New Brunswick Review

[jonplaysbari]

I was originally going to attend the DCI Div. II/III show in Wayne, NJ today, as I had been made aware of it last week by Raiders visual guru Izzy Delgado. Unfortunately Wayne chose against being involved with drum corps at the last minute and I have psychically blocked the location of Leonia from my mind, as it is where my dad first moved when he left my mom. But enough psychoanalysis, we want drum corps! And so I hoofed it on down to New Brunswick, home of my old alma mater, Rutgers U. Actually, I lie; I only went there for 3 semesters and drank myself right out of a scholarship :(. Ah well. The show wasn't on campus anyway. It was way the #### down Kilmer Ave at what I reckon is the local high school stadium. Decent size facility, however, and as it was a junior/senior combined show there were fans of all stripes in attendance, many of whom I would imagine were getting their first taste of either "weekend warrior" drum corps or "DCI's OTHER division" drum corps. I fall largely into the latter category, as the time I could have previously spent attending shows as a fan I was marching in DCA. Therefore, be warned that I may tread on some toes regarding the juniors as I am unaware of a lot of the rivalries, competitive scene, scoring trends, etc. Note: my ticket location was for 7th row up Side A, on the 40 yard line. As I was wandering about pre-show, I met up with Annie's Mom, being, curiously enough, the mom of a color guard girl (well, the ONLY color guard girl) of the itty bitty Boonton marching band that I helped out with last fall, and also a Jersey Surf guard girl. For Heat Wave, Cabs, and Bucs I sat with her and her crew on 4th row side A, about the 45, after which the ones who had that seat made me move to the actual seat on my ticket, which is where I sat until after intermission, when I moved back down to the seat I had previously. Why anyone who paid 17 dollars would want to only see half a show is beyond me, but their stupidity was my gain.

At around 6:45 a NJ State Trooper drill team took the field along with another trooper who gave a startlingly good rendition (a capella, yet) of the Star Spangled Banner. Shortly afte which the Phoenix Cadets entered the field in exhibition. Now, mind you, this ain't no SCV Cadets. These cadets looked mostly to be in grade school, with the oldest looking to be around 10. While they were inexperienced enough that I couldn't recognize any of their selections (note: they were not listed anywhere in the program either) the "awwwweee, aren't they cute" factor was much in evidence and anyhow, a group at that level should always be commended simply for their bravery and gumption in taking the field for public scrutiny. All of us were that age once, and you never know, the next George Zingali could be that little mello player who couldn't seem to keep his hat on his head B) .

On to the competition corps! You know you want to!

Heat Wave, FL

I have never had to travel more than 45 minutes to get to drum corps practice. The farthest I have ever traveled to a drum corps competition was in 2000, when I had a show in Buffalo, NY, which ride took around 9 hours each way. So it's pretty darn jarring to hear Heat Wave DM Vic Kulinski tell the crowd before saluting "...it was only 22 1/2 hours this time. We're getting better!" <---- me thinking "you drove almost 2 days for DRUM CORPS. You are either extremely dedicated or possibly the most foolish group of people I have ever seen." Eek. So anyway, announcer Legendary Fran Haring (yup, back for a second week in a row)announced them as being a corps of "sultry" regard so I had high hopes for them. I wasn't disappointed, either. Okay, so for the second week in a row a show opened with a corps smaller than Cabs' soprano line. Small enough as an overall corps that they pleaced the pit emsemble on the front hash on the 50 and marched the whole show in front of it. Even with this staging there were still balance issues within the hornline, unfortunately. This is always an issue as it's hard enough keeping balance and blend together over large distances even with a full-size hornline. With the 18 that Heat Wave brought on, it was just about impossible. I gather that my being so close to the ensemble only excacerbated it. But let's give the (other) orange blue and white team credit; they hung in for the duration and had some very sharp moments. Show highlights: The ensemble was as sultry as legendary Fran had promised; the opener brought on a latin feel right from the start in the percussion, adding in backfield horn chords as the guard got thier groove on with decorated white sticks. Once the full hornline turned frontfield to kick in the melody, the guard switched to firey orange and gold silks in a sweet impact. In the second number, more latin feel, and to punctuate the groove, the guard brought out benches for the contras to stand on. Once the contras rejoined the drill, the guard took center stage and added a 3-dimensional efect to their work by performing a lot of it on said benches. In the third tune, the same benches were pulled into a diamond shape for an extended mello solo, paired with a saber solo on the other side. A decent gimmick used for just the right length of show, appropriately focusing what needs to be focused. The last tune started with Drum Major Vic asking if we liked to party in NJ. Apparently we don't so he asked it again:D. Cue guard leading the crowd in handclapping, etc. Overall, this is definitely a Class A show, if only just based on size, but small doesn't mean unenjoyable. God Bless Heat Wave for making the yearly trek and I wish them only the best.

