goalieguy Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 (edited) Are you sure you're not a SUCK-UP for HOT-lanta corps playing Interstellar Suite ? Running and hiding now I agree with y'all - CV has joined the big time.. Congrats to those who have weathered the "long, strange trip it's been". To the group who USED to finish 9th so you don't have to !!! Pat PS - Just thought I'd add how great it was to have them next to our booth in 'souvie row' at DCA this year..That might mean THEY will be eligible for 'pranking' in Rochacha.. Still waiting to see pictures of this year's classic double-team.. Edited October 4, 2013 by goalieguy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Detweiler Posted October 4, 2013 Share Posted October 4, 2013 Are you sure you're not a SUCK-UP for HOT-lanta corps playing Interstellar Suite ? Running and hiding now I agree with y'all - CV has joined the big time.. Congrats to those who have weathered the "long, strange trip it's been". To the group who USED to finish 9th so you don't have to !!! Pat PS - Just thought I'd add how great it was to have them next to our booth in 'souvie row' at DCA this year..That might mean THEY will be eligible for 'pranking' in Rochacha.. Still waiting to see pictures of this year's classic double-team.. Too Funny Pat! I'll have to have Suzanne Hood be on the lookout. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VOReason Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 So who won? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 see my review 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Sorry about not completing this- I shall. 1: Band season hit, and I was busier than anticipated. Part of that was... 2: Work got busier than normal. especially during peak season. Most importantly, 3: I was in the ER during Thanksgigving for 5 hours with a Gall Bladder attack. Shot up twice with morphine, the one thing that kept me going and also scared me since there was a lot going wrong and it took that long to figure out what was going wrong- was wanting to perform with Westshore Alumni this year. The Surgeon said it was fine to postpone surgery until after the concert, I'm more or less okay now, just have to watch carefully what I eat. Fortunately, it's just meant fried foods and red meat are pretty verboten, beer is not, which is nice once in awhile. 4: The top 4 really needed some serious thought before I sat down. Especially C2, and some very serious conversations with others over the fall have helped some of this. Stuff went down, particularly with what I euphemistically refer to as a "Higher Organizational Person" which adds some "flavor" to everything, shall we say. I do have to eat and head to work, like, now. I figure to start crunching this out ASAP. I've been studying my notes carefully. I do hope everyone out there is well and doesn't have a Gall Bladder attack. Only your worst enemies should have one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goalieguy Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 GLAD TO HEAR YOU'RE BACK, DUBYA - Let it never be said I can't sympathize or empathize with health issues..Had more than my share. Been waiting - glad you came out to let us know what's up..Gall bladder's nothing to mess with.. Eagerly awaiting your next installment, dude!! Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 And glad you're still with us Pat... or at least thawed out for now. We thought of you everytime we saw the nasty news reports about negative Holy #### wind chills...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Cold enough here to beat the heck out of my battery! Anyhow, to get to Cadets 2 and prelims. I'd think it had to be disappointing in one way for the corps, in that their product was far superior to last year's effort in every aspect, yet they still ended up 5th. It's an indication of what it's like at the top end of the activity. Massive improvments may only net you a position and leave you with a way to go to the next rung. I really enjoyed their performances when I saw them this year. I felt a great vibe, they made me smile, and I appreciated their efforts on the field greatly. The prelims performance had all the moments it needed to have when they needed to happen, and was a lot of fun to watch. I've met several of the percussion people. Great young men- smart, capable, motivated, and individuals any of us would want marching on the field with us when it got tough. The thing that's frustrating to me is how polarizing the corps can be to people, and it's not because of the membership, the program, or performance on-field. In fact, it really disappoints me that some people, God Bless 'em, can't separate the issues of what I'll term the "Higher Organizational Person" generates and what's on-field. Enjoying the corps and its performance likely freaks out the "Burn the Witch" crowd- and I know for fact it does from some of the conversations I had with audience people at Reading- and what I'm about to discuss will likely freak out the people who posted on DCP that it's pretty much a done deal that the corps will win DCA Championships. I'll not dismiss something like that as total "crazy talk" as I've put it in some other threads, but C2 would naeed to make some changes to enable themselves to win a DCA Championship, let along crack the top 3. What are the things that would need to change? 