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DCA Finals! Couchmen Application Edition!


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I wasn't able to head up to Roachester this year. So I apologize for not coming up there to chug Gennie Cream Ale with yall. So here's my Couchmen edition of another opinionated recap.

Here's the basics. The feed was pretty darned good. Save for three really "oh sh**!" moments. When it froze and I was left wondering if it was my wifi, or the feed. Nope. Wifi was strong.

I will make a minor suggestion to put the High Cam up about 4 feet higher on a pole. If people stand up, they are in the way of the high cam. So this COULD be awesome in a "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" kind of way. Hmmm... can we get two old farts to sit up there and comment and then put that on the DVD as an easter egg feature? HAH! I'm in, let's go.

Ok. So the comfort of my couch, papa johns, popcorn, Arnold Palmers for days, and a bag of gummie bears. I was ready for this. (and a fantasy football draft on my phone)

Cincy Tradition: two years straight you squeak in. I hope you all are growing. I think it's great to have another Ohio corps out there competing. (yeah, DCI, DCA... different fields, same recruiting) Yknow, your impacts were awesome. I like the show, I think the guard needs some love, or someone was new. But to be honest, you all were a great group to open with. Keep bringing members in the door and build on this continued success.

Kilties: STOP THE PRESS! The kilts are in finals. *sniff* brings a little tear to my eye. Again, little corps, big impacts. These ladies and gents just took tartan and fwapped you IN THE FACE with it like a towel in the shower. boom. It was great to hear first Suite on the field again. I wonder if marching in boots is tough. But the kilts looks fabulous.

Alliance: Guard for days. At least it felt like guard for days. Man, great corps overall. Anyone here think two corps from the south doing shows about snow is a little odd? Do you even get snow? Or does it feel like Hoth with AT-ATs taking over the city when you do? (insert sound Q shhheee sheee FWUMP! ssshhheee shheee FWUMP!...) There's a couple of movement things (intervals) that were suspect but man, the recovery was fantastic and the corps musically feels like it belongs up in Open Class. Top shelf. Smalls were small and controlled, bigs were BIIIG. booyah.

Govies!!!1!!! I love ya Govies. John Mayer again talking to the crowd. I was hoping the duel to start the show would've actually had one of you backflip to your mock death, Walker Texas Ranger style. But alas... doh. Anywho, Kill Bill yellow flags and Battle without honor was swwwwweeeeeett corn! Soloists were top shelf, great intonation, clean attacks, and this Minnesotahn Western Vibe.. putcher hands up, this is a stickup donchaknow!!!!

I ran outta popcorn right about now. And the new puppy has discovered his reflection in the base of our upright piano, and he doesn't like it. rrrrruff ruff ruff.... #dugandog # dogsofinstagram #shamelessplug

Papa Johns to the rescue! If only he delivered in his corvette.

Hurricanes: chchchchchannnges. The dressed up the soloist, made him match the DM (old school unis...word up) and integrated the chairs a little better. I still don't see a reason for actually putting the square on the field, but i get it, you're closing down the space to be used. I think those chairs could have still been used all over the field. But eh... that ship sailed. Overall much improved from two weeks ago. Balance was better, guard is still tip top, the booms cleaned up. Drill still had some form gak but heh, you get on the dance floor, you just go for it. Jump Jive and Wail wailed. Good solid finish with the show. Feels like they really pushed through.

Sunrisers: Come fly with meeeeee. Another corps that cleaned up in two weeks. Good job. Feet were better, less sound in the horns overall. Impacts were Impact-ey. Nice work. I think El Camino was one of the great openers of this season. And you really cleaned that up and sold it. booyah. The voice track... yeah. You've read my comments. It's way easy make a good recording. Call me if you want help. I'll talk you through it and help you find some software to boot. I like the guard on this show. Lots of color, great flags, pretty solid catches. I think the red really pops on the field against the rest of the corps. I hope yall can build on this success. Keep working it.