5th place, 63.35

Hawthorne Caballeros, NJ

Having already seen (and reviewed) Cabs once, I won't dwell on them too much. It doesn't appear that any major, life-altering changes were made in the past week and any differences otherwise in the program that I saw I would more than likely chalk up to my changed vantage point. All that being said, yes, the Cabs Imperial Progression made its next stop the New Brunswick show, and I have to believe that DCA slots are still picked at random as who would want to have Cabs perform second by choice? Anyhow, they did, so I'll just have to move on with my life . Due to the low vantage point, my scope of them was definitely "warts and all"; yes, even the Galactic Caballero Legion is human just like the rest of us and had the appropriate amount of missteps, color guard drops, sails, etc., horns cracking notes, and all that. Nevertheless, as is the true mark of a quality corps, none of that ultimately mattered. A blip and a half second later, any error was like it had never happened and the show rolled on like the juggernaut it is becoming. Man, you can't buy that kind of field presence. Well, maybe you can *sees the line on the ground and sensibly steps back from it before the demons erupt ^0^ *but I don't think these cats need to. In my own perverse way, I tried in last week's review to impress upon the reading audience who might be unfamiliar with either DCA or the Cabs that this is a group that is literally historical. They've been read into the Library of Congress for pete's sake. I have to believe (having never marched there myself) that having a mystique of such enormous proportions will translate into a stronger presence and, ultimately, stronger proportions. Any Cabs wanna help me out here? Do you all hype the history? 57 years of competition? Most DCA champs of any corps? Absolutely OWNING the 1970's ? Jim Russo being DM since before I was born(disclosure: I'm 31)? For an average joe like myself, especially an average joe whose corps wasn't founded until after Cabs had already won 5 DCA titles, it gets surreal. Anyway, as I said last week, this is the corps to beat in DCA, and even though it was at 2 separate, locations, the scores bear it out. Cabs are your frontrunner. Note: to the little kid who had one job to do tonight, just one (for his parents: this is my perverse humor of 4 AM). There are some things you don't do. You don't whistle "Yankee Doodle" in a crowded bar in Mississippi. You don't say the "M" word in front of a Crossmen alumni. And you don't ever, EVER drop Jim Russo's cape. Ever. You can now return to your regularly scheduled life. ;)^

First Place, 85.35

Buccaneers, PA

Even at my lower, nitpicky vantage point, Bucs continue to impress me. This is one flat out quality corps. In some DCI article I read once, Michael Cesario defined a proper show concept as being 1/3 innovation, 1/3 tradition, and 1/3 state-of-the-art. Okay, so it's everyone's favorite whipping boy who said it, but it holds true and I think Bucs are a good model for it. They bring on all the old sea songs we've heard a thousand times before in the middle of the show and bookend it with 2 quality "modern" concert band pieces. And the show theme is literal enough in the marching and color guard design that the crowd has a "hook" (no pun intended) to identify with. Unfortunately for them, they're not getting the credit they deserve, and probably won't as long as they keep going to the same shows as Cabs. I'm not being sarcastic here, either. There are many shows done by many different corps who have been forgotten by history because they were done in seasons where the competition had manifestly better programs. I've marched a number of those seasons myself . Now that I've put everyone in a blue funk, some show highlights, which I hope history treats better than I expect it to: As I knew what to expect and so wasn't writing furiously in my notebook, I watched the entire opener and got to see some righteous strong staging in action. The drill designer certainly knows his guard staging and uses it to the fullest, especially the red & gold flag work near the end of the opener. That's worth the price of admission right there. The "Eternal Father" ballad is still a magical moment as well, and I think that my being closer to the ensemble worked regarding the focus of sound. Just a wonderful, wonderful lower brass this corps has developed over the last few years, and in long chords it just adds so much depth. One thing that I hadn't picked up on last week: in the closer, during a standstill horn arc during a guard feature, I'll be ###### if that wasn't the full brass line on a sixteenth note run. Nothing flashy about it, just about 16 counts of run and then back to pumping through the ending drill, complete with fake ending/real ending like I discussed last week. You don't want to forget a moment like that during the "horse race" for DCA champion. I'm gonna do my best not to.

