DCA Prelims

[BigW]

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.

Even BITD- and I think Fran and Frank Ponzo can attest to it from their experiences, it wasn't uncommon for a 21 year old kid like me at the time or my 19 year old sister, for example, to have 3-5 years experience with a corps. Even with an age limit, they could develop a cadre-- but-- if the idea is to train up and move to DCI, it's kind of impossible to do unless they build around older 21-24 year olds, or ones with less financial clout who just decide to stay with C2 because of the lack of Shekels.

I still remember the guys from the Cabs back in '82 who were blown away that a buncha goofy kids like us had serious experience. I think they forgot that all that time before, we were taking our well deserved beatings/thrashings, working hard, and trying our level best to learn to be decent. After all those years, things finally began to work!

[JimF-LowBari]

I still remember the guys from the Cabs back in '82 who were blown away that a buncha goofy kids like us had serious experience. I think they forgot that all that time before, we were taking our well deserved beatings/thrashings, working hard, and trying our level best to learn to be decent. After all those years, things finally began to work!

LOL - Lets see Paul Geiger was there from the rebirth in 1974 so (counting fingers) would have been his 9th year at the grand old age of about 24. Still remember catching Hades from staff for having a beer at AL Nats in 1978. Said I just hit 21 and one of them just stared at me and asked "How many years have you been in the corps Jimmy" (answer was the 5th year).

Then we have one of our tymps who had been in a few years talking about getting his drivers license.When asked why he waited so long the reply was "I just turned 16 a few months back".

Edited January 30, 2014 by JimF-LowBari

[Fran Haring]

Even BITD- and I think Fran and Frank Ponzo can attest to it from their experiences, it wasn't uncommon for a 21 year old kid like me at the time or my 19 year old sister, for example, to have 3-5 years experience with a corps.

Absolutely. When I joined Sunrisers for the 1977 season, I was 18 years old... and there were a bunch of people in the corps my age, or a year or two older, who had already been with Sun for several years. (A number of them joined for the 1974 and '75 seasons, coming from various junior corps in the NYC metro area). They were young... but they were veterans, who knew how to get it done on an all-age corps schedule.

IMO, that continuity, and having that nucleus of veteran leadership, is important... no matter what the era.

[BigW]

I'll set up the Cabs before Night Shift.

You look at the position they were in heading into prelims, and you knew what was likely to happen. Someone in the corps organization was bound to say, "You know what? We're a solid third. Let's just take this as far as we can go and run all out with this show this weekend and see what happens. We've got nothing to lose for trying!"

From what I was told later, the corps collectively knew and innately understood this, and it showed at prelims.

The first 45 seconds were decisive and really set the tone for this performance. The horns were just blowing plasma, and the diminshed 9 chord at the end fo the opening statement lit up the crowd.

The fast-paced performance really highlighted a colorful brass book, and an exciting visual package, which really read well in this stadium.

The Contras- a lot's been said, but their ability to play stylistically when needed really came out in this run. It's tough to get the orchestral bow-on-the-string timbre, and they nailed it in the Bocelli.

The run was drive-it-like-you-stole-it maniacal, and everything hit where it needed to, and hard. Sometimes, runs like this can have a portion where things will get sloppy, not in this case. Focused, aggressive, emotional, and memorable.

The Percussion battery continues to improve, enhance, and excite. They've found themselves as an entity. Now- can they take it further? that'll remain to be seen.

And Frank- you really were over the top scary good at prelims. Eye-poppin' good. I can't print what's in my notebook when you nailed the one big solo in the middle of the show.

When it was over- it did make one immediately wonder- could they catch corps ahead of them? Yeah, they sure might- and they did at Finals, but not quite for Prelims. The Cabs definitely have put themselves square in the serious conversation about the elite corps in 2014. Can they keep the momentum from 2013 into 2014? It could be the big unanswered question right now, and I look forward to seeing the answer later this year.

