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Cadets 2018


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41 minutes ago, candymancan said:

I agree with most of what you say but in all fairness to Kristy and the guard, those kids were very talented.  Their issue was staging mostly and some design choices.  Most of that was not Kristy or her staff.  Their hands were tied is my guess.  So from where I stood, the guard staff did their job.  The kids were good and pretty clean.  The rest, was not their responsibility.  IMO.

Also, I am hoping that even though they advertised for a choir, that this new Shane guy will not want to use it and it will get pulled.  From what I have heard from my MCM friends, he is uber talented and will not take any gruff from GH.  He will want to do the job he is hired for and if he can't, he won't stay.  My hope is that he gets to do his job and GH stays out of it.

One can dream right?.....................

River City Rhythm is the other place where Shane G. just signed on.

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Cadets are just trying to find their niche and the choir/vocals is an interesting differentiator that by and large was a success for them this year. After using them for one season they probably figured a lot of stuff out so I don’t blame them for wanting to use them again in some form or another  at this stage we really don’t know how they will be used/featured.

Shane is a great addition and I hope GH leaves him to do his job. 

George Dixon, if you no longer want to support the Cadets then surely the best thing to do is just don’t support them. Not sure why you need to make the public declaration! . 

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A few days ago someone posted a photo of the 1978 CYO Nationals. I attended that show and can remember the consensus among my friends  was that BAC might make DCInfinals, 27th had a rough start that year that some thought might be the end of their glory days. Friends were impressed Bridgemen came back so strong after 1977, but would never "be allowed" to win DCI. It was predicted North Star who would be a first time finalist would be a dominant corps in the years to come. Fast forward to 1980, 1978 turned out to be a rebuilding year for 27th and they had an amazing push at the end of the season. In 1980 it looked as if 27th was poised for glory but a few folks claimed Garfield would make finals after a rocky start and they would never look back. Since I only saw that 1980 show live once that year, and really enjoyed it even if it was a mess at that point, I am sure I did not disagree. They made finals, the following year Cadets began assembling their first dream team staff, and they made history. Boston Crusaders, who many thought would not survive the early 80's has now assembled the dream team staff, and appear headed to glory. Times change.

The fact Cadets is looking for vocalists does not bother me too much. Crown used vocalists in 2013, put out a similar call in 2014, and that show was not a vocal fantasy. I, like many, do not think vocals belong in drum corps, at least in principle, though when done well I do appreciate the effort and there have been many fine vocal performances. Where I do see a potential problem is how Cadets used the choir last year. People applauded the talent of the choir, but also found the choir to be a major distraction in a show that had a lot of distractions.  It does seem that for the past few years Cadets who always tweaked and cleaned seem to add distracting elements. I'm hoping that will not be the case in 2018.

Cadets face challenges other than leadership. Recruitment is getting tougher. Though traveling to march has been the case for over thirty years, in some cases longer, you seem to have more coast  to coast travel. Cadets used to have a monopoly on East coast talent. In Caders glory years Bluecoats and Crown were ascending, and kids who wanted to march with Cadets probably did not consider Blue Knights or BAC. That has changed. You also have unhappy marching members. While I remember hearing a few disgruntled Cadets complain when change happened quickly in the mid 80's, until a few years ago I never heard anything but praise and if a marching member was unhappy, he/she was quiet about it. That seems to be less the case.

People are calling for a leadership change. I do not agree with everything GH has done, but to be fair he is always blamed for Cadets problems, but any successes, at least to some on DCP are in spite of him rather than because of him. He is blamed for everything wrong with DCI but he's only one director and changes  are voted on by other directors too. Pulling him could be too drastic a change. My thought would be Cadets need to recruit he best corps they can, make sure they have a solid show that brings out the best of the members, and stop relying on gimmicks and whatever else is in their bag of tricks.

 

Edited by Tim K
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3 hours ago, DCI-86 said:

Shane is a great addition and I hope GH leaves him to do his job. 

George Dixon, if you no longer want to support the Cadets then surely the best thing to do is just don’t support them. Not sure why you need to make the public declaration! . 

Good luck with #1

Since I was so publically a  supporter  (for many years) I felt is was appropriate to announce publically I was no longer supportive of the approach and direction things were being taken in.

Many others have done the same.

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10 hours ago, Jim Schehr said:

Our seats were next to the Chairman of The Cadets Board of Directors in LaCrosse WI. Told him why we no longer donate or support the Cadets. He was disinterested and never offered an apology on behalf of the conduct unbecoming of one of their Hall of Fame members. He validated our decision to walk away from The Cadets forever. Very toxic arrogant bunch. 

Tells you everything you need to know. And what do they have to be arrogant about? One championship since 2005 and only 2 in the past 17 seasons. Not exactly "BD east" these days.

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13 hours ago, George Dixon said:

Can't take it. The show last summer (even with the young corps) was dumped on with late season "additions" by Hop - "can I get an amen" "mass has ended go in peace" the gospel "singing" etc... naked Jesus, the tarp with the jackets -- and very little time spent on cleaning the show. The resources poured into that should have resulted in much more come finals. 

 

The "amen" was a purely creative decision - IMO it was a little distracting.  