2nd place, 83.125

Bushwackers, NJ

Now that I've gotten my emotional trauma taken care of, I hope that this week I looked at Bush with a more objective eye. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course not. This is my review and it'll reflect my biases whether I admit to them or not. I'd rather be honest about them. After hearing "Surrender" again, there was a disturbingly long pause before Legendary Fran did the "are the judges ready" thing. Why this was, I dunno. But DM Chris Kilian kept the corps at parade rest and refused to do any mugging to the crowd AT ALL. Wouldn't you know it, the Bush field presence actually got the crowd down to just a few whispers so as not to disturb. God, I love having that kind of cache. As I was waiting for DCA to get their collective butts going, I did a horn numbers check, I counted 34 this week. Swee-ee-eet. Bush grows in numbers and strength! Wh00! Eventually the show starts, and a new gimmick has been added: after the obligatory countoff, there is an extra 8 counts where the corps chants "one-small-step" and takes a step forward. It's so quick you might miss it, but it's little details like that that make corps so much fun as a spectator. Other neat stuff: the end of the opener is still one of the great DCA moments this year, and floored this crowd as much as it did Clifton; in the ballad duet (played by Dave Minero and Jamie Coolbaugh, I found out) I watched the guard dancing this time and it was just so beautiful, even in flight suits; later in the ballad, during the horn standstill, instead of counting brass I watched the guard and got the full effect of the layered shades of blue in the flags, and even noticed the little crescent moon on each flag; the moon landing has changed a bit-now there's a Neil Armstrong character in a flight suit who strikes the actual landing "pose" much like what's on those MTV VMA trophies(note: I met the flight suit boy after the show and I promised I'd mention him in my review. His name's Brian and he's a nice young man. Brian, I have just given you 15 minutes of fame. Peace.); After the moon landing the closer has new drill and what I think are new flags, being now red white and blue. So last week's closer drill didn't look new as it wasn't, I guess. I dig the new ending though and the reprise of the end of the opener drill works for great continuity. It isn't all holding hands and singing kum-by-yah for the show though. As I was much closer to the field I could pick up errors just like in Cabs show, and, just like with any smaller corps, every error is magnified due to there being less people to watch. And even more so, as I held forth on the level of complexity in Bush's show last week and none of the apparent changes have decreased the difficulty level. It's a hard lonely that Bush has chosen to travel on. That's nothing new, I understand, but I'm still rattled at seeing it from the outside. I also now from much past personal experience that theis always happens, and Bush will assault the show like the US Army storming the beach at Normandy until it cries uncle, but I'm writing as a fan now and I want my beach stormed RIGHT NOW *insert Robert Frost quote here*

