What is Innovative about Babylon?

[Bluzes]

22 minutes ago, gak27 said:

I hope your patients like Geico commercials

And Rain Delays, clearing the office.For their own saftey because of a upset dentist.

[Bluzes]

That's what I like about SCV, makes me view my dentist in a whole new light and that took a ton of GE.

[BDCorno]

1 hour ago, skevinp said:

You may have just given Cappybara an idea for a future business model.

Just skip the dentist and play any drum corps with singing. It's like a root canal without the trip to the dentist. 

[DCIDADDIO]

16 hours ago, BDCorno said:

Hahaha! No, it's not the same thing and my reference was NOT flawed. BD show concentrates on the stories of the characters in the painting. They take a literal painting backdrop and build that. The Tower of Babel thing is more figurative, and I don't see it out of their show. If they went to some huge and tall stage at the end, that would be cool...and maybe it will happen. Two great corps going at it. I like all of the top three. They all have their pros and cons. Not my favorite BD show lately by a longshot, but I haven't seen live since Riverside. I'll never count them out though. I love SCV's show, but was mostly getting across that it should be okay to NOT have a theme. You attending this week? Maybe I'll buy you a beer.

Will definitely be in Indy and excited to see what changes take place across all corps. 

[Mega]

Nothing, it's just performed very well.

[mfrontz]

14 hours ago, gak27 said:

I hope your patients like Geico commercials...

Or infomercials for winter guards IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOW 

[Sideways]

On 8/6/2018 at 11:49 PM, Cappybara said:

I've seen comments throughout the season calling SCV's show this year innovative and ahead of its time. 

Admittedly, I don't see it. To me, they seem to be doing the same things that Bloo, BD, and Crown have been pioneering the past decade

Body movement, dance breaks, follow the leader, (fantastic) staging, mic'd soloists/ensembles, long melodic ballad, mysterious voiceovers, interactive props, mellophone rips, screamers, no helmets, flexible costuming, etc etc. 

None of these are necessarily bad things. The show itself is fantastic and deserved frontrunner for 1st place. I'm just confused on where people are seeing the innovation

Anyone have some insight? 

The cohesion of the design and new uses for familiar elements.  Maybe not truly innovative but it sure is awesome.

[saxfreq1128]

On 8/7/2018 at 12:50 AM, tigger2 said:

From my chair:

Yes, SCV is capitalizing on innovations and standards set by those mentioned earlier. And, this is of course how the activity progresses and how you win.  I believe the show has and will continue to set new standards between now and Saturday. That stated, I am not sure it is innovation standards or simply really smart programming using full knowledge of all tricks of the trade old and brand new and excellence standards that equal or surpass those from which said tricks have been garnered.

1) vertical alignment on a new level for the longest amount of sustained time, and amazingly flawless at that

2) best front ensemble in the history of the activity considering the tools currently in the designer's and performer's toolbox

3) the development of moving props a million times and doing so in character, with purpose beyond moving something that needs to be moved so something new can be done (This has bothered me for years. Thanks SCV. If I can see you, it is judge-able, right? An opportunity to be creative and artistic.) 

4) Soloists that are equally as good as any ever in the activity, but perhaps a bit better considering the wind range of skills shown, and not two or three folks.

5) Pitch control at all volumes and in key centers beyond B-flat and F (yes, others have done so, but I am not sure such has been done with the percentage of excellence considering some of the key center and harmonic language challenges)

6) It is rare that we get a corps that is not only firing on all three main areas of effect, intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional, but has been doing such since day one of tour. BD came close with INK and Fellini-esque as did Crown with E=Mc2.  But all summer? Every night? Every tune? Every beat and bar? 

That's my take. Oh, and plus, the unexplainable "IT" factor. This production has that in spades. It just clicks. It speaks to your heart and gut. It makes you want to see it over and over and over. It is raw and passionate, gritty and gutsy, confident and bigger than life." It" is what made all of us become addicted to this unexplainable, niche, odd, crazy activity. 

SCV is my favorite this year. But most of what you’re describing isn’t innovation — it’s what great design and performance looks like in 2018. “It” factor isn’t innovation either; ideally, it’s what every champion has.

Honestly, what’s exciting to me about this show is that it proves how you DON’T have to expand the activity in a substantial way to have a worthy and obvious champion — which is the same thing that shows like Spartacus, Angels & Demons, and even E=mc^2, and frankly also Inferno, all proved. It’s ample evidence that you don’t need to get weird to win: you can amplify what DCI already does and do it better than everyone else. This isn't new! Only as of Cavaliers’ reign in the early 2000s did we all become addicted to the innovation thing, IMO.

I listen to this show and it doesn’t sound new; it sounds old, which is what I love about it. You can’t deny how much its design has in common with other recent non-BD champions. It hits the exact same emotional beats that Spartacus hit exactly 10 years ago, and in some ways, it’s a perfect mashup of every show that’s beaten BD over the last 10 years. In their urban all-white, they even look like a mix of Spartacus era PR + Downside Up era Bloo. 

The most innovative thing here, for me, ia the style of the soloists—and even that’s kind of an old school way to innovate, just taking us back to the basics and giving us new sounds. That’s what connects about this show, IMO. It’s not what’s new about drum corps; it’s what’s drum corps about drum corps.