lowend Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Madison needs to take a long, hard look at Spirit 2014 before they go flirting with the past. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post skevinp Posted August 13, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted August 13, 2014 Conversely, James Madison is no longer believed to have been a Mason. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drangin Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Can we retire the "any brass" rule change he foisted on the activity as well? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 (edited) A complete return to the Madison of old (80s and 90s) would take them out of the top 12. The activity has changed in so many ways and Mr. Mason did a fantastic job of combining old and new. I thought their productions were well designed for the talent level. Power alone will no longer contend for a title much less top 5. Of all the program coordinators/show designers in the post-Stewart era, I think Mason did the best job of consistently keeping Madison competitively relevant AND staying true to the identity. Let's compare ... 2003 - 2006 Cesario/Salas and company undoubtedly did a great job keeping them competitive and coming up with interesting concepts, but most of the shows felt sterilized and safe to me (2003 being the big exception). Yeah, these shows were visually superior, but these shows never carried much emotion (to be fair, you could say this about most DCI shows from this time). 2007 A combination of internal strife + bad visual design. That said, the staff members that actually knew what they were doing were able to salvage the show by finals week. The corps had a great semis performance. But still, this show design felt like bad fan fiction ... as if the BOD held a public contest and the winner got to come up with the show idea. 2008-2009 Kept what worked the previous year and brought in some more west coast guys (Barrera, Karlin, etc). Same problems as the late-Stewart years: visual. 2008 was a solid show and my second favorite post-Stewart/pre-Mason show after 2003. I liked the arrangements and the corps seemed to have somewhat of a swagger back. The 2009 superhero show... not so much. 2010-present Brought in the ex-Star crew (I wish they would've kept Roger Carter ... but that's another rant). They never got past ninth place, but there was easily more emotion and memorable moments from these years: bringing back Slaughter/Rhapsody in Blue ... ending 2011 with Empire State of Mind ... I don't need to mention 2013. This year's show design felt shoe-horned and never really set the performers up for success. But they still finished 11th among an incredibly tough field. Mason left the corps in better shape. Hopefully, someone will take them to the next level while staying true to the identity. Edited August 13, 2014 by ShutUpAndPlayYerGuitar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I wish that complaints that Scouts have failed either because they were stuck in the past or because they abandoned their heritage would specify what they mean. Details about what in the past four years' shows, since Mason took over the design, qualifies in either regard would be very much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Does this mean that they can bring in a new visual designer? That seems to be the one thing holding Madison back, the visual program can't carry them all the way to Finals. And this year's visual package just didn't seem to fit the music at all. Would like to see that more than a new Artistic Director Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 (edited) Madison Scouts , on the whole, have given me my money's worth for my entertainment dollar under Mason's tenure. But if the question is... what does Madison need to do to move up in the current DCI pecking order under nthe current DCI sheets ?, I'd say they need to shore up the Visual and the Guard. The days when Music and Brass could have you derive the maximum points on the sheets has left the DCI train station awhile back. Its primarily the Visual ( and Guard ) now that moves the dial. If Madison wants to play the DCI game as its currently constituted, they need secure staff that can write a top tier visual production and teach the MM's( including the Guard ) how to stage it, march it, pose it, and dance it to the max. Edited August 16, 2014 by BRASSO 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alice1 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Madison needs to take a long, hard look at Spirit 2014 before they go flirting with the past. Or take a long, hard look at Santa Clara this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Madison just needs to be what THEY want to be. either way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madcityscout Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Brad Green just announced his resignation as brass caption head. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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