[FPonzo]

WOW.....FINALLY!

Believe it or not, I stopped checking for your review back in November, and really have not been here since! I just happened to come here and see that you posted something to the "review" page last night and said to myself, "Self...let me check to see if he posted anything"...and sure as #####, you did!!

Thanks for the kudos!! :-)

And if you think the tuba section was sick last year, i'm gonna go on record right now and say, "You ain't seen nuthin yet!" This years show is going to be insane, and the 10 tubas we have now are already better than last year. The 3 Tuba parts are going to floor you!

Looking forward to gettin on the field in Wildwood...is it June yet?

Hope to finally meet you this year!

[BigW]

Frank beat me to some of what I will get to more in depth about the Cabs Tubas. There's more to them than just that 16th note feature. I think they could easily be the best Contra/Tuba section to compete in DCA, and I've heard more than a few talented Contra/Tuba people over the years whom I respect deeply. At worst, they belong in the discussion of who is the greatest, and I'll explain/break it down later.

I also need to not read threads on the DCI Forums. When I seem to be a voice of reason and can't agree with the kids or the old timers, things are screwy. Everyone's losing their minds there. My guess is some of the crowd pops a lot of popcorn and eats it as they read. Maybe I need to do the same.

Let's get to MBI. I have struggled with what exactly to say about Championship weekend with the corps, because I believe it's more than the conventional wisdom I've heard that they were "flat". I don't think they were for prelims. I think the corps deserves more than someone just saying it was "flat" and walking off, they were a lot better than that. I found the corps to be very focused and hellish intense, the Low Brass having a spectacular run, with Malambo being a 10 out of 10 moment for them. I think the corps was extremely attentive to the very fine details of their program and turned the "Burning Man" concept into the "Burning Drum".

What I believe happened was out of their hands- they performed with an extremely fine effort in prelims. The problem was that they went on after a seriously supercharged Cabs performance where everything went perfectly for their corps, and with the way the Cabs pushed emotionally and with totality, it could have easily blown up in their faces because they were that close to the edge and taking serious risk at critical moments. It was more what the Cabs *did* over trying to say that MBI 'didn't' or was 'flat'. MBI's intensity was of a different kind because of the way their show was structured and arranged, and any corps coming on after the Cabs would have seemed a bit 'flat' regardless of what they actually achieved. I think this year's show by MBI was of the direction they should be going, and I'm certain they'll reload and will have something even more imaginative and thoughtful lined up for 2014. Hopefully, I'll get to see it!

I'll get the Bucs up this week- and get the rest done. Hope for warmer weather, this cold just saps me. I must be getting older....

[JimF-LowBari]

Hope to finally meet you this year!

Too bad Kris and I probably won't make any shows in 2014 except over the Internet. Would love to make that introduction...

[DCAfan85]

And if you think the tuba section was sick last year, i'm gonna go on record right now and say, "You ain't seen nuthin yet!" This years show is going to be insane, and the 10 tubas we have now are already better than last year. The 3 Tuba parts are going to floor you!

I don't think I can handle much more awesomeness!

[BigW]

I finally have the time to get to the last corps, and hopefully get the wrap-up started.

I told a friend at dinner after Alumni Corps I needed to start the Reading discussion with Chili. He laughed, because he knows me pretty well. I explained.

Normally, a good show is like chili. Nearly anyone can make good chili if they know the basics, and what to do when something's not quite right. I can make a great chili. My one friend's Grandfather's recipe is great. "Tump" was a WW2 test pilot that helped set up the B-25's for the Doolittle Raid, but he wasn't a cook by any means, and he still made a mean chili into his 80's. A bit of this or that, adjust to taste and consistency, you know the drill.

The more I watched Reading's show at Prelims from high on the 50 in that stadium, I realized that show wasn't an easy show to cook up. It was a souffle or a quiche. If you're not a skilled cook, you usually end up with a disaster and tears, and even if you're a skilled cook, you have to do everything exactly right to get a good result. Otherwise, you end up with a pile of expensive ingredients and calling out for pizza.

