Jump to content

Self indulgent shows


Recommended Posts

On 6/22/2019 at 1:39 PM, adman said:

Creating anything fresh, unique, and exciting is a process of trial and error and risk. Without experimentation creativity would be stagnant. In 2018, creativity crafted some of the most brilliant shows in the history of the activity.

I'm an old-school guy. I was in this when G Bugles, Marching mallets, and worse were the rage. Within that long history I still believe SCV of last year rightfully earned its place as ine of the best shows in DCI history. As had BD for years just ahead of that, and work by Bloo and on and on.

This year the big corps shows seem to cross a line from creative exploration to design team self-indulgence. It seems like staffs are trying so hard to become "famous for their new ideas" instead of trying to get famous for creating a great integrated show.

Yes it is early, but nothing is giving me a "wow" factor of the past few years. Corps have zero identity (and I am all good with changing uniforms if it makes sense). The result is a drum corps show today is a mass of abstraction separated by theme, rather than brilliant ideas creatively communicated.

I'm pretty open-minded and sophisticated about this stuff. But if I can't understand the intent, how is a first-timer going to?

So many recent examples of brilliance. But this year? Just one giant abstract mess.

when newer trends hit the activity, such as we see now with costuming and props, everyone dives in and it gets off kilter for a year or two, then levels off again. We've seen it time and time again

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, c.l. said:

Not to hijack the topic, but have you/others you know ever decide to hang up your hat on a season you didn’t care for and just come back later?

Not me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

Same here. I'm a longtime Devils fan... and to me, they turned a corner in 2014 after a stretch of "not quite sure I get this" shows.

From '14 on I've enjoyed every one of their shows, whether I totally "get" the themes or not.

BD 08-13 have been played the day i got the dvd's or cd's and pretty much never since. 14 to the present....yes, more please!!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, c.l. said:

Not to hijack the topic, but have you/others you know ever decide to hang up your hat on a season you didn’t care for and just come back later?

don't know about anybody else, but i stopped following in 2001 and 2002 almost entirely.  got back into things a bit more each year after that, and was back to me geek fandom in 2007. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I stopped after '94 mostly and came back in '97 when shows got less esoteric. Didn't win me back completely until 2000 and after. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/22/2019 at 1:39 PM, adman said:

 

So many recent examples of brilliance. But this year? Just one giant abstract mess.

I think what we are seeing has somewhat been going on in WGI for a few years. Throw a bunch of non-related crap against the wall and let the judges tell you what it means. 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

It would be very interesting if someone who wrote about drum corps could interview designers and program coordinators retrospectively about what they feel their biggest mistakes were, and how they made them.

Oh! Oh!  Bluecoats should sponsor this research and then make a show out of it.

Sort of a “Fini” of hot mess design disasters done to score top 5.

I might actually care about Coats again after that.

Edited by garfield
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, garfield said:

Oh! Oh!  Bluecoats should sponsor this research and then make a show out of it.

Sort of a “Fini” of hot mess design disasters done to score top 5.

I might actually care about Coats again after that.

Ouch.

You do know that the Bluecoats treat the greater audience as the most important asset of a drumcorps show, don't you?

That's the opposite of self indulgence.  The EXACT opposite, now that I think about it.

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, c.l. said:

Not to hijack the topic, but have you/others you know ever decide to hang up your hat on a season you didn’t care for and just come back later?

I can't recall the year, but it was leading up to 2011 (when everyone came out and made highly entertaining shows... because Cesario pretty much asked them to).  One or two of those late 2000's I paid very little attention because the broader entertainment value was down all around.  Attending a show was becoming a somewhat exhausting exercise of 'appreciation', rather than an exercise of summertime consumption.

2011 spun me back around... really dug Crown that year (the Rach Star show).

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, cfirwin3 said:

Ouch.

You do know that the Bluecoats treat the greater audience as the most important asset of a drumcorps show, don't you?

That's the opposite of self indulgence.  The EXACT opposite, now that I think about it.

No, I’m brand new here and know nothing about any of theses bands. I’m only here to lurk and cause trouble.

/sarcasm

(Psst...I actually love Fini.)

 

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...