3rd place, 79.238

Rochester Crusaders, NY

This is the first time I have seen Cru at all since 2001, and when I saw them then the show was all about latin Stan Kenton jazz and stuff, so hearing earlier in the year that Cru was doing an all-classical show, my initial impression was "huh?" Cru does not equal Phantom Regiment, any way you slice it. But I'm not a show designer, never have been, and I figured that the guys making big bucks to put this together up in Rochester know what they're doing and I don't and if I DID, I'd be writing it, not them. Well. (disclaimer: I'm about to get negative here so anyone who's in Cru, or who knows someone who's in Cru, or any Cru fans or whatever had better stop reading here or you'll get an anyurism or something). Where to begin. First off, classical pieces aren't exactly well-suited to drum corps necessarily; one of the prime reason Phantom has had success over the years with the Romantic period is because they had an over-balanced lower brass section. Traditional obbligato sop parts don't cut it when you're doing Scheherezade and your bari line has to cover cello, trombone, and sometimes french horn parts. Or doesn't cover them. In which case it's boring as all ####. Or when the very beginning of the movement of Scheherezade that you have chosen kicks off with delicious double tonguing in the trumpet section and for some godforsaken reason you CUT THE DOUBLE TONGUING. Not even to single tonguing. Just nothing there at all. I don't want to ridicule anyone but you understand there's a passel of cats outside my house right now and they're all meowing something fierce. Moving on, the next piece is "The Swan", from Saint-Saen's "Carnival of the Animals" suite, which I have a fine recording of played by Yo Yo Ma, with Daniel Barenboim accompanying on piano. It's not anything that would be the worse for wear to not ever be performed by any drum corps, ever. But if it's gonna be done, the first thing you DON'T do is ruin the stately idea of a graceful bird proceeding through the waters by taking it at andante tempo. The next thing you don't do is write it in a key that makes your soloist take the second half of the second phrase down an octave. You do that and the cats start meowing again. And once you get to Samson and Delilah, you don't take it at the same tempo as the Swan and then somehow forget to jack up the tempo once the Bacchanale kicks in. Playing everything at a monotonous andante is BORING. That's why pieces of classical music are in DIFFERENT TEMPOS. So there's contrast between pieces and said pieces stand out as various moods and flavors. For pete's sake, who wrote this stuff? And the worst part is, Cru in many ways performed better than Bush tonight. The corps as a performing ensemble is not bad at all; heck, nothing I've said should be construed to say that the corps didn't do the job on marching and playing their show. But for the love of god and all the saints, they are not going to play and march the book as written and get anywhere. Sorry folks, but just like last week with Hurcs, I call them as I see them. Cru should've crushed Bush tonight and thrown my roommate into an alcoholic wreck. Unfortunately, instead I write that they are boring as all heck and they deserve exactly the score they got.

4th Place, 78.2

*break for 10 minute intermission*

So as I stated earlier, I know nothing about the Div. II "scene" so treat all this as a true rookie having his first drum corps experience.

Esperanza, CA

First up was a relatively new corps that from what I understand shouldn't have even appeared tonight. However, Leonia's loss (stupid town *kick*) was New Brunswick's gain and I got to see a corps that is definitely on the rise. The repertoire is your typical DCI obscure we-know-our-Sam-Goody-classical-section-better-than-you-do, except for the Phillip Glass opener, as Glass is the original perpetrator of repetitive ostinatos (i.e., it all sounds the same B) ). But by the end of their show, I didn't hardly care. There is a definite SCV infuence in their show design, and the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. The flow of this show is very reminicent of SCV 99 and 00, what with the flow of the music from minimalist to 20th century orchestral and finally to modern symphonic jazz/pop (or did I just make that genre up?). Anyhow, they were easily the class act of the night in any division. Some highlights/notable thingys: the hornline used both silver and brass colored instruments, which wasn't nearly as obnoxious as it sounds; the guard was excellent all around-a whole bunch of the first piece was nothing but dance but i didn't really notice until they picked up silver flags for the first big hit (note: because of the nature of Glass' work, the first hit was long delayed. instead of being boring, it was a huge pressure cooker build to the horn turnaround and the guard's first big color statement, then BAM!); this is GOOD drumcorps I saw here. I frankly find it hard to believe they're only 4 years old. I certainly hope they return to the east soon.

