was only able to find one African American. Is this an issue. No because I know they have had black members with African American drum majors. Just found it very strange.

Bluecoats, I know this is starting to read like the fashion police but I loved the new uniforms. The show was great. I'm surprised they didn;t score higher this year.

SCV is SCV, they do so many little things that makes a show crazy. I wish the drum line was featured a little more.

Cadets Great show even though I'mnot a prop guy they used theirs the best. Drum line is off the hook, notes notes and more notes.

Crown, I was wondering why their drum line was scoring so low. They have the opposite issue as the Cadets, lack of notes. snares play but that;s about it and when they do play with the horn line its not much there. At least to me. Guard is greatly under appreciated. Horn line top notch. I hope they win. The only complaint and its a big one is kill the narration. Its overblown and doesn't match whats going on on the field.

Blue Devils, my mom taught me if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all................ Okay I will say great job to the kids, they did a great job.

[pbeck36]

Phantom, okay this is were it gets ugly. During the intro Rondo mentioned the all girl guard. My daughter made the comment that they are all blond. Then I noticed that they were all white. I thought no big deal it happens. But then I noticed a lack of color throughout the corps. I was only able to find one African American. Is this an issue. No because I know they have had black members with African American drum majors. Just found it very strange.

Phantom Regiment is neither sexist or racist. That's just silly. They take the best people who audition for them (like any other corps) and that has, over the course of numerous years, included men and women of all colors.

[crownisking]

Phantom Regiment is neither sexist or racist. That's just silly. They take the best people who audition for them (like any other corps) and that has, over the course of numerous years, included men and women of all colors.

I think the OP made it pretty clear that they didn't think PR was either. They were just stating that they found it interesting.

[RogerF]

E-SARN!

[DRWWE]

I'll reply. I just got back from the theater. There were maybe 10 people there. Small town but previous crowds have been bigger. I wasn't able to attend any live shows this year and only saw the two events at the movies. Normally I try to go to DCI West, but because of the location it is early season and the shows are a bit rough. The activity has changed a lot since I marched but I still enjoy the shows for the most part. I agree with some of what you said.

LOVED the Troopers--very well done from a musical and design standpoint. I wish they executed better since I would enjoy seeing them back in finals. Real drum corps.

Enjoyed the Crossmen, Blue Knights, Bluecoats. Cavies were enjoyable and much improved since the early season broadcast but I wish they would have put the hats back on the drumline, it just looked wrong, they normally look so bad-a## but without hats they lost that effect. Enjoyed the Crusaders, baby powder and all, but sadly they were penalized. So good to see Madison back where they belong but it wasn't a Madison show (you know what I mean if you have followed them over the years) but enjoyable nonetheless. I really enjoyed Phantom and I do prefer the female guard (I just do even if it isn't PC to say so, their show and guard were beautiful). My favorite show of the night was SCV---pure class, great music, very well done, should have placed higher. Cadets (I keep wanting to call them Garfield) was beautifully executed but I did not enjoy it very much, didn't like the music, drill, props but the percussion was excellent. I really enjoyed Crown--very weird show but I really had fun watching them, great sound, didn't mind the vocal stuff since it went with the weirdness of the show, but they have to fix the percussion as that is why they didn't come out on top tonight. I know that the brass is such a big thing with Crown, but they have to raise the percussion up to the same level.

Blue Devils. My mother taught me the same thing but I'll ignore that. To start with something nice, they show was beautifully executed, great percussion, talented kids. However the music was horrible. Drill was a mess. All those stupid white poles were a cluttered mess. I truly hated the show. I have liked most of their previous shows (minus last year's, seriously I am normally a BD fan) but I couldn't wait for this show to end. I was actually angry when I saw their score. What's wrong with playing music that actually has a melody (see SCV, Phantom) instead of a bunch of loud noise interspersed with clean drumming and a little dancing? And whatever happened to brass soloists that could be heard without playing into a microphone? Seriously, why are they on top? Their general effect was a jumbled, noisy mess. Opinions of course but they didn't make me happy. Is it just because of their history that the judges are intimidated? Oh, and I really like the Rite of Spring, but Stravinsly is spinning in his grave right now after they butchered his masterpiece.

The drum line that performed while we were waiting for the scores was a lot of fun. They should be proud and hopefully they are enjoying being in the US.

[KC4Bloo]

Just got back from the picture show. Less then 20 people in house. First time at this location. I noticed some trends this year, uniform changes on the corps proper, several corps not fielding tymps and way to many props, not a lot of playing while moving. I also wish they would cut down on the amplification. Many times the trap set overpowered the horn line.

PC is serious and if they keep going their going to scare some top level corps.

Troopers almost made me jump out of my seat. Wow

Crossmen, had to follow Troopers which after such an emotional show it was hard to do. I had problems with the level of amplification in the pit. Especially the trap set. As a former Crossmen it hurts me to say they didn't move me.

Bluestars, liked the show thought they kept their placement.

Spirit of Atlanta, Still hate the uni's but liked the show. Wish they did more of Sweet Georgia Brown.

Boston, first uni change and loved the way they did it. Great show. I was disappointed when I first seen the grey jackets but very pleased to see the red by the end.

Blue Knights don't remember much of the show.

Cavaliers, I wish they kept the cloaks on the while show but liked the transition. But I wonder why they placed so high. I think if another corps did this show it would be a 10 to 13 place show. I felt they played and marched it very well but its not an 8th place show.

Madison, Loved the show wish the guard had different color camo's. Also liked when they sang "You'll never walk alone" and alumni stood in the stands and sung along. I was worried about the boys years ago with the low placements, then with the ugly Mexican wrestling show but they are definitely back.