The show really had a lot of fragility to it. What I mean is that if certain key portions didn't totally lock in visually and musically like they did, the show would have blown up. People would have just swallowed hard in the stands, shaken their heads, and winced. There were many times during the performance that I realized the Bucs were really taking a lot of serious risks and making the show happen with a lot of confidence and command of the program. It's understandable how a lot of the early show reviews had a lot of concerns, and it's obvious how hard the corps had to have worked to make everything solid enough by Downingtown and then perfected the program by the end of the season.

The guard had a particularly inspired performance in Prelims and really reached out to the audience- they had to have done so when they cause me to take those kinds of notes on them. I'm not a guard expert, but I can still tell when a guard really emotes and does a great job as they did for their corps that evening.

I do know the Bucs came off knowing they did a very solid run at Prelims, but the competition kept them running hard all weekend. The Cabs and MBI understand the one element that has kept the Bucs on top, and they continue to grow in those ways as well. When thinking of the Bucs, I think of a famous scene in the Samurai Trilogy where Musashi watches a dancer with friends and is asked to comment on her performance. He takes a drink of sake', and states that she has "no chinks in her armor, no weaknesses." MBI and the Cabs understand this perfectly now and are working hard to become very strong organizations in all aspects of the activity. It'll remain to be seen how the off-season pans out for the big three in 2014, and it should be exciting.

Really, there's a lot to look forward to in 2014.

-It looks like the Skyliners are returning. That dimension's been missing in DCA for too long.

-Bush looks to be growing and developing from their solid recovery. The question seems to be how much they will grow.

-Looking at CV's video, they look to have good numbers, good attitude, and to be hard-working. A lot of those determined faces remind me of the young folks I was part of at '82 Westshore. The thing is, the returning top 6 are all legit 90+ point corps. There are no weak links to pounce on and quickly knock out the fight like we did in '82. Speaking of strong corps in the middle, Fusion's also putting pieces together as well. If anyone stumbles, other corps will take advantage and do so aggressively.

-The Cabs showed everyone definitively that they now must be thought of as part of the "top three" in DCA. Frank's been around for too long, and because of that not a person given to hyperbole. If the Tubas are the tip of the iceberg and the rest of the corps is also developing further, it could prove very exciting for the fans.

-The Sun Devils showed a lot of promise and ability in Class A. The Govies have been perennially strong, and the White Sabres made a strong statement and impact on A last season, and I'd expect the same from them this season. Can the Sun Devils get into that mix as well?

-The 9-12 spots are also another thing to watch for the fan. Can one or more of those corps make a strong move in 2014? Certainly. We'll have to wait and see.

Next the "All-BigW" Corps. I'm still trying to make sure I follow my rules as best I can and make sure I get it right, especially since I have a bad feeling this will be the last year I'll see everyone in DCA at least once unless I can find a reason and a cheap way to get to Rochester....

Edited March 7, 2014 by BigW

[BigW]

The "All-Big-W corps is supposed to be picked a lot like the "All-Madden" team. Most folks know who's the "best", but- just maybe there are some unnoticed sections and people out there doing a fantastic job that don't get noticed.

The sections are people I'd like on board a corps if I had one. People I'd like to perform with. Whether they'd like to be around ME is another issue.

I'll start out with the Tubas. I'm kind of breaking my own rules on this pick, but.... the fact is the Cabs Tubas from 2013 were very arguably the finest Contra/Tuba section to ever compete in DCA. How could I not want the "best ever" when they're THAT drop-dead good? I've known and performed with many fine Contra/Tubists over the years, and these guys are just top-notch. The only Tuba section that comes to mind as close to this section is a recent, you guessed it- Cabs tuba section from about 5ish years back.

Baritones, during my lunch break tonight. being a bari player myself, this section is gonna be one goofy mix of great people, I promise!