1st place, 84.10

Phoenix, NJ

Phoenix had the unenviable task of performing right after Esperanza. Phoenix is also obviously not a Div. II corps, if just because of size. And much like Heat Wave in the senior class, size worked against them. The ideas and flow of the show were A-ok, but with under 20 brass, you can't play a show built for mood changes and color ideas built for a much larger group. That being said, it certainly wasn't doom-laden or anything. The corps marched well, the guard was mostly fantastic and sometimes only good ( you know, I don't think I saw one bad colorguard tonight) and they got a decent crowd response. Sounds like a successful night to me. If they suffered by comparison to the other juniors, I will chalk it up to being just that: there was a THICK amount of quality here tonight for anyone to compete in.

5th place, 57.35

Spartans, NH

Spartans might be feeling a bit of a burn right now. After all, Esperanza was a late addition to he show so it's easy to make the connection that, if not for Esperanza, I might be writing about how much Spartans dominated the field tonight. Well, such are the vagaries of fate. Regardless of the competitive scene, Spartans have a well designed quality show put together, and are yet another reason I was spectating. The show is Robert W Smiths' Divine Comedy suite, the first movement of which I played last year in corps. Spartans certainly don't suffer by comparison, however, taking a much different approach that stays much closer to the original piece. As the show wore on, I noticed that the corps was keeping a sense of continuity in the visual aspect; specifically, the guard uses a series of flags all based on the same basic visual of a set of concentric circles in the outer half of the silk. A nice little detail that keeps the crowd hooked in. Other than that, there's not much new to report. The corps just flat out marched and played well, keeping within the boundaries of their ensemble size (which to be honest was rather large, certainly bigger than Bush) and again, if esperanza wasn't here I'd be talking about a crushing win by them instead.

2nd place, 82.45

East Coast Jazz, MA

I know East Coast Jazz much more as a winter guard, whom I competed against back when I was still spinning. So I expected a show written around the guard with some decent music thrown in. I wasn't all that far off, although that's not to denigrate the musicians in any way. The show was classic gershwin Americana, centered around the Concerto in F, with some Porgy and bess thrown in the end to kick it up a notch. The corps proper wore the pseudo-SCV uniform that's so popular nowadays, with the guard in light blue unis with a vesty thing on top, I reckon to add a little flair of old 1920's NYC. If that was the reason, it succeeded admirably. ECJ was noticeably smaller than any junior tonight except Phoenix, and it showed to an extent in their musical quality. The brass got a little edgy at times, although, as I've said previously, that might've been my vantage point of being right up in the brassline's face. All in all, hoever, a tight show, which I frankly expected to take out Surf, although I'm not shocked it didn't. Yet another corps I hope to see much more of in the future, and quite an enjoyable show.

3rd place, 78.05

Jersey Surf, NJ

At last, the moment I've been waiting for. As mentioned previously, I was sitting with Annie's Mom, Annie being a Jersey Surf guard girl. So I got an earful of Surf politics and Surf mom gossip and a lot of rundown of Surf show changes, etc., none of which I shall repeat here. Long story short, I felt like a Surf expert before they even took the field. And then they took the field. Picture if you will a small army of kids in blue and white t-shirts, blue and white bermuda shorts, and white tennis visors swarming the field, and then all sitting down crosslegged facing the end zone. Meanwhile, the guard is wheeling out 5 huge candy-striped cabana tents in all different colors and setting up equipment that includes beach balls and those long floaty tubes that are now so popular. And if you're not giddy yet, the crew pushes out the podium which is a LIFEGUARD CHAIR. And when the drum major SITS IN IT WAITING FOR THE CORPS TO SET UP HE'S TWIRLING A WHISTLE. By this point I was already making a spectacle of myself. Fortunately, so was the rest of the crowd. Ah, the hometown advantage can be so sweet. Fortunately, the gimmickry extends well into the program. The very first brass notes are a huge hit of "School's Out", a la 1990 VK. How could the crowd not go nuts for that? And somehow it leads into a mutant hybrid of "A Summer Place" and "Niner-Two". And somehow in the reality of the show concept that makes perfect sense. And meanwhile the guard has already used the tubey flotation thingys as equipment (i think; it all got weird at some point)and somewhere in there the percussion sat on big wooden boxes and ued them as what's called Tako (sp?) drums. Slapping the side of your seat in rhythym taken to an art form. And somehow all of a sudden there's a bari solo right out of 1997 SCV doing On he Waterfront. But the corps doesn't WANT to play On the Waterfront. They want to play Wipeout. So a compromise is reached somehow. And it hasn't stopped making sense yet. Except I'm starting to think it never really did, right from the first moment someone decided that it would be really cool to wear sun visors instead of hats. And the whole time the crowd is laughing and cheering and applauding every time Surf cuts loose with a huge ballsy brass chord and I have to wonder; what in #### was Surf doing getting scored so low earlier in the season? This is not a loser show; this is not boring or poorly written. The whole design team has reinvented drum corps as physical comedy, in the tradition of the Bridgemen and the Velvet Knights. Curiously enough, the show is not yet complete; it ends at an obviously arbitrarily chosen place with much work still to come to make this package a contender. Regretfully for them, its already the end of July. I am hoping with all my heart that this comes together for them like it should; ####, like they deserve. Drum corps needs more shows like this, that make it okay to laugh at convention and be kids again, taunting the oh-so-serious authority that want everyone in a little box labeled "the way WE do things". Screw that. Play loud. Flaunt your calfs in a pair of shorts. Go march on the beach, if that is your desire. Be different, for god's sake. Peace.

