oldbandguy Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 If Blue Knights 2014 was highly influenced by WGI....THANK YOU WGI! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Back to the point of which corps is more/most WGI-like, I wonder... I'm not a legacy WGI drumline fan, but happen to be attending this year and I see drum corps all over WGI. If WGI is leading the activity, shouldn't I be seeing new stuff from WGI I've not already seen on the drum corp field? The regional I went to was in Dayton. Pretty big show but haven't seen anything new yet. I'll see six shows plus finals this year. Maybe when the west coast lines come in I'll be more impressed that WGI is leading drum corps. As of now, not so much. Maybe I'm missing something. You arent missing something. I said in an earlier post that WGI, DCI, BAnds etc etc all feed off each other in many ways. There are a ton of crossovers in the activity which contribute to one feeding off another. To say one is leading the activity over another simply imo is not true. Has the activity maybe turned or turning toward a new philosophy , maybe BUT imo its is a driving force of all combined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 end times food buckets with a 1-800 number. I am cryin' here.... A subject for another thread... what items would be in an end times food bucket? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 You arent missing something. I said in an earlier post that WGI, DCI, BAnds etc etc all feed off each other in many ways. There are a ton of crossovers in the activity which contribute to one feeding off another. To say one is leading the activity over another simply imo is not true. Has the activity maybe turned or turning toward a new philosophy , maybe BUT imo its is a driving force of all combined. So, if that's the case, wouldn't an equally valid OP title be "Which indoor groups are most DCI-like?", "Which BOA/USBands looks most like DCI/WGI"? So "The question is irrelevant", is pretty much the answer to the OP, yes? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 So, if that's the case, wouldn't an equally valid OP title be "Which indoor groups are most DCI-like?", "Which BOA/USBands looks most like DCI/WGI"? So "The question is irrelevant", is pretty much the answer to the OP, yes? Well phrased as it is imo..yes I think knowing all the crossovers, maybe being one myself over the years imo DCI, WGI, BOA doesnt dictate a style or who looks like who, people do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 (edited) The cancer that's blighting WGI is that design teams are selecting weighty, maudlin, glum, lugubrious themes. Some of these heart-on-the-sleeve productions are like a middle eastern funeral with gnashing of teeth and rending of garments, with psychiatrists on the sidelines assigned to each performer. Some of the on-the-nose subject matters are so preachy that the guards should sell end times food buckets with a 1-800 number. Utterly humorless, overwrought, without insight or subtlety, and just uncomfortable to watch. Clearly the most WGI-influenced corps is the Blue Knights who wins the prize for their show about images that flash before your eyes as you die. A maudlin subject matter, painfully on the nose. The Blue Knights snapped out of their depression a little with 2015's Because, but they still managed to remained glum and humorless. Runner-up goes to the woman with cancer interview on NPR that Cadets did. Great message, but the who-what-where platform was just too on-the-nose and too weighty. Third place goes to Cadets literally shouting at the audience "This I believe!" The color guard should have been spinning sledge hammers. The show coordinators put the onus on the performers who endure these heavy themes-- a real death sentence. It's like getting stuck in a production of a 22-month run of the Grapes of Wrath at the Steppenwolf. Think about the psychological burden you're subjecting your unpaid performers' minds to for seven or eight months. Life's too short to spend eight months dressed as a Civil War soldier with flies buzzing around your bandaged head when you're 18. Interesting. At a WGI show this weekend we saw a show about the plague. Yes, THAT plague. When I just asked my wife what it was that she loved about it, her answer was "It was clean." When pressed, she said she didn't like the theme ("Too dark") but it was performed so well that she enjoyed the production none-the-less. She's a novice except by being married to me, and she was impressed with the production if not the theme. I think the MM's can relate to their success in producing a good show and not get too wrapped up in the theme or message of the show. I also suspect it's that performance and production that will affect their psyche, not the theme. I'm not sure if that bolsters your position or not, but she, at least, was able to understand their theme earlier in the show, and enjoy the production as a result, because it was clean. Equally interesting is that she still doesn't understand what her _Kid's show is supposed to mean. Edited February 16, 2016 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 So, if that's the case, wouldn't an equally valid OP title be "Which indoor groups are most DCI-like?", "Which BOA/USBands looks most like DCI/WGI"? So "The question is irrelevant", is pretty much the answer to the OP, yes? No. It's a valid point of discussion. Devils clearly are. Scouts, not so much... as one of many examples IMO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 Interesting. At a WGI show this weekend we saw a show about the plague. Yes, THAT plague. When I just asked my wife what it was that she loved about it, her answer was "It was clean." When pressed, she said she didn't like the theme ("Too dark") but it was performed so well that she enjoyed the production none-the-less. She's a novice except by being married to me, and she was impressed with the production if not the theme. I think the MM's can relate to their success in producing a good show and not get too wrapped up in the theme or message of the show. I also suspect it's that performance and production that will affect their psyche, not the theme. I'm not sure if that bolsters your position or not, but she, at least, was able to understand their theme earlier in the show, and enjoy the production as a result, because it was clean. Equally interesting is that she still doesn't understand what her _Kid's show is supposed to mean. I'm trying to remember the WGI show from a decade or so ago (a HS World Guard) that did the Jackson Pollock show where they threw the paint. It was amazing and I'll never forget seeing it live. Point is - when I was watching it others in the audience thought is was a "fight" with paint and that it was very "angry" -- I had an entirely different but very visceral reaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted February 17, 2016 Author Share Posted February 17, 2016 (edited) I'm trying to remember the WGI show from a decade or so ago (a HS World Guard) that did the Jackson Pollock show where they threw the paint. It was amazing and I'll never forget seeing it live. Point is - when I was watching it others in the audience thought is was a "fight" with paint and that it was very "angry" -- I had an entirely different but very visceral reaction. Found it Bishop Kearney 1996 - 20 years ago! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2EiCkx9ipY Scott Chandler on the staff. So many approaches and elements from that program have made it to the field by the Devils over the years. Incredible program. Edited February 17, 2016 by George Dixon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted February 17, 2016 Share Posted February 17, 2016 No. It's a valid point of discussion. Devils clearly are. Scouts, not so much... as one of many examples IMO Can you point to a specific move, theme, or staging that clearly makes your point that BD is more WGi-like than Scouts are? Not a challenge; I'm trying to understand your point. Are Cadets "more" WGI than Scouts, in your opinion? Phantom? Boston? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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