1: I'd think the C2 people learned a hard, hard lesson from Empire: A very experienced and mature corps that performs with a very high level of quality, emotion, and panache can knock out a pretty good performance of something a bit more sophisticated. C2 has played serious catch-up both seasons, and they're barely getting control of things by Championship weekend instead of totally mastering them- exception the percussion. Less rehearsal time, less experienced talent means teaching methods and program really need to be more carefully thought out. 2: One of the most important things most DCA corps have is a core of veterans they can build around. People who have been around a couple of seasons and know the game, and that staff can count on to get it done when things get difficult. The thing is, if C2 is primarily designed to train up people for the Cadets or other DCI corps-- how can they establish a core of veterans? In theory, most of the corps moves on to Cadtes or another DCI corps. It creates another obstacle for a fight for a championship. The trained talent moves on and doesn't stay- at least in theory. 3: Yes, C2 got an influx of some horns to finish out the season after DCI championships. In this day and age, and as tough as DCA is now- that's not going to cut it to win a championship. They need to start the season with a minimum of 48-52 horns instead of 40-42 if they're not going to be outgunned by the top 3's 55-60 horns. Yes, a smaller horn line can beat a bigger one, I've been a part of that myself, BUT-- To do it, you have to be **utterly** smarter by far in every aspect of performance, book, and musicianship than the bigger boys. That's extremely hard to create that level of superiority with the quality of the top DCA brass sections when you're outgunned by 25 to 30 percent. Fusion's been manfully fighting that fight already and has had some success, but it's been rough. Perhaps C2 needs to lower their price point if they want a full corps. The DCA corps fees I've heard range from roughly 550 to 900 dollars when totalled up. Depending on what fees are assesed beyond the base cost/tuition, such as Camp fees, audition fees, uniform fees, Spit valve fees, brake pad fees, etc... so on and so forth... the numbers I hear for C2 vary from about 1350 to 1800 dollars. It's hard to sell that, especially to informed parents fronting the cash. So-- if the corps can figure out the formula of more personnel early, a program that is more attainable and able to be mastered thoroughly, and how to better educate/train individuals who aren't culled from the top 20 percent of the individuals trying out- in other words... teaching more "normal" people-- yes, they can run for the championship. And one more thing- maybe C2 "Higher Organizational Personnel" need to be more careful on social media outlets to avoid providing fuel to competitors. I know what it's like to be in a rough rehearsal, be reminded about something that was said about your corps or the other corps in general by another organization, look around at everyone's sneer and grin, and feel the corps buckle down and redouble its efforts. You don't need to fuel competitors. Best to let sleeping dogs lie. Time for work. Cabs up next. I figure some folks will throw some bricks on this one, I can take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 as for that higher Power....lessons should have been learned YEARS ago about what to say and when to say it. I don't see or expect changes there. but you are dead right....they continue to be behind the 8 ball from the get go filling in the brass and guard. All one has to do is look at the recap and see the guard is hurting them on the math side of things. if they had performed at prelims with the fire they had at Reading the week before....i could see things being different, or at least closer. Demand only gets you so far anymore if you aren't clean, and blown stepoffs in white pants are extremely noticable up top. Getting rid of the field visual judge may have helped them actually not fall lower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron H Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) ...2: One of the most important things most DCA corps have is a core of veterans they can build around. People who have been around a couple of seasons and know the game, and that staff can count on to get it done when things get difficult. The thing is, if C2 is primarily designed to train up people for the Cadets or other DCI corps-- how can they establish a core of veterans? In theory, most of the corps moves on to Cadets or another DCI corps. It creates another obstacle for a fight for a championship. The trained talent moves on and doesn't stay- at least in theory. ... On top of that, there is absolutely nothing stopping other eastern corps from going after exactly the same demographic that C2 is aiming at. And with the limitation of age in C2, it means a member who truly has a lifetime love of the activity and wishes to pursue performing into their 30's, 40's and 50's+ will find themselves drawn to a different corps. Edited January 30, 2014 by Ron H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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