3rd place, 79.15

That's all for now. Please see your local psychiatrist if you read this far. I shall be in Kingston in 2 weeks for my last show and review, after which good luck to everyone at Finals. Peace.

[TempistIQ2]

I think we have another Surf convert!

:P B)

[larry callaghan]

Thanks for taking the time to put up your review.

Greatly appreciated by the folks up north.

Larry C

Kawartha Kavaliers

Lindsay Ont Canada (eh)

[tmignemi02]

A blip and a half second later, any error was like it had never happened and the show rolled on like the juggernaut it is becoming. Man, you can't buy that kind of field presence. Well, maybe you can *sees the line on the ground and sensibly steps back from it before the demons erupt  ^0^ *

:spit:

You're awesome.

Why aren't you marching this year?

[jonplaysbari]

I think we have another Surf convert!

:P B)

I am indeed. I bought a t-shirt and everything. It's tie-dyed, yet. I'm so proud...... :)

[SWEuph04]

I LOVE JERSEY SURF'S SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a little story

Rating PG-13 for some life-like violence.......

ok so im running up the stands to get to the top to see what the #### surf is gonna do with the beach balls i saw in the lot....

-tip number one.... NEVER run in flip flops

ok so i fall while running up the stairs and bust my ###, falling forward onto the steps to come, getting up and trying to act as if nothing happened i fell again.... WHAT A DORK I AM......

-tip number two..... being safe is better than being cool

so i get to the top and stand there waiting for the surf to start.....

i quickly realize my toe is throbbing and my toe is sticking to my flip flop

-tip number three NEVER forget your baritone playing Nurse at home

so the other bari lead player Val help me bandage up my gushing toe as i feel im bleeding to death....

***** if the lady sitting in the back row of the stadium reads this forum id like to thank you again for giving us band aids, you are a LIFE SAVER!!!!******

so Surf starts and with my bum foot and all, i was beside myself with how exciting this show is.......

At heat wave alot of the brass guys like to do the air hump to show our appreciation..... well we were doin it alright

HAHAHAHA

well anyways by the end of surfs show i was back on my 1.9 feet cheering them on..... GO SURF!!!!!!!! good luck...... see ya in Orlando!