Sabres: Do the most with the least. Seriously. Feet look great, bodies look great. The death of a hornline member was sold really well. There's nothing bad here. I think you all have a great blend of entertainment, art, and challenge. You know how to live within your means and you put a product out that makes people flock to the stands to watch. Bacchanale hit really well across all sections. I think two weeks gave you the stamina to push it, and the soloists were some of the best of the night. Maybe THE best.

Fusion: Travel show. Yknow, I like your stuff, but I think this show was too homer-fied. The train track we didn't need, we got that from the rest of the show design. I feel like props and stuff was added when the show just needed cleaned. Feet were meh, mellos were meh, booms were great. I don't care about the recap, drums were kicking, and the guard was working overtime. Empire and Hot honey rag had a great feels to both these songs. I think transitions between songs were unfamiliar to the performers. But again, this show came to entertain, and the crowd loved it. Really great impacts on the night. So cheers to you. Giving the crowd something to get on their feet about.

Kidsgrove: To quote Braveheart "We didn't get all dressed up for nothing". Man. What a hornline. I don't want to offend anyone but they blew the doors off the building. Literally. And then they plugged the doorways with big foam rocks, lubricated with gold bond. oye. hahahahaha. This show grabs you from the start, and just keeps going. Great lead solos, great balance front to back, and a great group that just came to throw down. The story is in between homer and artsy, and it holds you. And you just stare, and cheer, rinse, repeat. We need more of these ladies and gents. This was just a great intro to the top six. I think there's a bigger gap between this corps and those below it just because at this point in the night, presence of the performers stepped up hugely.

They stood larger, commanded a larger presence (at least in the feed), moved more consistently through space, intervals were more consistent, guards moved more fluidly...etc etc etc.

Atlanta CV. wow. I've not seen then this season and all I could say was wow. Eyeconic... yeah i concur. HUGE sound. Great presence from all sections, The Heat of the Day was really well done. I think this made people sit up in their seats and just pick their jaws off the floor. This is the first corps where my fiancee (who got stuck watching this as I took over the living room with it) said, who are these people? They move really well. The guard is great. To be honest this was a great show, true to DCA. Entertaining, arty, challenging. Hope the gold bond left all over the field from Kidsgrove didn't cause any issues.

Caballeros. This show took a little bit to grow on me. I'm still not ready to date it steady, but I'd buy it a cupcake. Design bias aside, these Cabs cleaned the poo out of this show. The horn issues that were there two weeks ago were nearly gone, and booms and guard cleaned up. So man, Sombreros off to them for really digging in and cleaning. Now it went from eh to exciting. I think the characterization clicked tonight really well, and the low brass lead the charge. Someone get them a beer for putting in overtime on it.

MBi. Holy Karn Evil 9!!!! yeaaaaaaaahhh booyeeeee. Fan fricking tastic opener. The carnival barker was right on point and guard really sold this show well. I think there's still some interval gak, but it was negligible. Show must go on was a great finish. Big sound, percussion really digging in... I think it was a tighter race for the cup than the recap dictates. At least from the feed, i had it closer. I think the comfort level with the show was miles beyond the corps who finished behind them. That ability to sell sell sell like a Monster Truck announcer on Sunday Sunday SUNDAY... was wicked.

C2. man. Red Square here, red square there, everywhere, everywhere, another red square. Opens great, moves along great, and the accellerando just clicked. whhoooooooweeee. Really great job. Solid feet, uber solid guard. wow. I had these ladies n gents at the top. Solos were tight, booms were tight. Just everything was there, and the impacts were bigger than what I saw in Clifton.

Bux. Its tight. I dont think musically everything was still above C2. But booms were the best of the night. Yeah yeah recap says different but I think they had more exposed parts, that were played more musically with less % of errors. Visual was where they cleaned house. So yknow, this corps fixed the viz gak from two weeks ago and I think it you didn't even have the sound on, this would still be an exciting show to watch. It just is a great visual package. Yes, I did call them out two weeks ago for a show I felt I already saw. And yes, I still think they used a similar equation in show creation. But it works. Will they do it again..?. I hope they try something different next year. But hey, its just my $0.02. They do what they want. Clearly they don't need me to tell them what to do. They've got this design thing down to a science.