Phantom, okay this is were it gets ugly. During the intro Rondo mentioned the all girl guard. My daughter made the comment that they are all blond. Then I noticed that they were all white. I thought no big deal it happens. But then I noticed a lack of color throughout the corps. I was only able to find one African American. Is this an issue. No because I know they have had black members with African American drum majors. Just found it very strange.

Bluecoats, I know this is starting to read like the fashion police but I loved the new uniforms. The show was great. I'm surprised they didn;t score higher this year.

SCV is SCV, they do so many little things that makes a show crazy. I wish the drum line was featured a little more.

Cadets Great show even though I'mnot a prop guy they used theirs the best. Drum line is off the hook, notes notes and more notes.

Crown, I was wondering why their drum line was scoring so low. They have the opposite issue as the Cadets, lack of notes. snares play but that;s about it and when they do play with the horn line its not much there. At least to me. Guard is greatly under appreciated. Horn line top notch. I hope they win. The only complaint and its a big one is kill the narration. Its overblown and doesn't match whats going on on the field.

Blue Devils, my mom taught me if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all................ Okay I will say great job to the kids, they did a great job.

I noticed the same thing--the all-white and mostly blonde female guard members, or at least a noticeable majority. I'm white (which doesn't really matter) but I thought it was glaring. Glad I'm not the only one... That being said, they all did a fantastic job!

[Shempy]

I'll reply. I just got back from the theater. There were maybe 10 people there. Small town but previous crowds have been bigger. I wasn't able to attend any live shows this year and only saw the two events at the movies. Normally I try to go to DCI West, but because of the location it is early season and the shows are a bit rough. The activity has changed a lot since I marched but I still enjoy the shows for the most part. I agree with some of what you said.

LOVED the Troopers--very well done from a musical and design standpoint. I wish they executed better since I would enjoy seeing them back in finals. Real drum corps.

Enjoyed the Crossmen, Blue Knights, Bluecoats. Cavies were enjoyable and much improved since the early season broadcast but I wish they would have put the hats back on the drumline, it just looked wrong, they normally look so bad-a## but without hats they lost that effect. Enjoyed the Crusaders, baby powder and all, but sadly they were penalized. So good to see Madison back where they belong but it wasn't a Madison show (you know what I mean if you have followed them over the years) but enjoyable nonetheless. I really enjoyed Phantom and I do prefer the female guard (I just do even if it isn't PC to say so, their show and guard were beautiful). My favorite show of the night was SCV---pure class, great music, very well done, should have placed higher. Cadets (I keep wanting to call them Garfield) was beautifully executed but I did not enjoy it very much, didn't like the music, drill, props but the percussion was excellent. I really enjoyed Crown--very weird show but I really had fun watching them, great sound, didn't mind the vocal stuff since it went with the weirdness of the show, but they have to fix the percussion as that is why they didn't come out on top tonight. I know that the brass is such a big thing with Crown, but they have to raise the percussion up to the same level.

Blue Devils. My mother taught me the same thing but I'll ignore that. To start with something nice, they show was beautifully executed, great percussion, talented kids. However the music was horrible. Drill was a mess. All those stupid white poles were a cluttered mess. I truly hated the show. I have liked most of their previous shows (minus last year's, seriously I am normally a BD fan) but I couldn't wait for this show to end. I was actually angry when I saw their score. What's wrong with playing music that actually has a melody (see SCV, Phantom) instead of a bunch of loud noise interspersed with clean drumming and a little dancing? And whatever happened to brass soloists that could be heard without playing into a microphone? Seriously, why are they on top? Their general effect was a jumbled, noisy mess. Opinions of course but they didn't make me happy. Is it just because of their history that the judges are intimidated? Oh, and I really like the Rite of Spring, but Stravinsly is spinning in his grave right now after they butchered his masterpiece.

The drum line that performed while we were waiting for the scores was a lot of fun. They should be proud and hopefully they are enjoying being in the US.

I basically agree with you on BD. And I really liked Cabaret Voltaire. I thought it was smart, subtly emotional, and well executed. But re:Rite of Spring is absolutely forgettable. And Crown's IMO isn't much better. While they may be the best executed and cleanest, the top 2 are some of my least favorites this year.

[pbeck36]

I noticed the same thing--the all-white and mostly blonde female guard members, or at least a noticeable majority. I'm white (which doesn't really matter) but I thought it was glaring. Glad I'm not the only one... That being said, they all did a fantastic job!

I'd attribute it to nothing more than coincidence.

[Lightness]

I noticed how they ALL had long hair! I was wondering if they were required to have long hair or maybe wearing extensions? Or just a fluke? Beautiful nonetheless!

PC made me cry!! I am so happy to see them doing so well!

[Kilgore42]

A few things that stood out for me...

Troopers were great the way the show connected with their history and loved seeing the starburst back.

Really liked Spirit's show but felt a bit let down by the ending.

SCV had the most entertaining show of the night.

Cadets rammed a ton of notes but didn't really go anywhere with it.

Thoughts on seeing Crown for the first time this year...uniforms and drums were absolutely hideous. Awesome hornline. Sounded like a reincarnation of Star. Crown is in the same boat as the Cadets in 2007: a championship caliber show that is sabotaged by the incredibly annoying and unnecessary narration and vocals. I really admire the brass but just can't get past the narration to embrace this show.

BD: the most interesting show of the night. As good as Crown is in brass, the Devils are on the same level. They should have had a larger margin over Crown.

Now a couple of issues that maybe someone can explain for me. How can the two GE judges watch the same show, judge on the same criteria and come up with such a variation in scores for BD. I'm not saying which judge was correct (if either was) but how can one judge rate BD as almost perfect in both subcaptions while other judge rates them 3rd in performance?

Issue #2: can anyone make a case that DCI should continue to allow narration and sampling? Has narration ever been used effectively by a DCI corps to actually enhance a show?