[sburstall]

Rochester Crusaders, NY

This is the first time I have seen Cru at all since 2001, and when I saw them then the show was all about latin Stan Kenton jazz and stuff, so hearing earlier in the year that Cru was doing an all-classical show, my initial impression was "huh?" Cru does not equal Phantom Regiment, any way you slice it. But I'm not a show designer, never have been, and I figured that the guys making big bucks to put this together up in Rochester know what they're doing and I don't and if I DID, I'd be writing it, not them. Well. (disclaimer: I'm about to get negative here so anyone who's in Cru, or who knows someone who's in Cru, or any Cru fans or whatever had better stop reading here or you'll get an anyurism or something). Where to begin. First off, classical pieces aren't exactly well-suited to drum corps necessarily; one of the prime reason Phantom has had success over the years with the Romantic period is because they had an over-balanced lower brass section. Traditional obbligato sop parts don't cut it when you're doing Scheherezade and your bari line has to cover cello, trombone, and sometimes french horn parts. Or doesn't cover them. In which case it's boring as all ####. Or when the very beginning of the movement of Scheherezade that you have chosen kicks off with delicious double tonguing in the trumpet section and for some godforsaken reason you CUT THE DOUBLE TONGUING. Not even to single tonguing. Just nothing there at all. I don't want to ridicule anyone but you understand there's a passel of cats outside my house right now and they're all meowing something fierce. Moving on, the next piece is "The Swan", from Saint-Saen's "Carnival of the Animals" suite, which I have a fine recording of played by Yo Yo Ma, with Daniel Barenboim accompanying on piano. It's not anything that would be the worse for wear to not ever be performed by any drum corps, ever. But if it's gonna be done, the first thing you DON'T do is ruin the stately idea of a graceful bird proceeding through the waters by taking it at andante tempo. The next thing you don't do is write it in a key that makes your soloist take the second half of the second phrase down an octave. You do that and the cats start meowing again. And once you get to Samson and Delilah, you don't take it at the same tempo as the Swan and then somehow forget to jack up the tempo once the Bacchanale kicks in. Playing everything at a monotonous andante is BORING. That's why pieces of classical music are in DIFFERENT TEMPOS. So there's contrast between pieces and said pieces stand out as various moods and flavors. For pete's sake, who wrote this stuff? And the worst part is, Cru in many ways performed better than Bush tonight. The corps as a performing ensemble is not bad at all; heck, nothing I've said should be construed to say that the corps didn't do the job on marching and playing their show. But for the love of god and all the saints, they are not going to play and march the book as written and get anywhere. Sorry folks, but just like last week with Hurcs, I call them as I see them. Cru should've crushed Bush tonight and thrown my roommate into an alcoholic wreck. Unfortunately, instead I write that they are boring as all heck and they deserve exactly the score they got.

4th Place, 78.2

How was the visual part of it??

Edited July 28, 2003 by sburstall

[MDempsey]

Jonplaybari...nice(and long) review.

I went to Rutgers for grad school and I think RU stadium is huge would be a bad venue for anything but DCA/DCI finals...in fact Ive often wondered why it hasnt hosted DCI...

The CABS mystique lives on and is well earned. They were "the corps to beat" in my youth(30 yrs ago) and are "the corps to beat now." Few "teams" or "groups" can boast that...other than the Rolling Stones or the NY Yankees(that will make Kat Eltman happy,,,,as I know how much she LOVES the Yankees;-)LOL

As for the Heat Wave and CRU there is a connection to me....I marched with CRU and now often see the Heat Wave in rehearsal here in Orlando...(niether have ever won DCA btw)...and I admire both of their dedication.(pretty sure heat Wave Vic Kulinsky marched in Cru years ago...,,didnt he?) CRU has weathered many ups/downs over the years and are still standing.

Heat Wave....is always bittersweet to me....as you said...the entire hornline is smaller than the Cabs SOPline...and they keep plugging...year.after year...gotta admire that. B)

[DrumCorpsRadio]

I went to Rutgers for grad school and I think RU stadium is huge would be a bad venue for anything but DCA/DCI finals...in fact Ive often wondered why it hasnt hosted DCI...

Could have been a rumor, but I remember being told that DCI contacted Rutgers about using their stadium for DCI East in 2000. I think they may have also contacted them about using it for DCI Finals in 2000 when the original venue fell through and they eventually got U. Maryland.

I'm pretty sure the reason that Rutgers did not let DCI use it had to do with athletics. I guess they wanted to make sure the field was free for the football to prepare for their first (and only) win of the season (which season - does it matter?).

Oh well...

[aperugini]

This was a great review of a really great show