HornTeacher Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I was a bit surprised. While I did expect cadets to win, they got off to a somewhat slow start and this was most evident in the brass. As the show progressed, they did blow everyone away. Crown did have some fireworks interference (three neighboring communities has fireworks shows) which I'm sure did not interfere with the judges scoring, but did seem to startle the soloist in Albinoni's Adagio (or perhaps I should be precise and say attributed to Albinoni's since this is now contested). Thanks for sharing that, Tim. I was not aware that such was in question. Whenever (or if ever) you'd like to elaborate on this to me, please drop me a line in PM. I'm fascinated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappybara Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I literally said I'm not accusing him of judging unfairly, just pointing out the facts and saying I disagree with his placements pretty strongly. Did you watch these shows live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogitom Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I was a bit surprised. While I did expect cadets to win, they got off to a somewhat slow start and this was most evident in the brass. As the show progressed, they did blow everyone away. Crown did have some fireworks interference (three neighboring communities has fireworks shows) which I'm sure did not interfere with the judges scoring, but did seem to startle the soloist in Albinoni's Adagio (or perhaps I should be precise and say attributed to Albinoni's since this is now contested). Cadets had fireworks going off during their performance as well. There's video of it on their facebook page. It seems to some on this site that Crown should win the brass caption every show they compete in. Please don't make ridiculous excuses like the "fireworks startled them". It demeans them and the infers that the Cadets didn't win ouright. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadet93 Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I literally said I'm not accusing him of judging unfairly, just pointing out the facts and saying I disagree with his placements pretty strongly. We are all biased for our favorite corps...you clearly have a pretty strong Crown infatuation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craiga Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Ok...so, I was at this show. As most of dcp knows, I am an unabashed homer for the Boston Crusaders. I chose not to go to the Boston Pops gig primarily because I didn't want to fight July 4th traffic in Boston with 500,000 other people, so off to Lynn I went. Clearly, I had no dog in this fight. Because I wrote a full review of the Gillette Stadium show the other day, I am not going to do a full review of Lynn. Having said that, I would like to mention a few thoughts I had from this show. (And, as anyone here knows, I am about as far from a Cadets homer as one can get!) Cadets deserved to win this. Period. While I aesthetically l prefer Crown's show this year , the Cadets had more energy, drive and excitement in their show tonight. While I still maintain that their guard is not of the same ilk as it has been, the Cadets' brass and percussion were outstanding. At the end of the show, I turned to my friend and said.."Cadets by 2 tonight!". Crown was strong, but seemed rather subdued...maybe a bit tired from the long day. They are still a great drum corps and they will be in the hunt in August, but on this night, the Cadets were better, imo. In fact, they were playing and marching like they had something to prove. A couple other random thoughts: I haven't seen a DCA show in probably 20 years. After watching the Cadets 2 (which doesn't seem to have anyone over 21 years old in it), I thought to myself, "well that's it, they're gonna blow away DCA this year!" And then, it happened...the Hawthorne Caballeros came out onto the field, and I was blown away. They marched (including frequently jazz running at a 5 to 5 or even 4 to 5 while playing the bejesus out of their show. This corps moves extremely well, and the brass was incredibly tight....and, unbelievably, when they took their hats off and trooped the stands, there was a bunch of them-men and women- with gray hair!!! At 55 years old myself, I have found it increasingly difficult to be surprised lately in this activity, but this corps was (as the kids say) SICK! Great work, folks...SERIOIUSLY! Getting back to the DCI scoring discussion, and with regard to Brass Judge Wayne Dillon. I met this man for the first time about six years ago, but he has been a DCI judge for years. He is a stand up guy, a professional, and above reproach in my opinion. One final thought....my friend and I grabbed a bite prior to the show at a local eatery. There were a group of alums from the various Massachusetts drums corps from the 80's who no longer exist. I was close enough to hear much of the conversation. At one point, one of them said, "can't believe Boston is still alive....that's what luck will do for you..." WTF? Luck had nothing to do with hit...enough said~ 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grenadasmoothie Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 A couple other random thoughts: I haven't seen a DCA show in probably 20 years. After watching the Cadets 2 (which doesn't seem to have anyone over 21 years old in it), I thought to myself, "well that's it, they're gonna blow away DCA this year!" And then, it happened...the Hawthorne Caballeros came out onto the field, and I was blown away. They marched (including frequently jazz running at a 5 to 5 or even 4 to 5 while playing the bejesus out of their show. This corps moves extremely well, and the brass was incredibly tight....and, unbelievably, when they took their hats off and trooped the stands, there was a bunch of them-men and women- with gray hair!!! At 55 years old myself, I have found it increasingly difficult to be surprised lately in this activity, but this corps was (as the kids say) SICK! Great work, folks...SERIOIUSLY! Not that I speak for my Cabs family, but thank you very much for your kind words - I'm sure this year's Caballeros will love to see your comments . This is a really special group of Cabs, and all of us alumni are especially proud of them! And, FWIW, I absolutely agree with you re; Cadets v. Crown. Saw them both last night, whch will be the only time this year I'll see either. Things might change, but yesterday Cadets were clear winners. Like you wrote, just so much fire in their performance (ironically, huh? Fire? Crown?) than Crown. I really thought 2-points-plus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamarag Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the kind words, craiga. Yesterday was one of those really cool experiences that don't come along all that often, especially in DCA. The Caballeros had a great run, and the overwhelmingly DCI audience really seemed to dig it, and gave great applause. I hope we can have more combined shows in the future...I think this was the first officially combined DCI/DCA show since 2004. As for Cadets vs Crown, I saw both corps in Allentown up high and both corps last night from row 3. Up close I'd have given the nod to Crown in brass, but both were very, very good. Cadets' French horn moment, which was horribly out of tune on Monday was flat out spectacular in Lynn, and had the Cabs brass staff practically giggling with glee when they finished it. I want to give a special shout out to Troopers brass. I loved you in Allentown but holy crap you grabbed me and tossed me around last night. This Troopers show is very, very special, particularly the ballad. Madison Smith's vocals were amazing in Lynn, and the sound engineer (who had issues with that on Monday) was absolutely on-point last night. If you haven't seen Troopers, they are a must-see. As for Wayne Dillon, I've always found him to be an incredibly knowledgable and professional judge. His commentary is always good (his tape for Caballeros last night was great) and if he gave Cadets the nod, he had good reason to. Edited July 5, 2015 by Kamarag 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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