Overall, the feed was 99.1% awesome. I had three freeze moments that made me nearly spill my beverage and wake the sleeping puppy up. But this was a good year for drum corps. I hope everyone continues to build on their success from this year. I can finally put that hot wool Madison jacket back into the closet for 9 months and watch everyone continue to banter on this thing about judges and their voodoo, who shoulda, coulda... or why drum corps isnt drum corps anymore. Because its never drum corps as it was each season. Each season its something new, and more innovative from last season. Which makes both DCI and DCA exciting to watch, and makes this activity like a drug to most of us. The first hit held us, and then you just. want. more.

Cheers.

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I didn't get it or like the "blue square" at first either ... until it was explained to me that the square was actually the "speak easy" room where all the sultry jazz/dance stuff emanates from ... you know ... to support their theme of "After Hours" ... the more important thing (as it was further pointed out) is that the judges got it ... and liked it ...

Thanks for the rest of your "couch potato" review ... I especially liked the thought that in between corps there could be a Muppets style Statler & Waldorf set of commentaries from two old DCF's ... THAT would be a riot!

Waldorf_and_Statler_2.JPG

Hurricanes: chchchchchannnges. The dressed up the soloist, made him match the DM (old school unis...word up) and integrated the chairs a little better. I still don't see a reason for actually putting the square on the field, but i get it, you're closing down the space to be used. I think those chairs could have still been used all over the field. But eh... that ship sailed. Overall much improved from two weeks ago. Balance was better, guard is still tip top, the booms cleaned up. Drill still had some form gak but heh, you get on the dance floor, you just go for it. Jump Jive and Wail wailed. Good solid finish with the show. Feels like they really pushed through.

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I guess I should rephrase. I understand reasoning in the design of the blue square. But its unnecessary. You don't need to be that literal. The fans aren't that stupid. And to be honest, I give two sh*ts about the judges opinion. I think Hurcs belonged in finals compared to the next couple corps by their performance compared to seeing Bush, Sky, and Gold's performance in exhibition. I just believe if you're a smart designer, you can achieve the same thing, without having to put all that gak on the field, and using it but once.

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Okay ... understood ... you want to be Statler or Waldorf next year on the broadcast?

:winky:

I guess I should rephrase. I understand reasoning in the design of the blue square. But its unnecessary. You don't need to be that literal. The fans aren't that stupid. And to be honest, I give two sh*ts about the judges opinion. I think Hurcs belonged in finals compared to the next couple corps by their performance compared to seeing Bush, Sky, and Gold's performance in exhibition. I just believe if you're a smart designer, you can achieve the same thing, without having to put all that gak on the field, and using it but once.

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Thanks for the review and banter from two couch potatoes...... This coach potato also watched Finals via FN. Always enjoy comments and reviews from both of you !

Joe

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hahaha. Thanks all.

I'd like Waldorf if you please.

(from Muppet Vision 3D)

"Statler: This is a very moving moment.
Waldorf: Yeah; I wish they'd move it to Pittsburgh!!"

Edited by C.Holland
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good stuff. I also watched via FN, but after some asinine behavior from people on facebook over the weekend, I'll just keep my comments to myself outside of it was a great finals weekend to watch up and down the line.

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Have seen the MST3K crew live when they were doing Cinematic Titanic, was a gas. I could do a rather good TV's Frank. Heck, I have very good bona fide DCI East Prelims Heckler Credentials. Klesch is prolly still trying to figure out who that was in '91. His panicked look after the wolf howl when the guys in the guard laid down on top of the girls (I'm not making this up, folks...)...., PRICELESS. :ph34r: (Was at WCU when he was wrapping up... he needed that, the corps deserved it.......) :wink:

Hmm... Chris, if you're a MSTie, you should get who the avvy is here... though I do bear some resemblance in RL, though my knees are normal and I don't carry a staff around. :laugh:

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