Watching the closer before and after the addition of "the mass has ended", it appeared to me (and I have no inside knowledge of this) that the horn line was having trouble moving through the drill at that point, and this break provided some kind of pause/reset to launch into the finale.  Whether this was specifically the best solution to the problem can be debated, but I don't think it was a random addition.

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On 9/20/2017 at 11:39 AM, xandandl said:

Today finally the Cadets publicly announced on their website some of the musical chairs at Yeadom while obliquely referencing between the lines some other aspects of the past.

https://yea.org/news/1777-familiar-faces-in-new-roles-at-yea

The three additions (Sean King has been there a long time) represent a significant upgrade in talent and maturity.  This is a good thing.

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1 hour ago, Icer said:

The "amen" was a purely creative decision - IMO it was a little distracting.  

Watching the closer before and after the addition of "the mass has ended", it appeared to me (and I have no inside knowledge of this) that the horn line was having trouble moving through the drill at that point, and this break provided some kind of pause/reset to launch into the finale.  Whether this was specifically the best solution to the problem can be debated, but I don't think it was a random addition.

The closer should have built - instead when they turned around they hit the audience full out which was jarring 

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1 hour ago, Tim K said:

A few days ago someone posted a photo of the 1978 CYO Nationals. I attended that show and can remember the consensus among my friends  was that BAC might make finals, 27th had a rough start that year that some thought might be the end of their glory days. Friends were impressed Bridgemen came back so strong after 1977, but would never "be allowed" to win DCI. It was predicted North Star who would be a first time finalist would be a dominant corps in the years to come. Fast forward to 1980, 1978 turned out to be a rebuilding year for 27th and they had an amazing push at the end of the season. In 1980 it looked as if 27th was poised for glory but a few folks claimed Garfield would make finals after a rocky start and they would never look back. Since I only saw that 1980 show live once that year, and really enjoyed it even if it was a mess at that point, I am sure I did not disagree. They made finals, the following year Cadets began assembling their first dream team staff, and they made history. Boston Crusaders, who many thought would not survive the early 80's has now assembled the dream team staff, and appear headed to glory. Times change.

The fact Cadets is looking for vocalists does not bother me too much. Crown used vocalists in 2013, put out a similar call in 2014, and that show was not a vocal fantasy. I, like many, do not think vocals belong in drum corps, at least in principle, though when done well I do appreciate the effort and there have been many fine vocal performances. Where I do see a potential problem is how Cadets used the choir last year. People applauded the talent of the choir, but also found the choir to be a major distraction in a show that had a lot of distractions.  It does seem that for the past few years Cadets who always tweaked and cleaned seem to add distracting elements. I'm hoping that will not be the case in 2018.

Cadets face challenges other than leadership. Recruitment is getting tougher. Though traveling to march has been the case for over thirty years, in some cases longer, you seem to have more coast  to coast travel. Cadets used to have a monopoly on East coast talent. In their glory years Bluecoats and Crown were ascending, and kids who wanted to march with Cadets probably did not consider Blue Knights or BAC. That has changed. You also have unhappy marching members. While I remember hearing a few disgruntled Cadets complain when change happened quickly in the mid 80's, until a few years ago I never heard anything but praise and if a marching member was unhappy, he/she was quiet about it. That seems to be less the case.

People are calling for a leadership change. I do not agree with everything GH has done, but to be fair he is always blamed for Cadets problems, but any successes, at least to some on DCP are in spite of him rather than because of him. He is blamed for everything wrong with DCI but he's only one director and changes  are voted on by other directors too. Pulling him could be too drastic a change. My thought would be Cadets need to recruit he best corps they can, make sure they have a solid show that brings out the best of the members, and stop relying on gimmicks and whatever else is in their bag of tricks.

 

I am not sure why the penchant among BAC homers to critique every Cadet move or propagate unfounded rumors as one BAC homer did recently with posts about percussion personnel. Such errant posts seem almost to strategize to turn prospective mms away from one corps and to go to another. The post above tries a similar tactic.

The rambling post above does bring up some interesting points about the challenge many corps ( e.g.especially BAC who claims 50 per cent Floridian membership on BACs recent FB posting of 9/8..."annually over 50% of our corps hails from Florida and Florida colleges and Universities.") will have as a result of the hurricanes in Texas and the East Coast. With fuel prices increasing for all transportation and not diminishing for air transportation, the airfares for most folks are still high and limit travel for those not on business expense accounts or with a reservoir of loyalty points for free travel. All corps continue to be in the hunt for good membership no matter who they are. Nothing is a given. Not for BD, BAC, Crown, Cadets, SCV, Bloo or Pioneer. Every corps has to work hard on recruiting members with talents, deep pockets to pay, and the perseverance to stay the season. Disaffection is present in every corps across DCI as no corps is perfect and no mm is either. For the above poster to harp on Cadets seems another BAC homerism.  Some Crownies and certain Crossmen posters bully the same way in a sad move to put their corps up by putting others down. Certain Crownies were even barred from DCP for going beyond the pale.

Any comments pro or con about vocals and their use past or future for any corps may be moot given the Rules Congress in January. No one knows for certain yet  until votes are taken. Perhaps comments from recent DCI surveys will have some effect, although the past behavior of many corps faculties show their affection for moving the activity beyond the usual horns and percussion. Cadets seem to be covering their bases as I am certain other corps will do as well. Out of area auditions, once unusual, now seem de rigeur.

 

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